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!
You don't have to be a hero to save the world You don't have to be a prodigy to be unique
One of her own hands travels across his lower back so it might link around his waist. Absently, her fingers trace small lines into the material of his shirt. She savors in their closeness, her senses moving completely away from the parties going on below to envelope around him. The kiss to her nose makes her scrunch it and bump it against his.
She's not expecting his suggestion and, if she's honest, she was starting to mentally preparing herself to simply relent. To let him take his own risks and, whatever that entails, she'll accept it. She almost jumps on it, instinctually intent to settle on that deal and hold him fast to it. But she leans back a little, letting go of his waist. She looks away, sighing.
"It's your decision to make, not mine," she says, her tone a strained mixture of reluctant honesty, "if it's something you want to do, thennn... I got your back." She tilts her head to look back up at him, offering a reassuring smile.
And then, for absolutely fuck-all reason, a cluster of Hels circles nearby. Maybe they're bored, searching for scraps of food, or perhaps they have a bone to pick. Maybe there's a nest nearby and these two humans have been too close for too long. Whatever the reason, they're definitely not happy. They make this evident in they way they jeer and swoop down towards them, getting dangerously close.
"Hey, your friends came to say hello," Aurelia peers up, squinting through the darkness to try to figure out what they're doing.
It's then that one of them suddenly dive-bombs for Milo's head with a raucous battle cry.
It feels like nothing is easy, it'll never be That's alright, let it out, talk to me
She leans back a bit, just as he does – still keeping his arms around her simply for the fact of keeping her close as she speaks and looks away. “Y’do.” He agrees with a chime of a grin, as if he’s accomplished some sort of battle despite it only being a few words and simply edging it in to get her to agree. She’s right in the end, though, that it is ultimately his decision to make, but that still didn’t mean he didn’t value her opinion on it. He was a runner, not a fighter, after all.
He nearly leans in, pulling her close to press a kiss to her lips and to smell the salty scent of the ocean breezes mixed with cinnamon clinging to her skin, when he hears the cry of hels and her announcement, Milo huffing out a sigh scented in slight alcohol as he tilts his head, trying (and failing) to peer through the darkness to spot the avians.
He misses all of them, until the one flies into his head. He immediately releases her to reach a hand up to the back of his head, curses streaming out past his lips. “Oy, y’flyin’ shitbirds!” He turns toward the crying pack of hels, lips frowning as he pulls away from Aurelia, hands glowing a bit as he goes to summon something. He doesn’t have half the braincell to warn Aurelia of it, not when the hel had knocked it out of his mind.
He summons a hel of his own, one that he targets at the one that had attacked him, grumbling as he does so and watches it fly into the darkness.
02-17-2021, 08:18 PM (This post was last modified: 02-18-2021, 06:03 AM by Aurelia.)
Aurelia
You don't have to be a hero to save the world You don't have to be a prodigy to be unique
She might've been content to sit with Milo and watch the view like they'd initially planned, if it weren't for those meddling hels.
Immediately, Aurelia jumps at the sudden flurry of wings and feathers, eyes widening. Well that's unexpected. The hel appears ready to continue its assault, only there's a glowing light from Milo's hands. She's quick enough to know the cue of his magics by now. Granted, so far, they're both the same.
Pushing up off of the rock, she shifts in an attempt to get to her feet. Even if her slight panic isn't directed at Milo's magic, they're still literally being attacked by crazy seagulls...
One of which, the one Milo summoned, throttles itself into the one that initially launched the attack, causing it to retreat. However, there's another hel up there that moves in to squabble with Milo's. Meanwhile, the third hel swoops down in an attempt to peck at Aurelia. "Nope!"
Turning to face it, she lifts her hands up and very strong... puffs of air blow out at it as it passes by her face. Whether she was making a conscious effort to use her abilities or not isn't very clear, but she does nonetheless. The air magic veers its wings off course just in time to avoid a probably very painful pecking.
