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!
10-01-2019, 02:45 PM (This post was last modified: 10-01-2019, 03:26 PM by Shark.)
Rule number one: always keep the curtains drawn.
Rule number two: only open the door, if you hear my secret knock.
Ironbolt Penitentiary
How did you manage to get yourself caught in prison? Better question: how did you manage to get yourself caught in prison in the Upside down?
The question is neither here nor there: what matters is that you’re stuck in a strange grey facsimile of the penitentiary, and that you're not alone. Somewhere in the dark you can hear it snarling, its claws scratching against the stone floor, great flower-like mouth opening and closing as it salivates. It can smell you, and it is hungry, and this is its element.
There’s a key in one of the cells, hidden beneath the rubble, but the real question is this: will you find it before the demogorgon finds you?
This Halloween Hijinks thread is for Wessex and Phoebe. Occasionally I may pop in to mix things up, but you are welcome to PP the situation as you see fit. Please remember to use the NPC account when you reply, and try to post your replies within 72 hours of each other.
Rule number three: Don’t ever go out alone… especially not in the daylight.
Phoebe blinked, trying to figure out how she’d gotten back to the prison. Sunjata had gotten that guard to let her out, before he’d left her, again, like the men in her life always did. Well, at least this time she’d made him pay for hurting her, even if the midwife felt a little bad for Lusea. Still, Sunjata had it coming. He’d jerked around both of the women in his life, and now he was just reaping what he'd sown. Besides, it was better for the other woman to know now rather than letting him hurt her again. Phoebe was doing Lusea a favor.
However, that didn’t tell the midwife how she’d gotten back here. Her breath caught in her throat as she realized that not only was she back here, but also that there was something different about the Penitentiary. It was darker, scarier, and there were sounds that made her flinch when she heard them. Then she realized that Pim was nowhere to be seen and she panicked a little, eyes darting around as she backed up until she hit bars, which made her squeak. However, her small sound drew attention.
Thankfully, it was just Pim, who’d been around the corner. The dragonling ran up to her, growling and protective, and she scooped him up and hugged him close, glad to have some company. His pink scales were a welcome spot of color in this place. Even as she held him, Pim kept a watchful eye on their surroundings, a fierce expression in his eyes, though he snuggled close to provide as much comfort to Phoebe as he could. He'd been so worried when he'd shown up here and couldn't find her. He loved his counterpart dearly, and couldn't stand the thought of her being in trouble without him. Obviously he could sense how scared she was, and he would do everything he could to keep her safe and happy. Whatever was making her afraid better watch out.
When she heard the snarling and scraping claws, however, she yelped again and started hurrying in the opposite direction. As she moved, Pim wiggled out of her hands and leapt to the ground, growling again at the distant sounds, his breath ready to scorch anything that might come at them. He was prepared to defend Phoebe from anything and everything. His wings flapped as they scurried along, and he puffed himself up to make himself look bigger.
As she turned the corner, she saw another familiar figure, but this one was far less welcome than the pink dragon. ”Wessex? What are you doing here? How did I get here? Do you know what’s going on?” Then Phoebe's eyes narrowed. "Did you bring me here?" Her dislike and distrust of the Ascended queen warred with the midwife's fear. In the end, though, fear won out. While she didn’t want to rely upon the other woman, the healer really didn’t want to be alone in this place. Not with those strange sounds in the distance.
Pim, dedicated protector that he was, sensed his human’s distress, and turned one watchful eye on the Ascended Queen while the other kept looking for that monster he could hear and sense. If Wessex tried anything, he’d scorch her too. No one was touching his Phoebe.
And one thing the queen doesn’t quite know? If this is really Caido and the Hollowed Grounds after all. Sure the prison looks the same, but the world around her is dark, cold, covered and coated with vines or roots, and a strange slimy substance she’s not sure she wants to know what it is.
It’s dark, there’s some ash floating in the air, she thinks at least. It’s like snow, but it smells terrible and she’s incredibly thankful for not needing to breathe. But of course, it doesn’t end there (because why would it, knowing Wessex’s luck?) and she looks around the cell she’s in before noticing the door hangs a small amount open. At least she’s not trapped, though if were being honest, she’d like to see them try to.
She hears a sound as she slips through the bars, and with her enhanced sight she focuses on the source, scouting through the dark to find a hue of dark blackish brown and red, only for a split second before a voice calls out for her.
Fucking great. The midwife.
