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!
04-01-2021, 04:53 PM (This post was last modified: 04-03-2021, 06:53 PM by Jack.)
i want to taste you again
The monsoons are on their way to ravage the beaches and ruin the streets of Torchline. And the Ark?
The Ark has places to be.
It feels like an age since she was last at sea (it was that bullshit with the ghost whales, last she sailed, Jack thinks), and repair work has been done, her belly is filled with supplies and other assorted wares (some a lot less legal than others) and there are plenty of people on shore to keep things sweet while she's away.
Without further ado, then, off they fucking go.
"Set 'er course!" Jack calls up to whoever is at the wheel - it's not Jack, that's all that's clear. Too much to do for that just now. "I want our cannons loaded an' ready to fuck up anythin' that gets in the way of me an' the deep blue. And someone get me a fuckin' drink."
The Ark is setting saaaaail! Someone needs to start steering, someone else needs to load the cannons, and a final person needs to get Jack a fuckin' drink.
Jack being an Abandoned is common knowledge these days, however his Telepathy remains a well-kept secret:
Magic: Passive Telepathy | The user can read the surface thoughts and emotions of those within a 30ft radius. Control is excellent. Note: "Thoughts and emotions" include anything written in a character's narration in a post.
Type: Grey | Rank: Mastered
Also branded with a small star tattoo beneath his left eye.
drinking champagne from the fire escape, watching all my troubles rain down
It’s his first time on the Ark while it sails. It’s also his first time on any other boat that isn’t a fishing boat that his brothers and father have used for years to help stock the shops. But he finds quickly that the Ark while it sails becomes this sort of… Machine, each person and part having a job and a duty, and that leaves Milo a bit at a loss.
He has no idea what the fuck to do.
Milo hears the call from where he stands by the rail, his attention immediately brought to the captain’s instructions. He sure as hell isn’t steering the ship. He sure as hell isn’t manning the cannons – isn’t that Melita’s job? A quick glance is given around for Aurelia, before he darts toward the stock to get a bottle of rum.
Hopping over toward Jack, the runner presses the bottle into Jack’s hand with an easy grin. “Should b’ a good trip, yeah?” He offers though it comes out as a slight question. To say he was slightly nervous would be an understatement.
Milo gets Jack a drink (bc he's useless everywhere else) ;D
There's nothing you or I can do so let the stars fall
Aurelia heads the helm at Jack's call. There's just one glance cast over her shoulder down the main deck, eyeing what everyone else is doing. To be sure, things are off to an okay start, if it's not too soon to say. Her gaze draws towards Milo's red hair, then Jack's drink now in hand, but she looks for Melita too. She can't peer around for too long, though, before she's drawn back to her task.
The wind buffers through her hair and she welcomes it with a lift of her chin. A sting of nervousness brings her gloved fingers more firm around the helm and excitement sparks in her green eyes.
She's not sure which one she feels more as her heart beats hard against her chest, as she feels the hull beneath them push on through toward King's End.
Aurelia steers the ship~
from up here the sky is my thoughts And we're all so small
Like some child possessed, the beast howls in my veins
Melita couldn’t even begin to explain how excited she was to be off. Out of Torchline. Leaving monsoons and family dramatics and rifts behind. Maybe her relatives thought the same – to have the youth out and gone and less of a howling hassle, stubbornly trying to understand just where everything aligned now. The Ark embarking off into the sea couldn’t have come at a better time.
So it was with an intense relief that she could listen to Jack barking orders, with the wind in her face, her hair, and capable of placing the wake of Sunjata’s antics and the revolving door of confusion behind. Her energy was exuberant and wild, a chaotic little melee of dashing movements and motions, content with the ease and spirit of the wake, of Fangorn rushing alongside, of everything with its purpose.
She adhered readily to her claimed armaments, racing toward the cannons, loading them up for whatever onslaught faced them.
It all rides on Aurelia, for these first few moments. She's not alone at the helm by any means; seasoned men that have sailed with the Ark more than a few times are present to keep them steady, to navigate and to take over if anything remarkably fucks up. But, as Jack accepts his drink from Milo with a nod of thanks, uncorking it with his teeth and taking a swig (and good gods does rum burn sweetly since the return of his senses), he's hoping that won't be the case.
And he is not disappointed. "It's gonna be one helluva trip," Jack almost purrs, taking another sip and handing the bottle back to Milo for him to share. The captain's generosity is all due to Aurelia (and her critical success, yes), and the Ark's sails fill with air, their course steady as they cut through the waves. So smooth do they sail that it hardly feels as though they are on deck at all, and it means that Melita's cannons are loaded in record time.
"A'right - one of you get up in that crow's nest and keep an eye out for trouble. The other can man those sails, keep us steady as she goes." And Jack? He's up with Aurelia, taking up a spot beside her and checking the charts and navigations that will get them to King's End. "You keep it up like that an' we'll be there faster'n I expected."
Aurelia was very successful, and thus gets to keep steering! Melita was also successful in loading the cannons, and now there are two new jobs: manning the sails, and scouting for trouble in the crow's nest!
