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!
It’s been easy getting the supplies he needs out to Kings end, between extra arms and stolen shifts. The difficult prt is getting manpower out to the middle of nowhere. Luckily, fatigue isn’t something he really needs to take into consideration anymore, and it’s with an infection (and entirely fabricated) cheer that Nate leads his coerced charges into the wilds, stopping in a snowy field where he’s already dropped off the obsidian and several bundles of wood.
He crunches this way and that, disturbing the shell of snow covering dead flowers then points suddenly, choosing a spot apparently at random. “Here. We’ll put it right here.” The smile Nate throws over his shoulder towards his companions is sharp, animated in a way they'll both recognize, albeit for different reasons.
After a moment spent humming and hawing to himself, Nate turns to the younger ascended properly. “Do either of you know how to braid?” He asks, gesturing to a handful of long, vine-like branches. “If you need help, I can show you, but I want you two to work on getting those braided into one long branch, okay? I’ll work on the base.”
Whoo PQ to make a portal in Kings End! as always I’m winging this shit sorry
09-08-2021, 09:28 PM (This post was last modified: 09-08-2021, 09:28 PM by Nikolai.)
Nikolai
Not all truths Belong to the light
Nikolai scowls when Nate grins at them, while internally unease fills him. He hated that smile. It was just...ugh. Still he would put aside his misgivings for the Demi-god. There was work to be done. Work that would benefit their Family and that was worth a day of discomfort. "Do I know how to braid? Give met that." Nikolai takes his portion of the branches, letting out a small hiss at Nate. Of course he knows how to braid. What kind of son would he be if he couldn't braid his mom's hair when she was stressed?
Having acquired his pieces, he gently hands the rest to Azrael. "Here. I'm Nikolai by the way. Nice to meet you." Unlike Nate, the younger Demi-god receives a genuine smile. Nikolai has zero issues with this young sibling he's only just meeting. Work divided, he sets about braiding the branch to the best of his ability. Nikolai does his best to work with and not against Azrael, though he's never braided as part of a team.
Nikolai hisses at Nate, cheerfully meets Azrael, and starts to braid with the younger Demi-god.
Unlike Nikolai, the grin that Nate shoots back is reciprocated with a brighter fanged grin shot back to Nate. Azrael nearly bounces on their feet, slipping up beside Nikolai and ignoring the hiss (wondering if maybe Nikolai had stepped on something that sent his sensors off). “I know how to braid!” They chime brightly, excited to be a part of it, their grin just as bright as it slips from Nate to Nikolai with the introduction.
The rest of the branches are handed to them and they take it and immediately begin to start braiding it. “Hi Nikolai. I’m Azrael.” They say gently, before they begin to focus halfway between their braiding of the branches and the way Nate goes about building the base of the portal. They do their best to work with Nikolai in the braiding, trying to figure out how best to get the two of them to manage it without causing any issues in the interim.
Azrael begins braiding with Nikolai!
lay you down, there's nothing to be scared of all your fears are in the breeze
Nate can't help but laugh at Nikolai's insistence that he knew what he was doing, sharing another grin with Azrael as he hands over the branches and lets them get to work. Unfortunately, the younger ascended's boasting may have come too soon, the branches awkward and difficult to work with, resisting the braiding, one end coming undone as soon as they somewhat get a rhythm.
While the younger ascended try and fail to braid the thin branches together, Nate gets to work on the base of the soon to be portal, heaving the largest slab of obsidian out of the cart he'd hauled out into the Mourn earlier and getting it settled on the ground, stepping here and there on it to make sure it’s level and grumbling when he shifts. It’s going to need to be lifted again, the ground fiddled with so the obsidian sat securely.
He glances up at the other two and tries to stifle a smile at their struggles. “Theres rope in the cart if it’ll help!” Nate offers cheerfully. Maybe they could tie the first end together while they worked through the braid?
Nikolai's face twists into a deeper scowl as the braid gets progressively worse. Braiding branches it seemed, was nothing like braiding hair. Nate's smile receives another hiss, but Nikolai goes and grabs the rope. Tying one end of the bundle, he gives a nod to Az. "Let's try again. Maybe this time we should go extra slow? That way we can catch mistakes before they compound on us."
Patience wasn't his best virtue, but Nikolai really didn't want to spend the whole day just trying to braid. Taking his time, the Ascended focuses on the loops and twists of the branches. Biting his lip in focus, he does his very best to braid.
Nikolai ties one end of the branches with the ropes and starts to braid again.
“Oops!” Azrael manages with a bright, chipper laugh – their gaze darting between Nate and Nikolai, before landing on their braiding partner. They’re halfway between trying to stand to get the rope when Nikolai’s already onto it and they plop back down into their position, fiddling with the ends to try and see if they can make it easier on the two of them. They bob their head in agreement with Nikolai, dark curls bouncing around their head as they try again, focusing on keeping the mistakes at a minimum.
Luckily for Nikolai, Azrael is very patient and they do try to be as encouraging as possible – pointing out the little issues are they arise and the loops and twists they need to take – Azrael helping to make sure it’s braided tight so it doesn’t come undone again.
Azrael tries braiding again with Nikolai and the rope!
lay you down, there's nothing to be scared of all your fears are in the breeze
Their collective second attempts are much more successful than the first, thankfully. With the addition of the rope, and with a little more patience, the branches come together. There's a few hiccups, bumps and strange twists, but they're corrected fairly easily. Nate meanwhile gets the base sturdy, and even manages to eke out a space on either side of the base for the eventual arch.
