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!
it’s tough to be a dreamer when they don’t come true Feels like your blossoming is overdue
It's a belated compliment from Sohalia he doesn't expect, and he clears his throat awkwardly beneath a smile that comes off pleased against his will. "Who am I to say my adoring fans are wrong?" It's easier to be playful with her these days, sarcastic and teasing in ways he'd only ever felt comfortable displaying with Sohalia and Noe. And...well, Koa.
Nudging her back with a laugh, Jude wrinkles his nose at her sideways and plops another rock a little too close to her toes in payback. "I'd say we can seal the deal. Friends, for sure." And if it fills a sad hollow spot in his chest at least she can't see it and take back her judgment immediately.
Frowning, Jude shakes his head in a terse motion that has his curls bobbing. "No. I last saw Koa at Molly's," and he realizes that may be way too much information and soldiers on overly fast, "but I was uh. Kinda tipsy. And Sohalia and I had gotten into a huge fight post-breakup, so..." One slim shoulder shrugs awkwardly. "Ronin told me I should write her a letter though." Not that he expects it will be answered, leaving him with sum nada in terms of information to give Flora.
- - -
Keeps on keepin' on!
Well there ain’t no use in crying, darling Or so they say
karma's a relaxing thought, aren't you envious that for you it's not?
With two rocks held up against his chest like a new pair of tits he's taking for a test drive, one of Torchline's more notorious thieves eyes Jack with appropriate wariness as he (literally) storms back down the rise. "Err—" He bleets helpfully, swallowing, while quickly weighing his options. "Ain't no harm meant Jack. Just thought they were rocks and.." Laughing nervously, he drops one back onto the sand. "..y'know, who gives a fuck 'bout rocks, right?"
Gasping theatrically, Flora leaps out of the way of the dropped stone as if it had been a boulder in Jude 's hand instead. Too busy laughing at her own drama to notice any signs that perhaps this throwaway comment of them being friends illuminates something in her near-cousin he'd rather have left dark, it's with a bright smile that the Doubletake acknowledges their new status as friends with a stern nod of her head.
"Huh..." Frowning, the mirth washes from Flora's features as she tries to remember when last she saw the soldier. "Yeah he wrote me a letter, like, right after I became queen saying we should hang out, and then..." Well, and then nada. "I figured I hadn't heard from either of them because of, you know, the fuckery going on."
But maybe it wasn't that at all?
"Should we be worried do you think?"
Round 5! Over halfway! Maybe one day we'll be done!
Appropriately glowering at the idiot holding his titty-rocks, Jack gives a slow tilt of his head and gestures back to the icy trail and the sack of more rocks in the near distance. "Clearly," he rumbles, "I care. Ain't haulin' these around for the good of my fuckin' health."
Letting the wind die down around him - but not entirely dismissing the idea of using a strong gale to blow the idiot off Rae's Fingers entirely - the captain inhales a deep breath and lets it out again.
"Put 'em down," he repeats. "Where you found 'em. Then come with me. If you're gonna be fuckin' around up here, may as well make yourself useful."
Jack tells the idiots to put the rocks down - and then recruits them to help him with his task.
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.
it’s tough to be a dreamer when they don’t come true Feels like your blossoming is overdue
Flora's theatrics make Jude grin broadly, dimples popping immediately. Good gods, is this the benefit of hanging out with people his own age? He thought it was just a Noe-and-Sohalia thing, but clearly three times is a pattern. Worrying, therefore, is a bit of a bummer given his light mood but he stifles his smile for the sake of the topic all the same as he places another few stones.
"I mean...I hate to say it, but yeah probably? They're both extroverts; both of them not writing you, especially after Koa said he'd visit, is really out of character." Jude's skin prickles slightly at the continued mention of Koa, and he eyes Flora for a moment out of the side of his eye. Gorgeous, confident, blonde. Clearly whatever had happened between him and Koa at Molly's was a fluke; Jude is nowhere near his normal type. "I usually just show up unannounced and poke around," he admits, wondering if they should be a tad more politically nuanced than that this time around.
- - -
Jude drops more stones!
Well there ain’t no use in crying, darling Or so they say
karma's a relaxing thought, aren't you envious that for you it's not?
"Thought maybe was just some new kinda exercise." The thief mewls, dropping his titty stones instantly and nearly breaking his own toe in so doing. "Oh, er, I uh—" Failing to think up an excuse that might appropriate withstand the storm in the captain's eyes, the thief grinned a smile missing several teeth. "Ya sure. Always happy t'help out. That's me."
Congrats Jack! You've got yourself a helper! Better keep an eye on him though, he doesn't seem terribly reliable.
