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!
In the enforced twilight of the Celestine, Riya's scales glimmer more silver than the copper of her darkest points. She is a beacon on silent wings, her soul-sister trailing in her wake, steps as quiet as the wind that carries her dragon onward. Hands that more often are found holding the hilt of a sword instead carry a small wooden box, fingertips wrapped around the edges as if scared to drop it.
Though the hours do not visibly pass here, cloaked eternally in dusk with starlit points, the world beyond here dozes in the midst of the night. Anju is the only one here that she knows of; for that, she is grateful. She knows she is an odd sort, and though those comments have never bothered her, she does not like having to pretend or exert energy to appear normal. Her shoulders are much straighter and looser in the absence of company, and she sinks into a graceful seat at the shrine with no deeper worries traced into the lines of her face.
Placing the box down in the grass, she removes the lid and gazes down at the hand-painted puzzle pieces that are scattered within. With steady hands Anju scoops them out and onto the overturned lid, spreading them out in their abstract pattern as she waits for the words - so rarely natural in her mouth - to find their way to her tongue. "If you have time for me, I would like to play with you Ludo." There is no expectation in her tone as she murmurs it. Riya lands at her side, curling up like a cat and giving a serpentine coo when Anju's hand strays to stroke lovingly at her scales. There is no rush, they are happy to remain here alone with their shared thoughts if Ludo does not deign to answer.
"I always have time to play, sweetling. And tonight, I wish to play puzzles." Like great, dark wings, Ludo's rags reach out to start collecting the corner and edge pieces of the puzzle. It appears before Anju as though it has simply manifested in the darkness, a pale porcelain mask taking on the facsimile of a smile as it sits before her; a ball of fabric handling bits of a game.
Plonking down all four corners simultaneously, the god starts to fiddle with the edges, trying to find the ones that fit together. "Hello, small thing," it greets Riya as well, yet another tendril reaching out to pat the dragon upon the head. "What is this picture going to be, I wonder, when we have put all of the pieces where they ought to fit?"
04-05-2021, 07:56 PM (This post was last modified: 04-05-2021, 07:59 PM by Anju.)
It arrives from the long shadows of the night, porcelain mask bobbing and rags like wings and other celestial assortments. Anju’s smile - so rare to be seen as more than a twitch of the corners - rises in abject adoration, crinkling mahogany eyes. Ludo is swift to pluck the edge corners, and Anju eagerly snags a similarly colored piece with deft fingers, moving gracefully around Ludo’s rags to try and match them together. Though she’d painted the pieces herself, they are plentiful enough to still provide a challenge when it comes to matching them.
Riya, as loyal and loving as her soul-sister to their chosen patron, preens like a fat cat under the loving pat and trills a hissing tune of pleasure. “Half the fun is the guessing is it not? My lips are sealed,” Anju smiles, not wanting to ruin the game by revealing the painting she’d made, and aware of the implications that dwell beyond the surface. After a few pieces are placed, the turmoil beneath her happy gaze finally breaks through.
“I met a peculiar woman named Mildew in the swamp. We talked of Mort, and of ghosts who linger here, and it has remained in my mind. Things are changing Ludo, the Ascended grow ever stronger in rank if nothing else. Stealing and tainting and twisting more and more souls, never to know Mort’s love.” Emotion wells in her that would otherwise be deemed uncharacteristic, but Anju’s devotion to Mort - to the cycle of life and death, the veil of the beyond which has never scared her - is not uncharacteristic at all. Anju is normally to apathetic for things like hatred, but she despises The Voice for this betrayal with a magnitude that shakes her very core. She doesn’t care if the Ascended believe they make their own choice free of persuasion and bias, the perversion of their once-beautiful souls is a wound that aches as if it is her own.
Her sword-calloused hand clenches around a puzzle piece, trying to reign it in enough to speak. Forcing herself to find and place it, taking the time that requires to compose her thoughts. “The Order’s ways are above me. I believe they have plans to try and stop them. But I am...troubled. I feel as if I need to do more than spend my days training. I do not know if their souls are worth saving, if they even can be. But I cannot bear to see it continue.” A precipice that has driven her exactly here.
