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!
Well I have brittle bones it seems
I bite my tongue and I torch my dreams
She was slowly gathering things that she thought she would need in her home. The sun had set some time ago, but there were a few shops that stayed open well into the night. Some, however, she avoided. She might be able to feel pain physically, which helped aid in her confidence in being out in Haulani after dark, but she still listened to her gut feelings. If the look of a shop or the people within it made her stomach turn or her skin crawl, she moved on. Her face remained stone either way, giving no evidence to the world that she felt anything but apathetic.
That was until she found a beautiful wind chime hanging in the dim light of a souvenir-type shop. The display glittered with shiny trinkets that most might find useless. Letha, however, was drawn in to the beauty and allure of the chime as it hung in the store window. She stepped in to the shop, finding an elderly woman stooped over a broom, working on the shop floor. "Excuse me," She asks, "how much for the chime in the window?" Her voice was smooth and calm, but her eyes were backlit with excitement.
The woman turned, and eyed the ascended up and down. What do ya got? The elder asked. Letha shuffled in her bag, offering the woman herbs and candles, and a small, green gemstone. The woman scrunched her nose at the offering, and huffed. "Please," Letha almost pleads, offering her arms out further to the shopkeeper.
Even when I look away, I’m still looking. He is inside his body, and I am inside my body, and it matters less and less
Despite his growing resistance to the sun, there was still something soothing about being out after dark for Nate, trawling the streets of Haulani. Window shopping wasn't usually the point of his walks, but he was looking for ways to make his clinic feel more welcoming, more personal, and for ways to add his own touch to his new home.
There was more than one shop dedicated to shiny tat in the coastal city, which meant more than one shop that he'd wandered into aimlessly and left empty handed. Usually he'd been the only customer, the late hour keeping most others away. There was always an exception though, a woman who was very vaguely familiar stepping into the shop he'd been poking around in, asking questions about something, and clearly not getting very far.
Well, if he wasn't going to get anything for himself, he might as well help someone else.
Nate inserted himself into the interaction easily, an arm coming aorund the woman's shoulders casually, though the actual amount of contact between them was minimal. He focused his best winning smile on the shopkeeper, his face easily recognizable with it. "C'mon ma'am, can't you cut my sister here a deal?" While he spoke he squeezed her shoulder, the word sister coming a moment before he realized where he recognized her from, why her face was so familiar. Why his words weren't even really a lie, despite the suspicious glace that the old woman cast between them, enough similarity there that she finally just shrugged, and turned to look over what had been offered again, with a less critical eye.
Well I have brittle bones it seems
I bite my tongue and I torch my dreams
She had not expected anyone to come to her rescue, let alone someone she knew. Her pleading with the shopkeeper was supposed to be just between them, but it reached the ears and attention of another ascended. To be honest, Letha had not even noticed anyone else in the shop when she came in. Her mind had been hyper-focused on the wind chime and the owner of the shop, she hadn't given any attention to whether other people were around, perusing her goods.
Nate's attention, help, and presence was not at all unwelcome by the dark-haired woman. He closed the distance between them, his arm wrapping around her and his words claiming her as sister. The fact that he was intentional in how much contact his body had with hers was not lost on her. Letha glanced at him from the corner of her eye, briefly, before turning her attention back on the shopkeeper. Nate's charm -- credibility? -- made the woman think twice about what Letha was offering. She tried to offer the woman a smile, but her lips did not lift too high as to keep her fangs hidden. The shopkeeper grumbled for a moment before huffing at the pair of ascended. Leave those on the counter and take the chime. But next time, bring some better shit.
Relief and joy filled her briefly before she nodded and turned away from the woman. "Thank you," she said to Nate and the shopkeeper under her breathe, moving quickly to drop off her offering and snatch the wind chime from the window. It was more beautiful up close than it was when she observed it in the window. She smiled, this time broadly, for just a whisper of a moment before she gently wrapped it in a scarf and placed it in her pack. "Thank you." She said a little louder, looking up at Nate.
Even when I look away, I’m still looking. He is inside his body, and I am inside my body, and it matters less and less
A wide grin stayed plastered to Nate's face, his unblinking gaze locked on the shopkeeper, watching her hem and haw and consider the offering anew. When she accepted it, he squeezed Letha's shoulder again before releasing her completely, nodding at the old woman. "We'll make sure to have something real good for you next time." Came the bright chirp, mostly over his shoulder as Nate moved to stay close to his fellow ascended.
