From being an Abandoned who had rarely left the Hollowed Grounds, to embracing the call of adventure, to dying and being reborn first as an Ascended and then as an Ancient, Maea has gone through quite the amount of changes in her life. One thing remains common, though, in her attempts to find out just where she belongs; she’s always had a craving for knowledge which has brought her to so many places and to meet so many people here in Caido. We can’t wait to see what else is in store for her!
Congratulations, Maea!
Credits
Court of the Fallen was created in October of 2018 by Odd, Honey, and Crooked.
Skinning and hosting by the epically talented Kaons, and functionality fanciness by the coding magic of Neowulf. If you ever see either of them around, make sure to show them some love!
11-06-2023, 07:56 PM (This post was last modified: 11-19-2023, 05:10 PM by Odd.)
flora
Dressed for the weather in Torchline, as her compass brought her to Caido's newest region, Flora was all but immediately drowned by the rain. Shrieking and darting toward the House of Midnight as fast as she could, all the effort she'd put into her hair and makeup was seemingly all for naught, as she barged through the door looking more like a drowned rat than the effortlessly beautiful traveler that she'd been aiming for.
"Ugh!" Shaking off her sleeves and teasing her fingers through her hair to try and save what little she could of her curls, the girl patted desperately beneath her eyes to rub away any mascara that had pooled there. Turning as if she was just trying to take her coat off, the Doubletake subtly slipped on her invisibility ring so that she might suss out the bathroom without the patron's eyes falling judgementally on her.
Only once she'd done all she could to make herself look halfway presentable, did Flora remove her ring and emerge back into view. Unsurprisingly, Flora had of course brought a travel-sized lipstick, rouge, and a bit of perfume, such that when she pushed open the doors to the bathroom, she looked almost entirely put together again.
// corn liquor tastes sweeter in this town could it be it's the same as the last? //
Sunjata has been expecting Flora, but it becomes somewhat of a rat chase the second that he’s notified of her arrival through the doors, dripping from the rain that had started up the night before. But then, as he abandons the current project to go and greet her, she’s gone, a curiosity that has him searching the bar as if she might have decided to scout it out. It comes up empty, though, confusion flaring in his face as he steps back through the hallway, headed directly for the reception, fully prepared to ask whether or not they were seeing things when the bathroom door opens and Flora steps out.
Suddenly it makes sense, and he flashes her a bright smile of greeting. “Glad you could make it, Flora. Sorry the weather is less than ideal.” There’s a slight wince as he says it, but she looks great despite it. “Are you hungry or do you want a drink?” He asks, turning his body halfway to the side so that she can scout out the bar behind him (a feat somewhat hard to do given his size compared to the hallway itself. He’s all kinds of put together – wearing a dark short sleeved shirt, revealing the tattoos and muscle and scars that adorn him, hair a bit grown out to where it curls at the ends, dark without the previous season’s sun to bleach it brighter, flecked with a few grey streaks. All in all, looking every second like he had his shirt together. Which, for once, he does.
the flood
// i swear i've seen your face elsewhere before just as familiar as a bottle and a glass //
No permission needed for power play!
Feel free to use magic/force on Sunjata, without killing him <3
Sunjata speaks with an Australian accent and has a passive magic that makes him produce a subtle scent that matches exactly to whatever those around him most desire him to smell like.
Sunjata is impossible to miss, and not just because he's about a thousand feet tall. Instantly smelling something intensely earthy and dark that makes her think of hot LongHeat afternoons with sand beneath her feet, the girl turns her head to spy the Flood coming toward her. "Yeah, what's up with that?" She asks brightly as if he should have managed a bright and sunny day for her arrival. Crinkling her nose and holding her hands out to him for a hug, the girl fits herself against him with a sort of familiarity that she probably hasn't earned yet. Then again, he's been sleeping with her mom for a few seasons now, so they're all basically family at this point.
"Drink, definitely. Give me whatever your best is." This is Flora's normal drink order, not simply because she likes to be spoiled, but also because as a bar owner herself, she's always interested to know what counts as top shelf in other parts of the world.
"I dunno what you've been up to lately, but it must be something big. I could use my compass to travel directly here."
