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!
He had left Ezekiel early that morning, before the sun rose and the world even hinted at giving them warmth, to move toward the mountains. For a few weeks now he had been scouting at the base of the Fangs, trying to move with a small cluster of luxere. Noah held the promise of flowerbirth in his heart, leaning on what he had learned from his father. Throughout most of the previous season the pair of brothers had only had ningo and small rations of potatoes and other tubers to fill their bellies. Despite the skill the two brothers shared for finding, killing, and bringing home game, the world and the winter had been unkind to them. It did not kill the hope, the desire, nor the thrill of the hunt in Noah's breast. It seemed that growing up in the frozen wasteland had developed a steadfast hope in him -- or, perhaps, his mother had worked that in before her death.
Today, however, hope was not enough. The sun was just past midday now, thick clouds moving across the sky. Noah had been on the hunt for hours. At one point -- just after the hint of light on daybreak -- he had seen one of the elusive deer creatures. He had lifted his bow up, arrow notched and ready, but the wind shifted. Without cause and without hesitation, Halo changed. While he had been downwind of the luxere upon sight, as the wind shifted it took merely seconds for the deer to scent the man. Noah did not even have time to attempt to shoot -- the deer lifted its head, cocked its ears, and bounded away. Noah sat, anger bubbling in his chest, for a long while, cursing under his breath. Perhaps Ezekiel would hold more luck tomorrow.
Looking to the sky, the blond man knew he needed to head back towards Snowcloak. He had no desire to be out after dark. Descending carefully from the small altitude he had climbed, the hunter -- though lacking in prey -- moved toward home.
dont know where the lights are taking us but something in the night is dangerous
Ah, the neverending search for food. If there was ever a place more scarce and difficult than The Grounds to hunt in, Wessex assumes it must be Halo. And once again she is thankful she need not worry about that kind of nourishment anymore. What the ex-Queen had brought with her the first time - fruit, bread, some pickled things in jars - had been left with the guard at the portal. Where and to whom it goes after that is none of her concern. It gives her free passage, and that is all the demi-god wants.
Today, she climbs. Not so much wrapped up against the elements as merely a precaution against any long-term exposure (they don’t know what the cold might do to their nanites, what appendages might be accidentally damaged out of hubris and folly), she is a single, quick-moving spot on the mountainside - also descending - as she spots the man in front of her. Wessex freezes. Her knowledge of the Halovians is limited to the killers in Whitebrim and Neron (whom she doesn’t rule out as being a killer) and his bumbling guards, none of which she assumes can be stereotypical of the ice-bound area’s citizens. She’s caught between wanting to pull a Kai and observe from afar, and wanting to talk.
She makes a bold assumption in thinking the stranger even wants to talk. But hunters often like to compare notes, so perhaps…
Rather than draw attention to herself with a sound that could call anything else in the area straight to them, she pries a foot-sized rock out of the frozen ground (not necessarily an easy thing to do, even for her) and rolls it down the slope, aiming for somewhere to the person’s left side. Far away enough to intentionally miss, but not so far away for them to be able to ignore it. Wessex boldly follows her attempt at attention, carefully but openly moving down the mountain towards the other.
As Noah makes his way down the mountainside, his head is already filled with planning the next task. He knows that since he has not brought home a luxere, he must provide something. Along his way to the pass, he had chosen to hunt in he had set some small snare traps. Hopefully, an unassuming rodent -- preferably a large, stupid one -- found the unfortunate path and got caught up in the man's knots. Noah was not nearly as good as trapping as Ezekiel, but he had learned quite a few tricks from his younger brother and had some success. Enough success, paired with the younger man, to keep them alive in the harsh place they chose to call home.
Nearly lost in his thoughts, hearing the disruption on the mountainside above him took him longer to recognize than he wanted to admit. He heard the small boulder shift and tumble and his self-preservation instincts grabbed ahold of the controls. His shoulders went up and his dominant hand quickly moved to the sheathed dagger on his thigh. His face hardened and he turned on heel, ready to face whatever was causing the disturbance. There were not many options in Halo for a retreat. Anything that chose to attack would pursue, and he knew it was always better to face head-on in this proximity. This knowing, this confidence, however, did not stop his heart from banging against the cage it was trapped in.
With rising blood pressure, Noah searched above him, scanning quickly and intently with iced blue eyes. He tried to keep control over his breathing as he finally set eyes on the frame of a woman -- a woman? -- standing several yards from him. "Hello." He said simply, cooly, kicking himself for not being a clever wordsmith.
