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!
09-30-2020, 03:41 PM (This post was last modified: 09-30-2020, 11:45 PM by Nate.)
NATE
Yeah, I know wrong, I know right
But I just love to pick a fight
Nate is difficult to pin down in the best of circumstances, and right now isss not the best circumstances. Sleepless and restless is a terrible combination, and when you add delirious to the mix, well... it’s no surprise that this isn’t the first time he’s wandered. This time at least, Pemota guides him, her spiralling horn rapping into him whenever he tries to go too far off the path. He will not go missing again.
It’s late, the moon big and round in the sky, an eye that Nate glances at distrustfully every now and then, as he makes his way to the beach. The sea stretches out before him, an edge less canvas for the stars above, though it seems as if they have something in common, a wanderlust. Stars sit the sands, here and there, escaped from the night sky and its shifting reflection.
Well now, there’s a way to curry favour, to make an offering to Safrin, and try and get the heat to stick around a little longer. ”I’ll return your stars Safrin.” Nate promises the moon, bending to grab a starfish and throwing it back in the ocean. There’s a dozen or so on the beach, and he hurries to grab them, keeping a wide berth from the water while he does, though there’s so many hiding just within it’s damp and hateful touch. He can worry about those last.
09-30-2020, 10:28 PM (This post was last modified: 09-30-2020, 10:29 PM by Delta.)
Every day's a little harder as I feel my power grow
It had been ages since Delta surfaced.
The trial to keep her calm and avoid shifting was a hard one. Her fear was strong and the voice screamed at her, but they worked hard and tried to figure things out.
It was tiring... so tiring. Her trust in the Gods remained, yes, but any desire to venture out had died. The fire that once roared had been snuffed out. The things she once enjoyed were avoided like the plague. She didn't want to scare anyone else- the number of times people had glared at her for her mistakes. They looked down on her, acting as though she was stupid and a complete idiot. It saddened her and at this point, she didn't know what else to do.
Then there was the word of a sickness. It was concerning and Delta thought maybe, just maybe the merpeople had a solution... and if she had it, maybe her curse would be lifted.
The only thing left to do now was to try to find out more.
Bringing herself to the surface was hard, but she eventually did it. Glancing around, it took her a good ten minutes before she finally found someone. Squinting her eyes from the water, she waved a hand. Where she was, the water was just deep enough for her to escape if she randomly shifted.
"Hello? Are you okay?" She called out, noticing his odd behaviors and maneurisms. Maybe he was drunk?
Don't you know there's part of me that longs to go into the unknown?
Nate doesn’t know how many stars he’s gathered, returned to the sky. Doesn’t know how many he plans to, really. He’s fallen into a cycle, the repetition satisfying for his sick brain, keeping him moving and his thoughts fuzzy. Pick up the surprisingly prickly star, throw it into the sky, watch it splash back where it belongs, repeat. He’s on step three, the watching, when a head pops out of the water, the star landing just in front of it, of her.
”I’m sorry!” Nate calls, approaching the water as closely as he dares to shout at her, her greeting and question registering a moment later. ”Hello! I’m... of course I’m okay! Are you okay? Are you going to fall?” Even with the concern in his voice, Nate is morbidly curious which way she would fall, if she would rise or sink.
Though he’s closer now, and though his routine has been paused, it never quite stops. Nate is still bending, playing chicken with the waves to try and grab a star just barely within the waters grasp, his gaze flicking between the girl and the star.
Every day's a little harder as I feel my power grow
The man didn’t seem very okay.... but humans were normally like that. They seemed like something was always wrong with them. Like broken arms and broken legs. Her arms never broke that easily so why did theirs? Anyways.
There was something different. It was a certain kind of off... like fruit left in the sun to rot. It was quite right and she had never seen something like it. Slowly, she started to swim closer. ”Well, yeah.... but I can’t climb down? I’m already in the water.... can you see me?” Maybe the man wasn’t seeing her properly.
She raised a hand and waved it in the air. ”Im right-“ And just like that, her curse took hold. Right in her place lay a massive shark. There was a shuttering of a sigh and she allowed herself to kind of just, lay there, her gills covered by the ocean. Please tell me you can understand me...
