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!
11-08-2021, 11:54 AM (This post was last modified: 11-15-2021, 06:27 PM by Morgan.)
MORGAN
Once, Morgan had had little respect for Neron; had thought of him as a whining coward and had not given much credit to his physical abilities either. Obviously in the last year that had changed as she had (at first, reluctantly) fallen in love and learned he was much more than she had first thought - recently, she had found herself impressed with his use of his magical and Ascended abilities.
As a hybrid, there were things he could do that she could not; his eternal youth was in his favour too. Still, there was always more to learn and Morgan felt it would be valuable to test her skills against his (and to see how good he was at dodging close combat, just in case).
Also, for Morgan at least, it sounded like a nice couple activity to spend the afternoon sparring.
She lingered for a moment at the door that lead out the training grounds, her eyes resting on the weapons rack and armour and her mind going to Deimos. For a while it had been so solid, she had been so confident in her General and their partnership - then he had betrayed her for a God that had labelled him Abandoned. With a sharp sigh, she turned and walked into the grounds, forcing a smile onto her lips as she looked back at Neron. "Well. I promise I won't kill you. I assume you take the same oath?"
And I don't really care if nobody else believes 'Cause I've still got a lot of fight left in me
"I would never dream of killing you," Neron all but purrs as he follows in Morgan's wake. For his part, he does agree - sparring absolutely does sound like a wonderful couple's activity to spend an afternoon - but he doesn't even give the weapons rack a second glance. He's almost completely healed after the nasty little incident at Longnight, and though he doesn't anticipate any further wayward monsters, he's almost definitely still looking out for them.
"So are you expecting me to fight you with a sword today?" he wonders with a small smile that flashes a small hint of fangs at the Warden. "Or will we be sparring the usual way?" Usual being that Neron will flounce around with his magic, naturally, and occasionally be a bit of a dick while turning invisible.
"Funny, I dreamed of the reverse a few times when we first met." Morgan replied drolly, glancing back to him before shrugging her cloak off her shoulders, letting it fall to the ground with a heavy woomphf and revealing her underarmour. Simple, but effective, she still wore Deimos' necklace over a light leather cuirass and belt (as much as she did not care for the man much anymore, she could not deny the magic's usefulness) and as usual, clunky steel-toed boots.
Her hammer came off her back and into her hands too. Her trusted weapon, it's weight between her arms comforting and familiar. As for what Neron should use, she shrugged. "Fight me however you think you'd fare best. As if we were actually about to fight for whatever reason, and you had to survive. What would you choose? Don't say anything like seduction."
She'd grown used to his smart mouth in the last year.
Taking a step back and lifting the hammer so she was ready to leap into action, she nodded at Neron - she did love him, but she also wouldn't hold back on making sure he learnt something. A war was coming, and they all needed to be as prepared as possible. Even with Halo's neutrality, she wasn't naive enough to think they'd avoid all fighting. "Alright. You take the first blow."
And I don't really care if nobody else believes 'Cause I've still got a lot of fight left in me
"I can believe it. I hope I died dramatically in your dreams," Neron says with a grin that's entirely fanged at this point, the Hailstorm taking a few steps back so he might ogle observe Morgan as she removes her cloak and gets her hammer ready. Already there are all kinds of things leaping up on his tongue - seductive things, cheeky things, entirely inappropriate for training things... ah, what a shame that's not what they're here for.
"Alright," he murmurs, kicking about a couple of rocks, looking for all the world like he's not prepared at all for a fight. At least he's taken his hands out of his coat pockets, though. And as Morgan gives him the go ahead, he nods to her. "I won't hold back," he warns, and without further ado, a flurry of icy spears are launched in the Warden's direction.
"I don't believe you could do it any other way. There would always be a flourish." Morgan laughed fondly, imagining Neron posing over a couch, laying back with a hand on his forehead and wailing his misfortunes as his end neared.
She knew him well enough to immediately distrust the casual posture, the way he kicked rocks before him as if he didn't know what to do. Neron was not the same kind of fighter as she was, ready to go roaring and swinging into combat, but he could fight. So Morgan was prepared for something to come her way, though not exactly for it to be a flurry of sudden ice spears.
Her own ice magic cast of a sheet to block and knock aside the spears caught some of them, but he had simply been too fast, and one or two did shoot by her, one slicing a small cut into her cheek. Tutting, Morgan wiped her face with the back of her hand and with a short laugh (and a quiet "Well, if that's how we're doing it...", went right into her attack: a swing of her hammer, back then round into Neron's ribs.
And I don't really care if nobody else believes 'Cause I've still got a lot of fight left in me
Neron is no fool, it's true, no matter how he might act the part. And as Morgan swipes away his spears (mostly), he steps back into a more defensive posture, his hands caefully lifting out of his pockets. And when she comes in swinging, he can't help but enjoy it more than will ever show on his face. The Glacier is powerful, as fiery as she is frosty, everything that Neron isn't. And perhaps that's why they complement each other so well.
Either way, he does his best to skitter back out of the way of the hammer - and he succeeds, mostly. It doesn't crack any ribs (which would be unfortunate) but it does catch in the folds of his coat, throwing him off balance. "You've gotten faster," he remarks, before cheekily disappearing, activating his Cloaking Upgrade. "Try again."
