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!
Laser beams we're about to awesome all your dreams
Hoooooo boy if they’re going to with what the Voice wants, then Wessex knows, deep down, she wants the earliest versions of her children to live. It’s only at Wessex’s insistence and fear that she offered this solution. This has been the demigod’s pet project, her goal since she realized there was some connection between herself and the Monsters. And her bias against them could fill the whole damn bubble again. Which request? she says to Osozo, curious to see how in tune with the Voice they truly are.
“If that’s what’s holding you back - you have knowledgeable advisors, a city full of people who have weathered it for years before you arrived,” she tells Neron. “And I can get you and bring you back.” Assuming she lives, but that’s besides the point.
Then mostly to Sam, but also to the fractured family she’s tried to persuade, there’s a bit of an air of weariness. “All of us means all of us. One or two or three say no, it doesn’t matter. I don’t know about postponing it. I don’t know if the opportunity will come again. Will you still be Warden in a year, Neron? And will that keep you from saying yes, again? Or what about the new ones we will hopefully have this time next year? What about then, Sam? Or if you have a one year old child, will you say the same thing? Out of wanting to care for them?”
Can they keep a secret for the rest of their lives?
Wessex won’t deny the truth of the story when the self-righteous horde descends.
“I’ll stop now. If there’s anything else to say, please do so. Then let’s have final votes.”
She knows a losing battle when she sees one. The disappointment in her tone is hard to hide.
As Wessex spoke again, Amun spoke again. "I still vote to fight."
Then he turned to the strange man, who apparently ruled Halo. "Halo is not your only concern now. Your fellow Ascended are your concern as well. That's part of becoming one of us. Even if you don't have affection for us, what impacts one of us tends to spill over to all of us." The potter met the stranger's gaze squarely.
"But if Halo is your main concern, then can we sweeten the deal? Help you with something in order to secure your help with the monsters? All of us?" Fully willing to make a deal if necessary, Amun raised a questioning eyebrow at Neron.
Then the potter turned to Sam. "And what about the people who will die this LongNight because we chose not to act? Are they somehow less worthy of our protection and care than the people gathered in this room?"
Amun's voice was soft, and he spread his arms to indicate everyone gathered. "I don't see the monsters here, the ones you claim are our kin. I only see our actual family, and I have no wish for any of us to come to harm." Though his tone was understanding, his eyes had narrowed slightly. "But I cannot in good conscience let others come to harm either. Which is what your vote amounts to, Sam. And if the news gets out, do you really think your vote will remain a secret?"
When Wessex asked them to postpone having their child Bastien tilted his head, too shocked to even reply at first, unsure she'd said what he'd thought. Was she so blindingly self centered, to think that her sudden plans would overtake their attempts to have a family? Also, frankly, it wasn't any of her business. He was silent the first time, trying to press down his anger so he wouldn't say anything he regretted, but then when they were mentioned again in her final speech, he cracked.
"Please keep my and Rexanna's family business out of your mouth, Wessex. What we choose to do with our child is our business and ours alone. You cannot have expected us to plan for your sudden monster killing spree." He threw up his hands, clearly frustrated. Was his mood partly brought on by the tiredness that the Voice had put upon him and Rexanna? Almost certainly, but he still felt it. "I vote that we fight, but Rexanna and I would need to take on a less aggressive role. Or...at least I would. I will not speak for her."
I doubt the Voice would create a child that remains as such. She puts it simply to Wessex, not wanting to have this conversation when everything else is going on. Still, her verdant gaze lingers on the Wraith at the mention of Kiada, brows furrowing ever so slightly with that tidbit of information, tucking it away for later. But then all hell breaks loose again, when the argument begins to spark again.
Her gaze flickers from Clemente to Nate (begrudgingly agreeing with him despite how much she adores Samuel), to the back and forth among their siblings. When Wessex begins to speak toward her and Bastien again, though, her gaze flickers back to the Wraith. “Perhaps we hadn’t expected to remain in the Grounds during LongNight.” Honestly, a Halo vacation among the rest of them sounded wonderful, but with people remaining and everything else? Well, she certainly has to stay. But she hadn’t known about this, wasn’t sure if putting it off would have been a good idea as well.
In the end, there’s nothing she can do to change the outcome of what her and Bastien had done. So she remains silent, when the final votes begin to get cast, squeezing Bastien’s hand when he speaks, leaving room for her to talk. “I vote we fight as well.” Her gaze flickers from Wessex to Bastien, a light frown crossing her face as she leans into him.
"At least I'm willing to stand for something" Nate spits back in Sams direction, though beyond that he could give a fuck what the man has to say. Honestly, he doesn't really care about the majority of the squabbling going on, if the vote needs to be unanimous then it's not going to happen. He crosses his arms and leans back, not checking in again until the call for a final vote comes.
