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!
If she is to keep people safe, Amalia supposes she ought to start here: at the walls. Grand and imposing, the walls around Stormbreak seem to serve two purposes: to keep the world out, and to keep the people in. Indeed, Amalia herself has not stepped past the gates in the season and a half since she came to this place, and now as she waits for others to join her dark eyes drift forever up, to the imposing spires and the great stone dragons who watch over and judge all who would pass through.
She has some supplies for what she plans, as well as a few denizens who saw her notice and decided to help. Currently plied with scones, the small crew is in good spirits, chatting eagerly amongst themselves. Amalia stands somewhat to the side, waiting for Ronin and Seraphina and whoever else intends to join, as the thin morning light begins to dispel some of the evening's chill.
PQ to repair/improve on Stormbreak's defenses! One open spot.
Breakfast? Ronin's in, abilities or no abilities. He might not be able to fly on a cloud, or make two of himself, or blow things up with shooting stars... but he can still heft rocks around and bash things with a hammer. Does he know whether Amalia's strengthen the wall plan will involve any of that? Nope. Is he going anyway? You know the answer to that question.
"Morning," he calls to them around a mighty yawn, the Star shivering to himself as he trudges up to join her. He's wrapped up in a thick coat with a scarf bundled around his nose and mouth, gloved hands already held out either for tools or scones - whatever Amalia wants to hand him first. "Is this your version of cooking for people again?" He grins.
x-ray evenings, cross examining my case crossed my heart before i lied straight to your face
The invitation is well received, the Artificer spending the night before packing up what she’d need to haul out to the gates. So she arrives, bright and chipper (mornings were Seraphina’s brightest moments, full of clarity and ease), in a much less fancy outfit than she was typically seen in – but that’s thanks to work and not by choice. Regardless, her cart comes in tow, tools and her blueprints and notebooks settled easily within them. “Good morning!” She chimes, flashing a bright grin and a wave, slipping over to take a scone to devour relatively quickly before settling in beside Ronin and Amalia.
“Just let me know what you need me to do. I brought my blueprints in case we were making upgrades rather than just repairing.” A crooked smile crosses her face, a brightness flickering along her face as her dark eyes drift to Amalia.
i said i believed our best years had yet to take place but i don't really believe in anything
02-09-2021, 02:43 PM (This post was last modified: 02-09-2021, 02:43 PM by Amalia.)
Amalia
For my part, I know nothing with any certainty
Ronin gets a grin and a fistful of scones in his favorite flavors, while Sera earns a shier smile and directions to where she has food laid out. "Maybe," Amalia murmurs to the Star, leaving him to stuff his face as she gestures to some of the workers - all of whom are in awe to be in the presence of two demigods and the Artificer.
Once everyone is fed Amalia gathers them around, trying to look less anxious than she feels. "Okay- thanks, everyone, for helping." The smile she casts at each of them is dazzling and shy. "I thought first we could check for any weaknesses in the walls. We'll divide it into sections and spread out. Um. Look for, uh, cracks and loose stones?" Helplessly she looks at Sera, fully expecting the Artificer to know more.
And stuff his face he does; Ronin's gratitude comes in the form of a very muffled 'ank 'oo from around half a scone, and he drops back to chat and eat with the workers after casting Sera a bright wave. He and the Artificer might even be considered friends at this point, and that's something so quaint and ordinary that he can't help but be thoroughly enamored by the idea. A new friend in times like these is more of a blessing than he can articulate.
Then Amalia calls him over and he listens to her instructions like any dutiful soldier, even offering her a lazy salute (given, granted, around a scone) as she sets them to work. "I can do that!" he says, beckoning for some of the other workers to follow him as he goes to check the integrity of the wall with just his eyeballs and his hands. He doesn't wait for the very wise Artificer's input. Don't be ridiculous.
x-ray evenings, cross examining my case crossed my heart before i lied straight to your face
Amalia gestures toward the snacks and Sera absolutely helps herself, departing (nearly as food motivated as Ronin is) to grab a handful of snacks to dive in on while Amalia lists out the tasks at hand. Her gaze flickers to the rest of the crowd gathered to help, offering them soft smiles of greeting around the scones she eats, swallowing them down with warm sweet coffee. As Amalia’s gaze drifts toward her when it comes to what they’d look out for, Sera offers the Archangel a smile of encouragement and a nod of agreement. “Cracks, loose stones, even some things as small as hairline fractures.” There’s a moment where she pauses, fiddles around in a bag she’s brought, and pulls out a container that holds chalk within.
“Take some of these and circle the problem areas so we can come back to them, perhaps?” Flashing Amalia an easy smile, she sets the container down and grabs a piece of chalk, and grabs her group of people and heads to the section she’s chosen to work on – searching for exactly that.
