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!
Having accepted this world as her new home, Lilliane thought it only reasonable to get a better understanding of it. And since the fields seemed to be an at least relatively safe area, why not start her explorations of the Hollowed Grounds here. As she wandered between the fields, looking at the crops which were growing here, she barely even looked at the ground where she was walking.
To no surprise, she did not pay enough attention to see the big bug in front of her, instead accidentally knocking against it with one of her feet. Brows furrowed, yet eyes wide with surprise, she took a step back. Watching the bug rolling side to side before getting back on it's feet, she blinked twice, still trying to comprehend what she was seeing.
The bug was remarkably big, bigger than any of the bugs she had seen on earth. Its body had a metallic blue color. But most interesting was the noise it had made as she accidentally kicked it. Kind of hollow, yet not. And maybe something like a fluid sloshing around inside? "Curious..." she muttered, crouching down to watch the creature, as it crawled along towards the shadow of an old, only partially intact stone wall.
Even in his old world, nature could be the best ally in a fight if you knew the herbs that heal you or poison the enemy. And sometimes it helped to watch nature to lower the emotion and anger. That is why Blackeye left the settlement to get a feeling of this new world. So he got some water and walked out of the town to the fields. Where he saw a young girl sitting and watching something."Hi there, young one. Is there something interesting?" Blackeye tried to look friendly but his weathered face might send the wrong message.
With Lilliane's entire focus on the strange animal, she didn't even realize when a man approached her. Startled, she looked at him, eyes wide for a moment. Realizing that he didn't seem to be dangerous, she took a deep breath to calm down. "Hi. I didn't notice someone else being here." she said with a sheepish smile.
"I'm not sure if it's something interesting. As in, to people from this place it's probably quite normal. But I'm new here and I haven't seen a bug like this before." Saying this, she pointed at the bug, which had by now made its way to the shade of the dilapidated wall and seemed intent on spending its day there.
"I accidentally ran into it, and it sounded kind of hollow when knocked. But also like there's lots of fluid inside." By now, she was looking at the creature again, brows furrowed in thought.
Darkeye inspected the girl. He had the feeling that his girl was quite young and naive to not pay attention to her surroundings. But he was like that when he was her age too... "I'm really sorry. I don't wanna scare you or interrupt you, little one. I was strolling a bit." He tried to look friendly again, with a warm smile.
"What a coincidence. I'm quite new in these lands too. If it is okay with you I can take a look on that fellow too." Slowly and careful he approached the bug and tried to take a good look at it. He had never seen anything like this.
"Maybe he tries to save water in his body for the hot days? Or he has poison inside, be the careful little one." He looked at the bright blue color of the bug. As far as he knows this is a warning sign in nature. Are there more? Maybe he can cut this one open. "Sorry my manners. My name is Blackeye, little one. Do you have a piece of paper? I can try to draw him." He asked slowly and quietly so that the bug wouldn't get scared away
Taking a closer look at Darkeye, Lilliane smiled at him warmly. "Quite the coincidence indeed. What`s the place you come from like? You don't look like you come from the same world I'm from."
She took a step aside when he offered to take a look at the bug as well, to let him through to the creature. "I kind of doubt it is poison. Or at least none that it attacks with. Otherwise, it would have probably used that earlier, when I accidentally kicked it over." She seemed kind of embarrassed at the thought. "But it just got back on its feet and continued on as if nothing had happened."
"Ah, no worries. To be honest, when I first arrived, I talked with the person who helped me for ages before even thinking of asking their name." she said with a chuckle. "I'm Lilliane, nice to meet you."
To his last question, she shook her head. "Sorry, I don't have any paper with me. Do you like to draw?"
He pondered whether telling her he is from another world was a good idea. Maybe people didn't like strangers like him. He crossed his arms, stroking his beard with one hand. "I'm from a different world. I think I still don't know what this is all about, but I try to make the best of it."
"Nice to meet you Lilliane. Then let's see what we got here."
He tried to get a good look and sought in his memory similar bugs he might have seen in the past, but nothing matched.
"Yeah when I was younger I drew many things, to remember how it moves and to try to copy it." He laughed loud but the bug did not even flinch. "I remember in my childhood I moved my arms like the wings of a butterfly. My mother got crazy about it." He smiled again. After a short moment, he put out some water from his bottle to see if the bug will come to drink or others will appear.
Lilliane nodded to his words. "Same for me. I decided there's no use in looking back, I've got to make the best of my current situation. It's also kind of why I'm standing around here looking at bugs. To try and get a better understanding of this place."
"That sounds like a very practical application to drawing. Most people I know draw for fun. Which is not a bad thing either, they are merely two different goals." She laughed when Darkeye spoke about his mother going crazy about him doing butterfly motions. "I can imagine. She was probably thinking you were going crazy. But moments like these are important. Those are the moments you treasure and which bring you closer to your family." As she said this, she seemed quite nostalgic. Focusing back on the bug, she said: "Anyway, we're not here to dwell on the past."
