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!
"Don't push it." She warned, though it came out far more fond admonishment than the harsh warning intended; Morgan pressed her lips together afterwards as if trying to get her mouth under control, get back her usual tones and control.
Of course, Neron's brother could not have just been an honest tavern owner; a slightly smug look came over Morgan as Neron explained: she'd just known it had to be something duplicitous. "All spies? Sounds exhausting. No wonder you're all so..." She waved a hand around vaguely, trying to find a word that wasn't insulting (unsure why she was bothering to do so, given the audience); eventually she gave up and shrugged.
Perhaps he thought he had some kind of great point, but she merely laughed. "I have never held any pretensions of deserving fine things. I have eaten with everyone else, worn the same furs and armour, fought with my guards, my entire life." It was the principle at the core of her leadership, her equality to her people. Neron's admission that his palace had been too big drew a surprised look from her. "Did you ask Eirachi to build it for you?" She asked, a question that had been on her mind for a while.
”I would never.” Push it, he meant, though the smile on his lips was in danger of becoming playful as he watched the Warden. He quite liked this switch in authority - he had found Morgan to be infinitely intelligent and effective as his captain, but there was little defiance in her. At least at the beginning, it seemed. But now that the roles were reversed? Neron enjoyed pushing buttons; especially when they were pushed back.
A laugh left his lips at her attempt at decorum, the Hailstorm raising his eyebrows as if curious to hear what she would have said uncensored. ”No wonder we are all so... slippery? Unconscionable?” He tried them on. ”Or simply insane?” All were accurate, really.
There wasn’t much to say to her rebuttal regarding her customs, so Neron didn’t bother, merely giving her a gentle shrug as if to say he didn’t mind either way. And he didn’t, in truth. Still, the question about the Eirachi was a surprising one, and he held her gaze with his expression growing solemn. ”The only thing I was capable of asking the Eirachi was for her to spare my life,” he explained quietly. ”The rest of it was all her spin. It was an interesting first few months in Halo, learning everything there was to know, whilst having to pretend that I was already aware.”
"You have, several times." This was veering dangerously close to 'old married couple' bickering and Morgan knew she'd cringe over this later (much like she had their last meeting), but something kept her sat there opposite him.
She was not usually one to censor herself and as Neron offered her some words, Morgan nodded in eager agreement to all three, thinking each suitable in it's own way. "Indeed. Certainly, it seems like you all share some traits; Loren is the only one of you I find to be a half honest man, and even he reminds me of you in his darker moments." She supposed that was natural, given the two were twins, but there were enough differences between the brothers that the similarities were interesting.
The atmosphere in the room seemed to calm as Neron spoke of Eirachi and Morgan certainly found what he had to say surprising; she had always imagined him swaggering into town demanding an ice palace and a title befitting to his name right away, her ideas of Neron as pompous and vain taking over. If he was telling the truth, this began to paint quite the different picture of who he was. "...I see. If she had saved your life without placing you as Warden then, would you have been content? What would you have done?"
08-09-2020, 10:03 PM (This post was last modified: 08-09-2020, 10:03 PM by Neron.)
WISE MEN WONDER WHILE STRONG MEN DIE
”If I have it’s because you have let me,” Neron countered, enjoying it too much not to try and keep the banter going, to see which of them could get the last word. ”You are Warden, after all.” ‘Old married couple’ indeed. If he played his cards right, Morgan would probably end up throwing a book at him or something. And he’d deserve it, which made it both worse and infinitely better.
He let out a rich and honest laugh at the agreement, a hand reaching for his breast at the news regarding his twin. ”Are you saying that Loren and I may actually have traits in common?” He gasped, feigning astonishment. ”Don’t you tell him that, Warden. He may just come and slap me out of blame.”
Propping an elbow on the arm of the chair, he let himself relax further, though there was less of a note of open defiance in his posture now; it was mere conversation, to any looking on. ”I would likely have done what any other Outlander did upon arriving here. Try to find my place, try to learn about where I was, see if I could find my family. I was a lawyer, in Northaven. I dare say I would try to build a practice here, to represent criminals prior to exile.”
"And you are a continuous thorn in my side." Morgan sniped back, unable to resist the little exchange as much as she wanted to, desperate to not let Neron have the last word. The idea of throwing a book at him had not yet occurred to her, but it might if he continued this.
She couldn't help the laugh at his mock horror and while the original purpose of this visit (to put the fear of God into him over their last encounter) was slowly being lost, Morgan used the chance to find out a little more about the man who had run against her for Warden, who was welcome to the position of her Grand Healer. "He doesn't like you, then? Can't say I blame him."
Neron's explanation of what he would have done surprised her by how mundane it was, but one detail did stand out and make her laugh by it's sheer predictability; the way Neron could speak his way out of things, dance between sentences and dodge accusations...a lawyer. Of course. "And you used those skills to defend yourself here, didn't you? It makes me wonder if you are playing some kind of psychological trick on me that has prevented me from killing you yet."
”And you love it.” A little far, maybe, but Neron hoped it was obvious that he was joking by this point. ”At least you ought to be happy to know that I have kept the original cook from the Kraai, so the food won’t change. Unless you want it to, of course.” Warden’s prerogative and all that.
He shrugged a little in response to her question, his expression a complex mix of no not really and yes but it’s weird. ”We have never gotten along better,” he explained slowly. ”But this is relatively new territory for us. For twins, we have not often seen eye to eye. My fault, really.” If there was a hint of regret in his eyes for a moment, he quickly stifled it.
