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!
The nice thing about Torchline, compared to the Hollowed Grounds and especially to Halo, was that even in DeepFrost, the temperature stayed balmy enough at night for Theo to sleep on the beach. It wasn't the best option -- setting aside the possibility of being set on by anything from more violent thieves to a wandering animal, the sand just got everywhere -- but it'd do in a pinch.
In an effort to avoid disturbances, he'd set himself up tonight on a rock that stuck out over the water. A mistake, in hindsight, because it allowed the encantado to swim right up to him, take a good look at him with its glistening eye, and -- with the grin that dolphins always wore -- splash him heavily with its tail.
Half-asleep, Theo jumped up at the rude awakening, overbalanced, and slipped off the rock into the water with a great splash.
It was one of the long nights. Oliver had just finished making a delivery of some of the things he had crafted in his shop to pay for some blankets and rugs that he had already received. It was surprising that someone was trusting of him, then again, he had already traded with this person before. As well, the guy kinda knew where he lived and could easily come after him if his end of the deal wasn't fulfilled. Whatever.
After making the exchange, Oliver decided to head on to the beach for a small little break before heading back to the portal. He had some minutes to spare and could use the rest and relaxation.
Despite it being night, it wasn't too hard to see the waves crashing and meeting the sandline. It also wasn't hard to see the shapes moving about in the water. He couldn't make out them fully, but they appeared to be dolphins of sort and they were... terrorizing a man?
Cupping his hands around his mouth, Oliver called out to him as he started to walk forwards. "Hello? Are you okay?" Was this man drunk? Why else would he be out in the middle of some rocks? If the man didn't reappear, then Oliver would take action, but for now he waited anxiously, hoping the guy was okay.
The thing was, Theo had never learned to swim. After all, as much as he'd deny it if anyone asked, he'd spent most of his life in Halo, where bodies of water were generally too icy to risk a dip. By instinct he expected the ocean here to be just as cold, so it was a strange sensation to realize it was balmy, comfortable.
The water wasn't too deep, maybe seven or eight feet; he hit the sandy bottom and pushed off it, making it back to the surface. It was a calm night, so he managed to awkwardly, at least, as the encantados circled him with squeaks that he was pretty sure were dolphin laughter.
Oh, and he had an audience beyond just the dolphins. Theo tried to turn to see where the voice came from, but he almost slipped back beneath the surface doing so, so he gave up. "Peachy! Just peachy. If peaches were, you know, absolutely soaked."
He glared at the encantado culprit, though he could see the humor in the situation. Theo had tricked enough people in his lifetime to have a certain appreciation for fellow pranksters, even when they had flippers.
Now, how was he going to get out of the water? The rocks were too slick to climb, and he didn't think he had the swimming ability to make it back to the beach itself.
The man soon resurfaced, but wasn't exactly in the best shape and the animals around him were far from helping out with the situation. Slowly walking on over, Oliver watched him cautiously, hoping that he'd respond positively. A reaction did come and ouch- someone was far from a happy little sailor. It wasn't positive, but it was something!
And what happened next seemed to trigger something in Oliver's head. Quickly, he slipped off his shoes and rolled up his pants before walking into the water. "I'm coming." He called out, hoping that the man was going to be okay. The man seemed to be struggling to stay above the water and Oliver knew that the guy must be panicking slightly. To combat this, Oliver tried to look calm and not panicked, making his way towards the man easily. It'd hopefully help the man to realize everything was going to be okay and that Oliver as here to help him.
"Here, reach out towards me. Use me as an anchor" He continued to walk towards the man, holding out his right arm.
Theo did his best to move towards Oliver, doggy-paddling awkwardly, but there was still a fair way for him to go before he reached the safety of either Oliver or the shallower water. Once he could stand up, he'd have no problem walking to shore -- but as long as the bottom remained out of his reach, so did safety.
As he struggled towards Oliver, he lost his rhythm and slipped under the water again -- and this time he didn't sink deep enough to push off the bottom, instead flailing under the surface. He touched the rubbery skin of an encantado as the pod circled him and tried to grab on -- he had no idea what it was, but he'd go for anything solid at this point. But the dolphin moved away, leaving Theo running out of breath.
It became quickly obvious that the man was quite a shitty swimmer. Why would someone put themselves in such a position if they couldn't swim? Oliver would never understand it, but he had zero time to interrogate or judge as the man quickly went back under, this time not popping back up.
Quickly, Oliver took a few steps forward before diving into the water, his clothes now completely soaked. Swimming towards the man, Oliver held out his right arm before finally trying to grab for the man and pull him up. If all went well, he'd first grab onto anything he could before moving his arm towards wrapping around the man's chest and pulling him up towards the surface. Thankfully for the two of them, Oliver knew how to swim. Hopefully, things would go smoothly and the unknown man would be rescued.
Theo couldn't see at all in the dark water, but he still reacted when the stranger touched him, grabbing Oliver's arm with all his strength (not that physical strength was his, well, strong suit, but terror does wonders for one's muscles). What was this? Someone's arm? Yes! Help! Theo thrashed for a moment, trying to claw his way upwards past Oliver, but when that led to only more dark water, he forced down his panic and went limp. He had to trust that Oliver had a better idea of how to swim than he did; if he kept struggling, he would just drag them both down. But gods, if his new friend didn't get him to air now, he was going to start fighting again.