It all spills out, and for a moment she ducks her head, ashamed at her own selfishness. “I’m sorry, Ludo. I cherish any time you give me, all your games. I don’t mean to make this about me.” More words than she has spoken at once in months, but here is the only place she ever feels safe and confident enough to do so. It is her sanctuary, just as the Celestine is for the various creatures of Caido.
A rag swoops up to clap across the mouth of the porcelain mask, as if Anju has playfully offended Ludo by refusing to reveal the painting in the puzzle. "Very well, sweetling. We shall work hard to reveal it," it says, bobbing its head and snagging another piece to snap it into place with its brothers. Then the Dragoon begins to speak, and the god is here to listen to the echoes of her words, the way they ring like a death knoll around the Celestine.
"You are a child of the cliffs, and your concern is well placed," Ludo says after a beat or two of silence after she finishes her tale. "You are not the first to think about those souls, sweetling. Indeed, Mort's daughter herself had thought of trying to free them. She resides in the Greatwood, where my own chosen has been stationed. Would you wish to involve yourself in the efforts?"
An uncharacteristic laugh eeks past her lips at the feigned shock; without expression carved into the mask, it is made all the more amusing and childlike. Anju sneaks her fingers to pluck as close to the pieces Ludo chooses as she can, spirit at ease and free to be impish and impetuous for once.
"Stormbreak is well-defended against Abandoned - and Ascended, I assume - but waiting for them to come to us...it does not sit right with me." For all their defenses, at times Anju feels like a lion pacing the edges of her cage, feeling trapped instead of secure. "I am a Dragoon. I am expected to remain here to defend the city - but can I not seek to fight in other ways?" A philosophical query more than a direct question as her loyalties - only ever two; her blade, and the deity before her - threaten to tie her into knots. "If their souls can be released, perhaps it will weaken The Voice. I only have my blade and my faith, but I would help Mort's daughter however I can."
Ludo hums and pokes around the puzzle pieces, looking down at the non-picture while Anju waxes philosophical, and eventually (after trying and failing to force a piece into its place), the mask turns back to the Dragoon. It seems to smile. Reaching out a raggedy tendril, it pats the top of her head.
"First you will have to find her," it says. "I will help you, sweetling, if you wish to take your fight against the Ascended out of the city. Find Mort's daughter and complete a few other tasks, and we shall see if we can give you something to aid in your efforts."
Anju has received a quest from Ludo! She must:
- Explore three areas of the Greatwood in three separate threads to look for Delphia, Mort's daughter. (One of these threads may be with Delphia to "find" her, if you wish!)
- Complete a thread learning about Ascended souls and the rumours surrounding them
- Complete a thread exploring the Spire
As a few more pieces find their spaces, the image becomes clearer - abstract swirling colors that only when viewed as a whole portray a dark wood with lanternlike spots of brightness. And somewhat unexpectedly in the off-center, only two puzzle pieces in size but far more detailed: a plump Sear Cat wearing a garishly colorful party hat.
Admittedly Anju hadn’t anticipated more than a lovingly guided conversation, but she tilts into the pat of rags upon her head in a fashion reminiscent of an eager child. Attentively she listens all the same, Riya perking up at her side so that both gleaming pairs of eyes are turned unwaveringly towards Ludo. Committing every instruction to memory, pulse dizzyingly fast at the prospect of a chance to do - to be - more than what she is. “Thank you Ludo. I will make sure to bring some toys to your Woods as I pass through - simply painting it will not suffice,” is offered with a lopsided grin. A place she can finally explore firsthand instead of reading about.
Plinking down the penultimate puzzle piece, Anju grins at the Cheshire-esque rendering she’d created by hand, and feels a weight lift from her shoulders with a proper goal placed before her at last.
Ludo gasps softly as Anju clicks in the penultimate puzzle piece, as if it had not anticipated even in the slightest the completed picture until that point. "Toys? You are too kind, sweetling," it informs her with a dreamy sigh. (By no means is that a you don't need to do that, let it be known - toys are always appreciated).
"I look forward to seeing you in the woods very soon," it continues, clicking the very last piece into place and clapping its rags together. "Thank you for the game. I do like kitty cats, even Sear Cats. But not Cait Sith." It shakes its head firmly. And with that, it sweeps the completed puzzle into its void of rags and promptly disappears.
