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, 07:55 PM (This post was last modified: 01-07-2020, 10:18 PM by Odd.)
even if i come back, even if i die, is there some idea to replace my life?
"So you mean to tell me you don't want to sail over the dark hole of death?" The Maw. Whatever it was called.
Wearing just a shift of linen around herself, Eloise has on an obnoxiously large sun hat and sports a frown to go with it. She is the navigator after all, and is currently quite cross that Jack's sailors won't play along with her games. After all, what else is there to do on this ship?
"Jack, your crew need to grow a pair." She calls out to the captain, a brow raised while behind her, a gruff looking man seems seconds away from throwing her overboard. Instead, he mumbles something under his breath about ships and women and luck.
"As a member of my crew, might I suggest you start with yourself?" Jack's quip was entirely on autopilot, given that the captain had just emerged from his cabin, voice muffled by the pipe between his teeth. He carried a logbook beneath his arm, written entirely in chicken scratchings and indecipherable gibberish. Any smuggler in Torchline would be able to read it at a glance, but then wasn't that the bloody point? Glancing up and gazing past both Eloise and the sailor who wanted to drown her, Jack quickly (read: magically) appraised the current situation and barked out a laugh.
"You want 'em to cross The Maw and you're surprised that their balls shrivelled up inside 'em?" Taking the pipe from his lips and exhaling a whorl of smoke, Jack gave Eloise a withering sort of look. "Why, pray tell, do you believe it's a good idea?" This should be good.
01-08-2020, 03:42 PM (This post was last modified: 01-08-2020, 03:43 PM by Eloise.)
even if i come back, even if i die, is there some idea to replace my life?
'As if I haven't already." Eloise called confidently back; these quick lobs of sarcasm from the captain since she boarded have significantly sharpened her tongue. "Care to check?" If Jack wanted to see balls between her legs, why...for an illusionist, that would hardly be a problem.
Arms crossed and still appearing far too dainty for the amount of sass she was currently spewing, Eloise raised a brow. "Because legends aside, crossing the Maw is the fastest way back to port, especially if we want to beat that storm." An ominous rumble of thunder just then would have been a nice touch, but the sea just bobbed merrily on around them, ignorant to the argument Eloise was making. "If the Governor lives in a volcano, surely we can sail over one."
Then with a grin she added, "Why Jack, you aren't scared of the dark, are you now?"
"Promises, promises," Jack drawled in response to Eloise; as if she had ever let him get near enough to care to check. Nodding at the sailor as if to dismiss him to his duties and let Jack worry about the crazy awful navigator, he moved to one of the railings to properly appraise the deep, black hole coming up far too close for comfort. Blue eyes focused sharply back onto Eloise as she continued to push and challenge, and he had to resist the urge to throw the logbook at her.
"Do you actually give one single, solitary fuck about the crew and this ship?" he asked coolly. "Since you came on board we been in more trouble than in all the years I've been sailin' combined - and that's a feat. Two men died not a week ago, and you'd have us cross the Maw to avoid your imaginary storm? What's your game?"
even if i come back, even if i die, is there some idea to replace my life?
Eloise raised a brow at that. She'd heard more than enough from the crew—both sober and ass-up drunk—to know what sort of women and men the captain went for. And just how quickly he saw fit to leave them afterwards. The last thing the illusionist needed was to lose her place on the ship simply for not keeping it in her pants.
"Crew? No. Ship? Of course. If I could control the waters like Saiden or make myself my own boat, do you really think I'd still be here with you?" Turning to face him (having to first take off her obnoxious hat to do this), Eloise rolled her shoulders in a practiced gesture of, so what? "Maybe you've upset some sea creature or another." She replied, far too academically minded to believe any of the drivel the crew were always going on about.
Her smirk falling away, Eloise narrowed her eyes. Behind her, Jack would see all evidence of the Maw disappear. The sea on either side would appear to grow inhospitable, leaving a perfect pathway over where the volcano once (and presumably still) was. "You read me wrong Captain. But I can play games if you'd prefer." She said. And indeed she could.
