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!
I get them all worked up and down on their knees, you see
The timing for this wasn't the best. Hell, they shouldn't of had to do this at all, but things have a way of making themselves difficult. It didn't take much to gather a party again. This time with a few different faces in the ranks. With Edmund left in Locke's care, Maeve set off with Adam, Bartholomew, Harper, Phoebe, and Melita in tow. Their mounts helping to cut some of the travel time down has made the trek thus far a bit easier, but that was only half the battle.
"I have word that their is a herd that frequents this area. I'm hoping we can wrangle the ones we need without issue." Maeve looks back at the others, dismounting her horse and tying him to a nearby tree. Aidon takes off ahead of her, planning to be their eyes in the sky, sending flashes back to her as he does.
Write what you're doing to help locate the herd of unicorns! No posting order aside from Adam going last!
Eternally eager to help, cause chaos, and become embroiled in whatever the latest melee was, they were probably lucky Melita hadn’t already ridden her horse into everyone else. A round of chicken sounded delightful, but unfortunately against what they were trying to achieve, and remaining settled on her steed had proven to be far more difficult than she’d realized. The itch to explore, to run and gallop across any and all terrain was a bit too alive and well.
But she kept the restless energy to herself, and whatever poor beast she’d managed to wrangle. Eyed peeled, she glanced from her mount for anything remotely unicorn-like. She wouldn’t be releasing Fangorn out into the void to scope it out like Aidon (it wouldn’t go grand), and lacking in magic or Attuned measures made her have to resort to old-fashioned thinking. “Where would a herd likely graze?” She wondered out loud for anyone to hear and discuss – possibly near pools of water for easy access? There were plenty of rolling, wondrous hills. Or under cover, furtive?
Summer's over, love had left me screaming at the screen Oh, and it's understood that the both of us are no good
Restless energy plagues more than Melita, and Bartholomew is far less self-contained than the spitfire girl he adores. Edging his horse closer to the fire child's, he slips a boot from his closest stirrup and shamelessly kicks the back heel of Melita's before pulling on the reigns to encourage his horse to dance back out of reach. Smirking out of the corner of his mouth, the nurse casts his gaze out over the Feverlands before them.
Horses are one thing, but unicorns are still mostly fairytale to Bart. If they're anything like the ones he'd gotten to know during those long summers with his Nonno, "Usually they like th' shorter grasses, they're sweeter. Anythin' not crowded by trees and rocks, so they can have better line'a sight for predators." Which is what he starts scouting for, encouraging his steed forward.
- - -
Bart proposes some information and starts looking for more open spaces where the herd might be.
Clinging to the ruin of your broken home, too lost and hurting to carry your load You know we all need someone to hold
Back again, it seems. Harper is not at all upset by the prospect, especially now that Phoebe is accompanying them. Well, perhaps a little upset, but mostly because he is worried and overprotective already this early in her pregnancy, and he knows their last trip had been far from fatally dangerous but it had not been a walk in the park either. As such he keeps his horse as close as physically possible to Phoebe's own as both steeds will allow, staff strapped to his back and eyes shifting restlessly over the plains.
"Some of us should scout, the others should remain grouped up. They prefer to band together, even with horses as opposed to their own kind." He'd seen it happen with his own eyes, and sending everyone out in varying directions would only get them all lost, or make it harder to capture the unicorns.
- - -
Harper suggests half of them remain banded together.
Ray emerges from the bushes on her own mount, "I can't believe you guys nearly left me out of this." Her voice is teasing as she joins the group in time to hear Maeve's instructions. She gives her horse a soothing pat as she moves them towards the periphery of the group, "I agree. The last time we tried this the unicorns seemed to prefer bunching up. Another tactic might be for those scouting to try and single out the lead unicorn once we find a herd. If we can coax the lead to cooperate, the others will follow."
Glancing at their surroundings, Ray nods. "I can be one of the scouts."
Ray agrees with having one group bunch together and another scout. She offers to scout and suggests that those who do should try to identify the lead unicorn.
Adam didn't really know the details of this weird unicorn thing, didn't know why they were here again or why his amazing fence building skills last time hadn't been enough, but whatever. Maeve was a mate, and even if she just wanted the unicorns to wank to for a unicorn-voyeur fetish, he'd do it.
Everyone seemed to have a plan, so he was happy to go ahead with it - he was good with animals once they were in front of him, but he'd never been a hunter. Tracking was out of his area of expertise. "I'll uh, walk around and take a look, then. Anyone got any snacks they might like? All animals like food." Apples, or carrots...Adam assumed unicorns ate the same things horses did. "Unless they eat like, dreams or sparkles or whatever."
Heading off a little distance to look around, he kept his parasol jauntily perched on his shoulder and his step light. No point being miserable when you were looking for unicorns.
I get them all worked up and down on their knees, you see
Thankfully those who choose to scout are good at it. Ray and Adam break away from the group, heading out into the land ahead of them, searching for the band of unicorns in question. The others have very little to do besides follow behind them slowly, keeping at a distance as to not startle any of the unicorns that they do come across, but it proves not to be an issue.