Phoebe turns toward Wessex after rounding a corner and immediately the Ascended queen’s head starts throbbing. No. She doesn’t know why she’s here. No she doesn’t know what’s going on. And then the midwife's eyes narrow and honestly? Wessex rolls her eyes. (Why does everyone assume she’s the bad guy when she’s actually been making an effort? You know, being a queen and keeping up appearances and all that.)
The Wraith moves toward Phoebe to push the midwife behind her, because even if she disliked the woman, she’s still a person she rules over. A person she’s to protect. She pauses nearby Phoebe, eyes remaining on the spot the odd creature had been, while she instructs the midwife. ”I didn’t put you here. And be quiet, we’re not alone.” There’s a slight bite to her voice, but she figures if the midwife and dragon can’t follow her direction, perhaps they deserve whatever’s coming to them.
As Wessex pushed Phoebe to one side, Pim’s nostrils flared. He didn’t like the Ascended Queen’s attitude, not one bit, and he could sense how much Phoebe disliked the other woman as well. So the dragonling spun around and reared, clawing at the air and crying out at Wessex. The queen better treat Phoebe with some respect or else Pim was going to do more than threaten her. Anyone who made his human unhappy deserved his wrath.
Phoebe sent a pulse of gratitude towards the dragonling even as her irritation at Wessex grew. ”Why should I believe you? You never liked me and were probably glad to see me put away the first time.” Maybe it was just the remnants of the blight coursing through the midwife’s veins, but the normally gentle healer wasn’t going to let the Ascended Queen get away with pushing people around like she always did. Wessex was a bully, and the midwife wasn't going to stay quiet no matter what the other woman said.
”Don’t tell me what to do. You’re no queen of mine, remember? And what’s in here with us?” The midwife couldn’t help the fear from creeping into her voice, and Pim broke off from intimidating the queen to rush to the healer’s side. Phoebe was scared, and he needed to comfort her. That was way more important than scaring an Ascended who he could probably burn easily. Wessex didn't scare him one bit, any more than she scared Phoebe.
Rule number one: always keep the curtains drawn.
Rule number two: only open the door, if you hear my secret knock.
Out of the corner of her eye Wessex will catch sight of a glint of metal underneath a pile of ash.
Which is good, because there's a rather ominous shadow on the wall. Standing on two legs the demogorgon is a gigantic creature, and even its shadow speaks of strange and horrific strength. Slowly it reaches a clawed hand around the corner, not quite close enough to see you yet. What will you do? Run? Distract it?
Keep bickering until you become delicious parallel universe monster food?
Rule number three: Don’t ever go out alone… especially not in the daylight.
On second thought, perhaps the Ascended queen should let them be eaten. It’d certainly relieve a lot of the headache of this entire encounter. Phoebe, being her usual soft self, lets Wessex push her aside, before running her mouth and disturbing the quiet and likely attracting whatever creature is approaching.
They don’t have time for all of this chatter, and whether Phoebe hates her or not, Wessex is smarter than the midwife when it comes to survival. After all, she’s died once before, and come back. If Phoebe wants to try it, then she can be her guest. For now? Wessex does not plan on dying round two. She nudges Phoebe out of the way further with a glaring look of daggers. ”Shut the fuck up” It seems to say. She isn’t feeling nice when there’s a creature on the loose, a creature they don’t know what it wants yet.
She releases a set of her claws, right as the glint of something catches the Wraith’s eye, only seconds before the clawed hand reveals itself around the corner. The shadow is fucking huge, and while Wessex isn’t small, fairly tall compared to some of the other naturals, she doesn’t know what kind of shape it takes. Its head seems far too big to be held on a body that thin, but – perspective always has a way of shifting things.
After a brief moment, what would probably be a heartbeat or two for the midwife, Wessex gestures with a clawed hand toward the pile of ash. “Do not make a sound, go see what that is.” Yeah, she’s trying to be reasonable (and quiet), but if Phoebe wants to keep running her mouth, she won’t feel bad if whatever this is gets a healthy snack, so long as she’s nowhere near it when it does. If the midwife does, or doesn’t, Wessex will continue to slip back to avoid the hand, to avoid being seen the best she can, readying her upgrades just in case.
As Wessex pushed Phoebe again and glared at her, the midwife sniffed, not at all impressed by the the other woman. She might be a queen, but she didn’t know how to rule through anything but force. At least when Zariah had done that, she’d been honest about it. She even called herself merciless. The Ascended Queen, on the other hand, liked to pretend she was a protector, but in this situation, as she always did when push came to shove, she was showing her true colors.
