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!
Anden knew better than to walk the outskirts alone. He hadn't been back since the incident with Dani. He pushed the memories from his mind. If Anden needed sleep, he was certain the images of his twin's face twisted and hallowed would keep him up.
But Anden also knew he had to get out and about again. He couldn't let the incident hold him back. If he didn't keep exploring, keep searching Caido for new places to visit and see. Then he wasn't really living. That was something he knew Eloise Marie, wherever she was wouldn't be able to handle. They couldn't hold each other back. They had to push each other forward, even if they weren't with one another.
He'd heard about the fields from the locals. It's where the majority of the crops in the area were grown. Fields and farmland weren't uncommon in his own world. Not that he had ever seen them himself though. Merchants would travel to their inn and trade their produce with his parents. He knew that much.
It was the smell that caught Anden's attention first. The mix of fresh herbs and natural fertilizer. He understood now why the locals were confused why he'd want to visit the fields. It was still a new experience for Anden though. Mixed in with the new, was a familiar orange vegetable.
It was a rare dinner item back home, few farmers would grow pumpkins. And they were so season-specific that they were lucky to see one every year. Anden knelt down to admire the orange produce. It was larger than the ones back home. He rubbed his right hand over the tough exterior, part of him wondered if it tasted the same as it did back home.
NOM.
Anden blinked as the pumpkin revealed a mouth, and clamped its teeth down onto Anden's hand. With his free hand he pulled the pumpkin off of himself, holding it a distance from his body. "Why does everything need to be so difficult?" Anden sighed.
It wasn't the feral pumpkin in his grip that worried him, no. It was the sound of the leaves being crushed behind Anden that raised the spikes along his spine.
Feline eyes followed the vampire gourd as it stalked through the fields, rolling about after it's prey. It had no idea that it was hers, that she sought to sink her claws into its sinuous insides and rip out it's seeds. They'd be good to roast, and it'd be one less pest on the leafchange horizon. Her shoulder blades jutted sharply up with each step, she was a beast that oozed poise, ferocity, and focus.
Hidden beneath the tall grass, Aisha watched as a man grew near, one she knew at that. She could warn him that the gourd had placed itself so cleverly before him, waiting for him to come near so it could strike. But instead she watched with curiosity from her crouched position, tail flicking below the line of sight as she waited to see how he'd respond. Because yes, it might be a little funny; how juvenile of her.
And it was, watching it chomp at his arm and him so surprised. He handled it well himself, though something behind him caught her eye. There was another, slowly rolling his way, seeking to take him out from the back. Her pink salmon tongue moved over razor sharp teeth as she purred to herself, preparing to pounce.
Just as the creature made ready to leap at Anden, Aisha shot from her hiding spot, tearing forward a few quick bounds before leaping and tackling the gourd to the ground. He claws struck through the beast, and she sunk her teeth into the course orange flesh around it's stem. It would never not be strange feeling her prey fall still between her teeth and tasting pumpkin juice instead of blood.
The leopard swung her golden spotted head towards the man, the stringy seedy carnage of her kill displayed on her maw.
He should have been terrified. If Anden was still back at home exploring the forest, the sudden appearance of a wild cat would send him running home. Caido was different though. Or maybe he was different since the ascension. Or maybe it was seeing the haunting face of Eloise Marie. It was if the world of Caido had become more real, more deadly. How could something as simple as a large cat scare him now?
Anden flung the gourd from his hand as far as he could, before returning his attention to the large cat. The orange flesh of the guard it had devoured still dripping from its fangs. He had a hard time believing such an animal was native to the farmers fields, surely if that were the case guards of some kind would have been set up to keep them safe. Still though, he couldn't take the risk of assuming it was just another of the shifters.
The outlander kept his distance. Not willing to get to close to the creature, but also unwilling to let it out of his sight. He gave it a nod. It did save him, well kind of. Anden examined his hand where the gourd had decided to chomp onto him. Two bite marks remained, likely from their fangs. He wondered if he were still human, if it would have hurt.
Anden picked up an apple from the grassy ground, and tossed it towards the cat. "You're not here to murder me are you?"
11-13-2020, 06:42 PM (This post was last modified: 11-17-2020, 03:29 PM by Aisha.)
AISHA
and now we're breeding a feeling of animosity
Aisha was almost sure he'd recognize her, but it was just as likely he didn't connect the two forms. A spotted ear flicked as she ran her tongue over her teeth, licking away the goop of the gourd. Bright yellow eyes watched the man as he tried to make his decision; to flee or to fight, or to greet kindly. His response was a mix of both, a cautious phrase that made her purr in amusement.