"I've business back at port and I'd rather it be handled sooner rather than later, that's all." She said dismissively, though her thoughts betrayed her: if we don't get back in time the necklace will be gone. And then what?
"If that's your opinion on the crew, it's no wonder they're continually discussin' chuckin' you over board." Jack gazed at her stonily, unusually solemn to say that his navigator was saying that the deaths of two sets of able hands meant nothing to her. "Tell you what, then - when we do get to port, you can go and get your own boat, and you can earn money like most others do." AKA: You can whore yourself out like every other girl down on her luck.
Gazing past Eloise at the evidence of the storm pressing on both sides, it was undeniable that what she had to say had merit. But playing games she was definitely guilty of, and the captain turned to call orders to the crew which equated to get the fuck across The Maw right now.
"I'd prefer you to navigate and stop actin' as though I ain't the only thing between you and a very bad night on this ship," he said, half growling the words. He glanced at her sharply, as if to punctuate his comments, though it was her thoughts he was interested in. Later, though.
even if i come back, even if i die, is there some idea to replace my life?
Despite the lengths Eloise had gone (and been forced to go) to forget her upbringing, she couldn't help the way colour bloomed on her cheeks at that. Raising her chin defiantly and fixing the captain with a stare that, despite her best attempts, probably just looked more jilted than confident, Eloise tried to laugh off his words. "Ahh and here I thought we'd certainly stay ship mates."
Unable to help the way her eyes widened at this naked honesty that she'd not allowed herself to think about, Eloise tossed her head like an annoyed mare might. "You're a true gentleman, Jack." As the ship rocked beneath them with the changing of the tides and the crew's adjustment to their trajectory, Eloise smirked as if having just won some small victory. "If you want me to just shut up and navigate, it'd be great if it wasn't always met with an argument." She said as if truly she did know what she was doing. She absolutely didn't though, and relief that he'd taken her suggestion (hence meaning they would get to port faster), coloured her thoughts.
"Shipmates, bed mates, depends on how much your dream boat costs," Jack shot back, visibly distracted now as the ship began to set its course towards The Maw. He was no fool - every time they chose to cross it there was a chance that something terrible could happen, even if it wasn't the fucking volcano erupting. There were stories about that damned place, ones that Jack did not intend to confirm. Add the pressing issue of the storm and he rightly thought his concentration deserved to be elsewhere.
Still, at least he seemed to have made progress with his stubborn little 'navigator'. "If you weren't so gods damned pretentious all the time, arguments would be easier to avoid. Were you a princess on your last ship or somethin'?" he said sweetly, putting the pipe between his lips and heading up to the wheel where one of the mates was steering, beckoning for Eloise to follow. "Come on, you'll want to see this."
even if i come back, even if i die, is there some idea to replace my life?
Eloise snorted at this. It was at least a few times a day that someone on board made a reference to eventually sleeping with the illusionist, one of those usually coming from Jack. Strangely though, despite his reputation, Eloise couldn't quite picture it, tension aside. "The day I find you in my bed is the day I no longer have to fear sailing over undersea volcanoes." Eloise replied cooly.
"My job is to avoid rocks not arguments." The mention of having been a princess would bring a stare of disapproval to her features, though her thoughts would betray her. A correction of, A duchess, which is nearly the same thing would sing snarkily in her mind. Dropping her hands to follow with a sigh, Eloise trailed in Jack's wake. "See what? The vast nothing that's going to happen?"
Please don't let anything happen.. and But if something does...is it better for the ship to see it? To veil whatever horrors might be down there so that we all die a swift and unexpected death?
”The day I find you in my bed is the day I walk on water,” Jack shot back, snorting and finding a crate to store his logbook in. No use having that slide overboard if they were planning to survive this little jaunt across The Maw. Jack didn’t see her disapproval but damned right did he know it was there, and he allowed himself a sharp little smile of satisfaction for the duchess in his care. As a street rat who had climbed to the top of the pile on his own merit, his opinion of her former title was understandably blasé.