"Alright." Nate claps his hands, striding over to gather up one side of the braided branches. "Good job kids. This is going to be the uh... the door part of the portal." Even with four arms, he's having some trouble getting it moved. "Can I get one of you to help? Nikolai~?" The younger ascendeds name is sung out in a nasally trill, though its clearly more of a demand than a request.
"Az, can you neaten up the area? Make it look all... all nice and proper." Right now, it looked more like a construction site than a portal grounds. It's not just them though. Now that they've been there a while a family of blink hares have made their presence known, beady eyes watching the ascended.
Round 3
Nikolai, help Nate put the arch up and make it strudy
Az, neaten up the area (and deal with the blink hares if you want!)
Nikolai can't stop the shiver from going down his spine any more then he can prevent the look of disgust he sends Nate. Why did he have to be so weird? Never had the sound of his own name unnerved Nikolai more than in this moment. It was a little impressive on the Demi-god's part actually. Nikolai was beginning to suspect that being creepy was a fully intentional piece of Nate's arsenal.
Still the younger Ascended plays along. Giving a small "Tsk", he makes his way over to help Nate. With determination Nikolai gets his hands under the edge and starts to heave. Hopefully between him and Nate they'll get the arch in place and properly grounded in the earth.
Nikolai reluctantly goes to help Nate put up the arch!
This try goes so much smoother and there’s a bright grin that spreads across their face as the braid comes together – their gaze immediately looking to Nikolai first and then toward Nate for some amount of approval for their work. And it’s received! A good job kids that has Azrael far more proud than it has any right to.
Nate designates where they need to work on now and Azrael stands to brush off the dust and dirt from their pants before glancing around and nodding to the instruction Nate’s given them. “Sure, zio!” The term rolls off their tongue with a bit of playfulness and they suddenly find ways to busy themself with the work Nate had described.
There’s a few beady eyes that peer upon them now and there’s a slight gasp of surprise that leaves them as they watch the blink hares. They’re not entirely sure what to do, but Azrael thinks that perhaps making space with the whole neatening up the area for a small little burrow for the hares might be a nice addition. So they begin to add some nice looking plants and some transplanted grasses into the area, making a space that might suit a home for the blink hares.
Azrael begins to neaten up the area and clean it up and makes a small little burrow for the blink hares!
lay you down, there's nothing to be scared of all your fears are in the breeze
Only Nikolai will see the way Nate's face utterly melts at the endearment that rolls off Azrael's tongue, his brows lifting in surprise and the sharp teasing edge of his grin softening into something almost pleasant. The mood lingers the entire time they work on the arch, any snarky, needling, entirely intentional comments kept locked up behind his lips, the arch going up without a hitch and the portal really taking shape. Azrael has a similarly calm time, their work coming together easily, the blink hares already curiously approaching the space set up for them.
Nate steps back again, taking a moment to admire their handiwork. It's... nice, but it still seems like it's lacking something. "I think... maybe one of you can make something nice around the base with what we got left?" He gestures loosely to the leftover obsidian while he speaks, a vague suggestion made to match the half-formed thought. "Everything else can be loaded up into the wagon, and then I think we'll be ready to go." So saying, Nate started to get to work, gathering up tools and the loose ends of supplies to dump into the small wagon he'd brought along.
Last round!
One person to help reload the cart & one to use the leftover obsidian to
Nikolai has to take a second to process just what he's witnessed. Nate can show positive emotions, what? Shaking his head, the young Ascended pushes it to the back of his mind and focuses on the task at hand. The arch goes up easily enough and then he listens to Nate's next instructions.
Nikolai eyes the cart for a second before thinking better of it. Last time he'd done something similar, he'd nearly broken his foot. So instead, he scoops up some of the leftover obsidian, "I'll try to come up with something nice." Taking the obsidian, Nikolai starts by creating a circle around each leg of the arch. From there he makes intricate trails of patterns that branch from the center ring. He hopes they look vaguely like circuits. That's the goal at least.
Nikolai uses the leftover obsidian to decorate the base of the arch. He's attempting to make a circuit-like pattern stemming from the base.
Azrael isn’t close enough to see the way the term brightens Nate, but they can hear that the work is relatively silent between Nate and Nikolai which is a bit different from how it was before. They think nothing of it, though, as they step back to watch the blink hares give into curiosity for the new den that they’d created for them. It’s about that time their gaze lifts to Nate’s last comment, nodding and watching as Nikolai immediately takes to decorating with leftover obsidian.
“You’ll do a great job Nikolai!” They chime, positive in their fellow Ascended’s ability to make something that works with the entire theme they have going on. In the meantime, though, it leaves them to work with Nate to pick up the tools and leftover bits that they aren’t using for decoration to load up the cart. They’re careful as they go, not to take too much that they drop it all, and hopefully between Nate and them, they can get the area cleaned up and looking nice.
Azrael helps Nate load up the cart!
lay you down, there's nothing to be scared of all your fears are in the breeze
It doesn't take much time at all for the last of their supplies to be packed up, Nate whistling a tune while they work and dancing around Azrael, trying to inject some more fun into the task. His gift to Nikolai is keeping out of his way until they're finished, and even then all he does is lean over his shoulder, taking in the intricate pattern he's created. "I like it." He rumbles, stepping back again. "Good job, kids."
Nate steps in front of the wagon, glowing arm appearing to grab it and start to drag it along behind them as they head back in the direction of the Grounds. "We'll come back and activate it after Longnight. Last year, a shrine was destroyed, so I'm hoping it'd be easier to just rebuild this one than it would be to reactivate a whole new one." It makes sense in his head at least. Regardless, they're done for the moment, heading home in a comfortable, mostly companionable silence.
