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!
It's as if something within you is pulled and nudged at - it wants you to go, even though you're not sure where it is you're going. Only, upon getting up... you do know. The world is swallowed up black in front of your eyes, and no sooner have they adjusted to the darkness when stars begin to wink overhead.
Only these are no skies that you recognise (or do you? Look closer, maybe) and around you, the most magnificent gardens span for miles.
There's a sense of waiting. A sense of something coming. A sense of more.
You're expected.
THIS IS A THREAD FOR THE OLD GOD DEMIGODS.
Please wait for your heralds to post, and then respond with your characters to go and stand with them. (That's Amalia and Ronin to Safrin, and Delphia and Remi to Ludo). Please imagine that Frey/Rae are there throughout this thread, however since there are no demigods associated with them, we won't be writing them because it's a lot of work, lol.
Little hands, blackened with frostbite, beckon those who are aligned with death over to a brightly burning bonfire in the middle of the twilight gardens. Ludo warms its fingers and wiggles its toes, taking the form of a dark haired youth, though all those who are close to it will not be so surprised at this appearance.
It still wears the rags, though, and its porcelain mask hangs over the back of its neck like a hood. Humming tunelessly, it appears nonplussed at the summon, like it's been waiting around for them for some time. And maybe it has been. You don't know.
LUDO
Braved the forests, braved the stone
Braved the icy winds and fire
Braved and beat them on my own
Don't be scared. Safrin whispers to Ronin and Amalia, her voice like the rush of spring water through their minds.
When they appear from the darkness and haze of whatever it was they were doing before, it will be to see Safrin standing beneath an oak tree, its boughs magnificent and bursting with starlight. Dressed in a white gown, her hair in luxurious plaits interspersed with golden circlets, Safrin has never looked more like a goddess than she does now. Her chin held high and her face an exquisitely painted mask of utter delight (despite whatever she might be feeling on the inside), she gestures to those who fall under her banner.
oh but that's the irony: broken people are not fragile
"Uh..Ronin, I'll —" be back, he was going to say, as the world swallowed him up and spat him out. Only his warning wasn't needed; blinking away the darkness to reveal a very different forest from the one he'd just been in, Remi is surprised to see Ronin at his side. Half-dressed, having been about to take a nap with Mateo, Remi balls up the shirt he was holding and frowns deeply at Ludo. "We have a son, you know." He grumbles a touch petulantly. Obviously Ludo knows this, and likely also knows that Mateo was currently being fed lunch by a very lyrical-fox.
Still, ferociously protective of Mateo, especially during this season of life, the Lullaby is not pleased to be snapped away without warning.
Giving Ronin a lingering look of anger and anticipation, the Lullaby moves toward Ludo, his gaze very obviously not looking toward Safrin at all.
The Lullaby
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
"Yeah, me..." Too goes unsaid, and they're both whisked away into the shadows. Safrin's voice lingers in his mind as they appear in a bewitching sort of garden, the Star gazing around until his eyes land on the lady of the stars and a smile crosses his face. He's underdressed, his shirt open and his pants unbuttoned, hair still damp and a towel in hand. A snapshot of domestication, this is unexpected to say the least.
Still, he flickers a lingering, warm look at Remi, as if to tell him it will be alright, and crosses the grasses to stand under the tree with Safrin. He's careful not to look at either of the Freys, not knowing what will happen if he does, instead gazing up at his goddess as he draws close. "This place is beautiful," he remarks.
Amalia has just sat down for tea when she hears the call. More feeling than words, the gentle compulsion is not to be denied, and the Shield rises with her mug clasped in her hands, looking around curiously for its source. Frowning, the girl takes a step forward-
-into darkness. And then, light.
Amalia recognizes the figures instantly, awe filling her in a brimming, crystalline brightness that threatens to spill and bubble over, her dark eyes glittering as she looks around. I'm not afraid, is the instant reply to Safrin's silent whisper, and truth be told for once in her life Amalia is not. She feels purpose, excitement, a burning hope. The awkwardness of her last encounter with Ronin and Remi is a miniscule thing, washed away beneath the weight of the incredible thing that is happening.
Coming to stand beside her goddess, Amalia flashes Ronin a shy, tentative smile before turning to the rest of the assembled gods. Something is happening, something big, and that she has a part to play in it leaves the Shield overwhelmed with speechless joy and pride.
She wants the silence but fears the solitude she wants to be alone and together with you
The darkness had always been her friend. The night's cloak cradling her since the day she was reborn into the world, the daughter of death, an omen of her father's reach. But now it weighed heavy on her chest, suffocating, strangling, and ever present. Even Safrin's beautiful sun could not dispel the storm clouds that filled her days with emptiness, blending into eachother in a seamless tapestry of nothingness.
And so, when she was called and pulled through the wefts of the various dimensions, she hardly noticed at first. But slowly the demigoddess sat up, looking around as expressionless as Ludo's mask. A garden. The Heralds. How peculiar.
Delphia rose, making her way over to the fire where Ludo and Remi waited. "My brother." she said softly to Remi in greeting. "Ludo." she greeted the Herald softly, nodding her head to the usually masked diety. Her eyes fell to the fire briefly. "A shame. We should have brought marshmallows." she said, remembering its penchant for sweets.
The voice appears to rumble from the very ground itself, and between the oak tree and the fire, a gale of petals suddenly blows and whips together to form the God of Life.
Vi glances around those who are gathered, his deep and endless eyes lingering on each herald, each demigod gathered, lingering for a moment on his own chosen, on Amalia.
"Would that there were more of us," he mutters. "There is precious little time for preamble. You have been called here because the threat to Caido is growing. And with it, so must its defences. The Ascended have chosen a stronghold in the Hollowed Grounds, it seems." He scoffs. As if it would be any other place.
