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!
04-17-2020, 05:46 PM (This post was last modified: 04-17-2020, 06:25 PM by Loren.)
They say blood makes you related but
loyalty makes you family
Now that the official permission had been given for the people of the Hollowed Ground to come stay in Halo, Loren figured he should make sure their stay would be as comfortable as possible. Though they would be bringing their own food and drink, at least, there were other concerns. So he'd posted a notice, asking for help setting up accommodations for them for the duration of their stay.
Next to him was a box of Ningo feathers and unstuffed pillow cases. The rooms themselves were deep in the depths of the Palace. They were mostly unused storerooms, windowless, and lacking in fireplaces, which he knew they'd need to fix. He'd also taken some time to mark the outer walls with chalk, and had some furs laid out next to the box. There were nails and hammers and other tools, since he wasn't sure exactly who would show up and what help they would need.
Then he simply stood and waited to see who would show. His hands were clasped behind his back and he stood ramrod straight.
This is a PQ to prepare quarters for anyone from the Hollowed Ground who is planning to stay in Halo during Deepfrost and LongNight. There are 3 open spots, but more can be opened upon request.
And round about his home the glory That blushed and bloomed,
The only reason he was here, was to keep these outsiders away from his own home. Okay? The only reason. And possibly because he had a reputation to uphold as the neighborhood nice guy who helped anyone who asked. It was his thing, and Korbin very much felt that he had to stick with it, even if the idea of being flooded with whiny outlanders complaining about the cold and the food made him want to hit something.
He didn't though, of course. As a matter of fact, he was unusually subdued when he turned up, and the normally so easy stride was hesitant. Wobbly even; he frequently reached for walls and nearby objects to steady a balance that had gone a bit off kilter.
And he didn't say anything as he waited for instructions, still chewing over how to let Loren know that he couldn't hear a gods damned thing around him.
Is but a dim-remembered story Of the old time entombed.
04-17-2020, 06:17 PM (This post was last modified: 04-17-2020, 06:19 PM by Noah.
Edit Reason: chan so fast
)
NOAH
I wait and tell myself "life ain't chess,"
Noah had yet to meet any of the new government in Halo. He had not been avoiding them, per say, but his life had just not yet needed to cross their path. This, however, was a good a time as any. Initially, Noah felt angry about the portal to Halo being closed during Longnight. However, the more he thought it over, the more comfortable he became. Closing and guarding the portal was their best bet to keep the monsters he had learned about away--after all, he was not sure if monsters could come through the portal. Along with that, knowing that Halo was offering Longnight solace to some Grounders made Noah feel more at ease with the decision.
And when he read about the council needing help to prepare for these temporary refugees, it was a no brainer. Noah Olson would help.
He made his way to the palace with some random tools in tow. Two hammers, a few knives, and a (though unfortunately somewhat dull) saw hung from his pack. Stuffed into the pack were some old clothes of his parents that, though aged, were definitely warm and usable. He had no problem donating them to those in need. He had seen what some outlanders had chosen to wear in Halo, and come Deepfrost none of it would be acceptable. Entering the frozen palace, Noah eyed a man standing tall and stiff. Hmm, he internally mumbled, thinking it quite fitting for a man of government to be standing so statuesque. He closed the distance between them, nodding to the man, before offering him a hand. "Noah Olson, here to help."
He looked over to Korbin, eyes furrowing as the boy steadied himself on a wall. He nodded to him, choosing not to say anything before this stranger, but the concern on his face was apparent.
Loren always showed up to help him, so of course Jigano would show up to help the Healer when the Notice Board flyer caught his eye on his book-shopping trip. He made his way to the Palace in the usual way, bundled up and all but hidden beneath his layers, scarves, and hats. There was no Isuma with him on this trip, the gryphlet busy 'helping' Rory with the harvest, but he'd left his usual tithe of fresh fruit at the portal, knowing it would be even more useful in the days to come.
He wasn't the first to arrive, he was glad to see, but though one man was a stranger the other may or may not have been familiar, depending on timelines. "Loren, good to see you again," he said warmly to his friend. "I'm here to offer a hand." He nodded to Noah and Korbin courteously, loosening his scarf enough for them to see his friendly smile. "I'm Jigano, and since it'll be my neighbors and friends coming to stay here thanks to Halo's kindness, I wanted to do my part to help however I may."
