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!
dont know where the lights are taking us but something in the night is dangerous
There's no time to waste; sporting a brand new shift and a buoyant spirit, Wessex takes a moment to send a mental note to Neron and Kiada (and by extension, Morgan, assuming she’s with Neron - or at least nearby) letting them know that things are HaPpEnInG now and she's going to the Eirachi. What the Wraith is unsure of is whether or not the others need to be there - more importantly, if Neron should be there or not - is this a two-step kind of thing? Can she ask Eirachi to wait until the rest of the team arrives? If they don’t come in time, is she going to about this on her own?
That’s not something she thinks she can do. With a needless sigh and a grumble, Wessex takes a moment to take mental inventory of what she’s got on her and can’t think of anything else she might need, other than a length of rope and a grappling hook (which is always handy, let’s be honest) and the Infernbow, if Morgan is going to be there, so she pops briefly back into the Grounds to get the things, then returns to the shrine on the shores of the Sea of Glass. Loki disappears from the skies, seeking warmer skies, and the demigoddess is thankful she doesn’t have to demand her companion leave.
Instead, she pulls her invisibility cloak from her bag and throws it over herself, content to hide away until she sees signs of whichever Halovians will be joining her.
// i'm pedal to the metal make no mistake, this is my pity party, pity party and i'm living out of time, eternal heatstroke, spiritual revolt from the waist down //
It’s the second time she’s been to a shrine lately – and truthfully? That’s a lot for Kiada. But if they can ask for help in getting that relic from the goddess of the cold (and unfortunately the sister to the god that ended up being her demise) she swallows down her pride and winds up there. She has no invisibility cloak, but what she does have is her speed boost – her upgrade to get her across the ice and snow like a bullet hopefully fast enough to not be seen by curious eyes.
And once she’s there, she casts a glance around for Wessex, before shifting in the snow a bit and stares hard at the shrine curiously, waiting for Wessex to appear and whomever else plans to join them – wondering internally if Neron would be arriving and whether it’s a good idea, given that she was there when the cultists laid their attack on the Citadel specifically because of the ex-Warden. But that’s neither here nor there for her – uninvolved as she is.
She’s never met the Eirachi, anyway.
i'm just a full tank away from freedom. spitfire
KIADA
Kiada has a large X scar on the right side of her neck.
No permission needed for power play!
Feel free to use magic/force on Kiada, without killing her <3
dont know where the lights are taking us but something in the night is dangerous
Pushing the head of her cape back, Wessex reveals herself as little more than a floating head in the darkness - but it’s a welcoming,smiling floating head, so that makes all the difference, right? “Kiada.” Her name is laden with overdue importance to the General; she knows the risk the woman takes in being here, and she knows that she can’t let anything happen to her again.
“Thanks for coming. While we’re waiting for Neron - and I assume he’s coming, I haven’t heard otherwise - you should top yourself up. I’ve got healing, teleportation, a dragon shift, a big metal bird shift…” All the while, the Wraith is revealing a wrist and rolling up the sleeves of her shirt, ready to offer it to her sister. “Take something now and decide later. If you want.”
And then maybe they can discuss strategy, depending on whether Neron arrives sooner or later.
"Sorry I'm late," says Neron as he arrives at the shrine with Kiada and Wessex. He isn't though. Obviously.
Yes, yes, the Hailstorm has received all of the correspondence and has heard all of the rumours, and although he understands (nay, he has suggested it more than once), he's not particularly pleased to be approaching the Eirachi under any circumstance.
"What are we doing?" Has he just arrived in time for them all to treat Wessex like a juicebox? Because that's what it sounds like. And honestly, if they're dealing with an ice goddess as well as what might lurk beneath the Sea of Glass, it feels like a smart idea.
While Morgan had never been pious, and in fact had special reason to distrust Eirachi (the Goddess had chosen to put Neron in the Warden position - while she loved him and it had worked out in the end, that was an awful idea in her opinion), she was still somewhat interested in seeing the deity for herself.
Besides, this concerned Halo and therefore it concerned her; the idea of a relic under the Sea of Glass was both exciting and terrifying. She knew it could mean power, yet that also meant that those invested in obtaining power for the war would come to get it. Halo was neutral in matters of the fighting, but if one force proved to be more destructive than another in their hunt for the relic, she would have to act against them.
