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!
05-07-2021, 07:01 PM (This post was last modified: 05-08-2021, 04:20 AM by Maeve.)
Maeve
There’s something about seeing the wreckage of what was once her home in the daylight that causes her stomach to twist and her throat to tighten. Maeve draws in a sharp breath, hands firmly planted on her hips as she surveys what used to be the Halenani. There might be some things that can be salvaged here. Maybe the linens? Possibly some furniture? She doesn’t know for sure. Either way there is plenty of work to be done before they can actually start to build anything. Maeve ties up her hair in a messy bun, shrugging off the overshirt she wears to leave her in just a tank top.
She sets to work organizing the tools that have been donated to the cause piled up in the bed of a wagon. Thank you, Mr. Shopkeeper! It’s amazing what a little flirting will do. Maeve starts picking up some of the scattered debris in the yard, tossing them into back of the wagon to be hauled off later. Right now the task is simple: clean up the debris, clear the building site, and find any salvageable materials!
This is the first of two PQs to help rebuild the Halenani!
The following tasks are available:
- Clean up debris! There are lots of pieces of rubble, broken beams, glass, etc.
- Clear the building site! There is a crumbled building that needs to be taken care of. This is going to take a lot of work. Thankfully there are tools for breaking things down!
- Find any salvageable materials! Linens? Furniture? Pots and pans? There's no telling what might be inside!
1. Adam
2. Locke
3. Seren
4. Bartholomew
Please write yourself arriving and what your character is doing to help out!
I'm undone about to burst at my seams 'Cause I am picturing you beside me So let me be everything that you need
He shows up not long after her, hands on his hips in an attempt to mimic her. Except he's got a basket of goodies tucked under one arm. "Fuck Mae, really did a number, huh?" The fact that everyone was mostly alright is nothing short of a miracle he thinks. His eyes dart to her before back to the pile of stuff. Well, no point in wasting time looking at it. "Where do you want me to put stuff? In the wagon?" Locke isn't wearing much, really. It's Longheat and he doesn't wear shirts during Longheat as a principal. But he has pants on so there's that. As long as he's not stupid with nails, he should be fine, right? He hangs the basket off one of the handles of the wagon and heads over to start picking up pieces of wood.
_____________________
Locke is cleaning up debris! (And he brought snacks!)
We can be the kings and queens of anything, if we believe.
Seren was everywhere. Repairing skyports, cleaning up shrines, and now rebuilding brothels. Did she actually care about the building itself and its purpose? Not really. But it was owned by a friend, and that was all that really mattered. The moment the first skyship docked with returning refugees of the monsoon, she went to see Maeve.
"Hi Maeve! And Locke! I've got so much to tell you guys, you don't even know. Let me know if you need a hand with anything in particular, alright?" she said in the way of greeting, words tumbling over one another in excitement.
If no other requests were forthcoming, Seren would busy herself with going through the site for salvageable objects. With her infinite pocket space available, it would be an easy task to get everything gathered up and transported to wherever Maeve wanted it. Provided the starchild understood what was valuable and not, of course. Cloth was one thing, but curious glass rods and other... eh... paraphernalia? Not so much.
Seren is going searching for salvage goods!
Magic: Pocket Dimension | Has access to a pocket dimension that takes the form of small island. Can store an unlimited amount of items within, and can bring one other person there with her. Restrictions: Items can be left unattended, but anything organic will die if left alone for more than 5 minutes. Requires a 2 post cool-down between uses in KQs/PQ+s.
Type: Light | Rank: Mastered
Seren
✰ Starlight (Passive) | Starfilled night billow around her like a veil as she moves. It is more noticeable in daytime and when she make sudden movements.
Well, a ruined brothel was a tragedy to behold and one that Adam felt uniquely qualified to help assist with; he had been in so many of these kind of establishments he could make one up in his sleep.
Sidling in a little fashionably late, he took stock of what was needed and went to go grab a hammer. As he walked past Maeve he grinned and waved, stopping for a moment to lean on the handle, propping the head against the floor. "Well hey, I'm finally gonna get to smash in here." Clearly very pleased with his joke, he cackled as he lifted the hammer back up and went off to work.
It was quite cathartic to break up bits of stone and rubble after the month he'd had; Adam happily went from pile to pile swinging the hammer about and demolishing it to powder. If he imagined the piles were people he was mad at, what of it?
