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!
One of Jack's many contacts have let him know that they've managed to leave something very important and very valuable deep in the slick soil beneath the Feverland's Hanging Tree. Usually the captain's opinion would be something like too bad, so sad, sort it the fuck out, but then the contact went and fucking died, so he's got to follow his shitty directions and terrible map to uncover said valuable thing, and gods if this isn't a ballache.
Why is Raza with him, pray tell? Because she knows all there is to know about people in Torchline - his contacts especially. Maybe she'll be able to fill in some of the blanks about this terrible map, or add any special details.
Also they've not done anything together in a thousand years, and while the proprietress might believe Jack not to be for Torchline any more, he still knows better than to let important ties fray and disintegrate. Plodding through the muck, he swipes the sweat from his forehead. "Why'd this thing have to be so far from the fuckin' Ark?" he growls under his breath. The ship is still bobbing out in the shallows with the Feverlands in sight, but of course he can't have her hover overhead unless it's night time. And night time it ain't.
full speed ahead 'til i'm dead
Jack being an Abandoned is common knowledge these days, however his Telepathy remains a well-kept secret:
Magic: Passive Telepathy | The user can read the surface thoughts and emotions of those within a 30ft radius. Control is excellent. Note: "Thoughts and emotions" include anything written in a character's narration in a post.
Type: Grey | Rank: Mastered
Also branded with a small star tattoo beneath his left eye.
“An’ who the fuck leaves it here?” Raza grumbles along, perfectly audible, her breath hissing out of her in obvious discontent. She’d had second thoughts, but ended up comin’ at Jack’s invitation despite her long-stated deep fear of the bottomless waters. White-knuckled an’ tight-lipped most of the way, at least her last meal didn’t make a surprise visit.
“Guess Amos always was a bit dumb. Brilliant in a fight, but not the brightest.” Swatting at a gnat, she uses her trident to push aside one of the branches with the black leaves on it, she murmurs again, “Sucks he’s gone. What a way t’go.” Jack may not be able to see it, but she’s ahakin’ her head and can’t help but think that whatever killed him, he looks like he died terrified.
"Amos, apparently," Jack mutters, and if the dead man's name sort of sounds like a curse from his lips at this point, well so fucking be it. He hops across from steady ground and onto a tump of sickly green moss, which seems like a shit idea until you look at the greasy water that was the other option. "What do you reckon he buried out here? Drugs? A weapon? His favourite fuckin' cock ring?" He grumbles.
Then, glancing over his shoulder, he nods a little to Raza. "We been losin' a lot lately," he remarks. "All of us gotta go some time, but they could be a little more fuckin' considerate about it." Which is about as close to yeah, it does suck, and I'm sorry as Jack gets. "How's business?" Because he's not been able to have this sort of small talk while Raza has been gripped by mortal terror. As one might imagine.
full speed ahead 'til i'm dead
Jack being an Abandoned is common knowledge these days, however his Telepathy remains a well-kept secret:
Magic: Passive Telepathy | The user can read the surface thoughts and emotions of those within a 30ft radius. Control is excellent. Note: "Thoughts and emotions" include anything written in a character's narration in a post.
Type: Grey | Rank: Mastered
Also branded with a small star tattoo beneath his left eye.
Against her own wishes, Raza’s mouth twists into a bit of a grin. “Prob’ly a solid gold dildo. Big enough so that its jewel bedazzled balls don’t hit ya in the taint.” An’ as far as Raza was concerned, there was nothin’ wrong with that. For a moment, the levity makes her feel a bit brighter, even in this stinkin’, god-forsaken swamp.
Until Jack mentions their losses, that is, an’ her head drops a bit. “Yeaaaah, we have.” Names ‘n faces flash in her head but she keeps her lips tight about ‘em, swallowing whatever threatens to bubble up. “Actually pretty good,” the proprietress shrugs, as surprised as she sounds. “Turns out a potential war ain’t necessarily bad for business. Supply chain ain’t fucked yet, so I’m tryin’ to stock up a bit. Most people’r all too happy to drown their fears.”
"If it's a dildo we're displayin' it in the Hanged Man. Or it can be the figurehead for th'Ark," Jack decides instantly. He doesn't know if one can call dibs on a solid gold dildo with bejewelled balls, but so help him he's doing it. "You can have it when I'm at shore. I won't ask any questions." But I'll know about it anyway.