As the others showed up, Loren relaxed. No one here was going to rat him out if he was less than professional. Or at least, he hoped they wouldn't. As Korbin stumbled in, uncharacteristically clumsy, the healer gave the hunter a concerned look. Although he'd originally been planning to make some quip about locking the outsiders away from sight, instead he just asked, "Everything alright?" The question came out quietly.
When an older, taller, and much stronger looking man showed up, the Launceleyn smiled. "Thanks for coming, and for offering to help. I'm Loren. It's nice to meet you." Tone friendly and polite, he took Noah's hand. Loren's own grip was firm.
Releasing the older man, the healer grinned at Jigano. "Good, because I have a task just for you." The Launceleyn gestured at the bare walls of the storerooms. "I'm going to need you to install fireplaces. Otherwise it gets dangerously cold, even inside."
With that, he turned to face the other two men. "I'm also going to need one person to put together pillow cases. I'd also like to hang furs on the walls to provide insulation, and blanket the floor with them as well. There's probably a bit of dust in there too if you have time to deal with it." That last bit was obviously less of a priority.
"I'm going to go outside to pile snow on the outer walls, which will provide insulation as well. Before I do that, any questions?" He'd answer what they had, then head off. "If you need to get in touch with me, I should be in range telepathically." Jigano and Korbin, at least, should be able to reach Loren.
No post order! Jigano has been asked to construct fireplaces. One person needs to make pillow cases and one person needs to hang furs on the wall. Loren will be just on the other side of the wall, piling snow up.
And round about his home the glory That blushed and bloomed,
It quickly became apparent that staying silent was a horrible idea. Seeing both Noah's and Loren's glances thrown his way, he rather coldly ignored the friendly smile of the stranger and what he assumed was an introduction. Korbin couldn't hear it anyway, what was the point in pretending?
He watched with mounting frustration as Loren kept moving his mouth, knew they were instructions on what to do... but no matter how he strained his ears, he couldn't hear a damned thing. Eventually, he gave up. Shifted, and flew on unsteady wings up on Noah's shoulder, which felt like the safest perch at the moment. Even his raven form was unsteady, the loss of hearing affecting his balance in unexpected ways.
"Sorry, you're gonna have to repeat that," he told Loren, his thoughts projected with a pulse of grim frustration - offered to the Healer and Noah, having possibly, depending on timelines no idea the third person might be able to listen in. "I can't hear a damn thing right now."
Provided he did get the tasks repeated to him, he chose the one he would be able to perform while sitting down. Putting together pillows was neither fun nor interesting, but in his current state, Korbin didn't trust himself to climb around the walls. He shifted back and set to work with a dark scowl on his face, the usual lazy grin nowhere to be seen. It had become a thing of rarity these days.
------
Noah chooses to stuff pillows!
Is but a dim-remembered story Of the old time entombed.
As the man, now who he knew as Loren, relaxed some it helped Noah feel more at ease as well. The concern for Korbin, however, still lingered over him. He lifted his hand to be ready to help him steady himself if needed while he was on his shoulder as he listened to Loren give instruction for what needed to be done. "I've brought some clothes to give to any who are unprepared, as well." He said, his non-perched shoulder lifting to gesture to the pack slung on his back.
The preparations seemed appropriate, and Noah translated what needed to be done for Korbin. He wanted to know what had happened to him, but decided it was private. He knew he could not even ask him in the way that they had always communicated to keep away from the ears of others (mostly Weaver, to tease her), because Loren would be able to hear them. He guessed, too, that the silver-haired man would also be able to hear, or else Loren would not have left that communication information open.
Korbin set to work on the pillows, and Noah chose to move on the hanging of furs. He was used to this task, having his own home's walls lined with furs. Every so often some needed to be replaced, though they lasted years with good keep. Setting his pack down near Korbin, Noah took a hammer from it. He grabbed some nails and an armful of furs, and headed to the first empty storeroom to begin lining the walls.
Korbin hadn't been particularly friendly to a curious fox, and Jigano didn't expect him to be any more courteous towards a strange human, but hearing that the young man had lost his hearing earned him more understanding. He still didn't know his name, but as he was known to the other two men, Jigano stayed silent - both physically and mentally - and let things be.
Loren's assigning of the fireplaces to him earned the Healer a wry grin and a teasing salute. "As you wish. It might take a while, though," he cautioned, hoping his friend wasn't expecting miracles. "My architectural experience is more theoretical than practical." Though he'd learned a lot while repairing the broken wall and ceiling of the Atheneum the previous year.
