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!
Being in the weird fucking headspace he was in, Adam was starting to find an affinity for walks he'd never had before. Curiosities like 'where does this little stream that run into the ocean start' had found their way into his mind now that booze and drugs weren't clogging up those pathways, and he'd begun to indulge them. If he was gonna live forever, he supposed he may as well.
So Adam had begun walking up and up and up, following the stream as it became a river and a jungle appeared around it, unaware of any legends about treasure. Being, as far as he knew, alone, he began to sing as he walked, making up an improvised dance around rocks and bends in the shore to the tune. In Adam's imagination, he looked amazingly sexy and the dreamt audience was in awe, but in reality it likely looked quite awkward and like he was just hip thrusting repeatedly at the water.
So wrapped up in his fake performance as he wandered down the waterway, Adam wouldn't notice anyone that happened to be nearby unless they made themselves very obvious.
03-02-2021, 10:19 AM (This post was last modified: 03-02-2021, 10:21 AM by Aurelia.)
it's the road that leads to nowhere
Aurelia's plucking her way along the streams, keeping her steps light and testy. The soil here is soft so, she's trying to avoid falling in. Her cloak sweeps around her as she bends down to touch her hands to the flowing water. There's a small bag hung from the belt by her hip, filled with little things that she thought might be of interest. Including blushberries, which poke out at the top, not that she intends on eating them.. now.
The stream is cool to the touch, so she takes a moment to wash her dirt-ridden hands and splash her face. It's just as she's breathing a sigh of relief that she lifts her eyes up from her hands.
And what she sees is truly something to behold.
There's someone else here, too, and he hasn't appeared to notice her yet. Which is fair, Aurelia's looking to blend in among her surroundings and doesn't want to stick out. But someone air-humping and singing a song without realizing she's watching is not exactly the intended result.
She stays still and silent for a few minutes anyway, smirking humorously as she watches. Finally, she chuckles aloud and calls out, "Is that supposed to be your mating dance?"
Adam stopped, mid-thrust with his arms up, as he heard a voice. Most people would have been horribly embarrassed to be caught in such a position, and perhaps he was, but he'd never been someone to show any kind of shame. After a moment's pause he laughed too, moving his arms down to gesture to himself. "Well, is it working?" A wink later and he felt he had recovered from any potential embarrassment.
Walking towards his quiet observer (who had been very good at sneaking up on him, he had to say), he went to kneel opposite her on the other side of the water. He'd been in a bad place lately, hadn't felt much like introducing himself, but after the rather silly start of being caught grooving down the shore, Adam felt quite jovial. "I'm Adam. What're you doing out here?" He glanced over to her bag, the berries in the top. "Gathering stuff for drinks? I know there's some great Torchline cider made with stuff around here."
03-02-2021, 11:06 AM (This post was last modified: 03-02-2021, 11:07 AM by Aurelia.)
it's the road that leads to nowhere
She brings her hand to the spot over her heart and pretends to swoon, "Charmed, honestly." She drops the act with a broader smile and watches with keen eyes as he makes his way over to sit across from her.
She follows his gaze down to the bag along her hip before looking back up at him. He looks like a Torchliner for sure, all tan skin and leather clothes paired with roguish... charms. "Well, Adam. I wasn't looking for stuff for drinks but, now that you mention it, that's not a bad idea," she tilts her head a little at the thought of making the berries into a drink of some sort but quickly refocuses, sure to not forget to introduce herself, "my name's Aurelia."
"Should I ask what you're doing out here or... is that between you and the jungle?" She gives him a humored grin.
Laughing at her swoon, Adam wiggled his hips one last time before giving up on the 'dance'; that Aurelia could go along with dumb jokes already made him predisposed to like her.
"Always here for my amazing ideas." He gave a mock bow (though upon taking him up on this, one would find a lot of Adam's ideas revolved around making booze) and reached out a hand towards her, tilting his head towards the bag. "Can I try one? Even if it's poison, I think I should be alright." Ascending had it's downsides, but as far as he knew, it had made him pretty much immune to most venoms or poisons, so he was now free to handle weird snakes or eat any plants he wanted to.
