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!
Perhaps it is fitting that Astaroth’s statue is amongst the cracks and crevices of the Lava Pits, alongside fellow Fyrhunds that have made their nests, blending in and thriving amongst the heat. However, the steam that passes through, parts for just a specific moment, unveiling the statuesque shape of a face amongst the rockery.
A face that is distinctly not a canine, unlike the rest of his brethren amongst the orange glow. And it is here that the once rogue, cannibalistic Ancient dwells and appears to have dwelled for years upon years with how little care the rest of the fauna have of his presence.
Thankfully, Astaroth is none the wiser in this state, fervently dreaming as he had been through the years, unsure what part’s real and what isn’t anymore.
Astaroth
i'm crazy, i'm crazy, i'm crazy, i'm crazy /// everybody in the world knows i'm a little twisted
Danta comes across the wretchedly familiar face completely by accident; still licking the blood from his fingers with the carcass of a fyrhund some distance beyond, the Maverick's doubletake is a slow one, as slow as the smile creeping across his lips.
It really is too much.
Swiping his hair back from his forehead (leaving streaks of crimson and ichor, naturally) and prowling around the recently revealed statue, he considers leaving it where he's found it for a long few moments. Or perhaps hauling it back to the Grounds and making it into a nice coatrack for the Dusklight.
"Gods, Asta, you look like shit," he whispers gleefully, his cold eyes uncharacteristically bright with a personal sort of cruelty. Eventually - and only after snapping his teeth at an approaching fyrhund come to feast on its fallen brethren - the Maverick does step back towards the lava pits.
Snagging a few smouldering embers with his magic and coaxing them into a little flame, he strolls back towards the statue of the once MiGhTy AsTaRoTh, head tilted in consideration. "I hope you can hear me, I really do. I want you to know this was me."
Don't worry - if he doesn't know, he's about to find out. And he'll be continually reminded at every opportunity, if Danta has anything to say about it.
Bringing the flicker of fire to his lips, the Maverick blows forcfully, manipulating it into a jet of flame to bathe across the rocky Ancient.
if we're in love or if we're in pain?
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Horns: Diamond - they look very similar to #2 in this image.
At least the mortification can wait a little bit longer, given the statue’s status amongst the heat of the lava pits, that is until the warm relief of fire starts to break through the exterior.
He starts to warm up, slowly, cracks appearing and melding away as fingers move, as a shoulder is revealed from amongst where the lava had started to try and suck him in, never to be seen again. There’s a sharp gasp, one clamped down on immediately the second he realizes it’s happening, and as soon as he feels like he can move, his legs are shaky and so uncharacteristically himself that he thinks he’s certainly died.
Dark eyes, unfocused, scan along his savior, fingertips digging into the rockery to keep him upright.
And then it fucking clicks, and despite the way his lungs try to get used to the new fresh air over centuries of naught, there’s a hiccupped, bubbling laugh that escapes him, focusing in on peering down at the thin blonde. “How wonderful." He pauses to get a hold of himself, sucking in air to steady himself and regain that composure he's most known for. "We're both dead.” Because obviously that's the only way this could happen.
The alternative is a bit too uncomfortable to fathom.
Astaroth
i'm crazy, i'm crazy, i'm crazy, i'm crazy /// everybody in the world knows i'm a little twisted
Given his age, Danta could probably convince people he's the inventor of the shit-eating grin, and he's doing a stellar impression of one as statue becomes a living, breathing dickhead right before his very eyes. "Oh, so much better than dead," he croons, clearly delighted to see his fellow Ancient fallen so far. (Not far enough to bring them eye level, though, he'd like to note).
"Your thank you must have been muttered into the rock there, though, because I didn't quite catch it," he adds, smug as a smug thing in a smug factory. "Would you like the good news first, or the bad? Granted, I imagine both will probably seem pretty dire to you right now."
One might have expected assistance or compassion on this occasion, given Danta's usual attitude towards his fellow Ancients, but he'll make an exception for this.
if we're in love or if we're in pain?
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Horns: Diamond - they look very similar to #2 in this image.
His smile remains in the face of the croon, meeting Dantalion’s smug as shit one with an unaffected one of his own – even if it’s a lie and there’s the familiar twitch of his nose, the wrinkle that appears briefly while the Maverick continues. It’s where his horror is starting to be released, and he pulls himself from the hole in the rockery like a spindly spider, getting his legs underneath him before drawing himself up to his full height, running his hands through his long dark hair, pulling out dirt and dust and debris.
So its with that same quiet smile hiding his clenched jaw that he blinks down at Dantalion with dark eyes. There’s still no thank you to be heard, one that Asta would likely prefer actually dying than let it pass his lips. “Dantalion, darling, feel free to spit any of them out at any time.” He says, keeping that comfortable distance between them – quietly pleased that he doesn’t come and try to touch him or help him, because chances are Astaroth would likely bite him if he did.
