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!
We can leave life for tomorrow
Or grieve all that we thought we’d do
Now that Sam had had a couple of days to get used to the realisation The Voice had brought to him in his dreams, had spoken to Remi and Nate about it, he had a chance to think about it more calmly. What he realised was that he needed to make sure the other Ascended knew; at least then when everyone realised they could be prepared for the inevitable fight.
He had left notes at The Voices shrines asking for Wessex (thinking she was the most able to spread the message and do something about it), calling for a meeting. He hoped the location would be obvious.
Sam sat nervously on the end of one of the beds in the safehouse, tapping his heel on the ground and staring at the mural of The Voice. His clasped hands tightened and he sighed, unsure of how to feel about the Goddess at the moment. He wanted to have faith, had enough to not give up entirely, but this was a struggle to accept. To understand.
Though Ronin might have kept his mouth shut, she could easily imagine who his Ascended confidant might be. Rex would have come to her, Lucas and Archebold likely wouldn’t say shit, Bastien was a wild card… but Sam? Sam was the weakest link.
And his presumption to call her to a meeting was irksome. She had half a mind not to go, but then there’s her roll as part-time, self-appointed leader of the Ascended and she knows she has to keep up with everything. So the Wraith arrives at the safehouse, lifts the cube to enter the trap door, and then places it on top again she she lowers it from below. The mural is still there, but other things have taken precedence over gathering onyx and lightning. Wessex can’t take on that task, she’s too busy running things right now.
As the Ascended descends, she hears the tapping of Sam’s shoe and turns around at the bottom to find the man sitting on one of the beds. Fixing him with a look that clearly says Well? she crosses her arms over her chest and walks closer. “What is it, Sam?”
She has a thousand things to look after. Taking care of him wasn’t supposed to be one of them.
We can leave life for tomorrow
Or grieve all that we thought we’d do
As Wessex made her way down, Sam swallowed and straightened himself up, trying to get himself psyched up to talk to her. Her way of being, so strict and sure...it was intimidating. He could never imagine being so confident to carry himself the way Wessex moved her own body, as if it were everyone elses problem if she hit them on her way.
When he was asked what it was, he looked down to his clasped hands and worried them, wondering for just a split second if it would be better to just give up and go home. But no, he had already come here.
"The Voice spoke to me..at my house." He said, rather than in a dream, thinking it did not sound very credible. "And...she told me that in fact, we...or at least, she...but I spread...uh. Sorry. She told me that we are the ones to blame..for the Blight." Looking up at Wessex with a despairing gaze he asked his question: "I wanted to know if you knew."
Sam has an inordinate amount of difficulty getting the words out. It’s frustrating to watch him struggle, but she bites her tongue because she knows he has to get this off his chest and no amount of cold, hard, tough-love will help. Wessex shakes her head. She also looks more or less the same, no sense of guilt for it crossing her face. The Ascended Queen clearly doesn’t have the same burden that her sibling does.
“No, I didn’t know until after the fact.” She’s about to say more, about how the Voice wanted eyes in the Greatwood, but catches herself and then asks very quietly, almost dangerously soft. “Why didn’t you come to me first?” Her gaze narrows a bit, turning into something more razor-like than annoyed.I know you talked to Remi, it says, inviting a confession that would give her the proof she doesn’t one hundred percent have.
Cause this ‘putting others before their own kind’ thing isn’t working right now. The wrong word in the wrong ear could be fatal.
We can leave life for tomorrow
Or grieve all that we thought we’d do
Didn't know until after the fact. Sam nodded, though his primary question had not been answered. When Wessex had reassured him when they had made this place, said that they were being blamed unfairly...had she known then? Her words then had so calmed him, made him feel justified and validated in his claims of people accusing the Ascended without reason.
Still, at least she had not known while they were exploring the woods. That did comfort him a little, to know that Wessex had not intentionally spread the Blight alongside him.
The way her eyes narrowed and the question was asked immediately set anxiety alit in his chest. "I...um.." Was there any point in lying? Probably not. He felt Wessex could smell lies. But the truth would not sound good: You are just not the person I go to when I'm upset.
"...Well...I felt Remi deserved to know, with his husband being so ill, and I feel I can trust him..." He said quietly, looking down at the floor.
