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!
gladiator, picked a fight with the gods, i'm a giant slayer
Tower again. Hungover again. Try as he might, Ronin can't seem to scratch that itch that being around his, y'know, loving and perfect husband and son provides. And he's working on it, he swears, but pulling petals off flowers to see what madness falls out takes it out of you. And it takes it out of all of your equipment too, apparently. The Star has arrived at the Tower to see someone named the Hammer (he's already made many innuendos about it, but rest assured, there will likely be more), a bag slung over his back containing broken swords, of all things.
All training weapons, it doesn't look as though they were well looked after even before Ronin's arrival, and now they're just brittle and rusted and... shit, basically. So he wants to make something better for these would-be Dragoons. And here he is, ducking into a workshop and squinting at the heat. "Hello?" he calls, praying that there won't be any actual hammering to add to his headache, but feeling like it's a lost cause given the namesake of the person he's come to see.
bone shaker, dominator, freight train, wreckin' ball, i'm the gladiator
12-10-2020, 09:24 PM (This post was last modified: 12-10-2020, 09:25 PM by Luciana.)
Luciana
cause it makes me that much stronger makes me work a little bit harder
Luciana couldn't care less about headaches, even when someone as handsome as Ronin was suffering from them. There was indeed hammering coming from her workshop: she held a long and thin rod and was pounding the end of it into a tapered point. When the unknown voice called out she yelled back to be heard over the banging (no, not that kind). "A moment!"
Sawing the red hot end of the rod, she made a right angle. Then she twisted it sharply, breaking off a bit. A few more swings of her hammer and she had herself a nail. Putting the rod back into the fire to heat, she turned to face her visitor.
Her eyes swept over him. "You're one of those demi-gods," she finally declared. Grunting, she jerked her chin at the bag he held. "What do you need?" She was already pulling off the gloves she wore and stepping towards him.
it makes me that much wiser so thanks for making me a fighter
gladiator, picked a fight with the gods, i'm a giant slayer
The hammer blows ring through his head like a bell, and Ronin doesn't bother to hide his groan (it'll be lost in the clamour anyway). He's wincing as he watches the Hammer work, and if he's surprised to find a relatively small woman in place of someone more typically befitting her sort of title, he doesn't show it. Ronin, in fact, is used to seeing all sorts of power come in all sorts of packages, and so he gives Luciana the respect he knows she deserves.
Still, that doesn't make him any less Ronin about it. As she greets him as one of those demi-gods, he makes a show of looking over his shoulder, like he's trying to find who she's talking about. Then, with a lopsided smile, he shrugs off the bag and reaches inside, drawing out a broken sword. "Dragoons left these out to rust. Any chance you could fix them up?"
bone shaker, dominator, freight train, wreckin' ball, i'm the gladiator
cause it makes me that much stronger makes me work a little bit harder
Scowling at the man's antics, Luciana narrowed her eyes as he explained the problem. Taking the sword, she inspected it, swearing when she the rust on it. "Those fuckers," she growled. Turning the blade this way and that, she finally groaned and set it down in a corner.
"No, I can't. Once it's rusted like that there will always be a weak point in the blade." She grabbed at the sack with the rest of the weapons. Pressing her lips together when she saw they were all in a similarly damaged state, she grunted as she heaved it into the corner as well. "What I can do is make new swords, and melt the old ones down for scrap."
Snagging a piece of paper, she started jotting notes down on it. "When do you need them by?" Then she glanced up and frowned at him. "Are you a member of the Dragoons, then?" Her fingers tapped the table as she waited for his responses.
it makes me that much wiser so thanks for making me a fighter
gladiator, picked a fight with the gods, i'm a giant slayer
"It was an honest mistake," Ronin says in defence of the Dragoons. Probably, anyway. That sort of rust didn't happen in the short amount of time he's been in Stormbreak, but it's more than likely that they were forgotten by accident. Nodding to hear that new will have to do, he passes the rest of the blades across to her. "I'll make sure they're kept in good order," he assures her.
As for when they are needed? "The sooner, the better, but it's not urgent. They can cope for long enough that the work is worth it," he says after a moment of consideration. "And yes, I suppose I am now. I'm Ronin," he introduces, tucking his hands into his pockets now they're unburdened. "I hope this won't interrupt any projects you might have going on."
bone shaker, dominator, freight train, wreckin' ball, i'm the gladiator
12-14-2020, 06:53 PM (This post was last modified: 12-14-2020, 06:53 PM by Luciana.)
Luciana
cause it makes me that much stronger makes me work a little bit harder
Luciana grunted at Ronin's defense of the Dragoon's. "I thought you soldier types were supposed to be all about maintenance," she muttered. Nodding at his assurance that he'd take better care of the next set, she narrowed her eyes at him. "You do that." Sighing, she shook her head at the damaged weapons in the corner before dismissing them.
