What do you get when two ruthless assassins raise their daughter travelling through the wildest reaches of Caido? Take one look at Theea and you'll get a pretty good idea. Cheerful and tenacious in equal measure, and curious beyond all else, she began her journey on a mission to find those her mother once called family. And find them she did, soon rubbing elbows with demigods, leaders and even ghosts from the past. Her determination is resolute, her thirst for knowledge unmatched. We can't wait to see where her next adventure takes her!
Congratulations, Theea!
Credits
Court of the Fallen was created in October of 2018 by Odd, Honey, and Crooked.
OG Skinning provided by Kaons, with functionality and many custom plugins made by Neowulf!
Sunlit Shadows (mastered) | The user can read the surface thoughts and emotions of those within a 60ft radius. Control is excellent. Note: "Thoughts and emotions" include anything written in a character's narration in a post.
Type: Grey | Style: Offensive | Level: Mastered
Deadly Recall | Can recall 1, or 2, or 3 of her feathers to her hand, within a range of 30ft. Recalled daggers do 1/2 damage when recalled.
Rescue (Mastered) | Remi can bring a fellow Old God demigod to his side in a time of crisis for three concurrent posts. One use per thread. If the summoned demigod also has mastered this ability, they can remain until the end of the thread.
When last Flora had been in this place, there had been a number of dinosaur bones come to life, engaged in a game of what appeared to be football, only the ball they were using ended up being a thing of significant power. Now, if you thought that was the most interesting thing that had happened, you'd be wrong, because amidst all the chaos, an Ancient called Maea went and accidentally killed herself, forcing Flora into one of the most bizarre acts of heroism that she'd ever faced. Obviously she'd brought Maea back to Ronin to be revived, but given how little the queen liked the pale ancient, and the fact that it was her own stupidity which had gotten her killed, it had never really sat well with Flora.
Perhaps that explained why it was the queen was out here to begin with, with a bone in each hand, pacing around the shrine and muttering to herself. The sky had been the shade of a plum when she's first began, though now it was growing more and more bruised with pinpoints of starlight peeping through.
'Cause I'm a real tough kid, I can handle my shit
They said, "Babe, you gotta fake it 'til you make it" and I did
Hak Etme was, by far, the worst place Rhiannon had ever been.
(Not, of course, that that was saying much. She hadn't been very many places yet.)
The Boneyard, as this particular area was called, was a sandy graveyard accented by dunes and bones and death. It was also hot, even in Leafchange, particularly in comparison to Rhi's tundra home. One thing was for sure: she wasn't keen on returning any time soon.
There wasn't a soul around - except, strangely enough, a single young woman with hair as gold as the sand she paced on. When Rhi noticed the stranger muttering to herself, she considered turning around and going back the way she'd come. But what if the woman needed help? What if she was stranded? It was getting late, and however warm the desert had been during the day, the night was sure to be brutally cold. The soldier in Rhiannon wouldn't allow her to leave someone in need, so she sighed heavily to herself and made her way closer to the blonde.
"Hey, uh - are you okay?"
No one likes a mad woman What a shame she went mad
Sunlit Shadows (mastered) | The user can read the surface thoughts and emotions of those within a 60ft radius. Control is excellent. Note: "Thoughts and emotions" include anything written in a character's narration in a post.
Type: Grey | Style: Offensive | Level: Mastered
Deadly Recall | Can recall 1, or 2, or 3 of her feathers to her hand, within a range of 30ft. Recalled daggers do 1/2 damage when recalled.
Rescue (Mastered) | Remi can bring a fellow Old God demigod to his side in a time of crisis for three concurrent posts. One use per thread. If the summoned demigod also has mastered this ability, they can remain until the end of the thread.
For a moment Flora thought that perhaps the bones around her had once again come alive, such that as she spun around to face Rhiannon, it was with the femurs she was holding held out as if to ward something off. Relief soothes away the tightness around the queen's eyes and it's with a visible sigh of relief that she lets her arms flop back to her sides. A woman she could deal with. She had daggers and invisibility and if it came to it, a whole host of demigods to call down. But a bone monster? That was a bit more tricky.
