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!
02-01-2020, 09:21 AM (This post was last modified: 02-01-2020, 09:22 AM by Libbs.)
LIBBS
As promised, Libbs was a good member of the Artisan's guild. She did indeed make herself a little area to work, and for the most part, she was productive. Although walled off to keep her.. outbursts to a minimum, the energy of the woman was enough to funnel projects for days, for better or worse. Success or fail. Be it a particularly stubborn lock that age has taught to tighten it's teeth- or a suddenly spontaneous interest that needed to be investigated. Fostered. Discovered- and discovered again- until nothing of it remained.
Except today. Today was not that day.
A bit of cinder tainted the air, a byproduct of the week's work. Various items acquired, traded, or just found were haphazardly sorted into some sort of misunderstood categorization that would take a full blown archaeological team to unravel. Projects, carefully noted in a variety of mannerisms and doodles were found etched on bits of parchment.. or in some places, carved into the table itself.
And the benefactor of this recreation of Limbo? Well, she laid on the floor, her arms spread out. Her legs spread out. A glazed look across her face as she stared with an empty gaze into the ceiling, blinking the day, and perhaps some of her sanity today. Her door was open, just quiet. An odd sight for the normally.. enthusiastic woman.
After seeing the instructions for the greenhouses Loren wanted to construct in Halo, he’d realized he needed more materials than his new home could provide. So, reluctantly, he'd set out for the Hollowed Ground, the Artisan's Guild specifically. Once there, he entered in with a great deal of trepidation.
Cloak draped over one hand, he peered inside, surprised to find the place deserted. He wandered around, then spotted an open door. Checking it, he found a mess of a workshop (one that reminded him so much of another similar sight that his eyes grew haunted and distant for a moment), with a woman at its center.
She wasn't familiar, which was honestly a relief. Clearing his throat to hopefully get her attention, he hovered in the doorway, a blank expression on his face. "Sorry to bother you. I was hoping the Artisan's Guild could help me acquire some supplies." His voice came out evenly, without any real emotion or inflection.
Upon him entering the room, Libbs jolted upwards, as if someone zotted her with a bit of static electricity. Wait! Wha? What?
She quickly whipped her head around, from the floor, seeing two shoes, some pants, and legs. Well. Those legs had to belong to someone. Suspicion creeped into a squint as she pulled herself to the table, peering over to ensure that the person on the other side was not an unsavory person. Once confirmed, she blinked a bit, pulling herself up, and dusting off her pants, giving an awkward shake of her head.
"Oh, um, I apologize. Sure! I can help you with that.." she nodded, an affirmation indeed. She scratched at her head for a second, before looking up to greet his gaze.
She blinked at him, feeling an odd sort of familiarity to them. It made her eyes narrow for a brief moment, before she broke into a happy smile, moving into the animations that most people saw her with. "Hi! I'm Libbs. I'll admit, I don't got much in the way of material, unless you want yerself some weird doo-hickeys." she motioned to some of her projects. "But, I know where most of the stuff is. What are you looking for?"
02-01-2020, 10:41 PM (This post was last modified: 02-01-2020, 10:42 PM by Loren.)
The white sheep of the family
As the woman sat up rapidly, Loren eyed her a bit warily. However, she seemed friendly enough, though he didn't lose his watchful posture. Or maybe that's just how he looked these days, distant and a little suspicious of everything. "Nice to meet you Libbs. I'm Loren." He held out a hand for her to shake.
Nodding at her explanation, he fished out a sheet of paper. "I'm from Halo. I'm looking to build a greenhouse there, so mostly what I'm looking for is glass for the panes and metal for the frame. I'm happy to place an order for it and come back when it's finished." His voice was almost cooly polite.
"Halo?" she asked, blinking for a moment. Hey! That's where Neron was from! She looked to the lighter on her desk, still partially constructed, yet- her paintwork had been done on the shell. A symbol of the Citadel, based on what other Halovians had gave her insight on. She thought he would like it. It was the least that she could do.
Given, you know, he ate two hindkicks of a bull for her to complete a lighter.
"That.. that actually sounds right up my alley!" Libbs grinned. With that, Libbs started to take the more mechanical approach, albeit unconsciously. "Do you know how big it's gonna be? Or have any schematics for it? I'm pretty sure I can get the frames without an issue. Glass too. Ooh.. maybe even get some nice insulating material for it. Like, for an example, some black tar or something for the roof. It should stay pretty solid up there, with how cold it is, should also act as a decent seal. And.. the black will attract more light. Which means more heat.."
