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!
05-30-2023, 01:59 AM (This post was last modified: 05-30-2023, 03:23 PM by Flora.)
flora
Flora could be quite the busy beaver when she wanted to be. Apparently being humiliated in front of (most) of Torchline was just the kick in the ass the Doubletake needed to pull herself up by her own bootstraps. To try to, anyway, and those straps would be on heels, not boots, thank you very much.
Having absolutely meant what she'd said about Torchline going a bit stale under Hadama's just and kind leadership, Flora decided to see if she couldn't undermine the good King's authority just a bit. If she did her job well enough, he'd never even know she'd been up to anything at all. Though the king likely hadn't meant anything by accepting the results of a democratic vote nor standing silent as Harper berated Flora's family, the Doubletake absolutely took it personally.
So, standing at the bar with various building supplies beneath a blanket (just in case the wrong people should walk in), Flora was currently writing a large "CLOSED FOR RENOVATIONS" sign for the door to ensure that the Hanged Man wouldn't see any customers for the next few hours.
Whatever humiliation Flora may or may not have suffered at the hands of Torchline's leadership (both new and old) was of no concern to George. It was enough for him that she was a pretty face with a penchant for chaos and a desire to get the Hanged Man up and running; Torchline had indeed gotten, in Flora's words, a little stale. Perhaps even a little boring. And that simply wouldn't do for such what was supposed to be such a lively place.
Putting his thieving skills to the test, George slipped into the bar through a back entrance at the appointed day and time, slinking silently past the building supplies in an attempt to sneak up on Flora where she stood at the bar, writing a large 'CLOSED FOR RENOVATIONS' sign. He stepped up behind her, reaching to snag her around the waist as he leaned in, warm breath on her ear as he murmured, "Hello, love."
Jack does not sneak around the back, but his telepathy fizzes with George's intentions as the other man's thoughts come into range. And he and Flora will just be getting cozy when the captain ambles through the batwing doors, Jack tucking away a ledger into his back pocket and swiping a hand back through his damp hair. Where's he been and what's he been up to? Noneya business.
And is he a jealous man, one might ask as he comes across thief and proprietress all alone behind the bar? The answer, of course, is yes, and a petty one too, but there's nothing about Jack to suggest that he couldn't take what he wanted should the need arise for it.
"In your own time," he rumbles to Flora, nodding at the covered supplies and moving to lean against the bar.
you wanted perfect, you got your perfect but now I'm too perfect for someone like you
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Jack being an Abandoned is common knowledge these days, however his Telepathy remains a well-kept secret:
Magic: Passive Telepathy | The user can read the surface thoughts and emotions of those within a 30ft radius. Control is excellent. Note: "Thoughts and emotions" include anything written in a character's narration in a post.
Type: Grey | Rank: Mastered
Also branded with a small star tattoo beneath his left eye.
Without telepathy and far too deep in her own thoughts to be paying attention, Flora nearly jumps out of her own skin as George's hands glide along the exposed skin of her waist. Spinning in his arms, it's with his lips near to her ear that he'll feel her fumble under the bar for something. Realizing who it was just moments before disaster might have struck, George might feel the press of something metallic and quite sharp against his stomach as Flora relaxes. "Hello yourself." With her cheeks flushed from the rush of adrenaline, the Doubletake holds up the feather dagger that she'd pulled out and waggles it warningly. "We haven't even opened yet and already you almost got blood on my floor." She pouts, before glancing over at Jack.
Hoping that George's arms around her would absolutely make the captain jealous, Flora bites down on a grin as she imagines Jack throwing George up against a wall for daring to touch the Doubletake. If the imagery melted into the three of them becoming a tangle of limbs in the back room, so be it. "Always is." Flora trills coyly, before nudging George that she might slip out from behind the bar.
"First thing's first. You-" Flora turns to George. "Are going to make sure that no one else can get in the way you just did." Frowning playfully in the thief's direction, she turns to Jack. "And we are going to install this..bell...thing." So saying, the Doubletake gestures to a little gadget she'd picked up in the market. "When the lock on this door-" The one leading into the Back Room. "-is turned one way, it rings a bell inside to let whoever is back there know that someone who doesn't belong is trying to get in. But when the lock is turned the proper way, it opens smoothly."