The bug had started to move by now, walking over to where Darkeye poured water on the ground. Once it reached the puddle, it started to drink slowly. "Hm, guess it likes water. I wonder how much one of these can carry with it. If it's really water that's inside of him."
At first, Blackeye smiled, which then turned into a laugh. "I'm sorry Lilliane but that sounded so sweet that I couldn't help. I hope I didn't offend you."
"You are so right, little one, you are so right" he nods to give his words more emphasis. "There is only one way to find out." And starting to pour water out of the bag drop by drop. And a few more bugs started to show up. Blackeye grabbed one and looked at him closely. Then he cut off the head of the bug, waiting for a moment to check if it was still alive. After that, he cut open the body and tasted a bit of the liquid inside."Hm I think that it stores water for hot days."
"No offense taken." Lilliane said with a smile. She watched as Darkeye started dripping water on the ground. The bug seemed to drink and drink without stopping. Even more interesting, more of them started to appear. "Interesting. They have to have a way of sensing the water. Maybe they smell it? I heard that horses can smell water." she muttered more to herself than to Darkeye.
A slightly displeased expression was on her face when Darkeye killed one of the bugs, but she didn't object to it. "Sounds like it adapted well to hot times like these. They are kind of like camels, only the insect-version of them."
"In my world, there are Camels too. They are good animals sometimes stubborn but useful. The water is filtered I think it's fine to drink it. I can get you one if you wanna taste it, you are welcome." He grabs a bug and eats it whole. It tastes awful but it helps to take the thirst away. "Okay that was not the best option but so you don't lose water..." he shiver at the bad taste on his tongue. "Hm a good question little one but how we gonna test it the bugs can smell it?"He dropped his Waterbag on the ground and opens it.
"No, thanks." Lilliane shook her head. "I think I'll rather drink the water I took with me than feed it to a bug only to drink from it." Her expression turned to one of disgust as Darkeye took one of the bugs and ate it. "I'd understand doing that if you were really dehydrated, but with fresh water in your pocket it seems a bit unnecessary. Also, the flesh might contain other stuff which has to be digested or excreted, in the end wasting more water than the bit you gain by eating it."
Taking a few steps back to look at the bugs as a whole, she shrugged. "I doubt we can really prove whether they smell the water or find it by some other means right now. In a laboratory environment, one could probably make the necessary tests. For example, placing a strong odor between the bug and the water, to check whether it still finds the water source. Or see if they only go there once one of them has found the water. With this being a whole different world, some kind of bug-hivemind wouldn't surprise me either."
To no surprise, the bugs immediately went for the Waterbag Darkeye had dropped to the ground. Interestingly, however, they seemed to stick to the shade of the wall. Or return to it every now and then before heading out to the water again. "Interesting... seems like they don't like the sun. Or too much of it."
"You know what, I think you are right." He pulled some of the chitin shells out of his mouth. " You do it if you are desperate. But it can save your life if things go south. Perhaps you can press it out?" He looked like he wanted to try it but disregarded the idea at the moment. "There is only water and that chitin shell nothing more. I think you can cook them too." Maybe they taste good then, he thought. But after Lillianes reaction, he didn't want to try it.
"This sounds interesting but, only mages and alchemists use those terms in my world. Are you a mage or alchemist?" He kept a close eye on her after he asked the question. "A hivemind seems possible but how we prove the fact..."
He took a piece of the chitin shell in his hand and held it against the sun."It seems that their shell isn't quite thick. Maybe just maybe they cant regulate the temperature inside of themselves."
Lilliane looked at the bugs for a moment. "I don't think there is much on them that could be cooked. But I wanted to ask the people around here for some recipes anyway, maybe they know more about that. Want me to tell you if I get any good recipes which use those bugs?"
To his next question, she laughed. "No, I'm no mage or alchemist. There are no mages where I come from. We do have chemistry, which is most likely kind of similar to alchemy, but it has nothing to do with magic either." She shrugged.
"As for the hivemind question, it would be pretty simple if we could ask them. Otherwise, aside from making sure one of them shows a specific, non-instinctual reaction to something and checking whether the others start to share it, I don't really know of a way."
After this, she took another look at the bugs. "That would explain their behavior. The water inside could possibly warm up too, which might get painful if they remain in the sun too long."
"Get some in the pan and roast them. I know it works with scorpions if you take the sting away. Tastes like chicken." He looked at the bugs and thought that they may whistle like a Teapot if you cook them for too long. "Feed them met and you have a nice marinade from inside. Or beer. Will they get drunk? If you get a recipe I would like to hear it."he said and got hungry.
"If we got some alcohol we could test the hive mind idea. If one gets drunk that all get drunk, right?" He asked, more himself than her.
" I know it sounds cruel but there is only one way to find out what happens if they stay in the heat too long." Blackeye took one of that bugs and put it on a stone where he could not get in the shadow fast enough.