Delta rolled a 16 and is now a shark.
Don't you know there's part of me that longs to go into the unknown?
Well her words just didn’t make a lick of sense, now did they? Nate’s less concerned with that though (how much hasn’t made sense this season already?) and more concerned with the sparking familiarity tickling the back of his mind as the girl in the sea-sky draws closer, lifts her arm.
Transforms into a shark.
Just like that everything clicks, and Nate rises, standing tall as if that will help his comprehension. ”I remember you! You’re that girl, and you... you’re sick too, aren’t you? I can, I can... I can help!” He’s a Doctor after all, and even if her sickness, much like his own, is something he’s never seen before, he should be able to help.
With a quick apology sent up to Safrin, his duty of returning stars to the sky paused, Nate paces along the edge of the surf, still too afraid of the water to actually enter it. But further up the beach, there are rocks that jut out into the ocean, and he rushes towards them, shouting all the while. ”Come here, over here! I have to be closer, and you have to be closer, but I can’t go into the sky! I don’t belong there, I’ll fall!”
Every day's a little harder as I feel my power grow
Fins flutter in frustration and she's clearly not very happy with herself. Still, she is happy to know that Nate recognizes her. Nice! It must be the boy from the boat! The one she helped to fish! He was so nice! And he's not going to harpoon her! Fantastic!
His request is... a very hard one to complete.... but he said he could help her. Sick wasn't the right word, no, she was cursed... but he did seem sure that he could help.
Slowly, she started to inch closer. Although, there was apprehension. Please- can you hear me? Can you wait? Maybe- maybe I'll shift back soon! Then we can properly talk... I cant move very good... I'm so big and it's hard to swim so close to the shore. Despite her words, she tries to move closer, but it was obvious that due to her size, she wouldn't be able to get close enough for either to feel comfortable.
Dice will be rolled next post.
Don't you know there's part of me that longs to go into the unknown?
There is nothing but silence stretching out between them, as Nate stands on the rocks, flinching back from every rock and writing, terribly patiently he feels, for the girl turned shark to come to him. She’s slow coming, a fact that has the ascended gritting his teeth, though he has no idea what the intricacies of trying to swim in the night sky are.
Sooner than he thinks though, his patience starts to wane, as silence persists and she still isn’t anywhere close. ”I can’t do anything with you all the way over there!” He calls, standing to step out of the spray of a larger wave, before returning to his perch.
10-16-2020, 07:49 PM (This post was last modified: 10-16-2020, 07:49 PM by Delta.)
Every day's a little harder as I feel my power grow
The poor human-
Why cant all humans talk to her like that? It's stupid. Why are they designed in such a lame and foolish way to where they cannot communicate through these means? The Attuned could so why couldn't... what was he again?
Anyways. Delta's fins flutter and she slowly works on swimming closer, no longer bothering to use the bond to try and talk. He couldn't hear her so what was the-
POOF
And just like that, she was partially shifted! Oh, thank Frey!
Now in her mermaid form (plus a shark fin, gills, and... a lot of stuff), she was able to talk with him once more. "So sorry! Here, I'll help you out." Ducking her head back into the water, Delta swam up far, far closer than before. Now, he should be able to reach her extremely easily. The water was barely even a foot deep, but she did try to stay close to some rocks that he could perch on. "Here- climb over to where I am. There should be a path with the stones." Not once did she stop to ask 'Hey, why is this guy want me so close to him?'
Don't you know there's part of me that longs to go into the unknown?
Nate’s not sure what changes, what stroke of fate clamours over them, but all at once the girl turned shark is now an amalgamation of both, a sleek shape that comes closer. Nate moves further out along the rocks as well, doing what he can to meet her midway, despite the way the waves, their spray, have him trembling, chill and fear both quaking through him.
But it doesn’t matter, not now that Delta is close enough for Nate to reach out, grab her hand, then her wrist with his other hand. His hands are steady, keeping her still long enough for him to lean in and bite the wrist he holds. There’s no fanfare, no soothing words or explanation, instinct taking precedence over care at the moment.
