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 too long since she’s seen Sam. Before, she might not have cared, but with tensions the way they are… it’s enough for the General to do the previously unthinkable: go and actively seek the bookmaker out. And not because she needs something, but because she’s slightly worried.
No, the world is not coming to an end.
(Not now, at least)
Wessex just might be... growing. Taking her role more seriously. Making an effort to include the only member of their family that can match her in strength, because like or it nor, they need him.
Loki is off doing something else, so it’s just her, strolling through the Settlement streets until she comes to Wordsworth Books. A couple of sharp raps ring out against the shop door, then a pause, until Wessex calls loudly, “Sam? You in there?”
The Wraith
Code blatantly stolen from the fantastical, wonderful Odd
I want to say I'm sorry for stuff I haven't done yet
Sam was detailing some scrollwork up the edge of a page; it felt odd sometimes to be getting on with his usual bookwork as the world fell apart around them, but there were days with little else to do, and besides, he liked to think that the escape and normality his shop provided was worth something to the village.
Hearing Wessex's voice accompanying the knock, he straightened up and looked somewhat alarmed in the direction of their General. They had made some great strides in their relationship, but there was still a part of him deeply intimidated by her (probably the part that had been stabbed).
"Yes. Yes, I am. Is there something you need?" He asked, putting his pen down and starting to stand up from behind his desk.
Wessex almost makes an attempt to break down the door, the impulse rising with an incredulous face hidden for now by a thick slab of wood.
"Where have you been? she demands as he opens the door. It's said more out of concern than anything else, but in true Wessex fashion, comes out harsher than intended. "Nate's had a vision, we think we know where the Prince is, because he's not in the Underground anymore And there are things that need to be done -" by this point she might seem manic - frantic, even. And despite the fact that she hasn't moved an inch from her original stance from his doorway, the demigod still has that barging-in energy.
The Wraith
Code blatantly stolen from the fantastical, wonderful Odd
I want to say I'm sorry for stuff I haven't done yet
While Sam had internally prepared himself for Wessex to be hostile, actually being faced with a hard word still took him by surprise. He took some steps back into the room, letting her enter and do whatever else she liked, while he stood in the corner by his cat and a large bookshelf.
"I...Well, I was briefly arrested. Um. In Torchline..Amalia tried to arrest me." He sighed, hoping that would explain most of his absence but reticent to recall the memory. "Then...I know the Prince isn't in the Underground. Me and Edy have been searching for him in the Wilds. We went to Mourn, then to the Feverlands. I've been looking for him." His own voice may have come out a little defensive, but it was only in return to what sounded like an accusation. "I haven't just been sat here making books, anyway."
It might seem hostile to Sam, but Wessex is fairly far away from what she would consider hostile. Worry fuels her. Worry has brought her here. And that only increases when he tells her about Amalia.
“She did… what?” the Wraith asks. Rhetorical, of course, but it’s a hard blow. Somewhere she’d harbored hope that the woman she’d more or less helped raise wouldn’t go into full kill-all-Ascended mode, but that now seems like such a stupid thought. “Aren’t you two… siblings? Of sorts?” She’s tempered now, the wild burst of energy burned out and she’s simply standing just inside his door.
“I see.” Leave a note next time is on the tip of her lips, even though she knows it sounds too demanding. Too mother-ish. “I didn’t think that you were just… here, doing nothing. I was worried.” Like it or not, she can't afford to lose her fellow meat-shield.
The Wraith
Code blatantly stolen from the fantastical, wonderful Odd
I want to say I'm sorry for stuff I haven't done yet
Glad to at least have someone similarly bemused by Amalia's actions, Sam nodded and sighed, folding his arms and looking off to the side. "She's...mad about...when I was sick, when everyone was sick, I did hurt someone by accident. But I don't think that's the only reason she wants to see me imprisoned or...well...dead." They both knew she had been slowly growing more and more radical in her beliefs surrounding the Ascended.
As for them being siblings, he laughed. "In name only. We tried to be closer once we found out, but...the lines were already drawn. We're too different." Sadly, he'd lost touch with both of his sisters.