Sitting back and leaning on his hands he shrugged at her final question, looking up at the leaves and branches that obscured the sky in patches. "Not much, honestly. Just trying to escape my life for a bit. I heard people couldn't get here before, so I thought maybe I could be the first person to see it - y'know, become a famous explorer or something. Buuuut I guess you beat me to it." Adam looked down and stuck his tongue out at Aurelia, not really all that bothered about her stealing of his adventuring clout. "Are you an explorer?"
03-03-2021, 01:43 AM (This post was last modified: 03-03-2021, 01:47 AM by Aurelia.)
it's the road that leads to nowhere
She chuckles softly at his mock bow and raises surprised brows when he reaches out to extend a hand for her to shake. With a shrug she accepts it, clasping her own calloused hand against his with gumption. Then he asks to try one of the berries. Well, luckily for him, she knows they're quite edible. "Sure, they're harmless really," she comments, pulling her hand away to offer him a small handful, "just uh... they'll make you blush and whatnot. So."
His answer is more serious than she expects from him at this point in the conversation, but she's happy to hunker down into the streambank and listen. She props up a lazy arm atop one of her knees and nods in more thoughtful understanding. "Well, if I had known, I might've brought you with me," she offers as a form of light-hearted apology. "An explorer? Hadn't really thought of it like that. I'm just... very familiar with jungles and the guild thought it might be a good idea for someone to come and scope things out," she casts a wistful glance around them, observing once more the burst of life in the green depths. "Had a lot of this where I'm from. But I did discover something else while I was out here," and she leans in a little closer, glancing about as if she's about to tell him something top-secret, "There's a witch that lives in the Wilds, you know. She'll tell your fortune, if you're nice." With a smug smile, she leans back.
"So, Adam, what's so terrible that you have to escape from?"
"Pretty sure they won't make me blush, since my blood's clear now." He'd seen it up close and personal enough times during the Longnight fights to know for sure. Adam took the berries in the palm of his hand and knocked them all back at once, hoping that having more than one might mean some of the flavour might actually reach him.
Being dead and then coming back had somewhat fucked with Adam's ideas of what was appropriate for casual conversation, and those ideas had never been very strong in the first place. He sat back and listened to Aurelia, cocking his head at the mention of a 'guild'. "What guild is that? There's a jungle exploration guild?" That sounded like something he could get behind; it'd give him a fun project other than farting about the Advocates, at least.
The news of a witch telling his fortune was interesting, but Adam had lived among grifters for long enough in his life to be immediately skeptical. "Uh huh. And how accurate is it?"
As for what he was escaping from...he puffed out his cheeks and blew out a long whistle, trying to think of a good way to summarise it. "God shit and being dead and marriage being weird. Y'know. Normal stuff. Aren't you running away from 'owt?"
03-03-2021, 06:24 PM (This post was last modified: 03-03-2021, 06:28 PM by Aurelia.)
it's the road that leads to nowhere
"Oh, are you an Ascended?" she asks curiously, though he'll be sure not to find any animosity behind the question. After all, her own race is a bit low on the scales as well, seeing how "I'm Abandoned" so even if she wanted to, she doesn't have much room to look down on them. Or much reason.
Her brows quirk at his interest in an exploration guild and she shakes her head, "No, not quite..." She pauses though, because she doesn't know if it's her place to really be giving out word of the smugglers. Suppose it's not really a secret guild, though, considering that pretty much everyone in Torchline is a bit of a smuggler - or something akin to it. "We're smugglers. Deal with goods mostly. They thought there might be some interesting stuff out here, wanted us to get our hands on it first. So far, though, all I've found are berries." She huffs out a slightly disappointed chuckle.
She tips her head to the side a little with an amused smile, wondering the same thing as well. "Dunno yet," she finally decides, shrugging her shoulders limply, "she told my future... but it was a little cryptic. She did tell me I'd face 'unimaginable horrors'. Don't look forward to that part very much." She grimaces a little.
She furrows her brows with a small amount of concern, and already she's interested in Adam's troubles, but he asks of hers. She lets out a long breath through her nose, glancing around at the streams.