Her tail lifted behind her as she strode towards him, then unless he would move away she'd walk past him, brushing his legs with her flank. As she came moved behind him she left the skin of the leopard behind, her tail disappearing last as she folded her arms and looked at him, "I guess not, you don't look like you'd taste as good," she replied teasingly. Surely he'd know her now, and so with a friendly smile she added, "Hi Anden."
fear has the sharpest teeth, it eats and eats and eats
Anden let out a sigh of relief. The Outlander offered a smile to his housemate. Although he'd seen Oliver and Aisha shift a handful of times by now it never ceased to amaze him. When they were brought to Caido they were given such an amazing gift. His eyes fluttered wide as he looked above at the darkened sky. He had his own gifts, but they came at a cost.
"No, I don't think I'd taste all that good, I doubt any of us ascended would." He coughed up a chuckle. "And I'd rather we not find out tonight." Anden moved closer to the ground, sticking his finger in the remains of the gourd. "Now this is something I'd be willing to try." He wasn't sure why he thought it would taste like anything - nothing did anymore. Where it would once send memories of his childhood, as he swallowed the remains it left a hollow taste in his heart.
Aisha. She was the one Oliver helped before Anden. She was away when Anden first arrived at the manor, but ever since she returned she seemed to have slid right in. As if she had never left. Anden could tell how much she and Oliver cared for each other. They were a dynamic duo, in many ways he felt that he and Dani were going to be like that one day.
Anden slid his bag off from his shoulder. Inside just enough wood to start a small fire. Though he lived in the darkness of the world, he still tried to bring some light in some way. Clearing away the grass and crops in a small area he set up the bonfire. Using a rock to start the flame. "Shouldn't you be in bed." Anden teased. Not that he was complaining. His adventures outside of the manor often got lonely, and he couldn't expect Dani to tag along every time. He grabbed a nearby stick and skewered parts of the orange flesh, before he roasted it over the small fire.
Aisha gave a soft hmph to his response, enjoying the playful return of his phrase. She raised her hands in feigned innocence, there would be no cannibalizing tonight on her part. She watched the ascended dip a finger into the gooey remains of the gourd she'd crushed, taking a taste for himself. Aisha had no idea whether or not ascended could taste; how close to real human were they? She tried to pull some semblance of answer from his expression, but there was nothing to be seen. Maybe that was her answer.
The man slid a bag from his shoulder and released it's contents, consisting of wood and kindling and other flammables. Intriguing, Aisha moved to the other side of the ring he formed, sitting herself down criss cross. It didn't take long for her fingers to absently rip at the grass, finding big clumps to throw into the hungry fire and watch curl and wither. Aisha loved fire, loved the heat, loved the look, loved the birth and destruction it was known for.
She glanced up from the enticing flame at his comment, a grin spreading across her face, "What are you my dad?" she replied as a good-natured snarl that crackled over the rising heat.
fear has the sharpest teeth, it eats and eats and eats
The flames grew. Licking the air between the pair. Curling and twisting in the gentle breeze. Fire represented life. Without it you'd freeze. He'd heard stories from travelers who had lost companions to the cold, countless times before. Though now, he wasn't sure it mattered all that much. His blood had been replaced with something different, his heart a shell of what it once was.
"Do I look like you dad?" Anden groaned, picking up the crispy orange flesh and tossing it towards Aisha. "I didn't think so." The four of them; Aisha, Anden, Dani and Oliver all lived together in the manor, between them Aisha was the loudest, the most wild. She had the heart of a warrior. Many things about Aisha encouraged Anden. She was different than Oliver who seemed at peace with the world, Aisha looked as though she wanted to fight for what she wanted.
Anden looked into the sky. Quickly he spotted his own constellation, the tall tree. To its right, he found Dani's bird flying freely. "If you look to the stars, what is it that you see?" Something about the stars could always bring Anden peace. They weren't the stars he'd grown up with, but they acted all the same. They told tales of their own, and he wanted to hear all of them. He gestured towards the group of stars that formed the tall tree. "That one is my home. Well not literally but, its a symbol of my home. The tall trees that protected my family, and hid us away from the Kingdom. It represents my past... But also I think my future." Anden thought about when he trained with Alina in the forest by the Grounds. That's when he realized Caido had more to offer, that there was more than the desperate Grounds, there could be beauty here.