"Sorry, I thought you were one of those skeletons that came to life." She titters pleasantly enough, flashing Rhi a bright smile. "Have you ever been around when that happens? It's wild." Flora adds with a soft shrug before turning back to the shrine and using one of the femurs to etch a few stars into the sun-bleached stone.
'Cause I'm a real tough kid, I can handle my shit
They said, "Babe, you gotta fake it 'til you make it" and I did
At the mention of skeletons coming to life, Rhiannon raised an eyebrow, interest sparking in her eyes. Not that she wanted to see something like that, of course - but it was an interesting tidbit about the area that she hadn't known before. Maybe she should do a bit more research about an area before choosing it to explore.
"Can't say I have," she replied, tossing her braids over her shoulder. "But it sounds... interesting?" It would surely be a test of whoever happened to be around, and Rhi was all about challenging herself.
Rhi took a moment, noting that the stranger hadn't exactly answered her question, but she wasn't about to ask again. If the woman needed help, then surely she would have responded in the affirmative. Perhaps Rhi should just... leave her be. But as she began drawing stars into stone using the bones in her hands, Rhi's brows knitted and she cocked her head in confusion. She couldn't help herself as she asked, "What are you doing?" Defiling a shrine seemed like a weird way to get a god's attention, but hey, whatever works?
No one likes a mad woman What a shame she went mad
Sunlit Shadows (mastered) | The user can read the surface thoughts and emotions of those within a 60ft radius. Control is excellent. Note: "Thoughts and emotions" include anything written in a character's narration in a post.
Type: Grey | Style: Offensive | Level: Mastered
Deadly Recall | Can recall 1, or 2, or 3 of her feathers to her hand, within a range of 30ft. Recalled daggers do 1/2 damage when recalled.
Rescue (Mastered) | Remi can bring a fellow Old God demigod to his side in a time of crisis for three concurrent posts. One use per thread. If the summoned demigod also has mastered this ability, they can remain until the end of the thread.
"No? Well its happened 100% of the times I've been here, so..." Flora raises her eyebrows in emphasis. To be fair she'd only been to the boneyard once before, but even if nothing happened this time around, that was still 50% which was quite a bit. "Last time it happened someone got their abilities amplified and an ancient accidentally killed herself." It's a bizarre thing to say, but then again this was Caido.
"Mmm? Oh." Chuckling under her breath, the queen glances at the soldier with an apologetic grin. "You must not be an Accepted." Tapping the bone against the shrine, the Doubletake sighs wearily before explaining. "It's a thing we have to do. Go around, leaving offerings at all the shrines." Gesturing at the stars she was drawing, Flora then fishes out a small vial of pure white sand from her pocket, before dumping it into the shapes she'd created. "I know this isn't Safrin's shrine, but it's the sort of thing she'd want done, so here I am." Besides, Flora was fairly sure Mort wouldn't mind, even if Ludo did (which would only please Safrin all the more).
"I know there's obviously a lot of sand around here, but this is from the base of Safrin's lighthouse in Torchline."
'Cause I'm a real tough kid, I can handle my shit
They said, "Babe, you gotta fake it 'til you make it" and I did
Rhiannon blinked at the blonde's shared memory, raising a brow. "That's unfortunate," she said, not sure what else to add in response to the story. At least the stranger didn't seem too cut up about the Ancient's loss, so Rhi didn't have to summon too much sympathy.
Leaving offerings at shrines was still fairly new to the soldier, having only done it with any results the one time that had resulted in her hybridization. "Do you have to visit every shrine? Isn't that, like... a lot?" She studied the stars that the blonde had drawn, then watched as she poured sand out of a vial. "Are you from Torchline, then?"
No one likes a mad woman What a shame she went mad
Sunlit Shadows (mastered) | The user can read the surface thoughts and emotions of those within a 60ft radius. Control is excellent. Note: "Thoughts and emotions" include anything written in a character's narration in a post.