All of this went through her mind as she stepped through the tundra towards the shrine. Her cloak, which protected her from the cold and provided her with a suitably imposing silhouette, billowed out behind her. She had considered riding Eunike to the meeting point, but the cold snow beneath her boots for the long walk had given her time to think.
"Kiada, Wessex." She greeted with a nod for both, looking out over the sea and at the shrine. "I'll let you do the talking. I just want to observe, as this concerns Halo."
Would you have it any other way? You couldn't have it any other way
dont know where the lights are taking us but something in the night is dangerous
First things first; is Wessex going to be a juicebox? Yes, of course she is. In fact, she takes a moment to roll up her other sleeve and offer her second arm to Neron. “Preparing. Like I just told Kiada, I have a couple of new tricks up my sleeve. Take your pick.” Pride lingers in her voice as she turns almost feral for a moment, the tips of her fangs glinting from beneath parted lips. Oh, would they all - family and enemies alike - be surprised.
The Wraith lets Neron and Kiada drink if they wish to do so, lets the transaction flow through her merely as a reminder of their kinship and shared bond, and lets the puncture points quickly heal once they’ve finished.
To her surprise, Morgan actually arrives. When the Warden hadn't arrived with Neron, the General thought she might be sitting this one out. It appears she was wrong. Under a raised brow, the General nods mildly at her statement and then steps towards the shrine and (feeling rather self-conscious all of a sudden), asks the Eirachi to join them.
“Eirachi,” she calls into the otherwise quiet and dark, frigid night. “We’re here to ask once more for a favor to help protect Halo. I am much more than I was last time, and I offer whatever I can do in trade.”
------------------
If Neron or Kiada drinks, Wessex has Sunjata's shifts stored in a bite from Nate in this thread: {se} generosity abounds
// i'm pedal to the metal make no mistake, this is my pity party, pity party and i'm living out of time, eternal heatstroke, spiritual revolt from the waist down //
The floating head is a bit jarring, but she offers a small fanged smile back to Wessex with a dip of her head in greeting. “Sure.” She agrees quickly, before Neron and Morgan’s arrival distracts her momentarily. Another nod is offered to both Neron and Morgan, smiles in their direction as well as she takes a deep breath she doesn’t need. “Good to see you both again.” She murmurs, mostly to Neron, casting a lingering glance along him to make sure he was alright.
And then, she steps forward before Wessex calls for the Eirachi, reaching for Wessex’s wrist and sinking her fangs in – biting herself back against the sensations it brings her, and instead focusing on filling herself just enough to be able to pick and choose just what bit of Wessex’s power she wanted to keep reserved for what awaited them.
She’s done quickly, though, and she steps back, hands twined behind her back as her iceberg gaze lands on the shrine, silent and watchful.
Just wanted to get a post in here for Kia drinking from W!
i'm just a full tank away from freedom. spitfire
KIADA
Kiada has a large X scar on the right side of her neck.
No permission needed for power play!
Feel free to use magic/force on Kiada, without killing her <3
Let's just pretend that Neron has been mostly invisible while Morgan arrives, so he doesn't have to feel quite so butthurt that she ignores him. In the meantime, he absolutely takes advantage of the offered powers, pressing his mouth to Wessex's wrist and trying, like Kiada, not to pay attention to the sensations that shudder through his body.
"Much obliged," he rumbles as he steps back, wiping the thin stream of fluid from his mouth and giving himself a moment to recover. And he'll need it, because in the next moment Wessex is calling out to the Eirachi and Neron concentrates hard on imagining what it would be like to have the ground swallow him up. Better than facing the Deepfrost goddess.
It's as though the temperature has plummeted far beneath sub zero, and yet the gathered Ascended (and Abandoned) are still able to move and function. It's just very unpleasant. All around, the world has dropped into an eerie silence; no breath of wind, no whisper of ice or snow - nothing.
It is before Wessex that the Eirachi appears, given that she is the one to call upon her. With porcelain skin, clad in little more than the ice and frost around them, she completely ignores both Morgan and Neron - which, frankly, is the best outcome they might expect.