Fight for what she wanted, she would. It was what she wanted that'd troubled her of late. To leave the grounds or to not. To stay where she was comfortable but losing her drive, or explore and find a new place to further her ambitions, to adventure and discover and be the heroine she wants to be. For now and for tonight, she is just the leopard girl, the housemate of the man before her.
"You don't know what my dad looks like," she returned with a chuckle and a smirk, enjoying the dry humor between them. She caught the gourd meat that was tossed to her, and with the fangs of the leopard she bit into it. Surprisingly good for a roasted sentient pumpkin, she took more and more bites after that. Aisha was loud yes, but at the nocturnal hour she was prone to reflection, to silence. She would've happily just eaten with him, letting the fox and the leopard enjoy the quiet they so relished, but Anden seemed to have other matters on his mind, and Aisha was attentive.
Up to the stars, her hazel eyes followed the constellations as they sizzled and burned up above. The stars from her world were different, or so she thought; she didn't often spend time thinking about the stars back then. Her thoughts had always been on more earthly matters, of politics and war and charms and whims. "I just see stars," she replied, "but I'm glad you can draw so much from them."
"What was your home like?"
fear has the sharpest teeth, it eats and eats and eats
Closing his eyes he tried to picture the man that would have raised Aisha. It was harder than he thought, did a man even raise her? She seemed far to wild to have had a father figure. Maybe that was it then, maybe she had no father.
"I'm glad one of us can enjoy this. Anden skewered more of the gourd on his stick. "It smells delicious." He gave an empty sigh. For all of the perks that The Voice created him with, it seemed no one talked about the little things they lost. He longed to taste again. To sink his teeth into red meat, feel the juices wash over his tongue and to taste.
Just stars? It would be a lie if Anden wasn't a little bit disappointed. To him the stars were almost everything. They were symbols of the life around him, and of the lives of the people he'd met. Far more than just stars. But Aisha wasn't like him, or like Dani. She was hardened. She was ready for the world at all times.
"My world... My home. It was beautiful, but dangerous. We lived on the edge of an ever-growing forest. The trees so tall that they hid the stars. But beyond the forest, beyond the trees was the kingdom. Where the people starved, and fought in an endless battle for their freedom." Anden looked into Aisha's eyes. "Nothing of beauty comes without a price."
But it was a price he and his family never paid. Tucked safely away they lived a relatively safe life. "And you Aisha? What of your home?"
It hadn't even occurred to her that he couldn't taste the gourd like she could. She forgot now and then that the Voice didn't simply bless her children with all the beauties of the world, her gift came with a price. And a cruel on at that, to become an unperson, to lose the physicality of living. What choice was Anden given in his fate? What choice had any of the outlanders been given. She would never forgive the Voice for that, for the dictation she had forced upon so many.
She gave a more humbled hum of consideration to his comment on the taste, and a nod, "It is."
Anden sprung into the tale of his world, where he'd been so recently. A forest, beautiful and winding and effervescent, and a kingdom, brutal and cruel. "Were you a part of the kingdom? Or was your forest beyond their reach?" she asked, posing her interest in the story he had to tell.
Soon after he'd finished, he asked about hers. She'd only ever told one person of the true nature of her status, most people knew her as a rising general on her home world turned swordsman here. Oliver kept her secret well, she would certainly not be the one to break silence. "My home was beautiful. Rolling fields scorched by sunlight, bright jungles, rivers and oases, and a city on the edge of the biggest and most crystalline waterfall you've ever seen."
"Nothing as gray and broken as the grounds."
fear has the sharpest teeth, it eats and eats and eats
"Everything was part of the kingdom." Whatever the prince could find he would claim. No one stood a chance against him. His army would march onwards at the flick of his finger, taking anything, anyone and everything they could. They spread fear throughout the lands without facing the consequences. "We survived by being too far... But who knows how long that peace will last." and he wasn't there to keep his family safe. To guide them through the forest, and into whatever lied beyond.
Nothing as gray and broken as the grounds indeed. It was no secret that he and Aisha viewed the Grounds as nothing more than a shell of what life could be. Everyone here was broken, everyone missing pieces of who they one were. It was one of the reasons he felt so uneasy here. "It sounds beautiful. I'm sure somewhere out here, there's a place that might rival its beauty." Whether he was certain or just hoping, he wasn't sure.