01-11-2020, 03:29 PM (This post was last modified: 01-11-2020, 03:30 PM by Wessex.)
dont know where the lights are taking us but something in the night is dangerous
Yes, a woman. A blonde. Boldly going where no Grounder has gone before, or something like that.
Really, there was no good way to go about getting his attention without startling the man. His immediate reaction makes her feel a little guilty as she recognizes familiar movements (the reach for the weapon, wild-eyed, crouching at the ready) and can keenly remember similar jolts of fear and heart-stopping events when the unexpected comes crashing through routine. Especially here. No one wants the unexpected whilst hunting - unless it’s an animal with a broken leg that the local predators haven’t yet found. That is only good kind of surprise, unless it’s a hot drink waiting and ready for their return.
Raising her hand in salutation, Wessex finds his light gaze with a blue one of her own, bright and sharp and in this case - crinkling a little in self-critique. “Hello,” she responds, taking a few steps towards the rugged man. “Sorry for scaring you. That was stupid of me.”
No clever words needed here. Wessex has never been fond of them - say what you mean and mean what you say and they'll get along just fine.
Despite his initial reaction, the woman did not come in for attack like he thought she might. She lifted a hand to greet him and made her way further down the mountain, closing the distance between them. Noah let his body relax some, straightening up his posture and releasing the tension in his shoulders. "It's okay, just glad I didn't loose an arrow on you." He half-smirked, shrugging his shoulders some in a light-hearted way. In another situation he might reciprocate an apology for his defensive response, but like his words demonstrated it could have been much worse of an action on his part. Noah was no stranger to things trying to kill him in Halo.
He let his eyes wander her for a moment, but as she came closer there was no familiarity. He decided she must be an Outlander. There had been a flood of them coming in and around Halo since the portals opened. Noah had found himself in a group of outlanders when the genie appeared in Halo, but this woman was the first outlander he had actually interacted with. Although he had loosened his stance some, relaxed his posture, and spoke with her, he knew that he could not let his guard down one hundred percent. While the man may have been more trusting than the other Halovian residents, he was not an idiot. "What brings you out to the Fangs/" he asked, casually trying to keep conversation with her. Whether she had made her presence known on purpose or not, Noah was going to treat her well, unless or until something told him not to.
dont know where the lights are taking us but something in the night is dangerous
The blonde woman chuckles, pushing her hair behind her ears. “I’d probably have deserved it. Nothing I haven’t dodged before.” The casual way with which she approaches violence and a potential threat probably betrays something, but it could also just be that she’s usually pretty laid back (albeit boring) when she meets someone for the first time and it’s on good terms. Wessex never wanted to be a stick in the mud. Somehow, maybe with age or with taking on responsibility, she became boring. And she hates it.
As they get closer she studies the man a little more, finding what she can see young and ruggedly attractive. The Wraith knows she is lacking in that department, and knowing that takes the pressure off of flirting with strangers (unless they’re beautiful women in the dark of night). So she answers truthfully. “Exploring, mostly. The Fangs are -” pausing to give the peaks above them a respectful glance, she searches for the word. “- expansive. Impressive.” Something to be conquered, in time. A little shrug. “We have nothing like it in the Hollowed Ground.”
Noah's brow raised at the woman's response. It seemed that she, too, was used to the world and its inhabitants trying to bring her demise. Noah did not know this woman, and he could not fathom to guess all of what had transpired in her life, but as she moved closer to him the tone of her response seemed true enough. She was hardened, aged beyond even her years. Caido was a tough place to live. It had this effect on people.
The Outlander's comment about the Fangs made him smile some, proudly. "They are something, aren't they." There his father fell from his lips. It seemed to be happening more and more lately. "Usually they're good for hunting, but since the influx of traffic..." he trailed off some, waiting to see if the woman would react. As a resident of Halo, his words probably sounded more bitter than he meant them to, "It's just not the same. Takes a little more effort now to harvest something on a day's trip alone."