"Maybe we should leave... like, right now," she lets out a breath of a laugh {because this is ridiculous}. She grabs hold of his arm and begins to pull {or push} him towards the lighthouse. "These things really mean business, don't they?" she asks sarcastically. And that's when they'll hear even more hels flying over.
They'll have to duck to avoid more onslaughts because apparently they've pissed off every damn hel on the beach now.. but maybe if they're fast enough they can reach the lighthouse instead of becoming bird food.
It feels like nothing is easy, it'll never be That's alright, let it out, talk to me
His summoned hel bolts for the attacker, and Milo can’t help the wicked smirk that crosses his face when he knows that it’s hit. Distraction comes quickly with the sound of flapping wings by Aurelia now, his attention immediately shifting toward her as his summoned hel departs without the concentration of his mind.
“Yeah, grab yer things ‘n follow m’footsteps exactly.” He agrees, huffing a laugh in tandem with her own, grabbing his flask from where he’d dropped it and reaching for her hand to guide her along the cliffs in the darkness, quick, surefire footwork ensuring that he didn’t slip or trip on a rock, even if he’s ducking occasionally to avoid the onslaught of angry hels, biting out curses every step of the way.
The lighthouse is where she pulls him toward and he goes willingly, barraging the way toward the stone pillar, reaching the door with a thud and throwing himself into it to open it just long enough for himself and Aurelia to get in, before he’s slamming the door shut in the hel’s faces.
You don't have to be a hero to save the world You don't have to be a prodigy to be unique
He reaches for his flask and she swoops up her jacket (which had fallen off of her shoulders). With nothing else to retrieve or rescue except themselves, she takes his hand and keeps her eyes glued to his feet.
Around them, hels have gathered along the cliffs in squawking gangs, using displays (visible or not) to attempt to ward off the trespassers. As Aurelia and Milo duck their way through this massive flock, they might realize the hels are avidly protecting a nesting ground along the cliffs and rocks.
Aurelia certainly notices. Her foot slips and, although she's not in any imminent danger (and recovers her balance easily), her boot does crush a small pile of eggs. This is, obviously, the worst offense. The sea birds soon become a flurry of angry beaks and flapping wings. "'ey! I didn't mean to! Put your eggs somewhere else!" Her words fall on deaf ears so she finishes it off with a "Fuck off already!"
At least the lighthouse is close by because things were just getting started for these hels. The door withstands a barrage of angry gulls, if only to protect the shrine itself more than these two abandoned. Aurelia wonders if there are any open windows - and if the hels would be so inclined to swarm in through them. However, as far as they can tell, the birds are soon content to air their grievances outside.
A big breath of relief pushes out through her lips and she looks over at Milo with the most incredulous expression, a silent question of 'did that really just happen?' Aloud, she says, "I just want to start by saying, I am so sorry I ever made fun of you about those. That was terrifying." There's a pause as she catches her breath, and then she lets out a small laugh.
Tilting her head to give him a glance over, she asks, "You okay? It looked like that one got you pretty good."
It feels like nothing is easy, it'll never be That's alright, let it out, talk to me
She doesn’t exactly follow his footsteps, not entirely. But they manage to make it to the lighthouse, Milo offering huffs of laughter as they bolt and dodge Hels at Aurelia’s complaints. But it isn’t until the door is shut and Milo’s sagging against it, breaking into a surprising fit of laughter that he manages to quell himself just enough, chest rising and falling heavily as he tries to catch his breath.
There’s a grin on his face, one that when he catches her gaze he breaks out into another fit of laughter, vibrating and shaking until he can contain himself again, enough to muster. “Tol’ ya so.” Before settling and drawing quiet again, managing to overcome the amusement of it, to push himself off the door to reach up to the back of his head.
It’s tender, but nothing terrible – no blood or anything. “’m fine.” He assures her, stepping toward her to wrap her into a hug. “Thinkin’ we should wait ‘em out tho. Til they lose interest then sneak out.” This is said with a fair amount of experience, all things considered, that have Milo swallowing down another bit of laughter.
To be honest, he’s content to stay in this lighthouse for however long it takes so long as he’s there with her.