Jotting down a last few notes, she set the order aside in a pile of similar looking papers. They were strewn haphazardly around her desk. "Luciana." Returning to her forge, she slid her gloves on. "I've always got projects going on. I imagine it's much the same for you." Pausing, she glanced over at him. "Don't worry, you'll get your weapons in due time."
Lifting her hammer again, she grabbed the unheated end of the rod. Before she started working on it she grimaced. "Since you're here already, do you need anything from me personally? Weapons, armor, equipment, tools?" She turned to face him again, careful to leave her iron in the fire.
it makes me that much wiser so thanks for making me a fighter
gladiator, picked a fight with the gods, i'm a giant slayer
"Bit presumptuous of you, to tar us all with the same brush," Ronin murmurs with a small smile, shrugging his shoulders. "I'm sure a lot of soldier types are about maintenance. Some are about killing. Some are about healing." Ronin is about... is about... honestly, he's not sure he knows anymore. "Nice to meet you. And... yes, I suppose it is." Except not really - he's searching, endlessly, for projects and things to do. No direction, no nothing; hence why he's here.
Glancing up in time to see Luciana move back to her forge, Ronin watches with open curiosity as she gets to work. The light casts him in a ruddy glow; he steps foward a little, careful not to get too close. "Armour?" he asks, never having considered that before. "...What kind do you make? I figured you'd only be a weaponsmith."
bone shaker, dominator, freight train, wreckin' ball, i'm the gladiator
cause it makes me that much stronger makes me work a little bit harder
Luciana grunted at Ronin's complaint. "So you're not into maintenance? Then why should I release my weapons to you." Putting one hand on her hip, she tapped a foot and just stared at him. Her eyes narrowed at his introduction. "You...suppose?" Snorting, she shook her head.
She looked at him. Then at the forge. Then back at him. "Metal." Bringing the hammer down onto the rod, she began to flatten it out, leaving a point on one end. "But if you want leather or cloth, I can have the other craftspeople work on that for you." Bringing the end of the rod up to a saw, she made a cut. Bending it, she twisted, leaving a small piece of metal on the anvil.
The rod went back into the fire. Gripping the small metal in gloved hands, she hit the non-pointed, sliced end of it, making a flat head. She tossed the nail into a bucket at her feet, letting that respond to his unspoken question about what she made other than weapons as well.
it makes me that much wiser so thanks for making me a fighter
gladiator, picked a fight with the gods, i'm a giant slayer
"If I wasn't into maintenance, then I wouldn't be here with these old swords," Ronin points out, figuring that would serve as a better answer than any kind of justification she might be seeking from him. "And yes. I suppose. I was sent to Stormbreak without any idea regarding what I'm actually doing here, so any work I create is on my own orders." Sometimes it's projects, sometimes it's drinking at noon. Go figure.
They both look at the forge and then back at each other, and Ronin gives a slow tilt of his head. "I figured that much," he says slowly. "Chest plates, shields, bracers, greaves, pauldrons - what's your speciality? I need to be mobile in combat, but I think I can handle metal armour these days. Anything to protect my arms and hands would be ideal."
bone shaker, dominator, freight train, wreckin' ball, i'm the gladiator
cause it makes me that much stronger makes me work a little bit harder
Nodding at Ronin's comment, Luciana glanced at the damaged weapons in question. She pressed her lips together as she once more took in their sorry state. "Fair enough." Putting her rod back in the fire, she cleared her throat. "Well if you're ever looking for something to do I could always use another pair of hands in the forge." She made the offer without looking at him or gauging his reaction.
"If I can't make it myself I can pass it along to someone who can." She wasn't technically the head of the artisan's and craftspeople, but she knew most of them and they knew her orders should be prioritized. Jotting down notes, she hummed. "Bracers and gauntlets then. Would you like spikes on the gauntlets?"
it makes me that much wiser so thanks for making me a fighter
gladiator, picked a fight with the gods, i'm a giant slayer
Ronin is an open book a lot of the time, so his reaction is obvious (if Luciana were looking, of course). He almost lights up literally, such is the excitement for having something to actually do, and the smile that spreads across his face takes years away from his expression. "You know, I would quite enjoy that," he says to her. "Even if it's just hauling materials around, I'm sure I can make myself useful." He won't even burn himself... much.
Bracers and gauntlets, then. Ronin nods, remembering the leather equivalents from his time in the Storm Guard. Back when the idea of adding weight to his fists was foolhardy, given how much endurance it would take. But now? It damned near seems logical. "No spikes, I don't think. Just a very good fit. Do you need to take any measurements?"
bone shaker, dominator, freight train, wreckin' ball, i'm the gladiator
