At last, a pale sun emerges after a season of bleak darkness and troubled skies. For the majority of Caido, this is a time where trees begin to bud and blossom, where the days are crisp and cool, but promise brightness and jubilance to come. The same might be said for the Greatwood and the Hollowed Grounds, but as things begin to heat up, be careful of swollen rivers, of the risk of flooding. For Halo, too, the harshest of the ice begins to melt to slush, but of course things are never truly thawed, and as for Torchline? Beware the calm before the monsoons in the second half of the season.
Character of the Season
It has taken a lot of adapting from when Aurelia arrived, but she’s managed to get herself into the middle of a lot of things! From annoying Jack and joining the Ark, to finding a new family within the smugglers of Torchline, and having to come to terms with the type of person she had been before arriving to Caido, Aurelia has made the most out of it all. We can’t wait to see where she goes from here! Congratulations Aurelia!
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!
They have to sail around the Maw. It's an inevitability that Jack has been dealing with for a number of years now - he's even braved it to sail across the thing once, but... nah, not this time. So, even though it will put them behind by a day or so, they begin the arduous task of changing course, tacking around and around the place where the water seems to still, where all sound is sucked away, where the deep seems so much deeper, somehow.
And what better thing to do to pass the time, than have a fucking good party? Someone is at the wheel - someone who has pissed Jack off, evidently, because they're in charge of staying sober and keeping them on course. The rest of the crew, though? The drink is flowing freely and someone's got a harmonica and a few strings and some wood that probably used to be a guitar, once upon a time.
Jack is sitting on the steps leading up to the forecastle, a bottle of rum between his feet and a smirk on his lips as he watches two of the men try to armwrestle while the others take bets.
full speed ahead 'til i'm dead
Jack being an Abandoned is a well-kept secret. Unless told otherwise, it is assumed he is an Accepted.
Melita had long since started in on the drinks; a pleasant buzz circulating through her mind. There were no thoughts on the ever changing family dynamics, with one more added in via goddess pursuits. There were no notions of split off uncles. There were no moronic preludes to the possibilities of what might await her when she returned. Nothing, nothing, nothing at all but the wind in her face, the glass in her hand, and the ambiguous wake of other impulses.
Which were to be met once the harmonica beats came flooring in, and her free hand began drumming along her table – first her fingers, catching the mellifluous flow and the familiar tune, and then her voice, loud and howling and incapable of carrying a god damned note to save her life. “Way, hay up she rises, way, hay up she rises, way, hay up she rises, earlye in the morning,” louder and louder, intending to catch others’ eyes (specifically Aurelia, because they’d already butchered a whole host of other shanties before) – to exalt some manner of enthusiasm, excitement, and jubilation through the windswept tides and the channeling currents.
Oh, Milo has absolutely started in with the drinks, pulling away from everything else to simply indulge in the party on the Ark. It was so much more excitement than he was used to, aside from LongNight parties, and with it, well, Milo can’t help but to obviously show up a few of the crew. There’s the man there with a poor excuse for a guitar, twanging along at the threadbare strings, and Milo? Well, Milo’s brought along his own, fairly well taken care of, hidden amongst the rest of his and Aurelia’s things.
He arrives with the guitar when Melita begins to sing, and Milo — plenty buzzed already, sets up with a leg propped on a barrel used as a seat, to begin to pluck the strings with the man that plays the harmonica, pulling together a well sounding vibration of the strings, improvising based off of what the harmonica plays and what lilt Melita’s song takes. And it pulls together something quite wonderful and jaunty, keeping that blossoming smile on his face.
There's nothing you or I can do so let the stars fall
Aurelia is content to take advantage of this break, fully expectant to talk and jest and perhaps even... nap, because gods, are voyages tiring. Of course she's glad to partake, to put all grief to refrain and let her tired mind relish in the buzz. She ends up leaning against the wooden railing with her arms crossed. Playfully arched brows direct at how it all unfolds into a bit of good old chaos.
Melita begins the drumming of her fingers, matching the song played on the harmonica, and Aurelia's grin widens at the sound of her proud voice rising into the air. She vaguely remembers the whale bone, hauling it out to Ludo's shrine and singing all the while.