The grin never slipped form his face, but it did grow a little smaller, a little more genuine as he watched Letha carefully wrap up the windchime, catching the brief smile. Nate shook his head at the thanks though. "It's the least I can do." He assured her. "And it helps keep my luck in check when I'm not selfish with my good fortune." Though this had been less of an example of good fortune and more one of notoriety for having saved the town, this particular shop included.
"You're new, aren't you?" He asked softly, not quite willing to let her go into the night alone. "I don't think we've actually met, formally, but I've seen you." There's an exagerated glance over his shoulder, like he's afraid the shopkeeper will hear his introduction and rescind her deal, but it doesn't actually stop him. "I'm Nate. And I have some time before I'm expected anywhere, so I can also be your company for the evening."
04-29-2020, 09:20 PM (This post was last modified: 04-29-2020, 09:20 PM by Letha.)
Letha Úlfurdur
Well I have brittle bones it seems
I bite my tongue and I torch my dreams
Like Amun, Nate's entire aura was warm and welcoming to the new ascended. Even as she tucked away the chime he stayed with her, his height looming over her in a familial, brotherly fashion. Content with her purchase, and content with Nate's help, she continued to smile, lightly. The people of Caido have caused more smiles than Letha had ever experienced before coming here. The expression almost started to feel familiar on her face.
When Nate offered to escort her through Torchline, she nodded to him. She welcomed his company, which felt unusual, but she knew that he was a part of her new family, and Letha had always loved the company of her family, even before waking up on the beach. "Letha." She gave her own name, making sure to tuck Nate's away into her memory. She was still getting used to everyone in her family, and she needed to make sure she did not cross any names with wrong faces.
"I'd like that," She said, stepping out of the shop and into the salty night air. the bustle of Torchline had slowed slightly with her time in the shop, more and more people shutting down and tucking away as the moon rose higher and higher over the horizon. "Is it so obvious?" She asked, a slight teasing tone touching her voice. Although it was probably because of the fact that he had seen her for the first time at their "family meeting", Letha still let the question out. "I haven't even been here a whole season. I found a house, though, in the Grounds. Hence the chime -- you know, a house warming gift to myself." As she walked, she let her eyes wander around them, taking in all the details of the port city.
Even when I look away, I’m still looking. He is inside his body, and I am inside my body, and it matters less and less
"Letha. It's a pleasure to meet you properly." Nate means it too, the smile on his face surprisingly sincere as he follows her out into the night time streets of Haulani. It was far from the cities he was used to, winding down as the night wore on, little more than crooks and thugs and them spending their time in the streets overnight. "It's a little bit obvious you haven't been here long." He laughs, unable to offer anything else. There was a kind of high strung energy in people who were new, like they hadn't quite found a place to settle in yet.
His fellow ascended seemed to be doing quite well for herself though. Better than he had. When he had first arrived, he'd been invited to live with a stranger, and hadn't left until he was kicked out. Hell, he still hadn't done any of the work for a home of his own, not really. "That's pretty impressive. I think I spent my whole first season getting so fucked up I couldn't see straight." There's another laugh along with that, then a curious gaze sent her way, his feet keeping him moving along roads now familiar to him. "This is a long way to come for just a chime." He points out, brow raising in a quiet question, wondering if all she had come for was a housewarming gift.
05-04-2020, 07:57 PM (This post was last modified: 05-04-2020, 07:57 PM by Letha.)
Letha Úlfurdur
Well I have brittle bones it seems
I bite my tongue and I torch my dreams
As they walked through the streets, Letha noticed his careful and easy gait. It was easy to see the difference in them. Nate moved with confidence and familiarity. He did not look around them, but only at her and where they were going. Letha, in the opposite vein, moved with calculated steps and her eyes swept all that was before them, drinking in everything she saw. She nodded, understanding, "I had been staying with Amun, in his pottery shop. But, I met Samuel, and he said I could set up my own house. If it was abandoned, or in a ruin, it was fair game for anyone. So...I chose one, and I started nesting." She glanced up at him from the corner of her eye when she mentioned each man in turn, looking for a reaction from the tall, dark-haired man.
"That's a good point," She had never considered that this was so far of a trek, "I woke up here. On the beach." Amun was the first to find her, to help give information about where she was and what she was and what it all meant. "I..I--" She started, stuttered, and paused. Why had she come so far to find treasures for her new home? "I guess I just like it here." She decided, her eyes moving down to her own feet and her eyebrows closing together in contemplation. If Samuel had not told her she could make a home for herself in the Grounds, would she have ventured with the idea of doing so in Torchline? She gripped her bag a little tighter, feeling the chime with her fingertips through the fabric that protected it.