However, when Wessex unsheathed her claws, Phoebe’s eyes widened and she gasped. She hadn’t thought the Ascended Queen would simply murder her in cold blood. The healer stumbled backwards, while Pim gave a fierce battle cry and ran forward to interpose himself between the queen and the midwife. At that exact moment, Phoebe’s eyes found the monster's shadow on the wall. She gasped again, continuing to back up. Desperately, she called out for her friend under her breath. ”Frey, help me!” She needed them now more than ever.
The dragonling, now aware of the real threat, spun to face it. Wessex couldn’t be trusted to keep his Phoebe safe, obviously, and while Frey might show up, Pim knew he couldn’t rely on the god either. Frey would want them to help themselves in this situation. So the dragonling ran forward towards the shadowy form, ready to blast anything that came their way with his lightning.
At Wessex’s instructions, the midwife glanced over at the pile of ash. While she could see the glint of something in there, she didn’t know what it was, and she was afraid if she moved the monster might notice her. Not knowing what the right thing to do was, and not trusting Wessex to know either, Phoebe just kept backing up. All the while, she prayed that Frey would show up. If not, she hoped that Pim and Wessex would be able to scare off or fight whatever was coming for them all.
Rule number one: always keep the curtains drawn.
Rule number two: only open the door, if you hear my secret knock.
Perhaps the pair would have been okay, but Pim's ferocious protectiveness unfortunately winds up being their undoing. The dragon's growl attract's the demogorgon's attention, and a responding snarl-slash-yowl can be heard in reply as the monster leaps toward Wessex and Pim, gnashing a mouth that looks like a flower filled with infinite rows of teeth.
And so here they are: the monster, the cavalry, the key, and Phoebe. Wessex's claws catch its attention, and it lunges at the Ascended as though it intends to bite off a hand. Tasty tasty metal!
Rule number three: Don’t ever go out alone… especially not in the daylight.
Of course Phoebe doesn’t fucking go for the thing hidden in the pile of ash. Does she need to do everything here? Were the Outlanders so helpless to need to be coddled for the strange things that happened in Caido? So here they are, Phoebe quietly calling out for Frey of all things, rather than doing what she said. The dragon didn’t help matters either, charging head first into the creature with the strange shadow illuminated on the wall.
That’s fine and all, if the dragon wants to be eaten, Wessex doesn’t care that much. But things don’t go that way, because of course they don’t, and she releases the claws hidden in her hands. Pim attracts the beast and Wessex spends a moment to roll her eyes at the pink dragon before the queen focuses on the creature as it lurches around the corner. It almost looks like a flower, a deadly flower with gangly arms and a strange sort of… Slickness to its skin. Grimacing lightly while the creature lunges toward her, Wessex slashes out with two swipes of her claws, hoping that she can gut it… If it even has guts, before jumping back from it and readying her bio pulse on the off chance she needs it.
In the same breath (ha!) she calls toward Phoebe, because what’s the point of remaining quiet now when they’re directly in sight? “Can you do something?” Teeth bared against the Demogorgon, she hopes Phoebe does something while she focuses on the creature that’s leaped onto her. Teamwork makes the dream work, right?
The monster emerged, and it was even more awful than the shadow had been. It was like nothing Phoebe had ever seen before, and she could feel terror clutching her. Indeed, she could feel the panic rising higher and higher with each passing moment.
Just like the monsters had been at LongNight, this monster seemed implacable, and she couldn’t possibly do anything to fight it. Wessex, on the other hand, was already in motion, and the midwife just gasped again as the Ascended Queen gave another one of those commands she always issued. The healer’s eyes darted to the ash pile, but she was afraid that if she moved she’d just get in the way or attract the monster’s attention. So all she felt she could do was keep praying desperately. ”Frey, please.” Surely her friend wouldn’t abandon her in her time of need.
Pim felt none of the indecision that Phoebe did. Instead, he was just filled with a fierce need to protect Phoebe, who was clearly scared out of her mind. As always, he was her staunchest defender and guardian. The dragonling even set aside his dislike for Wessex for this, since they both had the same goal at the moment. As the Ascended Queen swiped at the monster with her claws, which were very impressive for a human, Pim roared at the monster, then sent a blast of lightning straight at it. That should scare it away from his precious Phoebe.
Rule number one: always keep the curtains drawn.
Rule number two: only open the door, if you hear my secret knock.