// corn liquor tastes sweeter in this town could it be it's the same as the last? //
“Unfortunately, I can’t control the rain.” He says a bit wistfully – as if having the moniker of the Flood should allow him the ability to prevent rain from forming. Either way, he does drift toward her to embrace her in a hug, a familiarity that while is fresh and new, Sunjata isn’t opposed to – given the obvious.
They part and he hums a soft laugh of agreement, guiding her to the bar as he steps behind it, feeling a hint nostalgic over his days of running the VlamVloed – but it simply means he can manage to make a drink he thinks she’ll like. It’s an old fashioned, not unlike the traditional kind, but the whiskey has been infused with maple and the sweet bitters added have a citrusy hint of orange and it makes for quite the warming, tasty drink for how terrible the weather is outside. “King’s End is livable now. Which is part of the reason I wanted to talk to you.” He murmurs, sliding the drink over to her as he pours the other half of it into his own. “As a side note, this one is my current favorite.” He waits for her to take a sip before he follows suit, swallowing down the comfortable burn.
“I’m unsure how recently you’ve talked to your mother, but, we are officially together now. She intends to move here once her duties in Halo are over and I’m going to be starting on a house for us.” His steel gaze scans her, awaiting her reaction. “But I heard what happened in Torchline with the election a while ago and I was wondering what your thoughts of the region were since then..?” A segue, perhaps, that Flora would be able to read between the lines to hear the unsaid suggestion of moving to King’s End and being a part of things here, building from the ground up and being right next door to her mother.
the flood
// i swear i've seen your face elsewhere before just as familiar as a bottle and a glass //
No permission needed for power play!
Feel free to use magic/force on Sunjata, without killing him <3
Sunjata speaks with an Australian accent and has a passive magic that makes him produce a subtle scent that matches exactly to whatever those around him most desire him to smell like.
"Yet." Flora counters, bobbing her eyebrows. Why wouldn't one of Frey's demigods be able to control the rain? Not like there was another impending catastrophe to worry about or anything.
Reaching out with heavily ringed fingers and perfectly painted nails, Flora tugs the glass across the bar before lifting it to her nose and giving it an experimental sniff. Trying to detect just exactly what might be in it, his words distract her from her tavernly interests, and it's with a soft frown that she tilts her head to the side. "Oh?" Raising the glass to her lips and appreciating it's heft, the Doubletake takes a small sip, before allowing more of the dark liquid to flow across her tongue. It's sweet and dark and smooth in precisely the way she had expected, but the burn at the end is long and drawn out in a way that has her immediately flushing. "Okay, that's super good. I'm stealing it."
Hopping up onto one of the bar stools once it's clear that they're going to linger where they are—it isn't terribly busy so she isn't worried about being crowded out—Flora gives the Flood a little shrug. "I mean, I figured." She says with a small grin, caught between wanting to tease Sunjata and congratulate him. Opting for the latter, she reaches out to nudge his arm affectionately. "She seems really happy. Like...pretty much happier than I can ever remember."
As for Torchline?
Flora's smile fades away, though she tries to hide it behind another swallow of her drink. "Honestly...I don't know. Like, my feelings are still hurt about losing the election, and I thought I was over it until just before LongNight." She admits with a sigh. "I feel like Harper and Hadama are too busy playing Hero to actually get shit done, you know?"
// corn liquor tastes sweeter in this town could it be it's the same as the last? //
“Yet,” Sunjata returns the comment with a small little jest of his own. He doesn’t know if it’s possible, but perhaps one day he’ll manage to practice enough that he can subconsciously keep rain from ever falling on the House of Midnight.
She enjoys the drink, though, and a low deep rumble leaves him when she says she’s stealing it – nodding in a way that seems to suggest that he’s more than willing to let her steal it. “Orange bitters, maple bourbon, simple syrup.” He lists off the ingredients so that she’d be able to copy it however she wished to, or make modifications where she saw fit.