--
Adam clears the building site using a hammer.
adam
Mistreat your Altar Boys long enough and this is what you get
Sad and angry... can't learn how to behave
Still won't know how in the darkness of the grave
"This place looks like shit," are the graceless first words that come drawling out of Bart's mouth as he slinks onto the scene. Looks like a damn bomb went off honestly, except there's no scorch marks. Whatever it is, it has clearly drawn a crowd - ill-assorted and ragtag as they are, they at least seem intent on uh...fixing whatever this once was. It doesn't really look fixable to Bart, at least not without a bulldozer, contractor, architect, a team of dudes, and maybe a few miracles. Then again he's still seriously not accustomed to how weirdly regressed this world is, while also being way too advanced magically in other ways. It's exactly how he ended up here; wandering around Torchline trying to come to grips with his new life and learning a new damn continent alike.
Well, now that he has put his foot in his mouth (not that he really regrets that, he's familiar with the taste of his own shoe with how often it happens) he might as well do more than loiter and make asshole commentary from the sidelines. Out of pity and lack of anything else to do more than apology. Plus demolition sounds like a great time even if he does give the sun a side-eye. That's gonna make things a little shittier.
Pulling his hands from his pockets, he saunters closer and just jumps right in without further ado or conversation. Labor is labor, eh?
- - -
Bart starts helping demo!
They say I need therapy 'Cause I've got no symmetry but maybe I just don't fit in
05-08-2021, 04:54 AM (This post was last modified: 05-08-2021, 06:29 PM by Maeve.)
Maeve
Maeve glances back at Locke with a little grimace, brows knitting together. Fuck is right. It’s a mess. They definitely have a lot of work ahead of them. That much is for sure. ”Yeah, they really did. See what I mean when I said we were lucky no one else was hurt?” She huffs, bending to grab a piece of wood and tossing it into the back of the wagon. ”Just throw everything in there. Anything that seems like it can be used or salvaged stack by the gate.” If she wasn’t so focused on actually getting things cleaned up, Maeve likely would have been more distracted by his lack of clothing, but there is work to be done.
Her eyes lift at the sound of a familiar voice and she smiles brightly at the starchild, ”Well isn’t this a surprise!” She calls over to her, grabbing another few pieces of debris to toss into the wagon. ”Why don’t you head inside and see what you can find. Linens, furniture, anything like that. We will take whatever is still functional or only needs minor repairs.” She leaves the daughter of Safrin to do her exploring, having no doubt that she will inevitably find something within the ruins. Maeve returns to her work, picking up bits and pieces of debris to toss into the wagon until there is another new arrival.
Of all the people Maeve was expecting to see on this ridiculously sunny and hot day, Adam wasn’t on the list, but she is happy to see him nevertheless. Maeve laughs at his joke because of course she does, leaning in to press a kiss to his cheek, ”You know… I really think you should become a comedian, Adam. Definitely not whatever you are now.” She teases, tossing him a wink as he sets off, but before he can get too far she seems to realize something. ”Wait!” Quickly she turns and grabs her large black sun hat from the seat of the wagon. ”So you don’t burst into flames.” She explains, putting it on his head and then letting him head off to work.
The voice that sounds next doesn’t match who she expects to see before her. It’s definitely not Nate, but it sure as hell looks like him. A brother maybe? She didn't know Nate had a brother. Maeve blinks a few times, ”Uh, yeah. It does. Hence the clean up effort.” She retorts, rolling her eyes as she crosses her arms over her chest. ”Either get to work or get a move on, yeah?” Maeve motions to the tools at his disposal, leaving him to decide what he does.
Between both Maeve and Locke, the big pieces of debris are cleared pretty quickly. They're able to clear the perimeter of site and any of the more dangerous bits out of the way of the other workers.
Seren does an absolutely wonderful job at finding things. Apparently it's her secret talent because she even finds some shiny things that might have been personal effects of the Madame herself! Not to mention plenty of linens, furniture, and other items that will definitely come in handy once the new structures are built.
As for those starting on the demolition... Adam does well enough. That anger really seems to get him somewhere and he busts up the stone really well. Almost too well because there is definitely some dust going towards Bartholomew and getting into his eyes. He has a really hard time seeing what he's doing and definitely stubs his toe on a piece of rubble pretty hard.
Pretty good job on round one!
Locke and Maeve now need to haul off the debris to a nearby burn pile and stack things up there before helping to haul off what the demo team is managing to get torn down.
