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!
They seem to stick their feet right into the veritable hornet's nest a little too soon into their endeavours for Evie's liking. She startles hard at the first explosive flap of wings as bats go streaking for the open air. A quick glance to instinctively check on Aisha reveals she's struggling with the same problem, already springing for the nearest window. Taking that as her cue, Evie dives for one of the blankets, and begins to flap it and use it as a barrier to try and corral the bats towards the exit without harming them. Dancing to and fro to try and keep any from escaping backwards towards the other workers, who seem to be making more progress than the pair of women at present.
Evie uses a blanket to try and corral/encourage the bats out the window Aisha opened, and keep them from spreading further into the Temple.
Thieves and Kings, General and Queens, friendship holding steadfast amongst role reversals and multiple lives – he’d expressed his initial concerns to the Penumbra already, and wouldn’t voice them again in the presence of her husband. He nodded at the indications of her exhaustion, to be expected he supposed (regardless of how this child was coming to light or existence – he hadn’t dared to ask), at the value of their reward, their efforts, worthy of the regard. Perhaps they both deserved it, whatever would come to pass, and eventually his inquiries would cease their spiraling machinations. “Certainly,” rumbled again, a ghost of a smile on his mouth, before they proceeded into their actions.
The fence building began smoothly and efficiently – boards pieced together by hammer and strength, multitudes of layers formed quickly. Together they conformed sides and posts, elongating beside Temple foundations and lengthening out towards paths. A piece of lumber in his grasp, he studied and examined what they’d done thus far. “Just the gate left,” and he proceeded, expecting the Ascended to follow – eyes lifting to watch a ruckus of bats leaving.
For they did, rather rapidly out of Aisha’s opened window, the combined efforts of Evie’s corralling forcing them out of their panicked fleeing, and in a wayward spiral, perhaps towards an area more fitting, and less invaded by humans. The women could continue their task, and then pick another from the list (which, after consulting, they’d find the Sword’s neat and orderly scrawl, several figures already crossed off, but left were heating resources, preparing and gathering more snow moss, and food/water storage.
Everyone continued to working at a fervent pace, successful measures a welcome sight. Jigano’s candles and lanterns came to fruition rapidly, fluidly, in his concentrated incantations. Were the Sage to go meet with Aisha and Evie, and more list consultation done, he could have his own pick of where he wanted to go next.
--
Excellent rolls!
Deimos and Bastien have completed the fencing, and are moving on to the gate!
Aisha and Evie have shooed out the bats successfully, and can continue prepping the rooms.
After a minute or so of shooing with a blanket, and keeping the bats at bay, the swarm found their way out of the rooms, hopefully to somewhere that would suit them just fine. Aisha let out a relieved muse, pushing back her blonde curls that had decided to ruffle like feathers all in her face. After getting it together, and shooting Evie a somewhat amused grin, as though there was a new joke to share, she got back to work, filling out the rooms and making them homey.
Once the two women had finished they found another list of tasks laid out by Deimos. One particularly caught her eye, something that she'd had remarkably good luck at before, and maybe would continue to prevail at today. Collecting snow moss it was, she turned to Evie to let her know, "I'm gonna go start getting some moss, you're welcome to come since we make such a badass team," she remarked with a smirk, bending down to grab at a sack left to get the job done.
Then outside she went, searching for those familiar and infamous patches of moss that everyone seemed to want these days.
Aisha goes to look for snow moss and gather what she can find!
For once his magic seemed to work without hiccups or difficulty, and Jigano breathed a soft sigh of relief as candles, lanterns, and candle holders came together in profusion, ready to shed light in the darkest of nights. He stretched when he finished, hoping there would be enough to see people through the week, and he wandered back to the list to consider what else he could do.
He'd already made one place to store food when he arrived, so he looked for something else to do instead. The need for heat was just as important as food and light and silence, and while he might have used his magic to create logs for the fire - and still might - there was something immensely satisfying about doing the job the old-fashioned way, as he'd learned while living with Rory.
And besides, he needed to let his magic cool off a bit after using so much of it to make candles.
So he grabbed an axe and headed off towards the woods behind Aisha, whistling a jaunty tune. Once he found a recent deadfall that looked promising he got to work dismantling it into small enough chunks to bring back to the Temple to split further into fireplace-sized logs.