Outer walls seemed the obvious place (to him, at least) to put the fireplaces and chimneys, for ease of venting smoke, and he gave Korbin and Noah space while heading to an empty room to begin working. Partly out of courtesy to them, and partly so he could experiment on his own as he stroked tentatively over Mastered Earth and Fire magics, with just the smallest ripple of Creation magic underlying them both as he laid his hands against the stone and tried to reshape it. Lacking Disintegration, he couldn't simply make a hole through the stone; it had to be shifted and pulled, pushed, or melted into position. He found the easiest way was to mark the wall where the hearth would be and then begin to alter the stonework, carefully melting and excavating the stone and pulling it outwards to stick into the room, creating a larger space for the wood to burn in. Walls, mantle, and raised hearthstone were made this way from melted and re-shaped stone. Once he'd thinned the back wall enough he 'tunneled' upwards using the same process, giving the smoke a narrowing flue to rise up and making the walls of it smooth so ash and soot wouldn't get stuck there. He angled it towards the outside, near the top of the building, as high as his magic could reach, but held off on melting and shaping the final sliver of stone to the outside until they were all complete.
Jigano attempts to use Mastered Earth, Fire, and Creation magic to melt the stone and shape a raised hearthstone and fireplace, along with a flue tunneling up through the middle of the wall's stonework, but doesn't quite finish venting it outside yet until they have time to make and place dampers.
As Korbin revealed he was deaf, Loren blinked in surprise. Then he gave the raven a deeply concerned look. Shit. What happened? Can I heal you? The healer's hand was already raised, sparkling with a sky blue light that was his healing magic.
Still, he repeated the instructions easily enough (not knowing Noah had already done the same). Whether or not the Launceleyn healed Korbin, Loren would watch as the raven went to stuff pillowcases. Only then did the healer turn to Noah. "Thank you. These will be incredibly helpful." The Launceleyn reached out to take the pack and set it to one side.
Glancing at Jigano, Loren grinned faintly. "Considering my architectural knowledge is nonexistent, and my magics aren't suited for the task, better you than me." He let out a huff of laughter. "Good luck!" Tone wry, he waved to the group before heading outside.
Perhaps he should've stayed inside, though, because the inside crew did not meet with much success. In fact, it was kind of a disaster. As soon as Korbin opened the box with the feathers, he'd find he opened it with a bit too much force. So much so that it created a breeze which made the feathers explode out of the box and scatter everywhere.
Despite Noah's previous experience, the furs would prove to be too heavy to stay on the initial set of nails. They'd fall down, and pull the nails out with them. He'd have to add more nails, or find some other way to support them.
At least Jigano actually succeeded. However, it was touch and go there for a while, and more than once the walls grumbled in protest. However, with quite a bit of time and effort the Sage would make the first fireplace and flue.
Loren eventually made it outside. Focusing on his water magic, he commanded the snow to pile onto the outer wall of one of the rooms. However, it was memory snow, and resisted his efforts. Eventually he prevailed, but he ended up with only a partial pile, not the full one he wanted.
No post order!
Korbin failed to make any pillowcases, as the feathers managed to scatter all over due to a crit fail.
Noah failed to secure the furs on the wall.
Jigano succeeded in making a fireplace nice stats, bro.
Loren partially succeeded in piling up snow.
And round about his home the glory That blushed and bloomed,
He didn't know whether the healing would work or not, so Korbin stayed still and allowed Loren to try. But the magic did him no good, as there was nothing physically wrong with his ears. The silence remained, unchanged. "Didn't help. I'll explain later.
The heavy beak nibbled Noah's finger in fond gratitude for the support, then Korbin left to get to work. With double explanations on what he was supposed to do it should have been a no-brainer, but he was understandably distracted by what was going on with himself, and more than a little frustrated. He ripped open the boxes with more force than was necessary, and was rewarded by his carelessness by a storm of feathers.
Gritting his teeth, he took several deep breaths to calm himself down. Then he began to gather up all the feathers again, wrapped in a bubble of focused silence so solid it was almost tangible. Not even a thought slipped out... though it really wasn't needed. The tightly restrained movements and carefully neutral face said all that needed to be said.
------
Korbin starts gathering up the feather explosion, lmao
Is but a dim-remembered story Of the old time entombed.
