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!
dont know where the lights are taking us but something in the night is dangerous
They say Apopo is a volcano. That it hasn’t erupted in years. It makes Wessex crane her neck to look at the top of the green-covered mountain. It isn’t as tall as the Fangs, but then is anything as tall as the Fangs? For awhile she’d though the Spire was the tallest thing she’d ever seen. And then, well, the world opened. This Apopo, this dormant mountain of danger and doom… from just outside the line of trees, the Wraith stops her consideration of the mountain with a shake of her head and makes her way towards a fallen log.
Squatting to sit, she takes out a knife from one of her boots and, finding an appropriate rock on the ground, begins to sharpen the blade in a display of… something. Casual barbarism? Calculated effect? Who knows.
A volcano that doesn’t do anything. At what point does it just become a mountain? It’s not the Fangs, but still, Weaver is curious. She is always curious. And Apopo does not disappoint. It’s green and lush, a beautiful sight, vastly different from the endless white of the Fangs. The water nearby is blue, as it always is in Torchline, and she finds that she enjoys this place as much as the rest of Torchline.
She’d move, except that Halo will always be home.
She’d been walking for some time when a form comes into view. It takes Weaver a few moments, a few more steps closer, to recognize her. The demi-god, squatting with a knife in hand that she’s busy sharpening. ”Do you make it a point to always look badass?” Weaver calls, her voice clearly amused. She’d only met Wessex one other time, but the dead luxere at her feet and the pose on the steps had given the same impression.
Per usual, Weaver has her scythe and her knives with her, though she doesn’t grab one. It’s vaguely tempting just to have a knife in hand since the demi-god does, but she refrains, sticking to her casual carelessness, closing the distance between them until she’s close enough to talk at a normal volume. ”Or did you decide this was just the best place to sharpen knives?”
weaver
-- ask no questions, and you'll be told no lies --
dont know where the lights are taking us but something in the night is dangerous
The Wraith heard the footsteps approaching and spared a glance to identify the person. As it’s Weaver, she sees no point in stopping the sharpening. That is, until she asks if Wessex always makes a point to look badass, at which point the blonde has to chuckle and look up again with a simple, “Yes.” When you have a nickname like The Wraith, there’s a certain reputation one has to maintain… or so Wessex likes to think. “But it’s easier in Halo. There, I just have to not put furs on.” Here? Maybe a little more work - though both places sport a seedy enough underbelly, the likes of which the Grounds is lacking - and she has to represent the HG appropriately, you know?
“I was actually thinking of going up to Apopo hahahaha too late for some exercise, but then thought better of it.” She shrugs. Maybe at night. The trees may hide the sun, but it still feels like a nighttime activity. Casting a glance up to the top of the volcano, she looks again to Weaver, who has her scythe with her. A wry sort of grin creeps across her face.
Weaver chuckles at the mention of not wearing furs. ”Either you look badass or like a fool,” she says with a grin. Having come into a bit of cold resistance magic of her own, Weaver has discovered the strange looks she gets when she doesn’t wear layers while out in the market. Though for her it’s different, because they stare at a girl they all knew who, until recently, was freezing like the rest of them. Though Weaver and Wessex probably both share some similar, distrustful stares, given what they each are. Ascended, Abandoned; each came with its own brand of prejudice.
Weaver looks up to Apopo and back down to the demi-god. ”That sounds more like torture than exercise,” she says with a grin. Though for the superhuman demi-god, it was probably a damn stroll in the park. For Weaver? She spends enough time climbing a bit of The Fangs just to get to the portal, thanks.
The next question brings a wicked little grin to Weaver’s face though. She reaches for her scythe in answer, grasping the weapon with both hands. ”Are we playing fair?” she asks, though it is clear she hopes the answer is no. Fair or not, Weaver expects to get her ass handed to her on a silver platter in this spar, but it would be good practice nonetheless. Weaver nods, waiting for Wessex to answer and allowing her to take the first move.
weaver
-- ask no questions, and you'll be told no lies --
If looking like a fool is the worst that is said of her in Halo, she can easily deal with it.