But the conversation shifts toward happiness and life changes, involving Hotaru mostly, and it warms him to know that the Doubletake has noticed her mother’s happiness. “She makes me happy too.” Now that they’ve gotten past the terrible things they’d done to one another so many years ago. The past was the past and they have a chance to build for the future, all things Sunjata wants nothing more than to focus on. “Thank you.” He tacks on belatedly, taking another sip of his drink as he listens to her question over how Torchline was.
Honestly, he can understand. He’d felt similarly when he’d lost the election to Remi – but he’d eventually ended up gaining leadership of Torchline in that scenario, he can’t help but to wince a hint internally at the mention of Harper’s name. “Yeah, it makes sense.” He says, choosing his words carefully. “Well, if it’s any consolation, Harper’s quite torn up about the whole thing. Especially involving you.” His steel gaze scans her face, waiting to see how she would take that particular bomb of information. “So… To make matters shorter, my intention is to rule King’s End. I’m searching for a council right now and inviting people to move here. I plan on making a little town of sorts in between the Refuge and the House of Midnight and a few other things. But, if you wanted to move here to be closer to your mother and maybe build a brand new bar from the ground up, you’re more than welcome to. And if a council position is something you’re interested in, we can make that work too.” A casual shrug before he’s leaning down to grab something from under the bar, exhaling a soft sigh when he straightens and scans the letter before he looks to her face.
“And, uh, there are a few things Harper would like you to know. He left this for you, it’s important that you read it. Feel free to burn it after or do whatever you want with it, but, please read it, Flora.” It’s a deluge of information, he knows, but he hands her the letter and replaces its space in his own hand with his drink to take a long, probably unhealthy, sip of it.
the flood
// i swear i've seen your face elsewhere before just as familiar as a bottle and a glass //
No permission needed for power play!
Feel free to use magic/force on Sunjata, without killing him <3
Sunjata speaks with an Australian accent and has a passive magic that makes him produce a subtle scent that matches exactly to whatever those around him most desire him to smell like.
"Mmmm, maple." Flora agrees, running her tongue against the top of her mouth as if to release even more flavour. "We have sugarcane down in Torchline, but nothing like this." She could absolutely market it as being more rare and exotic than it in fact was. Maybe she could say it was blessed by unicorns, or magical Sunjata rain.
"I'm glad." She means it too, despite all the complications that it had caused Isla. For such a superficial girl, Flora was more than capable of being happy for her mother and Sunjata while also shit-talking the Flood when it served her friend. It was just one of those things you did, and you didn't have to mean it, either. "Soooooo...when's the wedding?" She asked, her shit-eating grin basically spreading from ear to ear.
Frowning, the Doubletake offers up her daddy-to-be a disbelieving grimace. "Doubt." She mutters, but before she can say anything more to that end, the Flood drops the most unexpected news of the evening, only to follow it up with a letter from Harper?
"WH-" Blinking, Flora downs her drink before shaking her glass at Sunjata. "At least get me another drink first, damn." She chuckles, releasing the glass in favour of Harper's note. Wondering if she should perhaps read it in private, given that Sunjata had encouraged her to read it suggested he already knew what it said, so to tell with it.
Tearing the envelope open, Flora's aqua stare scanned the page from top to bottom several times before slouching slightly in her chair. "Huh..well that's.."
// corn liquor tastes sweeter in this town could it be it's the same as the last? //
Maple was perfectly sweet enough to give that full bodied sweetness that he found sugar cane lacked, but he’d be happy to help supply a steady stream of it to the Hanged Man, perhaps in exchange for something sweet and tiki like. So he flashes her a bright, knowing smile, before the conversation shifts to a bit more serious nature.
One that has him staring at her somewhat slack jawed at her audacity, a deep rumbling chuckle leaving him soon after. “If it happens, you’ll be the first to know. Deal?” His lips slant more playful, lifting the glass in a small mock cheer.
He lets her doubt his words over Harper’s regret, because he knows the letter will perhaps answer more than he can — he wasn’t there, he doesn’t know anything more than the basic whispers over the issues deeply imbedded in Torchline’s shores. But he can mix her up another drink while she reads, acquiescing to her request as she opens the envelope.