Adam and Ray both find a herd of them grazing peacefully on the shorter grasses just as Bartholomew expected. One lifts its head as the approach, nickering softly, ears twitching forward and back as its tail swishes from side to side. It doesn't bolt. Instead it simply watches as the others keep munching away. Maeve glances over to Melita, Harper, and Bart, holding up a hand for them to slow, "Alright, let's see if two of you can circle from behind and whoever is left and myself will go from the front. Hopefully we can keep them from bolting."
We found them! Maeve suggests that Melita, Bart, Harper, and herself circle them up. Ray and Adam keep them calm!
Slow had never been Melita’s forte, but hopefully it was her mount’s. Her eyes scanned along the horizon, eyes landing on the herd – surprised, really, that the usually guarded equines hadn’t bolted off yet. She’d expected it – some unwinding, chasing scene, and while they still may get that yet, the honeybee didn’t want to be the cause. Not for something this important.
Nodding towards Maeve and the set of directions, she whispered in return. “I can try and circle from behind,” though presuming the unicorns wouldn’t be too thrilled at the notion of being casually surrounded. Maybe they didn’t even regard them as threats. Instead of dreading the inevitable, the youth ushered her own steed exactly as she mentioned, keeping it to a leisurely, moderate walk, as if they were simply loitering along the area.
--
Melita offers to go help circle from behind at a slow pace.
It didn't take long til they found a herd - which, when you thought about it, was wild - Adam knew back home saying he'd casually found a unicorn would be insane, and yet here they were in herds all over the place. Hopefully, these ones would end up coming back with them to the right spot.
Still wishing he had some snacks, Adam began to try and placate the unicorns, stepping forwards slowly but firmly and softly moving his hands out and up. If one would let him approach, he'd stroke it's nose for a moment, try to make a more definite connection with the creatures before attempting to lead them on. "C'mon, you horned buggers. I'm tired of dealing with you."
It wasn't like they understood what he was saying. right?
Seeing the unicorns, Ray smiles softly. They truly are beautiful creatures. Reaching down, she gives her horse a soothing pat, "Alright, here we go." Eyeing the herd, Ray tries to spot the leader of the bunch. Once she thinks she's found them, the herbalist focuses on that individual.
"Shhh. Hello beautiful." Ray whispers to the unicorn in a soothing and warm voice. She hopes she can keep them distracted long enough for the others to do their job. "How's your herd today? Everyone doing well?" Small talk with a unicorn, why not? Hopefully a welcoming and calming tone of voice will help Ray keep them calm.
Ray attempts to soothe the unicorns and keep them calm by talking to them softly. She attempts to single out the leader and focus most of her attention on them.
Clinging to the ruin of your broken home, too lost and hurting to carry your load You know we all need someone to hold
At least they don’t have to hunt over the entire hillside to find them. They’re as beautiful as he remembers, and the novelty will likely never wear off. Maeve is quick to hand out orders, and Harper gives her a jaunty salute before he’s urging his horse forward with the rest of the chosen others to circle about the herd.
As they do, he hums softly. Just enough noise to make it clear they aren’t trying to stalk the poor prey creatures, or trying to sneak up behind them. No sense in making them feel cramped just yet, not until they have them captured and wrangled.
Summer's over, love had left me screaming at the screen Oh, and it's understood that the both of us are no good
If it weren’t for the literal storybook gut punch of seeing a literal unicorn (a whole ass herd of them) Bart wouldn’t even care enough to be on this little missions. But man, this makes it all so worth it. He’s going to be sweaty, saddle sore, and banged up by the end of this he’s sure but this? Seeing these beautiful, mythical beings? Worth it. So, so worth it.
Makes him soften up a little to be more okay with taking direction too, which he’s normally pretty shit at. But he can ride a horse and follow the leader, which is all he apparently needs to be doing right now anyway. Waiting for the signal to prepare to capture them - hopefully with minimal incidents.
I get them all worked up and down on their knees, you see
Maeve shifts around front with Harper, glancing over at the Attuned as they lead their horses slowly to the front of the herd behind Ray and Adam. Both the Ascended and the Attuned do a good job at keeping the unicorns fairly calm. One presses its muzzle into Adam's palm, nickering softly as it mouths at him in search of treats. Melita and Bartholomew have a harder time. The unicorns towards the back startle, skittering forward and neighing in protests, but they don't bolt.
"Everyone get your ropes out. We're going to try to get one each." Maeve instructs, keeping her voice low, knowing that's the best way to keep the unicorns from startling further. She pulls her own lasso out and tries to catch the one closest to her.
Melita nearly turned to snort at Bart, because she wasn’t even remotely surprised that her efforts had not been successful. Mulishly, with an obvious pout to her features, she collected her rope, gazing down at it as Maeve delivered instructions over the skittish creatures. Her mount lumbered onward, completely unbothered by the whole thing, but the honeybee wasn’t quite certain in her skills here. Lassoing hadn’t been in her repertoire of training – weapons of all kinds? Sure. Roping? Catching things without setting them ablaze? Eh.
With a careful breath, the youth raised her arm, swinging it around in the looped circle, and then flung, hoping to snag one of the equines, and be of some use on this expedition.