The only thing was, Flora had no idea how the pulleys and cables were supposed to be installed. Hopefully, Jack did.
George to seal up whatever entrance he used to get in from the back of the bar!
Flora and Jack to install the early-alarm system!
Flexing like a goddamn acrobat Me and karma vibe like that
"This bell thing," Jack drawls, making sure he's got the very-technical-term correct and rising to stand up. Considering George dismissed - he doesn't know the guy and in Jack's mind that renders him irrelevant to the proceedings - he takes the contraption Flora has acquired and moves to set it down on the bar. As luck would have it, Jack does know how it's meant to be installed, but he has to spend a chunk of time untangling it before they can even begin.
"What'd you do to this thing, try'n wear it?" he complains as he finally gets it into a position where they can install it, stepping around the bar towards the door to the back room. A pinch here and a screw there (wink wink) and the captain thinks he has it. "So to open it without triggerin' the bell, you just lift and press the handle..." Furrowing his brow, he tests it and the door swings open smoothly. "But if you just turn it like any ol' door, well... see for yourself."
Jack installs the door alarm!
you wanted perfect, you got your perfect but now I'm too perfect for someone like you
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Jack being an Abandoned is common knowledge these days, however his Telepathy remains a well-kept secret:
Magic: Passive Telepathy | The user can read the surface thoughts and emotions of those within a 30ft radius. Control is excellent. Note: "Thoughts and emotions" include anything written in a character's narration in a post.
Type: Grey | Rank: Mastered
Also branded with a small star tattoo beneath his left eye.
Rather than being put out by Flora's reaction, George simply grinned down at her. "Impressive," he rumbled. "Teach me to sneak up on you. As a matter of interest, are you expecting to have blood on your floors on the regular?" he asked with a raised eyebrow. Thief, he was. Assassin, he was not. Of course, that didn't mean he couldn't take care of himself; the various knives hidden on his person were a testament to that fact.
Jack's appearance, similarly, did nothing to dampen the thief's mood. Whatever relationship the man may or may not have with Flora was none of George's concern, particularly since his intentions with Flora were entirely flirtatious and nothing more.
As for boarding up the back, that would be easy, though he had to wonder if Flora had really thought it through. It was always helpful, in George's experience, to have multiple ways to exit an establishment - multiple escape routes, as it were - but it was Flora's bar, so he simply shrugged and gathered a few supplies, disappearing down a back hallway to the broken window he'd used to sneak in. It was easy enough to board it up, though he'd have to warn Flora to get it fixed properly. A few boards weren't going to stop anyone who was truly determined to get in.
"I did say I wanted Torchline to be fun again, didn't I?" The Doubletake trills, waggling her eyebrows up at George. "I don't mind if things get a little rough, but I don't want it to be your blood I'm cleaning up. Not before opening night, anyway." She clarifies before turning her attention to her own project.
Looking down at the loose arrangement of wires, Flora flashes Jack a grin and shrugs. "Maaaaaybe." She hums suggestively, idly wondering if the captain was into that whole leather/bondage stuff and if she'd look any good with black cables crisis crossing over her body.
Turning the handle the wrong way had a bell tinkling in the next room. Turning to Jack with a look of unfettered delight on her face, the Doubletake beams. "Is that good enough, do you think? I didn't want it to be too loud, and I know it won't be much of a warning, but.." What Flora actually wanted was a magic door. Open the handle one way, and it's just a room. Open it the other? Boom. Thieves Guild. Unfortunately, Flora was already indebted to both Frey and Safrin just now, and though Ludo would probably have helped with such a tricksy idea, Flora had enough on her plate. So, as long as Jack thought it was fine, it would do for now.