Grumbling about business, whether it's good or bad, Jack nods and hops across back onto solid ground. Solid-ish, anyway. Up ahead he can see the Hanging Tree in all of it's disgusting glory, and he wrinkles his nose and reaches into his pocket for Amos's awful directions. "I'll make sure to get you some new stock on my next trip out. Whether drownin' their sorrows or celebratin' life, ain't nothin' we can't capitalise on."
full speed ahead 'til i'm dead
Jack being an Abandoned is common knowledge these days, however his Telepathy remains a well-kept secret:
Magic: Passive Telepathy | The user can read the surface thoughts and emotions of those within a 30ft radius. Control is excellent. Note: "Thoughts and emotions" include anything written in a character's narration in a post.
Type: Grey | Rank: Mastered
Also branded with a small star tattoo beneath his left eye.
“Put it on the Ark,” Raza offers generously. “I don’t want to imagine all the things my wonderful patrons would try t’do to it.” And the subsequent clean up involved… no, if they’re indeed going to find a golden sex toy, it ought to go to the Ark. Better to be used intentionally and with great abandon than by her beloved, albeit utterly delinquent, drunks.
Followin’ where he steps, Raza picks her way to solid ground as well, though there’s still some definite squelching going on, as watery much slides over her toes at every other step. “Thanks, appreciate it.” She eyes the big three ahead of them with a healthy dose of skepticism, she’s halfway through “What’s n -” when she spots something growing near their path.
‘S that…?” darting (perhaps rather foolishly) away, Raza finds herself squatting down to peer at a mushroom, face furrowed. “Might be a Magic Mushroom. Heard they grow ‘round here, but only ever seen ‘em glowin’...”
"Ain't you a peach," Jack drawls, though he has a feeling that deliquency will be the name of the game regardless of where the (hypothetical) golden dildo ends up. Wink wink. They continue to squelch and squack their way towards the Hanging Tree, cursing Amos the entire way in Jack's case, until he's suddenly short a Raza and forced to turn on his heel, almost toppling into the stinking murk.
"You what?" he snaps, having to plod after her only to scrunch his nose at the mushroom wot definitely does not look magic. "It might also be poisonous an' kill you if you touch it," he points out. "Ain't ever seen any not glowin'. What are they any good for, anyway?" And, because he's a shit, he adds, "bet Amos thought it was magic too. I wonder if he ate one an' went loopy."
And then staggered into something not nice and died. Weirder things have happened.
full speed ahead 'til i'm dead
Jack being an Abandoned is common knowledge these days, however his Telepathy remains a well-kept secret:
Magic: Passive Telepathy | The user can read the surface thoughts and emotions of those within a 30ft radius. Control is excellent. Note: "Thoughts and emotions" include anything written in a character's narration in a post.
Type: Grey | Rank: Mastered
Also branded with a small star tattoo beneath his left eye.
He has a point. Touchin’ random shit out here probably isn’t the best idea she’s had. “Ray’ll probably know what it’s good for,” she says, rather confidently (even if she isn’t), preferring not to dwell on what if it is poisonous. Raza takes up her trident, removes the Sea Panther tine, and with a deviously challenging look at Jack, jabs at the mushroom’s stalk. It wobbles, half-severed, and… nothin’ happens. It doesn’t even start to flow. With a snort the proprietress jabs at it again, this time severing the stalk completely. It falls to the mucky ground and… begins to glow.
“Ha!” rings triumphantly through the otherwise heavy air as she looks up at Jack. “Glowin’!” As if he couldn’t see it with his own two eyes. Now that it looks familiar, Raza reaches for the fungi to pocket it, mind already on what she can trade it for. And now they can be on their way again.
Jack plays the part of absolutely not impressed to a tee; he stands with his arms folded as Raza prods at her mushroom, gracing her with little more than a roll of his eyes as she proudly pockets her treasure. "Now if only whatever Amos buried out here would be kind enough to glow as well," he drawls, turning to head closer to the Hanging Tree. He's heard stories about the weird fucking leaves and the ghosts and all that shit, so he's careful to avoid anything falling as they draw closer.
Prowling around the roots of the tree, Jack keeps his eyes peeled for anything that looks remotely different, aka like an idiot dug into the earth and buried something. "What d'you reckon of the Ark?" Jack asks offhandedly, though they both know it's anything but. He'd noted the prickly nature of Raza's thoughts on his ship's maiden flight; all the better to drag it out into the open.
full speed ahead 'til i'm dead
Jack being an Abandoned is common knowledge these days, however his Telepathy remains a well-kept secret:
Magic: Passive Telepathy | The user can read the surface thoughts and emotions of those within a 30ft radius. Control is excellent. Note: "Thoughts and emotions" include anything written in a character's narration in a post.
Type: Grey | Rank: Mastered
Also branded with a small star tattoo beneath his left eye.