Wessex doesn’t need to be someone he goes to when upset, she needs to be the go-to for Ascended things. If not as a fellow Ascended, then as the only one (in her mind) who can really protect them. How can Sam not see this?
“He does deserve to know,” she readily agrees with a slight tilt of her head. “But do you know what kind of accusations I faced from Ronin?” A slight scowl appears. “What it looks like when you give the impression that we’re a fractured group and I’ve been lying?” Wessex’s head shakes slowly back and forth, disappointed in Sam’s lack of forethought and the way he sees the world. And, of course, the assumption that she’d known. Hadn’t they been working on this, their cohesion as a group? In a way? “How can I protect us if I don’t know what might be coming?”
The anger, the fear of the others is real. She’s felt it and managed to turn it away. Who’s to say it will be as easy the next time.
We can leave life for tomorrow
Or grieve all that we thought we’d do
"Ronin spoke to you..?" Sam looked up, alarmed on several counts. That Remi had told Ronin (though he supposed he should have known that was going to happen. They were married, after all). That Wessex had had trouble because of him, which was a terrifying notion. While he had thought perhaps they had reached a slightly better level of understanding, he still was very much intimidated by the woman.
Was it her job to protect them though? He didn't know about that. The Voice was the protector; while Wessex was strong he did not consider her his leader. "...I'm sorry. I just...finding it was true, that we were the cause...it shook me. It still does." Hugging himself, Sam looked towards the shrine.
"I don't know how to trust this is for the best, if so many are going to die. It doesn't...sit right, in my mind." He had no idea if Wessex would be able to relate or not, but he had started rambling and when that happened, he often found it hard to stop. "I want to have faith. I do, enough that I still think it will turn out for the best....maybe."
09-05-2019, 09:31 PM (This post was last modified: 09-06-2019, 01:35 PM by Wessex.)
WESSEX
Go deep throat a cactus
“Yeah, of course he did. We’re co-rulers. How could he not?” Wessex fixes Sam with a questioning look, again wondering why he didn’t think that would happen. She understands that he doesn’t think like she does, that he doens’t see like she does. Uncrossing her arms, Wessex slowly walks to one of the other beds and sits on its edge, facing Sam. She leans forward, elbows on her knees, perhaps less intimidating than before but no less sure of herself.
It looks like this is going to be a conversation.
“Sam. I didn’t like it either.” They need to get that out in the open. Wessex likes to play smart, not dirty, and privately, she thinks this is a combination of the two. But she also isn’t in a place to judge a goddess for what she chooses to do. “I think it’s a side effect of what She actually wants to do. Unintentional.” Is it better if it is - that negligence caused all this? Their Lady won’t apologize for casualties (intentional or otherwise) in the midst of war. And if that’s what he’s looking for, he won’t get one from Wessex, either. “I don’t think they’re going to die. But I also don’t know what will happen. She does not tell me, either as protection to myself or because She doesn’t trust me enough.”
So whatever fantasy he has about Wessex and her place at the Voice’s side needs to stop. Before this happened, she might have told him what she really thinks the Voice is doing (eyes and new ways to travel but she needs more than what she knows), but he has proven himself to be for others, and not for them.
“What did She tell you? Can you remember exactly what She said”
We can leave life for tomorrow
Or grieve all that we thought we’d do
"...Oh. I...forgot." Sam admitted lamely, looking at his hands in his lap. Who was ruler was wildly inconsequential to him, as long as it did not impede on his personal life. He had been told that both Ronin and Wessex were ruling, but as soon as everything else had come rushing in, that fact had been buried.
Wessex leaned in and Sam realised she was actually going to try and talk to him. Both comforting and terrifying. Stiffly, he turned a little towards her, his hands awkwardly placed on his knees. "You...didn't? I...hm." He nodded, surprised. Wessex had always seemed so loyal, so sure. He had assumed anything The Voice did she would militantly approve of.
A side effect. He couldn't decide if that made it better or worse. On the one hand, it would mean she didn't intend to hurt or kill. On the other, it meant those lives were so inconsequential to her she had done whatever it was anyway.
"She told me in a vision-like dream, so...it was not entirely clear, but...she told me that we were actually responsible for spreading it, then that it has something to do...with the portals that bring Outlanders in. She said that she wants to help us all explore more beyond...not just the barrier, but.." He frowned, clearly unsure about the next part. "All of the other ways the Old Gods are keeping us from seeing Caido. That's all she said."
