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!
Locke holds his hand out to Sugar. He mutters something to himself as he turns his hand over, exposing his palm to her. "Aren't you a lovely little thing.." He almost wants to ask if they're all this small but stops himself. Honestly at this point he's just giddy about the prospect of having a companion like a dragon. Who gives a shit about being a dragoon?
He does, maybe. A little bit. He looks over at Cameron, raising an eyebrow before looking back at Ronin. They must not have been around when he asked that. Although he's curious how Ronin will answer this time. See how solid his answers are. He takes another drink, eyeing Ronin's rings. The filthy little pickpocket in him wants to see if he can make off with one of them. Probably shouldn't though.
"Eventually, yes. Though I can't tell you when - when you're ready, is the usual and mystical reply," Ronin says with a chuckle. "In truth, as far as I know, you needed to have been paired with a dragon prior to joining the Dragoons. This is something new, being able to train without one." As Ronin speaks, Sugar naturally approaches the one offering the most attention, that being Locke. She breathes a cold breath across his palm, before snuffling at it as if he might be able to offer something more.
Locke is right, and he has answered this question once before, but Ronin is happy to repeat himself if for nothing more than to prove his consistency.
"We are a militia," he explains. "So we are bound to defend Stormbreak from whoever might come to attack. If that isn't something you can get on board with, perhaps this isn't for you." With a smile, he spreads his hands. "For the rest... what do you say?"
"It's not that I'm not onboard," Cameron said, quickly. Too quickly? Did they look like they were trying to hang onto an opportunity, or did they look suspicious? That would be for Ronin to decide. "I just want to have an idea of what we'd be facing. Like I said, I'm new here, so for all I know we'd be fighting, like, clouds. Or bigger dragons."
Cam knew they needed more information to take back to Wessex, but they were struggling to think of further questions that wouldn't break their cover. Oh, here's one: "So you can only get to Stormbreak by airship? Is that how you came to Torchline?"
cameron ?
"Cameras" by Ennev is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
Locke slips his hand under the dragon's chin, offering a little scritch. "If I had something to give you, I would. But all I have is a beer. And I get the feeling you don't drink." His voice is a smidge higher pitched than normal and he'd be embarrassed if he thought anyone was paying attention. Ronin might be but it's fine. He's curious about the getting a dragon thing but doesn't get much of an answer. It's probably not a singular experience. He's not sure why he assumed there was just a little dragon hatchery somewhere in Stormbreak.
Locke's pretty much made up his mind at this point but he's playing with a dragon and he's got free booze so he's happy to keep warming his seat for now. "Why'd you come to Torchline anyway? Doesn't seem like prime recruiting location."
Sugar, luckily for Locke, is more than appreciative of the scritches, and so his lack of treats is forgiven (for now, anyway). Still, she does sniff at the beer as if tempted to dip her snout in it, though all it achieves is a thin layer of frost across the glass he's drinking from. Ronin, having been watching the whole exchange, is trying not to smile quite so obviously, instead giving his attention over to the questions asked of him.
"All you'll be facing for the foreseeable are other soldiers while you train, of that I can assure you," he says, grinning between Locke and Cameron. "Sorry if you were expecting to join an army that will be going right off to war. If that does happen, though, I assure you that you'll be informed." Why Torchline, though? "I used to live here. My husband was the previous Governor, and I was on the council. It seemed like the obvious choice," he admits.
"And yes, you'll be going between Stormbreak and Torchline by skyboat. That's how I came here, and it's how we'll be headed back."
Cameron nodded at Ronin's response, though internally they were a bit frustrated. He seemed pretty evasive about the war he actually expected to fight. Should Cam call him on that, risk a confrontation, or let it slide? Insisting on answers might get them some useful information for Wessex; they felt like they hadn't learned much yet, except maybe the skyboat thing, and seeing the ring -- but they hadn't seen it in use. But if Ronin got mad, or realized something was up ...
They decided to take that chance, but carefully. In a joking tone, they said, "It almost sounds like you're avoiding the question. Who would you possibly go to war against, anyway?"
The last bit would sound as if they found the prospect of war in Caido totally ridiculous, or so they hoped.
cameron ?
"Cameras" by Ennev is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
"It almost sounds as though you're not sure of the difference between an army and a militia," Ronin counters with a grin, raising his glass in a toast before taking a healthy sip of it. "Don't get me wrong - if there ever was a war, I have no doubt that the dragoons would be called in to fight it. If you are wondering what side Stormbreak falls on between the old and the new gods, I can tell you that they are firmly aligned with the former." Whether that would satisfy Cameron is beyond Ronin, though.
"What you're more likely to face is anything coming out of the Wilds that wants to take a bite out of Stormbreak. I'm sure you've heard of those sorts of things cropping up over the past few years - sea panthers, huge vampire gourds, that's sort of thing." He shrugs his shoulders. "Either way, if any of this appeals to you... well. That's what I am here for."
"Maybe I'm not," Cam answered, with a regret that they hoped sounded sincere -- probably the note of embarrassment did, since it was real. They didn't think they were going to get anything more out of Ronin -- he was clearly too smart to say something like "We can't wait to eliminate all the Ascended with our secret superweapon" or whatever. So Cam would just have to hope that Wessex could make something useful out of what they'd learned. "As awesome as it would be to have a dragon, I don't think I'm really military material."
They reached out carefully to try to touch one of Sugar's spines, wistfully. They certainly weren't lying when they said they would love to have a dragon, but not if the price was joining a genocidal theocracy. While they intended to lurk around until Ronin left -- under the pretense of watching the dragon -- just to see if he said anything interesting to someone else, they were pretty much done questioning him.
cameron ?
"Cameras" by Ennev is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
