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!
and my hands aren't clean maybe they never will be
Aurelia's glad to have the help but it appears this is where her luck runs dry. They manage... very little, if anything at all, in the way of prying this thing from the heavy sand. Or maybe it's what's heavy. Maybe that's a good sign, at the very least.
Giving it one last heave, she relents with a huff. She's not able to formulate any other ideas herself so right when she's about to agree with Melita, to at least try it that way, Sunjata comes up with an even better idea.
However, Aurelia's not inclined to think of it that way. Her expression twists into disbelief and then rejection, but she hardly gets the word "Dragon!?" out before he is one. Even if he created plenty of space for himself, the simple fact of actually seeing a dragon in person is enough to knock Aurelia onto her ass. For a moment, all she can do is sit there in the waves, glaring.
Great. Her expression is dark but, rather than make any sort of argument, she hoists herself back up. At least he gave her warning - she's not sure if it was fair warning, but.. all the same. This better work, she thinks to herself.
Retrieving the shovel, she attempts to squeeze it underneath the bone and push it up. So she might give Dragon-Jata better leverage.
Aurelia, soaking wet and unamused, uses her shovel to try to dislodge the bone.
but they can still carry you home when you're ready to sleep
The honeybee youth hadn’t thought of the dragon possibilities, and nodded her assent, accompanied by a shrug. Grabbing hold of her tools, and Fangorn, she backed out of the way, ignoring Aurelia’s surprise, and watched as the colossal creature’s efforts did them some good.
The bone was gradually lifted, but still seemed stuck, and far larger, than they first realized. While it gave her some immense relief in terms of the likelihood of it being a whale’s, it meant all of this work had become that much harder. “Okay, hang on,” she muttered and mumbled to Sunjata, placing her companion down on the sands, and rushing forward to assist in the digging.
Clinging deeper into the shallow water, drenched and soused, they all applied their efforts wholeheartedly, making some amount of progress. “Keep doing that,” she ordered to her uncle, half-hoping he might be able to pull even harder, tug even more, while she and Aurelia sifted into the softening earth.
--
Keep at it! Decent rolls next time should free this thing up!
i'll put all my pieces back together where they belong, and i'll say
There is a hint of amusement that crosses Sunjata at Aurelia’s reaction to the large shift. But he had warned her, of course, as his large form slips back over to try and pry the bone out with their help. He listens to Melita, offering a low rumble from his large, armored throat, holding in place for a moment while Melita instructs him on what to do.
And he does exactly as she suggests, keeping a hold of it with a clawed hand, shifting a bit so he might be able to sit and use his one good wing for support to offer his other clawed hand to help pry the bone out with a bit more strength while still leaving room for Melita and Aurelia to continue to try and dig underneath to release the hold the wet sand had on the bone.
Sunjata tries to pry up using both hands now!
god, i'm a mess
SUNJATA
No permission needed for power play!
Feel free to use magic/force on Sunjata, without killing him <3
Sunjata speaks with an Australian accent and has a passive magic that makes him produce a subtle scent that matches exactly to whatever those around him most desire him to smell like.
and my hands aren't clean maybe they never will be
Aurelia tries to ignore the fact that Sunjata is a dragon right now, which in and of itself is a little ridiculous. It's just a bone. She shrugs these thoughts off in favor of a less severe whatever works, I guess kind of attitude.
She uses the shovel to push and pivot at the bone, trying to be careful not to actually break it or something unhelpful like that. This is proving to be really difficult, even with a dragon's strength.
So she eyes the water, attempting to see how far this bone goes. Spying a bit of wiggling further beneath the sand, Aurelia moves over and continues to work at it with the shovel. Sand and seaweeds are pulled and rocks and stones pushed.
Aurelia moves further down to get rid of anything that might be weighing the bone down, like sand n seaweed n rocks n shit ;0
but they can still carry you home when you're ready to sleep
It started to move, bit by bit, nudge by nudge, and it didn’t seem to matter that Melita fell face first into the water (moving sand and a strong wave), because Aurelia and Sunjata seemed to have it all in stride. Once the honeybee became upright, waterlogged and all, she assisted Aurelia in maneuvering the bits and pieces of seaweed, of dunes, out of the way.
