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!
This was the largest gathering of people Oliver had seen that wasn't LongNight or the whole Wessex bullshit. It kinda felt nice for everyone to gather in a non serious manner, not having to worry about the fate of Caido or a bunch of people dying. Most of the faces were welcomed ones, however, when Amun arrived, Oliver felt his back stiffen and he turned his eyes away, trying to give the man some space.
Luckily, business soon begin and Oliver was far more keen on the idea of working with the stalls than dealing with the perimeter. Now, Oliver wasn't the most skilled when it came to building, but how hard could it be to build some stalls? Besides, he'd have another person working along with him, so if anything went wrong they could probably give him some pointers. Raising his hand, Oliver took a step forward. "I can help repair the stalls."
As the people who remained started dividing themselves, Amun grinned. As Lily departed to go help with the cleaning, the potter quickly followed in her footsteps. He tossed a wink over his shoulder at Amalia. ”Hot stuff and I are on it, kitty.” That done, he closed the distance between himself and the red-headed woman, his grin gaining a wicked edge.
He moved in close, dropping his voice to a whisper. ”Maybe we can make a little show out of it, hot stuff? Give them a taste of what you can do. Just follow my lead." Winking, he went to the actual clean up effort. As Lily started sweeping and what not, the Ascended grabbed rags and water. Then he began to wipe down the surfaces of the kiosks, bursting into a sea shanty as he was won't to do while he worked.
Naow whin Oi wuz a little boy an’ so me mother told me,
‘Way haul away, we’ll haul away Joe!
That if Oi didn’t kiss the boys me lips would all grow mouldy.
‘Way haul away, we’ll haul away Joe!
An’ Oi sailed the seas for many a year not knowin’ what Oi wuz missin’,
‘Way haul away, we’ll haul away Joe!
Then Oi sets me sails afore the gales an’ started in a-kissin’.
‘Way haul away, we’ll haul away Joe!
As always, his voice was more enthusiastic than skillful, but considering the the music, that was entirely appropriate. Besides, it perked up his spirits and made the work of cleaning these stalls go much faster and easier. At least it did in his mind.
12-05-2019, 02:14 AM (This post was last modified: 12-05-2019, 04:37 PM by Deimos.)
DEIMOS
Attuned connotations and convictions sprung along their stakes while he wove his way through the field, the thread dangling from talons, the rest of them sorting, coordinating, and plotting the trenches down in the soil, marking off where designated areas would be. He wound his way along trees, along brush, along flowers, incorporating as much of the landscape as they dared, while still maintaining distance from Loren’s recently planted gardens. Before long, they’d formulated a makeshift area, massive and distinct enough to harbor the kiosks, the impending games, the dance floor, and everything mottled in between. Good, he’d nodded his noble, eagle cranium at Loren, at Jigano, before flying back down at the edge, the finality of the task anointed and consecrated as he shifted back to human form.
One thing down, several others to go.
His eyes drifted over to Amalia and her gathered souls, assembling the stalls, the kiosks, a major distinction amongst the festival – before gesturing to the lot of them, granting and giving them opportunity to switch groups, depending on their interests and intrigue.
“Well done.” A shifting smile for his fellow Attuned, before his voice boomed over the sanction, clambering for the rest. “I would like assistance in games next!” There was the slightest hint of mischief behind his eyes, waiting for whomever yearned or craved to motion into amusements and diversions. He glanced back over his list, over their supplies, and then what each would entail for positioning amongst the field. “I was thinking of at least three different ones. Then we can set them up.” Instead of reading them off, he left the list out for them to consider, debate upon, and conjure between the assortments.
--
Moving on, good work fam!
Feel free to mingle amongst groups and go along with different people!
Deimos needs three people to help with games!
Here’s the list of suggestions from our lovely gen chat. Pick one of your favorites and then we can have three different games and set them up!
Dunk Tank
Pie Throwing
Spin the Bottle
Dodgeball
Capture the Flag
Limbo
Tug-of-War
They divide up- somewhat unevenly, but they dive up. She cannot help a smug, teasing pulse at Deimos as the crowd around her grows larger than his, the mental equivalent of sticking her tongue out, her grin playful as she flashes it between those who greet her, a warm blush on her cheeks. "I didn't realize I was so popular," she remarks to Kiara as she follows her Harpy toward the kiosks, her laughter bright in the morning air.