Type: Grey | Style: Offensive | Level: Mastered
Deadly Recall | Can recall 1, or 2, or 3 of her feathers to her hand, within a range of 30ft. Recalled daggers do 1/2 damage when recalled.
Rescue (Mastered) | Remi can bring a fellow Old God demigod to his side in a time of crisis for three concurrent posts. One use per thread. If the summoned demigod also has mastered this ability, they can remain until the end of the thread.
Shrugging her shoulders—the only thing that was a shame was the fact she'd been forced to save Maea instead of leave her—Flora snorts under her breath and emphatically rolls her eyes. "Yeah it really is." She wholeheartedly agrees who even made these stupid levelling requirements. "But I guess it's worth it to be able to call them down when you need them, you know?" Dusting off her hands, Flora takes a step back, content in her offering, however meagre.
"Yep, sure am." If not the sand in the vial then likely her sun-kissed skin gave her away. "I moved there when I was just a teenager and I've been there ever since." Flora adds, conveniently leaving out the part where she was also the region's queen. Where some could effortlessly insert that into a conversation without seeming smug or arrogant, Flora had never really figured out a way of doing so, and thus most often left it unsaid unless it was at all relevant.
"You ever been?" Reaching into her bag, the queen pulls out a canteen of water. Helping herself to a long drink, she wipes her mouth with the back of her hand before offering it out to the soldier.
'Cause I'm a real tough kid, I can handle my shit
They said, "Babe, you gotta fake it 'til you make it" and I did
"Fair enough," Rhi ceded, nodding along. Having seen the gods' power firsthand - at least, in Safrin's blessing that had made her into a hybrid - she could only imagine what it would be like to witness them when they were needed in battle or some such thing.
Oblivious to the true identity of the stranger, Rhiannon shrugged a shoulder. "I just went for the first time a few weeks ago," she said. "It was... warmer than I expected." And louder, and rowdier, and a lot of things that Rhiannon thought might not be best to say to a resident. Not that she'd disliked it, but it certainly wasn't home. "I'm from Halo," she added by way of explanation. "So I suppose everywhere that's not home could stand to be a little colder, for me."
No one likes a mad woman What a shame she went mad
Sunlit Shadows (mastered) | The user can read the surface thoughts and emotions of those within a 60ft radius. Control is excellent. Note: "Thoughts and emotions" include anything written in a character's narration in a post.
Type: Grey | Style: Offensive | Level: Mastered
Deadly Recall | Can recall 1, or 2, or 3 of her feathers to her hand, within a range of 30ft. Recalled daggers do 1/2 damage when recalled.
Rescue (Mastered) | Remi can bring a fellow Old God demigod to his side in a time of crisis for three concurrent posts. One use per thread. If the summoned demigod also has mastered this ability, they can remain until the end of the thread.
Laughing at that, Flora shrugs. "During LongHeat? Yikes." Pulling a face of sympathy, the queen can only lift one shoulder again in apology. "It's a good thing we have the ocean so close by to cool off in. Not like here.." Wrinkling her nose as she glanced around the desert, Flora could only heave a dissatisfied breath. Of all the lands, she couldn't imagine this one ever being inhabited, much less ruled over.
"Ohhhh." As if that explained everything (and really, it did), Flora can only once again bob her head in understanding. "See, I visited Halo in LongHeat and still found it way too cold, so...I get it."
Wiping a bit of sweat from her brow with the back of her hand, Flora glanced over Rhi's shoulder, lips twitching. "Anyway, now that I'm done doing this, I think I'm going to go. I hate this place." Pulling her compass from her pocket, the queen flashes the soldier a bright grin. "If you're ever in Torchline, come look me up. I own the Hanged Man Tavern, right on the beach." With a wink, Flora pressed the button on her compass and vanished.
~FIN
'Cause I'm a real tough kid, I can handle my shit
They said, "Babe, you gotta fake it 'til you make it" and I did