At the thought of her using her illusion, Jack nearly let himself blurt out a don’t you dare or let them see, but he had been very careful to hide that talent of his, and so forced himself to bite his tongue.
Then they were upon it; at either side of the ship the wind died and the water grew warm and still and very, very black. Still the storm raged on their tail, but all was eerily silent but for the creak of the wood and the men breathing. ”It will take near enough an hour to reach the other side.”
01-14-2020, 08:04 PM (This post was last modified: 01-15-2020, 03:37 PM by Odd.)
even if i come back, even if i die, is there some idea to replace my life?
"Seems like that would be a helpful trick for a captain." Eloise said, while out on the water an illusory iteration of Jack did cartwheels on the open sea before fading away beneath the thrust of a particularly vicious wave. I bet he has a mirror on his ceiling and always gets his partner on top so he can watch himself while he fucks.
"Is that so. Fancy a game of cards, then?" The illusionist quipped, aiming for casualness which immediately fell short as the full scope of the Maw beneath came into view. Eloise' breath caught in her chest while all semblance of energy seemed to drip out of her through her feet. white-knuckled hands held the railing as she gazed overboard. It was indescribable. It made her feel small and weak; the potential of all that could be down there looming large suddenly.
"The stories the men tell...about a whale without skin..have you ever seen one?" Eloise herself didn't know if the words were meant to be small talk or some sort last-ditch effort to understand how she might die.
"Bold of you to assume that I can do a cartwheel," Jack drawled, smirking at the sight of himself doing such acrobatics out on the open waves (and enjoying, despite himself, the way some of the immediate members of the crew turned to double check he was still at the helm). Her thoughts, whilst entertaining, were unfortunately not something he could dwell much upon as they began to sail across the glassy expanse of black water, and the captain took a deep breath through his nose and let it out again.
"The second we get ordinary water beneath us, I'll take up your challenge," he advised about her game of cards, only to raise an eyebrow as she continued. "What a cheerful topic of conversation," he said. "Perfect for such a safe and pleasant voyage." Still, she had asked the question, and Jack shrugged his reply.
"Ghost whales," he supplied. "I've never been close enough to see one properly, and that ain't a bad thing. They say some might be large enough to eat whole ships. Mayhaps The Maw is just one big mouth of a whale."
even if i come back, even if i die, is there some idea to replace my life?
"With that wirey frame of yours and the stories the men tell, I'm sure you could manage." The words walk the line between flirtation and insult, and Eloise punctuates them with a smile.
That Jack wants to keep himself here rather than mindlessly waiting out the journey makes Eloise mentally stiffen with worry. The Maw, from all that she's heard, has been silent for years. What lurks beneath tends to stay hidden. Why then, the concern? " Didn't know you'd be so easily riled Jack, or I might have gone a bit easier on you."
Back turned to the sea and pressed against the railing, Eloise opens her mind to the words Jack uses to describe the Maw and the whales. Before them appears the Maw, or at least what seems to be. It is in fact a whale with its mouth open, slowing moving towards the surface. It's so gargantuan that it appears stable and still, until one day it crashes to the surface and devours not just a ship, but all of Caido whole. "Have you ever thought of writing bedtime stories for children?" She quips nervously, chin tilted up slightly as if to ward off nausea. "
"Oh do indulge me - what stories do they tell? I love hearin' about myself," Jack said, though as he spoke he was already subtly shifting his weight and moving around on the deck, his eyes always pinned on the water. It belied the real caution and worry about sailing directly across The Maw, at odds with his otherwise blase conversation with Eloise.
Briefly he glanced across at his navigator, tilting his head at her. "Imagine if you had a ship and there was no one on board that might manipulate the air," he said, nodding up to their full sails but the otherwise dead sea around them. "How do you imagine they would get out of here?" Translation: this place is weird and I have a fucking right to be riled up.
Her overactive imagination and the mouth of a Caido-sized whale was enough to have Jack throwing up a mental guard against her open mind - he really didn't need that turning his legs to jelly right now, no thank you very much. "You think? I reckon I'd be pretty good at it too." Those poor children would never sleep a wink.