He’s the one who dragged them out here lookin’ for somethin’, and since he is absolutely not impressed with her findin’ skills, she’s happy to leave him to do the rest of it. Follwin’ in his footsteps again, she’s a bit relieved to be behind him when he asks that particular questions. Yes, of course she knows why he’s askin’, but it doesn’t mean she can’t play dumb for a bit. “What d’ya mean?” she shoots lightly back after a slight hesitation.
Pretendin’ to keep her focus on where she’s steppin’ next, Raza doesn’t exactly avoid his gaze or answerin’ the question, she just… wants to know exactly what she’s walkin’ in to if she disagrees with him. Out here. In the middle of an empty swamp.
Gods, but Jack does like Raza. He likes that she's not stupid, and he likes that she's suspicious even of the people she knows best. He can get behind, beneath and on top of a lass like that. "You know what I mean," he says with a shark's smile, kicking around the earth near another of the tree's roots. "Sidin' with Safrin to get 'er to fly. I know you got thoughts 'bout it, an' you're probably one of the only people whose opinion I consider."
With a hum of satisfaction, Jack looks down to see he has uncovered a pair of bootlaces. Crouching, he grabs hold of them in the mulch and gives them a yank, hauling up the whole boot this time. And it's filled with dirt. Fuck you, Amos.
full speed ahead 'til i'm dead
Jack being an Abandoned is common knowledge these days, however his Telepathy remains a well-kept secret:
Magic: Passive Telepathy | The user can read the surface thoughts and emotions of those within a 30ft radius. Control is excellent. Note: "Thoughts and emotions" include anything written in a character's narration in a post.
Type: Grey | Rank: Mastered
Also branded with a small star tattoo beneath his left eye.
Pursing her lips, Raza nods in acknowledgment. Aight, so they’re doin’ this. She raspberries through her lips, in a very free exhale-sigh combo. “Oh that thing. Right.” Well at least they don’t have to talk about Maeve - yet. Cause she has some thoughts about the Queen too (and god, she hates saying that title). Anyway - one topic at a time.
“I think that’a all the heralds, Safrin is the most… manipulative. An look, I know you can handle yourself,” which is true, when it comes to mortals, “but as a friend who’s watched ya get yerself into an out of shit, she’s bigger ‘n anythin’ we’ve seen. So’s this fuckin’ war.” Kickin’ viciously at somethin’ scraggly yet tendrily, its just an added emphasis to her statement. “I don’t think it’s our fight. You know I ain’t dumb, but I wonder if it’s worth it. Right now. To call yerself hers.”
Not that there's any goin' back. They don't know about Sunjata yet, but she doubts someone like the star-goddess would give Jack up easily.
"Oh, she's that an' then some," Jack agrees about Safrin, kneeling in the mulch now so he can start to scoop the dirt out of the boot that Amos has buried. "I know you an' I ain't spoken candid much of late, but I been lookin' to sell to the highest bidder for a long while. It'd have been the Voice, if it weren't for Torchline declarin' for Safrin in this fuckin' war," he mutters, sitting back enough to look up at Raza properly.
"The Ark can fly. I'm gettin' what I need to do what I want, and I ain't got qualms 'bout doin' a goddess's dirty work either. Just another bit o'business, y'know?" He knows she doesn't see it like that, but at the same time, it's how he rolls. "It's worth it. Trust me if you don't trust her. Now, am I gonna have to scoop the shit outta here by myself? Get on your fuckin' knees." He grins.
full speed ahead 'til i'm dead
Jack being an Abandoned is common knowledge these days, however his Telepathy remains a well-kept secret:
Magic: Passive Telepathy | The user can read the surface thoughts and emotions of those within a 30ft radius. Control is excellent. Note: "Thoughts and emotions" include anything written in a character's narration in a post.
Type: Grey | Rank: Mastered
Also branded with a small star tattoo beneath his left eye.
“An’ if she sends you into battle alongside demigods ‘n shit? What are you gonna do, fire canon balls at people who ain’t done shit to us? The Grounds ain’t even got anythin’ worth it.” She shakes her head, suckin’ at her teeth. “Killin’ fer business, to protect ourselves - that’s one thing. Murderin’ people who just wanna live free is another.” Which is to say that she views Jack as someone who’s toed the line between gettin’ what they needed and makin’ sure they were well respected. This ventures into bully-land.
Nevertheless, she’s down on the ground, scoopin’ dirt out of the way. “I’ll have you on your knees later,” she murmurs darkly, half in promise and half as a threat (ha, they both know sex isn’t a weapon between them). “Assumin’ we make it outta here alive.”
Maybe they should be careful of the half-buried bones to Jack’s left.