And the second she finishes it and slouches, Sunjata’s reaching out to hand her the next glass. “It’s a lot of information, I know.” His offer and Harper stepping down, and he offers her an apologetic wince and a toast as he takes another sip, leaning over the bar with his arms braced against it. “I’m here to bounce ideas or thoughts off, if you want to get some of them off your chest.”
the flood
// i swear i've seen your face elsewhere before just as familiar as a bottle and a glass //
No permission needed for power play!
Feel free to use magic/force on Sunjata, without killing him <3
Sunjata speaks with an Australian accent and has a passive magic that makes him produce a subtle scent that matches exactly to whatever those around him most desire him to smell like.
'Well I'd better, or you're going to hear about it at every family dinner from now until eternity." Flora counters, flashing Sunjata a cheeky grin before dropping her eyes to the letter.
Biting at the inside of her lip, Flora's face is a wash of expressions as her emotions sift from furious, to confused, to joyful. "Huh." Licking at her lips, the Doubletake glances at the Flood through slightly narrowed lashes before breaking into a grin. "If you see Harper before me, which you probably will...Tell him that I'm absolutely going to use this against him, 'cause you know.." She shrugs; he was the one abdicating after all, and it was absolutely in her best interest to do so. "But that I appreciate knowing first." It was a fair trade, in her opinion, the exchanging of his bullshit for hers to clear the slate between them.
"I think...I mean..I chose Torchline as my home, you know? Back with Enzo, before the war when it felt like we had our whole lives ahead of us, and gods I wanted to lead so bad. I still do and I know people don't have faith in me, but I really think I can do it." Swallowing and looking down into her glass, Flora empties it in a swallow. "If I hadn't gotten this letter...I'd have said yes to you right here and now, but...I mean, if there's a chance in Torchline? I think I want to try."
// corn liquor tastes sweeter in this town could it be it's the same as the last? //
“That’s certainly not on my list of things to ever have to deal with.” He teases her, humming a soft laugh, letting the conversation fade out into silence (aside from the bustling around the back of the House of Midnight, the shuffling of chairs and people milling about far enough away that they can’t listen in on their conversation.)
He sees her narrowed gaze and he keeps himself open enough (unsure what to expect first from everything), until she mentions Harper and the Flood can’t help the rumbling laugh that leaves him. “I will tell him.” He assures her, letting the grin play on his scarred features before he takes a sip of his drink and listens as she starts to bounce those ideas off.
And he understands – a lot more than people might assume. “It's true. You'll never know unless you do try. I wasn't sure how good of a leader I'd be until I got the chance to lead Torchline and found that I liked it and they liked me... For a time, anyway.” He agrees softly, seeing where it’s going and not having anything but a smile on his face to witness the goals she has in mind. “Just know that regardless of what happens or when or any other reason I can’t think of right now, you’ll always be welcome here.” Whether it’s now or never or three years from now when the world is ending again and again, there’d always be a place for her to go.
the flood
// i swear i've seen your face elsewhere before just as familiar as a bottle and a glass //
No permission needed for power play!
Feel free to use magic/force on Sunjata, without killing him <3
Sunjata speaks with an Australian accent and has a passive magic that makes him produce a subtle scent that matches exactly to whatever those around him most desire him to smell like.
Though this was the longest conversation the pair had ever had, for Flora at least, it felt entirely natural. Whether that was because Sunjata was easy to talk to (the man literally had the ability to smell like a dream, so she wouldn't have put it past him to have other subtle likeability-charms as well), or because he was dating her mother, Flora had no idea nor did she care. That he felt like a father figure in this moment was all the girl had to be aware of to feel completely and utterly at ease.
"I can't tell you how much that means. Really." And she probably couldn't, but that didn't mean that maybe she shouldn't try. "When we..or, well, when I was young, I had to stay with my nonna because Ronin was so mad about how we...er, I was conceived. Then there was the war and Remi just...went to the mountain and he's been there ever since, so..." Clearing her throat, Flora forces out a too-bright laugh as she looks into her drink.
"I just...having someone within reach really means a lot, that's all."
// corn liquor tastes sweeter in this town could it be it's the same as the last? //
It probably was the longest conversation they’d had – it was also one of the only ones they’d had relatively privately, despite the time he’d helped her train back in Torchline where they’d first met. It had been a long time since then and they’d both changed, dealt with close loss, dealt with the aftermath of the war. So, perhaps without intending to come off fatherly, Sunjata accomplishes it because of his internal goals.
