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!
Over time, Josh was beginning to accrue something like a research lab and study on the top of the Spire. Papers littered every available wall and inch of the floor, endless scribblings and doodles and stolen pages from books in the Atheneum. On a table made of some scrap bits of metal and wood haphazardly stuck together, he had bottles of various substances he'd collected from different places in the Grounds.
This morning, he had managed to get ahold of some blood he'd found on a path out of the Spire. Was it animal or human...or both? He wasn't sure, but he was going to find out. He'd blotted the blood onto a cloth and was starting with just dripping little bits of the various liquids onto it, seeing if any of them especially reacted. Of course, he ideally wanted to do this with the Ascended 'fluid', finding the stuff fascinating, but he hadn't found any Ascended willing to bleed for him yet.
The Spire was a setting of awe and tension both for Osozo, hundreds of years worth of memories of it as a prison gifted to them, but only the husk remaining to actually investigate. They had had a conversation with their sister in the base of it, but a conversation was not the same as an exploration. It was why they returned now, more brightly coloured than that last visit, but still cautious.
For the most part, it was empty. There was still evidence of what had once lived within it's walls, where there were still walls, but nothing really interesting. It was disappointing, really. Still, the Demi-god kept climbing, wanting to see the view from the top if nothing else. And, good thing they did, or else they might have missed whatever lurked at the top, making quiet noises.
"Helloooo?" They sing songed up the last flight of stairs, not wanting to catch whatever was up there off guard.
Josh was engrossed in his work when there was a shout up the stairs. He leaned back from the table with a flat, annoyed expression; this was the one part of his new home he was not fond of. Back in his desert trailer, he had been able to go for days without anyone even knowing he existed. Here it seemed every twenty minutes someone was coming for a hike up the Spire.
"Hey." He shouted back, his voice sounding just as uninterested as ever, then turned back to his work. If this person wanted to actually talk to him, they'd need to put in more effort than that.
A voice calls back, human enough for the last of Osozo's admittedly light reservations to pass, and draw them the rest of the way up the stairs. There's a rattle as they come into the room properly, the metal closest to them shaking, before flying off the tables and sticking to their body. That's new, and their eye's shift to a bright orange as they look down at themself, considering this development. Whatever the reason, it's not something they can fix right now, so it can be ignored, for the moment.
"I didn't know there was anyone up here/" They say, absently pulling at a thin piece of metal sticking to their wrist, lifting it away then letting it magnetize to their skin again, eyes focused back on Josh, taking in his disheveled appearance, Osozo's lip curling just a little as they did.
Josh didn't bother looking up as he heard footsteps coming over the last few stairs, sure whoever was about to enter couldn't be that interesting. It wasn't until metal objects in the room began to shake and move that he looked away from his work, turning to see them begin to fly towards Osozo.
"I live here." He said plainly in response to the statement, clearly distracted and staring at the strip of metal adhering itself to the Demi God's wrist. "...Why are you magnetic?"
"You live here?" Osozo asked, clearly delighted by the idea. "All the time?" Why hadn't they had the idea to do that? It would be so perfect, so fitting. They seemed like they would be content to keep talking about the spire itself, the choice of it as a home, but their interest was fickle, and easily shifted.
Osozo lifts the scrap of metal away from their skin, frowning when another piece goes shooting towards them off the table. "I haven't got the faintest idea." They answer, looking up at Josh as a sickly green overtakes their hair. "Perhaps I'm broken." There's a short laugh at that, the Demi-god shaking their head. "Faster than I'd thought."
"...Yes." Josh replied, a little perplexed to find that Osozo was excited by the idea rather than confused or outright angry about it, as most other people had been. "I have lived here for about a month now." He still wasn't entirely sure what calendar the people here used, but he had been keeping tracking of the time from Earth as a personal reference since he had arrived.
Osozo apparently didn't know why they were magnetic. Eyes glinting with scientific interest Josh stood up and began to walk towards them, clearly unbothered by the danger of flying metal objects. "Broken? Are you some kind of android?"
A month was just about Osozo's entire existence, despite the older knowledge in their mind, a disconnect that had their face dropping for a moment, like they weren't sure how to parse it. The colour from their eyes faded to a dull white while they slipped, though it returned in a flash to a violent green, just as the smile popped back in place, as if it had never gone.