Though, perhaps the Maverick recalls it. Asta can remember a few times, at least, though it is objectively a far fresher memory for himself than the other man’s.
Astaroth
i'm crazy, i'm crazy, i'm crazy, i'm crazy /// everybody in the world knows i'm a little twisted
"You know, I will," Danta says; like a dance between two magnets of the same pole, as the other man steps forward and out of his rocky prison, the Maverick simultaneously steps back. And whilst the cold glee emanating out of him is no less for their equal footing, the smile on Danta's face does drop away to hear his full name hit the air after so long buried beneath the rubble.
"Let's see," he drawls, folding his arms across his chest as if in an effort to remember. "The bad news is that you've been an even more useless lump of volcanic nothing for centuries. The good news is you're free now. Thanks to me." Cue invisible jazz hands.
"Oh, and the world is completely different, we missed a literally earth-shattering war, and recently something crashed into Caido from space and now we're all fucked all over again." Has he missed anything? Oh, yeah, one thing. "Also I lead a region now. Little place called the Hollowed Grounds."
if we're in love or if we're in pain?
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Horns: Diamond - they look very similar to #2 in this image.
“As you should.” He says as if to try and push Dantalion to explain it faster than he’s doing. Though, there is a deep satisfaction to find the Maverick step back when he steps forward. One he clings to in the face of the news.
His smile twists again, falling finally, racking his brain over the centuries more so than the fact Dantalion had woken him, and yet here he was – blood finally coursing through his system even though there’s a deep-rooted hunger that is starting to take place. His head tilts, eyes squinting down at him. “Centuries, you said?” He asks as if he’d misheard him, still not saying anything about the thank you.
As far as Asta’s concerned, Dantalion can take his invisible jazz hands and stick them up his ass.
Oh, but nothing quite takes the cake like the fact that Dantalion is running a region, a surprise that in the face of all that is dire sparks another deep laugh from him. “You lead a region?” He asks amidst the huffs of laughter, reaching back to rest a hand on the rockery he’d just pulled himself out of to steady himself. “Those poor souls.” And all of his laughter cuts away immediately to return to a smug smile of his own and a sly look, his dark gaze snapping to Dantalion's blues like a predator might survey prey. "So why are you here instead of running your precious little Hollowed Grounds?"
Astaroth
i'm crazy, i'm crazy, i'm crazy, i'm crazy /// everybody in the world knows i'm a little twisted
"Well I didn't fucking stutter," Danta promises, pointedly examining his nails and all the blood under them since it's taking his fellow Ancient a hot minute to process. And process he does, the Maverick's gaze sliding back up to the taller man as he proceeds to laugh in his face. And toss insults. And be generally Astaroth about all of it. With a surprisingly relaxed sigh given the provocation, Danta crouches down to grab at a large, flat piece of volcanic rock on the ground.
"Yeah, no," he says dismissively, hauling it directly at Astaroth's chest in the hope that the weight of it - and the shaky bambi legs the Ancient currently possesses - will send him careening back into the hole he climbed out of. "This was a mistake, I see that now." Continuing as if the other man is no longer there, Danta is already trying to stack other pieces of rubble back over the hole.
"Maybe in another century, yeah? Good talk."
if we're in love or if we're in pain?
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Horns: Diamond - they look very similar to #2 in this image.
He’s half ready to announce that Dantalion hadn’t stuttered, but the fact of it was impossible for him to fathom. What he doesn’t expect is the fucking boldness of the twig (like he should talk) to grab the rock and essentially yeet it at him. It does hit his chest and the taller man stumbles back, arms and legs flailing a little as he stumbles back into the rocky grave he’d been pulled out of, with a very unflattering ”oof!” and a gasp that has him shoving away the rock as quickly as he can, trying to regain some of his strength. “Fuck you, Dantalion.” He snaps, already scrambling.
He does manage to get one leg underneath him while the other shoves away the rock while the Maverick starts to stack more on top, taking a moment to gather himself and launch himself toward Dantalion’s middle, aiming to take him down amongst the rocky ledges along with him. Maybe they’ll both land in the lava pits below, scorched and scorned, but it seems the Climb has other plans – a very loud growling interrupting their fight in the form of two Fyrhunds, one that Astaroth notices precisely as he’s about to chomp down on Dantalion’s slender arm.
Astaroth
i'm crazy, i'm crazy, i'm crazy, i'm crazy /// everybody in the world knows i'm a little twisted
03-17-2024, 12:36 AM (This post was last modified: 03-17-2024, 12:36 AM by Dantalion.)