The poor guy started thrashing and Oliver tried his best to remain calm. Gods, why couldn't this dude be an ascended or an attuned? Both of those would be fantastic for two very different reasons. But fine, he could work with this.
With the man grasping his arm Oliver was now able to become an anchor of sorts. Moving his other arm he secured that around the other man. Then, he kicked off, pressing his feet hard against the floor and pushing upwards. Meanwhile, he used his earth magic to build up a small tower of rocks, that way if the man started to sink again, he wouldn't be completely sinking.
Hopefully, if all went well, the man would breach the surface and then all would be alright and safe.
Theo gasped as his head broke the surface, thanks to the stranger's boost. He took in huge gulps of air; he'd never been so grateful for the ability to breathe in his life. Well, he'd never almost drowned before, either, so he'd rather taken it for granted.
He managed to pant, "Thanks," at the stranger between his deep, grateful breaths. More detailed conversation could wait till they got to shore, Theo figured. Everything could wait till they got to shore. And he'd have to let his rescuer take the lead on that, because Theo still had no idea how to swim. He'd just stay limp and let the other man figure it out.
Breaching the surface himself, Oliver gasped for air and took in a few deep breaths to make sure that he would be able to do the next step. Offering the man a nod, he'd begin the next step of the process. Slowly, but surely, Oliver started to use his feet to kick and hopefully propel the two of them slowly towards the shore. In order to help, he leaned backwards a small bit, forcing himself mostly underwater and allowing the unknown man to rest onto of him. This made the whole paddling thing a lot easier.
It took a bit and Oliver eventually needed to take a rest due to the exhaustion that was settling in and that's when he realized that he was almost to the point to where he, a tiny ass man, could stand up. "You... you should be able to stand up now. I'd recommend holding onto me just in case, but come on. Just walk and bounce to shore." Yep, walking and bouncing.
Theo lowered his feet and, indeed, found he could stand. With a sigh of relief, he straightened, though he maintained his grip on the other man. Less for security at this point -- though it did occur to him that he could hit a deeper patch, perhaps. Was that a thing that happened along shorelines? He had no idea. Theo didn't have much experience with the ocean and, after this, didn't want any. In the future, he'd make sure he slept well away from the water when he had to camp out on the beach.
But he'd also noticed that his rescuer was tired, and wanted to make sure that the smaller man got to shore too. While Theo didn't exactly believe in the principle of fair exchange, even he knew it would be a major asshole move to abandon someone who'd just saved his life.
"Thanks," Theo repeated, as his breathing returned to normal. "Did you see that? That fucking dolphin tried to kill me."
He said it with more amazement than anger, as Theo was not one to hold a grudge. But still.
The man started to move forward and Oliver was finally able to take a break. His arms released the man almost fully, a hand merely placed on his back. It would show that he was very much still there and present, that if something went wrong Oliver would be there to save him. His free hand was used to brush his hair out of his eyes. Fuck, it'd take him a bit to get home.
Slowly, his feet continued to move on forward. It was slow but progress was obvious. "He... he didn't seem too bad." There were a couple of deep breaths, resulting in the pause between his words. "They're tricky... don't think he wanted to kill you." Seeing as the dolphin probably assumed that the damn dude could swim.
Shaking his head, he made his way onto the shore. "Any reason why a guy who couldn't swim was out in the middle of the ocean?"
Seeing that his rescuer had safely made it to dry land, Theo felt justified in collapsing onto the sand -- dropping to all fours first, then rolling over to lie on his back. Well, that was hardly the restful night's sleep that he'd sought when he came out here.
"Not the middle of the ocean," Theo protested. He wasn't that stupid. "Just ... the edge of it."
He sighed. Yeah, in hindsight, maybe not the best idea. But: "I hardly expected some dolphin to come mess with me! I thought if I faced any problems, it would be from the shore and its denizens. Which is why I was all the way out there. Just looking for a little peace and quiet."
Theo ran a hand over his hair: wet, salty, now full of sand from lying on the beach. He was a mess. He'd probably need to scam or even pay his way into a decent bathhouse if he wanted to look presentable again. And his clothes were soaked: chilly in the middle of DeepFrost, even in Torchline. "Obviously that didn't go as planned. I'm lucky you were around."
Squinting his eyes at the man, Oliver had to try as hard as he could to not say something harsh in retaliation. "If the water is above your head then it's the middle of the ocean." It was the last he'd say on that matter as he then allowed the stranger to speak and explain himself. Once more, the blame was first put on the dolphin. Man, did this guy really refuse to own up for his mistakes? His explanation was only partially understandable.
"I'd recommend finding a different quiet place in that case. Maybe the roof of a building or an alley. It's far safer than the ocean, which I hope you've learned by now." It would be a different thing if the guy had an animal shift that could fly or any kind of magic. Honestly, this dude just seemed like an Accepted and not a very smart one at that.
A light shrug and Oliver shakes his head, letting out a sigh. "You... you really were lucky. Not only that I was here but also that I could even help you. I mean, you can tell how small I am so it's a good thing I was able to get you to shore." Oliver was blessed with a decent amount of strength and in this case, it finally helped him out.