"Geeeeooorrrgeeeee," Flora calls in order to bring the thief back to them. Pushing the door open, the inside room is nothing compared to what it had been under Raza's watch. Cobwebs filled the corners, crates were stacked high in one corner and were filled with preserves instead of valuable plunder, the tunnel which had once led to the governor's house had been caved in after the war, and the entrance to the fingers had collapsed as well. Not to mention everything was covered in a layer of grime.
"First I think we need to pull everything out of here that doesn't belong. Those crates, all that trash...whatever that is." Nosing toward a few bags that absolutely look like they once had bodies in them, Flora wrinkles her nose. 'Ronin started a pile of stuff to be burned outside, so we can just dump it there."
Lets clear some shit out!
Flexing like a goddamn acrobat Me and karma vibe like that
Flora gives unfettered delight; Jack gives well what did you think would happen? Either way, the door-alarm is a success, and the captain nods his agreement at her reasoning. "Even some warnin' is enough to drop what you're doin' or to change the subject of a conversation," he points out. Perhaps they can set up an imaginary poker table in the back room, so at best it just looks as though Flora is playing host to a private bit of gambling.
That's for later, though; sans bell, they head into the back room and it's just as bare and shitty as Jack remembers. Grumbling his acknowledgement of what needs to get done, the captain starts hefting crates back out through the open door and towards the pile of wood and kindling that a certain demigod had started gathering together.
Jack removes the crates!
you wanted perfect, you got your perfect but now I'm too perfect for someone like you
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Jack being an Abandoned is common knowledge these days, however his Telepathy remains a well-kept secret:
Magic: Passive Telepathy | The user can read the surface thoughts and emotions of those within a 30ft radius. Control is excellent. Note: "Thoughts and emotions" include anything written in a character's narration in a post.
Type: Grey | Rank: Mastered
Also branded with a small star tattoo beneath his left eye.
Geeeeooorrrgeeeee, Flora trilled from inside the bar, pulling George back inside (through the front door, this time, now that he'd boarded up his side entrance). He joined the other two in the back room, eyeing the bell that was now set up to warn of any potential intruders. It was a good idea, he had to admit - and he had to agree with Jack, that even a little warning was better than no warning. Any thief worth a damn would be able to cover up what they were doing at short notice, even if only by changing the topic of conversation.
Jack took the crates, leaving the piles of trash and bags; with a shrug, George picked up one of the old bags that smelled suspiciously of old blood and began to stuff trash inside the makeshift trash bag. When one was full, he carried it out to the burn pile that had been started before coming back in and repeating the process, until the back room was eventually cleared of trash and debris.
Whereas previously Flora might have dragged any idiot off the street to help her complete her task, for once Flora would be doing the heavy lifting herself. Or, the heavy sweeping, at least. So, armed with a few bags and a broom, the Doubletake began to tackle the cobwebs in the corners of the room, both high and low. It was shocking just how quickly she filled bag after bag with dust and random debris, such that by the time she was finished Flora was fairly certain the air quality in the room had been purified tenfold.
"Drink break?" Flora suggests, wiping her hands on her shorts and frowning at the blisters forming on the soft skin of her palms. Disappearing only to reappear with three frosted glasses of beer (Sugar, Ronin's dragon was also more or less under her employ so long as she bribed the frost dragon with raw meat).
Exhaliong and leaning against the wall with a thud, Flora looks around. "I don't know if it's worth digging out that tunnel, honestly." She says toward the hole in the floor. "No one has lived in the Governor's house since my dad. Might be a good escape route, but maybe for another day?" Turning her attention to the back corner of the room where boulders had fallen in Flora considers. "If we open that back up...I think the water from the Fingers will spring through again. That'll let the merfolk in and give us a way to slip in and out."
Time to either be clever or just use brute force. There are plenty of openings to the Fingers around, and once there was one here, but it has collapsed. So we need to move the boulders and make sure that when the water from the canals flows back in, it doesn't flood the place.
Flexing like a goddamn acrobat Me and karma vibe like that
Accepting the beer with a hum of thanks - and it's as much thanks as anyone is liable to get from Jack, let's be honest - the captain stands in the empty back room and sips at his drink as he considers the entrance to Rae's Fingers, currently nothing more than a mismatch of fallen boulders.