As Weaver reaches for her scythe and asks if they’re playing fair, Wessex scrunches up a corner of her mouth in thought. What is fair? She wants to see the girl wield her blade, but she also needed to practice her magic copying. The thing is that fire is quite dangerous to the Wraith… so, no, she supposes it won’t be entirely fair.
“No weapons, just magic or upgrades. There’s always time to work with weapons later.” And at that statement, she reflects a wicked grin right back to the Halovian, implying that there will undoubtedly be more opportunities to spar. “I’ll even keep my claws sheathed.” Since those are, for all intents and purposes, weapons attached to her hands. Waiting a moment for Weaver to discard her scythe, she notes the expectant nod and then lunges forward and delivers a single biopulse to her opponent from where she’s standing - she hopes to get Weaver within her ‘power’ radius, but is terribly conscious of the dangers of playing with fire.
No weapons. Well this would be interesting, she thinks. Weaver had rather been hoping for weapons and magic, but she would take it. It would be good practice, and she can’t help but imagine that Zariah would approve. Not that Weaver cares for the Archmage’s approval, but she does care about improving.
”No weapons it is,” she agrees, taking a moment to place her scythe down nearby. She doesn’t remove the knives from her waist, but she can resist grabbing one unless she’s about to die. And though this would be a hell of a fight, Weaver doesn’t think the demi-god will kill her. At least, not on purpose.
Wessex lunges with such speed that Weaver barely has time to react. As the biopulse hits, leaving her dizzy and stumbling backward, Weaver throws a wall of fire up in front of her to block the demi-god’s forward progress. It would also hopefully buy her a few seconds to recover, because she was definitely not in fighting shape after that attack.
weaver
-- ask no questions, and you'll be told no lies --
Weaver seems to be just within the radius as she falls back, throwing up her wall of flames - which in turn makes the Ascended lean back, her hands going out like a beginner to grab onto the energy she feels. The fire is dangerous. And it’s so close. Wessex tries to dampen them, put them out and leave the way open for her to charge again. Except that her Upgraded magic isn’t as strong as Weaver’s Mastered magic, and the flames still linger. An idea pops into her head. She tries to go around, darting around to the left side, her feet scrambling to find a proper purchase in the sand.
Or so it may seem - in reality, she’s trying to throw up enough sand to douse one part of the remaining flames. But before she can throw another biopulse at her, she feels Loki’s presence, the little black dragonling flying furiously towards them fully intent on giving Weaver what’s what for threatening her bonded. If she gets close enough, Loki will release an energy blast of blue light at the girl. A baby one, but one nonetheless
See, the problem with this fight is Weaver has one trick. Well two, technically, but basic healing is only going to help her so much right now. Wessex on the other hand...well, that’s just it. Weaver has no idea what she’s up against. Which is good for the purposes of practice, because that’s how the real world works, but damn if it isn’t going to involve some creativity.
Thankfully she must have been on the edge of the biopulse, because the effects fade quickly enough she can at least manage to move. The world is still spinning just slightly, but she can just pretend she’s drunk and move on with it. Luckily for Wessex, Weaver can’t hold the wall of fire long and it disappears, Weaver having moved back and away a few steps while it had been there.
Weaver uses a quick pulse of healing magic to help with the fatigue, and then conjures a fireball, which she hurls through the air at Wessex. It is only at the last second that Weaver notices the dragon (well he’s certainly unexpected) and she chucks another fireball at him as she takes a few more steps back to try and get out of his way. The fireball aimed for the dragon does little besides take the brunt of his energy blast and disintegrate, but at least Weaver avoids the worst of that particular attack. She can only feel the remnants of it, and uses the energy push to move farther away. Luckily, she has a decent sized radius to work with the fire, and being close to Wessex clearly wasn’t going to go well for her.
weaver
-- ask no questions, and you'll be told no lies --
Thanks to levelling reqs and no weapons, Wessex really only has single trick too.
Loki squawks when she sees the fireball and dips the side, lucky as all hell that the fireball hit her energy blast and not her. “Not now, Loki,” Wessex yells to the dragonling as she drops to the sand in order to avoid the first fireball, but she does not spare her companion a glance. As long as she leaves the immediate area, everything is fine. She’ll just have to trust that Loki is smart enough to take care of herself. And though Wessex doesn’t see it, the dragonling does, though she is clearly still in distress.
