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!
Stomach grumbled lightly and without sound as the lands shifted to the blackness of the area around the Spire to a more vibrant green surrounding the golden feline. Despite size, it moved with gentle steps, minimizing the sound made as it approached what looked in the distance a brown, plump furry creature with ears that stood upright and long.
A small smirk appeared on his muzzle as he kept himself low, trying not to catch notice of the prey ahead as it peacefully nibbled on wild grass. After a few moments, once he felt close enough, the lion pounced, getting the furry critter under his paws.
A second later, his paws suddenly flattened against the ground, as if he missed.
Confused, he lifted one of his paws to see his prey was suddenly gone before looking around to see the thing fleeing---wait, how was it ten feet away from him?!
The lion made a very-audible growl of aggravation at that. A warning that the Bunearies here had Teleport would have been nice...
Dunno if Wessex needs more threads relating to killing, but Neos does need hunting threads as a predator-based shift. XP
Ten feet away, but not out of danger. Wessex has sequestered herself away in Kings End, leaning back against a tree to think her way through things, which really just means overanalyze and fume and perhaps talk to herself a bit.
Is she losing it? Not quite. She’s just developed some more neuroses.
A hare appears to her left and as she looks at it, she activates her angry eyes, lasers zeroing in on its body, then its head as it's burned by the lasers, screaming in a very unpleasant way until she silences that, too. Of course she’d heard the lion out there, but as she no longer has much to fear from normally fatal encounters, the Wraith had simply stayed quiet, hoping to wait it out. And if she couldn’t? That’s what teleportation is for.
Either way, her cover is blown. Wessex continues to watch the rabbit from where she is, wondering if she’ll have to fight someone for it, or if she should just leave.
The lion had been watching with a defeated look as the teleporting hopper bounded away from from when the sudden appearance of lasers, a pair of them, appeared to strike at the poor thing. The sudden flash of light had the lion shifting from being post-pounce and flat on the ground to being standing on all four paws, startled.
What in Distortion...?!
An Ascended's near.
The lion followed the path of the unusual lasers, head then tilting upon seeing the source and realizing that, unlike past encounters, he didn't feel the sudden weirdness that he did in the past around Ascended. Did winding up among all those Ascended at once during Deepfrost shock that out of his system?
He sat down on his hind haunches before raising a paw high. Tilting his head to one side and lowering it a little, he managed to mimic the human action of scratching the top of his head in confusion upon seeing someone he recognized from all those Ascended.
Lowering said paw and straightening up, the lion let out a sigh before deciding that he was going to break the ice that he felt. With that in mind, the lion suddenly pushed up with his forepaws to force himself into a standing position on just hindpaws as he shifted, returning to normal and adjusting his hat a little afterwards.
"Hey, aren't you Wessex from the Hollowed Grounds," he asked in curiosity, wanting to make sure he got the right name on the tongue.
He wasn't even bothering with any form of regal formalities this go-round.
03-20-2021, 05:04 PM (This post was last modified: 03-20-2021, 06:53 PM by Wessex.)
I write sins, not tragedies
The sounds of the lion shift and soon it’s coming her way. She braces for conflict, releasing her talons and ready to hit it with a biopulse if necessary - but the sounds aren’t one of stalking, no growls of warning or a roar to claim its territory. Not that Wessex knows much about lions, but most animals will give warning to head off a fight.
Instead, she finds herself face-to-face with a very calm lion and all she can do is look at it, rather confused, until it makes a gesture she’s never seen any cat make before. It hits her. “Oh. You’re Attuned.” The demigod immediately sheathes her claws and mentally tries to realign her head.
“Sorry to interrupt your hunting, I -” But then there’s a human. A vaguely familiar one. Who seems to know her, but his name is…. Not coming to her. The Queen nods in affirmation, trying to maintain a polite facade. “Yes. And you’re… ? I don’t think I caught your name last time.” Had he even introduced himself? Normally she’s quite good with names, and she can remember a head-banging but other than that, it’s all a bit fuzzy.