And little by little, more of the bone exposed itself, slowly, painstakingly, unearthing from the dunes, rising up out of the water-laden loam. Claws and hands wrapped around its surface, and even Fangorn’s vines, pulling, pulling, pulling, the lengthy knob unfurling from the land’s grip. And though the youth’s muscles ached, she persisted, grumbling under her breath all the while.
Then, between a dragon, a mage, and a mercurial thing’s strengths, it ascended from the shackles and tethers, then cast back down with a mighty splash.
For a moment, Melita was very quiet, a bit stunned, staring at the figment sinking back down into the shallows. It took her a few instances to lift her jaw back into place, stifle a roll of laughter, and then continue on their way. “Let’s get it out of the water?” She had no idea how heavy it might be, and with the three of them, it’d be far, far easier.
02-16-2021, 12:31 AM (This post was last modified: 02-16-2021, 12:34 AM by Aurelia.)
AURELIA
and my hands aren't clean maybe they never will be
Falling into the waves is par for the course, at this point. Aurelia's clothes are already soaked through, hair sopping wet. There's a salty taste on her lip as the water drips down to it, but none of this deters her. She's no stranger to hard work, and this is for a good cause, so determination furrows her brow.
In all fairness, though, if this didn't work, she might've resorted to kicking it.
She relaxes in genuine surprise when the bone pops out of its oceanic prison. "Hah," she belts out a triumphant laugh, "piece o' cake!" She flashes a grin towards Melita and Dragon-Jata.
She needs no prompting to fasten a hold on one end of the bone, ready to hoist up the thing and carry it to dry land.
Aurelia does even LIFT, bro
but they can still carry you home when you're ready to sleep
i'll put all my pieces back together where they belong, and i'll say
He works to pry at the bone, looki over with some bit of concern to find that Melita was drenched, having fallen into the waves, his long tail sweeping out to block any incoming waves for the time being while they continue to pry the bone up. It works, and the bone plops into the wet sand and Sunjata’s stepping back so he might shift back into himself. Now that it’s not dug into the sand it should be easier to move the bone between the three of them.
So he does, shifts back into himself, stepping over to help grab the other end of the bone from where Aurelia has grabbed it, flashing Mel an easy smile. “Over here’s out of the tide, we can set it there and have a look?” He suggests to Melita, waiting to ensure she accepts it before he trudges that way to deposit the bone and rub off a bit of the sand to get a better look at it.
Sunjata suggests taking it out of the tide to a dry sandy spot on the beach for them to take a look at it, grabbing the other end from Aurelia and taking it there if Mel agrees!
god, i'm a mess
SUNJATA
No permission needed for power play!
Feel free to use magic/force on Sunjata, without killing him <3
Sunjata speaks with an Australian accent and has a passive magic that makes him produce a subtle scent that matches exactly to whatever those around him most desire him to smell like.
Nothing more than strength, and some strategy on Sunjata’s part, was required for this turn of movement and motion. Despite the aching nuances in her muscles, in her joints, in her spine, in places where wasn’t even aware she had force and power, the honeybee growled and lifted. Between the three of them, the bone was lifted out of the surf and swell, and though they were drenched, and soused, they inclined towards the dry land.
And then could drop it upon the sand, for inspection and perusal.
A big breath, a forceful inhale, then exhale, coincided as she stood closer, crouching over the filaments. Fangorn grumbled something by her ankles, but her hands surveyed over the weather-beaten frame, some shortened piece of a fin perhaps, taking a glance at where waves might have shorn it apart, where something, somewhere, had ensured this massive beast didn’t live.
Enough of a boon for today then.
“I think we did it,” she whispered, and then grinned, wide and Cheshire, at the pair before her. Eventually, she’d place it along a tarp, easier to manage, carry, and drag that way, to complete the rest of the rituals. But for now, she could pull a couple bottles out of her bag, celebratory swigs for a job well done. “Thank you guys. We pulled it off.”
