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!
Loren's eyes widened and his jaw dropped? "Frey? Is that you?" he asked. Chuckling, he shook his head. "You already asked me this." He wagged a finger in the air.
Then he frowned. He'd already confessed a deep, dark secret. But the person he'd told had died and couldn't have told the random women he was with. So it was a secret to them. But he didn't want to lie and drift apart on the sea alone. He was already lonely enough.
Pointing his finger between the two women, he ended up deciding at random. Looking at the younger one, he sighed. "I used to torture my younger relatives."
Loren confesses to Seraphina that he used to torture his younger relatives.
09-21-2020, 05:38 PM (This post was last modified: 09-21-2020, 11:44 PM by Amun.)
if I ever start to think straight
Amun whooped as it became apparent that they'd answered correctly. However, as the ice split and he began to drift away from Nate and Icestache lady, the potter scowled. "Hey! No fair." Crossing his arms, he pouted.
When he was asked to share a secret or tell a lie, he raised an eyebrow. Groaning, he turned to look at his increasingly distant companions. Eyes narrowing, his gaze flicked between the two of them. Unfortunately, he was a bit of an open book, and didn't have much to confess.
So he turned to Morgan. "I'm immune to fire." Chuckling, he grinned. After all, the rules hadn't said anything about the lie being believable.
Amun lies to Morgan and says that he's immune to fire.
The world is new to you, and you to it. During PQ/PQ+/KQs/Drops, you roll with advantage on luck-based rolls and receive an extra name during drops. (In order to use this, make sure to note the ability at the bottom of each post)
Saiden grinned as they answered the riddle correctly. However, he frowned as he saw Amalia's state, which was severely underdressed for the weather. He was just in the process of throwing his cloak over her when the ice broke beneath him.
It caused him to roll away from the other women. Grunting, he looked around for something he could use to bridge the gap. Pausing as the further instructions filtered through to them, he groaned.
Sighing, he looked at Amalia. For a long moment, he didn't say anything. Then he spoke quietly and slowly, as if the words were being dragged out of him. "I killed my father because he was going to betray the rest of my family and sell us to our enemies for his own safety."
Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath. He'd carried that secret for a long, long time. But there was no one in Caido he needed to protect by keeping it. Not anymore.
Saiden confesses to Amalia that he killed his father to protect his siblings.
Apparently screaming penis across the ice was the right thing to do, and if he were in his right mind Neron would have found this infinitely amusing. In fact he still does find it amusing, and his giggling means he misses it, at first, as his companions start floating away from him. ”Hey” he calls, squinting out across at them, taking a step and feeling the world try to tilt away from him.
He doesn’t know how it occurs to him, that a truth will bring them closer and a lie further apart, but he bares his teeth in a fanged grin nonetheless, glancing over to where he hopes the egg might still be waiting. ”Hey,” he calls to Falke. ”Hey - I used to be a prince, you know!”
Neron lies and tells Falke he used to be a prince.
There’s no indication that he’s wrong, none at all, and his unintentional partners agree with the answer, so that must mean he’s right, right? Flawless logic Nathaniel, as always. Before h gets the chance to celebrate too much, to reach out and shake his partners hands, there’s another gunshot crack, the ice splitting between them and setting them drifting.
Oh no, oh no no no. On such a small piece of ice, it’s so much easier to see the sea part, the icy, choppy waters all around them. Nate drops, perhaps a touch too quickly, too roughly, but manages to sit on the ice, afraid suddenly of slipping, of being touched by the water. And still, in the distance, is the egg.
It’s hard to pin down where he gets the idea, the sense that he can move himself, closer or further, but as soon as it comes to him he has to speak. ”Hey, Amun.” Nate barks from where he’s seated on his little lonely island, trying to catch the potters attention. ”Amun-mun-mun. I wanted... I need to say I’m sorry. You were right. I... moved too fast with Sunny, after Maea, and I think I... we shoulda waited.” His back is carefully pointed to the egg, the nest, his hands and feet both tapping out a frantic expectation.
There’s a moment where Sera can feel the ice shifting again, can feel Luciana separating from her, and she hisses her pain as the ice begins to split again, knocking her along the edge of the ice once more. And then what, she’s floating with a crazed Abandoned just out of reach, as well as Luciana who drops quite possibly one of the biggest things she’s heard. Her brows furrow at Luci, surprise crossing her face, unsure if it’s a truth or a lie — when Loren looks at her too and talks of torturing.
What kind of ice platform has she been tossed onto?
She shivers, pulling her scarf along her neck tighter, looking between the two in some part terror and shock, her calculating mind spinning gears so quickly she wonders if the clouding of her breath is smoke. Eventually, her eyes land on Loren, wanting as much distance between herself and him as possible. He doesn’t know her, he won’t know if what she says is true or not until the distance begins to separate them. Luciana might believe it at first, too, if she plays her cards right before the ice slips away. “I secretly Attuned when I was sixteen.”
And oh, poor Atlas The world's a beast of a burden
It appears that their embarrassing answer to the riddle is correct, so Morgan unfortunately can't feel too much annoyance at her companions. As the ice began to split though, each of them going off on their own way, she had no desire to stay with these two men, especially not the one who had made his comment regarding wetness.
Turning to Amun, she listened to his lie (at least, she assumed it had to be; what kind of Ascended was immune to fire? Sounded like what Neron had said in his delirium) and nodded as if accepting it, then returned with: "I have never let myself fall in love." How she wished it were true, but her ice would begin to drift away, lie as it was.
--
Morgan lies to Amun and says she has never been in love.
And the ships are left to rust That's what the water gave us
09-21-2020, 11:00 PM (This post was last modified: 09-21-2020, 11:25 PM by Falke.)