After a moment, she paused. This wasn't a brainstorming session. This was a commission for frames. She flushed. "Oh, sorry. Uh. Yeah. I can do that for ya. Sorry. No one comes in here asking for anything cool.." she grumbled. "Just- um.. yeah! What do you need?"
Blinking at Libbs' rather enthusiastic response, Loren let the words wash over him without comment. When she finally asked what he needed, he handed over the slip of paper he'd brought. "That has the list of supplies and the dimensions on it." Indeed, he'd taken the rough sketch Samuel had provided and the suggestion for location from Morgan and turned them into something that actually made sense to an architect or an engineer. Though the healer was neither, he'd worked with them often enough.
"Though if you have suggestions for how to improve it, I'm all ears. I hadn't considered insulation, to be honest." He tilted his head and considered her almost thoughtfully.
Libbs tenderly reached for the paper, and cleared a spot on the table, grabbing something for her own personal guidance, a mere stick. After a few thoughtful glances at it. "This is actually really well designed for the most part!" she noted. "I'd probably make it a little longer, but the only big things I'm a lil' concerned about is: I don't see any indications for insulation, which is kinda important. That should definitely be in there. I hadn't gotten too far yet with how, I'll admit, but the tar's a good start. I think this.. is for ventilation right? What kind of ventilation where ya going with? Shutters? Windows? Or is that something else.. and.. I think it's ventilation? And which way is the building going to be facing, in regards to the sun?" she paused.
She turned the piece of paper back towards him, so she could point out what she was talking about. Because in a way, this was also a learning opportunity for her! She wanted to know why he was putting these things where they were. As someone who mainly used this knowledge on cars, bots, and giant things of metal- a greenhouse was a totally new, and exciting challenge for her! Her eyes settled on him, bright and chipper, like an eager puppy ready to learn a new trick.
02-01-2020, 11:46 PM (This post was last modified: 02-01-2020, 11:46 PM by Loren.)
The white sheep of the family
Blinking at Libbs' still enthusiastic response, Loren crossed his arms. Unfortunately, her eagerness would crash upon him and break like waves upon a shore, leaving him rather unmoved. Still, he took a few steps closer to her as she flipped the paper around. "I'll defer to your judgment and make it longer then. How much? And it'll be on the east side of the Citadel." His voice came out politely, at least.
Shrugging, he dropped his hands to his side. "I hadn't considered ventilation either, considering how cold Halo is. What do you recommend, windows or shutters?"' Again, his tone was businesslike and he turned towards her expectantly. "Also, do you have tar here or would I have to acquire it elsewhere?" Neither option particularly bothered him.
"I'd say.. about another third. Cause light's weird. When it hits glass, it deflects, like this." she fanned out one hand. "So, let's say you wanted to grow this many crops.." she explained, drawing a square. "And the light hits here and deflects like this.. Only half of those crops would get good lighting. However, with that extra third, we could place the plants here.." she explained, using the same silly hand movement to demonstrate. "More plants. Better light. Warm greenhouse." she smiled.
She paused for a moment. "I think shutters here would do well. Tiny ones. At the bottom." she pondered. "See, cold air sinks. But plants need fresh air to keep.. doing.. plant things." she explained. "If we don't, the humidity will build up in there, and it'll drown the plants. But if we put them at the bottom, or midway- the cold air will be the first to escape the greenhouse. And the warm air will stay. Least, that's if my memory's holding. I got an A in science, but I don't think half of that stuff even works here what with magic and all."
"But.. Shutters would be easy to open, close, and seal. And we can double layer them. Though, honestly, if Halo gets as cold as I was told, you may wanna double pane the green house. For extra heat. Maybe even tint a layer.. As for tar? Um.. I'll admit, I don't know if anyone around here makes it, I've been making it myself in smaller batches- but if I had more room to work with, I could make ya some!" she nodded.
As Libbs went on to explain quite a bit about greenhouses, light, and air, Loren nodded, though his brow was furrowed in concentration. "A third longer it is." Moving forward, he produced some charcoal from his pocket and made a note on the diagram to correct the numbers.