Besides, Morgan was already asking after his profession, causing a cat-like smile to spread across Neron’s face. ”I absolutely did,” he confirmed. ”But I assure you, the only trick I’m pulling here is that, despite my own reservations, I quite like you, Warren.”
Morgan did not respond further other than a quiet hum, finding herself quite lost as to what to say to that; she was rather certain she didn't love it at all, but not wanting to dignify such a notion with a response.
As for the food at the Kraai, she could only shrug. "I've never really paid attention to how good it is; if it's warm and filling it will do. Food is fuel for action and not much more." Spoken like a true hardy warrior raised in Halo, which had often been lacking exotic ingredients or crops, especially in Deepfrost; Morgan was used to eating what was put in front of her and not complaining.
Sibling relationships often were complicated, or at least Morgan had come to believe so from what she had heard, being an only child herself. "Your fault? And why is that?" Perhaps there was a little part of her that wanted to revel in his discomfort as he potentially expressed some guilt: Neron didn't squirm half as often as she liked.
Morgan suddenly became very interested in looking up to the top shelf of the bookcase behind Neron as he mentioned liking her, not sure what expression her face would pull if she looked at him but not happy about the potential. As much as she kept thinking it was sensible to get up and leave before this got any worse, the atmosphere had grown almost friendly, and perhaps she could use it...she had had some questions after all and in the potential fight against the Ascended as a greater force, Neron could be a valuable ally.
"...I did have something I wanted to ask you." She said finally, guiding her eyes back down to him. "If I understand correctly, the Ascended do not feel physical desire nor sensation, yes? Hunger, thirst, pain...sexual desire..." At the last words she pushed a hand into her hair and looked to the side, knowing Neron would certainly be thinking of their last encounter (she was) - worse still, she now had to bring it up. "Then why do they still pursue it? Why did you...why did you, well, do what you did with me? Why do you still drink things? If part of the point of Ascending is to be above human concerns, it seems almost as if you are regretting your decision when you indulge in these activities."
”Some say food is the spice of life,” Neron pointed out with a fanged grin, but he could only nod in acquiescence. He couldn’t exactly taste very well any more, and if she had no problems with it then it could stay the way it was for the time being. Perhaps his other patrons would have different ideas about it.
He should have expected her to push on the matter about Loren - she was a very smart woman, was Morgan, and he was learning that more and more to be the case - but that didn’t mean he wanted to talk about it. Still, he found that he couldn’t brush her off, much as he would like to.
”I was very cruel to him, when we were children,” he said. “My family prided magical prowess, and Loren was not always the accomplished mage he is today. He was the black sheep. I made sure he knew he was never welcome among us. We were identical, back then.” He blinked, like he’d forgotten about it.
The story had distracted him enough that he didn’t notice her awkwardness perhaps as much as he ought to have, Neron instead glancing back at her when she spoke again. Tilting his head, he gave the matter due consideration. Some things were easy to answer - others not so.
”That feeling, when you were bitten. It goes both ways,” he says. ”That’s the only time we feel pleasure in a physical sense. As for the rest...habit, maybe? We might not need to do those things, but we still have emotions. We’re still used to wanting to do those things. I don’t know of any ancient Ascended - perhaps we grow out of it after a while.”
"Their lives must not be very exciting, then." Morgan said flatly, thinking that she had far more to worry about than the taste of her food.
Much more interesting was the relationship between Neron and his brother; as much as Morgan felt a certain disdain for the Launceleyns, she had to admit to finding them oddly fascinating too - just how much dysfunction could one family handle? She leaned forward, chin rested on her hand (a sign she was becoming more relaxed, against her nature) and listened. "So any animosity between you is entirely your fault? It is his choice to forgive?"
It was much easier to be detached when asking questions about family drama that did not involve her: less so when it was about her own regrettable sexual encounters. The thought of ancient Ascended aside (a rather horrifying notion), she looked Neron up and down, so many words brewing up in her that she could not allow herself to say. "I see. Then it was not simply service for you. I'm not sure if that makes it better or worse."
”That entirely depends on what you find exciting, don’t you think?” Neron grinned, though he couldn’t deny that Morgan’s approach was ever the practical one. Granted, what she found exciting seemed to be the relationship between Neron and his twin, and he couldn’t deny his curiosity at her questioning. But he did provide answers, at least.
”You’re correct,” he says with a nod. ”I acted the way I did on the whims of a family more powerful than I could ever be alone. I was a child, but that doesn’t excuse that I was cruel.” He spread his hands, as if to say that it was Loren’s choice, however much or little he chose to interact with Neron now. They’d built a bridge, it was true, but the bridge was flimsy at best.
Arching an eyebrow and watching the way she looked him over, like he was a choice cut of meat, Neron bowed his head in acknowledgement. ”Does it matter?” he wondered. ”It was a mistake and it won’t happen again, as you have said yourself.”
Leaving aside what she found exciting (wouldn't Neron like to know), Morgan was surprised to hear Neron further take the entire blame for his relationship with Loren. It showed a humility she wasn't used to seeing in men like Neron, though as this conversation was revealing more and more, she didn't know what a man like Neron was. He seemed determined to sidestep and ruin her assumptions and ideas about him at every turn and as annoying as that was, it was also refreshing.
She was used to being right about people; his surprises were fascinating.
"Mm, I suppose you're right. Well then." Putting her hands on her thighs, Morgan stood up, keeping her eyes on Neron the whole time as she thought the conversation they'd had over: it had not gone a bit like she'd wanted it to, yet she found herself not discontented like she wanted to be. "...I will come to see you again later." She said as she headed through the door.
