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!
You took notes on what you had to do
To get the piece of the pie that belonged to you
Adam had gotten to know the various shady spots on the beach throughout the day well by now; which rock cast the best shelter, which tree hit the right angle to be able to walk along it's shadow to the sea. He was sat at one of his favourite places, behind a large rock, this early afternoon; idly messing about with a chunk of wood and a whittling knife that he had no idea how to use. So far he'd made an ugly, uneven cube.
Wessex's little speech had gone...well, not as badly as it could have done, but not great. Personally he felt Ascension kinda sucked, so he was never gonna contribute, but he had watched the whole thing, which was how he recognised Arialla on her way past.
"Hey!" Before he even really knew what he was doing, he jumped up onto his feet and ran to the edge of his safety-shadow. "You were in town earlier - I'm not like Wessex, I swear. I don't like Ascended shit either, really. Do you wanna chat? Just like...about it all? I think it's good to talk to people on a...you know, like, a friend level."
Gods, was he drunk? He wished he was , so he might forget the awkwardness of that introduction. Still, the offer was out there now; Adam stood and grinned, hoping the fangs wouldn't put her off too much.
You've been waiting for this ever since you were young
Be careful not to choke on your tongue
Arialla hadn't spotted Adam sitting behind his rock, even though she kept closer track of the people around her now than she once had, so his sudden appearance startled her, badly. She jumped back, moving several paces away; at once her hands were shifted into eagle's claws. Only the knowledge that takeoff would require a few awkward seconds that she couldn't afford in an attack kept her from flying away.
Then Adam's words trickled through to her brain -- and the nausea caused by Mildew's doll reached her stomach. Recognizing the man before her as Ascended only made Arialla's fight-or-flight reaction worse for a moment; then she glanced at the pool of shadow in which he stood, and a smirk crossed her face. In broad daylight, she had the upper hand. He was trapped in his patch of shade, harmless.
Still, she didn't unshift her talons as she spoke. "I don't want to talk to you, and I definitely don't want to be friends."
Her voice was tight, but she didn't walk -- or fly -- away, either.
You took notes on what you had to do
To get the piece of the pie that belonged to you
Arialla's smirk would have pissed him off if he was in the mood to get angry, but Adam decided not to let it hit. Instead he just smiled right back, rocking back and forth on his heels at the edge of his shadow-safety-zone.
"Oh, but I'm really cool. For real, I even have friends that hang out with Safrin and shit." Saying that immediately took his mind to Amalia, but with a discipline he'd had to learn over the last years, Adam drew himself out of that particular spiral. He could have that crisis later - right now he was trying to mend the schism in society, which he was obviously qualified to do.
Taking a couple of steps back and sitting down, making it absolutely clear he wasn't a threat, Adam gestured to the space in front of him. "Look, the worst that's gonna happen is that you don't like what I have to say, right? We both know I can't go into the sunshine there. If you really hate me you can drag me out into the light and fry me to a crisp." He punctuated this suggestion with a bright smile and a wink.
You've been waiting for this ever since you were young
Be careful not to choke on your tongue
"Don't tempt me," Arialla growled, when Adam mentioned the possibility of dragging him into the sun and killing him. The claim of "friends that hang out with Safrin" didn't mollify her, because she assumed it was a lie. She had forgotten that relationships could exist across the battle lines drawn in her mind and, soon, across all of Caido.
But fine. Adam's insistence that they should talk made her a little curious, in spite of herself; she wanted to know why he wanted to speak to her so badly that her clear hostility hadn't dissuaded him. Sitting gingerly on the sand, ready to jump up at a moment's notice, she slowly unshifted her talons. She would have remained standing were it not for the nausea she always felt around Ascended. (Even after all this time, Arialla hadn't made the connection between this nausea and the doll she always carried in her pocket.)
"If you have something to say, then say it," she ordered curtly.
You took notes on what you had to do
To get the piece of the pie that belonged to you
"Aw, c'mon now." Arialla was a tougher nut to crack than he'd imagined, but Adam had been practicing his roguish charm his entire life and was as of yet undeterred. As she sat down his smile widened and he leaned back on his hands, assuming that for now he had avoided the risk of being attacked.
Well, what did he have to say? "Alright, so listen. Wessex is kind of...intense. I know that. And Nate gets real fucking angry really quick." Not that Adam disliked either of them particularly, but he'd always been a quick judge of character. "I'm a lot more...look, I'll be honest with you about all of it. I don't even like the Voice and if I'd have had more of a choice? Wouldn't have Ascended. So you can ask me questions. Tell me what you hate about 'em. Whatever."
