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!
The wind was always attempting to pierce through the thick layers of furs that Sylvia wrapped herself with. Each one of the furs had been skinned and treated by her while learning her hunter's craft from her family. Her hunting knife at her side had an antler hilt and had been burned with a circle and the outline of a wolf within.
Today was the first day of her Sila. She'd walked away from her family to grow, to become stronger. She wasn't sure how to do that. Her brothers all had left and returned. They brought stories from all over. She wanted to have those stories to share with them. For now though she needed to rest.
She sighed as the wind picked up again, the biting cold hitting her face. It was always cold in Halo. Sylvia didn't mind it all that much as it was just a fact of being Halovian. It was cold and her profession was hunting. Facts of life she wondered if she could continue as she stepped into The Kraai. She needed something to warm up with and she'd been directed here by a kindly old woman.
The door closed behind her as she looked around. Warm, and homely. She liked that. Her eyes of sapphire glanced around to take in her surroundings as they often did, lingering for a moment on the antlers on the wall. She knew most of the beast those came from though there were some she hadn't had the displeasure of meeting. She growled and shook off the hood she wore while also pulling down the fabric that covered her face. Her red hair cascaded down as her hood fell back and she sniffed the air, then walked up to the bar, sitting down.
It feels good to do something ordinary, like tend to his own bar. The Kraai is not as busy as it might be in a couple of hours when the sun sets properly, but business is already starting to pick up, such that when the redheaded stranger walks in, no one looks her way.
For Neron's part, he is enjoying the normality of cleaning glasses and wiping down the counters; he's dressed in his customary black, his shirtsleeves rolled to the elbow, and none of his sensors are telling him that his legs are about to fall off. So it's a great night so far.
Glancing up as he spots the new arrival taking a seat, Neron sidles across and into her eyeline, offering a fanged smirk. "What'll it be? Or shall I guess for you?" He's forgotten the number of times he has come up with drinks on a whim, and it's always a good conversation starter.
Sylvia couldn't help but flare her nostrils as she sniffed at the fanged barkeep. She wasn't sure how to respond. He looked...well off. Someone who could get away with a lazy day in her opinion. She wasn't sure she liked that idea. A lazy day meant she wouldn't eat, and would probably go a day or two before catching up. That wasn't something she liked the idea of especially now that she was on her own.
She measured him up and shyly smiled, smiling put everyone at ease right? She began to speak but then her cheeks went redder than they were from the wind."I...umm...g-guess..."She was trying to speak but couldn't seem to get the words out. This was her first time ordering for herself, her brothers and father always ordered for her, always the same thing too.
She bit her lip and stared at the man that was making her nervous. She'd much rather face one of the beasties she knew nothing about than have to be a fumbling mess in front of the man asking her so sweetly what she'd what to drink. She let out the oddest whimper that sounded like puppy needing reassurance.
She speaks, if you can call it that, and Neron tilts his head a bit before ruffling a hand back through his fair hair and giving her a nod. "One I guess, coming right up," he says, his smile returning as he grabs a tumbler and reaches beneath the bar for some crushed ice. A couple of bottles and a bit of shaking later and he presents her with a plum red drink poured delicately over the ice.
"Enjoy - I hope you like Deepfrost berries," he says, swiping condensation from the bar with the cloth he keeps hanging out of his back pocket; Neron likes things neat, if he can get away with it. "It's a little tart, but it'll warm your cheeks better than any fire, so I've heard." He knows, in truth, but it has literally been years since he's been able to properly taste a drink or feel its effects.
"Are you new to the Citadel?" he wonders conversationally. Neron has probably met everyone there is to know coming through the Kraai. Apart from those who dislike Ascended, of course.
Sylvia cheeks reddened faster than she would ever admit. She couldn't help but glance at his work and that smile of his. It was disarming to say the least. She bit her lip again as he put the drink in front of her. She sniffed it and then stuck her tongue out to gingerly taste it after picking it up and bringing it to her.
Her face contorted for a moment and then became thoughtful. It wasn't bad. Just different. It did redden her cheeks more as she took a longer sip. Sylvia immediately took another sip, a bit more this time.