11-13-2021, 05:29 PM (This post was last modified: 11-13-2021, 05:30 PM by Wessex.)
dont know where the lights are taking us but something in the night is dangerous
"Give up the promise of safe passage for Ascended across Halo. I can fly anywhere, find you anything, kill, hunt, build you a new shrine. I'd even consider giving up a magic or an upgrade." Uncomfortable, even as strong as she is, Wessex nevertheless meets the Eirachi's gaze as best she can. Some part of her finds the Deepfrost goddess unnervingly beautiful, simultaneously frighteningly powerful and alluring but that might just be the D/s tendencies in her.
"I was hoping you would crack open the Sea of Glass, please," the demigoddess replies, as simply as she can, thoroughly prepared to back it up with reasons if asked.
Not needing to sleep has given her awful lot of time to think about what she is and is not willing to do
Colder than the permafrost, it almost appears that the Eirachi is as still and silent as the world around them, but her ice-white eyes continue to focus on the Wraith with enough life to suggest otherwise. "You say you are protecting Halo, but you would have me crack the Sea of Glass," she remarks. "I assure you, that will not protect Halo." But it's not a no. Not yet.
"I need nothing from you," she informs her, though a pale hand rises to point directly at Neron, even if her eyes remain on Wessex. "I would happily see some of his upgrades dragged out, though."
Already, though, she is aware that this is an unlikely solution, so the Eirachi moves on. "A new shrine, then. In the Greatwood. By the end of this year," she states. "And I will consider your previous favour revoked. Should you fail, there will be consequences. Are we in agreement?"
dont know where the lights are taking us but something in the night is dangerous
“If this isn’t helping Halo, then what would? If we don’t try to take what’s beneath the ice, there will be others, who will come with celestial magic and fire to crack it. They've been here before - and they didn't think to ask then. They won't think to do so now. This is your land. You froze it, right? If anyone is going to open it again, it should be you.” Emphatic, quietly insistent, Wessex does her bet to appeal to the Eirachi's sense of vanity.
She glances back towards Neron when the Eirachi turns her icy gaze towards him, asking mentally, Is there anything you would give? You can have any of mine in return.
Aloud, however, the Wraith is focused on the goddess, because what she hears seems too convenient, too much of a set up, as if some higher power had been whispering in the supposedly aloof spirit’s ear. It sets her jaws against each other and there’s a long pause while she thinks. “Two shrines,” she counters. “Torchline and King’s End.” After a moment, Wessex admits, quietly, “I can’t go into the Greatwood without it being seen as an act of war. And starting that now won’t help Halo either.”
It’s not like she doesn’t have enough to do, on top of everything else, she’s being punished for being ambitious, but not strong enough (or married to someone who's strong enough) to play ball without some help.
“If you won’t say yes to that, then please, at least stop anyone else who comes to crack the ice.”
The Eirachi smiles, all sharp teeth and frozen beauty. Wessex misunderstands, but it is not for the Deepfrost goddess to correct her, not when she offers such a tasty counter-proposal. The Greatwood was a natural choice, given that it is so close to the climate of the Hollowed Grounds where her existing shrine is (not to mention, it borders the Grounds too) but this will do nicely as well.
"Two shrines, then. Torchline and King's End," she echoes. "By the end of this year, or else there will be consequences. And your previous favour with me is considered null and void. Are we in agreement?"
dont know where the lights are taking us but something in the night is dangerous
“We are.” Two simple words that lock her in, for better or worse. Firm, unwavering and perhaps foolishly, the General extends her hand to shake with the Eirachi, as if the Goddess needed such a thing to seal the deal. “Let me know what I’ll need to get for them.” Pushing away the load she’s just saddled herself with, the demigoddess can only hope that this will be worth it; that they aren’t too late, that whatever lies beneath the ice will help Halo - or the Ascended.
Whether or not the Eirachi takes her hand, Wessex will look to the three behind her, nodding sharply. It is done. They can back out now if they want, but from here on out - it’s in to the unknown.
Then she looks to back to the Eirachi, waiting for the next steps.