Even when I look away, I’m still looking. He is inside his body, and I am inside my body, and it matters less and less
There's something endearing about watching his companion for the evening drink in everything Haulani has to offer at this late hour. A brow raises as Letha brings up Amun, Nate quietly wondering if he's still being a downer for no apparent reason, though the question, and some of the lightness in his grin, falter when she brings up Sam. How is it the other man keeps coming up? If he were more self aware, he might think it was some kind of karmic punishment, but he wasn't, and didn't. "Lucky you ran into some helpful people straight away, huh?" Nate offers, more to respond than anything else. He'd never been one to let silence settle into a conversation, not if he could help it.
His head does cock as she continues though, a single brow rising in quiet confusion. "If you woke up here, why bother going to the Grounds at all?" Nate had to actually put some effort in to keep his own biases out of his voice, to stay as even as possible. Letha seemed skittish, in a way, and he didn't want to break down a relationship before it even began. Though she seems to have come to the same realization, if her quiet words are any indication. Nate watched the way her gaze dropped, then reached out to set a hand on her shoulder, squeezing it tightly. "Y'know, there's nothing stopping you from setting up here, if you want." He floats the idea past her, a short laugh in his voice when he continues. "Honestly, it's probably safer through Longnight." No reason she needed to be in danger when their Family meeting had fallen through the way it did.
Well I have brittle bones it seems
I bite my tongue and I torch my dreams
All of what Nate was saying made sense to Letha, and it made her question her own motives behind the decisions she made. Truly, up to the point on coming to Torchline to buy things for her house, all of her decisions had been at least partially made by others. She shook her head, biting her bottom lip. She she did so, she noticed the way that Nate's face dropped some. She wondered if it was the mention of Amun or Sam that had made that happen. "I went to the Grounds because Amun said he could introduce me to the Voice. There was no shrine in Torchline." She had been so eager to meet their goddess, hoping the deity would be able to help fill in the cracks of her memory. Letha still wanted to ask the goddess questions, and had not yet met her on n individual basis. "I woke up without any memory of who I was or where I came from. Some things are coming back, but I was hoping she would help give me some more answers." Letha, above all else, wanted to know why the Voice had chosen her.
The difference in Nate's face made her want to ask about the two men that had already helped her, but she chose not to. Nate brought up a perfectly valid point: she could stay here. She let her eyes wander around again, and she took in a deep breath. While she still didn't need to breathe to survive, sometimes it helped her solidify her thoughts in her head. "You're right." As she looked around, she stayed close to Nate and, without thinking, lifted her hand to loop in around his forearm. "Nate, can you tell me more about what Longnight means? What happens? I know there are monsters, but why is everyone so scared?" She wanted to take the time to ask him more questions about their family, the history, and things the other ascended she had interacted with had left unanswered.
Even when I look away, I’m still looking. He is inside his body, and I am inside my body, and it matters less and less
Nate nods as she explained why she had gone to the Hollowed Grounds, though it still didn't quite explain why she'd stayed. Because Sam had suggested it? Who trusted him to make decisions? "There's a shrine now." He points out, knowing she knows, knowing she had been there as it came active. Sometimes it just helped to have someone else say it out loud. The mention that Letha had arrived with no memories was strange though, something he hadn't heard of happening to anyone else. "Maybe it's just the shock of being here, and it's temporary. Stranger things happen under stress." Though her next words brought a wide smirk to his face, gaze falling back to her for a long moment. "Course I'm right."
Letha's hand looping around his arm surprised him some, the woman not seeming like the touchy feely sort, but if she wasn't going to make mention of it, neither would he. Instead, he focused on her question, sucking his teeth as he thought about how to respond. "It's... a whole week of pitch blackness. At least in the grounds. You shelter in place and hope that nothing gets in, and nothing happens, so you don't have to go out." Some of the light edge of his voice is lost, the subject too serious for that ease. "Last year, the guildhall where people were staying burned down, because something got in. S'why I'm staying here. From what I've heard, it's still dark, but there's no monsters."
Well I have brittle bones it seems
I bite my tongue and I torch my dreams
When he mentioned the shrine here, she nodded. It was light and careful, and she gave no verbal response to follow. There was a shrine here, now, and so she did not need to be in the grounds to replenish or meet the Voice individually. "I do hope I get my memories back, someday." Her statement was plain and said with a tone that was almost like an afterthought. After all, things from who she was and where she was before were starting to come back. Glimpses, general ideas, vague inclinations, skills. It was still like a puzzle without all of the pieces, but one of Letha's great virtues was that she was patient. While she might face the disappointment that she never would receive her memories back in full, she would still wait.