If he hadn’t already nearly drained Sunjata dry, there would be no stopping him, but there is a stern voice of warning in the back of his head, pulling him after a beat, two. Perhaps he drank a touch too long, but no harm should come to the mer, save for perhaps a slight dizziness.
Another wave crests over the rocks, threatening to drench him. Automatically, Nate shrinks away from it, a hand coming out to defend himself, magic he doesn’t know he’s taken answering the call, and stopping the worst of the wave from drenching him. Once it’s passed, and he can think about what he’s tasted, the point of this exercise, he cocks his head. ”You’re not sick.” He all but accuses, eye narrowed at the girl.
Every day's a little harder as I feel my power grow
The man makes his way over and Delta watches him, fully expecting him to talk about why he needed her so close. He started to move closer to her, grasping onto her arm. "Wait- what-" And before she could say anything else, a gasp left her mouth, fully cutting her speech off as fangs connected with her skin.
A shuddering breath left her mouth and she leans her head back, letting out a sigh of pleasure as her free hand grasps at nothing but water. Confusion is strongly in her mind. Why does she feel this way? Why does it feel so good? Why is he doing this?
When Nate finally pulls away, she takes a few seconds to bring herself back. A shudder courses down her spine and she looks back at him, cheeks beet red and mouth somewhat agape. His response is short and pretty much nothing. That she wasn't sick. "What did you do- why.... why did you do that? Why did it feel.... like that." So many questions. Pleasure was an unfamiliar feeling to her- she hadn't dated anyone before, never experienced any of that in her life. Was she supposed to feel this dizzy?
Don't you know there's part of me that longs to go into the unknown?
10-28-2020, 04:52 AM (This post was last modified: 10-28-2020, 04:53 AM by Nate.)
NATE
Yeah, I know wrong, I know right
But I just love to pick a fight
”Tried to... tried to see.” As far as explanations go, it’s awful, but expecting more from him at the moment is really an exercise in frustration for everyone involved. ”But there’s no sick, nothing to see, nothing to find.” Nate almost sounds out out, disappointed, but it fades as he scrambles back towards the beach, settling on mostly solid land again. The difference between the sky and the sea is getting blurry again, and it’s making his chest seize and ache with worry.
Once he’s back where he belongs though, a wide blue eye finds Delta’s shape again, not noticing her flush. ”Its always like that. I think.” Nate heaves a sigh, then falls sideways to the ground, evidently less concerned about the lingering grit of the sand than anything else. ”I’m a doctor. It’s how I help.”
Every day's a little harder as I feel my power grow
Her curse melts away, the fin and other appendages disappearing. The voice stops. The nagging sounds that had been yelling at her and controlling her and making her feel so horrible was gone.
Eyes widen and she tunes out almost all of what Nate says. She stares off into the distance before raising hand to her face, brushing her hair to the side. A small bit of laughter leaves her lips and she finally looks back at the Ascended. "You- you fixed me.... you took my curse away-" She had no idea what he did. Was it the bite? Did the bite fix her? Or maybe was it that he's a doctor? Either way... she was cured! Oh, thank the gods! Bless the gods! After so long, she was finally at peace.
"Thank you... is there any way I can repay you?"
If he wants nothing, go ahead and FIN c:
Don't you know there's part of me that longs to go into the unknown?
A furrow pulls Nate's brows together, not understanding the mer's words in the least. "There's nothing to fix." It's all but a whine, a groan of frustration and sudden sharp upset. "It's still there it's all still there. We're cursed, utterly fucked." Hands rise from where he lays on the sand, grasping at the distant stars as if they held the answers he sought.
"Doctors work for free." Nate says easily, shouting the answer into the sky and knowing it will find its way to the girl in the sea. "Only..." He sits up suddenly, spraying sand everywhere with a quick motion. "Only here though. You need things in other places." With that sage and utterly useless advice imparted, Nate forced himself back to his feet, his original offering forgotten in favour of simply wandering again, leaving behind the girl and the sea in favour of whatever half-remembered path he was embarking on.
