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!
There were quite a few things Amun needed to do for the Voice, and he needed to do them with his Ascended kin. Splitting up the labor seemed prudent, so he'd sent Samuel a note and asked the bookmaker to meet the potter at the Rainbow Road and bring an Ascended friend.
They'd arranged to meet after nightfall. Amun had quite a few bottles in his pack. When she'd requested geyser water, she hadn't mentioned how much, so he figured he'd rather be safe than sorry. Waiting patiently at the edge of the vibrant strips of color, he eyed the water exploding in the distance warily, remembering his last encounter with it.
The note from Amun had been a surprise but Sam was always willing to do more work for The Voice; especially when it came to Torchline, somewhere he knew she wanted them to be working on. Being told to bring a 'friend' had made him pause; he certainly couldn't invite Nate, Rexanna and Bastien seemed to be on some kind of self-imposed lockdown and Wessex always seemed far more busy then any of them. Eventually he decided to ask his new 'friend', the strange Demi-God that he had met in the Ruins.
Arriving at the rainbow road he gave out a pleased gasp, excited to see the colours. "Hello Amun! This is Osozo. They can help us. ...They..ah..were made by the Voice." Presumably Amun would understand just how special this was.
It feels like no time at all has passed since crawling out of the underground, out of their proverbial womb, and already they are spending time with the Family, lending a hand to their brothers and sisters. It's all rather exciting to Osozo. Especially considering the fact that this help took place through a portal, in a place the knowledge they had been given did not touch on.
The Demi God seemed to have been made for the Rainbow Road, the colours of the landscape as vivid as the colour of their hair, the glow of their eyes. Though the rocks and geysers are not nearly as exciting to Osozo as the other ascended, and they step past Sam, looking over the other man, head cocking in quiet intensity. "We were all made by the Voice." They call over their shoulder, words patient. "I was simply made from scratch."
As Sam approached, Amun gave the bookmaker a friendly smile. "Sam! Thanks for coming." Turning to face the stranger, the potter raised his eyebrows at the explanation. The unknown man was quite vibrant, and even in the dark the colors popped. "Made from scratch? Good for you."
There was something subdued about Amun, though neither Sam or Osozo knew the potter well enough to notice. "It's nice to meet you Osozo. I'm Amun." He nodded at the colorful looking man.
Then Amun gestured towards the geysers in the distance. "I've been tasked with collecting some water from the geysers." Rummaging in his pack, he held out an empty jar with a lid for each of them. Assuming they took them, he'd take out one of his one, open it, and march (carefully) towards the nearest geyser.
At Osozo's correction Sam nodded, holding up a hand in surrender. "Right. I apologise." Though actually, if he really wanted to, he could argue semantics. He had been changed by the Voice, his current self had certainly been heavily influenced by her...but had he been made by her? What was more strange than Osozo's being was Amun's blaise acceptance of it: Sam frowned. "..I don't think you understand. Osozo was made from nothing. It's a really important advancement for the Voice."
Well, even if Amun didn't see this as the monumental moment he did, they were here for a job. "Oh, is that all...?" Sam took a jar, turning it over in his hands and wondering why this was a 3 person job. Well, at least it was easy. Walking to a Geyser he waited for it to burst, glad he hadn't worn nice clothes.
Osozo nodded, rather gracefully, at the concession, a wide smile playing over their face, shifting from Sam to Amun as their focus did. Though the grin dropped away quite suddenly at Amun's seeming nonchalance, hair muting to a deep blue, eyes a pinprick of red. "It is important for all of us. The beginning of the next step."
The nod of greeting was not returned, Osozo's chin up and their head cocked. "Amun." They repeated, reaching out to accept one of the bottles. Then they wandered, not searching for the closest geyser, but appraising each hole as if searching for something specific. Something that they found a ways away from the others, close enough to see and shout but not much else. Osozo stood still on the edge of the geyser, bottle uncapped and outstretched.
