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!
cover your crystal eyes and let your colors bleed and blend with mine
Lily still wears the flower crown Deimos tossed to her, having taken a moment of rest to braid her hair around it, securing it in place for all the dancing (yes, there’s more!) she was going to do. Having sampled the wares from the stalls and found sweet honeycomb and fried Magna Vermis skewers (whatever those are - she hadn’t asked because it was fucking delicious), as well as fragrant, herby flatbread and refreshing ale, Lily is almost ready to resume her twirling and bouncing around. After a rest to enable proper digestion, of course.
The music calls her, but oh, so does the warmth of Flowerbirth! She turns her head towards the sun and inhales deeply, spreading her arms wide to welcome its rays on her perpetually pale skin. Torn between a Vitamin-D starved body and a musically-starved soul, Lily tries to satisfy both wants by staying there, but watching like a hawk for a prospective partner.
Lucas had promised himself he would not partake in any of the bullshit that was this festival. There was a whole world out there to explore, and he felt as though everyone - his fellow Ascended included - seemed to have forgotten that. Then, of course, the sun had dipped down low and he heard the music and saw the lights that reminded him of so many city skylines, and before he knew it his feet were taking him towards the source.
In the balmy Flowerbirth night he wore only a shirt and trousers, his fair hair attractively ruffled and a gleam in his eyes that spoke more of hunger than it did of wanting to have a good time. Still, at the sight of Lily on the sidelines instead of dancing, he couldn't help but shake his head. "Surely not," he purred as he sidled up beside her, offering his hand.
"I'll not stand by and let the opportunity to see you dance slip away. May I have this one?"
oh, cover your crystal eyes and let your colors bleed and blend with mine
She’d managed couple of partners in between her initial search and Lucas’s appearance. But there she is, sitting down, still slightly flushed and glistening with sweat, which the cool breeze is quickly wicking away. Her hair has a thousand flyaways - the joyful exertion of the day - the music, the food! - lives in the lines of her skin and the slight chuckle of her exhale.
But then Lucas sidles towards her, and his own words of warning echo in her ear. She looks up at him through thick lashes, thinking quite wickedly, for a moment, that she could say no. Refuse his purr and ruffled hair, deny his hand around her waist, or back, or in her hair...
Ah, but where’s the fun in that?
Lily reaches up to takes the offered hand. “I’m on to you, Luc,” she says with a raise of her eyebrows. “You may.” Ever so gracious, isn’t she? But as Lily turns to go back to the dance floor, the lively music comes to an end and is replaced by a slower song. Something meant for the couples out there. The crowded dance floor empties of all but a few pairs, and she looks over at her dance partner with slight hesitation.
They’ve seen each other naked. What’s one slow dance?
"Well I'm glad someone is. This place gets terribly boring when nobody can see right through me." Lucas flashed Lily a sharp smile that bared his fangs, his long fingers curling around her hand to help her to her feet. He led her out among the rest of the dancers just as the music began to slow, and Lily's hesitation earned a throaty chuckle from her dance partner.
"At least you won't get out of breath. Not from the dancing anyway." Winking, he would give her a graceful twirl if she allowed, before drawing her close against him to sway with the music.
A hand slid around her waist, enjoying the perfect hourglass of her curves, the other entwining with her fingers to lead them further into the throng of couples enjoying themselves.
oh, cover your crystal eyes and let your colors bleed and blend with mine
“Boring is utterly unacceptable,” she declares both to Lucas and the air with a twinkle in her eyes, feeling rather as if she is onto something, thoroughly regarding that feeling of being at the center of his world with a full dose a half of skepticism. Enjoy the attention for what it is, she tells herself, even though a flash of fangs sends a tiny thrill through her belly.
And then she twists, gracefully twirling under his arm with a flash of red hair and a delighted little trill. “Cute,” she says once they’re pressed against each other, “considering you don’t even need to breathe.” For a couple of moments, she’s silent, allowing the music and his strong arms and the steps to sweep her away until a positively wicked thought slips into her head.
