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!
Small paws trot along the coast as his tail wags happily behind him. It's a beautiful day and he's quite clearly pleased with himself, finding this trip to be nice and lovely. Occasionally, he will pause and take a look at something on the ground. Maybe a crab scuttling along or a really pretty shell that he will nudge with a paw to see if a creature was living inside. All was well, overall, until he heard a distressing sound.
Eyes widen and he takes off running along until he comes across a hole, inside is a poor little seal, pawing at the walls and attempting to get out.
He shifts into a human and tries to figure out the best way to climb down and save the creature without scaring it even more.
Melita wandered up and down the coast as she often did – feet bare, treading through soft sand, face to the wind, and consequences be damned. More often than not she held a purpose to her ventures, but today was caught by distraction after distraction: chasing after a few Hels, spotting some beautiful shells, and then staring out over the horizon, glancing at the other ships coming in before the monsoons hit. And soon, they too would be going out.
And something about it hastened her blood – curled and coiled and bloomed excitement again. Adventure to hold, to have, to rampage through once more, and with any luck, the charm she’d acquired might be worth something –
Her attention deviated and wandered again, and along with Fangorn’s grumbles and warnings, her brow furrowed. Lifting a hand to shield her eyes, she peered further down the sealine. The gourd started moving before she could though, which was very unlike him. “Hey, Fangorn!” A shout and a yell, but the little gourd was launching and leaping, vines swinging, and for once it was Melita striving to catch up.
They must’ve been quite a sight, pumpkin and youth racing down the shore, but there were other things to hasten towards. She recognized a shock of hair nestled over a hole – waving, friendly and amiable while Fangorn ceased his unrelenting movements. “Hi Oliver,” and then a series of sounds echoed from within. Brows furrowing, she glanced downward. “What’s going on?”
A voice calls out in the distance near him- but with them not stating his name and seeming to be fine, he almost tunes them out. Anger or fear would grab his attention immediately, but with how this person just seemed to be trying to grab someone’s attention? Oh well.
It took for Melita full on saying his name to get his attention. Eyes widen and he peers over his shoulder to look at the redhead. ”Oh! Melita! Umm...” He trails off into a hum before looking back down into the hole.
Within the home, the seal seemed to be trying her best to scramble out of the hole, but with how deep it was and how steep the walls were, she was failing completely.
”Theres a seal- she’s stuck and I don’t know what to do. I feel like she’s be scared if I just leaped down there. Any ideas?”
Her eyes adjusted, back and forth, contemplating the bizarre series of events. A seal within a hole. How on earth had it gotten there in the first place? She crouched down, considering, weighing out the parameters and possibilities. If it were a human stuck there, they could easily toss a rope, and be no worse for wear. But animals couldn’t, wouldn’t, understand the fathoms. Her thoughts circumvented towards the range of weapons at her disposal, but arrows weren’t going to be helpful, nor staffs with the potential to concoct hallucinations. “Do you have any earth magic?” Maybe something could be widened? Or another segment of the hole created? Some foundation where the seal could get out on its own? Raising the stone wares below it? The youth wasn’t certain – lacking the ability herself.
”Yes- sand is unpredictable but I have an idea.” And with that, oliver steadily began his plan.
Using his earth magic and telekinesis whenever necessary, he started to sift the sand around, creating a ramp steadily. Meanwhile, he also tried to make the hole itself much larger. That would make the seal hopefully feel less trapped? Gods he hoped that was the case. ”Keep a lookout for predators- we are all sitting ducks right now and it’d only make things harder.” There weren’t many predators in Torchline... right? He didn’t know many as he hadn’t exactly seen many of the native creatures, but one can never be too sure.
While Oliver worked, Melita adhered to the only thing she could really do – watching the outlines of the horizon. Her eyes briefly ghosted and witnessed as he manifested a little ramp for the seal, which would hopefully be effective, when she saw them.
A pod of familiar figures, imploring and curious, nudging towards the surface. Maybe they’d scented the seal, and knew its desperation. Maybe they’d gone too long without mischief. Maybe they simply thought it’d be amusing, and they could maim and maul where there was an easy target. For whatever reason, the youth clenched her jaw, and sighed. “Some empanadas are coming.” Without much of a cue, she drew her bow, and pondered over which arrow would be the most potent to deliver a clear message.
04-18-2021, 02:24 AM (This post was last modified: 05-27-2021, 12:11 AM by Oliver.)
OLIVER
Within the hole, the seal continued to bark and squeak, clearly whimpering for its mother. That would be another issue of itself to deal with.
Slowly but surely, the ramp started to work and the very clumsy animal started to follow on up the ramp, making their way towards the surface. Within just a few more minutes, Oliver should be done! All he needed was just a little bit more time to make sure that the ramp didn’t collapse or have something else make this harder.
Empanadas? That didn’t sound good. Biting down on his lip, Oliver resisted the urge to look over his shoulders. ”What are those? What are they doing?” Trying to help out, he used his magic to toss some of the sand into the water, hoping to scare away the Empanadas and give them some more time.
