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!
Alina found herself flying high above the Greatwood. Wooden spear clutched in her hands, bow and quiver at her hip, she scanned the trees below for any sign of trouble. Although she wasn't officially on guard right now, that didn't mean she had any less reason to be vigilant.
A flash of movement and color caught her eye, one that clearly didn't belong in the trees below. Expression hard, she descended, finally seeing it was a rather disheveled looking man. Sneering, she flew ahead, then perched in a tree in his path.
Leveling the spear at him, she regarded him. "Why are you here?" Her voice was low, and he regarded him much like others might regard a bug to be squished.
Josh, after his conversation with Maea in the Crimson Cataract, had continued to wander about the Greatwood. A lot of it was pretty boring, really - he'd always been more of a city man, when he wasn't on the run from one shady organisation or another; still, after what he'd heard about this place so far, he was sure he might eventually find something of interest.
Or rather, the thing of interest found him. Coming to a stop as a tree before him shook with new weight, Josh looked over Alina with a light frown, trying to work out if what looked like wings on her back were real. "I am having a walk. Am I not allowed to be here?" He asked, looking around. "There were no signs telling me to go."
Pushing off the tree, Alina hovered in the air above the raggedy man. Brandishing her spear, she continued to sneer at him. "You're allowed to be here. But if you trespass where you're not welcome, it would be my pleasure to take care of you." Indeed, there was something bloodthirsty about her voice.
Her scowl deepened as he complained about the lack of signs. "And why should I care about that, outsider?" Tone scornful, she flew closer to him. Though she didn't get close enough to strike him, she was watching him carefully. At the first sign of aggression, she'd lunge forward, and she wouldn't give him a warning blow.
"Sounds like you want me to." Josh raised his eyebrows at the oddly aggressive woman, wondering what it was she had to hide that made her quite so jumpy. "Are you a member of some kind of organisation sent to scout this area?" Perhaps she was of a nearby cult or settlement that guarded their location in the woods; the thought excited him and made him decide to stay and talk for a while longer.
As she flew closer he ignored her question, instead focusing on the wings on her back, now that he was sure they were wings. Craning his neck around, Josh tried to get a better look. "Are those real? Mechanical?"
Alina just smirked at the man's questions. Lighting down to the ground, she rested the butt of her spear on it. However, she remained coiled and tensed, ready to spring into motion at a moment's notice. "What is your business in the Greatwood?" Her words came out with a hard edge, and she narrowed her eyes at him.
Glancing back at her wings, she put one hand on her hip, the other still gripping the haft of her weapon. "And why should I answer your questions, outsider?" Again, she spoke with that challenging edge, and there was a hostile light in her eyes. Clearly, she had no interest in giving him any information about her or her people.
Josh had a tendency to ignore other people's questions because his were simply more important; Alina ignoring his was certainly a grating change from the norm. Deciding to play along for the moment in the hopes it might make her less hostile, he answered: "Walking, I said. I only just arrived. Looking around the area."
She challenged him and he looked down at her, raised his eyebrows but other than that kept his face and voice flat. "I answered yours." Whether that would be good enough, he didn't know, but it was all he had. Usually, Josh bet on human nature - most people, if surprised with a query, answered it out of instinct.
Alina pointed her spear at the interloper. "So long as all you do is look." Tone threatening, she glared at him, not willing to budge. As far as she was concerned, Delah had been far too lenient with these outsiders. Everything in her posture and her demeanor was a warning that any nonsense from the man before her would not be tolerated.
Sneering, she raised her eyebrows. "So?" Though the word came out lightly, she saw no reason why she had to explain herself to the man. Indeed, her wings fanned as she lifted herself off the ground again, fully intending to simply watch him from above.
"You're gonna kill me for touching a tree?" Josh asked, the question more sarcastically amused than anything else. He didn't normally slip into jokes and casual chat, but it seemed this woman wasn't going to give him much useful information, at least not for the moment. "Not very welcoming for visitors. Won't make much tourist money."
He shrugged. "So nothing, then. Just never seen wings like that." He tried to take a small step to the side, hoping she might not notice if he gradually tried to edge around to get a better view.
Alina scowled at the interloper. "Depends how you touch the tree." There was no hint of humor in her voice. Indeed, it was entirely serious, and more than a bit threatening.
"Tourist money?" Her confusion was evident, though she quickly shook her head and smirked at him. "Visitors, as you call yourself, have brought us trouble. So no, we're not very welcoming." She shrugged. "If you don't like that, then leave." Her tone indicated that it would be in his best interests to do so, and quickly.
As he began moving around her, she immediately leveled her spear at him. "Don't move. What are you doing?" Her eyes were narrowed and her words were sharp.
02-23-2020, 04:24 PM (This post was last modified: 02-24-2020, 12:26 PM by Joshua.)
they look at you like you're a freak
It's a struggle just to stay alive
"What touches are acceptable?" Josh asked, now genuinely a little bit interested in what her answer would be. Even the most mundane, odd answers could tell him masses about a particular culture or people.
As expected she didn't know what he meant by 'tourist money', though she still gave him an answer that contained some interesting tidbits. "What trouble have you had?" He asked, wondering if it was similar to what Nate had described earlier, a typical array of the issues that new people coming to an old place often caused and faced.
Holding up his hands as the spear once again swung too close to his face, he tilted his head towards her back. "Trying to see the base of your wings. See if they're on some kind of mechanical hinge or biologically attached."
Alina glared at the interloper. "Nothing that damages the Greatwood." Voice low and threatening, she narrowed her eyes at him.
Scowling, she pressed her lips together. "I have no desire to answer your questions, outsider." Hovering a bit off the ground she smirked. "If you want answers so badly, why don't you ask those in the Hollowed Ground about the blight and the Mathair?" Tone mocking, her expression was ugly.
Still pointing the spear at him, she flew backwards, wanting to put a decent amount of distance between them. "They're real. And if you try to poke and prod at them, you'll have my spear to contend with."
Nodding, Josh then went to gently lay his palm on a nearby tree, as if testing Alina's words; not a touch that would hurt the Greatwood, to be sure, but still a direct challenge from the way he looked into her eyes as he did it.
The hand was removed when Alina mentioned two things he'd never heard of and he went to write them down. "The Blight? Some kind of plague? Makes sense outsiders might bring in foreign germs. What happened?" The Mathair could wait, the word so foreign he had no idea what it might be; a person, an event, a place?
He held up his hands. "Not going to touch. Were you born with those? Or get them attached later?" Josh asked, wondering if it'd be possible to fit himself with a pair of wings.
As the man touched a tree, Alina flitted over to lean against one casually as well, almost a challenge. However, she pushed off it at his questions.
Scowling, Alina jabbed the point of her spear at the interloper, though not actually trying to attack or wound him, merely to emphasize her words. "What part of ask the people of the Hollowed Ground did you not understand?" Her words came out tartly, and it was clear from the way she regarded him how little she thought of his intelligence.
Flying higher now, she shook her head. "Again. I feel like you are having trouble understanding me." Leaning forward, she glared. "Stop. Asking. Questions."
Alina was proving to be difficult; Josh sighed, still keeping his hand on the bark but feeling the determination to know more about this particular person fading away. "The people of the Hollowed Ground won't know half of what you do. Clearly, you have a different perspective." Voice tired he gestured to her wings, hoping she might take this as a compliment (though really, it was a matter of fact).
"Then are you going to stop poking me with your stick and let me go?" He asked, still seemingly unbothered by the spear in front of him in any more than a casually annoyed manner.