There are no gods in the Upside Down. Or at least, none you want to invoke.
Wessex's strike does indeed land true, though perhaps with less oomph than the ascended would have liked. There isn't really much by way of blood: instead a dark liquid drains slowly from the wound she has left upon its belly (?), and the thing rises up in a howling fury, clearly not entertained.
Pim, though, is the most effective with his attack. Maybe the monster hates lighting, or the color pink- who knows. For whatever reason it seems to retreat as the tiny dragon blasts wild electricity through the room, an unworldly shriek coming from its flower mouth thing as it slinks back behind the corner.
Of course, lighting is notoriously hard to direct. A stray bolt crashes down the hall in the opposite direction, and oh look, we have a fire.
So here's the situation: you're in a corridor full of (presumably) empty cells. In one, something glitters. Behind you is the door. In front and to the left, a fire. In front and to the right? Your new best friend.
What do you do, team?
Rule number three: Don’t ever go out alone… especially not in the daylight.
”They’re not coming.” Wessex snaps to Phoebe, right as the claws the Ascended have extended meet the stomach of this strange creature. She doesn’t know what she expects, but a little bit more flair for the action is definitely one of them, that doesn’t actually occur. Still, as the sparks fly from Pim, the queen steps back, watching as the sparks fly and fire begins.
Fuck, fuck, fuck. She thought being trapped in the prison with Phoebe and a rather ugly monster were one of the least things she wanted to do, but add a fire to it? And yeah, no. Definitely not. She turns from the monster as it slinks back around the corner, snarling something low as she moves into the cell she had been trying to get the midwife to go into, putting her claws back as she swipes with a pale hand through the ash to find the sparkling item.
And what do you know? It looks like a key.
”Get to the door.” She instructs, making her way toward it, feeling for that bio pulse within her in case the monster takes another attempt to stop them. She has really nothing against the fire, other than her quick thinking and simply not wanting to die a second fucking time.
Wessex could snap all she wanted. Phoebe had enough faith in her friendship with Frey that even the Ascended Queen couldn’t shake it. ”What do you know about Frey? Just because your goddess is cruel and doesn’t care about people doesn’t mean my god isn’t looking out for me.” Given how little regard The Voice had for anyone but her precious Ascended, the midwife wasn’t surprised that Wessex thought other gods were the same. Frey was different though. The healer’s friend wouldn’t abandon her, not when she needed them the most. However, the fact that they hadn’t shown up yet made her a bit nervous.
Her fear only grew as the monster attacked. Stepping backwards, she let out a little whimper as her companions went to battle. Although the Ascended Queen’s claws cut the creature, it was Pim who saved the day. His rainbow lightning was more than enough to deter the monster. The dragonling cried out triumphantly as he ran forward, making sure the creature was well and truly gone. Obviously it wouldn’t get through him to hurt his Phoebe. Nothing and no one would touch her, not while Guardian Pim was around.
After he ensured the monster was gone, at least for now, he returned to the healer’s side. For her part, her eyes widened as she watched the fire spreading. Kneeling, she scooped the dragonling up. ”Thank you Pim.” She didn't care that some of his lightning had missed the mark. It had gotten rid of the monster, and that was the only thing that was important. Even Phoebe could see that staying where they were wasn’t an option, though. That's why this time, when Wessex commanded the midwife move, she did, following along as the Ascended Queen led them to the door. The healer did her best to give the corridor where the monster had slinked off as wide a berth as possible, while Pim's eyes never left it, ready to blast again even at the hint of a shadow.
Rule number one: always keep the curtains drawn.
Rule number two: only open the door, if you hear my secret knock.
Good thing Wessex is keeping her head on, because otherwise you might never have found that key. As it is, the Ascended is indeed able to dig the small object out of the ash, and hey, maybe it'll even fit in the lock. The incredibly old, rusty, heavy lock, that will definitely take a good deal of time and finagling to undo.
If you aren't eaten by then.
The demogorgon is coming back, and boy does it seem angry. Or maybe just hungry? Maybe it's singing? It's hard to tell on a monster that only has a mouth where its face should be. Regardless, the thing is charging you down, aiming right for Phoebe since she's the closest. Well, aiming for Pim actually, seemingly intent on stuffing the small dragon's head right into its gaping gullet. If it takes off the midwife's arm in the process I doubt it will complain.
Will Wessex help Phoebe? Or focus on getting out? Decisions, decisions, and so little time....
Rule number three: Don’t ever go out alone… especially not in the daylight.