Bastien, for all of his flightly flamboyance, had always been willing to put in the hard work and strong enough to do it, even with the weakness he was now experiencing: hopefully Deimos would forgive him the occasional break to recover, the artist making up for it with pleasant chit chat the whole time (though whether that was a positive addition was up to the Sword).
The gate was the obvious conclusion to the work and he readily set to it, following Deimos with his mouth still running a mile a minute about whatever he'd settled on as a topic now. Lifting lumber and cutting, pushing when needed, he was happy to let their commander for this mission take the charge.
06-09-2020, 06:57 PM (This post was last modified: 06-09-2020, 06:57 PM by Evie.)
Aisha's grin is contagious, and Evie's own springs to the fire, exhilaration at least having woken her up adequately. Hopefully they haven't missed any other critters trying to hunker down in man-made shelter from the elements. Evie isn't eager to find them in her bedroll come LongNight.
The prospect of joining the woman for continued tasks is one Evie admittedly preens at. She does not have many female friends, a bit rough around the edges and no-nonsense with work herself, but she enjoys Aisha's company, and it's no hassle to snag a bag and go trotting after her into the woods. "How can I say no to that?" She gives a jaunty wave as Jigano splits off from their group to go collect firewood, and begins to search for the moss alongside Aisha. At least they can cover more ground this way by not having to look at the same tree twice.
The Sword nodded or shrugged noncommittally to the expanse of words Bastien unfurled throughout the mostly one-sided exchange. Not a man of constant discourse, or requiring silence to be filled with anything and everything, he focused his concentration on the lumber, nails, and hinges. He wasn’t a farmer by any means either, as anyone might have guessed in prior sojourns throughout the fields, attempting to gauge means of irrigation systems, but he still tried, strived, and attempted, rather than stand idle.
They’d done well thus far, until one of the posts in their grasp broke, the wood no longer holding, perhaps fibers weakened over time, cracking, and fumbling in place. Bastien’s trials at placing hinges on didn’t bode well either, likely due to the shattering timber, refusing to hold firm as both manifested into a barrage of broken bits and pieces. Deimos simply released a feral sigh, and reached for another post, chucking the fragmented portions nearby, to be used as future firewood. “Try again?” An arch to his brow, as if there were any other solutions, before rendering back into their previous efforts.
The others, in comparison, did exceedingly well. Despite the constant need for snow moss in whatever capacity and variation (one would think most of the patches picked over from previous interactions and groups), Aisha and Evie didn’t have to travel far to find their token flora. Though the supply wasn’t ample, they’d have enough to pick over and place within any empty, vacant sanctions of the Temple upon their return.
Likewise, Jigano continued to succeed, a triumph in these circumstances, the already-fallen wood giving in readily to the Sage’s ax. Before long he’d have enough pieces – but did he bring anything to haul them home?
--
Deimos and Bastien have utterly failed at making a gate.
Aisha and Evie have found a good amount of snow moss, and can bring it back to place in areas around the the Temple!
Jigano has procured a satisfactory amount of timber!
Jigano had half-expected to chop his own leg off with the way things sometimes went, but he was grateful for a quiet (well, aside from the sound of the axe) and comfortingly uneventful hour of gathering a large amount of wood. Hauling them home was of less concern to him, his magic reserves not so low that he couldn't fashion a very simple, flat sledge and a long coil of rope with his creation and earth magic. Loading the wood onto the sled and tying it firmly in place, he took the free end of the rope and fashioned it into a harness - one far too big for a lean bard, but when he shrugged into it and shifted to his horse form it fit well enough. There would be some chafing as he began to pull the loaded sled into motion, the fit far from perfect without assistance, but it was functional. And if worse came to worse and the rope snapped or the sled broke a runner, he would take the time to shift back and repair it before finishing the haul of heating supplies to the Temple, where he could begin the task of unloading the wood and carrying it to the various fireplaces that could use it within the large structure.
Evie accepted her invitation, to which Aisha gave the woman a pearly grin. She too had found herself in the company of mostly men, and while they were fun to toy with, she always could count on another woman to provide the power and understanding she sometimes required. Evie's presence was more than welcome as they headed out to search for snow moss, and as any powerful venus blessed duo should, they came up victorious.
