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!
"The ability to breathe underwater would be helpful." You aren't the type to be jealous or covet things, save for where the animal kingdom is concerned. There are simply so many fascinating adaptations in the world that you will never experience because your body has been designed in such a way so as not to need them. That, and you'll never linger in and around the water long enough for such a mutation to occur. Nor do you have the time (or time-machine) to breed one into your genetic code.
You don't wish for things on your birthday (or even acknowledge it); but were you the sort for such things, mutations are most certainly what you'd ask for.
"We know how to swim." You observe, following easily behind Kai. And indeed, neither of you. "We've been around water before." It isn't clear to you whether or not you're meant to be piecing together bits of your past, but it's hard for your mind not to make connections.
11-06-2019, 10:12 PM (This post was last modified: 11-06-2019, 10:13 PM by Kaimana.)
wisdom begins in wonder
"We do!" You know how to swim and you're quite good at it, considering you can't remember ever doing so before. Flipping onto your back in the water you grin at Oia before dipping down below the surface, a pocket of bubbles the only thing to mark you as ever having been present at all.
It isn't until about 30 seconds later that you re-emerge slightly behind Oia, bursting out of the crimson water to douse your sister thoroughly. Your curls are plastered to the sides of your head, your laughter ringing in tune with the cascading, falling water as you quickly swim away, the mission of finding the Undine forgotten in a moment of pure delight and mirth.
You watch your twin disappear, as always, unconcerned about his survival. Right now most of that confidence and disinterest comes from the fact that you flit through the water as if you were made for it (minus all the anatomical parts you decidedly lack were you in fact made for it). Given that Kai does too you are not quite certain that you've come from somewhere where water was part of your daily life.
As Kai erupts from behind you (the word geyser suddenly filling your thoughts), you turn towards him, studiously noting how the lichen is still happily attached to him and wondering if there are other applications for such an interesting species. Your thoughts are interrupted by the rainfall your twin has caused. Turning you register the way his eyes are larger, his teeth are showing, there are dimples on his freckled cheeks; all this you know to be joy. It's easy to recognize on Kai as he displays it so often and in such an obvious manner. "Playfulness." You say, before slapping at the water yourself to send a mini tidal wave in his direction.
Her acknowledgement of your delight only serves to fuel it: "Yup!" you confirm merrily, grinning at Oia, lichen clinging determinedly to your hair and arms. Her mini wave breaks square across your chest, bursting into a cascade of sparkling water that splatters on your face and neck, eliciting even more of your ringing laughter as you quickly plot retaliation.
She isn't nearly wet enough.
Dipping back beneath the water you open up your eyes, easily making out your twin's legs in the clear pool. With the skill of someone who certainly grew up doing this on a daily basis you dive down below her, your feet on the rocky floor below. And then up, her legs hooked over your shoulders as you rise, hoping to tip her over into the water and register her completely submerged.
Instinct takes over your body as well, and as you feel Kai come up beneath you, you push off the ground and arc your back. You aren't particularly graceful, but there's no denying you've done this before. You crash into the water mostly shoulders-first, though you perhaps make slightly less of a splash than you might otherwise have done. You've even remembered to take a lungful of air before going in.
Instead of surfacing, you too open your eyes underwater. It's clear but for the lichen. You don't mind at all, and in fact, as your eyes begin to blur and burn slightly, you mentally suggest to your senses that if they would only mutate, this would be much more bearable. They don't of course, and so you're forced to surface not only for air, but to rub at your eyes as well.
"I...like being in the water." Which given that you're a child of the earth should be obvious enough, but it means something to you that you do in fact like it. Enjoy it, even.
You are still laughing when Oia returns up to the surface, your grin wide and infectious as you skillfully tread water beside your now saturated twin. This is fun, and it feels so right, and for right now you've entirely forgotten your assignment and your purpose and your Divine Blood. Right now you are a young kid having a great time and being a goof.
And, miracle of miracles, she is too.
"Me too!" you declare, your cheeks red and your curls plastered to the sides of your face, just as at home in the water as you've ever felt on land. "I feel like we're 'sposed to be in the water. Like it's the right place for us, y'know?" Paddling closer to your sister, you tilt your head up toward her, chin bobbing dangerously close to the surface of the pool. "Are you happy, Oia?" you question softly, genuinely curious as to her experience of that particular emotion.
"We would have gills and our fingers would be more webbed were that the case." You reply automatically, but for once you don't sound as argumentative as you might otherwise. You dislike the irrational, but in this instance, you know exactly what Kai means. There is a feeling of rightness here. Familiarity that you can't quite parse.
"I am healthy, reasonably content, and experiencing no sensations of dread or anxiety." You report back, not unlike an ascended reading a scan of themselves. But you know (because Kai has taught you) that this is not really what he's asking. Still, when you introspect, there simply isn't a lot there. You tell yourself that the emptiness you feel just makes more room for your thoughts and that it isn't because something is wrong with you. Not often, but sometimes you do think that there is.
Not having the words for it, you stiffly reach forward for Kai. You are the taller of the pair of you, but in the water that hardly seemed to matter. Squishing your arms around him and tugging him close, you simply bob together, resting your cheek against his.
