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!
Eloise had arrived on the sandbar just as Jack had suggested. Whether the relative seclusion was so that he didn't embarrass her too much, or so that they could speak freely about things, the illusionist didn't know, nor asked. She'd learned that there was a time and place for constantly questioning her captain. Mostly, the line seemed to be that she could shit-talk all she wanted about things that didn't matter, but as soon as the conversation turned serious or had to do with the Ark's wellbeing, silence was the best course of action.
Not that Eloise knew how to dress for spar-training, she'd done her best. Wearing something black (predictably) and form fitting, the former-duchess paced up and down the sand-bar waiting for the captain to arrive.
i think i'll pass on the summer
don't wanna fall for it this time
This had been a long time coming, and given that they were stuck in Torchline for another season, there was no better occasion for it. Jack had been busy for much of the morning, talking shop with a few of the merchants regarding what kind of business they should expect whenever the Ark returned from her next ship, but now the afternoon was cool and breezy (for the islands, at least), and there wasn't a soul around. He would be visible walking across to the sandbar just a few minutes after she arrived.
"Pacin' around here, anyone'd think you were nervous," the captain remarked, rolling up the sleeves of his shirt (which was mostly open still, revealing a silvery map of scars). He reached down to purposely take the knife out of his boot, throwing it to let the blade stick in the sand, proving he was unarmed. "You ready for this?"
"They can think that." Eloise said with a shrug, turning towards Jack and folding her arms across her chest. His was nearly as flat as hers was. "The more they think I'm some stupid girl, the better it is for me." On many levels, Eloise did actually believe that. Deep, deep down though, she hated being thought of as some pretty trinket to be kept, if only because some part of her also knew it was a true estimate of her actual worth.
Watching the knife flung into the sand and not trusting for a moment it actually meant Jack was unarmed, Eloise nodded. "I bet that's what you say to all the girls." She snarked, assuming that sex with Jack was actually probably something to prepare for.
Kicking sand out at him, not bothering to wait for him to say go, Eloise duplicated herself. Or at least, appeared to. She only cast one duplicate, choosing to focus her efforts more intently on one magical copy, than many. Both iterations of the illusionist grinned at Jack, before darting across the sands towards him, aiming to throw her weight against him. Of course only one Eloise had any weight behind her.
i think i'll pass on the summer
don't wanna fall for it this time
"Drippin' with confidence, aren't you?" Jack raised his eyebrows at her. "You're right, but the less time you spend believin' that about yourself, the more use you'll be to us both." The captain paced slowly across the sand, everything about him seeming to become loose, relaxed, open almost. And it was true, in many ways; his magic reached out with telepathic fingers, burying deep and staying sharp for movement, intent and danger.
He bared his teeth in a grin as she duplicated, raising his eyebrows as if to ask her if she thought that was wise given what they both knew he could do. "It's always about sex with you," he drawled, zeroing in on the real Eloise and darting back from the sand kicked in his direction. He was ready as both versions of her threw her weight at him, the captain moving in a swift grapple to try and flip her over him, aiming to throw her to the ground. "Ain't many people I can do that to," he would quip should he succeed.
"Maybe you'd be better off trainin' with Saiden, eh? Your magic'll do wonders against his thick skull. You'd prob'ly get the sex, too."
"Why don't you come a little closer and see just what it is?" Eloise taunted, not wanting at all to hear the truth in his words and instead choosing to hear it as light banter.
Eloise had thought he'd be able to 'hear' the real her, but needed to be sure. Into the air the illusionist went, as if for a moment it was some choreographed ballet. It might have been lovely too, had Jack not let her go, thrusting her into the sand. Wind knocked from her lungs and her sails to hear the truths of her insecurities so easily brought to light, she clamped her teeth together and resisted the urge to just lash out with her legs knowing how easily he'd dodge it.
