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!
Sascha wasn't to sure what he would tell while he was listening to Melitas story about Fangorn and to be fair he kinda lost focus on working that part out since he got hooked on the story at hand. Poor little gourd! Did people really treat those cute things so badly? Well it was good he had found a friend however but Sascha was finding himself praying that the other of Fangorn's kind was alive and well after this fascinating, yet sad story. Sascha looked down at Fangorn and reached out his hands towards the smaller creature in a way to say hello. "I'm glad you have gotten your new friend Fangorn!" He said happily since he decided to focus on the happy part of the story instead of worrying about the other gourds.
He then started to figure out what story to tell and sadly he only really thought of one clearly; the reason he had lived as an outcast back in China. So with that he straighten out his back again and looked up on the pretty tree before starting his story. "Back in China where i am from, you become a man in your early teens and are forced to join the army to defend the country. I managed to avoid that for about a year or so but soon enough my status wasn't enough to keep me out of the war.." He started his story, reminiscing about the struggles ahead. ".. From the very start i was a bad soldier. It seamed so easy for all the other males that had grown up in warrior families but since i myself had been sheltered and schooled i was not as lucky. I failed badly at weapon fighting, hand to hand combat and practically everything they tried to teach me. The only thing i was good at was the bow. One night i overheard my commanders talking where they said that i would most likely die as the war came closer and heard them already trying to work out what to tell my family. " He continued while unintentionally grabbing a hold of the fabric of his pants.
"So instead of causing sorrow and shame on my family i decided to run away since, i apparently wouldn't be good for much anyways. In the middle of the night i took my horse and left the army, now starting my life a new as an outcast. You see; it's frowned upon to leave the army which made me live in solitude until the day i got accidentally to Caido." He scratched his head a bit in shame over his own actions before looking at Libbs to hear what story she would like to share.
Libbs paused a bit reluctantly at the mention of saying something about their past. Namely, because she didn't wholly remember her past. It was pale to her, a fuzzy memory on the horizon, with forms peaking through the fog every now and then.
Though she had to admit, hearing the story about Fangorn and Sascha did add a little bit of bravery to her chest. Even if Fangorn now ruined pumpkin pies for her.
She looked to both of them.. and thought. And thought. "Umm.." she paused. "I'll admit, I don't got a lot of good stories. But I guess.. I could.. tell ya about the time I first drove a car?" she offered.
Assuming that she would get a blank stare, she'd quickly provided an explanation. "See, a car is like a metal cart. Without a horse. They go really fast, around twice the speed of a horse with no fatigue. In my world, everyone drives cars! But ya gotta be trained how- otherwise if the metal cart it smashes into another metal cart.. it could hurt a lot of people." she curtly ended.
"See, I built cars in my old world. Well before I drove 'em. And when the day came that I'd learn how to drive one- I got cocky." she grinned a bit uneasily. "I hopped in that front wheel, thinkin' I was the bee's knees. Before my teacher could even say STOP, I had already pressed the gas and went down the street at like 90 miles per hour. " she chuckled. "Thing was, I didn't know how to steer- so when I tried to take a corner- I spun out, and smacked into a truck carrying a ton of chickens. Luckily, no chickens were hurt, but man OH MAN. When my mom found out, she took off her sandal right then and there, and smacked me with it so hard. 'LIBERTY ANN YOU DAMNED IDIOT'" she distorted her voice to match her mother. "And I smelled like chicken for weeks. Weeks. Mom made me take the hose outside until the smell came out."
Their own stories are intriguing, interesting, all of them Outlanders through and through. They even had a natural air to their tales, perhaps something Safrin would appreciate along the evening sprawl, along the summer heat. She knew nothing of China or cars, but each measures had its own merits, its own brands, its own heritage, and she found herself rapt, fascinated, placing Fangorn back down along roots, allowing him to grow comfortable while she leaned on her elbows and just listened, just like she’d done as a child, in her mother’s lap or below her feet, crouched upon the ground, ready and waiting. “I have a bow too! We should practice sometime!” She hastened towards Sascha, always proud to utilize such a weapon.
Smashing carts together actually sounded somewhat fun and amusing to Melita; but perhaps it was because she had absolutely no idea what Libss was talking about. She managed to giggle at the inflections, the expressions, suddenly wishing for her mother, her family, all over again. “I think that’d work.”
Then the youth paused, looking back towards the dusky sky. “Maybe one more, to appease Safrin?” She grinned then, folding her legs up along the massive roots. “How about something from our time here? Since we’re all Outlanders.” Her hand went to her chin, methodical, one finger raised and hitting against the sanction, before she continued. “I can tell you about the Undine in the Crimson Cataract!” A breath, a brief snippet of repose, and then she was off once more. “It’s a mythical creature, very shy, and can be heard singing on some nights. A lot of us weren’t allowed in the Greatwood in the time, but we went in anyway, when we could hear some sorrowful noise.” Her eyes flicked back over the others. “We followed, and there it was – sickened by the blight.” A shudder down her spine, because she’d had the damned disease, and knew, understood, the weight of its torrent in her bones. “Some summoned gods, while others asked their unicorns to heal the creature. I walked into the water, trying to help as best I could.” A shrug, then a smile, bright and effervescent. “We managed to cure it, and there it remains.”
Sascha blinked in pure surprise over Libbs story containing the cars that crashed and looked for a second completely mesmerized over what he heard. How come he hadn't asked Libbs how her timeline on earth was.. cars sounded scary to be fair. He could indeed imagine many people getting hurt or worse with metal carts driving around fast and crashing. He almost didn't even want the story to end and was almost clapping his head over the stories he had heard from them both, but with some force just evaded to do just that. "Wow cars sound scary.. we only really had carts and horses"
As Melita mentioned she also had a bow he lit up from his wondrous look over the stories which turned him from dazed to clear again. "I would love to! Im very good at the bow, but as stated very bad at everything else really, haha" He said while scratching his head slightly embaressed over just how bad he was at everything else in the weapon world. He then went quiet again to listen to the story shared by Melita. It seamed like all had so much more interesting stories to share then he had, cause what had HE been doing really? So as his turn came he let out a "hmm" since he wasn't sure what to say really. After a bit he decided on the training. "Well i suppose, may it be bad or good, that my training story is the most interesting part since i came here over a year ago. You see i was out in the great woods edge to gather some wood for a new piece i was making. I felt i was followed and after a bit i got chased by a gang of bandits through the forest. I think i may have gotten too close to Fae land and the Fae saved me from the bandits. After that i decided to try and get better at defending myself so i got in contact with a man named Deimos. He thought me some basic defense moves in a very professional manner. As a thank you i made him a beautiful sword sheath and he really liked it. I actually got a very own bow from that meeting made by magic from Deimos. Deimos is a really good friend and i really like to see him smile and laugh!"