He sat in silence with Aisha. The pair enjoying the fire that separated them. It was in the silence beneath the stars that Anden felt most at ease. Under the watchful eyes of all those who had departed him. It was under the stars that he had all of his fondest memories. "Do you ever just want to get away? Away from all of the broken souls here? There has to be somewhere else, something more out there. Where people smile by default, where there's a humm of joy in the air?"
The subtle switch from past tense to present brought a bitter scowl to her face. A reminder to them both, that their homes went on without them. She'd stopped thinking about what had become of her home months ago, but the scar would always be there. The bubbling memories worried at the puckered skin there, seeking to reopen and tear. Aisha wouldn't let herself fall back into that cycle, of concern for things she no longer had control of.
She could only remember the way things were that moment, when she'd closed her eyes in the garden courtyard, under her sweet acacia.
"It's easy to get lost when you worry about what's been happening to your home now, I learned it's better to pretend things are okay," she offered her crude and possibly cruel advice. Forge a lie, Anden, a lie that even you are convinced of. That will offer you peace of mind, forced ignorance for sanctity of the mind.
She had told him of her home in the eastern kingdom, but only of the happiness there. That was all that really mattered now, all she'd chosen to take with her in stride (other than her lessons and foundations of discipline). "I haven't found anything close yet, but I'll always be looking," the girl replied, finishing her piece of roasted gourd and wiping her hands against the grass.
Silence befell them after that, if only for a moment. It was nice, to share a minute with a friend with nothing to say. Her shifts purred their appeasement, forming in a smile on her lips. The silence was eventually broken by another slew of deep questions, "You've got lots of words Andy," Aisha replied as a tease, leaning back on her hands and crossing her legs at the ankles.
She wasn't one to easily open up in any way other than sarcasm, vaguely reaching her point on the wings of a quip or a charm. But now felt different, it felt safe and confidential, vulnerable. "All the time. I used to think I could make this place a home, but I don't think so anymore. Staying here for so long has just been big fat waste of time," there was a gritting chuckle at this.
"I'm gonna leave," it felt strange to confirm it out loud. So definite and true. Aisha had said nothing before, because she only said what she was confident in. This, she felt in her heart. It was time for the grounds to become a vacation, not a prison.
fear has the sharpest teeth, it eats and eats and eats
Everyone seemed to want Anden to forget. To ignore everything from his past so he could build his future. At first the idea seemed wrong. His past was what made him. They were his roots that searched out life, and supported him for so long. After the event in the Glade though, when his memories came back to haunt him, he wasn't so sure anymore. What if moving on meant he couldn't be hurt by his past anymore. What if the only way to truly be happy was to grow new roots in Caido. Anden couldn't find the right words to reply to Aisha's suggestion. He knew that they both felt the same way.
"You try hiding away all day alone, and see how many words you have after that." Anden shot back. He usually wasn't the one to talk so much, but ever since coming here, he felt the need to make connections and speak more. He slid out of his dark jacket, balling it up and using it as a pillow while he stared out at the stars. Aisha was right though, the silence was beautiful.
The silence was broken by a simple statement. One that resonated with Anden all too well. I'm going to leave. The thought had crossed Anden's mind so many times since he arrived in the Grounds. The gloomy city wasn't the life he had ever pictured. It reminded him of the stories he heard from the traveler's fleeing the Kingdom. Anden raised his right hand and pointed to the sky. Above Dani's constellation he traced the image of a single petal. "In my world, the trees would blossom every year, and their petals would travel with the winds for miles and miles. You might not care for the stars, but..." He gave a small sigh. "Now whenever I feel like I'm missing you. I can look up into the sky and have a piece of you."
Another bane of being ascended that Aisha had forgotten; their aversion to the day. Seemed rather obvious, but she knew so many ascended who were given the ability to walk under the sun, blessed by their goddess further than their brethren. Though she disapproved of the new goddess for many personal and possibly one sided reasons, she still hoped that Anden could find peace with her, and gain the boon of her favor.
She waved off his sassy response, enjoying the bickering. They hadn't had too much time to talk and bond before, but this was nice. This was relaxing and good, and in the black of night the grounds around them didn't seem so gray. She enjoyed herself as the quiet continued, and even still when it was pierced with his voice.
There was another peace after she spoke her last, confirming her departure. It felt right, things felt right today. Her eyes followed his hand as he traced the stars, a warmth filling her body in the midst of the cool autumn night. She looked back over to him, curious, cautious almost of his sentimental expressions. It seemed genuine, it was nice, and she smiled, "Which.. which one was it again?" she asked, maybe I should look at the stars more often.
fear has the sharpest teeth, it eats and eats and eats