It seemed Wessex had calmed down from her initial entry so Sam did too, toning his voice quieter and going further into the shop, motioning for her to follow. "...Well, I'm fine. Terrified about all that's going to happen, as always, but fine. I wish we'd made more progress looking for the Prince, but..."
Her brows squinch together tightly and she shakes her head quickly back and forth. “What a cunt,” she murmurs under her breath of the demigoddess and the blatant way she threw away their past. Maybe she should have let her die, let her remain the anxious little girl without a mother. Maybe. Shoulda-woulda-coulda.
If only they could see the future. Things might have been so different.
“I’m sorry,” she says louder to Sam, but doesn’t go much further into his shop. There are things to be done, after all, and the Wraith has no intention of allowing herself to settle in. “Come with me and Nate to the Last Step. We think he might be there. We can go tomorrow or the day after.” Wessex makes the assumption that he’s free to do so. She wants to get it done before LongNight comes, not wanting to leave the Grounds alone then.
“And I need a quick training session, if you have the time. For a quest. I imagine you could use one too.” That is to say, he could always be stronger. Every advantage must be taken. “No stabbing this time, I promise.”
The Wraith
Code blatantly stolen from the fantastical, wonderful Odd
I want to say I'm sorry for stuff I haven't done yet
A quiet huff of laughter left Sam at Wessex's evaluation of Amalia, which he couldn't really disagree with. There had been a time when he'd yearned for them to discover a sibling bond between them and build bridges, but she'd shown her disinterest in that, and he couldn't do it single-handed.
Wessex seemed hesitant to enter; Sam took a couple of steps back towards the door as she apologised. "The Last Step? What makes you think he's there?" It was surprising to hear Nate's voice, too: Sam had no idea that he'd been involved in the search.
"No stabbing...hm." Something close to a smirk arrived on Sam's face as he went to fetch the main door key from his desk and walk towards Wessex. "Then what would we do? I can't say it's a bad idea, but you know you have to go easier on me than you might someone you actually want to hurt. The best I have is my shield."
“He had a vision, did you know he had those?” she repeats, and then scrunches her face up to remember what her fellow demi-god had said. “Step by step to the last, and a wish granted, and a frog prince… and something about how a treasure doesn’t always look like treasure and not always needing to be dug for?” It was the first part (or the second, cause Nate told it the other way ‘round) that made her thing about the Last Step.
Chuckling at his half-smirk, Wessex nods knowingly. She deserves that. “I actually need you to attack me. While I’m in an Attune shift. I need to focus on defending. So… I’ve got a panther in me if you want to give that a go. But like, actually attack me.” She wants to do this right. And if there's disappointment that he still hasn't gone to the Voice, she doesn't show it. His life. He can do what he wants, prepare how he wants... but this is the demigod doing what she needs to do for herself.
If he agrees to help, she’ll head out the door (seeing as he has key in hand) and head towards a more… deserted? Suitable? Area for them to spar in.
The Wraith
Code blatantly stolen from the fantastical, wonderful Odd
I want to say I'm sorry for stuff I haven't done yet
"Oh you...you actually mean. Like a real vision. I didn't know Nate did that, no." Clearly he was having some trouble believing it too, from the way Sam's eyebrows furrowed and he stared down at the floor. If these 'visions' came from the Voice, what was so important about Nate that he got to have them? "It sounds complicated."
Fighting a panther sounded like a pretty terrifying way to spend his evening, but he knew there'd be worse to face in the future and it would be good training. That, and he didn't want to look too weak in front of Wessex. Nodding silently as he turned the key in the lock and followed her to a courtyard a little ways from the store, where a couple of abandoned buildings shielded them from more populated areas and the eyes within.
Not at all dressed for a fight in his formal clothing and frumpy shoes, Sam stepped into the space and looked across at Wessex, waiting for her to transform or change somehow. "Well, um, I'll try my best."