Amun and Lily take to cleaning, Kiada offers to move the stalls, and so Amalia turns to the only person here she doesn't know, a friendly smile on her face. "Looks like we're on repair team. I'm not great at construction, but I've put enough of these together to have a pretty good handle on things."
And indeed, Amalia's skills in carpentry are better than she might admit- at least where kiosk building is concerned. Her expression brightens as Amun's voice wafts through the air; picking up the tune she begins to hum along. Working together she and Oliver are able to repair the kiosks quickly, and once they finish Amalia moves on to helping Kiada finish with organizing the now clean stalls.
The kiosks finished, the group reconvenes with Deimos, Amalia listening on as he boyishly takes the task of games. "And I need to set up the area for music." Something she is spectacularly ill versed in, her black eyes hopeful as they pass over Lily and Jigano, both of whom she knows to be quite talented musicians.
Amalia needs help setting up for music at the festival! She's making puppy dog eyes at Lily and Jigano in particular
don't make a shadow of yourself, always shutting out the light
With Deimos leading the way, he and Loren managed to plant the stakes to secure the ropes, outlining an area large enough to hold quite a bit of revelry without trampling on the struggling crops in the nearby soil of the fields. It would serve to deter the more sober guests, at least, though the bard was sure the more drunken ones would find ways to stumble over or under it to cause a little accidental mayhem. Such was the price of Fiat Lux, though, and no one really seemed to mind as long as the mischief wasn't malicious or wide-ranging.
Reconvening afterwards, Jigano whistled his appreciation of the work the kiosk-team had put in, the booths cleaned, repaired, and arranged in a pleasing manner. Soon they'd be filled with treats and trinkets, drinks and games, and the glow of lanterns from dusk to dawn. For now, though, the place was like a seed still waiting to grow, and there was still much to be done.
He arched a brow at Deimos's plans for contests and silliness, a grin dancing at the corners of his lips as he regarded the General's rarely-seen playful side. Amalia caught his attention with her puppy-dog eyes, however, a tactic which she had to know he was helpless against, and he gave her a gallant bow. "Of course, I am at your service," he promised theatrically, before turning his own puppy dog eyes on Lily as well.
Once they had sorted out who would in the band camp, Jigano eyed the area that had been set aside for music and dancing. "Perhaps if the musicians are up a bit, so their music carries farther?" he suggested. "On a raised platform, I'm thinking. And we'll want the dancefloor to be flat and even so no one trips. I can work on that end of things." With a grin he turned to the area, feeling in his chest for the shimmering strands of green and brown earth magic. Plucking them with greater familiarity he heard the inaudible music of his magic rise and sank his hands into the ground, pushing his power into it to coax it into the shape he was asking of it.
A rumble sounded as a rough rectangle of ground lifted where the musicians would play, the earth settling into a flat surface on top as Jigano continued to will it into the general shape of the band platform, sturdy and stable. A second 'riser' all around it provided a step up to it for the musicians.When that was done he turned his attention to the dance 'floor', striding to the middle of it before kneeling once more to smooth out the mole holes and hard pack the surface of the dirt to support the weight of the dancers. He repeated it a few more times, expanding the dancing area as he remembered how wide Amalia and Deimos had spun out their dancing last year.
Jigano uses earth magic to raise a 2 foot tall high rectangular platform from the ground with a riser for a stairstep up to it for the musicians to play on. He then smooths out a dancefloor so no one trips on a gopher hole or mole tunnel during the party.
As Jigano approached, Amun smirked at the white-haired man. However, even the Ascended nodded approvingly at the Provost’s display of power. ”Nice one, coriander.” Turning to Amalia, the potter winked. ”I’ll go make some stands for instruments and whatnot, kitty. We'll probably want some chairs around the edge of the dance floor for people to rest." With that, he whistled a jaunty tune as he went to get some wood and a knife.
