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!
Directin’ NPCs really ought to be a special skill, Raza thinks wryly, as the dockhands follow her directions willingly and the rest of the trees are quickly cleared.
Unsure of what’s next on the list, the proprietress takes a quick water break, guzzlin’ down a couple of glasses full before returnin’ to the group an’ finding that the men have left her to the heavy rocks. With a roll of her eyes, the Torcher claims the remainin’ dockhands and trudges over to piles of old rubble that had previously been cleared away - just not away away. She puts on some gloves (cause after all, she needs her hands to work) and the group of ‘em tries to select rocks that will be able to stabilize the beams well enough t’get a solid frame up.
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Raza takes the leftover NPCs and gets rocks to stabilize the beams.
Ronin and Remi are quite the team it seems! Even with the distraction of Ronin taking off his shirt they're able to get the trees knocked down. Not without a few almost close calls though. Trees falling in the wrong direction or almost on top of the duo, but they manage to avoid any major accidents. The trees are felled and ready to be broken down into usable planks for the foundation and support beams!
Maeve moves to help Raza, grabbing a pair of gloves for herself and joining the other NPCS in sorting through the rocks, piling them into the spare wheelbarrow. The NPCS don't have any problems. They are masters at hauling rocks! Maeve and Raza are not masters at moving rocks. They're barely masters at picking things up. The first rock that slips from Maeve's hands lands on her foot and she yelps, cursing as she backpedals right into Raza, causing the other woman to lose her grip on the rock she's carrying. It falls to the ground, catching both of their toes in the process. "Fucking hell!" Maeve grits her teeth, moving away from the pile of rocks to let the men do the heavy lifting, getting herself some water to drink before coming back to try again.
Locke gets his own men together to head down to the beach to start shoveling the sand to backfill the foundation they're going to be laying. The tide is high and they're already going to have some problems, but that's before the wind picks up, whipping the sand up and pelting their skin. That would have been bad enough, but two of the shovels break and they lose a wheel off of one of the wheelbarrows. That's going to be an issue. They'll need new shovels and to fix that wheel before they can get much done.
- The trees have been felled, but they need to be broken down into usable planks!
- Rocks were gathered, but they have plenty more to do thanks to the mishaps between Maeve and Raza.
- Locke and Co will need to get new shovels as well as fix the wheel on the wheelbarrow before they can really start hauling sand.
So come on, give me a taste Of what it's like to be next to you Won't let one drop go to waste
Your metaphorical gin and juice
"Well I am very sorry," Ronin shoots back at his husband. He isn't, and he doesn't notice or care that he's having what looks like a one sided conversation with a manticore for anyone who isn't Attuned. Still, he leaves his shirt where he's thrown it, flexes at Remi for good measure, and starts to get the fallen trees into position.
"You want to hold my wood while I chop?" he asks, winking at the other man as he uses the axe to strip away any smaller branches. "Or are you going to spend your time carving artisan designs into all of my hard work?" Bouncing his eyebrows at Remi - he really doesn't mind either way - Ronin begins to mark up the logs so he can saw and chop them into suitable planks.
Ronin preps the logs, and uses the saw and the axe to start making planks!
“Frey’s tits!” her own curse quickly follows Maeves as the rock lands on their feet an’ a jolt of pain shoots up through her smallest toes. Raza quickly bends down to roll it off and then gently prods the smushed area to make sure it’s all relatively uncrushed. Bruises she can handle. Broken toes, standing for hours - not so much.
Everything seems to be fine, so she retreats for water again with Maeve, slowly wigglin’ her toes around once she’s seated. “Never asked, but did everyone make it outta the Halenani that night? I was there, took all I had t’get t’safety.” And everyone ain’t as strong as she is, Raza knows, particularly the softer whores.
Waiting to see if she can get any good gossip, the Torcher nods and returns to the rock-moving task, trying to be a little more careful as she attempts to move the rest of the stones to where they need to go.
