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!
With everything that’s been going down around Torchline, I think I need to up my game. New title, new secret tunnel, new - er, stronger me. I can’t rely on the goodwill of other men any more (not that I’ve ever wanted to - it’s just kinda how it happened). So with that resolution, it’s late morning and The Hanged Man is still undergoing repairs from the volcano and won’t be open today. I’ve wandered close to Sunjata’s boxing ring to see if I can get anyone to give a girl some tips.
But Sunjata isn’t there, and I don’t want just anyone’s help. So with a puff of frustration, I take my two knives and try to find a shaded area. Once there, I take them out and look at them, one in each hand, and try to remember some of the fight training she’d had a couple of years ago.
There were still issues from the aftermath of Apopo's eruption. Most of the damage was being slowly, but surely, cleaned up. However, the air was still full of toxic gasses. As one of the better air mages around these days, Saiden was tasked with clearing it as best he could.
The city itself was mostly fine, so he was moving further and further up the slope. The winds he was commanding caused his hair to ruffle and plucked at the shorts that were the only clothes he wore. His feet were bare, though he carried a cutlass at his hip.
Strangely, a flash of motion caught his eye. He turned to face it, only relaxing when he saw it was Raza holding two wicked looking knives. He whistled appreciatively and grinned at her. "Yet another reason not to get on your bad side."
“Oh there are many reasons. But sure, this is a good one,” I call back to Saiden once I realize it's him. After a finished feint sequence, I stop and look down at the twin blades in my hand and almost laugh. Really, I’m so fuckin’ rusty, I’d probably bet on the other person in a fight. With a deep breath I head over to the Ark’s cook with a pointed look at his cutlass. And yes, I’m talking about his actual blade, not his dick.
“Aight, don’t tell anyone, cause right now I ain’t good for much more ‘n a long bluff.” Gesturing with the tip of one of the knives towards his blade, I make an offer. “Free drinks for a night if ya help me a bit here.” Surely he can’t say no to that, right? I mean, I’d take that deal if I were him.
Saiden laughed at Raza's response, nodding easily enough to acknowledge the truth of it. "Are you implying there are bad ones? I find that hard to believe." His tone was only lightly teasing.
As she glanced towards his sword (his actual one, of course) he put his hand on the hilt. Arching an eyebrow at her admission, he smiled, though in an inviting way. "Bluffs are sometimes better than blades in my opinion." However, he nodded again. "Alright. Your secret's safe with me." And it would be: he carried more secrets than most people realized, and fully intended to take them to the grave if necessary.
Taking a step back, he unsheathed his blade, shifting his feet into the proper position as he did. Then he winked playfully at her. "You know, I would've done it simply for the pleasure of your company." With that, he lunged, sweeping his blade from her right to her left, though he would be careful not to actually cut her.
He had no intention of finding out what both Jack and Raza would do if the Hali seriously injured her.
I really do agee that bluffs are better than blades - most of the time. But then there’s that pesky 10%, where the guy is either too drunk or too full of himself to listen, and you have to try and put ‘em in his place. I raise a brow at his continual stream of flattery and for some reason it irks me; there’s one, maybe two or three people who can get away with that kind of thing and Saiden isn’t one of them.
I settle into a similar ‘ready’ position, one knife in each hand and everything tucked in close. Knife-on-knife is different than knife-on-cutlass, but a blade is a blade is a blade and I just need to remember how to avoid things. He lunges and I scoot my midsection back, following his blade with my left hand knife, trying to find contact with the dull edge to keep him from pulling it back around. With my right, I go for a jab to his hopefully now exposed right rib cage - also careful to not actually put the tip where it might accidentally slide between the bones.
"You have an odd idea of pleasure," I retort - one accident and this spar goes downhill, fast.
Raza would be quite successful at preventing Saiden from pulling his sword back. Seeing as his weapon was tangled with hers, he wouldn't be able to dodge out of the way of her blow. Instead, he just tensed his muscles. Still, he grunted as the pain exploded in his ribs. "Wouldn't be the first time I've heard that." He managed to get the words out through teeth gritted with pain.
Rather than try to continue tangling at close range, he just tapped into his air magic. He sent a blast of wind towards her, tossing up sticks, rocks, and dust as it moved towards her. Even if it wasn't strong enough to knock her down, hopefully she'd have to shield herself from the debris.