No post order.
like a secret or a sin
JACK
Jack being an Abandoned is common knowledge these days, however his Telepathy remains a well-kept secret:
Magic: Passive Telepathy | The user can read the surface thoughts and emotions of those within a 30ft radius. Control is excellent. Note: "Thoughts and emotions" include anything written in a character's narration in a post.
Type: Grey | Rank: Mastered
Also branded with a small star tattoo beneath his left eye.
drinking champagne from the fire escape, watching all my troubles rain down
Alright, so far so good. The bottle is taken by Jack and Milo’s gaze flickers for the wheel to spy Aurelia there, flashing her a gentle smile, before his attention is brought back to the Captain. The rum is handed back, for sharing, and Milo doesn’t need to be told to figure that out as he takes a sip from it and sets it aside for Jack should he want more of it.
More tasks are laid out, for him and Melita, and Milo already heads for the crows nest, moving to climb up the pole for it to peer out. “’ve got th’crows nest.” He calls out to Melita, before he’s climbing up and up until the wind can be felt in his face and along his body, and he wonders vacantly if this is what it feels like to fly. Regardless, he settles in up there, looking around the water for anything of interest, with a little spyglass of sorts to look out further.
Milo takes the crows nest! He’s scanning the water for anything of interest and has a spyglass he uses for distance!
Like some child possessed, the beast howls in my veins
Value and comfort in the steadiness of the ocean, in the way everything orchestrated well – no broken, tattered relationships, no family drama. Her hands loaded the cannons and gave the armaments a steady pat in assurance, before moving along, one to the next, embracing the same footfalls in evident steadfastness, eager and content to please for the moment.
The next round of orders moved forward, and she was grateful when Milo accepted the crow’s nest notion. Last time she’d taken to it on a challenge, and been left hanging along for all her troubles; nodding her assent.
So Melita angled herself to the sails, clattering in and amongst fellow crew, determined, and stalwart, eyes to the horizon.
04-03-2021, 12:08 AM (This post was last modified: 04-03-2021, 12:20 AM by Aurelia.)
Aurelia
There's nothing you or I can do so let the stars fall
Push on through the Ark does. Aurelia can feel it in her bones, the way the waves seem to welcome them, to carry them onward and upward. It gives her a sense of calm as she focuses on the invisible path set ahead. Her lips are still in a tightened line and brows furrowed, but confidence begins to build with the steadiness of their movement, with the lingering image of Milo's gently encouraging smile cast in her direction.
She's determined to keep this up, even if Jack weren't to come over and offer her his own personal encouragement. She shifts her weight as he comes up beside her and examines his charts. Already, they're off to a much better start than the last time the Ark had set sail. She relaxes at his unexpected praise and glances over at him with a wry smile.
"Feeling better, are we, Jack?" She asks pointedly. It comes out like a bit of a tease, but really she's glad he's okay after the hit he'd taken to his head. Suddenly, she wishes she had those sunglasses of his for the extra cool factor.
She glances up towards Milo where he peers out at the sea, up in the crow's nest, double checking that things are fine before her green gaze returns to scan it too. She settles a bit more easily at the helm, trying to hold onto this momentum if she can.
Aurelia keeps steering~~
from up here the sky is my thoughts And we're all so small
What starts as a fantastic venture into the great blue yonder takes a turn, suddenly. Suddenly and literally. Aurelia (who apparently can only get crit successes or crit fails, oops) manages to steer them off kilter, and the Ark is snatched by the wind and buffets to the side. "I was until that," Jack snips at her, raising his eyebrows at her and straightening up where his navigation tools have all nearly nosedived onto the deck. Reaching out, he offers an extra hand on the wheel to guide her - which is more of an insult than if he'd just gotten fucked off about it.
The result, of course, is that Melita isn't as successful at wrangling the sails as she otherwise might be - she gets her foot caught in a rope, to boot, and will be left hopping around as it slides across the deck. Milo, though? Perhaps Aurelia's fumble is a good thing for him, because with keen eyes, he manages to spy a potential problem up ahead. Not ghost whales, at least (because fuck those) but a pod of brightly coloured encantados. If the Ark doesn't correct her course, they might barrel right into them. What does Milo do?
Aurelia crit fails (oops) and now Jack is helping her steer. The shame! Melita, meanwhile, is caught in a rope, and Milo has spotted a potential problem up ahead.
No post order!
like a secret or a sin
JACK
Jack being an Abandoned is common knowledge these days, however his Telepathy remains a well-kept secret:
Magic: Passive Telepathy | The user can read the surface thoughts and emotions of those within a 30ft radius. Control is excellent. Note: "Thoughts and emotions" include anything written in a character's narration in a post.
Type: Grey | Rank: Mastered
Also branded with a small star tattoo beneath his left eye.
Like some child possessed, the beast howls in my veins
So her luck had run out swiftly.
