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!
"This is boring, this is boring!" Edy sings brightly to herself, skipping along down the streets. She's found a bit of rope and has tied it around her waist so that all the body parts she finds can be tangled up in it to trail along behind her. It's horrifying and not at all respectful or polite, which makes it very Edy.
"Isla started roaring at the kids who were exploring, and their blood she'd start pouring if they didn't fuck. off." Leaning down to tie a foot onto the rope, the Launceleyn continues to skip down the street, rhyming whatever random bullshit came into her mind against the scenery around her.
"Gonna build a graveyard for all these fucks who got charred, from the spire to the farmyard cause Aamu said. so.. Though nobody knows why, we're listenin' to blue eyes, maybe he just wants to fantasize about Isla's perfect. ass."
and I've only got my brittle bones to break the fall
He doesn't disagree with Edrei's assessment of the situation, but neither does he quite agree. Instead he just watches them from the corner of his eye whenever he has the time, be it while stooping to pick up a part or pulling the cart along another few yards.
The Islacore at least tries to handle the parts with care, but Edrei, well... Aamu watches her with equal parts horror and fascination. Part of him desperately wants to tell her to stop whatever fuckery she's doing, another part is worried about scaring her off (or, well, bothering her into leaving).
So he lets her be, following in her bizarre wake and listening to her song. It's true he holds no political sway here, yet here they are, and he maneuvers the increasingly heavy cart over not-so-amazing terrain.
Then Edy gets to the line about Aamu fantasizing about Isla's perfect ass (which says more about her than it does about him) and he can't help but stop. And swallow a laugh, letting it become a bit of a throttled chuckle. "My, my," he mumbles to himself, then mouths the words she just sang, trying to commit them to memory.
After some more struggles down the street the starting point (and intended graveyard location) is once more within sight, but of course that's not the end. One wheel of the heavily laden cart runs into an unfortunate section of disturbed ground, and Aamu's initial attempt to get it out of the rut just jams it deeper into the debris.
"Fuck," he says, very softly. Then, slightly louder: "The cart's stuck."
Isla collects more pieces!
Edrei does a goof (stumbles, trips, stubs her toe, the like) on some debris. Foo :(
Islacore? Isla kind of likes that. She doesn't hear the part about her having a perfect ass, though, so that will have to remain between Edrei and Aamu. Still, after collecting more pieces of the proto-Ascended, she comes loping back to the cart and sets them down, only to discover that their progress is now hindered by virtue of dirt and mud. Isla, luckily, has just the thing for moving carts - raw bulk.
Huffing a breath that will disturb Aamu's long hair, the manticore directs a shoulder into the cart to give it a 'gentle nudge' (read: she shoves it hard) and get it moving again. Whilst it's true that she's no stronger in this shift as when she's human, the size of her will probably get the job done with luck. With her help given - whether or not it was successful - she roars after Edrei to get the Launceleyn to wait up for them.
"I've been to funerals that are more fun than this." Edy groans, continuing to tie body parts to herself. She has quite the collection now, which likely explains why she trips over a leg that she's tied against her own. "Ow—oh. Hey, that didn't hurt." New to being an ascended, the lack of pain catches her out occasionally.
"DON'T CARE." Edy chimes over her shoulder as Isla roars at her. Besides, what the fuck is she going to do that Isla can't? 'Look, look. Three-legged race.' Jogging up the street with a limb tied to her left leg, Edy dramatically leaps into the air, legs extended looking remarkably graceful. She ruins it with a flurry of colourful swears though
and I've only got my brittle bones to break the fall
Up close, the Islacore is legitimately terrifying: massive, all raw power and pointy ends. (He wonders who the shift is from. Wonders whose side they're on.) Aamu's glance up at her feline head is nearly fearful as she breathes on his hair.
She has two redeeming qualities though: first of all, she's Isla. Second, she's really fluffy, and he's glad to be holding on to the cart lest he try to pet her. It might be a little awkward.
Her 'gentle nudge' does the trick, heaving the cart out of the rut its stuck in. "Thank you," Aamu says quietly, glancing ahead with the same sort of horror-mixed fascination as Edy capers around. He frowns ever so slightly. "Is she always like this?"
Then he's pulling the cart along again, until they finally make it back without further mishaps to their starting point. "Who wants to do the digging?" he asks, gently taking from the cart Isla's interesting bits and putting to the side so they won't get mixed up with the rest.
Isla successfully gets the cart out of the rut!
Now two need to empty the cart annnnd one to start digging
Snorting petulantly to hear Edy's sing song swears, Isla flicks an ear towards Aamu as if to tell him that yes, she is always like this. Still, padding away now that the cart is free, Isla can't help but feel amused to see the Launceleyn prancing around with all of her legs (including the two she owns) tumbling in her wake. Finally, though, they are back where they began, and the next step of their work lies ahead.
Bounding forward as if to say dibs on digging, Isla's large paws and sharp claws will make short work of the earth. And if it's strange to see a manticore digging at the ground like a puppy, well, so be it. She creates flurries of dirt and rock, caring little where it might end up. Aamu would have his burial site, at least, but whether it's what he imagined remains to be seen.
'Man, I thought you were cool.' She says of Aamu, finally having sauntered back over. Having won her three-legged race and patted herself on the back for it, Edy is well and thoroughly over every part of this task. Not even two hot blondes are making this worthwhile, and that's saying something.
"I died once already and this is still the worst time I"ve ever had." The Rapacious complains, haphazardly chucking body parts into the holes Isla is digging. At one point she takes an arm with the hand still attached and plants it in a bit of soft soil. Delicately patting down the earth around it, she grins at her counterparts.
and I've only got my brittle bones to break the fall
"Technically speaking, I am," he retorts softly, but there's no bite in the words. If anything, they sound musing.
Once back at his designated gravesite again Isla bounds into action, and if Aamu for a moment feels despair he hides it well. What else do you expect when you're trying to get something done with a manticore and Edrei Launceleyn? It gets done but it's corpse-pits and a carefully planted detached arm. "I'm glad I can bring you new and unexciting experiences," he remarks dryly to Edy before gathering a few early flowers into a small, colorful bouquet and putting it in the lonely hand, closing the fingers around the stems.
And oh, wouldn't it be great to be done? They've barely skimmed the surface of the corpse tide littering the Settlement. Duty and honor—
"You are free to go," just as you were free to come, "but I will continue until it is done."
Either they work until the dawn, or they leave.
We can fin~ it here or if you want to wrap up with posts of your own, either is fine! Aamu will keep working but participation after this is not mandatory ;P
Isla glances up with a muzzle full of dirt and muddy paws, having filled in any of the holes that Edrei designates as graves, only to snort at the bouquet clutched in the detached hand. It's morbid and inappropriate and somehow perfect as a designator for the burial site they are creating. Edrei will be done, Isla is almost certain of that, and she bumps her dirty head across the Launceleyn's cheek as if to tell her not to be such a whiner about it. Still, whatever Edrei decides, Isla is in it for the long haul.
And so she keeps digging, perhaps a little more delicately over time, so Aamu will get more actual graves than corpse pits. Towards the dawn, she even sits back and begins to craft some grave markers, and a little sign to inform those who pass that they are about to walk through a burial site. It's a thankless job, but somebody has to do it.
