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!
There is determination that settles in Kiada’s eyes as she watches Jigano and Melita knock each other out of the competition, and she hisses under her breath as Amalia blocks her. Her eyes narrow as they settle on Amalia, something dark crossing over her. Once before, she would have listened, would have put down her weapons for the greater good. But there’s an inky feeling within her, so reminiscent of the Rift that she can’t back down now.
Now, she feels like she has something to prove.
Despite it being Amalia, despite the roaring of the crowd above them, she hears that they now have to fight, to brawl. There is no mention of patches, and Kiada steps away from Amalia, something torn in her eyes as she does so.
But she needs to win.
She shifts, trading skin for feathers and swoops into the air, circling her friend, her adoptive mother, not aiming to harm per say, but perhaps bruise. To win.
And she dives with her wings tucked in tight, aiming to barrel herself into the Shield of Safrin.
Kiada shifts to vulture form and aims to collide with Amalia in the hopes of knocking her down. Post order change approved by Shark and Honey <3 ty loves
do not think you are safe
because you love her
do not think she will not stain her mouth
red with your blood too
Kiada has a large X scar on the right side of her neck.
No permission needed for power play!
Feel free to use magic/force on Kiada, without killing her <3
08-12-2019, 06:16 PM (This post was last modified: 08-12-2019, 06:17 PM by Amalia.)
Amalia
A deeper conversation is all I want from you-
Jigano aims for Melita.
Melita attacks Jigano.
And just like that the pair are out, and the crowd is roaring, and the game is changing, and she is supposed to fight, to defeat, to overcome-
-Kiada.
She releases the girl and steps away, her face going pale. She can't - she can't - and the Harpy must know, because she knows the Shield would never hurt her, that Amalia loves her as a sister, a child. But the other girl is backing up, something shattered in her eyes, and suddenly the baker knows what it about to happen, and that she can do nothing to stop it. She extends an arm in a hopeless effort, pleading, her voice cracking, a prayer in her face. "Kiada, wait, we don't have to do this-"
But it is only the bristle of feathers and empty air that meet her fingers, the girl already gone, a vulture in her place. Mort, Amalia silently curses, unsure what to do. We don't have to do this. She cannot hurt Kiada, cannot attack her, but something tells her the vulture does not feel the same.
Stepping back Amalia frets and waits for the vulture to dive. And dive she does, barreling forward, her red eyes wild. Crouching down, the baker does the only thing she can think of: she takes the leopard form, shifting swiftly before leaping up, aiming to knock the vulture from the sky, to pin her beneath superior weight and keep her from continuing this onslaught. Claws are kept carefully tucked, the large paws soft as she tries to capture rather than main. We can spar, but we don't have to fight! she cries through the mental bond, desperate and afraid for Kiada, if not herself.
Amalia turns into a leopard and attempts to pin Kiada to the ground, jumping up as Kiada dives toward her. She does not use her claws.
Kiada swoops, feathered and deadly, but is unable to catch or wound her Attuned opponent. Amalia, equally, leaps elegantly upwards, but does not succeed in pinning her vulture friend.
In short, both try. Both miss. And round and round they go again.
Her flight is thrown off by her shoulder that still trickles blood, the shift reopening cauterized wounds and stains her white feathers red. She dives, fights through the pain, and watches with wild scarlet eyes as she aims for one of her closest friends. And Amalia shifts too, her leopard form leaping into the air in the aim of snatching and spiraling, but they both miss wide, and Kiada leaves a small trail of blood along the stone floor as she opens her wings to swoop up. “What do you think I’m doing?” She shouts down the bond toward Amalia, frustration and restraint tunneled down in her voice.
A feeling of anger, of pride, of feeling like a gods chosen. Of wishing to be worthy. Of wishing to win. She believes she needs this more than anything else.
She soars again and aims to come from behind Amalia, aiming to barrel once more into her, no talons no beaks, just to spar and brawl, restraining herself despite the screams within her begging for blood.
Kiada tries again to barrel into Amalia!
do not think you are safe
because you love her
do not think she will not stain her mouth
red with your blood too
Kiada has a large X scar on the right side of her neck.
No permission needed for power play!
Feel free to use magic/force on Kiada, without killing her <3
They miss, and Amalia breathes a sigh of relief which quickly changes to an inhalation as the relief fades and stress sets in. Coiled tight, the leopardess crouches, watching as the harpy swoops and caws and trying to think of some solution. She does not want to fight Kiada, to hurt her and take her down to the point of giving in. The girl is too radiant, too stubborn and headstrong to quit before she is seriously injured, and Amalia is not a fighter, but she is strong. She knows she can hold her own against her opponent.
But she does not want to.
And then Amalia realizes something, and it changes the way she sees the game. This challenge, this arena, this cloister- it is not for her. The Shield of Safrin is not a weapon, not designed to pierce and slash, to take the things she wants. She is meant to guard, to guide, to give, and while there is much more that Kiada deserves, perhaps Amalia can give her this.
As Kiada plunges once again the leopard attempts to leap away, grabbing her shield in her mouth and bounding to her staff. How much do you want to win? she calls out through their bond, suddenly challenging, suddenly goading, suddenly serious as she truly asks: How much do you deserve it? Show me.