Her hammer did not meet the solid surface she had expected, instead catching briefly in folds of fabric and merely serving to pull Neron a little to the side. Not the result she had hoped for - she didn't want to hurt him exactly, but she had intended to hit. Were he a real opponent, she would have missed a vital opportunity.
Words almost left her after his comment on her speed (which felt rather more condescending than complimentary), but Morgan was too surprised by his sudden disappearance to say anything more. For a second she was on the edge of something close to panic, but then her resolve pulled her back together and she quickly thought of something; a shot in the dark, but worth a go.
Using her spare hand to slowly draw up from the ground, she summoned a great blizzard around them, a snowstorm of fat and frequent flakes that flurried around and hopefully, stuck to Neron. Regardless of whether he was visible or not, he was there, and she hoped the snow would make a clear enough outline for her to surge forwards and go for another hit, aiming this time towards the rough height where his hip would be.
And I don't really care if nobody else believes 'Cause I've still got a lot of fight left in me
Once he has been able to fade from sight, Neron is already working on trying to sneak around and position himself behind Morgan. He's no powerhouse, not when it comes to physical strength, but he figures he can try to grapple her with ice or put her at a disadvantage with his life drain magic. Unfortunately for the Launceleyn, he's far too slow, and Morgan's blizzard whips up and around them such that it becomes all too clear where he's hiding.
"Hey!" he calls out, flickering back into view as he drops his upgrade just at the same time as the hammer knocks into his hip. Swearing under his breath, the blow shoves him wildly off balance, and he's got to think fast (if it can ever be said that he thinks at all). And so he drags up an illusion instinctively, one that makes it look as though he's disappeared into a deep, deep snowdrift.
And there Neron watches and waits to see what Morgan will do next.
A laugh left her at Neron's shout, Morgan pleased to have caught him off guard; to see that there were still things he could learn from her. Sometimes, in the face of his scheming intelligence, she felt a brute, unable to contribute with anything other than determination and faith.
Of course he came up with a response to her strategy quickly; she felt something was wrong as she watched him fall into the snow drift, but she couldn't quite put a finger on it. Morgan let the flurry of flakes around them die down and fall to the floor, slowly drift away and make the space clear again, making sure to look all around her with her hammer at the ready in her hands.
"I know you're somewhere around here..." Morgan mumbled, eyes darting around. An idea came to her; she let go of her hammer but let it hang in the air with her Telekinesis. After a moment it began to swing around her through the air, creating a circle around herself that was a certain hammery death. Neron would either have to find a way to get close, or to get her out of it.
And I don't really care if nobody else believes 'Cause I've still got a lot of fight left in me
"Oh, I am always around here somewhere," Neron confirms, though his voice certainly isn't anywhere near the 'snowdrift'. He's been creeping around since falling into his illusion, trying to sneak up on Morgan as he re-engages his invisibility upgrade. Only, before he can do anything about it, she's whirling her hammer around her like a tornado, and the Launceleyn is forced to think before he acts.
Luckily, thinking is his forte (sometimes), and he reaches out with his ice magic once more, trying to let frost and cold creep up Morgan's legs to fuse her in place. She'd have to move if she doesn't want to become an ice statue; at least that's Neron's reasoning anyway.
"Much to the chagrin of many." Morgan commented dryly, though she was trying to focus on where it sounded his voice was coming from as well as giving a good quip back. He didn't sound nearby, which confused her - while her hammer had not hit, she didn't know where he could have gone (slippery bastard).
She was focused enough on trying to work out where he could have gone that at first, Morgan didn't notice the cold grip of the ice beginning to creep up her feet and legs. It was only when her feet naturally shuffled as the weight of the hammer went around that she felt the resistance of the ice. She looked down in confusion and her focus fell: the hammer wobbled and swayed in it's momentum, the force with which it was going around slowing as she tried to use her water magic to melt away the ice on her feet.
And I don't really care if nobody else believes 'Cause I've still got a lot of fight left in me
Seeing his opportunity, Neron flits forward before he can persuade himself out of it. The hammer glances him on his way through, and it would leave a nasty bruise against his bicep, though the only thing that registers against his sensors is that the area has been injured. It's easy enough to ignore, which is all for the better - dropping his invisibility as he rushes in to Morgan's personal space, suddenly the Ascended is having a very close fight indeed.
Which might be problematic were he still intending on fighting. "Checkmate," he informs the Glacier breezily, before leaning in to sneak a cold kiss from her lips, his arms slipping around her waist. "I think that's quite enough hammering me for today, don't you?"
Morgan felt her hammer make an impact and slowed it's swing. She knew Neron wouldn't really feel the pain, but she still didn't want to do too much damage. He suddenly appeared in front of her - right in front of her - and she nearly took a step back, until she noticed that his intent wasn't to fight anymore.
"I do-" Her argument was lost as they kissed and her eyes closed, Morgan's lips falling into an easy smile as Neron pulled away. "I seem to remember you being quite fond of a good hammering, actually." That going without much else said, she slipped her own arm around his waist and began to walk back towards the Palace, hoping to find a warm drink and somewhere to sit for a precious ten minutes before her duties would call her back.
{FIN}
And I don't really care if nobody else believes 'Cause I've still got a lot of fight left in me