Of course, he did have a motive for allowing himself to be so open. "Thing is, I would like less people wanting to kill us all. I know the Ascended aren't all good. But I don't think we're worth murdering either. So I'm hoping I might change your mind." Adam raised an eyebrow, wondering if she'd immediately leave; he'd seen minds closed tight before.
You've been waiting for this ever since you were young
Be careful not to choke on your tongue
"You're not going to change my mind," Arialla said at once. In truth, calling back to the scene in the marketplace only made her angrier. She knew she had lost that argument, and didn't like to be reminded of it. "You want to know what I hate about the Ascended? This."
She pulled her collar down, showing him the ugly pale scar twisting across her neck, the mark of fangs upon her skin. Indelible.
"There's always a choice," she growled. "Tell me what alternative was so desperate that you had to become a monster."
Her hands, having released her collar, fidgeted with her dress, with her leggings, with her boots. She couldn't seem to keep them still, even as she barely took her eyes off of Adam -- she didn't trust him enough to look away.
You took notes on what you had to do
To get the piece of the pie that belonged to you
As expected, Arialla instantly spoke out against the idea she might change her mind, but Adam took that in his stride, nodding and holding his hands up in a mock surrender. After all, this was how everyone who had ever been convinced of something started out.
Seeing her scar, the ugly pale twist on her neck - well. If there was someone who could relate to that, it was Adam himself. Turning his neck and lowering the collar of his shirt, he revealed the five deep marks that ran up his neck and to his jaw, one of them splitting his lip. Nowadays, when hidden with facial hair and the right cut of shirt, they weren't too obvious, but they had clearly once been a ghastly wound. "I know what it's like to get fucked up by someone too. Not an Ascended, but it's not like we've got a monopoly on attacking people. If you'd just been stabbed by a guy, would you hate anyone that's ever held a knife?"
Anyway, as for the alternative... "I mean, I can't think of a worse option than death or this. Look - I died. In Halo, in a really fuckin' unfortunate and tragic and shitty way. Didn't get to say goodbye to anyone I loved or anything." For once, when Adam met her eyes, there was a real genuineness to his expression. "The Voice offered me a chance to come back. See what I needed to see through here. Y'don't realise how much of your life was incomplete til suddenly you don't have it anymore. So is that a good enough reason for you?"
You've been waiting for this ever since you were young
Be careful not to choke on your tongue
"Attacking someone to drink their blood is rather unique to the Ascended, I believe," Arialla said sharply, pulling her collar back up. "There are many uses for a knife, but fangs are only for one thing."
She knew it wasn't as solid an argument as she'd like, but she forged on anyway. Obviously Adam wanted her to say that she understood his choice, wanted her to sympathize and tell him she would have chosen Ascension over death too. And for half a second Arialla wavered. It wasn't death, exactly, but she knew what it was like to be torn from those you loved -- if the Voice could have sent her home, what wouldn't Arialla have done for that? But instead the Voice had been the agent of her loss, something neither she nor anyone else could ever make right.
"No," Arialla said flatly. "It's not. You should have stayed dead, rather than selling your soul for -- what? Some twisted half-life? Can you even truly say you're alive? What do you have to complete that was worth your immortal soul?"
You took notes on what you had to do
To get the piece of the pie that belonged to you
"Yeah, but does the motive matter?" Adam asked, determinedly plugging away at this until Arialla saw a fault in her logic (or until she punched him, either way). "If anything, that makes Ascended safer, cos most of us drink from the Voice or a willing participant often-" He did not wiggle his eyebrows, but he wanted to. "-So the chances of running into someone so hungry they'll attack you for it is rare. You were super unlucky and it sucks ass, but its not really any different than someone who's real strapped for cash mugging you for your stuff."
Too late, Adam remembered they didn't have money on Caido. Oh well, hopefully she at least got what he was going for.
He was a little surprised she just outright said he should have died - enough for a huff of a shocked laugh to leave him. "Damn, man. You say it straight out, huh? I think I'm pretty alive. I get to walk and talk and be with my husband and I got my dick sucked last season. I mean, I miss booze, but I probably needed to sober up anyway." Adam shrugged. "And look - Mort's Realm was okay, but I'm willing to take the chance that whatever the Voice has is the same or better."