"Hmm, nothing that I can think of. I'm more inclined to fight than run." She smirks back at him, but draws in a breath to ask, "What's so weird to you about marriage?" From Aurelia's standpoint, it's something that bound a couple closely together, entwined them in one another's lives just that much deeper. It's mostly symbolic, of course, since she's sure the same connection can be achieved without it. But she grew up with parents that were married and in love and all that, so. 'Weird' marriage strikes her interest.
"As of last season, yes." Adam leaned forward to bare his teeth and show off his new fangs, wiggling his fingers under his chin. While there were a lot of parts of being Ascended he didn't care for, the cool fangs were a plus. Abandoned was the one thing he hadn't been in Caido, but hey, give it time.
The sound of a Smuggler's Guild certainly caught his interest. "That sounds really interesting. How would I join?" It would give him something to do when not drafted into the Voice's causes other than sit about and wish he could drink. Even if they wanted to send him into the jungle to look for berries, at least he could feel like he was doing it for a sexy reason.
"Heh. Did she try to sell you something to get rid of them?" Adam asked, feeling like he knew that part of the scam. You threatened pain, loss, anything people didn't want, then assured them you could give them something to help, if they believed. That way, if something bad happened, they didn't believe enough; if it didn't, your trinket worked. Not a bad scam, if you found a gullible enough audience.
As for marriage, he froze for a second, not having expected to be called out on the phrasing. "Uuuhhh. It's a long story, but I kinda rushed into marrying my boyfriend, and I love him, but I'm still getting my head around the whole deal. I mean, forever is a long time, isn't it?"
She gives a silent 'ah' of understanding as he flashes his teeth, recalling the strange phenomenon that had taken place during the Festival of Lights. "Nice," she nods approvingly. Quite a turn of events, that. If she has an opinion on it specifically, she doesn't know what it is. It hadn't directly effected her, so she hadn't paid it much mind. It just sits vaguely somewhere in the back of her mind, as do many things.
Her brows and her chin lift at his question of how he might go about joining the guild. "Jack and Zephyr are the ones in charge of things," she shrugs, a friendly look about her. She's thinking she wouldn't mind having Adam along. "I can introduce you, or point you in their direction, if you want."
Aurelia frowns again at his question. "No, nothing like that," she shakes her head, "if it was a trick or a scam, it was a very poor one. She told me I didn't owe her anything. Maybe she sold me the Old Gods a bit..." her lips perse closer together, understanding that being Ascended meant he'd side with the Voice. She wonders if that will be cause for contention between them; a wrinkle in their otherwise smooth, budding friendship. Maybe Aurelia had been a little gullible to believe Mildew so readily, but.. her gut instinct wanted to trust her anyway.
Hoping not to make him feel too judged, she lets her gaze swerve around to the damp grasses by her boots before it flashes back up to him. "It is..." she smiles wistfully, teeth jutting out between her lips. She thinks of the eternal love between her parents, how it had always seemed so unstoppable... until it wasn't. "But forever isn't promised, that's why the saying goes 'till death'..." her smile wanes suddenly, though, "but I guess if you don't have to worry about death, then.. yeah, I can see how that could... change things." She tilts her head to the side a little, offering him an understanding look.
"Well, do you think you'll always love him? Your husband."
"Jack and Zeph...okay. Yeah, that'd be good." Adam nodded, confident he'd get a position after speaking to either of them. After all, he was a dashing rogue type, career thief and just too goddamn cool to turn down. "Lemme know where to find them and I can take it from there."
He was still skeptical of this Wilds fortune teller. A good way to convince someone you were trustworthy was to offer your first visit free, in all kinds of businesses...but hey, it wasn't his style to ruin someone else's business, so he just nodded, instead asking: "Sold you them? How'd you mean?" Amalia had sung their praises to him many a time, and it had never been all that convincing, and neither had anyone trying to sell the Voice.
"Even if we do die, this place comes with a guaranteed afterlife. I've been there, and I know the Voice has her own version of it." Adam sighed and poked at the ground, feeling both guilty and relieved to be discussing this. It was probably something he shouldn't have been sharing to a stranger, but that did make it all easier, in a way. "..I dunno, does anyone know how they're gonna feel forever? No, I don't...am I meant to feel like I will?"