The last arguments are ignored, slipping in one ear and out the other as easily as most of the rest of the debate. "I still vote to fight. But I'll go along with whatever happens." Honestly, a week on the beach sounded better than trying to face off against a horde of monsters.
Do you read fuck-up in my walk?
Do you see fuck-up on my face?
04-17-2020, 07:59 AM (This post was last modified: 04-17-2020, 08:00 AM by Clemente.)
Clemente
The bitterness apparent between Sam and Nate makes Clem distinctly uncomfortably, and he shamelessly leaves Wessex's side to reach for Nate's hand. As much as he wants to spit back at Sam for what he says, for what he's saying to Nate, he grits his teeth and remembers the multiple times he's been told by Amun and The Voice that they are family. That they can't fight amongst themselves. Even Sam's voice softens slightly when speaking to Clem, which he would normally despise but allows this one time. But his eyes don't leave the redhead, posing one last question to him and at large. "If she made 'em, she's gotta know if they can and can't be saved or fixed. Why would she even mention killin' em then? She's their mom." Definitely a naive point of view to some, but Clem is already rather behind developmentally for a sixteen year old.
"I know I'm young," he agrees, oddly soft. "I know I could die. But I've already got everythin' I wanted here, with you guys. The Voice gave me that. And if I die, The Voice can keep me at her side. And...and I won't have to be the cause'a someone else's family dyin'." Images of his mom, blank-eyed and frozen on their living room floor, make him shudder. At least she'd gone peacefully. Those at risk during LongNight would not be given that opportunity. "So I vote we fight." His final say.
I've got designer shades just to hide my face And I wear 'em around cuz I'm cooler than you
Sam had given his final say and said nothing else. He only stared at Amun and Clem when they spoke, distractedly wondering in his mind if he would see them alive by the end of Deepfrost if this plan went ahead. It seemed little he had to say could convince anyone, so he saw no point in arguing with them anymore: he had never been much of a fighter, always ran out of steam quickly enough.
Closing his eyes he sank further down in his seat, wanting to groan out loud. Longnight was going to be interesting this year for sure and he'd wanted nothing more than a boring one.
The voice in their head is as strange as it was the first time, but it is immediately recognizable as Wessex this time, and Osozo turns to throw a bright grin over their shoulder, only just barely refraining from a conspirators wink. I want to see what happens when we make a choice. If they could make a choice, which... was slowly seeming less and less likely.
They shifted again, weight moving from side to side, and waited for a quiet moment to speak. ”I am happy to go along with whatever the family wants.” They annonce brightly, having much more fun watching the meeting unfold than anything else.
She sat stock still, listening to the others around her. Their emotions and their expectations felt heavy on her shoulders, but she could not get the sight of Seren out of her mind. If she had a chance to show that the Ascended were not bad, as the girl had been taught, Letha wanted to.
She still knew she was weak. She still knew she might not make it.
She still knew she wanted to fight.
She did not speak up again, because her position had already been given. Her voice had been heard, if only by Wessex. The unity that the woman wanted, however, did not seem to be happening. Letha pulled her knees to her chest, wrapped her arms around her shins, fingers picking at the hem of her skirt beneath the cloak.
Steel eyes flicking to the stranger who spoke to him, Neron raised an eyebrow and heard him out. "You misunderstand me," he said simply. "My issue is not with what I believe would be the best course of action, but rather the timing. Ascended or not, family or not, you cannot call upon me just before the snows come and expect me to abandon a nation to the cold because you wish it to be so."
He shrugged his shoulders. "Unpopular though it might be, if fighting the monsters means fighting them this year without negotiation, then I will not be a part of it." He had nothing further to say on the matter.
Neron chooses not to fight... not this year, at least.
04-19-2020, 03:25 PM (This post was last modified: 04-19-2020, 03:26 PM by Wessex.)
Laser beams we're about to awesome all your dreams
Though the majority seems to have the right inclination, Wessex gave her word that it had to be unanimous and she would not go back on her word. As Neron finishes, she nods, knowing that even if he had agreed to fight, Sam’s selective attacks of cowardice had already truly decided the matter. Thank you for your willingness to help she sends to Amun, Rexanna, Bastien, Letha, Nate, Osozo and Clemente.
Neron gets nothing. She can understand the Warden’s reluctance to leave, but exactly when he thinks they’ll fight or how they’ll negotiate is beyond her. He wasn’t listening. Sam gets nothing. She’s already decided he won’t get anything from her again. No assistance, the barest acknowledgment of existence - the Wraith’s spite and anger regarding this matter is far greater than when he’d almost killed Rex. The irony isn’t lost on her.
“Then it’s decided. We won’t fight. The next step is to go to the Voice and deliver our decision. It’s probably best to do it now while we’re all together so I don’t have to play messenger again” And with that, she turns to the exit and begins to ascend the stairs. “We’ll go to the tree shrine in the Outskirts.”