They looked up at Josh as he approached, a quiet amusement in their own eyes, the quirk of their brow. It was as much for the situation as it was for the other man himself, unlike anyone Osozo had interacted with. "I am a prototype. The first being made wholly by my mother." They did not mention the Voice yet, waiting to be asked. "What's an android?'
Josh was now thoroughly transfixed by the visitor to his Spire, leaning in to see closer as it appeared that Osozo's eyes actually changed colour. Now convinced that he was either seeing a very complex robot or a hologram, he tried to memorise every detail of the figure before him; every colour, pose, movement.
"Mother." He repeated, eyes narrowing as he tried to look for fangs in Osozo's mouth, remembering the robot-vampires and their strange broodmother. "The Voice?" As for what an android was, he simply gestured to Osozo. "Part human, part machine. Android."
If the Demi-god notices the searching look, the suddenly focused examination of their mouth, they don't say anything, don't try to hide anything. Perhaps their teeth are a little sharper than the average bear, but they are not the fangs of the ascended, not quite. "Yes, the Voice!" Osozo clapped a little, glad that Josh was aware of her, and, even better, did not seem to immediately crumple in anger or upset. "Have you seen her? Do you know you're living in her prison?" There's a little tink while they speak, a piece of cutlery colliding with something else already stuck to them, and holding fast.
But the explanation has their excitement tempering a little, a smirk that they can't help but make a little smug spreading over their face. "I can't be an android then. I'm not human at all."
"I haven't seen her. I don't think she's real." Josh admitted plainly, interested to see how Osozo would react to that: he often found that those in cults reacted in very strange ways when they met a proud non-believer. As for if he was staying in 'her prison'...he looked around, thinking that the Spire would make a poor prison for anyone, shook his head. "No. What do you mean?"
The smug smile and answer made Josh very interested: he reached forward to grab Osozo's wrist and lift it up so he could see if there were veins under the skin visibly. "Then you are a robot?"
”Is that how that works?” Osozo cocks their head, brows pulling together as they tried to work this out, feeing as if it was some kind of riddle. ”But, if I have seen her, and you see me, does that mean anything? What if I take you to her?” The words come with a laugh, this particular game fun.
Explaining things they know is even more fun, and they jump on the chance to do it. ”This is where the Voice was kept imprisoned by the old Gods.” Osozo leans in conspiratorially, their voice dropping, barely, to a stage whisper. ”They we’re jealous of Her.”
The touch doesn’t see to bother the Demi-god, their arm all but offered to Josh for examination, fingers wiggling helpfully. They were cool, but not cold, and organic, though all of them was soft, new. And it wasn’t quite viens that ran under their skin, shimmering pale, almost reflective instead of blue. ”I’m not that either. I am simply Made.”
"It's not about sight. I just know that Gods, most times I hear about them, aren't real. I met Frey: I still have doubts." The answer would come when he handed in his quest, he supposed, and saw if he got a reward. "I would like you to take me to the Voice." While Josh doubted he'd seen actual Goddess there, he still wanted to see how a worshipper approached a shrine, how they called for their Goddess.
Josh had been told vaguely that something important had once happened at the Spire, but now the hows or whys. "Where exactly was she imprisoned? In this top chamber?" That would explain the blown up roof, he supposed.
Leading Osozo by the wrist to his table as he spoke, Josh nodded distractedly to their correction (it was all just semantics) then sat, gently pulling down the Demi God to sit too and hold their wrist down for him as he pushed and pulled at the skin. "So this is synthetic? If I cut you, do you bleed?"
"What kind of doubts could you have after seeing something?" Osozo seemed mystified by that reaction, with good reason. They had planned on seeing everything, if there was some way their eyes could be tricked, then what was the point of it? "I can take you to see the Voice. Whenever you want." Despite their misgivings, they are still their mothers biggest advocate, so sure that anyone would follow, after hearing her voice, her sense.
There's a slight glow as Osozo reaches back through memories, nodding faintly after a moment. "She was here. Along with the Core. As long as she was trapped, so were the people here." A cruel and unusual punishment, passed down by gods who claimed to be caring, in spite of their own personal pettiness.
They seem all to eager to follow along, sitting down when directed and keeping their wrist out, all but offering it up. It wasn't as if they could feel the prodding, the pushing and pulling at their skin. "I don't exactly know all the details of my birth." They say, faintly amused. "I am a body, and a soul, and if you cut me fluid will come out." All plain, simple facts, presented as if Josh is the one who know know better.