Within moments of successful loading of the cannons, the sails clearly had other ideas. In a matter of seconds, the honeybee found herself tossed out along the floor of the deck, clunking her head against the wooden slats, cringing as she realized what had occurred. Looking downward at her feet, while her skull throbbed, the ropes had easily bore around her – perhaps when she wasn’t looking or paying attention, eyes on the horizon rather than on the mast. Stupid, really. That's nothing new or out of the ordinary.
So while she sneered at herself, the youth leaned forward, and Fangorn followed in his helpful stead, fingers and vines working at the newfound knots, attempting to free herself from a ridiculous snare.
drinking champagne from the fire escape, watching all my troubles rain down
The ship careens hard with the sales, nearly enough to throw Milo into the rail of the crows nest, but he holds on – holds onto his spyglass with a death grip. He checks the water and the surrounding area for anything that may have caused it other than the winds and Aurelia’s mishap with steering, however, and sees nothing but a splotch of pink off in the distance, something they’re headed directly for.
He ensures he’s correct with the spyglass before he calls down to them, and when it is confirmed, Milo’s angling his head down toward Aurelia and Jack, cupping around his mouth to hopefully amplify his voice. “Oy! We got ‘ncantados directly ahead! Should go a bit off course!” He shouts down to them, hoping that it’s loud enough for them to hear over everything else.
If Milo knows anything, it’s that you don’t want to fuck with encantados when you’re sailing. His father taught him that.
Milo tries to shout down to Jack and Aurelia that there’s a group of encantados directly ahead and that they should go a bit off course to not ram into them.
04-06-2021, 07:33 PM (This post was last modified: 04-06-2021, 07:34 PM by Aurelia.)
Aurelia
There's nothing you or I can do so let the stars fall
Jack can offer his assistance and gripe and moan if he wants, it's only just acknowledged as Aurelia scrambles to correct the sudden jolt, feeling her heart jump into her throat and the sweat pool into her palms. Still, she attempts to play this off, and the cause is a bit unknown to her - perhaps it's inexperience, perhaps she'd let a little too loose at the reins.
Perhaps she'll never know, because the sea is swift and so is the Ark, and she doesn't have much time to dwell. It's her own mistake, and she'll have to focus a little harder to keep Jack's constantly thinning trust.
"Gotta keep y'guys on your toes," she grins over at him in spite of the internal panic.
It's just as she's trying to steady the ship that Milo calls down, and her attention catches like a magnet, her gaze veering out across the ocean to try and see what he's talking about. What the fuck are 'ncantados? She wonders silently, though she's a bit too proud to ask out loud.
She can assume it's some sort of sea creature, and for all she's worth she's more than happy to completely fucking avoid them. Jack may want to let go or else risk his hand getting swept up in the wheel, because Aurelia's intent on swinging them around. She tries not to push the ship's limits, tries to ease into the motion while it seems they have the time to. But she may not be entirely aware of where exactly that line is drawn, or where exactly these 'encantados' are.
Aurelia turns the ship to give a wide berth, trying not to overdo it.
from up here the sky is my thoughts And we're all so small
Milo is wonderfully successful at directing the information to those at the helm, and he should feel very proud indeed about it. And Melita does manage to get out of her ropy entanglement, though it takes a touch longer than expected. But in this case, it's probably a good thing. Because when Aurelia makes her turn (and Jack lets go of the wheel with a raise of his brows), it is not as successful as she might have hoped.
True, it isn't as dreadful as before either, but there's still quite the horrific sound of a few encantados getting mowed down by a ship as the Ark lists into a turn. Yes Milo, you got to see all of it with your wonderful vantage point.
"Oh, I think we are certainly on our toes now..." Jack scoffs.
Well that was exciting!
You have the option to either keep your roles or swap now! Crow's nest, sails and wheel are available!
No post order. :3
like a secret or a sin
JACK
Jack being an Abandoned is common knowledge these days, however his Telepathy remains a well-kept secret:
Magic: Passive Telepathy | The user can read the surface thoughts and emotions of those within a 30ft radius. Control is excellent. Note: "Thoughts and emotions" include anything written in a character's narration in a post.
Type: Grey | Rank: Mastered
Also branded with a small star tattoo beneath his left eye.
Like some child possessed, the beast howls in my veins
Out of the noose of her own making, Melita lifted her head at the notion of ’ncantados. Had she known exactly what animal that was (though she’d learned of them as empanadas courtesy of Nate), she might’ve been more alarmed or intrigued. Instead, a rough grimace took hold as the ship clearly mowed down several of the pod. She didn’t bother hiding the slight frown – but there was nothing to be done for them now. A few little whispers for the souls to be taken to Mort, before she had to hasten to her next task.
The youth still felt no need in bothering with the crow’s nest – dangling from ropes from that particular height still daunted and haunted her – so she cleared the way of any debris, with Fangorn’s assistance, striving to ensure she wouldn’t be tangled in another mess, before taking to the sails once more.
--
Melita stays with the sails – but keeps the area around her fairly free of debris and excess rope!