"Nothing wrong with wanting sex." The illusionist snarled, suddenly singing something loud and obnoxious in her mind. Meanwhile, she reached with her telekinesis for the knife thrust into the sand. Just because Jack was playing at honourable didn't mean she had to. Rather than using the blade, Eloise would try and use her magic to thrust the hilt into his lower back, right where his kidneys would be (if he hadn't sold them on the black market, that was).
i think i'll pass on the summer
don't wanna fall for it this time
"You could've just asked and I'd have told you," Jack said regarding her illusions. "Would've saved you the breath." And the thump in the sand. He winced, granted, at the loud and obnoxious thoughts that came battering against the telepathy he'd honed specifically for the occasion - way to backfire on yourself, Jack. And then there was a whump right in his kidneys (still there and still able to tell him how much it hurt, thank you Eloise) and the captain snarled out a curse, forced into a roll away from whatever she'd been attacking him with.
"Dirty fighter," he remarked, still a little breathless, but she wasn't the only one with tricks these days. His control wasn't great but everyone needed practice, Jack sending out a lash of air magic to throw sand over her. Hopefully it would give him time to put a few more paces between them, the captain eyeing the knife still somewhere nearby.
"Never said there was," he drawled on the subject of sex. "What, you're sayin' you and our dark, handsome cook ain't goin' at it like rabbits all the time?" He knew they weren't, of course, but if she could distract him then it was only fair that he did in return.
Because you're so honest, eh Jack? Eloise thought, for she hadn't the breath to say the words. Besides, had she just asked, he'd likely have given her some bullshit about how in the real world her opponents wouldn't just give up their secrets. She couldn't win for losing, and the illusionist was finding more and more that she did want to best Jack, even just a little.
"Just playing to my audie—" The words were abruptly cut off as her mouth was filled with sand. Spitting it out without hurry—she'd brought the knife to hover defensively before her—Eloise got to her feet with a wicked gleam in her eyes. "Saiden? Oh no, not for some time." True. "That particular itch has been filled by much more capable hands." Gods how she wished that was true.
Images of pale skin twined around dark skin flooded Eloise' thoughts. Her fingers tangled into Raza's crimped, black hair, sheets thrown off of bodies gleaming with sweat. It didn't matter that it hadn't happened: Eloise had thought of it often enough that the imagery might as well have been real. But that wasn't what was supposed to throw Jack off his game. What came next was a thought of Raza's head quite close to Eloise's rested on a pillow. In the silence of these projected thoughts, Raza's lips clearly mined mimed the words, Jack? Oh I could tell you a thing or two.
Because Jack might not mind who Eloise fucked, she was banking on him minding the nature of the pillow-talk that came after. If she could, with Jack hopefuly distracted, she'd use the knife to slice away the remaining buttons or stitches that held his loosely-open shirt together. It was the sort of thing she'd seen Jack do: a small display of precision and power that could easily turn deadly.
i think i'll pass on the summer
don't wanna fall for it this time
"Guilty as charged," said Jack the liar on the nature of honesty, miming a roguish little bow. He stepped carefully on the sand as Eloise cleared it from her mouth and eyes, the captain at least having the good grace to look impressed as thoughts and images flooded down their telepathic link. "My, that's half close to the truth," he rumbled, knowing Raza well enough in all sorts of senses to know that Eloise had a fairly good measure of her.
But she was right, and it was precisely what happened next that threw him off. Did he care what Raza had to say about him? Not particularly. But pillow talk could go both ways, and it was with a steeliness in his blue eyes that he perhaps put two and two together and got five. Because Eloise knew a thing or two about Jack, didn't she?
The knife lanced forward, slicing easily through the buttons on his shirt, and Jack snatched at it without much caring that his hand fastened around the blade. Blood welled between his fingers, and he threw the knife back at her only half playfully, perhaps hoping she wasn't fast enough to dodge. "Don't joke," he warned.
The illusionist didn't need telepathy to have a measure of the thoughts whirling about in Jack's mind. Despite the unease she felt wading into these waters, wade into them she did, holding Jack's gaze steadily. Out of the corner of her she watched as blood welled from beneath closed fingers, trying not to flinch as the blade was thrust back her way.