That done, he began whittling, his dexterous fingers equally capable of shaping wood as they were with clay. It wasn't long before he had places for people to rest lutes, flutes, and even more exotic instruments. After all, he wasn't sure exactly what they'd be using, so he was covering all their bases.
12-05-2019, 03:39 PM (This post was last modified: 12-05-2019, 04:39 PM by Loren.)
there's light at the edge of the darkness
Glancing over the list of games, Loren bit his lip. Although he hadn't heard of some of these (games hadn't really featured highly in his childhood, except as proxies for battle), he could figure them out. Unclear exactly how they were supposed to decide, he figured he'd just vote on what he thought was best. "It's a festival for Frey, so Spin the Bottle makes sense to me." He created a bottle, then held it awkwardly in his hands. Stepping back, he gestured that others should look over the list. If they needed help making their games, he'd offer whatever support they needed.
It seemed that everyone else had picked their tasks and...maybe he was a little happy Amun had chosen to work with Lily rather than with him. This did mean that someone he didn't know would come up and work with him on repairing the stalls. "It's all good, I'm only decent at repairing things myself. Shouldn't be too hard though." Now wasn't the time for chatting, despite the fact that Oliver did want to get to know the stranger. They could talk later, once all the work was done.
The lack of talking would allow him and the stranger to get through all the stalls, repairing them with ease. Surprisingly, it wasn't too hard to repair the stalls. He had expected a massive struggle or at least some difficulty, but it wasn't too bad.
With the stalls done, he moved on to help out with Deimos since he didn't know a single thing about music. With a faint smile he joined Loren, walking over to inspect what they had to work with. "I...I unfortunately don't know many of these, but I think I could do capture the flag. That's the one where you have two teams, yes? And you have to go after the other flag?" He couldn't conjure up things, so he'd have to be creative. And creative was correct.
Walking over to the piles of materials, he grabbed two long, pieces of fabric, one red and one blue, and two dowel rods. Moving back over to Loren, he reached towards his boot and pulled out the knife he had received from Wessex. Oliver would proceed to cut the fabric down to a more manageable size, where it was now a long strip of fabric. "Hopefully this'll stay on," He carefully placed the knife back into his boot and tied each piece of fabric around its own rod. "I think it's done....what do you think?"
I JUST WANT MY EXISTENCE TO BE MORE THAN TREMBLING
“Of course you are.” Kiada snorts back to the Shield, finding it incredibly unlikely that Amalia would never be popular. At the very least, she’d have Amalia and Deimos on her side. But she turns to the tasks at hand, organizing and setting up the kiosks, moving them exactly as instructed, before wiping the dust and dirt from her hands. The next set of instructions are granted, and as Amalia makes eyes to Lily and Jigano, Kiada slips away with a playful smirk on her face as she approaches Deimos.
“Dodgeball.” A feral grin crosses her face at that, helping to prepare the necessary spots for them, the line to designate the sides, the small jerseys of sorts to wear to determine teams and sides, and of course the room and space between to make it work.
all bright things must burn
BASE INSPIRED BY ODD <3
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
Soon enough, she’s joined by Amun, the semi-familiar hot stuff drifting towards her ear even as the man came closer. His request is unusual, but she nods in agreement, slowing down her cleaning to watch his ‘lead.’ And to his credit, he’s picked a song that’s easy to follow, even if she can’t quite make out what the tune is supposed to be - do sea shanties even have proper melodies?
Feeling out the rhythm, Lily sways a little as she works, adding something of a harmony to the refrain, “‘Way haul away, we’ll haul away Joe!” until it finally devolves into her cutting off the end with laughter after a few verses.
No sooner than they’re done does another request come at the entertainer, and Amalia didn’t even need to use her puppy eyes. All it took was that kind of recognition and the redhead was there. Relegated to the manual labor team, there’s really no need for her to make things when Jigano’s already in the middle of doing it all. She doesn’t want to think ill of him, but it did seem like he was trying to take over a bit with his magic. So she just kind of stands to the side and finds some stray chairs for them - or whoever else wanted to play during the Festival - to sit on. Alas, they have no sheet music, so there’s no need for music stands, now is there?