Neron’s bared fangs send a shiver through Falke’s spine - that is, in addition to any shivering it might already be doing. He can no longer engage with the Ascended and as quickly as he can whilst maintaining his balance, turns to the Attuned man, a much more palatable partner (and he certainly cannot navigate these ice floes alone) A secret? That he’s never told before? Well, fuck, Falke’s more or less an open book to his friends and family, but there must be something.
Ah… yes. Swallowing hard, he looks at the younger man. “I accidentally killed a patient after a night of drinking.”
why else love if not to feel the stars exploding in our veins?
Just as Amalia reaches for the other woman, desperate for her offered warmth, the ice between them snaps.
"Mort," the Shield curses under her breath, reaching out for the woman's hand but unable to grab it. They'd been right, so why were they now being punished further, pushed away? Her arms wrapped around her underdressed form for warmth, Amalia shivers violently, looking between the drifting Saiden and the unknown woman, at a loss for what to do.
Tell a secret and build bridges, or lie and let them drift away. Even if Amalia was a good liar her option would be clear. Though Saiden's confession takes her rather by surprise, she's too cold to process the information now. Instead she turns to the unknown woman, exhaling in a plume of steam and chattering teeth: "I u-used to be a-afraid of the d-d-dark. E-even now I get n-n-nervous, unless there are s-s-stars."
Amalia tells Amaris a secret
During PQ/PQ+/KQs/Drops, you roll with advantage on luck-based rolls and receive an extra name during drops.
Happiness is not an ideal of reason but of imagination
Crack went the ice, even though they were right, even though they did the work, they solved the riddle - it didn't matter (-did nothing matter anymore?-) they were drifting, the Chief reaching for his friend (Neron) instinctively. But distance stretched before them, and he heard the instructions given, frowning all the while, turning upon his personal icy shelf to hear the tale Falke spoke. The confession shook him to his core, and he swallowed upon hearing it, nodding to register that he'd heard it.
He'd never been one to lie, to tell a tale of untruths, to weave a story of make-believe - he was hardly creative enough, too logical and scientific, he could only ever tell things for what they were. He looked to Neron, but then looked away, too ashamed to share this with one he felt so close to - it was easier to confess to a stranger, under the guise and comfort of anonymity. To Falke, he said: "I went to the Climb already, to find where my lover died, and to join her there if I could."
The brightest colours fill my head A million dreams are keeping me awake
"No-" and they were cut off, separated, lost to the ice and sea. The girl reaches but cannot touch, annoyed by the success snatched away from them so swiftly - but then, this was how the world worked sometimes. Was this the work of a deity or a spirit, determined to be mischievous and devious to all who had been drawn here by the egg on the ice? Or was it a powerful abandoned weaving their magic, tainting the world with their magical touch?
Amaris' skin crawled and it wasn't from the cold.
Instructions rang out, and the woman knew what to do, looking to the sailor and the other woman, hearing the woman's confession and silently promising to guard it well. She made mention of stars, and oh, if there were time, Amaris would give her a blessing in Safrin's name, that she never be lost to darkness, that she always would have a guiding star before her.
But there was no time, and Amaris could focus on no-one but the woman. Her confession she hoped would not travel far, as she strived to build a stronger bridge between herself and Amalia, unknowing that the Shield she was searching for was before her all this time. "I am searching for the lost Chandrakant," she confesses, for the first time speaking it out loud, giving it a voice, a meaning - never would she say anything so bold, so un-Order-ly, to those of Stormbreak
--
Amaris confesses to Amalia.
A million dreams is all it's gonna take A million dreams for the world we're gonna make
In group one, the truth is universal. Saiden, Amalia, and Amaris all expose vulnerabilities, and are rewarded with the reunion of their ice floats. The structure stabilizes beneath their feet, and the trio is unharmed.
In group two, independence takes precedence over intimacy. Amun, Morgan, and Nate drift away from each other, and as they do their ice blocks shudder, sending them falling to their knees, freshly bruised but proud.
Group three is fractured by its inconsistency. Luciana and Loren reform the raft, but Seraphina's deceit means that their ship is unsteady, and as Loren crashes against her reluctance the ice shudders, knocking Seraphina unsteady.
Finally, in group four Chulane and Falke say goodbye to Neron, sending the Hailstorm adrift on his own ice while rebuilding their platform with mutual truths.
Now that you have made your decisions, only one thing is left. One more choice, one more question, one more decision you have to make.
Jump or stay, a voice says into your minds, echoing from the frigid sea.
Frowning at the two women, Loren crossed his arms. Their ice floes drifted together, but inconsistently, and he eyed it warily. Looking at the strangers, he shook his head. "I told you my truths. But you didn't do the same for me." He crossed his arms and glared at them.
So when the choice was offered to him in some manner that he couldn't understand or articulate he hesitated for just a moment. Then he turned to face the icy sea and hopefully the egg, which had to still be out there. "I'll jump." And then he marched to the edge of the ice and proceeded to do just that, leaping from the unsteady iceberg into the unknown.
cause it makes me that much stronger makes me work a little bit harder
Luciana breathed a sigh of relief as her ice drifted towards the other two, albeit in a rather haphazard and unsettling way. When it bumped together, she crawled towards Seraphina. Hesitating for just a moment, the Hammer would reach towards the other woman. However, the craftswoman wouldn't meet the Artificer's eyes.
Thankfully the biting cold seemed to have subsided at least somewhat. Still, Luciana didn't trust this temporary reprieve. Scowling at the dangerous and seemingly insane man, she didn't say anything to his comments or his decision. Instead, she finally met Seraphina's eyes. "I'll stay." Taking a deep breath, she squared her shoulders.
Luciana decides to stay.
it makes me that much wiser so thanks for making me a fighter
