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!
You. Me. Knocking out something for that fucking Eirachi shrine tomorrow?
Bring your best Luxere attracting qualities.
The note went ahead of her to the Kraai, and the following night Wessex appears in the doorway to collect Neron before they head out to the Tundra. The good news is that in the dark they’ll be able to spot the Luxere’s antlers from much further away. The bad news is that luxere don’t like Ascended. Loki perches outside the door, launching herself into the sky when the two of them exit again, screeing into the dark sky before leading the way out to the empty, half-frozen land beyond the Citadel.
“So. How are things here?” she asks as they walk, assuming that mic dropping the statement of neutrality must have had its fair share of drama both before and after the decision.
there was a time that we were kind, but now don't write me, you're not fooling anyone
"Honestly? Quieter than I expected," Neron remarks as he crunches through the snow at Wessex's side. "Not that I was assuming people would line up to be friends with us, or to shout down the Citadel walls, but... it's been pretty ordinary. Does that bode badly for us?" Dressed in his usual dark attire and with a cloaking upgrade at the ready, his luxere attracting qualities are mainly in the form of not being seen by them if possibe.
"What about the Grounds? How are things there?" he asks conversationally, glancing sidelong at the Wraith and failing to hide the furrowing of his brow. Things are heating up everywhere, and there's no way to get away from it. And Wessex has never shied away from confrontation.
“Eh?” Honestly, she doesn’t know any more. “Worst case, they’re biding their time before striking and best case, you’ll be flooded with suddenly neutral converts when shit starts to go down.” The reality is probably somewhere in the middle, because things rarely go as well as they could and usually go somewhat tits up. Kinda like what happens whenever she and Neron get together.
Ahead and above, her companion acts as a tracker and at night, it’s certainly easier for the dragon to see a herd of luxere and their ever-glowing racks. Following a mental prompt, Wessex starts to turn them north, towards a line of trees in the distance. “Same old, really. Trying to get this big zappy weapon on top of the Spire.. Waiting, I guess? The Grounds is actually pretty quiet.” And she’s okay with that, for now.
“What upgrade did you get from the Voice?” Arching a brow in the Hailstorm’s direction,
Wessex is mildly curious - she never can tell what Neron will throw at the world next.
there was a time that we were kind, but now don't write me, you're not fooling anyone
"Neutral converts," he repeats with a fanged grin sent her way, tilting his head. "As if choosing none of the gods is a religion in itself. I like it." Not that the Ascended can ever be truly neutral, given that they rely upon their goddess to... you know. Live. "Well, as far as I'm aware, the Citadel is focused on defending itself above all else. So we should be able to stand against anyone biding their time." He hopes.
He turns and follows her change in direction; companionless, he knows only the most perfunctory aspects of what that bond entails, but he does know he also trusts a dragon's aerial senses more than their own. "Funny you should say that - I think we're trying to get a big zappy weapon as well," he murmurs.
His upgrade, though? Neron grins at the ground this time. "One that makes my bite almost like a drug," he says softly. "I should turn the Kraai into a brothel at this point."
Upgrade description for ease:
Type: Other | Level: Basic
Euphoric Venom | After the user bites someone, the victim will feel docile and happy for up to 1 minute afterwards, depending on the difference between their END stat and the user's. A difference of 10 or more is ineffective. 5 or more is weakly effective. And below 2 is very effective.
“Mmmm, I hear self-preservation is a hell of a religion,” she quips back, aware that they’d both had some experience in that area. There are no regrets on Wessex’s end, but she kind of wishes it hadn’t had to be a life or death situation.
“Yeah? What’s your big zappy thing like? Ours is like… a giant, aimable jolt of electricity.” Fun. Bright. A real war-weapon. “How’s Morgan doing?” She’d heard through the grapevine (and obviously, the letters) that the Warden continued to prevail as the Citadel’s defender despite a few bumps in the road. Tilting her head up at Neron, her expression is genuinely warm and curious - for she does like the Glacier now. And even if she weren’t the closest thing she came to a political ally, she would want her to be well.
“Oh damn,” is the entire reaction Neron gets for his upgrade. Definitely surprised. A little disappointed. But it is all Hailstorm, so… back to the luxure hunting. On the horizon there’s a dim light; this far away it’s hard to tell, but it could be what they’re looking for.
there was a time that we were kind, but now don't write me, you're not fooling anyone
"Mm, that it is. Before the Voice, I was an avid follower," Neron remarks, tucking his hands into the pockets of his dark coat. "Ours will be like a giant solar beam. I don't think it's anything particularly dangerous to Ascended - no more than anyone else, anyway. It's coming from Frey's nature aspect, so I suppose they're just working with what they've got in Halo." Which, in a land of ice and snow, ain't much.