“Let them rage,” Wessex murmurs to herself, though Sam would obviously be able to hear. The earthen monster and the barriers to the west were purposeful, then. And the storms to the east and south. “That’s what She’s done with Zariah, then. Testing portals. I wonder if She has another one set up already.” And if so, where could it be? “Beatrice said Zariah went into the Greatwood, but I can’t in good conscience step foot in the Greatwood to look for it.” She looks up at Sam and thinks about it for a moment. “... And I can’t send you in either. Not like this.”
Not Sam, though his invisibility would be perfect for this task. Not her. Rex needs stay on the people’s good side, so that leaves… Lucas.
With a sigh and a purposefully deceitful “... I can’t send any of us.” The Wraith changes the subject.
“Do you think you can move past this disappointment?”
We can leave life for tomorrow
Or grieve all that we thought we’d do
Sam frowned as Wessex spoke of something being 'done' to Zariah and Beatrice, not sure what she meant. He had not even noticed that they had gone; he had always been someone to quickly get so wrapped up in his own life that he missed the goings on anywhere else.
He did not volunteer himself for the journey. The last time he had offered to explore in the woods, it had begun the whole mess. Sam did not know if he could ever in good faith go into the woods again at all, really. Any time he stepped foot in the place he would feel each tree, each leaf hate him.
The question Wessex posed was a good one and he did not have a good answer. "I think...I think it depends on where this goes. If...we do manage to break down more barriers, to be able to go further...that's probably a good thing, right?" Not that he was sure he wanted to go and see those new places, but it was probably good for someone. "But if it doesn't work, or it's not as good as hoped...how much good has to happen to justify this? Have you seen how sick people are? They're going to die."
09-09-2019, 05:56 PM (This post was last modified: 09-09-2019, 06:06 PM by Wessex.)
WESSEX
Go deep throat a cactus
Wessex shakes her head, repeating what she’d said before, “I don’t think they’re actually going to die. I’ve heard it’s more like being taken over by the Blight. So there’s hope for a cure.”
Has she seen how sick people are? Yes. Yes, she has.
Has she allowed herself to wallow in weakness and self-loathing for her role in it? No. No she has not. At the end of the day they all make choices and they have to either stand by them or apologize and try to move on / make things right. Wessex leans back. “It sucks. I know it does. I have to look everyone in the face and endure their anger, their hate – just the same way you do. And then I have to get them to trust me for LongNight. So, Sam - I'm going to need you to grow a pair of balls and help me." She stands and looks down at him. "The only way we can make up for this is to save people during LongNight. Both blighted and non."
And none of her plan involves slef-flagellation or whimpering.
We can leave life for tomorrow
Or grieve all that we thought we’d do
"What if that's just a turn of phrase? No one likes to outright say that people are going to die." He despaired, lowering his head into his hands.
Wessex continued to surprise him, this time with her simple acknowledgement of: it sucks. Instead of trying to spin it, her honesty was oddly refreshing. It did suck. He looked up, frowning as she instructed him to grow a pair but not saying anything. Because deep down he sensed that she was right.
Taking a deep breath, he sat up straight and nodded. "...How do we save them in Longnight?"
Well. Sam could be right (mark this moment well, it’s something Wessex may never think again), but again, what’s the point in allowing one’s self to be caught up in the worst-case scenario? How does paralysis and fear help anything. All she can do is shrug at his question. There are no answers in her head – it all lies with their Lady – and she is being obnoxiously tight-lipped about it.
Now it’s her turn to be pleasantly surprised. Instead of having to fight the man every inch of the way, he manages to turn the corner (or so it seems) in his despair and look to the light. Good. Yes With a nod, she steps away from the beds and beings to walk slowly back and forth. “I don’t have any specific answers right now. We know the Monsters are previous versions of Ascended. We know that Loren can summon spark birds, but only temporarily. We know we have still have to tend to the luxere herds and build the perch.”
Given that Melita has succumbed to the blight, someone needs to take charge of some of the more mundane things. They need to lead, wherever possible. “Do you have any luck with the Luxere? I don’t, but I can’t tell if it’s because of the blood on my hands or being an Ascended.”