"Air still moves normally unless magic is being actively used on it." It came out a bit distractedly, as he was still considering everything she'd told him. "If you think double shutters on the bottom would work best, I'll trust her judgment."
Then he frowned. "How much more work would it take to double pane it? And how would you tint them?" He tapped a finger on the table thoughtfully. "If space is all you need, you're welcome to come to Halo." The offer was made off-handedly, though genuinely.
Libbs paused for a moment. "That'd largely depend on skill, manpower, and planning. Because arguably, the double paning could be done at the same time as the inner structure. Because the goal would be to create a layer of air in between pane one, and pane two. It kind of creates like.. a vacuum kind of thing if you will, where the only thing that'll stay in it is heat." she paused. "And the vacuum acts as an insulator. And, you can stuff the lower layers, like down here with some.. I dunno, wood chips? It works best when you got like.. polycarbonwhateveritscalled.. but I've ruled out that existing at this point."
"As for tint, there's like.. 4 ways to do that. One, would be to stain the glass with a little bit of black. Like, you know, those weird glasses you probably saw on the way in?" she paused, referring to the glassblower's section. They had glasses of all shapes and colors. Black included. "If we tint the outer panel with a LEETLE bit of black.. then the heat will get absorbed during the day. But at night, the heat will get bounced around. Has something to do with physics or somethin' but it was kinda hard back when I was studying it. I know it's one of the big reasons why they tinted cars though!"
"Heh, I appreciate the offer, but it'd be a shame for me to come all the way out there to make tar." she grinned. "I think if I ask Deimos nicely, he could give me another room to use.." she pondered. "Especially for something like this!"
Obviously, Libbs was a fellow Outlander, if the way she spoke of rather arcane concepts (to Loren, all advanced science was arcane) was any indication. Staying silent as she rambled on, he waited for a while until he realized she'd actually finished. "Let's assume manpower and supplies are no issue." He tapped the table as he gathered his thoughts.
"You recommend a double paned approach, with a small space between the panes. There should be a double set of shutters at the bottom. The outer glass should be tinted slightly black, and we should use tar as an insulator. There should be some sort of sealant at the bottom as well?" That last part was the only one he was slightly uncertain about, though he tilted his head as he waited for her response.
Then he shrugged. "I'm sure Deimos would give you as many rooms as you'd like, as long as you ask him. He's quiet, but kind."
"You're totally right!" Libbs smacked the top of her head, running it through her hair, chuckling as her eyes rolled to the ceiling for a moment, with a nervous laughter. "Yeah, there's gotta be some sealant at the bottom. Unless you plan to dig down deep enough to where the air can't escape. But I dunno if that'd be a wise idea. But, hey, that's what the tar's for." she smirked. Her eyes blinked a bit. "We may need to grab someone with a bit of fire magic though- they could help burn the tar into place. And that'd be just perfect."
"At that point, you could probably grow anything in that greenhouse.." she smiled, seemingly enchanted by the idea. "Tomatoes, strawberries. I dunno. Lots of stuff. But yeah, I can talk to Deimos about it. Cause you're right, he's a super nice guy. Scared the hell outta me at first, but is really kind." Libbs giggled. "Kinda jealous. You guys are gonna get to do the fun part!" Which was building it, because Libbs lived for that kind of thing. If the evidence wasn't sprayed out about them.
"At this rate, uh, gotta give me at least 2-3 days for the frames, then the glass panels should take around 4.. cause I'm sure we have some made? Just needs to be cut. The tar I can start makin' and that won't take long at ALL.. just needs a day of supervisin'. I can do that while makin' the frames. Hmmm.. If you got the manpower, once all the stuffs gathered, could probably get it up and going within one, maybe two days?" she shrugged. "Biggest wait time would be material, which'll probably take a week, week and a half."
Libbs' chatter might've been endearing, if Loren had been in the right mood to enjoy much of anything. As it was, he just let her speak until it seemed like a good time for him to interject. "Fire won't be a problem. If you'd like to help us build it, we'd be happy to have you. I'm sure we could benefit from your expertise." Again, he spoke in a measured and polite tone, though his expression was distant.
Nodding in understanding, he clasped his hands behind his back. "Then I will return in a week and a half to pick up the supplies, if that works for you." He glanced around at the workshop. "Is there anything I can assist you with in exchange?"