Amalia attempts to evade Kiada's attack and run to where her staff is.
It's a game of kiss chase with these two, reminiscent of the match that Kiada has just recently come from. As the vulture barrels again, swooping and diving, it is a close thing.
But Amalia just about evades her, and is able to break towards her staff.
She dives for the Shield, a lingering tension beneath her of fire and fury, flame and power, as she hears Amalia’s words, as she bounds away from Kiada once more. She hisses a gnarled sound in her vulture form as she lands on the ground with wings spread, pale feathers turning crimson under the work. Amalia asks her how much she wants to win, and she gnashes her beak as she lifts back into the sky, panting slightly as her wingtips tremble. She says nothing as Amalia tells her to show her.
And she intends to.
Only this time, her control is less, she’s shaken more, and she swoops toward the Leopardess as she goes for her staff, aiming with talons outstretched to snatch it from her, to pull and tug and bring to the ground. She clenches her beak again as she nears, praying to all the gods that she can do this.
Kiada swoops again toward Amalia, this time aiming to snatch the staff from her and maybe knock her off balance.
do not think you are safe
because you love her
do not think she will not stain her mouth
red with your blood too
Kiada has a large X scar on the right side of her neck.
No permission needed for power play!
Feel free to use magic/force on Kiada, without killing her <3
08-12-2019, 08:21 PM (This post was last modified: 08-12-2019, 08:28 PM by Amalia.)
Amalia
A deeper conversation is all I want from you-
Kiada does not reply with words, but her actions say enough, the ferocity of her determination evident in her actions and through the attuned bond. Again the vulture misses her, sharp talons closing on only air as the leopardess leaps nimbly away. She lands on her staff and swiftly shifts, somersaulting into human form, nimble and spry from training sessions, her right hand grasping the crimson staff, the shield slipping over her left.
She raises the shield as Kiada descends, hoping to stop the girl's attack, to defend herself from those vicious talons as she calls out once again. "Being the guardian of something is about protecting, not just attacking. It takes more than fire and anger. It's about being able to make hard choices, and being able to take responsibility, even when you make mistakes."
And for the first time, Amalia truly feels the weight of the title she wears, the importance of the role she has stepped into, the promises she has made.
Sidestepping, Amalia holds her guard, still not striking, her dark eyes steel. "It's frightening, and difficult, and it takes strength. Can you do that, Kiada? Can you be more than your mistakes? Can you be strong and brave and rational, even when it's easier to run away, or to fight?"
Amalia defends with her shield and tries to sidestep as Kiada grabs for the staff
Amalia’s words are nothing short of bringing all of her past back up with her. And she feels it with the way Amalia sends out the words. A guardian, a protector, not just attacker. And she agrees, to an extent. The rational side of her mind quelling and calming with the words. But the darker side of her rears as she misses grabbing the staff. She lands behind her, shifting back into herself before she turns. She knows Amalia will not attack. Amalia has always been a shield. Amalia was the shield she bore when Ru’in had died. She had been the shield when they were captured.
Kiada was a knife.
She turns to look at Amalia, her shoulder and chest splattered in her own blood, flecks of it on her pale face as she regards her and clenches her teeth. “I have made many mistakes. I have become better, done better, fought better.” She starts to say while she catches her breath. “I had been a gods chosen and cherished above all else. And I had lost everything because of it.” Theres a grating to her voice, and her fingers tremble as she tries to calm them, tries to calm herself.
“I have aided in the hand of innocent deaths, while also protecting children. I still am righting my wrongs. My so many wrongs. I have always been a fighter. A warrior. Born from the coldest harshest conditions and I thrived. I have become something better, something to fix my wrongs.” She doesn’t know if Deimos would be proud or sad to see her this way. But for a moment she remembers a conversation with a man in the Basin, of when she declared herself a Queen. “Would you rather be loved? Or feared?” And she had chosen fear.
Fight. Protect. Stay. The circle continues.
This time, she doesn’t aim for blood, but she picks up her speed as she runs toward Amalia now, her bluntest knife in her hand as she aims to strike at the shield and pull at the staff, hoping that she can knock Amalia off balance again.
Kiada strikes out with her knife at Amalia’s shield while trying to pull at the staff again to knock her off balance.
do not think you are safe
because you love her
do not think she will not stain her mouth
red with your blood too
Kiada has a large X scar on the right side of her neck.
No permission needed for power play!
Feel free to use magic/force on Kiada, without killing her <3
Her answer, while ardent, leaves something to be desired, and Amalia frowns as she watches her pant, listening to the words that flow like wounds. She knows what it is to make mistakes, to strive and push and reach for a sky which feels far away, to drown beneath a past that sits on her chest like a weight. Kiada is flawed, but she is trying, striving, and she has a chance for greatness: Amalia can see it in the ferocity with which she fights, the fervor with which she loves.