Look out 'cause here I come And I'm marching on to the beat I drum
...and Neos facepalmed, feeling like a prized dumbass. "Dammit, I was in so much shock that I didn't introduce myself," he muttered to himself and into his hand, requiring some sharp ears.
His luck, the Ascended Queen had such ears.
"The name's Neos, and yeah, I was trying to hunt, both for sustenance and to learn about the fauna around here." He looks towards the direction of the headless rabbit, almost afraid to go look at what remained. He had a sturdy tolerance for meat in most states, but he wasn't exactly used to what might be in the wildlife around here.
He then glanced towards Wessex before asking, "Though, that leaves me wondering why you're out here though. Lost in thought about something?"
He had a few questions, both about those metal claws that came out of her arms clearly enough times that it didn't hurt and wherever the hell those lasers came from, but he wasn't wanting to start off on that paw.
She does have such ears - sharp and honed, unlike her sense of taste or touch.
Which is why she gives him a bit of a funny glance right before he introduces himself, but otherwise keeps her opinions to herself until her observations either confirm his quirks, or the future offers an opportune moment to say something polite.
“Take it,” she says, noticing his glance towards what’s left of the blind hare and gesturing for him to go ahead. “I certainly won’t get anything from eating it.” She might have given it to someone in the Grounds, but with a person right here, she wasn’t about to take it away from them and their efforts. She straightens against the tree, pulling her legs into a more relaxed, crossed position, and shrugs at his next question. “Uneasy is the head that wears the crown.” Her fingers flicker towards her temple, one side of her mouth twitching in a wry expression. It’s cryptic, yes, but says enough - or so she thinks.
04-06-2021, 06:58 AM (This post was last modified: 04-06-2021, 06:59 AM by Neos.)
Neos
Look out 'cause here I come And I'm marching on to the beat I drum
Neos gives a bit of a subtle smile at the last line, a knowing look in his eye. "As it usually is just about anywhere. Also figured titles or honorfics were a small bit of a bad idea with you."
He glanced towards the odd rabbit, or at least what remained of it, as he dared to approach and kneel down at the end result. There was definitely no head left after the lasers hit it, though the rest of the body seemed untouched. He hadn't seen a surgical strike of that nature since...
...nope, now's not the time to think of that corroded reality. Having to deal with the fact that every time he used the portal system here reminds him of his traversals through the Warp or the Blind Eternities were bad enough.
"...do you have a laser weapon or something on your person," he asked, taking advantage of the fact that the lasers' heat seared close the neck to prevent blood from spilling out. It'll make carrying it easier if he holds the neck above the rest of the small body. "And you think it'd be possible for me to get something similar? Having a ranged weapon, even if it takes the form of a handgun, would be admittedly useful if stuck in ranged combat."
He didn't know if the Ascended had anything along the lines of firearms, but considering the flickerings of technology he did see among them, especially those laser beams, he felt he might not be introducing anything new to one of them at this point.
Bad idea? Not necessarily. Wessex shrugs at the assumptions but doesn’t dispute them, not really wanting to talk about being a Queen or not being a Queen and what that entails right now.
But her upgrades? Yeah, that she can easily talk about and her entire demeanor is quick to change from a vague disinterest to something bordering on welcoming. “It’s an upgrade, actually. Or Magic. I’m not sure which sometimes. Here, see?” She taps her temple to draw his attention and then looks at a nearby tree, activating her lasers and letting the red beams start to burn two small holes into its trunk.
“I’m not sure if you could get anything like that or - guns, right? -” She’s only ever seen Adam use one of those, if she’s remembering the name of the weapon correctly, “-considering you’re Attuned, but the Voice is ready and willing to help everyone.”
She might just have some serious questions for Neos first.
04-08-2021, 08:06 PM (This post was last modified: 04-08-2021, 08:08 PM by Neos.)
Neos
Look out 'cause here I come And I'm marching on to the beat I drum
The word that caught Neos' attention, even if he didn't visibly react while listening at the moment was the word 'upgrade'.
