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!
// down by the river i was drawn by your grace, into tempest of oblivion and to the lover's place i was stuck in a puddle, full of tears and unwise, dark doings now i know, that we've paid unlike //
A day of work leaves Sera far less put together than she typically appears. The workshop can get warm, leaving her in a short sleeved shirt with marks on it from work, pants made for flexibility, and boots that certainly made it so she wouldn’t destroy her foot should she drop something. Today’s full of working on both the easel for Ronin (finishing it up actually) and working on a few defenses, that should Ronin arrive in the workshop before her, he’d find her blueprints spread out along her desk, the 3D form of an easel easily shown hovering above it.
And when she returns, it’s with the pieces of wood, carefully cut to fit together, with a thin sheen of sweat along her arms and her neck, her hair tied back in a bun as she drags along the cart that holds them all. Taking a peek at the design, she fumbles around in a drawer to the side, pulling out varying nails and a hammer in order to fit it all together. If he has arrived before her, she doesn’t notice, not as autopilot has her absolutely in the zone, beginning to nail the pieces together.
Ronin hasn't arrived before Seraphina - but he has been there for some time. Indeed, he's slipped into the workshop in an old shirt with the sleeves rolled to the elbows and a pair of pants that have seen better days; his sketchbook is under his arm, and since she's clearly very busy, he takes the opportunity to get some work done before the easel is finished up. It's the situation that finds him perched on a crate a little ways behind Sera, charcoal in hand as he sketches her at work.
He's been here for long enough that the sketch has come to life, and only when he's started shading does he think to speak up. "Do you think it'll be much longer?" he asks brightly, his smile crooked and knowing even as his hands continue to sketch and smudge at his work. "No worries if not. I've got plenty here to keep me occupied."
// down by the river i was drawn by your grace, into tempest of oblivion and to the lover's place i was stuck in a puddle, full of tears and unwise, dark doings now i know, that we've paid unlike //
He’s been there a while, which doesn’t bother Sera any. She works easily, moving to place the boards she’d just cut into position so she might nail them into place. She pauses to bring one side up, ensuring that it’s even, before she moves toward the other side to nail it in, pulling a nail from her lips to glance up at him over her shoulder with a hum of a laugh. “Not much longer. Just need to nail this into place and then put them together and you should be set.” She flashes a wink his way, before she’s nailing the piece together.
Once she ensures that’s even, she stands them both up, placing the last couple of boards together to frame it around the top so that it’ll connect them at the bottom and the top, marking them with a pencil to nail it into place. She makes quick work of it, before she’s standing and brushing the rogue pieces of hair that have fallen out of her bun back out of her face. Placing her hands on her hips, she turns back to Ronin. “Alright, Starring Artist, give it a shot.” (Ha, get it?)
"Sounds like a plan to me," Ronin murmurs, watching her work for a moment or two before his attention returns to his sketch. By the time Sera is all finished, the miniature version of her that's also making an easel is also complete, alive in his sketchbook in shades of grey. He glances up, having been lost in his muse, only to grin at the pun. "Oh, har har," he rumbles - not that he's got much in the way of stars right now. Still, Ronin puts his sketchbook away and moves to grab at one of his canvases, bringing it over to stand beside Sera.
Carefully, he sets the thing on the structure she's made, standing back to check that it's level and sturdy enough to paint on. A smile flashes across his face. "That looks perfect," he says. "Though I don't know why I ought to be surprised. Shall I christen it by making you something to hang in your workshop?"
// down by the river i was drawn by your grace, into tempest of oblivion and to the lover's place i was stuck in a puddle, full of tears and unwise, dark doings now i know, that we've paid unlike //
His grin at her pun is far more amusing than her pun had been, and she steps back to let him inspect the easel with a playful grin on her face. He drags over a canvas, setting it on the easel and Seraphina watches the structure of her creation hold the weight of the canvas with ease. Her arms have lifted from being sat on her hips to folding across her chest as she leans against her desk, eyes lifting to the Star at the offer.
“Oh, you absolutely should. I’d be offended if you didn’t.” She chimes to him, flashing him an easy grin and an elbow in his side as she walks past him to grab one of her other projects she’d been working on to bring over to her desk. She picks it up, hoisting another little bag of tools onto her shoulder, and sets the box on the desk beside the blueprints, settling in to work on it and perhaps watch Ronin begin to paint something.
"Well I would never want to offend you, madam," Ronin drawls, carefully moving easel and canvas to an area where he won't risk splashing any of Seraphina's other projects with paint. His sketchbook is included in that protected group, and so he moves it out of the way as well, before getting his paints set up. "What are you working on right now?" he asks curiously, even if his eyes are all for the canvas. He begins with cosmic blues and deep black - a bold choice, given the richness of the colours, but Ronin doesn't seem to be worried.