Seren has done a pretty good job at finding items, but she needs to get them out of the building and put somewhere safe. Maybe help the demo team out because they are struggling.
Adam and Bartholomew have a lot of work ahead of them. There might be a better way at tearing things down than what they're doing now. Especially some of those larger beams. They're going to need to be broken into smaller pieces before they can go anywhere.
No post order!
I'm undone about to burst at my seams 'Cause I am picturing you beside me So let me be everything that you need
We can be the kings and queens of anything, if we believe.
Seren absolutely loved treasure hunts. She could soon be seen scrambling in and out of storm-ravaged rooms, climbing over broken walls and furniture while digging for anything that wasn't broken, rotting or waterlogged. Every once in a while there came an excited cry as she dove headfirst into a pile, emerging victorious with some shiny in her hands.
When she couldn't find anything more, she picked her way back towards the cart, and well away from the other working teams she began to unload her findings. It was a curious thing to behold, how she reached into absolute nothingness to the elbows and hauled out pots, pans, curtains, cutlery, jewelry, books and baubles. The pile she built on the street grew in a never ending stream, until finally, after some focused searching through the other place, she retrieved a final necklace.
"Is this yours?" she asked and came over to show Maeve her find. "It looks like you." Smiling, she would hand it over and then bounce off to the next task.
Demolition was perhaps not her forte, but she would try to pitch in where she could. Arming herself with a crowbar, she began to work on dislodging stubborn pieces of broken wood and boards from the parts of the building that were still intact.
Seren
✰ Starlight (Passive) | Starfilled night billow around her like a veil as she moves. It is more noticeable in daytime and when she make sudden movements.
"No shit. Could've been a lot worse." And he's grateful it wasn't. They get to build something new together. It'll still be the Halenani but it'll be Maeve's Halenani. It's pretty cool. He's mid picking something up when he sees Seren. What is she doing here? She's probably wondering the same. Or not. Either way, he gives her a little wave. "Lemee know if you need a hand with anything heavy, okay?" But she's gone before he's sure she heard him. Oh well.
They're also joined by two men he doesn't really recognize. One is clearly Not Nate and the other is getting a smooch from his lady! How dare! He pouts for about half a second before deciding he really doesn't care. It's not like she has a limited amount of kisses, right?
They've finally got things cleaned up well enough to start taking things to a little burn pile. Locke drops another plank onto it, turning to Maeve, "Should have a bonfire after. Or, rather, tonight. I'm sure we can find some booze somewhere.." Honestly, it doesn't sound like a bad idea to him at least.
Oh yeah, fuck, the sun thing. He'd forgotten about that over monsoon season.
Maeve gave him a hat, but it was a spot too late; he could feel his skin beginning to sizzle and knew he'd have to exist in the shadows for a while. Lightening his weight and floating over to a corner of the building not yet destroyed as quickly as he could, he sighed in relief as darkness covered his body again. Fuck, this sucked.
At least he could still be of use here. "Hey, Nate-- oh, you're not Nate." He blinked at the newcomer, a man he felt like he recognised but had just enough subtle differences to not be his friend. "...You, anyway, toss the real stubborn bits over here and I'll smash 'em." When Bart threw over anything particularly hardy, Adam would fly himself up high then swiftly lower his gravity, hoping to heavily smash down into the debris with the heels of his boots.
--
Adam scurries off to a shadow and uses his gravity changes to lift up then smash down onto debris.
adam
Mistreat your Altar Boys long enough and this is what you get
Sad and angry... can't learn how to behave
Still won't know how in the darkness of the grave
The girl's response is far from the first of its kind when it comes to dealing with Bart's nonsense, and he gives a low whistle as if impressed by her. Which he's not, kid barely looks legal. "Don't see me over here movin' stuff hun? Not like I ever seen this place before." As if she deserves any explanation for his assholery, but Bart doesn't want to have to deal with her either. Not when the others gathered - or at least Adam, whoever he is - seems far more his speed personality wise. Even if Bart does curse under his breath when the dust is blown into his eyes, stubbing his toe. It's not too terrible considering the fucking sand that makes up most of this place that prickles his skin on the daily, but it's not a great start either.
Wet-eyed and bleary, he still gives a low rumbling laugh at the man's mistaking of him, and ironically as he smiles it will surely become apparent that it's identical to his twin's own grinning caricature. "Nah, I'm the more handsome model. Name's Bartholomew." As the man continues, Bart's darker eyes take on a mischievous shine, absolutely thrilled by the notion. "Oh hell yeah!" Hefting up a chunk of stubborn beam and ripping it free of the last few pitiful nails, Bart turns and throws it towards Adam yelling, "Batter up!"
