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!
03-08-2021, 06:42 PM (This post was last modified: 03-15-2021, 12:47 PM by Samuel.)
And here we go, "Hello, floor. Have you met my knees?"
It seemed like a lifetime ago they'd been here last. Amun had been there then, and Sam had hoped that that was a beginning of something...how times changed. Now only three and after an eventful, stressful Longnight, they walked back to the Climb. Sam was quiet for the journey, lost in his own head with thoughts and ideas that had been circling for a while since Longnight had ended, but that he could not yet voice.
They reached the spot where the original circle had been cut into the ground eventually. Sam had presumed it would not look exactly the same as it had when they left, and indeed it was a little scruffy; still, there was an indent on the ground. Enough to start again with.
Casting some anxious glances over at the lava and fire that marked the Climb, he looked back to Wessex and Nate and nodded, ready to begin working again.
Nate is more than happy with the relative silence the trek leaves them in. Tension rolls off him like a tide, thick enough to cut, though whatever lurks beneath it is more than likely not worth revealing. He carries their jerry rigged little contraption along, leaving the water to keep it cool for someone else to deal with. If they really need it, they can just scoop some snow from Halo, and wait for it to melt.
He drops the bucket on a solid looking piece of ground and steps up beside Sam, readjusting his jacket as he goes. ”You think we should neaten it up before we fill it?” Nate’s voice is a rough grumble, his head just barely tipping towards the other two. If they can avoid coming out here again because they’ve fucked it up, then he’ll be happy.
I would never call him enemy He's the bad god I need
after all is said and done you're just a carnivore
let you in and drink my blood you're nothing but a monster
Wessex doesn’t trek in with them, only because she comes laden with some fresh chips of Halovian glaciers - carried in a bucket that had been placed in the lingering Deepfrost snow and hopefully also cold enough to keep the ice from melting too quickly, the water from becoming too warm. Honestly, she looks a bit like a miner, also laden with two long tools that look like a cross between a hoe and a pickaxe, long enough to hopefully keep them ‘away’ from the lava, but curved at the end so they can ‘scoop’ a bit. And a regular pickaxe. Just in case.
Loki remains on her shoulder. She loves the Climb.
“Let’s do this,” she says as she appears, going right into transferring the chips to their contraption, filling in the space between the rock and the bucket in an efficiency that only someone who can’t feel the cold can manage.
“Probably best,” Wessex responds from where she’s squatting, giving a glance to their previous work. She stays where she is, though, letting the two of them handle that. How you doing…? the Wraith asks Nate, her mental tone colored with concern.
And here we go, "Hello, floor. Have you met my knees?"
Sam got to neatening up the circle, mostly just using his hands to remove larger rocks and chips away from the edge for now, as Wessex put her glacier chips into the cooling pump; he was quite impressed to see her ingenuity there. "I hope this works. It's...a very smart design, both of you. I wouldn't have been able to come up with that." While the mission as a whole had been Sam's pet project, the tool was definitely their creation.
With the circle neatened up, either by hand or tools, he stood back and looked it over before nodding. "Okay. Now we just need to get in the lava. All three of us can try make sure it's steady and doesn't...well...burn us." Alive. To Death. Trying not to let those images torture his mind too much, Sam went to help with the pump.
--
(Turns out this thread doesn't need to be a PQ so lets just get 'er done, folks)
after all is said and done you're just a carnivore
let you in and drink my blood you're nothing but a monster
“It’s really Nate’s design,” Wessex says with a grin, glancing over at their brother. She has no problem giving him most of the credit for this - or Sam, for his perseverance here, in a most inhospitable habitat. She just brings the ice and stone.
Unsure of what to do with the double-bucket contraption, Wessex instead takes up a pickaxe and heads towards the lava. “I’ll do the lava-catching-digging part” she offers, secure in her ability to not burn to death, and perhaps withstand the heat the best. “But it might be best if you’re out of the way until it’s in the bowl.”
So as soon as they indicate they’re ready and the bucket looks steady, the Wraith will dip one of the spiky edges into the lava and try to get a nice big goopy piece, then drop it into the stone bowl without burning either herself or anyone else. But how much do they need?
"I'll gladly take all the credit as long as it works." Even if it isn't reflected in his voice, there's a grin slapped across Nate's features. He drags the bucket towards the edge of the lava, a wary eye on the deadly sea.
Nate is more than happy to step back and let Wessex take control of the most dangerous part, the actual moving of the surprisingly thick lava. Still, Nate doesn't want to sit idly around and do nothing. The faster they all get to work, the faster they can get out here. He busies himself with the pump and the water, trying to get things flowing so they don't immediately melt through all of their hard work.
As soon as the bucket is full, Nate gets to work trying to drag the lava into the pit they have ready, working quickly and carefully.
I would never call him enemy He's the bad god I need
And here we go, "Hello, floor. Have you met my knees?"
Between the three of them they managed it; the lava was moved into the newly-neatened circle and poured in thickly, filling up to the sides and pouring around to the middle. Sam leaned over it as much as he dared, making sure that there was an even amount spread across the space as much as he could. After that, there wasn't much he could do but hope they'd followed the Voice's instructions correctly.
"Thank you." He said to Wessex and Nate both, nodding to each of them, then looking expectantly at the circle. "I suppose we just wait, or maybe it will happen over time? I've found each portal I've helped create has come into being a little differently." Regardless, it was good to have helped the Voice; Sam hoped he'd gain another step towards redemption with this act.
after all is said and done you're just a carnivore
let you in and drink my blood you're nothing but a monster
When it comes, it’s beautiful and magical; it always is, every time their Lady makes something amazing out of what seems like nothing. Wessex is quiet and contemplative while the Voice works, standing in the background with Loki perched on her shoulder. She’s awfully curious about the sequencinc of the portals - why this one before that one? Circumstance? Divine intervention? Was the Voice playing them from the background or leaving it all up to others - stepping in where she’s needed and wanted?
They’ll never know - not them, even favored amongst mortals.
Once the portal is created and the Voice disappears, Wessex bids farewell to her brothers and steps through it, returning home to the Grounds - assuming that the others will do the same to their respective locations.