"Yeah...or..." Exhaling, her expression suddenly quite sour, Flora raises her eyebrows as she glances at Jude over her shoulder. For all of her big talk about being able to lead a region (and, you know, so far she hadn't done the worst job), she was just a girl at the end of the day. One with complicated Taylor Swiftesque feelings). "Maybe they ran off together. Figured they'd skip out on the drama their relationship would cause."
Dropping a rock and nudging it into place with her foot, Flora patted their trusty pony. "He and I had a thing, but...I backed off when Soh said she did too." The queen explains with a small shrug.
it’s tough to be a dreamer when they don’t come true Feels like your blossoming is overdue
Jude's guileless face sours right alongside hers, vainly trying to tilt his head to the horizon that extends before them as if it could possibly conceal the knee-jerk reaction to that idea. The problem is he's stopped being able to figure out which individual in the equation hurts the most to envision.
"Um...same?" Jude drops another stone and wrestles with the sudden feeling of being stupid and naive. Had they all just been tangling each other up in knots this entire time? What had been real? "Definitely less than either of you had I'm sure." And no he's not bitter but whatever it is he's feeling tastes similarly in the back of his throat as he swallows it down in favor of minimizing any competition he might have posed as if it will somehow spare Flora's feelings. "So you might be right. But I just can't shake the feeling that Sohalia still wouldn't do that. Especially not to you." A friend who hadn't burned bridges the way Jude had. He looks askance to hide the sudden mean twist to his face. "She's too concerned with pleasing everyone. Do you really think she'd drop everyone and everything without a word to any of us?" Jude isn't sure he knew her nearly as well as he thought he did or he would answer it himself.
Well there ain’t no use in crying, darling Or so they say
"Uh huh," Jack drawls, watching his new helper with a stare that suggests he's still not entirely sure whether he's worth leaving alive, before grumbling and moving to reset the titty stones exactly how he'd had them before. "Aight, with me," he commands, gesturing for the idiot to fall into step with him - and then to walk ahead of him, so Jack can make sure he's not doing anything stupid unattended.
Once they make it back to his sack of stones and the continuing route around Rae's fingers, he instructs his helper to take over sack holding duty (har har har). And so, having roped the thief into possibly the most unlikely adventure of his life, the captain continues on his way.
Jack carries on! He makes the helper carry the bag of stones and walk in front of him so he can't fuck anything up too badly.
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.
karma's a relaxing thought, aren't you envious that for you it's not?
"Wait, what?" Flora's jaw drops, both out of shock and amazement as much as a teeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeny bit of jealousy. "I...wow. I had no idea." Not that she minded whatever sexual orientations were being experimented, but not unlike Jude, she felt more blindsided that they'd all apparently been fucking around with each other without knowing it. "Oh, I doubt that." Rolling her eyes, the queen swallows. There's a crimson streak of colour racing across her nose, and perhaps in defiance of the feeling of shame that's fluttering in her stomach, she clears her throat and decides to tell her new BFF everything.
"Koa was my first, so like, we all know that's kind of a big thing. But then that night he snuck out of my bedroom window and fucked off." Indignant, Flora throws down one of their rocks, before kicking it carelessly into place. "Every since its just been sex here and there but it always kind of feels like it's going to be something?" Only it never is.
"No, but I think Koa could convince her too." She mumbles. "I mean, it's a good line, right? Following her heart, not caring what other people say, putting her needs first, blah blah blah." It was the sort of thing she thought someone like Soh, who was already so bound up by her own thoughts, would happily run with for a while.
"Oi Jack, how much fur'ver we got? I think I'm gettin' a bit o' heat stroke from all of this." The thief protested, glancing pleadingly over his shoulder. "Ain't we put down enough rocks yet?"
Now, Jack was high enough that he could either listen to the whining of his helper so that he didn't have to carry the stones for himself, or he could just yet him over the side of the upper city.
"We're goin' all around Haulani," Jack rumbles, having picked up a sprig of sweet grass to chew on as they walk, keeping a breeze about himself so he doesn't get heat stroke. "You sayin' you're tired of my good company?" With eyebrows softly raised, Jack hefts a few more handfuls of stones from the back and continues to set them down, methodical in his distances. "A man could take offence to that."
Nodding towards where the world suddenly ended in a plummet over the side of the upper city, he offers his helper a choice. "You could always go back to the beach," he says. And if the words are softly threatening, Jack will never tell. "Or you can suck it up an' keep goin'."
Jack takes Option 3 and tells his helper to keep fucking walking, or to yeet himself over the side.
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.