You've been waiting for this ever since you were young
Be careful not to choke on your tongue
Arialla? Admit the flaws in her logic -- admit that her hatred might be irrational? Oh, no. Never.
"There's a difference." She remembered that night vividly: her pain and shock, the teeth on her neck ... No mugger could have made her feel that way, no matter what force they used. "A mugger could only take my money. What your family did to me ... You've chipped away at pieces of my soul."
And, speaking of souls: Arialla returned Adam's laugh in a mirthless huff. "So that's what you wanted so badly? To walk and talk and get your dick sucked? That's worth your soul? It doesn't matter if the Voice keeps you in a nice afterlife. She's taken a part of you that you never should have given up. Without it ... you're not even a person anymore."
You took notes on what you had to do
To get the piece of the pie that belonged to you
Adam raised his eyebrows, finding Arialla's statement of the harm done massively overdramatic. Maybe he just didn't get it, but he'd been hurt badly before to the point of near-death, and of all the ways for it to happen, Ascended bite was hardly the worst he could think of. At least you'd get some good times out of it before you went, right? Still, he tried to keep his face straight and understanding for her sake.
"So...d'ya think you can get it back? The uh, pieces of your soul, I mean. If there's anything I could do to help..." He shrugged. Probably not, but he would assist if he could.
As far as he was concerned, walking talking and dick sucking were as good reasons to live as any, but it seemed Arialla wasn't convinced. "I look like a person. Talk like one too. Think like one, move like one, feel like one - what about me ain't a person? Seriously, don't give me any vague bullshit about souls. What between you and me sat here right now makes us any different? Makes you any more alive than me?" He was, perhaps, getting a little frustrated now, but Adam tried to make sure his voice was more curious than annoyed.
You've been waiting for this ever since you were young
Be careful not to choke on your tongue
"No." Arialla should have found Adam's offer of help laughable, but instead her voice was dead serious as she refused. "The only thing that will bring me solace is the destruction of your goddess ... and all her creations."
Including Adam himself, of course. In fact, Arialla was beginning to seriously consider whether she should try dragging him into the sunlight to burn, as he'd suggested she could if he provoked her. She'd never raised a hand against another person before -- she hadn't even gotten a chance to attempt self-defense when attacked -- but then Adam wasn't a person, was he?
So that was the question. It was a matter of faith, really. "People live natural lives. They are formed by the gods, and they return to the gods when they die." But as for right here and now, well ... Arialla smiled unpleasantly. "As for right now? I can walk in the sun. I can feel as you can't -- pain, pleasure, taste. And I am not reliant on a false goddess for my life."
You took notes on what you had to do
To get the piece of the pie that belonged to you
Adam puffed his cheeks up and blew out, shaking his head. "I'll give you one thing, you're very determined." Usually his roguish charm was enough to get him at least some leeway with people, some little foothold to begin a relationship with them, but Arialla's hatred of the Ascended seemed impossible to chip.
If she did actually try to drag him out into the sun, despite Adam's casual offer earlier, she'd actually find him much, much heavier than he looked. His upgrade came in useful for some things, and one of them was stubbornly staying in places.
"I mean, I'll return to the Voice I think, and she technically did make the me right now..." He mumbled, but the other point was harder to counteract. Still, he wasn't done. Nodding and rubbing his mouth, Adam leaned forward and gestured vaguely in the air. "Right, right, but here's the thing - isn't that my choice? Like, would you tell someone that's blind they're unnatural and shit cos they can't see? Doesn't affect your life, does it? As long as I'm okay like this...why does it matter?"
You've been waiting for this ever since you were young
Be careful not to choke on your tongue
"Your people made me that way," Arialla growled, unconsciously reaching up to touch the scar on her neck. Roguish charm or no roguish charm, she would never trust an Ascended again -- barely remembered that she once had.
"The Voice is no true goddess," she clarified. At the rest of Adam's argument, she took a deep breath. "The blind are part of the gods' plan. You are not. And even if you disagree with me on that, you can hardly claim that your status and your 'goddess' do not affect the lives of others. Ask the Fae if the Voice can simply be left alone to coexist. Ask anyone she's ripped from their home -- ask me."
It wasn't just the scar on her neck that Arialla blamed the Voice for, after all; it was her entire presence in Caido. And however she settled into her life here, she could never deny that she would have rather stayed home.
