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!
When she wanted to or wasn't really thinking about it, Eloise' voice sounded just as shrill and entitled as any blueblood's might. She'd worked on it, but in moments of panic or surprise it just sort of came out; all piercing and ear-splitting.
"JACK. SAIDEN." Louder now.
Eloise stood on the starboard bow, staring out into the sea. Where calm-waters had been previously now giant pinkish-tentacles writhed out of the ocean making frantic gesticulations towards the Ark.
i think i'll pass on the summer
don't wanna fall for it this time
Saiden had been belowdecks, working on lunch (shirtless, of course). Hearing his lady-love’s piercing cry, he tossed some sand over the fires, grabbed a vial with today’s potion, and made his way to the nearest ladder to the upper deck. Climbing it with the ease of long practice, he blinked in the bright sun while making his way to where Eloise shouted. ”Here, love.” Even in the face of her shouting, he grinned stupidly at her.
Then he turned to face the threat. Shading his eyes, he stared at the pink tentacles. ”Huh.” His voice wasn't surprised or distressed in the slightest. Cracking his knuckles, he took a step away from the rail, balancing confidently on the swaying deck.
"If that's the noise you make when you want attention, I hope your lovers take a fuckin' gag to bed with them." The quip was snarled under Jack's breath as he shouldered his way out of the cabin on the upper deck. The rest of the crew were already moving, acting, reacting and trying to steer from out of the path of something Jack couldn't yet see.
Taking steps two at a time to reach the starboard bow, he leant a hand against the rail and peered off into the ocean where pink tentacles wriggled at them. "And what the fuck d'you expect me to do about that, you gods-damned banshee?" he wanted to know, staring incredulously at Eloise and gesturing to his own (handsome but absolutely not able to go up against a sea monster) self.
More inconvenienced by the shrill call, apparently, than the creature a short distance away, Jack turned and barked a few orders at the men on the rigging and further down the ship where they were trying to steer and cut away from the monster.
"If it were comin' for us we wouldn't have seen it," he pointed out. "Just... zap it, or whatever."
No matter what had or hadn't been occurring between the pair of them, the nickname was apparently here to stay. Huh? It was an entirely inappropriate response to the current situation, given the apparently gargantuan creature just lurking below the water and Eloise' expression said as much.
"Oh I dunno, captain about it?" Eloise replied as Jack neared, gesturing vaguely at the wildly waving creature. Upon hearing that it wouldn't attack, the mage narrowed her eyes and folded her arms across her chest. "Zap it or something? When was the last time you saw either of us zap angry ocean monsters." She wanted to know, before glancing over her shoulder at Saiden. "Unless that is, your magic has suddenly gotten stronger over night?"
i think i'll pass on the summer
don't wanna fall for it this time
As Jack strode up, Saiden gave the other man a lazy grin. Leaning against the rail as Eloise and the captain had their back and forth, the cook shrugged when they finally turned their attention to him. "Nope. Same old me." Pushing off the rail, he moved to try and sling an easy arm across her shoulders.
Whether or not he succeeded, his posture would remained relaxed, his expression sunny. "Luckily, your magic is plenty strong for us. As the captain said, it hasn't attacked yet, which means, Ocean willing, we just need to steer clear." Turning to the tentacles, he continued grinning. "Just hide us from it with your illusions, and we should be fine. I know you've got the stamina for it." Tone amused, he nevertheless turned to watch the creature.
Jack blinked at Saiden, at his not-give-a-fuck attitude and his nows-a-good-time-for-a-cuddle shenanigans with Eloise. ”You actually screamed for this guy to come and see what was happenin’,” he said. ”You called him up from makin’ a perfectly good dinner to grin like an idiot at sea monsters. The two of you better sort out the fuck you’re doin’. Some of us are captaining over here.”
Jack left them at the railing, running astern to take the wheel from the mate currently trying to steer furiously out of the path of the creature that didn’t seem interested in them. ”Whatever you’re gonna do, do it now!” He called to both Saiden and Eloise, as The Ark banked away from waving pink tentacles.
Now Saiden would have to slouch considerably to lean against the smaller Eloise, who merely narrowed her eyes in Jack's direction. "If some of us were captaining I wouldn't have to call for the cook for help." It was no surprise that, despite her magical abilities, the crew hardly took Eloise seriously. That might have something to do with her having once crashed the Siren's Call, or it could simply be good old sexism.
Grinding her teeth and shooting Saiden a look that suggested life might just be easier if she jumped overboard, she rolled up her sleeves and closed her eyes. Disappearing the ship was no easy task, but yes, as Saiden had said, she did in fact have the stamina for it. It was only one set of eyes (or however many sea-monsters had) that she needed to worry about.
If only that were true.
A horrifically organ-coloured tentacle suddenly slorrrrped onto the side of the Ark. The other writhing tentacles were too far away for this to be the same creature (presumably, anyway). "Uhhh..." Eloise murmured unhelpfully.
i think i'll pass on the summer
don't wanna fall for it this time
Saiden didn’t mind slouching in any context, so stooping down for Eloise wasn’t a problem. Quite the opposite in fact. "I'm always happy to hear my name on your lips, you know that." As Jack continued to berate her, however, the cook stood up to his full height, letting his arms drop to his sides. ”Still gonna get the crew a perfectly good dinner, captain. Leave the cooking to me and I’ll leave the captaining to you.” Through his grin didn’t drop, it gained a bit of an edge as he took a step closer to Eloise, hovering protectively.