A part of him thinks that he could have been great with Kamaria, too, had he been given the chance. Perhaps he’s getting a second chance to get it out of his system with Flora.
So when she tells him that she can’t quantify how much it means, all he can do is offer a soft, lopsided smile and a small casual shrug that shifts into something with a bit more understanding as she continues. Now, he isn’t in the business of talking bad about someone else’s parental figures and his opinions on them, so he remains silent on any thoughts of Remi and Ronin he harbors. “I know what it’s like to try and go at things alone. And for lack of a better word, it fucking sucked.” He offers her another small smile. “But, I’m sure you’ve heard the stories of my father and can understand why it was still a better alternative.” A jest at his own expense, offered with how he points to the scar on his face with amusement crinkling in his steel gaze, sure that she’d heard the drama that surrounded his father’s arrival in Caido and the beginning of his downfall as Torchline’s Governor.
“But anyway, if you needed me there I’d never say no to a trip to Torchline either.” He stands up a bit straighter with a playfully contemplative look on his face as he takes a sip of his drink.
the flood
// i swear i've seen your face elsewhere before just as familiar as a bottle and a glass //
No permission needed for power play!
Feel free to use magic/force on Sunjata, without killing him <3
Sunjata speaks with an Australian accent and has a passive magic that makes him produce a subtle scent that matches exactly to whatever those around him most desire him to smell like.
His candor earns a bright laugh from the girl, as she nods in emphatic agreement. "It does really fucking suck." Giving her head a little shake, glad to just be able to speak freely—and if not in a brothel, where else?—Flora's smile does fade a little at the mention of Shaju. "I mean, just like..little pieces. Mostly I've just heard your life was shitty as a kid and for like..a while it was shitty here too." Not to put too blunt an edge on it, but given that she'd only been a child during Sunjata's meteoric rise and fall, it was the best she had.
As for Torchline?
Biting at the inside of her lip and narrowing her eyes, Flora thought for a moment before nodding. "How close are you and Hadama? I just mean...With Harper gone, I guess I don't see why he wouldn't let me co-rule with him, but if he doesn't, or if he appoints someone worse.." Flora's nostrils flare with her upset before she looks back at Harper's note and laughs under her breath. "He isn't the only one who's tired of it going to shit, is what I mean to say, only I still want to do something about it. " And if push came to shove, with Sunjata be mad about a little shoving?
// corn liquor tastes sweeter in this town could it be it's the same as the last? //
She can speak as freely as she wishes in his presence. What’s he going to do about it anyway? Absolutely fuckin’ nothing. Still, Flora’s bluntness of his upbringing is enough to surprise him and bring a rumbling laugh from his chest, nodding before he exhales a soft sigh. “I’d say about ninety percent of my life has been just shit.” But at the very least, that ten percent that wasn’t felt like winning the lottery.
Of course, perhaps if he could get over his silent paranoias. But that’s another problem.
He gives her his full attention when she speaks on Torchline again, questioning whether or not he and Hadama were close. He shakes his head to that easily. “I don’t know Hadama well. Met him officially for the first time a month or two ago.” A casual shrug leaves him as he takes another sip of his drink. “He didn’t seem all too thrilled about meeting me before the war when I was working on the refuge, though I imagine that’s mostly in part of what happened between Safrin and I.” But that’s neither here nor there right now either, and instead he focuses on the rest of what she says.
“So do something about it.” He says casually, not knowing fully what was on her mind, but when it came to Sunjata he’d already attempted to do something similar. He’d tried to dethrone his father, despite his failures. He wanted to see change and he put himself into a position where he could do it.
Needless to say, no, he wouldn't be mad with a little shoving.
the flood
// i swear i've seen your face elsewhere before just as familiar as a bottle and a glass //
No permission needed for power play!
Feel free to use magic/force on Sunjata, without killing him <3
Sunjata speaks with an Australian accent and has a passive magic that makes him produce a subtle scent that matches exactly to whatever those around him most desire him to smell like.