After filling her sack with the available moss supply, she hurried back to the temple, and with Evie at her side she laid the wintery vegetation where ever it was needed.
Apparently they really do make a great team, if their luck finding the moss is any indication. Though boarding up together in large numbers is an Outlander idea, many of the Naturals still pick the vegetation for themselves so that they may bunker down in private, as it used to be done for years before the Outlanders arrived. Whether it's the luck of combined feminine wiles, or merely karmic award for having thrown bats in their faces, Evie couldn't care to pinpoint as she grins back at Aisha as they return with their treasures.
Though she wouldn't mind working hip-to-hip with the charming lass, they have much ground to cover inside, and Evie spreads out to begin laying down the snow moss where she believes it will be most needed.
Even Bastien's chattering stopped for a moment of disappointed silence as the post splintered and their efforts proved to make it worse: a sigh left him as he shook his head, as if disapproving of the post and telling it to get itself together. There really wasn't anything to do but try again: he nodded at Deimos' suggestion and stepped forward for another go.
This time he tried to put the most of what strength he had into making sure all the posts and boards were kept straight and steady as the nails and hinges were attached, trying to look out for splits and faults in the wood before they proved the ruin the endeavour: he didn't want to have to do this a third time.
Strength prevailed in some measures and not so in others; while Bastien’s hand slipped along the boards and timbers, Deimos’ methods more than made up for the blunder. Paying no mind or heed to the mishaps, because gods knew he’d had his own fair share, the Sword ensured hinges were tightly set, posts firmly placed into the frozen ground, actions rendered complete. “There,” immersed in restrained satisfaction, a nod extended to the Ascended as they finished that particular job. “We can go see how the others are getting along.” With that, he left the gate wide open, extended invitations for any of the luxere, the troughs to eventually be filled with food and water nearby.
Aisha and Evie had become a dream team, filling in empty spaces with snow moss, no hollowed section gone unnoticed in their eyes for detail and need for quieted platitudes. The General made it back within the Temple to note the alterations, a half-smile donned for them, proud of their accomplishments. “You have been busy,” and quite successful, despite earlier bat mishaps.
Jigano, on the other hand, finally met the misfortune that seemed to be making its round along the sojourning intervals. While the sled was loaded, and horse shift acquired, the ill-fitting harness wasn’t so effective – slipping along the marks of winter, skimming a slight knoll, and ramming straight into the back of the Sage’s hocks. Undoubtedly painful and smarting, he’d likely be limping in shortly, the supplies still gathered neatly in the sled.
Once Deimos had everyone back together, they could implement the final task. “The last thing we need to do is block any remaining exits to outside the Temple.” The beast only wanted the front door available, and once rendered a repellent for the monsters, other notions, areas, and apertures might be all the more tempting for the demons to find, track, and tempt those within astray and out. If they managed to place things before the parameters, it might give them time to hear, or slow down, any potential maneuvers. “We can move furniture or board them up.” The infirmary and other accoutrements would remain open, and though he hoped they wouldn’t be necessary, they were better left untouched. The Sword grabbed hold of some timber and his hammer for boarding purposes, and began the march to finish things off.
--
The gate has been made, Aisha and Evie were very successful on their snow moss tag-teaming, and Jigano got hurt!
Jigano limped back to the Temple with bruised and battered hocks that turned into strained and injured ankles, and he had to take a moment to pause and Heal himself before he could carry the wood inside. But once the logs were stacked by fireplaces he rejoined the rest of the crew, gamely willing to continue on as best he could.
The final task was also the most grim, and between his injuries and the reminder of last year's tragedies his cheerful mien had faded to a more sober nod of agreement to help with the boarding. Gathering up tools and nails of his own he went seeking a side door to blockade with hammered planks in front of the portal, determined to do this task, at least, thoroughly and well, no matter long it took to get it right.
The two women worked great together, placing their bounties in only the most well considered of places. Deimos appeared nearby as they closed in on finishing, rumbling his praise to their job well done. Aisha hummed her agreement, positioning the last of her snow moss and glancing to her partner for a quick wink as she then followed Deimos into the meeting place.
The final task would be boarding up any exits, and while furniture would be useful to keep monsters out, it would be less effective at keeping siren tranced individuals in. So boards and nails were her chosen tool, she gathered up a handful and went off in search of doors and windows, barring them up as best she could.