At the death glare she sent his way, the Hali just gave her an encouraging nod. However, he turned back to the railing as a new tentacle flopped over the side of the ship. He stared at the latest monstrosity to come their way for a moment before shrugging. ”I got this one.”
Crouching down, he unsheathed his belt knife, and reached a hand through the railings to the water deep below. He glanced briefly at the captain”See? Dinner.” And with that, Saiden slashed at the tentacle, hoping to sever a good chunk off the end while calling up a burst of water to blast the rest of it away from the Ark.
"Oh wow. You're tall. Such terror in my heart." Yes, Saiden's hyper-masculine reaction and Jack's drawling comment about it was made halfway across the ship and under his breath (given that they had more to worry about than each other), but it was made nonetheless. He had been focusing on getting them out of tentacle's reach of the pink monster when, out of the corner of his eye, he saw it get dragged beneath the waves.
It hadn't been attacking them. It had been trying to escape something else.
Jack felt the presence of the deeper, darker creature just before it attacked, and the slap of the tentacle against the side of the ship had him holding onto the wheel so as not to get tossed overboard.
See? Dinner.
"You're a cocky twat and I hope you drown," Jack grumbled under his breath, fighting for control over his ship as a further two tentacles tried to grab hold of it. "For fuck's sake," he cursed.
"You're going to have to work faster if you're going to make sushi out of this thing before we all drown." Eloise commented, watching Saiden slash out at the tentacle, succeeding in scouring off a small piece of it. "Other than brooding around, is there something you're actually planning on contributing here?" The mage asked, unhappy brown eyes glaring daggers into the receeding captain.
"What are things like this afraid of?" If she knew, she could try and create an illusion of it. The only problem is that it would likely be something she was unfamiliar with, thus making the illusion less than compelling. Still, it was basically all she had to work with.
Until then, Eloise reached out with her telekinesis trying to remove the suckers as they clung with shocking strength against the wood of the ship.
i think i'll pass on the summer
don't wanna fall for it this time
As Jack retreated across the deck, Saiden flipped the captain off cheerfully. Then, however, the cook had more to worry about than how much of a prick Jack was, considering they were apparently under attack. ”I thought you liked it when I took things slow.” Taking the briefest of moments to grin at Eloise, Saiden swayed as the tentacle rocked the ship after he cut a piece from it. He had to wrap his arm around part of the railing to keep from falling on his ass.
”It’s cute that you think I know what the fuck this thing is.” Slashing at the nearest tentacle with his knife again, he tried to create a blade of water as well to sever it just above the ocean’s surface. ”I don’t know, a bigger fish? A sperm whale? A dragon?”
Then two more tentacles hit the ship, and the dagger fell from his hands and went tumbling over the side. "Oh fuck me." The original tentacle shifted, and slid further over the railing, beginning to coil around his leg. He hissed in pain as its suckers touched its flesh.
Other than brooding around, Jack was working on keeping the fucking ship in the water and steering them out of harm's way - a more difficult task when it turned out that his ship was all but captured by the sea monster that had been snacking on their pink-tentacled friend. Whatever bullshit awkwardness was between the sunny cook and the shrill navigator was honestly none of his concern or care. Right now Jack wanted to stay the fuck alive, thank you.
So whilst Eloise and Saiden played sushi with one of the tentacle, Jack worked on getting the ship in order. His voice rang out across the deck, ordering men below to man the cannons, for any available arms to stab, hack or shoot magic at the tentacles currently wrapping about the ship.
Jack's lack of an answer combined with al the various ship-things he was doing that Eloise didn't quite understand, didn't make the illusionist feel overly confident.
"I like...not dying?" Elosie sassed back, nose scrunched in Saiden's direction. His suggestions were unhelpful, but it was more than she was getting from Jack, so for the time being, it was what she was going to go with.
Reaching out her fingers at the sea, Eloise envisioned a large, sperm-whale dragon. Which is about as ridiculous as it sounds. In the moment it was all her mind could conjure, and as she did, out there on the water, a massive, scaled whale with wings suddenly roared (because why the fuck not). The creature swam forward, large mouth opening and closing almost mechanically (Eloise had no idea how whale anatomy worked), bellowing what was meant to be an intimidating call at the tentacle-monster keen on dragging them all down.
i think i'll pass on the summer
don't wanna fall for it this time
As the tentacle wrapped around Saiden’s leg and began to tug, he snarled. Grabbing at a nearby rope that was secured to the ship, he looped it around his waist, and tied it with a complicated knot, fingers moving with the ease of long practice. Simultaneously, he kicked at the tentacle with his free leg, while his captured leg just kicked as he tried to dislodge it.
When Eloise's...creature appeared, however, his jaw dropped. Although even he knew it was entirely inappropriate under the circumstances, he shot her an amused grin. "Well you've certainly terrified me. Wanna give me a hand with dinner, though?" He kicked at the tentacle again for good measure.