It's easily that Aurelia joins in, casting her grin towards Milo nearby, where he's taken to his own guitar. It brings some life to the song and she's glad they're having fun, so she can't help but to start right up with the next verse.
"Ohh- what will we do with a drunken sailor?" A hand sneaks out to poke fun at Milo's defenseless ribs, to tease him, 'drunken sailor' he is, "What will we do with a drunken sailor! What will we do with a drunken sailor, earlye in the morrrnnin'!"
from up here the sky is my thoughts And we're all so small
Jack has a lot of ideas about what to do with a drunken sailor, especially the two who are howling about it and the one who isn't helping matters (Melita, Aurelia and Milo respectively). But he honestly just doesn't have the heart to stop them, much as his ears want to bleed, Jack instead lifting his rum to drown them out literally and figuratively. Only they're still at it when he lowers the bottle again, and he barks out a laugh.
"You wanna try another one?" he calls out across the deck, his amusement threading the words. "Reckon the Mers are gonna think you're dyin' up here, an' the last thing we need is them comin' up to scavenge from a ship that ain't wrecked yet!" He has every impression that his words will go unheeded, and so, expecting nothing but further chaos, Jack takes another hefty drink.
full speed ahead 'til i'm dead
Jack being an Abandoned is a well-kept secret. Unless told otherwise, it is assumed he is an Accepted.
Melita was far more involved in the rhapsody, and the melodies orchestrated by the crew, then Jack’s muffled amusements and gruff calls for something else. The honeybee only paused momentarily, because she’d fully intended to reach higher screeching decibels with Aurelia, to loft her opinions on the matter back to the captain. “The sounds aren’t going to get any better!” And she laughed, swaying, along the deck, half from alcohol, half from the motions, settling herself back down into a chair and tipping her head back towards Milo’s beats. With more giggles and chuckles, she continued the song, ignoring Jack’s request for another tune.
“Shave his belly with a rusty razor, shave his belly with a rusty razor, oh shave his belly with a rusty razor, earlye in the morninnnnnn’!” Expecting everyone else to chime in, the girl continued, persisting in her wild abandon without a god damned care in the world. “Way, hay up she rises, way, hay up she rises, way, hay up she risesssss, earlye in the morning!”
The smile only broadens when Aurelia arrives, when her voice slips out to join the rest of the crew’s, but he does jump a bit in both his surprise and drunkenness at the poke to his ribs, barking out a laugh. His attention flickers back toward Jack’s complaints, a smirk forming on his face as he turns with the guitar, working on the strings a bit louder if only to bother the captain more – playfully, of course – but he does step in such a way he can bump his hip into Aurelia’s.
Melita’s tones fill the air again, drunken and loud and bright and it’s infectious he finds. And Milo? Milo can sing. Quite well, surprisingly, he just never really does it in front of anyone. So he picks up with Melita, letting the alcohol race through his system as he chimes into her song. “Way, hay up she rises, way, hay up she rises, way, hay up she rises…. Earlye in the mornin’!”
He works the guitar a bit more before he starts the next verse. “Put ‘im in th’ longboat ‘til he’s sober, put ‘im in th’ longboat ‘til he’s sober, put ‘im in th’ longboat ‘til he’s sober, earlye in the mornin’!” He trails off, waiting for the rest of them to chime in with him.
2 hours ago(This post was last modified: 2 hours ago by Aurelia.)
Aurelia
There's nothing you or I can do so let the stars fall
Aurelia's voice falls in line with Melita's, and her own could use some work - definitely. Jack's complaints do little to perturb the crew, not as their morale bolsters with the act of singing together, as the song lightens their spirits and their voices lift together. The harsh blow of her and Melita's deaf tones is softened by Milo's better voice, to which Aurelia's brows raise a little in pleasant surprise. However, it is a shame that Jack won't join in with them, she thinks.
A grin's on her face as she sings a bolder verse, looking over her shoulder at Jack as she bumps her back against Milo. "Put him in bed with the captain's daughter, put 'im in bed with the captain's daughter! Early in the morning!" She lets out a hearty laugh before she's actually rounding on Jack.
"C'mon, Captain!" She calls across to him. "We'll sing somethin' else," she looks over at Melita and Milo for their approval before she directs a challenging smirk back at Jack, "but only if you start it!"
from up here the sky is my thoughts And we're all so small