He turned a little faster than he wanted to when Wessex called his attention, and he had to lock his jaw in place to keep it from dropping as he saw her shoot the same lasers, but from her eyes. "I thought you had a double-barreled lasergun, not having that come--" He suddenly blinked, then a hand covered his face before muttering, "Arceus-dammit, the Ascended really are cyborgs..."
He peeled his hand off his face as Wessex continued speaking, turning his attention to her and noting her uncertainty in the use of the word 'guns'.
Might have opened your mouth at the wrong time, he heard in his head with a mocking chuckle, though the false human ignored it for now.
Either way, he's in this for the long haul now.
"A gun, you can say is like a more-compact but more powerful crossbow. They are also usually designed to fire more than one shot before reloading as needed. While I don't doubt the Voice can make something like them, and en-masse, based off of what I have seen of her, they're not exactly easy to make otherwise...at least without the risk of them misfiring."
Wiling to help, honestly, after what happened in Halo that brought all those people back to life, he could believe it. Did he agree with people being brought back to life? No. But he isn't them, and after seeing a couple of those same people again enjoying life, he wasn't going to be the dick that said they should stay dead.
Nor could he fault any of them for wanting to come back to life, assuming each of them were willing to come back.
"The Voice...I keep getting very, very mixed signals in regards to...I assume her?" Neos looked up in thought, realizing he only had a voice to work from. Does this Voice even have an appearance other than a lightning bolt? "There's a number that seem to revile her existence...including one whom I'm wondering if has he ever thought for himself over everything instead of always listening to the Old Gods and assuming they're always right. Even I was royally-pissed at her for all the changes she clearly made to my DNA when I arrived here. Same about the Ascended. And yet..."
He took off his black-wide-rimmed hat after he leveled his gaze in Wessex's direction before running a hand through his mane of hair. The light hitting it better revealed the attempts of having bluish hair despite it looking a very-dark shade of it, almost black by this point. "I don't know what to think anymore, especially after ending up among a large bunch of them myself and how almost all the Ascended there were..." Neos's words stopped as he exhaled, lowering his hand so he could put his hat back on. "I came out here probably for the same reason as you, to think things through while by my lonesome. Just...how could someone hate a variety of people that...didn't seem at all like they would even have the heart to fight, even if they could?"
04-08-2021, 11:38 PM (This post was last modified: 04-08-2021, 11:38 PM by Wessex.)
I write sins, not tragedies
At first, the Natural is surprised by the description of a gun and was taking a moment to piece her thoughts together as Neos launches into his next thought… and the next. Every time she’s about to ask a question, he bounds on to the next thing, so there’s a long silence before Wessex speaks again.
“Has anyone ever told you you talk a lot?”
Shrugging, she realizes it could come off as rude and while she thinks that may not be the worst thing in the world, what she really means is “I didn't followed it all.” There were a lot of new words in there: double-barreled, lasergun, cyborg, DNA. He lost her early on and while she's smart, she never caught back up.
“First, what’s a cy-borg?” The face she makes as she asks the question is more like she’s tasted something… not great. “The word itself sounds terrible.” And she didn’t like feeling like a terrible word.
Look out 'cause here I come And I'm marching on to the beat I drum
"...yeah, I have been told that. Never could keep straight of when I was supposed to let people talk," Neos admitted, deflating a little when he realized that, once again, his mouth ran away with himself trailing behind it. "Also, sorry for losing you, I..." He looked down towards the ground for a moment before looking back up towards the demigoddess. "I'm still trying to learn what does and does not lose people here as well."
After realizing what he said was caught, he also made a mental note to try to not say shit under his breath under Wessex. "As for your question..."
Shifting his hands into his pockets, he clicked his tongue, looking to the side for a moment to think about how to try to explain things without loosing his current company. He then looked towards Wessex before exhaling and starting to speak.
"Inherently, the term 'cyborg' is actually shorthand for another term, a 'cybernetic human'," he started off saying, left hand rubbing on his right shoulder as he rolled it in place. "And that is a person that has, for one reason or another, replaced a large amount of their physical bodies with replacement parts often stronger and better than the original. Most of these replacements are made of metals specifically designed to stay within the body permanently as well, though other materials made for the purpose were sometimes used as well."