Oliver seemed to be taking care of the seal and its ramp quandaries, while Melita selected the ice arrows from her quiver. They snapped in the warmer winds, and she grinned – not maliciously, but perhaps with some air of seditious qualities. She watched as they came closer and closer, likely sensing opportunity, a chance, for an easy meal. “Like little whales? Dolphins? They’re coming towards the seal.”
But wouldn’t get any farther, if she could help it.
With the weapon notched, Melita pulled the string back, aiming not for the pod itself, but the water – hoping the frozen ramparts might cause some portion of a blockade. In theory, it might’ve been effective, but as the arrow flew, it hit a proportion of the rocky surfaces, bounding and bouncing off, segmenting into a corner of the passage – and certainly with enough room for the pod to continue through. “Shit,” she whispered, readying another.
05-23-2021, 02:52 PM (This post was last modified: 05-27-2021, 12:11 AM by Oliver.)
OLIVER
His eyes briefly glance over to the dolphin like creatures before he had an idea.
Using his earth magic, he tried to create a small wall of sand and sandstone. It would hopefully protect the seal from whatever it was those damn creatures wanted with it. The poor thing was already traumatized enough and just needed some time to get out and recover. Hopefully the wall would provide enough protection... hopefully.
With a small wall built, Oliver shifts his attention back to the seal. With a deep breath, he finishes the job up. The ramp is perfect enough for the seal to clamber its way up, only needing a small bit of help at the end. ”Do you have some fresh water? I’m going to assume he’s thirsty.”
Despite the turmoil, the seal waited for a bit, clearly tired and needing some time to rest. No matter how long it took for him to feel comfortable and ready to leave, Oliver would stand by making sure all went well.
She watched as Oliver managed to conjure a wall; a much more effective measure than her prior attempt. But how long would it last? Could it endure the tide? Her eyes went back and forth, from the incoming creatures, to the fortifications, to the seal, and back again. Notching another arrow, she drew back the strand, listening to the telltale whistle of the armament as it barraged its way through the air, neatly slicing and cutting towards the water. When it made impact, in the middle, it spread quickly, defiantly, allowing for a second barricade.
And time, for the seal.
Melita nodded at his inquiry, gathering and grabbing her canteen from her bag, and passing it over to the hybrid. Meanwhile, the pod had reached a certain point, and were looking wildly at the newfound structures. Would they bombard and bulldoze? Or be waylaid by their attempts?
The wall was already starting to struggle- it wasn't meant to be very fortified and honestly Oliver was still learning how sand and the ocean worked. It meant that water was seeping in, but it did provide as a small barrier between him and the seal.
At least until the enchiladas had a new idea.
While Oliver created a small cup using his creation magic and poured some water out for the seal, the little creatures in the ocean started to cause a little chaos.
Squeaking along, they started to use their tail fins to violently splash water at the three, trying their best to get them soaked. They saw the barrier as a game- can they knock it down? Can they get water over it? Time to find out because damn were they trying their little hardest to get Melita, Oliver, and the Seal completely soaked!
Her eyes went to the multiple barriers; neither lasting quite as long as she’d liked. Especially since the empanadas were now finding it an amusing pastime to inflict a barrage of water upon them – tails flipping, launching, coinciding with squeaks and chirps of honest amusement. If she weren’t in charge of protecting, Melita might’ve laughed too as the sea-salt coated her face, but instead, her brows furrowed.
“I’m warning you,” she sing-songed towards the dolphins, and began exchanging the bolts in her quiver. Ice no longer; she went for the pulsing electricity vibrating, tenacious with excitement over the probabilities of vicious force. She notched the arrow, drew it back, and gave the dolphins some manner of patience. “You have until three to turn right around and go on home…” as if they could understand.
Maybe they could. She’d give them the benefit of the doubt.
“One,” she hummed, listening to the sparks sizzling off the ends of her armament. “Two,” she called, taking aim towards the water. “Three,” and if they hadn’t moved, the arrow was released, ferocious and keening for the creatures.
While the dumb enchiladas were being chaotic, Oliver briefly turned his attention to them. With the damaged wall still having some things to work with, he started to shift them around, acting as if a monster were about to break through. The dumb things surely didn’t know what he had in store and with the sand and stone moving around as if something on the other end was trying to break through: hopefully they were intimidated.
Either he helped or he did nothing, it wouldn’t be obvious. The final nail in the coffin was the arrow directed straight for them. As the number two was uttered, clicks and squeaks were sounded and right before Melita could finish the creatures started to flee. Some daring to wait for the three before rushing away, squeaking and calling as they did so, finally leaving the scene and giving the three a moment of relief.
Oliver could hear the squeaks but would have no idea the success. All he could do was continue to give the seal some water and hope for Melita’s swift return to his side.
A sigh rambled through her as the empanadas vanished – turning tail, heeding her warnings or staring as the arrow came barreling towards them. But it’d been enough. With the silly battle waning, Melita took care of her bow, ensuring it was back in the bracelet, and meandered her way through the sand, back to Oliver and the seal.
From there, she could settle and crouch, tilt her head, figure out the progress and processes made. “The empanadas are gone,” she announced her presence and perseverance by way of explanation, Fangorn coming to angle in along her ankles, grumbling low. From there, she jutted her chin towards the creature, arms going around her knees. “How’s it doing?” If need be she could probably fetch more water – though nothing from the sea would quench its thirst.