Glancing between Osozo and Sam, noting how the former's eyes shifted, Amun forced himself to grin. "That's incredible!" While he didn't quite understand the significance, he was feigning excitement well enough that no one could tell the difference.
He also swiftly added, "So what exactly does this mean for the Ascended? And for the Voice's plans? How did she make you?" Again, he spoke in as enthusiastic a tone as he could muster, even though his insides ached with grief. Hopefully that would get the nerds talking and he could just listen.
As the bookmaker picked one geyser and the brand-spanking new special child of the Voice picked another, the potter picked a third. He stood there, awkwardly, waiting for it to erupt, bottle held open to catch the water, but nothing happened. One went off nearby, but he figured he wouldn't get there in time to catch it.
Amun corrected himself in regards to his reaction to Osozo, but with it coming after his first thought it was hard to believe it was genuine; Sam left him to his questions and oddly sudden enthusiasm and waited for one of the geysers to blow, looking over them all and clutching his jar. The Voice certainly sent them all to gather a lot of things, didn't she? He wondered if he ought to go and ask her for some kind of quest...
Then one of the geysers went off and Amun didn't seem to be going for it. Running in it's direction as fast as he could, Sam tried to hold out the jar, yelling: "Hey!" In case the other two had somehow not seen the eruption - he tried his best to catch the droplets he could before the water went back down.
At the end of the night, Osozo didn’t particularly care about the other ascendeds opinion of them, what they were. But they were quick to answer the questions, sharp grin on their face. ”It means we are growing. We are getting stronger, and She is getting stronger. But,” A soft wink here, ”I can’t go giving away trade secrets, can I?”
Osozo did not move away from their chosen geyser, though the jar was still held aloft. Better to wait for their chance to come in than to go chasing droplets they would never catch. Better to stay in place, wait for something closer.
Amun nodded at Osozo's explanation. "That is excellent news." However, the potter still wasn't quite able to muster up the requisite excitement. Thankfully, they scattered to their various geysers before it became too apparent.
When Sam ran over to the erupting geyser, he'd be quick enough to fill up half his jar. However, the ground beneath both Amun and Osozo would begin to rumble soon enough. The potter, at least, took a step back and held out his jar carefully.
Then the water blasted up beneath both him and Osozo. He could fell it splattering him, but it didn't hurt so that was good. Soon enough, he had a full jar and he danced backwards.
Sam wiped his jar around as quickly as he could to pick up any water droplets that fell nearby, though when he looked back he saw that Amun and Osozo had managed alright themselves without his hint; trying to play it cool he walked over, holding the jar and looking at the water within. It just looked like normal water, really: nothing worth collecting, but...what The Voice wanted was what she got, he supposed.
"Is that all..?" He asked, handing the jar to Amun.
With no experience for nearly anything, least of all geysers, Osozo did not know to step away from the lip as the rumbling began. The Demi-god was caught by the full force of the water, and blown backwards, rolling to a graceless stop several feet back, jar of water somehow held aloft, though with hardly anything within it to show for the feat.
There was a moment of stunned silence from Osozo, then, just before it had the chance to become worrying, a loud, hysterical laughter, and legs kicking out to get them back on their feet. Hair and eyes both had shifted to a bright pink that seemed to match the giggles that didn't stop pouring from them, even as Osozo began to walk back towards the group.
Making sure his own jar, which was mostly full, was secure, lid and all, Amun took the jar from Sam. "That's all." The potter screwed a lid on the bookmaker's jar as well.
Then Osozo's giggling caught Amun's attention. Turning, he regarded the special Ascended. Walking over, the potter took the jar from Osozo, then screwed it shut. Putting all three jars carefully in the bag, Amun gave the special Ascended a quick once over. "You alright?" The giggles and the pink hair were probably good signs, but it was better to be safe than sorry.
Nodding at the other two, the potter did his best to smile. "Thank you both. I'll let you know when we need to gather for the shrine." With that, he'd turn to lead them back to the portal.