Humming in agreement, Wessex bobs her head up and down. “I think it is. Not always obvious, or just a part of a whole. But they’ve always come true in one way or another, so -” so she trusts them, more or less. Once they can decipher them. Nothing that Sam seemed very intent on the floor - or upset? - she can’t think of anything particularly upsetting that she’s done lately (because of course, she would be the cause of it) and instead of asking, lets it go.
Maybe it will sort itself out.
Near the abandoned buildings, Wessex has a change of mind and it definitely isn’t because she already did the Attuned shift with someone else in the meantime while looking sideways at Sam, his demeanor, and his clothing. “You know what? It’s okay. Let’s try something else. Here.” Taking her chakram out from its case, she takes a stance, hurls it out so that it arcs, whistling prettily through the sharp, chilly air, and then lands perfectly back to her hand.
Then she hands it to Sam. “You try.”
The Wraith
Code blatantly stolen from the fantastical, wonderful Odd
I want to say I'm sorry for stuff I haven't done yet
"What has he predicted that came true?" Sam asked, sounding perhaps just the slightest bit cynical, though it was more jealousy and the hope that Nate didn't have anything that special rather than genuine disbelief.
Anyway, there was training to get over with (it would be a lie to say he planned to enjoy it) and despite Wessex's interpretation of his jealousy, he was actually quite happy to be working with her for the moment. When she wasn't his enemy, she was a very strong ally - and thankfully, she wasn't going to be a panther. He still flinched as the chakram flew through the air and got close, but breathed out a sigh of relief when it found it's home in Wessex's hand.
Then was given into his own. Sam was surprised, took the blade and felt it's weight. "Um, okay, so you just throw it?" He asked, trying to mimic what Wessex had done in his own stance, taking a step back and bracing himself before tossing the chakram forwards. For a moment it seemed as if it might make a similarly majestic arch, the weapon spinning through the air...then it hit a wall, and sadly clunked to the floor.
Cringing, Sam went to pick it up and hand it back. "...Sorry. I don't use a lot of weapons."
“The guardian-thing at the Archway in the Climb. He saw a lot of blood in the water beforehand… which technially came true.” Given everyone who was there and fighting, it would have been inevitable for something like that to happen.
“Actually… this was made from the scale of that thing. A leviathan? Our Lady made it.” Indicating the chakram in his hand, she takes a brief moment to admire the sheen of its burnished surface and the glint of its razor-sharp edges before he throws it into the air. For a moment, it seems like it will work for Sam the same way it did for Wessex - returning gracefully back to his hand - but for some reason, she’s wrong and it falls to the ground.
Frowning for a moment as he goes to retrieve it, the General looks a bit concerned. “That’s odd. It’s supposed to return to the hand that threw it. Try again? Aim for that tree.” Pointing to a large, flowering tree not too far away, she thinks it might make a proper target and throwing the thing a bit easier.
-------------
Sorry, forgot to post the description!
Type: Dark
Leviathan Chakram (Upgraded): An unbreakable chakram created from the scale of a leviathan by the Voice. With razor-sharp edges, this discus will always return to the hand of whoever throws it, and will always do so without injuring the hands of the thrower.
The Wraith
Code blatantly stolen from the fantastical, wonderful Odd
I want to say I'm sorry for stuff I haven't done yet
In all honesty, Sam wasn't that impressed with the example given. He'd read of fake psychics and mediums that would say vague hints then bend them after the fact to fit the actual happenings, and what Wessex said could well have been an instance of that. Nate didn't seem like the type to pretend to have a connection to the esoteric, yet he did seem like the type to run some kind of bizarre grift.
He'd have to write a letter. After all, he'd made Nate Ascend - he couldn't have someone so connected to him going around pretending to have magical visions. It was just embarrassing.
Anyway, the chakram certainly was impressive; Sam felt a little embarrassed to be holding it, especially as Wessex commented on how it had not returned to him. A little huff of shy laughter left him as he offered: "Well, maybe I'm so bad at fighting I broke it's power."
But he would try again - Looking at the tree, he nodded and took a step back, bracing his feet with one forward and one to the side, then throwing the chakram as hard as he could towards the tree, hoping this time, for his dignities sake, it would come back.