She nodded at his question. "Da, I'm preparing to explore the world a bit. Get out on my own before coming back to settle." She sighed, "Of course that means I am on my own for where to go first." She took another sip and cringed. Definitely not as smooth as the vodka her family drank.
Neorn can't help the warm chuckle that rises in his throat at both her method of tasting the drink and the resulting reaction. "Takes a few sips to get used to it," he says. "I can make you something a little sweeter if it's too much," he offers, gesturing to the array of bottles stacked on the shelves behind him. In truth he rarely gets to play around with drinks unless it's on occasions like these; most just want ale or whiskey.
"Oh, I see," he says to her explanation, dipping into a small, roguish sort of bow. "Neron Launceleyn," he introduces himself, and that's a pleasant novelty as well. A lot of people in Halo already know him, and it's not for any good reason. "A pleasure to meet you. And if you're out to explore the world a bit, you'll want to head towards the Fangs. There's a portal in the mountains that can take you to a lot of different places."
She nods as she slowly sips on the drink, following his advice. She considers his offer for a sweeter drink then shakes her head quickly. "Papa usually orders us a couple bottles of vodka...It's usually smooth after a long day out on the ice." She sets the drink down to give him more of her attention, he definitely deserved it with a name like that.
"Neron...Neron..." She'd heard that name before, she was sure of it but she didn't know where. Sylvia frowned a bit until he continued. "The Fangs? A Portal? I've never taken a Portal before! Ma says they're dangerous and best to keep your feet on the ground. Of course that might be cause she didn't want any of the boyos running away."
She seemed to have found her voice, even if it was with half a drink gone. She downed the rest of it quickly and her eyes shot open before shutting tight and her lips thinned before she swallowed. "I should give Randolph one of these. He'd definitely hate me after." She laughed and then smiled at Neron. "So how bout we share a vodka and you tell me about how portals work. I'm suppose to be adventuring and not anyone has told me where I should head outside of Halo." She gave her sweetest smile, coupled with what her Ma always told her were fluttering doe eyes. It made her seem innocent from what Ma had said and Papa never could say no when she did so.
"Mm, I can only imagine," he says conversationally. He had never been one for that particular tipple, but it has been an age since he was last able to enjoy a good glass of wine. "What do you do out there?" Hunting is most common, naturally, but there are herders, gatherers and all other sorts. There's maybe a ghost of a smile on his face as he waits for her to place him - oh, you're the old Warden that got the Palace destroyed! - but soon the subject turns to portals, and he's not sorry for it.
"Portals aren't dangerous," he says, flashing her a fanged grin. "The places they take you to might be, though. Best do your research before heading out to one." Or talk to someone who knows, like... oh, maybe him?
She already seems to get the idea, and with sweet smiles and doe eyes, any man would be remiss not to take her up on her offer. Of course, Neron isn't any man, but he's similarly not got any other customers to serve. And so with a charming wink, he grabs a bottle of vodka and two glasses, pours them both a measure, and scoots himself to sit.
12-22-2021, 07:40 PM (This post was last modified: 12-22-2021, 07:40 PM by Sylvia.)
She giggles innocently at his question of what she does, "Oh, I'm a Tracker, though I also hunt...so maybe Hunter is a better answer." Her eyes are alight with a fiery passion at the mention of her job. "I'm quick on my feet, and my brothers always hated chasing me when we played Hunting as kids. They couldn't keep up." There was a malicious grin on her lips when she mentioned the child games.
As the conversation turned to portals her fiery light dimmed to curiosity and her malicious grin turned more to a thoughtful lip bite. "Okaaaaay, how do they work, how where in the Fangs is it, how does it feel going through, what's a good place to go that's different than Halo, and do you really have to sacrifice something when you go through?" She was rapid firing questions with out giving her new friend a chance to actually answer them. Some may say she was curiously cute, others annoying and irritating.
"You'll not be short of work, then, if you do decide to go travelling further afield," Neron assures her with a grin. "Though I doubt anywhere is quite like Halo when it comes to hunting." The snow, the ice, the dangerous beasts around every corner. He'd not be surprised if she finds everywhere else a breeze, compared to the Tundra.