Good luck, indeed. Luck was all that saved him a few times, he was certain, as he experimented with his magic and the stone of the walls, trying not to do anything too catastrophic to the building's structure. Still, when he was finished he was feeling quite proud of himself for not bringing half a wall down on his head. It still left the problem of a damper, though. Jigano paused to create a pencil and paper, sketching roughly as he tried to envision each hinge and screw and flap. It would need a lever to open and close it... would copper work for the metal parts? At least sinking it into stone would be easier with his magic than having to drill holes for the supports...
He wished Remi was there, certain the alchemist would have a more intuitive grasp of how to put the moving parts together, but Jigano was not without his own familiarity with machines, and the damper design was a fairly simple one compared to Androffan constructs. Once he was certain it would work - simple, not elegant, but hopefully feasible - he returned to the recently-constructed fireplace and laid his hands above the mantle, feeling the stonework and reaching for Creation and Fire and Earth once more to call and shape the metal, crafting each element individually but in quick succession, building it as he went so that each piece would last and the whole of it would not fade away at season's end. Anchored in the stone, the damper would be open when a fire roared within to carry the smoke out. If the fire ever went out, the damper could be closed to keep the cold air from blowing down the flue and into the room, conserving the heat still within for a little longer.
A lever set beside the fireplace - high enough up to be out of the reach of children - connected to the damper so that it could be opened or closed at need. If Jigano was successful in his construction, he would go ahead and finish connecting the flue to the outside, shaping that stone into a hood to further block any wind that might try to work its way into the small break in the building's stone skin.
Jigano tries to make a damper for the fireplace! If successful, he'll complete the flue with a wind baffle and then move on to the next room.
Hanging furs in his own home was much easier than hanging them in the Citadel. After moving on to the third fur, Noah heard the sound of furs scraping against the wall and nails tacking the ground. The nails he drove into the wall pulled out, the furs too heavy for what Loren had given him. A huff of frustration left his lips, eyebrows knitting together. The nails he held between his teeth shifted as his jaw hardened. Okay, he thought to himself, holding up the current fur he had been working on, more nails. Noah steadied a nail, ready to be driven into the wall. This time, he put more strength behind each swing until the nail was driven deep into the Citadel well.
His goal was for these furs to be nearly irremovable, come Flowerbirth.
He doubled up on the amount of nails for the current fur than he did the first two. Satisfied with that, he moved backwards--with some grunts and huffs of easily detected frustration--to readjust and reset the first two furs he had attempted to hang. He repeated as he had done for the third, doubling up on the amount of nails than he had used before. Hoping this worked, he stepped back briefly to look at his work and formulate a plan for hanging in the corners. Gathering more nails, he would continue to work this way so long as the nails held.
___
Noah doubled up on the amount of nails he originally used and tried to re-hang what fell.
04-21-2020, 02:29 PM (This post was last modified: 04-21-2020, 02:29 PM by Loren.)
They say blood makes you related but
loyalty makes you family
Maybe Korbin wasn't as calm as he'd thought, or maybe he wasn't as quick or careful as he thought, or maybe the feathers were simply too damn light. Regardless, they puffed away from him, tantalizingly just out of reach. Unfortunately, he was only able to gather a few in the end, the rest remaining strewn on the floor.
Once again, Jigano would succeed in his task. This time, there'd be no resistance. Indeed, the damper was almost too easy to put in.
The extra strength or extra nails that Noah used did the trick this time. All the furs he put up would stay in place. However, there were still walls left to cover. Outside, Loren would find that despite his best efforts, this time the memory snow put up much more of a fight. He would be unable to pile more snow without it rolling back into place, no matter how hard he tried.
No post order!
Korbin failed to gather many feathers
Jigano succeeded in installing a damper
Noah succeeded in putting up the first set of furs
Loren failed to pile any more snow.
And round about his home the glory That blushed and bloomed,
He was cursed. That really explained everything. The deafness, the feathers, his inability to complete a simple task like stuffing a few pillows. Why did the outsiders need pillows anyway? Let them bring their own, let them sleep without any. Better yet, make them stay at home and take care of their own fucking problems.
It was perhaps a good thing that he couldn't hear, or he might have muttered all this aloud as he trundled around like a fool, chasing ningo feathers over the floor. When he finally had enough, Korbin grabbed one of the pillow cases and began to waft it at the scattered mess, hoping to drive it all up into a corner where it would be quicker and easier to gather them.
Should this work, he would leave the feathers there and begin to stuff the pillows straight away, skipping the process of moving the down around unnecessarily.
Is but a dim-remembered story Of the old time entombed.
