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!
Had it really been a couple months since he’d been dropped in Caido? It certainly didn’t feel like it. The utter confusion that had filled the late days of Longheat and the constant learning cycle that had been Leafchange was turning into quite a work load for Deepfrost. Like this season back home, there was always a lot to do in order to prep for the cold and snow ahead. In addition to that, however, were the dangers of the Long Night, days of terror where people hide behind barricaded doors and windows and prayed to all their gods that the monsters wouldn’t find them.
The Long Night was one of the reasons the houses he walked past now were in such disrepair. One of the less inhabited areas of the Domiciles, hit hard during the previous Deepfrost and currently peppered with abandoned homes. But ‘abandoned’ didn’t mean destroyed. Tools, nails, anything that looked like it might be useful went into the pack Rance had with him. He’d made sure ahead of time that he wouldn’t be scavenging people’s property, but it turned out that he was far from the first person to have ‘borrowed’ materials for repairs.
And maybe, while scavenging, he was scouting the houses for personal reasons. It didn’t hurt to at least look for a potential home of his own. Some day.
05-07-2020, 11:00 PM (This post was last modified: 05-11-2020, 03:37 PM by Aisha.)
and I knew how could she not
Aisha had been in Caido for almost two months now, and in so little time at all had become a new person. Not really, she was still the same Aisha, same interests, personality, abilities. But things had certainly changed, she had new goals, bringing nothing with her except her body, she had learned to fit herself into this struggling but wonderful world. A world with magic, where she could meet a goddess, befriend a hybrid, crush on a raven boy for a day then meet a vampire the next.
Endless possibilities, and that was scary, but so very exciting.
Today she was on the way home from trading for supplies at the settlement, a pack of food at her back. Only the non perishables, stuff that could last her and Oliver a little longer back at the manor. It would keep them from having to make frequent trips in the future, the less time they had to spend trekking through the snow for food instead of staying inside or helping others prepare for Longnight, the better. She wasn't in a terribly big hurry though, a soothing sound hummed over the domiciles, one that made her curious.
Perhaps if she had been in a hurry, she would've walked on by Rance. But because she wasn't, and because he was handsome (at least as far as she could tell in the dusk light), she paused and sent a playful grin his way, just to see how he might respond.
Rance had been headed to the next likely scavenging target when he caught sight of a woman looking his way. If she hadn't paused, Rance might not have paid her any attention, the streets weren't completely empty, even if they weren't exactly bustling by any means. But she had and he did. The frown that tugged at his expression, almost immediately became a curled lip, confusion mixing with annoyance.
"Can I fuckin' help you?" Rance drawled, shoulders tensing. A knee jerk reaction, one he'd come to regret more than once. Too many aggressive women who thought a handsome man would much prefer bedding them instead of the rugged he'd been flirting with all afternoon. It was entirely possible that this stranger had zero intentions in that direction, but still her unexpected smile stiffened his spine.
In the next house up the street, through the empty second-floor window frames, the humming came a bit louder.
The response her playful greeting was given was not at all what she'd expected, but it sure was interesting. Hackles raised and the cat's fur flush, brows narrowed at him, she stopped her walk entirely, letting the tense silence stew for a second before replying, "Did I ask for your help fuckwad?" she bit back, hand sliding down to her hip. She could explain that she'd just been smiling a greeting, a harmless playful thing, but her stubbornness would rather let him simmer on that instead.
The humming from the house nearby intensified, and a slight fluttering drew her squinted eyes to it's window.
"Did I ask for your fuckin' attention in the first place, bitch?" Her immediate snapped reply had the effect of both irking Rance further, and impressing him a little. Some people would just recoil when called out, or scurry off. This woman had backbone. His own arms crossed, expression sharp, lips still curled in a sneer.
Which was when a swarm of bats burst out of the windows. In a wave of squeaking, humming, and furious flapping, they flew into the twilight sky. Rance's head snapped up at the cacophony, sneer gone and arms loosening as his eyes widened in surprise. Bats weren't all that weird -- he'd eaten more than a couple in raven form -- but that was not how bats sounded!
Bitch?! Only her friends called her that, Aisha bristled, visibly tensing. Fingers tightened at her waist, she retorted, "The fuck do you think you are? The FUCK do you think you're talking to?! Here I am minding MY own business and-" Aisha was cut off in her rant when the humming swelled to it's peak, and a swarm of dark creatures erupted from the windows nearby.
Both attuned dropped their attention from each other, eyes following the creatures as they flew. And flew, and flew down closer and over the street. Her eyes widened as the swarm dove down, she didn't think they were dangerous necessarily, but anything swarming over your head is bound to concern. "Fuck," she said, though stubbornly holding her ground as the humming turned blaring overhead.