Instead of paying attention to her companion, Wessex reaches for the fire magic again and from her prone position tries to set up a semi-circle of flames behind Weaver. She is doing her best to keep the other woman close enough to siphon off her magic when she uses it. Able to hold the wall there for a bit, she takes the opportunity to spring up from the ground, spitting sand, and run towards the girl again, crouching low to remain a small target.
Companions. Damn companions sometimes, particularly when she doesn’t know about them and ends up throwing a fireball their way. Her intention is certainly not to end up hurting a little dragon, though when being attacked it is hard not to react in defense. Thankfully the dragon leaves the battle, perhaps not understanding that Wessex is in no real danger. Well, not much anyway. The fire is real enough, but there’s no malice behind the attacks Weaver sends the demi-god’s way.
Flames erupt behind Weaver, blocking her retreat. Possibly she could run through them, but eventually she’ll be too far from Wessex anyway to use her magic. Instead, Weaver finishes the semi-circle, pulling the fire around her, though it’s low to the ground in front of her. Not a wall, but a small obstacle, one that she pushes forward as Wessex comes to attack, trying to send the woman back instead.
Wessex doesn’t blame her for attacking the dragon - the last time they’d met she hadn’t bonded to Loki and a reaction is a reaction. Her companion is bold, protective and curious; all good things, but she also needs to learn that she’s still a baby and cannot help Wessex yet whenever she gets into a scrape. In fact, the emotions radiating off the demigoddess may very well confuse the little black creature, as she feels echoes of something like joy (adrenaline) and satisfaction from a situation like this… well, it’s a discussion for them to have later.
The fire-circle is completed just as Wessex reaches it, causing her to hop back, throwing her hands up to stop it from coming any closer. The magic and fire seem to come at her, so the Wraith heaves all her mental energy into stopping it, holding it at bay, and if she’s really fucking lucky - shove it back towards Weaver. As her concentration is now all on this bunch of flames, the ones behind the girl drop away. Her escape is there if she wants it. If not - well, one of them will have to either give up or step out of range.
The fire in front of her stops its forward progression, and Weaver assumes Wessex must be pushing back against it. The fire behind her disappears, and though she could retreat, it won’t do her much good. If their range is the same, then Weaver can’t use that to her advantage, and Wessex certainly has enough control to suggest that’s the case. So backward won’t help her much unless she just wants to give up, which may happen in a minute. Because she’s exhausted, and her basic healing will only give her so much more.
On a hunch, Weaver smothers the flames, erasing the wall completely. Or at least, she tries to, assuming Wessex can’t keep the flames going. Another ball of fire appears in front of Weaver, and then one behind Wessex. She’s hoping the first will distract as she launches both of them toward the demi-goddess.
No, Weaver’s right - Wessex’s energy is focused on moving the fire forward, not in maintaining it. As the flames go out, she finds herself oddly off-balance and takes a step backwards, leaving room for the fireball in front of Weaver. The instinct that screams firebad! tells her to smother it, so she tries to take a page out of the Halovian’s book and remove the danger. That is, until a second one appears behind her and she has to split her focus. Using whatever mechanism it is that controls fire, she tries to implement a fire-free bubble around her body - perhaps by sucking out all the oxygen. Who knows.
A two-pronged attack takes away her ability to retaliate at this moment but like hell she’s going to call it first.
The fireballs just sort of...die. Like all the oxygen had been sucked out of the area around Wessex. Huh. Well that was just interesting. With no counterattack to deal with, Weaver just sort of stops fighting. She’ll still on guard, just in case the demi-god plans to try and take her by surprise, but other than throwing herself another little burst of healing magic, she does nothing else. Her fatigue is a palpable thing, and if Wessex isn’t going to attack, Weaver doesn’t care if she’s the one to stop first.
Honestly, she didn’t die and even managed to keep the demi-god on her toes a little, a feat that’s maybe not that hard when it’s fire magic against an Ascended, but still, she’ll take it. It’s the little things in life, like not being totally squished to death. ”How’d you do that?” she asks, out of breath. She can smother fire, but that wasn’t quite what happened, which is the interesting bit.
