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!
01-07-2020, 07:38 PM (This post was last modified: 01-07-2020, 07:38 PM by Jiao.)
JIAO
"It's a bad thing when I've gotta see it." Jiao insisted, glad when Amun asked her about the Gods a moment later, giving her an excuse to pivot away from the subject of smooching. "Well, there's Caido, the biggest God, but um..." Briefly Jiao looked uncomfortable, touched with shame; she glanced down to the street beneath their feet. "I don't really know anything about them. Then there's Vi, Mort, Rae...but the Gods that people actually see usually are Safrin, the Night Sky Goddess, Ludo, the guide for the dead, and Frey, a God of...ah...um..intimacy, I guess?" Jiao had never met Frey and was pretty content for it to stay that way.
The Voice did not deserve a mention. Besides, it was obvious Amun already knew all about her.
She couldn't believe that there were no celebrations in Halo. Still, there was always Fiat Lux, if she got too bored. Smelling the food Amun had led them to Jiao put her hands to her face, grinning with an almost overzealous glee. "Ohh! What's this?" It didn't look like anything she'd eaten before, which made it all the more exciting.
Leave all of my regrets to sink like shipwrecks
Through oceans dark
Amun grinned at Jiao’s observation. ”I hate to break it to you, lovely, but if you wanna see the world, you’ll have to get used to seeing people with their tongues down each other’s throats. It’s pretty much the only thing that’s consistent across lands, even words.” Waggling his eyebrows, his tone grew teasing. "Some of them might even want to kiss you."
As she explained the gods (most of which he already knew), he glanced at her. "Got a favorite?" He momentarily forgot to breathe as he waited for her to answer.
At her excitement, the owner of the stall's eyes glittered and his chest puffed up. "It's Ursur meat. A delicacy round these parts. Pretty girl like you, I'm sure you have something to trade." He held out a hand expectantly.
The potter smirked at the sight. He released Jiao to go haggle and stepped to the side, right in the path of a passerby. Said passerby glared at the Ascended, who held up his hands. "Sorry! My bad." The passerby sniffed, but moved on, and Amun grinned as he slid the blade he'd slipped out of the unknown woman's sheath further up his sleeve.
"I wish someone wanted to kiss me." Jiao huffed, crossing her arms. It had been a depressingly long time since she'd touched a girl - Nephele probably would have been a guaranteed kiss had they spent longer together, but the call of adventure had taken her away from it.
Did she have a favourite? She really wasn't sure...after all, most of her life they'd hardly ever spoken to her. By default, she supposed her favourite was Safrin, because she'd answered when Jiao had prayed. "Safrin. She spoke to me recently and told me a lot of exciting things...and I think her stars are beautiful. I love the dress she was wearing...I wonder if she just imagines it for herself?" What a wonderful power it would be, to simply think of an outfit for oneself and have it appear!
Working out a trade for the meat with some fabric in her bag, stamped with designs of the Greatwood (she found a lot of the humans here found her home quite exciting), Jiao turned around with two kebabs in her hands, passing one out to Amun, unawares of his steal, as she bit right into her own.
Leave all of my regrets to sink like shipwrecks
Through oceans dark
When Jiao complained about not having anyone to kiss her, Amun smirked. "If you really want that, I'm sure it can be arranged." He waggled his eyebrows suggestively, and his eyes glittered with mischief.
However, the glee faded as she went on to explain that Safrin was the Fae's favorite goddess. The Ascended still grinned, but less brightly and wickedly than he had before. "Maybe you should ask her, next time you speak."
As the Fae handed over a kebab, the Ascended held up his hands. ”All yours, lovely.” Stepping back, he bowed again. "As fun as this has been, I have now delivered you to food, as promised. I should let you continue adventuring on your own while I get back to business." Straightening up, he winked. "Safe travels."
With that, he turned and was quickly swallowed by the crowd.
Jiao wrinkled her nose and leaned away from Amun with a shake of her head. "Ew, not you! A nice pretty girl." It was fun to walk along and entertain the idea of being a walking partner of Amun's, but actual physical contact with the man was something that made her want to pull faces.
Amun did not take the food she offered - it was only at this point that Jiao remembered what she had been told about his kind: they don't eat, they only drink blood. Shivering at the thought, she stepped to the side of the stall to eat; she was not going to complain about having double the food when she was as hungry as she was.
"Oh, okay. Thanks. Don't go die in the sun or anything." She waved Amun off with a little wiggle of her fingers, watching the Ascended melt back into the throng of people on the streets. She really was meeting all kinds of people out here.
Leave all of my regrets to sink like shipwrecks
Through oceans dark