"Ah, that'd be great!" You wiggle your fingers in front of you excitedly, as though hoping to manifest webbing through sheer force of will. To be able to adapt to any environment you were in would be the coolest thing ever. You will have to ask your Dama about it, next time you see them.
Oia's response to your question is... well, it's not exactly what you were hoping for, but you know she's doing her best. That something is wrong with your twin has never crossed your mind, and if anyone did dare suggest such a thing you would no doubt show them a very unusual side of yourself.
But even though you love Oia, even though you understand and accept her, even though you think she's the greatest thing Rae ever made, there are times where you... you just wonder about it, y'know? Whether she's enjoying life. Whether you've been a good brother. Whether she's happy or not.
All of this is to say- when Oia does hug you it means all that much more, the stiff and unpracticed act of affection as wonderful as anything you ever experience. You return it with a sort of thoughtful delicacy that is rare to find in your actions, gentle and quiet, a sign of how important she is, how much she means, that you are more than happy to subdue yourself to keep her comfortable. Wrapping your arms around her in turn, you bob alongside her in the water, smiling quietly, your face awash with joy.
"I love you, 'I'o."
And then you pull away, ending the contact so she does not have to feel bad about it, beaming up at her as you float in the water, your freckled face a little sunburnt already. "Should we go an' see if we can find the Undine?"
"It would." You agree, and though you aren't the type to long for things, your mind has already begun to spiral into cathedral-like infinities and multitudes as you envision all the things you might do and research and learn were you better suited for the various environments you find yourself in.
Just as Kai is able to read into your reserved embrace, you too notice the way he doesn't crash against you as he probably would like, how his hands are still instead of flailing about. Sighing, you relax against him, which is probably the only subconscious display of love and trust you have. But he is the only one you're truly comfortable around, and the way your body sags ever so slightly to simply be carried by the water is indicative of that.
"And I would not want any one else to fill the mutually beneficial role that you play in my life, nor terminate the relationship for the discernible future." Which of course is Oia speak for I love you too.
"Yes. Though given that the lichen attaches to nearly everything it is entirely possible the Undine has been smothered. Or, if they have some ability to withstand it, perhaps they are here and simply perfectly camouflaged with the environment."
Sentimentality over for now, your attention returns to things like lichen and Undines. (Your goofy, happy, beaming smile remains as you speak, though, positively glowing with delight.) "Well if it's from here then it's prolly adapted to withstand the lichen, or live symbiotically." Doubtful that a creature endemic to the pond would have been so thoroughly overtaken, especially when there are reports of it being seen in the past year. Camouflage makes more sense, and you nod along with that possibility, casting a surreptitious look across the pond.
But the legends say behind the waterfall, so that's what you're gonna try. Swimming over to the rocks around the edge of the fall you pull yourself up onto a slippery surface, arms extended as you find your balance and nimbly leap to the next available stone. Soon you have carved a path to just beside the spray. For a moment you pause, flashing Oia a grin- and then it's into the new unknown, behind the curtain of thunderous wet.
It isn’t as if Kai needs more things to ask; no doubt he could fill an entire universe up with unanswered questions. Unlike others though, you’re dazzled and delighted by this (intellectually, not emotionally of course). Kai thinks to ask things that you never would (mostly about feelings and such), but without him your research would be incomplete. With him you would be incomplete, and therein is the perfection of Rae’s design.
And if all of this is mere cosmic happenstance? Well that is fine too.
“Can we invent waterproof ink and paper.” You ask, which is about the closest you can come to making a rhetorical sort of joke. You actually are serious of course, such a thing would be immensely helpful, but you realize how unlikely it is.
Beneath the roar of the waterfall you call back to your twin, clearly enthusiastic about the prospect of inventing something with so much potential use. "Yeah! Maybe an oil based ink? An' we could look at water repellent plants an' things for the paper."
As you speak you continue to clamor over slick stones, until you've made it far enough that the ground is mostly dry again. The ceiling is high enough for you to stand, but it's dismally dark and you have to squint to make anything out. "Undine? Are you in here? We were hopin' we could meet you."
"Like the way water beads off of feathers." You call out in agreement. You are now wondering if it would be possible to grow an oil-covered parchment. "Perhaps some sorf of organic ink would work on the oil." A flash of darkness in the water flashed in your mind, but you can't quite place it.
Bobbing up in the darkened space, red lichen still sticking to you like a bathing suit (not that you think you need one), you nod in silent agreement to your twin's plea.
Oh, so they really want to meet her. It’s too bad for them that she doesn’t wish to be found. For as Kaimana and Oia’i’o clamor over the stones, the Undine freezes in her movement — watching quietly with wide eyes as they seek and call for her. She does not move closer, does not inspect, not with the freedom granted of the blight recovery.
And so with it, she dips further into the water, eyes peering above the surface before suddenly more lichen begins to attach themselves to the two trespassers, and she turns to swim deeper into the water, the hidden caverns of her safety and home, tail lifting in the air and splashing a shower of water to the two demi-gods as she swims deeper, hiding herself away.