- - -
Bart delightedly pulls apart and throws stuff towards Adam to have him destroy it
They say I need therapy 'Cause I've got no symmetry but maybe I just don't fit in
Maeve takes the necklace from Seren with wide eyes, blinking in disbelief, ”I can’t believe you found this! I was sure I lost it forever.” She admits, running her thumb over the little gemstones set into the moons before slipping it into her pocket as Seren skips away to keep working. Between herself and Locke, they manage to start the burn pile, stacking it up nice and neat in record time. There will be more than enough for a bonfire tonight. That much was for sure. ”I think that’s a good idea. We could get some bottles from the Hanged Man.” She hums, moving over to him and giving him a quick hug and kiss as she lifts up onto her tiptoes to reach his lips. ”Let’s go help the others with the demo. I want to get a good amount cleared out before we go to get supplies.”
Seren absolutely tries her best at removing those pieces of wood, but they are really really stubborn. She wedges the crowbar between two beams, trying to crack them apart. Which they do crack apart, but the momentum causes the crowbar to fly backwards towards her, hitting her square on the forehead. There isn’t any blood, but she’s going to bruise there for sure.
As for Adam and Bartholomew ? Well, they don’t fare too well either. Sorry boys. It’s that damn sun. Adam hides in the shadows, but the shadows aren’t all that big, leaving him very little room to actually work. Which means when Bart throws that beam towards him, a bit too high Bart, there isn’t much room to maneuver. Instead of it landing at his feet to be crushed, it catches him square in the gut, knocking him back against the wall which shakes dangerously. Whoops. Maybe be a little more careful?
Maeve grimaces as she watches it all unfold, shaking her head, "Fucking hell... Seren! Come with me. We're going to see about maybe getting some help from the dockworkers. I'm sure between the two of us we can make something happen." Even with the bruise on Seren's forehead they should be able to manage it. "In the meantime... Try not to kill yourselves, boys." Maeve waits for Seren to join her before heading down to the docks in search of some extra hands.
The second round was moderately successful!
- Keep on keeping on! There is plenty to tear down that isn't sound anymore, boys! Try not to kill each other or yourselves in the process, okay?
- Maeve and Seren are going to go look for some helpers to speed up the process.
No posting order!
I'm undone about to burst at my seams 'Cause I am picturing you beside me So let me be everything that you need
We can be the kings and queens of anything, if we believe.
Crowbars were all about leverage. Angles and pressure and persistence. But the wood was tough and the girl light, and metal surprisingly swift when it began to disobey. The rod slipped through her grip and as Seren tumbled forward she was horribly reminded of slipping from a rock over a streaming river. The crack in her head as bone and metal connected was of the same sickening quality, and she staggered away clutching her head, whimpering with pain.
When Maeve called, she was only too grateful to come staggering over. "I'm going to make myself stupid at this rate," Seren groaned miserably. "That's the second time I hit my head..." She needed a helmet. A big dorky one, that read 'clumsy kid, beware'. Maybe her mother could make her one.
Joining Maeve in the rallying of helpers, Seren would let the Madame do most of the talking. Her own contribution were friendly smiles and assurances that she would mention how kind everyone was when next she met her divine Mother. Most people in Torchline knew of Safrin's daughter, so it was an easy promise to both make and keep.
Seren
✰ Starlight (Passive) | Starfilled night billow around her like a veil as she moves. It is more noticeable in daytime and when she make sudden movements.
The little kiss does wonders for him because he's secretly a big softy. Or maybe not secretly. Has he gotten too soft? Maybe. "We'll see about it, yeah." He nods to Maeve as they finish up what they're doing. He misses the beach and the bonfires. He really is a Torcher, isn't he?
Then chaos happens. Seren whacks herself, Bart whacks himself, Adam is hiding. Locke sighs to himself, running a hand through his hair as he makes his way over to the other men. Maeve can deal with Seren for now. "Looks like you boys are needing some help, yeah?" He's got a hammer, from somewhere, and he's keen on smashing shit with it. It'll be fine, right? Locke is good at smashing things. He starts kind on on the opposite side of Adam. He can totally handle the sun. Yep.
____
Locke's got a hammer and he's doing demo. There's no way this will go wrong, right?