He gestured some with his bow before slinging it over his back. "I haven't seen much today." The statement was cold, just like the hunting had been. While the man was not desperate (yet), he knew he needed to gather more than what he had now. He hoped Ezekiel, wherever he was, was doing his part to help fill their stores.
dont know where the lights are taking us but something in the night is dangerous
His comment elicits a wince, knowing exactly what he’s referencing and that she’s part of the problem. “Ah. Sorry.” All of that - literally all of it is her fault, but she isn’t willing to reveal that information. Peering and what is indeed a lack of prey, she purses her lips thoughtfully. “I’m an able hunter. Bow, knife, speed - you name it. Teach me what I need to look for in terms of tracking and if I can, I’ll bring you something to make up for the Grounders' disruption.”
Spreading her hands wide, Wessex finds herself reverting to both caretaker and Queen - positions she hasn’t held in ages. The offer is genuine, and it isn’t just to curry favor with the Halovians. She, too, knows what it's like to have an influx of traffic and not enough food. The only reason she’s thriving is because she no longer needs to eat, in the traditional sense of the word.
She can only hope that he won't take the offer as an insult to his skills; it's not that the man is a poor hunter, it's that she has no need of rest and no need to heed the dark, life-stealing cold.
Noah leaned back on his heels some, hands coming up to rest on his hips. Wessex seemed genuine enough, and it made Noah think. He was not sure he wanted to give up any good tricks to hunting here in Halo. He did not know this woman, and while he was generally more trusting than the rest of his Halovian kin, he felt protective over the lands he chose to hunt in to provide for himself and for others. He pursed his lips, and tapped a finger. "Okay," he started, gesturing up towards a low spot on the east side of the Fangs. "I've been tracking a small herd of luxere does over that way." It was not the direction from which he came, so it was obvious he had not been tracking them today.
"If you can find them, and bring one down, there's a family in Snowcloak who could use the meat. A middle-aged mother and two kids, not really old enough yet to go out and gather on their own. The father was a trapper, but he went missing a few years ago." Noah and Ezekiel could fare well enough on their own, even without Noah getting anything on this day. The other family, though, Noah often helped along with a few other Halovian hunters. "Don't be surprised when they act cold towards you, but if you tell them that Noah Olson sent you, they'll accept what you have to offer." Noah's name in Halo was trusted.
dont know where the lights are taking us but something in the night is dangerous
Wessex chuckles again. “The distrust of strangers is nothing new.” People - her own people, even - have been cold to her for the latter half of her life. It’s almost routine at this point. The Wraith turns to look in the direction he’s indicated, narrowing her eyes and trying to see as far as she can. The herd is obviously hidden from view, but maybe between her smell, sight, and hearing, she’ll be able to get a read on them tomorrow. Or tonight? Would it be wise to venture out at night?
“I do something similar in the Grounds,” she offers as a slight comparison between the two of them. It’s a complete one-eighty from her twenties and half of her thirties, when she used to spend her time stealing and hurting and she’s got a lot of work to do in order to change her people’s opinions of her. A lot has happened in the past two or three years; everything is different. Wessex is different. She’s bright.
“I’m Wessex Theskyra,” she says, extending her hand. "Nice to meet you, Noah."
When Wessex did not fight back about Noah's suggestion, and instead used it to build a bridge between them, Noah softened some. While he had been more amiable in this encounter than he could say others from Halo might have been, he was put even more at ease when Wessex offered a peek into her nature. Noah nodded, a small smile brightening his icy features. He grasped her hand firmly. Her appearance did not make him feel the necessity to be gentle and soft. No, he knew that when he extended his own hand he would meet her strength.
He turned, some, looking towards the Citadel. "I was headed back towards Snowcloak. If you were headed that way, I wouldn't mind the company." His smile did not fade as he looked back up to Wessex. He shifted his gear some, pulling his hood up to cover his head. The day was dwindling, and he did not want to be out here when the night came. The tundra was the unforgiving mistress of Halo, and to be in her grasp and open to the vulnerabilities of her dangers, was not desirable.
dont know where the lights are taking us but something in the night is dangerous
Glancing back up at the Fangs and then to Noah, Wessex takes a moment before indicating her agreement to join him on the way back to Snowcloak. “Sure. The does can wait until tomorrow” She can teleport to this place, take it from there. When you don’t need to stop for food or warmth, it would probably be easier. There’s even a slight smile on her face as she turns and they head down the rest of the slope. Recognizing a fellow stoic when she sees one, the Wraith wants to ask him more questions about himself and the people of Halo. And then she thinks better of it. There’s more than one way to curry favor, and being able to read the room is one of them. Questions can be saved for later, perhaps when she delivers that doe.
