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!
OOC | Mere wakes up for the first time in Caido and is unknowingly in her cat form, hence why everything looks so large. She thinks she's dreaming
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Birdsong woke her, coaxing her out of a deep slumber. It was the best she'd slept in months, and she was loathe to force herself out of her nice, warm bed. Surely the gods would allow her five more minutes; certainly the palace rumor mill would spare her just this once. But even as she longed for it, Meriel knew that it wasn't true. If she was but five minutes later rising than usual, the gossip would start, and she couldn't afford to be at the center of attention. Not for the first time, she wondered why court wasn't named for the viper's nest that it was. But, viper's nest or no, lazing about and whining about it wasn't going to get her anywhere. Meriel yawned, arching her back and stretching her legs out in front of her. Then, hesitantly, as though she could prolong her time in bed by moving as slowly as possibly, she opened her eyes.
And leaped immediately to her feet.
She was not in her bed. In fact, she wasn't even in the palace. A glade of remarkable beauty lay before her, full of lush, natural splendor. She had been laying on a bed of moss, tucked in the shadow of a rather large tree. In fact, she realized as she looked around, her mouth gaping open in awe, everything was rather large. A fern frond that had acted as her blanket was larger than she was, and even the bushes positively towered over her. She was overcome with several emotions all at once--awe, confusion, excitement, fear--and, for a moment, it was all she could do to simply stand and breathe.
The moment passed, of course, as moments tend to do, and Merial found herself wandering from the safety of her mossy, fern-covered bedroom into the magnificence of the glade. Everywhere she looked, a lush, green carpet rolled beneath her feet; overhead, a canopy of leaves sheltered her from the heat of the sun. Why, for a dream, there was an amazing amount of detail! Birds fluttered overhead, calling to one another with reckless abandon; a honeybee buzzed haphazardly past her head, larger than life and as terrifying as it was breathtaking. Meriel stared at everything with eyes as wide as saucers, trying to take everything in.
If this was a dream--and surely it was--she hoped she would never wake up.
"talk"
Jory was in one of his favorite spots: tucked up in one of the larger trees in the glade and enjoying the splendor of the Caido at its best. One of the tree’s lower branches (about shoulder-height to him standing) was broad enough that he found he could lay on it quite comfortably and so he lounged, letting his feet swing haphazardly off the side, and listened to the lazy sounds of nature around him.
The priest was in the process of wondering if he should take the rest of the day to go into the Settlement. He’d heard rumors of outlanders, which had a common story growing up but had been popping up entirely too often as of late to be entirely dismissible. If true, he mused, these happenings would surely be some godly business and worth sticking his nose into. He just didn’t feel quite like going yet; as that would mean remembering where he’d put the rest of his clothes. Not that he’d mind waltzing into town in just his trousers, but it wouldn’t doo to leave the rest of his things just lying about in the forest where anyone might happen upon the and take them. Remembering that he had in fact already done just that elicited nothing more than a shrug. What'’ done is done after all, and he resolved he’d go tomorrow.
A small rustle had him perking up, and Jory turned his head to see a little cat creeping through the dappled sunlight of the glade. He sat up, drawing one leg up while the other swung lazily out in front of him and watched the little creature for a moment. It was very… well—spotty. Spotty and entirely unlike any stray mouser he’d seen lurking around the Settlement. It didn’t seem to be acting like one either. He’d never seen a cat that he could have described as starry-eyed before, and it didn’t seem like it was on the hunt so he called out in a teasing manner: “Let’s not pussyfoot around it, little puss. If you’re going to be in the God’s Glade you should show your real face, it’s only respectful after all.” If it wasn’t a fellow shapechanger it would probably only scamper off and no skin off his back.
A boy with a coin he crammed in his jeans Then making a wish he tossed in the sea
Walked to a town that all of us burn When God left the ground to circle the world
The honeybee that had buzzed past Meriel buzzed back, circling curiously above the cat’s head. Another one appeared from the leaves of the tree and descended to fly around Jorseval. Both bees hovered around the strange creatures in the tree for just a moment before they struck. Both the cat and the person would find themselves stung, the bees selflessly giving their lives in defense of the hive.
For you see, somehow, in all of Jorseval’s time in this favorite tree of his, he had somehow failed to notice the enormous hive in the upper branches. Now, an angry and veritable storm of bees poured out of the hive, called by the death of the members of their swarm. It quickly split into two clouds. The much smaller one went for Meriel while the larger one charted a course straight for Jorseval. These interlopers would be dealt with.
Meriel was mesmerized by this strange new world and all of the beauty that loomed over her head. It didn't take long for her to decide that she simply must be dreaming. After all, who had ever heard of birds half as big as she was and bees the size of her head? No, this was simply impossible. She nodded sagely to herself, decided. She would explore, then, and not worry too much. After all, if she got scared, she would just wake up--right?
And so she ventured on, peering around her with a wide-eyed sense of wonder, and before long she stumbled upon a disembodied voice. She cocked her head to the side, glancing around her with a rather puzzled air about her, and jumped when she saw a very large human sitting in a tree. He was huge! She had never dreamed quite like this before--such vivid detail! And she felt lucid, which was strange, for her. Oh, but the dreamed-up giant had said something to her, hadn't he? It was a strange statement, one that didn't make much sense, and Meriel was suddenly cross that her dreams were speaking in riddles.
But before she could answer, the honeybee was drifting back and, as it passed, she felt a horrid prick on her hind end. She shrieked--which, oddly, sounded remarkably like a screeching cat, and spun around. It was at that moment that she caught sight of a tail. Spinning, she searched for the animal it was attached to. After a few spins, she realized that it was attached to her. Looking down, she saw paws--her paws--and, paying attention for the first time to her body, she realized that she was indeed on all fours. Panic (exacerbated by the fact that one does not feel pain in dreams and, therefore, she must be dreaming) set in, and she caterwauled her realization that she was truly in a strange world, trapped in a cat's body to the strange man who had spoken to her. No wonder everything had seemed so big!
Too late, she realized that a hive had erupted from the tree on which the man sat, a small part of the swarm heading straight for her. She yelped--which came out as the type of screech that emanates from a cat who has just been stepped on--and plunged from the tree into the undergrowth, hoping that the plants would deter the bees from their attack. Still, she couldn't help but stay nearby even as she ran for her life on short legs. What if the man needed help?
Jorseval - so sorry for the wait ;___; life has been hard lately
"talk"