---------------
Raza asks Maeve a question and then continues to move rocks.
it doesn't matter where you roam, when no one's left to call you home
Shifting back once the last of the trees have fallen, Remi grins sunnily at his husband's display of strength. "Why do you think I shifted back to have hands?" He wonders in response to Ronins oh-so-charming offer of holding his wood.
For all their teenage quips, holding Ronin's wood is precisely what Remi does. Stabilizing it between his hands and against his thigh as Ronin saws at it, Remi does his best to help his husband's efforts while at the same time blowing wood dust in his direction. "You know, I wonder if Safrin could give you some saw hands next time you see her. We seem to be doing an awful lot of carpentry lately." It's sarcastic as much as it isn't; Remi building the stronghold in the Greatwood, the Haulani, all of Jata's repairs, their shop, Isla's infirmary...Perhaps it was time that the gods gave them abilities to help with their more mundane tasks, as well as their godly ones.
"Okay, if you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?" Holding Ronin's wood might be keeping his hands occupied, but his mind was wandering, and with it, his motivation to remain working in the heat.
Remi holds Ronin's wood while he saws!
i might have strained a bit too far, i'm countin' all the moonlit stars
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
So maybe he shouldn't have picked this thing to go on. Maybe he should've just stayed and did the stuff with the rocks. Probably would've gone better but no he wanted to go play in the sand like a child. Except now they have a broken wheelbarrow and two broken shoves. They don't have anything to fix them on them and there's a shop nearby. Locke sends one man back the the Halenani with one of the working wheelbarrows while the other two men stay behind to fill up the other wheelbarrows with the working shovels.
As for him? Well he tries his hand at the shops. He lacks Maeve's charm and Raza's charisma but he tries his best. Plus, a favor is a favor right? And he's in good with the Madam, that's gotta mean something, right? And it's only a wittle wheel and some shovels.
_____
Locke sends one guy back to the Halenani site with sand, keeps two filling up the functional wheelburrows, and tries his hand at getting a new wheel and shovels!
06-11-2021, 04:00 PM (This post was last modified: 06-11-2021, 04:00 PM by Maeve.)
Maeve
If it wasn't for the fact that both Ronin and Remi were demigods, things would go a lot worse when they actually begin to saw the trees down into working planks. Ronin does a great job getting the trees ready, ridding the trunks of extra branches and bark like it's nothing, easily completing his task despite the fact that he can't stop making hard wood jokes to save his life. Remi is too busy pondering saw hands to really pay attention to holding onto his husband's wood. Lucky for him, his strength is stupid and even when he doesn't focus on his task, asking what Ronin would like to eat for the rest of his life if he could only pick one thing, they don't have an accident.
Maeve's brows lift as she looks at Raza over the rim of her glass, wiping her mouth after lowering her glass, "I didn't know you were there. Glad that you were able to get out, Most people managed alright. Only a few with injuries including myself. I was inside when it collapsed." She tells her, shaking her head as she recalls the events of that night, expression darkening for a moment. The moment passes and she joins her once more by the rocks, working in tandem this time to handle the bigger stones with ease. Raza might look willowy, but the woman has more strength than is apparent to the naked eye. Between the two girls and the NPCs they're able to get plenty of rocks together for helping to support the foundation.
Locke and co have plenty to overcome. While Locke lacks the charm of Maeve and the charisma of Raza, he's very right in the fact that holding favor with the Madame of the Halenani does mean something. The shop keep doesn't seem too interested at first, but once it becomes clear what it's for, he changes his tune in exchange for a few hours of work from Locke and a promise to see the Madame herself once the brothel is rebuilt. He can finally work on getting the rest of the sand together with the help of the other NPCs who made rather good progress while he was gone.
Remi and Ronin still have wood to cut up, but they're almost done!
Raza and Maeve finished up with the stones. They can start laying out the outline of the foundation!
Locke needs to get a few more loads of sand before he can help finish up at home base!
Almost done with the first part of the PQ!
So come on, give me a taste Of what it's like to be next to you Won't let one drop go to waste
Your metaphorical gin and juice
06-11-2021, 06:18 PM (This post was last modified: 06-11-2021, 06:21 PM by Ronin.)