He felt the teasing measures pulsing through their connection – and were they alone Deimos might rolled his eyes and insinuated a multitude of other taunting measures and goading challenges; but there were too many things to accomplish. So he settled for an arch of his brow, eyes finding hers, the merest smirk and snicker, accompanied with a quality over quantity remark, before turning his attention back to games.
The list had held a great variety of choices, but they seemed to register the notions with aplomb, allowing for the slightest edges of mischief to settle over the atmosphere. Besides, the necessities for each of the diversions didn’t seem difficult at all: Loren procuring the bottle for his selected entertainment, flags procured (despite Oliver’s apprehension) for capture the flag, he noted with a keen nod “These will do nicely,” to ensure the younger man that everything was well. And then came Kiada and her feral grin, wickedness returned for a brief moment, before he concocted the essential items – multitudes of the aforementioned orbs, crimson in color, sure to make a resounding, ricocheting sound upon hitting opponents.
Afterwards, after ensuring there was an adequate, designated space for each particular vocation and sport, his gaze shifted over towards the musical gathering, the familiar intonations of Amun sliding over. Once they were finished, it was time to set up the decorations and dance floor, though it appeared that Jigano had done a multitude of the latter already, perimeter achieved (much wider than last year's; maybe he and Amalia's distinctions of running over everyone assembled had made an impression). Perhaps they could all collaborate on these components then – the décor needing to be either made or put somewhere.
“We can come together for decorations,” and he lifted his head towards Amalia, awaiting either some teasing decadence, acceptance, or anything else nestled between. His eyes then went to the gathered, more than enough hands to settle into the notions of assembling ribbons and bunting, and then extending them out into the fold, enticing and alluring. “Between the lot of us, we can either make or place them.” Then he shifted back into his eagle form, a declaration of what he’d be doing (because honestly; his talents were not in threads and streamers), beak taking hold of one already shaped, intending to fly off and tie it where it was needed, return again and again until they were through.
--
Decorations: make them or place them! Let Amalia give you directions over what they’re using and/or you can follow Deimos around to put them in various spots. ;D
Spin the bottle, capture the flag, and dodgeball it was. He followed the rest of the group back to the center. A smile graced his face as he gave an approving nod at their progress. It seemed there was still work to be done, though. Half of them would be placing the finishing touches and half of them would be making them.
Loren figured there was no reason for him to change a winning strategy or break up the dream team, so he stuck with Deimos. As the other man shifted into an eagle, the summoner shifted into a honey badger and trotted along in the General's wake. Wherever Deimos indicated, the Launceleyn would secure the decorations on the ground, his nimble paws hopefully up to the task.
They continue to complete their tasks with gusto, Jigano setting to work building a dance floor, Amun crafting music stands. "Maybe we could write out some songs?" she suggests to Lily, smiling shyly and approaching with a stack of neatly scribbled papers. "These are some of the ones my grandmother used to sing, and some folk songs... maybe you could play your, ah, your instrument? It was so beautiful at longnight."
Once the last of the music preparations are in place Amalia moves back to the decorations, nodding to Deimos and smiling brightly. "I brought some materials for banners- fabric and paint. There's also colored paper for streamers, and more paint for the stalls. I'm going to touch up the paint job on the kiosks, if anyone wanted to help with that."
Help make banners, paper chains, or paint kiosks!
don't make a shadow of yourself, always shutting out the light
"I'd like to help with the painting," Jigano offered with a wry smile, looking forward to claiming a little time with his guildmate amidst all the hustle and bustle - even if it meant breaking up the hybrid dream team for the moment. He collected a brush, bowing gallantly to Amalia and Lily over it, as if over a courtier's sword.
He had a fine hand for calligraphy, but painting images was a bit more daunting task. He really ought to ask Remi for lessons at some point... but not today. No, the relatively simple application of paint to wood suited him just fine, especially since he suspected that Lily's handwriting was fine and fancy enough to appeal to everyone in the Grounds. He set to work applying a fresh coat of bright color to the stalls that had places that were worn bare by time or weather, and if a dab of paint 'accidentally' made it onto Amalia or himself in the process? Well, that was just the way the cookie crumbled! And he hummed quietly, content to be surrounded by friends and family and doing something to build rather than tear down.