He then allowed his left hand to fall to his side before bringing both of his hands and raising them, right hand pointing on his left about where he saw the claws come out of Wessex's hands. "They can sometimes have augmentations that a normal human wouldn't have, such as enhanced vision and an inability to be blinded by sudden flashes of light if the eyes were replaced, embedded weaponry like your laser vision and those claws I saw you have in your arms, extra strength in the legs to allow for jumping extremely high or running...and that's just a really, really small example of such augmentations."
Unlike before, however, he stopped himself from continuing on after the explanation based on how he understood them.
“The adjustment can be difficult,” Wessex acknowledges, trying to take a step back and be a little more understanding. “From what I understand, Caido is simultaneously less and more advanced than other worlds, though how that can be, I don’t really know.” And that’s not really the vein of this discussion. She’d like to try and keep this one, at least, ‘on track.’
Settling in to listen, the term cybernetic has her making the little girl in the carseat meme face, but as Neos continues to explain, Wessex comes to realize that yes, that’s exactly what Ascended are. More or less. “Okay…” she says in consideration after he’s done. “I think that’s kind of what we are, though I’d argue that the Voice isn’t always replacing parts, she’s usually adding to what we already have. My eyes are still my eyes, but now they can see through illusions. They can read any language. Shoot laser beams. It doesn’t look like tech from the outside.”
And then there’s the emotional aspect of it too. The way Neos says it sounds so… cold.
“We become Bright,” she offers, "Ascending above normal problems." There are other problems, but nothing that can't be managed with time and adaptiation. “My diseased body parts were replaced by parts that wouldn’t fail like that again. They might still fail, but not like that.”
Not ever again. And for Wessex? Whatever Magic is in her means it will (hopefully) be a very long time before she dies - if ever - unless it’s by her own choice.
04-18-2021, 03:10 AM (This post was last modified: 04-20-2021, 11:21 PM by Neos.)
Neos
Look out 'cause here I come And I'm marching on to the beat I drum
"Bright..." Neos repeated the term more to himself than anything with a slight nod, trying to make sense of it. He had to stop himself from wanting to chuckle at the meme face he was getting, knowing exactly where he had seen it before from long, long before he ever came here...though the tiniest smirk did appear on his face for a brief moment at that.
"...from what I'm hearing, it seems the Voice ended up tackling a serious problem that arose in people that would undergo such augmentations, how the more altered they become...the more they lose themselves to potential psychosis---" He stopped himself for a second before looking away, trying to think of a better word for that in the moment. "Or insanity in the process."
The last sentence was said with a heavy tone of sorrow.
"...so much potential, yet it feels like humanity's forced to fight against its own evolution here," he couldn't help but mutter, not even realizing he was saying anything.
He turned towards the fields around them, scanning for more to potentially hunt...and seeing yet another of those rabbits passing by. "...um, by the way," Neos began at a much more normal volume. "...what are those creatures called, by the way? They look similar to something from my own home, but they're definitely not."
Potential psychosis…? Whatever world Neos came from, it sounds like it had a bad version of the Ascended.
“So your cyborgs weren’t ordinary people? Ordinary people wouldn’t want to do those kinds of things if it meant losing their minds.” A slow crinkle of distaste intensifies, spreading from her nose outwards. There is the caveat of the Spire Demon, the Prince and the Monsters, of course… former children of the Voice who’d gone mad in her absence, her inability to properly care for them. Was it Her that kept them sane? She certainly kept them alive…
Then again, Wessex herself has the most upgrades. She might be closest to insanity. (Then she’d really be the Monster the Voice Unleashed, wouldn’t she?)
“The Gods control so much. You’d have to speak to them about what we fight against… evolution, or whatever.” It’s their truth. Their boon and their burden.
Glancing again at the headless rabbit, Wessex shrugs. “They’re a particular kind of rabbit. Blink Hares. They can teleport short distances when threatened.” Thinking back to his previous jumble of thoughts, there was something she did want to touch on, but couldn’t quite remember. “You mentioned something else about the Voice, earlier. What was it?”