It was probably for the best that they were interrupted before the fight could really begin. Rance's sneer had only broadened to an expression just short of a snarl as the woman ranted. Insults burned on his tongue and tensed his back. It didn't matter that he'd been the one to start the fight, he wasn't going to let her finish it!
Of course, that was before his anger was derailed by a cloud of bats swooping into the sky above them. "You fuckin' said it," Rance responded absently, no more malice behind it than her own exclamation. The bats circled, dispersing to hunt, their humming chaotic and tuneless. "Read about these... never actually heard them." It was said more to himself than the woman sharing the road, but he spoke loud enough that she'd hear him.
Once the bats began to disperse and the humming started to quiet, Aisha let her fist unfurl, and began to marvel at them. It was kinda pretty, mystical at least, and somehow the sound was as vibrant a hum as the moon seemed to glow. It all meshed, and the girl enjoyed it to the point that she'd almost forgotten that the other man on the street had insulted her and was moments ago the subject of a brewing wrath.
"Same," she agreed, recalling an entry she'd read in the booklet Jigano had given her a while back. About how their humming was a form of echolocation, how they hunted. How amazing it must be to be a bat, with all the makings of a perfect, living compass.
He took his gaze from the bats at her agreement. The interruption had successfully turned his irritation into curiosity and the mutual feeling deserved at least a little respect. "Rance. Sorry for tryin' to bite your head off."
He'd give her a chance to reply and him to respond, raising his eyes again, first to the disappearing bats, then back to the house they had exited. Coming to a decision on what to do after that was easy. He spun, walked to the house, and knocked on the door on the minuscule chance that someone actually was using the building. No response would come and he jiggled the -- unfortunately -- locked door before stepping back and looking up at the window again.
Aisha was still feeling relatively piqued by the man, even with the given distraction. Luckily for them both, he had settled some and offered an apology. Her own response wasn't exactly the polite amendment it should've been, but it was up to him how to take it, "You're lucky I didn't bite off yours."
She tore her gaze from the bats, to him, the mysteriously snappy man on the street. What was his deal? Why so surly, fractious? It was enough point of intrigue to quell her own stoked embers to soot, and watch with curious narrowed brows as he made his way to the house the bats had burst from. She was a bit surprised when he started to fiddle with the door, glancing around when it was locked.
The golden crown stalked closer, still standing a bit away from him but getting a closer look at what he was doing. "You going in?" she asked with a slight humph to her tone, sass lingering and brimming in her smirk.
Her reply actually had Rance grinning, a fierce flash of teeth that was just as much a challenge as it was amusement. "You can still fuckin' try.," He dared with a grin. If she wanted to keep shouting at him, he'd give just as good in return, the urge to fight still crackling just below the surface.
Walking away from her was both to satisfy his own curiosity and to follow his original goals. And maybe to see if having him turn his back on her would antagonize her more. The fact that she didn't walk away was definitely a point in her favor and he glanced in her direction at the question. "Yep. It's abandoned, no one will care." He could just fly in the window the bats had come out of, but there was no guarantee that he wouldn't be attacked by any remaining bats if he did. And there were bats still up there, if considerably fewer judging by the faintness of the humming.
Rance's grin was a nice change, Aisha felt her irritation towards him stemming away. He was irascible, ballsy for sure, but she had always enjoyed a good challenge. She sneered at his retort, chin raised just a bit at the provocation, but didn't kindle any more ire between them. She simply watched as he turned his back, then followed curiously behind.
She shifted her pack of traded goods further up her side and closer to her, then stepped a bit closer, "What are you looking for?" she pressed.
Rance turned his head a bit, just enough to give her a side-eye and an arched eyebrow. "Fuckin' nosy, aren't you?" He turned back to the house, looking in one of the cracked and dusty ground floor windows. "Not that it's any of your fuckin' business, but I'm looking for a way in. One that won't get me mobbed by fuckin' bats."
Really, twilight was not the ideal time to be entering a dilapidated house, but he wasn't ready to give up. The window turned out to be a bit too dusty, the outside light too dim, so he clicked his tongue and turned to walk around the house.
Aisha snarled back at him, though with less animosity than amusement and general haughtiness, "I just smiled, you were the one who wanted to know if, "you could fuckin help me"," she said, air quoting his original bristling comment.
She humphed again at his following answer, then stepped after him as he continued walking. Perhaps she was doing this to be nosy, to be a pest; whatever the reason, she was having fun messing with him for sure. "What's in there that's so damn important?" she queued.