But portals, yes. As she speaks and fires off her questions, Neron smoothly knocks back his measure of vodka with nary a wince. The taste of alcohol as well as its effects have long been absent from Neron's life - it's a comfort and a habit more than anything else, these days. "Slow down," he says with a grin.
"If you cross the causeway from here to the Fangs, it ought to lead you straight into the cave where the portal sits," he explains. "It looks like a shimmer in the cave wall. Take a step forward and you'll be in a sort of... nothing place, I suppose? There will be a signpost to the other places you can travel. It's as simple as that. And no, you don't have to sacrifice anything. The Voice is not that kind of goddess."
Maybe he's missed a couple of questions. He might have to get to those in a second.
01-02-2022, 07:44 PM (This post was last modified: 01-02-2022, 07:45 PM by Sylvia.)
Sylvia stops and holds her breathe for a moment, a pause that kept her from shooting off more questions that blossomed in her mind. She let's out her breathe in a slow controlled manner as she nods and listens. He'd begun answering her questions which led to her trying to imagine it. It was easy enough, she'd been near the Fangs though hadn't been actually in them. She was too young the last time her family had taken her near them by Papa's words.
She nods as her new friend speaks and she downs the rest of the vodka. Cautiously she speaks again, trying desperately not to fire off the questions that bubble up in her mind. "What does it feel like? I've heard whispers that it's like going ice swimming in your skivvies. Something fun with the right person" She wasn't sure what made her say that last bit. Of course she hadn't had vodka this smooth in awhile, but it still was only a glass.
Of course on a purely aesthetic level Neron was cute and she wouldn't mind wrestling with him, he seemed kind and interesting as well he was willing to answer her much needed questions. It was all part of the eye fluttering. That was it, had to be. She could do whatever she wanted now and she needed to 'flirt.' Yeah, that had to be why she'd been so suggestive...had to be...
"I don't think it feels like anything," Neron says with a chuckle. "Then again, being what I am, I don't suppose I'm the best example. But I have never heard anyone saying that it feels any different to walking somewhere else." He hasn't missed her quip, of course, and as practiced as he is at flirting as well as any of his other social masks, he graces her with a cheeky sort of smile.
"Now as for where to go? That depends. There's the Hollowed Grounds, where a lot of my brothers and sisters have made their home. And there's Torchline, if you wanted to see beaches and tropics... and the Greatwood, for... well. Great big woods. A few other places too, but those are where most people go." He taps his finger thoughtfully against his glasss as he speaks.
Sylvia nodded, though she didn't quite understand. "So does that mean it may feel like coming in from outside? Warm and inviting? Or is it stale and something smells off?" Her imagination was getting the better of her as she considered the type of feelings going from anywhere in Halo to any other place. She did notice his cheeky sort of smile and her face flushed red.
As Neron spoke of other places she listened intently, her eyes following his lips movement as if entranced. The Great Woods sounded so nice, Torchline sounded terribly hot to her, and the Hollowed Ground...he hadn't said much of that. "Will you tell me more of the Hollowed Ground and Great Woods? I find those the most interesting. I do love forests, the freedom to run and the scent of trees around..." She shivered but not from being cold. Sylvia offered her empty glass for a possible refill fully enjoying the conversation with her new bar friend.
Refilling their glasses willingly, Neron can only offer a warm chuckle at her questions. "I wish I could tell you. Do you know, Ascended have lost most of their sense of taste and smell," he says, raising his drink. "I barely feel the burn from this. You should go through a portal and let me know what it's like for the two of us." He winks.
The Greatwood he can't say much about, having never been, but the Grounds at least he can explain. "The woods border the Hollowed Grounds, so if you want to visit them it shouldn't be too difficult to go from one place to the other. The Grounds is a moody sort of place, having been stuck behind a barrier until a few years back. A lot of ruins, a lot of history. There's a huge temple, and an even bigger place called The Spire. That's where my goddess was imprisoned."