03-10-2021, 07:01 PM (This post was last modified: 03-10-2021, 07:02 PM by Aurelia.)
it's the road that leads to nowhere
"Well, Jack has that big ship at the docks. The one with red sails, 's called the Ark. Hard to miss. You can probably catch him there most days, and you can tell him I sent you," she nods decisively. To be sure, it's a little exciting to prospectively have another addition to the smugglers' crew. "I think you'd fit right in, but it's not me you have to convince..." Jack might be a little more difficult to butter up, or maybe they'll get along swimmingly. Neither would surprise her.
Aurelia's done a lot of ruminating on Mildew's fortune for her, worried about these foretold horrors she'll face, worried about whether or not she's strong enough to see it through them. It had given her the extra push she needed to go to Safrin, something she'd already sort of intended on doing.. eventually. "Well, she said that if do the gods' work, they'll reward me for it. I mean I don't know about you but that sounds alright to me."
"She told me I could be a hero, even." It's the first time she's really given that bit much more than a second thought. She scoffs. "Out of everything, I'm not sure if I believe that part. But it would be nice to... I dunno, protect people from the bad shit in the world. Most of my life has been spent doing the opposite..." Her gaze shifts away to watch the water as it bubbles past them. She reaches out and grabs a stick from it just as it flows by.
The stick is used to absently carve shapes into the mud by her feet with no real level of concentration. There's an extended silence after Adam's questions, and it's because she doesn't really know the answer. "I don't know, truthfully. Sometimes I get such strong feelings about someone or some thing that I think, 'well, nothing could ever change how I feel.' But something always happens and it's almost always world-shattering," she glances up at him, smiling sadly.
"Red sails. Right. Sounds sexy." Adam nodded, apparently very confident that a boat could be sexy. He'd never spent much time on the sea, being from the mountains himself, but he had sometimes looked at ships with envious eyes when they had pulled up at disreputable docks he found himself in. "I'll pay him a visit."
He was suspicious of any rewards the Gods had to give, though he had seen some people get treated well by their various deities in return for their service. It was a roll of the dice, as far as he could tell, whether you were liked or not - hopefully Aurelia believing she would be would turn out to be right. Anyone going up to the Gods with too much confidence based on some random fortune would have a poor time. "What kinda reward would you want?"
As for being a hero, he'd wished for that many times himself. Watching her pick up the twig from the water, Adam reached down to place the tips of his fingers in the flow, watching them part the stream but thinking about how he couldn't feel the cold, or the movement against his skin. "..What didya used to do?"
Strong feelings were honestly a somewhat new thing for Adam; not a development he was fond of. "So...do you have any strong feelings for anyone..or thing...now?" He asked, apparently not concerned about how personal the question was.
"Don't really know," she says with a thoughtful frown, not being very confident on the whole gods and goddesses front of things. "I've never been very religious, so.. I don't know what sorts of things to ask for. I guess whatever they give me would be better than anything us... mere mortals could make, eh?" She shrugs and laughs it off.
In reality, Aurelia knows sorta kinda what she wants from the gods. The ability to protect life, to keep her friends safe, to ensure that nothing could be so easily taken from her ever again. But how to ask that from a god? Who probably wholeheartedly believes in the 'circle of life' or what-have-you? Seems... a daunting thing to ask but, out of them all, perhaps Safrin could appreciate it.
Her eyes lift up and her motions in the dirt freeze, visibly startled by his prying question. Her gaze lowers to the hand that dips into the stream, and she considers telling him she would rather not talk about it. "I used to be a bounty hunter," is all she says, tone more brusque now, "It's not a part of my life I'm proud of, and I... don't like who I was then. What it made me..." She trails off and her chin sinks downward so she can stare through the odd shapes she's carved into the ground.
Adam's next question is just as unexpected but far easier to answer. "Yeah, actually, I do," she smiles gently at the thought of him and shakes her head, "and I don't know what I'd do if I lost him. It's kind of fuckin' terrifying to let someone get close like that..." she scoffs.