So she leans forward, closing the gap between their heads - but ah, no, not for a kiss! Summoning her most sultry-sweet voice, the vixen whispers into his ear, “But that’s why the ladies like you, isn’t it? Your tongue never needs to stop...”
Lucas could not agree more, which was why they found themselves in this wonderful position to begin with. Still, cute was not a word he had expected to be attached to him, no less by the woman in his arms, and he laughed under his breath as Lily's meaning became clear. "I might not need to, but your chest might get all a-flutter if we dance for too long without stopping for a break," he murmured, giving weight to the word dance that suggested he was not only speaking of the act they were currently performing.
It seemed the graceful temptress knew exactly what he was talking about, however, his arm curling around her further as she leant in close to him, her lips pressing against the shell of his ear. To any other, it might have looked like some beautifully intimate embrace, were it not for the wicked glint that Lily's words ignited in Lucas's eyes.
"Oh, pet. You have no idea," he whispered back, leaning down to press his lips against the soft column of her neck, fangs not quite grazing the skin.
oh, cover your crystal eyes and let your colors bleed and blend with mine
“You might be surprised at my stamina,” she retorts with an little hmph at the end, a little bit of an impetuous (no, they call grown women defiant now, not bratty), defiant teasing implying that she’d taken offense to his words. It’s not true, of course, but Lily is quite eager to coax more pretty words from him, to make him play the part of the rascally gentleman, at least while he’s around her.
But she’s playing with another kind of fire entirely; not the red hot ones she’s used to handling, no. The cold, ice-blue ones from the lower circles of Hell. Her breath hitches ever so slightly as his lips graze her neck, heart shot through with both adrenaline and dopamine. Her eyes flutter shut for a moment as her neck yields under his mouth, stretching to give Lucas room to kiss its pale, graceful length.
“Enlighten me,” she demands softly, before pulling herself away from their intimate embrace and stepping back to twirl under his arm again. And when she’s face-to-face with the devil again, one of her eyebrows arches while a corner of her mouth twists upward into an enchantingly devious smirk.
"Might I? I look forward to the surprise," he murmured, his voice soft given their close proximity, laced with mischief and dark promises. Her defiance was as attractive as the rest of her, Lucas thoroughly enjoying this game of cat and mouse.
The way she yielded to him, allowing him to drop teasing kisses along her neck that could have been so much more, to the way she danced back and under his arm in a playful reminder of this dance of theirs... his smile was wicked, but his thoughts were worse.
Drawing her back close with a strong arm, the other curling about her waist again so he could lift and gracefully twirl her in time with the music, Lucas arched a challenging brow. "Here?" He purred. "My dear, you are quite the vixen, did you know that?"
oh, cover your crystal eyes and let your colors bleed and blend with mine
“Well,” Lily finally concedes with a quick glance around. “Maybe not here. There are children around, after all.” She chuckles a little bit, thinking that while she, personally, wouldn’t mind a little exhibtionism, others may not be so keen on watching them. And everyone has to grow up at some point.
She is visibly hesitant for a moment, but then seems to settle and gaze up at Lucas with a surprisingly shy and lustful look in her eyes. A throaty whisper drifts towards him, asking a simple, but loaded question, full of promise and trepidation. “Want to go back to my place?”
Balls, it’s so different when she actually likes the person. So stupidly scary. So vulnerable. Ugh. She hates the feeling. With a passion.
Let them watch danced upon Lucas's tongue, but he just about managed not to say it out loud. He twirled them to a lazy stop in time with the music, arching an eyebrow at the look in Lily's eyes as if trying to decide what it meant. Either way, it caused heat to kindle low in his belly, the sort that his Ascension made impossible to enjoy properly. Thankfully there were ways to remedy that, and the fanged smile he gave in response to her question said it all.
"My dear, I thought you'd never ask," he said softly, his arm lacing around her waist to gently guide her out of the throng of people - a good thing, too, because the music started to pick up again as they left, and all of a sudden Lucas didn't feel like dancing at all.