While I didn’t mean to seriously hurt Saiden, he did agree to a two-vs-one fight, so my empathy and pity is far less than it normally might be. At least my direction was on point.
I don’t have much time to gloat, though, as tiny bits of debris and sand is blown straight into my face and I jump back, squeezing my eyes shut to try and keep it all out. Fuckin’ hell, it clearly caught me off guard. I can tell that some’s gotten into my eyes and try to paw it away with one hand as soon as the puff dies down, the other hand automatically in front of me even though it’s useless. I just try to keep my eyes open enough to maintain a ‘safe’ distance from Saiden until I can lubricate the dust and sand away.
Thankfully, Saiden's little trick with the wind worked. As Raza recovered as best she could from the debris his magic had kicked up, his eyes narrowed as he zeroed in on the hand in front of her. Darting forward as quickly as he dared, he swept out with the flat of his blade again.
His goal wasn't her body, though. Instead, he was aiming for the knife she held in front of her. He put as much strength, force, and momentum as he could to bear on his attack. His goal was to try and slap the weapon out of her hand with his own blade.
No matter how much I blink and try not to rub, I just can’t seem to get the grit and stinging bits out of my eyes. In fact, I have to bring one forearm to my eyes to try and help (how? I don’t fucking know), and that’s when Saiden hits, taking advantage of the situation. Which, to his credit, is a good ‘un. I would have too. I can see his arm coming, but it doesn’t seem to register - so when he hits, I drop the knife with a yelp. The flat of his blade hit my knuckles and they sting like a motherfucker.
But there’s nothing I can do until I can see again, so I begin to edge backwards, and finally, finally, my vision begins to clear and come back into focus. He won’t get his next move in so easily, I tell myself, even if he has evened the odds.
Grinning triumphantly as his strike managed to disarm Raza of one of her blades, Saiden double checked to make sure she wasn't actually injured. Then he continued to press the attack. Not allowing her to retreat or recover if he could help it, his cutlass swept out once more.
This time, his target was her other dagger. He was hoping to repeat his trick from earlier and leave her at the mercy of his weapon. Again, though, he was very careful to only employ the flat of his blade. All he wanted to do was slap the knife out of of her hand.
I don’t give a fuck if I’m injured, though the courtesy will later be much appreciated. It finally seems like my vision is clearing and as Saiden goes for my other knife, I try and scoot back just enough to evade, and with my now-free hand, reach out to the back of that very same cutlass arm. Aiming for above the elbow so as not to shatter anything, I push and try to get behind the blade, aiming to keep his weapon far away from me for now.
If he’s slow on the uptake, I’ll try to kick him in the thigh - mostly to try push him off balance even more.
Raza easily evaded Saiden's strike. Unfortunately for him, he was slow on the uptake and to recover. Her grip on his arm served well to keep his cutlass away from her, and her kick caused him to stagger back a few steps.
Growling in annoyance, his eyes narrowed at her. Making sure his footing was firm, he reached for the arm that held her knife, trying to grip the same spot she was holding him. Hopefully his superior height and reach would allow him to grapple with her. He was more than willing to wrestle her into submission if he had to.
Aigh, I know when I’ve made a mistake, and this is one of them. I’m definitely not strong enough to go head-to-head with Saiden, the tall lump of muscley-man that he is.
Or maybe I am, - when he grabs my shoulder, I’m able to hold my own at first, locked into what feels like a weird dance - sweatin’ and breathin hard an’ neither of us lookin’ to fuck - but I can only withstand him for so long and as I feel my strength begin to give out. The only real attack I have left is to go for his dick with another kick, but that’s just uncalled for in a spar. So I try to fake him out, dropping my knife and then releasing my hold on him at the same time, hoping that he might be surprised enough to also loosen his grip so I can duck out and scamper away, or something like that.
Raza was stronger than Saiden had been expecting, and even with a few inches and quite a few pounds on her, he wasn't gaining as much traction as he would've liked. As she dropped her knife and let go of him, he shoved at her a bit trying to buy himself a few seconds. Using that force, he pushed away, backing up as swiftly as he could, certain she had a trick of some kind up her sleeve.
Warily, he watched her, cutlass in a guard position. He began circling slowly, trying to maneuver so the sun was in her eyes. However, he made no further move to attack, simply keeping his distance for now.