When Nate did not remove his arm from her light grip, she relaxed even further. His explanation, however, should have caused the opposite reaction in her. Her face, which had faded from smiling to studiously tensed, now turned to frown. The fact that there was so much danger and destruction during Longnight in the grounds made her stomach turn. While she was on board with fighting the monsters, protecting the people (people she didn't even know), it had been mostly out of instinct and empathy than true understanding of the severity of the problem -- or of the danger. From her frown, she sighed, her shoulders slumping a bit. "I think I will stay here, in Torchline, at least for the season." She decided. Nate's questioning of her intentions to stay in the grounds, his response about the monsters, and Wessex's suggestion to stay safe had helped her solidify the decision for herself.
Feeling the need, and desire, to change the subject, she lifted a brown and looked up at the taller man. "Why do you choose Torchline? What's so appealing, to you, about it?"
Even when I look away, I’m still looking. He is inside his body, and I am inside my body, and it matters less and less
"I'm sure you'll get them back." Nate is quick to reassure her, his smile warm now instead of bright, trying to be comforting. "You said some things have already started to come back, right? That's a good sign." Granted, memory loss was not exactly his specialty, but he knew enough to be able to make an educated assumption.
It was impossible to miss the way her face fell as he described what he knew of Longnight, and he had only made it through the week once. It felt like it had been especially eventful, but he had no real frame of reference. Maybe it was always that bad. Her sudden declaration to stay draws his gaze back to her, the sly grin returning to his face as he squeezes her arm gently. "I think that's probably a good idea." He laughs. "Let me know if you need any help with anything. Settling in, or finding a place to stay, or more pretty chimes." The offer comes automatically, without thought. You're supposed to support your family though, aren't you? Even if you're miffed at some of them.
He rolls easily into the next question, the new subject, eyes lifting again to roll over the buildings around them, the quiet of the night. "I would've said the sun, before I ascended." He jokes, turning them onto a slightly more lively street, lights still flickering within businesses here. "It... feels the most like home here, I guess. The city, the people." Another laugh, this one almost embarrassed, if the word could even be applied to him. "Never lived this close to the beach back home though."
Well I have brittle bones it seems
I bite my tongue and I torch my dreams
Getting some parts of who she was and where she came from was better than getting nothing. Even if she did not know how, she needed to be thankful for what she was getting. Still, though, she did wish to speak to the Voice about it. "Do you think the Voice knows about our lives? From where she found us?" She still wanted to ask the goddess her two major questions: what was her life before, and why was she chosen?
When Nate offered to help her, should she need it, Letha looked delighted. A smile curled the corner of her lips and she lifted one brow. "Are there any ascended who aren't willing to help another?" There was a coy, teasing tone to her voice, but the question was genuine. Amun and Sam and Wessex had all referred to the Ascended as family. Letha did not understand at first, but she was starting to. She had not met another of the fanged to deny help if needed, and even offered it willingly before any question was asked. It was remarkable.
Her fingers tapped on his arm idly as they walked and talked, her need to always move them and make use of them still playing out even now. "Do you remember where you came from, before Caido?" She asked, though as the words slipped from her mouth, she knew he did. He had responded to her memory loss like the others. Letha was an anomaly.
Even when I look away, I’m still looking. He is inside his body, and I am inside my body, and it matters less and less
"I know she knows some of who we are before we're pulled here. She's choosing who comes." Most of what he knew was hearsay though, all of his questioned still (by this point at least) unanswered, the Goddess not bothering to deign him with her presence. "I heard... fuck, a while ago now, but, someone said that when we were taken, there's still... some copy of us, back where we came from." As it came out of his mouth, Nate realized that might not be comforting for someone who didn't know where she had come from, and winced a little, glancing over at Letha to ensure his attempt at comfort had come across at least little bit as intended.
The question about the ascended had a bright laugh leaving in Nate, his head tipping back as he did. "There's a few," Sam, "who I won't help, but that's more related to a uh, personal issues." To put it lightly. "Other than that though, I think we're all willing to help each other. There's already a lot against us, there's no reason to turn on each other as well." In his opinion, it was closer to a gang than a family, his trust far harder to earn, but it was the same idea. If everyone works together, everyone rises.
Nate takes another turn, the port stretching out in front of them now, and beyond it, the ocean, softly glittering in the moonlight. "I do remember where I came from. It was shit though." Partially because it was, a dead end place that would bury him if he let it, but partially because he'd gotten so much more in Caido than he'd ever really had a hope of. "Honestly, I think you're kinda lucky. You get a real fresh start."