Sera brings chalk to be able to mark the weak points and gets to work!
i said i believed our best years had yet to take place but i don't really believe in anything
Their enthusiasm is infective, bringing a bright smile to Amalia's face. Friends- what a novel idea, and yet as she looks at these two the Shield begins to feel that maybe, maybe, her life here is beginning to feel more complete. Both of them are eager to help, and the girl cannot help but laugh as Ronin salutes around a scone and Sera offers chalk. "Excellent," she says brightly, taking a stick and heading off to her section of the wall.
Amalia and Sera both get lucky - their portions of the walls are relatively intact. The Artificer finds two loose stones, while the Archangel discovers a portion of mortar that has rotted away and will need to be replaced.
Ronin, meanwhile, has uncovered a bigger problem. His section of stone is entirely covered by a dense swathe of ivy - very pretty, and very bad for the integrity of the wall. Inspection will find the mortar brittle and the rocks cracked. He'll have to remove the plants, replace the rocks, and re-mortar it all if he wants it looking good. Better get cracking, Dark Star.
Sera - you've got two loose stones!
Ama - you've got some rotting mortar!
Ronin - your bit of wall has been eaten by plants and needs to be redone.
02-16-2021, 08:56 PM (This post was last modified: 02-16-2021, 08:56 PM by Ronin.)
RONIN
the darkstar
"Well this sucks." Ronin's appraisal of the situation is made around the last of his scones, and he glances over his shoulder at the workers with him. "If you grab the materials and bring 'em over, I'll start rebuilding," he explains to them, ushering them on their way so they don't get hurt with whatever comes next.
And of course, we all know what comes next, given what the Dark Star is so good at. He might not have his powers, but he's still got brute strength, and so he reaches out with his bare hands tangling in the ivy, and he pulls. Yes, yes, he might bring the whole wall down, but that's the point isn't it?
Either way, Ronin is confident that he'll be able to get out of the way of anything that might tumble on him.
Ronin asks the workers to bring the materials to rebuild the wall, and tries to tear down the stone and ivy with his bare hands like a caveman.
x-ray evenings, cross examining my case crossed my heart before i lied straight to your face
Amalia’s excitement when it comes to the confirmation from Sera and the chalk offered up brings an easier grin to the Artificer’s face. And she grabs a few to spread among her workers before they’re departing to their section. She’s worked with a few of these workers before, and work appears to be quick as they scan over the wall, finding minimal problems and easy results.
Two loose stones? Easy. She marks them with chalk before she pulls out a measuring stick to measure the size of them, making note of it in a journal one of the workers is holding, before they’re moving to remove the stone that has caused the issue. “Can you fetch a few other rocks from the pile in these dimensions and grab some mortar so we can replace it?” She delegates, while she works to pry the stones that are loose from the wall, hoping the integrity of the stones above and below it are intact enough to keep it from crumbling.
Sera delegates the rock finding and mortar grabbing to some of her workers while she works to pry the loose stones from the wall.
i said i believed our best years had yet to take place but i don't really believe in anything
Everyone sets to work with gusto - including Amalia, who gathers some mortar that has been prepared, letting a skilled mason demonstrate the best method of application before taking over. Perhaps it is all her time working on fixing buildings in the Hollowed Grounds that help her now; certainly construction has been a staple in her life, something all Grounders participate in based on community or necessity. Whatever the reason, Amalia demonstrates an impressive level of skill, removing the old mortar and replacing it with fresh. Her section of the wall is done.
The other two have far less luck. Ronin's assault upon the ivy is very effective at removing the encroaching wall.... and many of the stones beneath. As the Dark Star tears away the plants the cobbles beneath crumble, falling willy-nilly on either side and leaving an impressive hole the wall. Unfortunately he's not quite as spry as he thinks he is: one of the loose rocks manages to thonk right onto his foot, leaving what will become a nasty bruise over a hairline fracture. Ouch.
The Artificer is similarly unfortunate. The extent of the damage was greater than she'd originally thought, and when she pulls the first stone from its place the entire section shudders and groans. It is her only warning before a hollow space is revealed, and within... well. Two sky-blue eyes glare out at Sera, eyeing the woman warily. The cloud wyrm is wrapped jealously around its pile of ill-gotten treasure, and doesn't seem at all interested in giving it up. You'll have to come up with a creative solution to getting it to give up its den.
Amalia is very successful, and her part of the wall is done! Yay!
Ronin manages to tear down a bit chunk of wall. There is now a spyhole in it. Not really the intended result, but here we are.
Sera has found a cloud wyrm's den! It seems very displeased. Poor little guy.