Indeed, there's already a streak of paint on his cheek as he brings the background to life, flicking dots of white at it for stars before too long. Then he needs to let it dry, the Star stepping back to arrange a new colour palette. If Seraphina hasn't guessed by now, the piece of art for her workshop will be Safrin based.
// down by the river i was drawn by your grace, into tempest of oblivion and to the lover's place i was stuck in a puddle, full of tears and unwise, dark doings now i know, that we've paid unlike //
“Good.” She chimes, flashing him a grin in response to his drawl. “I can be quite intimidating when I need to be.” She informs him, but the laughter that swiftly follows as she grabs the items she needs for the next project are slowly beginning to take form. When she finally sits down at her desk with the blueprints and the measuring sticks she uses.
She begins to make a smaller model of her ideas with her blueprints, chewing on the inside of her cheek, deep in work when she realizes his question and lifts her head from adjusting the 3D model. “Oh, I’m actually working on some defenses for the Greatwood with your husband.” Flashing him a wicked grin, she settles in again, peeking up occasionally from her work just in time to spy the swaths of blue and purples and the starry atmosphere.
“Are you painting me Safrin?” She questions easily, lifting and rotating another block before she goes to smooth it out in the blueprints.
"I believe it," Ronin says, though his fiendish grin is directed to his painting by now. He does believe it, that Sera can cut quite the intimidating figure - that enthusiasm can become cold and sharp in seconds, he imagines. Perhaps once she's had a few more training sessions at the Dragon's Nest, she'll even have a decent punch to put behind it. It's the mention of his husband that has Ronin pausing, the Star glancing over his shoulder with a very delicate paintbrush in hand, as if he has been about to start his work in earnest.
"Oh, is that so?" he asks with a flash of teeth. "I didn't realise you were working with him. What's the plan for those defences?" he wonders. He's of course just making small talk at this point; Sera doesn't even need to answer if she doesn't want to. By then, anyway, she's recognised what he's doing, and Ronin nods. "I thought a few stars might be nice for you to look at. I hope that's alright? I feel my goddess can be sometimes misunderstood."
// down by the river i was drawn by your grace, into tempest of oblivion and to the lover's place i was stuck in a puddle, full of tears and unwise, dark doings now i know, that we've paid unlike //
He claims he believes it, however, as she lifts her gaze above what she works on, she spies the edge of a grin on Ronin’s face that seems to scream the opposite. Which is fine, fair enough. It sparks a smaller smile on her own as she begins to work, continuing to add and readjust the model in the form of a barricade of sorts, elongating it out and watching it grow longer, searching her blueprints for weaknesses in her framing.
“Helping keep out the Ascended. Little… Not easily seen traps and barricades and the like.” She informs Ronin with a chime in her voice, believing wholeheartedly that this is the best route – to trap them when they think they’d gotten away with it. As for Safrin, though, her gaze lifts to watch him, pausing in her work. Her head tilts a bit slightly, offering a nod and a playful smirk to grow along her face. “I’m more of a Frey girl myself, but Safrin’s always welcome.” She wouldn’t deny the goddess anything, and if Ronin decided that the painting was better suited here with her? Well, she’d take it.
Still, his comment has her lingering as she picks up another measuring stick, writing out the schematics on a sheet of paper beside her. “You say she’s sometimes misunderstood? How so?” In Stormbreak, for the most part, Sera’s only heard praise for the herald.
Ronin can't help but look quietly proud as Sera responds - he remembers when Remi was first stationed in the Greatwood to make his defences, having very little idea about what to do. To see him recruiting help, making barricades and traps? It's more than a good start, and he nods to the Artificer. "Well, with someone like you giving him a hand, I have no doubt that the Greatwood will be very well defended by the time it's all set up," he says, turning back to his painting to start working in careful, delicate strokes.
"A Frey girl? Which side?" Ronin wonders, his smile audible. "Glad to hear she's welcome here, though. I'd be worried you'd be about to kick me out, otherwise." As for her being misunderstood? "The cosmos can be a cold and aloof thing, at times. There are those who believe Safrin to be like that as well, but the opposite couldn't be more true. My lady of the stars feels very deeply indeed. She appreciates every candle lit in her name, every time a prayer is whispered in her honour."