"Use the rocks as a divide between the room an' the canal," he says. "Once we pull 'em out, anyway. Leave the water to me - I'll hold it at bay while we move shit around, and I'll keep it controlled in case there's a flood." This, of course, means that the captain will be conveniently unavailable for the rest of the grunt work, but hey, that's what you get for needing to concentrate on your magical powers.
So saying, Jack busies himself with getting a cigarette lit, seemingly doing absolutely nothing, but hey, you don't see any water, do you?"
Jack offers to hold the water at bay/guide it to test for flooding with his magic, and to use the boulders as a divider once they've been removed.
Water manipulation: Can create and control water. Must be within a 30ft radius.
Type: Light | Rank: Mastered
you wanted perfect, you got your perfect but now I'm too perfect for someone like you
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Jack being an Abandoned is common knowledge these days, however his Telepathy remains a well-kept secret:
Magic: Passive Telepathy | The user can read the surface thoughts and emotions of those within a 30ft radius. Control is excellent. Note: "Thoughts and emotions" include anything written in a character's narration in a post.
Type: Grey | Rank: Mastered
Also branded with a small star tattoo beneath his left eye.
"Thanks, love," said George, accepting the beer and taking a sip as he listened for Flora's next instructions. Now, he, personally, would have said the more escape routes, the better - he'd seen one too many shitstorms go down because a place didn't have enough exits - but he supposed that the exit to the Fingers would be enough for the time being.
He took another swig of his beer before setting it aside, prepared to get to work to haul out some of the boulders. Jack's idea was a good one, and George nodded his agreement. Never one to shy away from a little manual labor, he got to work with the boulders, grunting with effort as he pushed the larger boulders out of the way, building a makeshift dam around the entrance so that if and when water came through, it would hopefully stop at the rocks.
------
George starts moving boulders and building a wall.
Flora, who was very good at overseeing things, was utterly delighted to see how well Jack and George were able to implement her plans. Though she did help George move a few of the smaller stones, for the most part she shouted instructions and fetched drinks and did all the things one would expect Flora to do in a fairly muscle-heavy situation like this. She also considered if she should get herself a companion and if so, what sort of dragon it should be.
Hopefully, George isn't wearing shoes he's particularly fond of, because as he moves the boulders water begins to seep up through the ground. It isn't a flood yet, and hopefully with Jack nearby it will stay that way. Creating a dam on one side is a clever idea, but all too quickly the Doubletake realizes that if there's no where for the water to go, she'll need Jack to hold it indefinitely.
Shit.
"Uh, you don't have any earth magic, do you mon capitaine?" Flora asks hopefully. If not, she supposes that rather than a canal running through perhaps they can just create some sort of pool instead?
Hmm, there's a clear way for the water to get in to the thieves guild, but now it can't get out. Do we make another exit? Or just let it serve as a small pool?
Flexing like a goddamn acrobat Me and karma vibe like that
What focus he has that isn't on holding the water at bay, Jack puts to use in sipping at his drink and perusing George and Flora's thoughts in the same way one might read a magazine in a waiting room. Only when the water begins to surge enough to require real concentration does he withdraw his sticky fingers from their minds, glancing at the potential flood lapping at the thief's shoes.
"I'm a sailor," he replies to Flora, as if the answer to that question ought to have been obvious. "I s'pose if we just make sure the area behind the dam slopes down, it'll act as a landing area for small boats in the Fingers when the tide is up." And yes, an escape route when it's down.
Either way, he's got nothing on offer to help make that slope happen, unless they expect him to huff and puff and blow the house in a la air magic.
Jack ponders.
you wanted perfect, you got your perfect but now I'm too perfect for someone like you
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Jack being an Abandoned is common knowledge these days, however his Telepathy remains a well-kept secret:
Magic: Passive Telepathy | The user can read the surface thoughts and emotions of those within a 30ft radius. Control is excellent. Note: "Thoughts and emotions" include anything written in a character's narration in a post.
Type: Grey | Rank: Mastered
Also branded with a small star tattoo beneath his left eye.