Dantalion
how the fuck am I supposed to know
"Fuck me yourself, you coward," Danta snaps, trying to strongarm a bit of rock over Asta's smug face just as the other man bursts forth in a tackle that he's certain is a surprise to the both of them. Feeling the air leave his lungs, it's with his chest and throat cramping uncomfortably that he still tries to shove Asta's head into the tar-like dirt, kicking out a leg, tail thrashing like an angry cat.
"We ask before we bite--" he's in the middle of snarling before much louder, much more visceral growling interrupts them, leaving him panting and scowling up at the approaching fyrhunds. "Oh, for fuck's sake," he hisses, trying to push away the teeth so dangerously close to his flesh. "Alright, let's deal with this first."
if we're in love or if we're in pain?
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Horns: Diamond - they look very similar to #2 in this image.
“No.” He snarls, bursting forth in that tackle that truly, amongst the dust and dirt and debris, is closest to resembling a cartoon catfight than anything of actual importance. As does the moment that he’s so close to taking a bite out of the Maverick that he’s even more pissed off at the Fyrhunds for their terribly timed interruption. Especially with the snarl that hits from Dantalion and much to his displeasure, Asta withdraws, not before leaving quite a bit of drool pooled on the other man’s pale arm and maybe the briefest outline of one of his teeth.
He pushes Dantalion away quickly, giving him a glare that’s a bit too feral and bloodthirsty when he says “you know, I’ve always wanted a taste of you.” And without giving a chance for the other Ancient to respond, Asta is shifting himself, changing into a fyrhund not unlike the others they’re about to get jumped on by, but one that nearly seems to glitter with where the fire peaks out from beneath his lava rock exterior.
A split second later and Asta is lunging, teeth bared immediately for the first fyrhund’s throat with an echoed growl.
Astaroth
i'm crazy, i'm crazy, i'm crazy, i'm crazy /// everybody in the world knows i'm a little twisted
"Ew," comes Danta's succinct reply, and it's absolutely due to the drool more than the prospect of being eaten. He doesn't know if he'll manage to wipe his arm off on Astaroth's sleeve before he shifts, but he'll certainly fucking try, before he's scrambling to his feet and dusting himself off in preparation for a new fight. "You couldn't afford a taste of me," he snarks under his breath, despite no one being around to hear it. Anyway.
Whilst his unexpected brother-in-arms takes a similar form to their opponents, Danta opts to remain with his two feet on the ground. Manipulating more fire from the surface of the nearby lava pools, he coaxes it into a blast at one of the fyrhund's faces, hoping to blind and distract it while he darts for higher ground.
if we're in love or if we're in pain?
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Horns: Diamond - they look very similar to #2 in this image.
It’s probably for the best he doesn’t hear it – because when it came to it, Astaroth thinks he absolutely could afford it. But the fact is that Dantalion knows exactly what he means by it – has witnessed it – so the jig is up as soon as it starts. Where’s the fun if it’s expected, after all.
Luckily for them, their fight is put on hold in favor for more pressing matters – because if anyone’s going to kill or seriously maim the Maverick, Astaroth would kill for it to be him. A possessive chaotic streak prevents him from letting anyone else take that away from him. So he launches, fyrhund to fyrhund, and despite being asleep for centuries, he’s still far older than these creatures. So to him, he’s been a canine longer. And with it, a certain air of confidence that works in his favor as he sinks his teeth into the smaller fyrhund’s throat, taking it down and aiming to tear it out with his sharp teeth with a shake of his head.
It only starts to work, causing Asta to chomp down harder, while the fyrhund Dantalion has focused on takes the blast fully in the face, snarling and whimpering at the blazing fire as it does in fact blind it, whining as it starts to pull away and lift a rocky leg to try and brush off whatever happened to its face. It leaves it open completely for another attack from the Maverick.
Astaroth
i'm crazy, i'm crazy, i'm crazy, i'm crazy /// everybody in the world knows i'm a little twisted
Danta doesn't waste any time - whilst two fyrhunds are locked in a battle of who can rip each other's throat out first, the Maverick has climbed atop one of the ledges where a lot of loose rubble is holding a few larger boulders at bay. By the time the blinded creature is able to get its composure back, he's already using a combination of meagre strength, fire manupulation and (let's face it, the most effective of them all) gravity to shift the rockery.
With a final shove of his shoulder it goes tumbling down in a rockslide that, naturally, gains momentum as it falls, and if one of the fyrhunds who just so happens to be Astaroth doesn't get out of the way in time, oh no what a terrible accident and so on. Regardless, it's a touch out of breath and with dirt and blood streaking his hair, face and clothes that Danta straightens up atop the ledge, trying to wave the dust away from his face enough to see.
if we're in love or if we're in pain?
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Horns: Diamond - they look very similar to #2 in this image.