Her telekinesis was strong enough to stop it, but not the droplets that freckled her cheeks. Smirking without amusement, Eloise's eyes narrowed. "Who's joking?" She countered defiantly. "You've got your tricks, I've got mine." All the better if he wasn't always so sure what was real and what wasn't.
Reaching for the knife, Eloise manually threw it into the sand at Jack's feet. Not nearly as skilled as he was, it was as likely to take off a toe as sit neatly erect the way Jack had done it.
i think i'll pass on the summer
don't wanna fall for it this time
Jack didn't know whether or not she would have taken his toe off - he moved his foot just in case regardless, before reaching down to pick up the knife in his good hand. "You know just how to kill a good thing, don't you,"" he said with no small hint of bitterness, using the blade to cut a strip from his now ruined shirt. Once he was done he tucked the knife back into his boot, using the cloth to wrap around the wound on his other hand.
"I hope your tricks are good enough to get you outta trouble, because your fightin' is shit," he said, tying off the strip of cloth with his teeth and shaking out his hand as if it would get rid of the sting. "For someone so insecure, your overconfidence is gonna get you killed."
Eloise couldn't quite tell if that was meant to be an insult or a compliment, his bitter-tone aside. Too much of a good thing with Jack was probably a very bad thing, with the captain as likely to break something as soon as it became even sort of precious to him, if only to safeguard everything else he was.
"And yet you're the one bleeding, and I just got a bit of sand in my mouth." Eloise quipped back with a grin that said she'd had far worse than sand on her tongue. "Nahh, you wouldn't let that happen, would you captain?" Hiding the genuineness of the question beneath a shrug, Eloise straightened. "Would be a shame to lose your navigator right before we set sail."
i think i'll pass on the summer
don't wanna fall for it this time
Jack's glower, all by itself, might have been enough to tip Eloise off to the fact that she had the measure of him. The captain was a paranoid man, a man desperate to stay in control of the life he had built. Because Jack had stared into the eyes of madness, and it sometimes stared back out of him in turn. Anything to keep that fragile toe-hold on his own sanity was more precious than any friendship or bond with a person.
"Doin' an injury to myself is hardly the same as you winnin' a scuffle," he said dryly, when he had compartmentalised whatever bits of him that were necessary. A cursory glance down at his ruined shirt drew a reisgned sort of sigh from the captain, and he raised an eyebrow across at Eloise. "I haven't let it happen so far, have I?" he muttered. "And it'll be another season before we go anywhere - time enough to get a new navigator if I have to."
"Says you. But when we wander back towards the town and it's you bleeding and me looking like a kitten whose gotten herself into the cream, that isn't what the onlookers will think." But that was Eloise all over. It didn't matter what things were, it only mattered how they looked. It explained her vanity as well as her magic.
Just when she thought she'd turned the tide and had won his approval, back down to the gutter she was kicked. "Fine. Seeing as I can't be anything but honest around you, let's have it then. You're hardly any bigger than I am and I haven't got access to everyone's thoughts the way you do. You threw your knife down when we started, so if it isn't about weapons, then what are you here to teach me, since I"m assuming it isn't how to use my feminine charms." Eloise wondered. Jack was scrappy, but not a fighter per se. His power was in his mercilessness when it came to death and his ability to read people, traits the illusionist would never have.
So if drawing blood from him in whatever capacity hadn't been enough to score points, either this was all just some charade for Jack to prove he was ever the victor, or he had something else up his sleeve.
i think i'll pass on the summer
don't wanna fall for it this time
"Bold of you, to assume what the onlookers will think," Jack snarked, already starting to walk back towards Haulani, a path which took him right past Eloise. And he stopped, as she began her rant, glancing over his shoulder and down at her. "I'm teachin' you not to trust people," he said. "Not to expect anythin' but a fight from anyone you might meet. Even if they look like someone you know. That's Torchline, love. I don't need to swing my dick around you for some kind of ego boost."
He'd already done that, more or less, with the incident in Rae's Fingers that had led to this moment. Still, Jack turned to face her properly. "Would it make you feel better, for people to think we'd fought and you'd won? If you want it that hard, have it. I don't need to win approval from nobodies."