Now, though, she does not see love. As she looks at the girl who stands before her, trembling and tremulous, blood on her face, Amalia does not see a guardian. She does not see someone ready to carry that title, that weight, that world- for oh, it is a weight to bear, heavy and pervasive, hungry and cold. Standing before her, the Shield sees a child, still raw and aching, blistering and defensive, the scars that stain her ivory skin nothing compared to the wounds beneath.
"I know how hard it has been for you, Kiada." Her tone is softer now, affectionate and empathetic as she eyes the knife in the girl's hand, stepping carefully to keep her in sight, her bare feet sure on the hard ground. "And I know how hard you work. And I'm proud." She lets that pride flood their bond, tries to make Kiada feel it, to press upon her the weight of her regard. "But being the guardian of something is about more than just you."
Again the harpy lunges, and again Amalia turns, pivoting her right side away from the charge in an attempt to evade the grasp at her staff while attempting to block the knife with her silver shield. For a moment she is still, staring into her friend's eyes, searching for something in those blue depths. "Do you understand, Kiada? Are you ready to bear that weight? Do you want to?"
Then she shoves abruptly back, dropping to a crouch and thrusting up toward the Harpy with her shield, a long sweeping kick aimed at Kiada's ankles, trying to knock the other off balance, to make her take a moment to sit on the ground and think.
Amalia tries to dodge as Kia reaches for the staff, while raising her shield to block the knife. Then she pushes against Kiada with her shield and tries to kick her feet out from under her, trying to make her stagger backwards and fall.
The crowds cheer as Kiada successfully manages to catch Amalia with her knife, grabbing at her staff to knock her off balance. Similarly, however, Amalia is able to twist herself on her way down, bashing at Kiada with her shield.
Her shoulder begins to throb, and she clenches her teeth against the pain and blood as she moves toward Amalia – the voice she uses. If anyone knows her past now, fully, with every bit and piece broken and fit into the wrong places, it was Amalia and Deimos. And now, here she was, trying to prove herself against the Shield, a makeshift daughter of a shield and a sword. The only thing she had ever wanted to be.
She clenches her teeth harder as Amalia mentions she’s proud, and she can feel the burning begin to surface in her eyes along her waterline. And she does all she can to blink them away, to keep her vision clear as she listens and catches her breath. She knows it’s more than just being a guardian, she knows it’s more than her, and she wants that more than anything. She wants a purpose – to be something, to do something. Amalia is the Shield of Safrin. Deimos is her Sword.
Kiada is nothing.
The Harpy wants to be something, to better herself, to become and do better, and she lunges with it in mind, aiming for the staff and shield, not aiming to maim but aiming to knock her down, to win and win and win. Her knife hits the shield, and her hand wraps around the staff. Her eyes move toward Amalia’s face – the icy blues ringed with a tinge of red as her hands tremble on the staff and Amalia pushes up, knocking the both of them to the ground. “I want it, Ama.” There’s a lingering sadness to her voice, a yearning for something to become.
She hits the ground, and her shoulder throbs further, another amount of blood beginning to seep, but she doesn’t let it go. Her hand remains on the staff as she moves to try and pin Amalia with the staff. “I have always been what people needed me to be. And I need to be something.” She pauses, panting. “You are Safrin’s Shield.” She tries to extenuate the point, to show the leopardess that she has a purpose and Kiada has done nothing other than train, make mistakes, and wallow in her own pity.
do not think you are safe
because you love her
do not think she will not stain her mouth
red with your blood too
Kiada has a large X scar on the right side of her neck.
No permission needed for power play!
Feel free to use magic/force on Kiada, without killing her <3
The knife hits the shield in a clatter of metal, and for a moment the baker is afraid- afraid of those blue eyes, of the anger behind them, of the blade that could easily bite down into her flesh, slip past defenses and tear through her skin. But it doesn't, and that alone means more to Amalia than any set of words. It means that for all her fire and ice, for all her hurt and rage and pain, Kiada is still more than inferno. It means she is able to see past her own wounds, her own need for vengeance and redemption and control.
It gives Amalia hope for the future of a girl she loves as fiercely as a cub.
The distraction from the knife means she does not succeed in dodging Kiada's grasp, and as the girl knocks the baker off balance she finds herself falling awkwardly to the ground, the push from her shield keeping her from catching herself, her tailbone bruising as she hits the hard floor. Wincing, the Shield of Safrin tries to sit up, but not before Kiada is on her again, pinning the leopardess under her staff, red in the space between their skin. This time Amalia does not fight back, does not try to dodge.
She listens, and nods, and releases the rod, understanding perhaps more than anything else what it is Kiada is saying. "I know," she murmurs to the girl, pride and hope and apprehension in her black eyes. "And you are going to be brilliant."
Rolling out from under Kiada, Amalia rises lightly to her feet before extending a hand down to the Harpy. "Keep the staff for the next round. It can heal you up. I have a feeling there's one more test ahead of you."
And then she Shield of Safrin turns to the assembled Fae, her voice ringing out loud and clear: "I concede this fight to Kiada Njovu-Reyes! Let her earn the title of your Greatwood's Guardian, and I promise she will serve you well!"
Amalia concedes and lends Kiada her staff (and shield, if she wants it) for the final round