This is going great. Just great, honestly. Ronin has been swearing at his foot, the rock, the ivy, and the hole in the wall for some time before the workers return with the materials he needs to rebuild the thing - and it isn't even all the way down yet. He directs the workers to clear away the ivy and the rocks he's torn down, limping his way to completing that task - hopefully without any further injuries. Only when he's satisfied that the wall is in a suitable position to rebuild does he try to mix some mortar and get it all set back up.
This, at least, is something he's fairly familiar with. This isn't the first construction he's done - jails and cottages and guildhouses, oh my! - and so he ignores the throbbing in his foot to try and at least get the task at hand complete. It might be at the sacrifice of his foot, but gods damn it, it will be done.
Ronin swears a lot and continues trying to tear down the wall witht he ivy, and mix mortar to rebuild.
x-ray evenings, cross examining my case crossed my heart before i lied straight to your face
She thinks it’s going well enough, until she removes the one brick and everything begins to falter and shift. Brows furrowing, she peers at the hole that’s been created, sure that she’d taken into account the structure of it all. But what she hadn’t taken into account were the bright eyes that peer at her from within the little makeshift den, surprise crossing Sera’s features as she hasn’t expected a creature to be lingering within the wall. “Oh! Oh, hello!” She says, covering her prior scare with a huff of laughter.
She doesn’t know exactly how to get it out, but she thinks on it for a good few moments, asking one of the workers to grab a cloth so she might be able to reach in and try to get the cloud wyrm out of the structure hopefully without getting bit. She doesn’t think she’ll be successful, but she tries to coo some soothing words to the little creature, just as she remembered her sister doing to those frightened ones in the Celestine. “Come on, little one, let’s get you a new den.” She hums softly and as gently as she can.
The Artificer instructs her fellow workers to put together a little makeshift den that they might be able to set up further in, against the wall without it being harmful to the structure of the wall, and hopefully they’ll have made something up by the time she has a hold on the creature.
Sera’s surprised, but she asks for a blanket and for her workers to put together a little makeshift den outside of the wall that she might be able to reach in and grab the cloud wyrm to relocate it to the new den.
i said i believed our best years had yet to take place but i don't really believe in anything
The yelp of pain and string of curses from Ronin catch Amalia’s attention at once; prey-like hyperreactivity quickly gives way to empathetic amusement as she walks toward where the Dark Star swears at his foot. “Hold still,” the girl instructs, rolling her eyes good-naturedly. ”I’ll kiss it better.” And yes, there’s still a pink flush to her cheeks when she says this, the words feeling brazen and brash on her lips. Amalia does not kiss the foot, but she does close her eyes and hum a series of low notes, summoning up a healing wind to whip around Ronin and tousled his hair, leaving him repaired and refreshed.
If only it were so easy to repair the wall.
Alas for Ronin, it just isn’t his lucky PQ day. The team is able to outfit the rocks into place, but there’s been some mistake in the mixing of the mortar and what he’s left with is a watery mess that will take longer than usual to set. It sticks to his hands, his shirt, a little in his beard, and mercifully, the wall itself, allowing for the reconstruction to be largely completed. It helps that the Archangel is there to help as well, following Ronin’s instructions and sprouting wings to place the higher stones.
Sera’s new friend chirps grumpily at the Artificer, and for a moment it seems her offer of new shelter is going to be rejected. But something in the Artificer’s nature speaks to the creature, un-Attuned though she may be. The wyrm vanishes deeper into its den, and there’s a jangling and clattering sound. Then it emerges, all but launching itself onto Sera’s shoulder, a number of treasures wrapped around its arms and legs. Chattering urgently, it will keep itself in place with sharp claws until it is confident all its hoarded goods are going to be moved along with it, then begrudgingly accept its temporary new den.
Ronin’s mortar is too watery, but luckily he is able to complete the wall anyway with Amalia’s help!
Sera has convinced the cloud wyrm to trust her!
"Oh will you?" Ronin smiles charmingly (was there ever any doubt) as Amalia offers to kiss his foot better, and were it not for the actual hairline fracture, he'd have wiggled his toes obnoxiously for good measure. As it is, a gentle breeze whips up around him, wiping away his aches and pains, and the Star's smile turns sunny and grateful. "Thanks, Ama," he rumbles; hopefully it's a sign of his luck changing.
Spoiler alert - it ain't.
Ronin makes, above all, a complete mess. Yes, the wall ends up repaired, and yes he's grateful for the help. But he does end up wearing a lot of the mortar, looking like he's doing a terrible impression of a stone golem by the time all is said and done. "Will that do? Please tell me that will do," he says, trying to wipe off his beard.