RONIN
the dark star
It might be slow going, but it is going, and Ronin can only grin at his husband as they settle down to help each other out (eyooo). He works on the wood while Remi holds onto it, makes general conversation and blows dust at him, Ronin scrunching his nose as he tries not to be blinded by it. "Saw hands?" He grunts as he finishes sawing with actual tools, flashing his husband a smile that suggests he might want to rethink the idea. "What about wood manipulation?" He bounces his eyebrows.
Falling silent for a moment to concentrate, it's only when Remi changes the subject that his interest is piqued. "Oooooh, that's not fair. Only one?" He hisses in a breath. "I think it would have to be some big hunk of meat. Probably glazed with honey." With eyes flashing up, he grins to Remi. "Can we get that for dinner, by the way?"
A few hours of work and the chance to meet with Maeve isn't really any skin off his teeth. He never told the guy he'd get a chance to sleep with her. Not that he would care but Locke is typically pretty careful with his words in regards to favors. But now the boys have something to do and before long, they've got a little system work out. Two stay back to fill wheelbarrows, the other two take them up the Halenani. Every time he makes the trip back, he makes a point of giving Maeve some kind of attention, be it a passing brush or a kiss. Why not right? Plus, every time he comes back, he can see how much progress is being made. It's kind of impressive really.
“Mmmm, yeah, had a thing from Frey to work on. Thought I’d treat myself an’ ended up gettin’ hit in the head, so -” Shrugging, the proprietress doesn’t say much more ‘n that about it, though her mind does wander momentarily as she wonders if Thomas was okay. By the sound of it, most’a the whores were, an’ besides, they really hadn’t known each other anyway.
Back to work they go, this time far more successful than the previous attempt and the two women end up being able to manage all the rest of the stones. When they’re done, Raza takes another moment to wipe the sweat from her body before waiting for instructions regarding the foundation. Once she’s told where rocks should go, she tries to get ‘em there, by lifting, rolling or pushing an’ the help of a few good NPC men.
it doesn't matter where you roam, when no one's left to call you home
"Excuse me. I once had earth manipulation I think you will recall. But if you want to talk about my talents with wood manipulation, I am happy to show you a few things I've recently learned." Would Remi give his husband a handjob on a beach with so many around? He absolutely would. They were building a brothel after all, it only seemed fitting.
Unable to tell if Ronin is being serious or not, the alchemist can only grin crookedly in response. "A big hunk of meat, mmm?" His eyes rake up and down his shirtless counterpart as he licks his lips (the lip-licking is real enough; Ronin's suggestion sounds delicious). "Only if I can be the one to take it down." Whether they're talking about a real animal or each other, Remi hardly cares.
"I know I don't often say it but...do you think you could finish up?"
i might have strained a bit too far, i'm countin' all the moonlit stars
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
06-15-2021, 06:41 PM (This post was last modified: 06-15-2021, 06:42 PM by Maeve.)
Maeve
Even with Remi and Ronin going back and forth, bickering, flirting, and tossing innuendos at each other they manage their task. There isn't any accidents and the last of the wood is cut into planks that will be usable for the next stage of building. They finish by stacking it up neatly by the rest of the wood Maeve and Locke got earlier. It's clear there will be more than enough to build this new structure.
Between Maeve and Raza they both start playing the rocks for the foundation, circling them around where the posts will go. While the work is hard, both women push through, accomplishing the task with the help of the NPCs Raza recruited earlier. It helps that Locke gives her a kiss every time he comes by, bolstering her despite the heat, knowing they're that much closer to finishing it all. As for Locke and co? That plan Locke implements works and they have plenty of sand for filling the foundation once it's established.
Maeve finally comes to a stop, pushing her hair from her face and catching her breath, "Great work everyone! I think we're at a good spot for the next group to come in. I appreciate all the help." There is still plenty of work to be done, but they were one step closer to being rebuilt and that was worth it all.
So come on, give me a taste Of what it's like to be next to you Won't let one drop go to waste
Your metaphorical gin and juice