"We act in response. The Greatwood is optimal for this purpose, and StormBreak still seeks to become a bastion against the Ascended. Heralds, speak to where your chosen are best suited."
Again, his gaze lands upon Amalia. "The Shield, I believe, would do well to liaise with the Order."
Sparks flash brightly from the fire around which Ludo, Delphia, and Remi have gathered. Mort rises like a phoenix of light bursting from the ashes, and yet rather than revel in the grandeur of his entrance, instead he turns a warm gaze to his herald, his daughter, and the Lullaby. "It has been too long." He beams towards Delphia, before extending an arm toward Ludo that the herald might shift forms and drape itself across his shoulders, or simply occupy the space at his side. "Please to finally meet you, Remi Taliesin." Mort adds finally with a kind nod directed towards the alchemist.
Vi might not have time for much of a preamble, but Mort will always make time for greetings.
With a fond gaze for his soulmate, Mort waits until Vi has said what he will. Different though their approaches to this might be, they stand unified in the decision they've made. "If we act now, we can hopefully prevent more death. The Voice seems intent on expanding her reach, and I'm afraid we might have been too soft in our efforts previously." There is no judgement in Mort's voice, only soft acknowledgement of what has come to pass.
"My daughter, I believe that you would be best suited to remain where you are in the Greatwood. You are an ideal liaison between the Fae, the Woods, and the rest of the world."
11-09-2020, 10:35 PM (This post was last modified: 11-09-2020, 10:35 PM by Safrin.)
SAFRIN
Safrin beams as Ronin appears, her arms held out to him to graciously welcome him to her side. In other instances, she has appeared mortal to him, fragile and touchable. Now she is all ethereal beauty, and as she wraps her arms around him, it will be like feeling moonlight made corporeal.
"No, of course not." The goddess agrees, turning toward Amalia and beckoning her near as well. Moving to brush away a strand of loose hair from the Shield's eyes, the goddess smiles widely, turning away only when Vi appeared beside them. Standing straighter, glowing more fervently and with eyes as bright as any lover's might be, Safrin falls entirely silent as she listens to Vi speak.
Turning to Ronin, she holds out a hand that he might place his in hers. "Stormbreak. It is a world you will understand well, based on your past." Her thumb slips over his knuckles. "I daresay you might even enjoy it." She adds in a whisper, a smile curving her lips.
Ludo is about to lament as to the shame of not having marshmallows, reaching out to pat at Remi's forearm, like that will soothe the exquisite rage it feels rolling from its chosen, when Mort appears. Its hands clap together, and with a surge of black rags, the herald streams upwards to drape around the God of Death's shoulders. Its porcelain mask smooshes against the deity's face, and its rags tie loosely about his neck.
Still, it finds a tendril of fabric to flap at Remi. "You are already in the Greatwood, sweetling. You possess all the necessarily tools, equipment and power to create a worthy stronghold there. Together with Delphia, you will be able to use my woods, and the rest of the forest, to create something to stand against the Ascended."
Demigods, please feel free to react IC to this news! After you post, stand by for heralds and/or gods to wrap up.
Any specific questions you may have for your individual alliances should be made in separate shrine threads, if you please. ^_^
LUDO
Braved the forests, braved the stone
Braved the icy winds and fire
Braved and beat them on my own
oh but that's the irony: broken people are not fragile
Stormbreak, Safrin says to Ronin. The Greatwood, Ludo says to him.
Feathers snarl through the alchemist's curls, and the shirt bunched up in his hands drops to the ground. It doesn't take Remi's empathy magic for those around to him to see the conspicuous fury that radiates out of the alchemist as clearly as Ronin's starlight pours out of him. "No." He replies, clear-eyed, his attention directed at Ludo (and because of the God's proximity, to Mort as well).
"We have a newborn son." Remi's voice is confident, though all the more accented for his anger and determination. "Where Ronin goes, I go." Strong as the alchemist might be in other settings, here he is nothing. Not against the gods of Life, Death, and Nature. Still, Remi stands for very few things these days, chief among them being his family.
The Lullaby
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Safrin's hand on her cheek has Amalia closing her eyes, leaning into the soft caress with a smile of perfect contentment and pride. And then Vi is there, standing before he in all his majesty, and the asters in the Shield's hair glitter in pale reflection of his blooming beard. Awe-filled and reverent eyes gaze upon her God, the Shield flushed with purpose and piety as his gaze is turned to her. "I will do my best for you," the girl murmurs softly, bowing her head in thanks for the opportunity to prove herself again.
Before things have a chance to go south, before he looks away, the Shield clears her throat. "Father... I learned recently from one of the Order that the Voice is trying to alter her machine, to allow only Accepted and Ascended into Caido. Is there any way for us to stop this?"
As for Remi's fury, well. Amalia expects nothing else for the Lullaby, and though she empathizes with the man's fears at losing his family, the task they have been called to is larger than any of them.
She wants the silence but fears the solitude she wants to be alone and together with you
Safrin's arms slip around him and he isn't sure whether it's his own dazzle causing the area to glow, or simply being in her presence. Still, as the terms are laid out, as he's given his orders - Stormbreak, his hand slipping into Safrin's before he even realises what he's done - Ronin only has eyes for Remi. The glow around him grows more intense, proving it to be his own, and he squeezes Safrin's hand without noticing.
It isn't that he doesn't feel the same way - like he wants to breathe but there isn't any breath to take; like a hole has been punched in his chest - but he's well aware that to act out now is the epitome of bad ideas. And it doesn't matter if the gods around them can hear, it doesn't matter if every sad scrap of their lives is nothing to the beings that surround them - he sends the message nonetheless, wrapped in a desperate plea for Remi to back down.