// down by the river i was drawn by your grace, into tempest of oblivion and to the lover's place i was stuck in a puddle, full of tears and unwise, dark doings now i know, that we've paid unlike //
She puffs out a bright chime of a laugh at what Ronin tells her in regards to Remi, flashing the Star a grin over her work. “Remi’s got quite the hold on it, actually. I’m just here to help out on the little things. Did you know he figured out this way to hollow out some of the trees so they could hide people?” She asks, beaming a bit at the beauty of it. “It looks perfectly normal, you’d never suspect it.” The idea of it all sparks that architect within her that has her nearly vibrating with excitement at the prospect of it.
Luckily for Ronin, though, she settles down easily enough as she writes her measurements down, peering up at him with a playful smirk. “Which side do you think?” She cocks a brow, entirely confident he’ll be able to pick the correct answer. As for Safrin being welcome here? Who is she to deny any of the old gods? She bites her tongue against saying the obvious thing that ‘of course Safrin is welcome here’, especially if the woman were here to bless her workspace with her beauty and grace.
She tampers her tongue, however, to listen when Ronin speaks of Safrin being misunderstood – the thought managing to sober her up a bit. And she’s silent for a decent amount of time before she’s moving a block on her blueprint and pausing. “It must be hard to feel everything so deeply. She’s beautiful and a cunning goddess, something many of us aspire to be.” The glance she gives to Ronin is purely innocent at first, but the gears in her head are working. She, too, would like to one day be able to hold her own as well as the Lady of the Stars.
Ronin raises his eyebrows in pleasant surprise, though his eyes are all on the painting by now. He is still in the conversation, but Sera could be dancing around half naked and he probably wouldn't notice. (Probably). "I didn't know, actually. That's really impressive. And creepy. So... perfect for Remi, now that I think about it." Grinning, Ronin leans in so he can quickly get to grips with the main focal point of his painting - Safrin lounging in the cosmos, of course.
With a snort, he does break his gaze from his work to glance over his shoulder at Sera. "You know which one I think," he all but drawls. "I can't say I've ever had cause to speak much with Frey. And Safrin... yeah, she is." It's something Ronin has forgotten as of late, much to his chagrin. "Well, even if we cannot be her, we can at least feel her presence in small ways." Like paintings.
They fall, soon, into a comfortable silence, and Ronin works the afternoon away to get the canvas looking just so - splashes of dark blue and violet, of gold and white, all in the swirling vortex of space. By the time Ronin is finished he's wearing about as much paint as he's used, though he seems very pleased with himself. "There," he announces. "What do you think?"
// down by the river i was drawn by your grace, into tempest of oblivion and to the lover's place i was stuck in a puddle, full of tears and unwise, dark doings now i know, that we've paid unlike //
A nod is given to the mention of Remi’s creative mind as Ronin describes it being perfectly Remi, and a huff of a laugh leaves her lips with it. As for the following comments? Yes, the saccharine smile that’s given to Ronin is confirmation enough. “Ding, ding, ding.” She murmurs, before huffing a quiet laugh once more and focuses in on her work. She listens and offers agreement where she can until silence overcomes them – both of them working easily within it. Ronin’s ends up far more beautiful than Sera’s do, her own project having taken on an almost roughhewn appearance, sharp and jagged in the right places and smooth on the others.
Her head lifts as he asks her what she thinks, and she takes in the entire painting with awe that lights her features, a grin spreading across her face as she abandons everything else. “Wow, Ronin.” She murmurs, moving so that she can lean against the chair he sits in so she can take it all in. “Safrin should be proud if this is how you portray her.” She comments, leaning forward to inspect the intricate detail work regarding the cosmos and the lady of the stars, before she’s beaming to the Dark Star beside her. “Thank you... It’s beautiful! Does it need to dry before it’s hung?” Already she’s looking around her workshop for the perfect space for Safrin to go, but she remains at Ronin’s side.
Ronin lets a smile spread across his face at Sera's compliments, and as she comes to lean against the back of his seat it's a surprisingly comfortable positon for them to be in. They might have been friends for years, to anyone looking in at them. "I hope she is proud - but I'm glad that you like it as well," he says with a cheeky grin over his shoulder. "It should be fine to hang now, as long as we are careful. No giving her kisses until you've waited for at least 24 hours."
Waggling his finger at her, Ronin rises to his feet and waits for Sera to appraise the workshop for the perfect place to hang the Safrin tribute. And once she's chosen it, Ronin is even kind enough to offer to hammer a nail into the wall for the Artificer (as if she's not Stormbreak's chief architect, yes). Soon enough the lady of the stars in all her glory is dazzling out at them, and whether or not he has his abilities still, Ronin does feel a little lighter.