Mention of Morgan has his smile growing softer, a touch more human somehow. "She's good, I think. She's survived another council meeting, and we're staying neutral for now," he explains. "Hopefully things will be this calm for a little longer." Oh little do you know, Neron.
Her reaction both is and isn't what he expects, the Hailstorm scoffing out a laugh as he watches the light on the horizon. "Well I'm hardly your every day Ascended, am I?" he points out, raising his hand to create an icy ball in his fist. "All my really zappy powers are magical."
A giant solar beam? Interesting… she doesn’t make any attempt to hide that opinion on her face as she nods a bit. “So either burn and explode or burn and… get sick and terrible blisters?” She can still remember the folly of spending all day in the Longheat sun and coming back, red as a tomato, and hurting the next day (and the next day, and the next day).
As for Neron being a typical Ascended? “No, you definitely aren’t,” the Wraith concedes with a chuckle. It’s something she both loves and hates about the Hailstorm.
Either they’re traveling quickly or the light source is coming their way - Wessex eyes it, thankful but curious. “Loki?” she calls to her companion, but there’s no response. No sign of her above them, either. In the distance, though, they’ll hear a dragon’s hunting cry (well, to them it might be just a regular old screech). The question is - is it the little black dragon herding and making mischeif or a big white one?
there was a time that we were kind, but now don't write me, you're not fooling anyone
"Mm... I think maybe the burning and exploding might happen regardless of whether the target is Ascended or not. It will just happen a lot faster for us," Neron says, unaware of course of the turn his life is about to take, especially when it comes to giant solar beams (and actually being in Halo any more).
That's for later, though. For now there's a growing light and a screech overhead, and Neron raises his brows as he tilts his head up. "Something wrong?" he asks, his steps deliberately slowing, his upgrade crackling up and around him to shield him from view. "If you want me to take a shot at one of these luxere, let me know. It's only one pair of antlers you need, right?"
“I… don’t know,” the demigod confesses as she concentrates on the glowing light ahead of them. “That sounds like Loki, but it’d be stupid to forget there’r bigger, badder dragons out here.” They both knew what had happened to Weaver, to Adam and Peter the first time they’d died. She’d met the dragons in the Cordillera… they could easily be hunting here.
“And yeah, just on set. If you get an easy shot, take it.” Shrugging a bow off her shoulder, she lets the body lay loosely in her hand, at the ready but not in the way. Another screech cuts through the air and the ground begins to vibrate ever so subtly, as if many hooves were pounding against it. The closer the two Ascended get to the light, the stronger that rumbling becomes.
there was a time that we were kind, but now don't write me, you're not fooling anyone
"Mm... They tend to stay away from the Citadel, mostly. I'm not sure why." He's got an idea that it's because of the Eirachi, but he doesn't really want to think about her either. Especially when there are potential dragon threats and luxere stampedes. Raising a brow across at the Wraith - I don't know is not exactly reassuring - Neron nonetheless engages his invisibility upgrade and peels away from her so he can properly investigate the rumbling underfoot.
And when he does see the first luxere in the fleeing herd, he wastes no time. Ice lances out, jagged and ruthless, to trip and puncture the deer and its glowing antlers. Hopefully, the rest of the herd will spook and change direction as a result.
It must be that anti-Ascended sense that makes the lead luxere start to swerve away from the two of them as they come in to view. Neron’s ice lances out and skims against the leader, evoking a pained and startled bleat as it tries to turn away from everything it hates. There’s a long line of luxere behind it, but they’ll have to act fast to catch the herd before they’ll need to running after it.
So Wessex summons a polar bear to the other side of the herd, telling it to run towards herself and Neron in an effort to herd their targets back towards them. The two of them will see the front of the column swerving back into their original line, and perhaps, just perhaps, the rest of the luxere will continue the original trajectory as well.
there was a time that we were kind, but now don't write me, you're not fooling anyone
Colour Neron impressed. Wessex won't be able to see it, of course, what with him being invisible and all that, but it's definitely there. And as the polar bear helps to funnel the herd of luxere into a sort of pincer, Neron pulls his next trick out of the bag. This time it's not ice - the blood will only ignite further fear on the air, and the herd will panic and fall over itself if they are really unlucky. No, this time it's a little more sinister.
With life drain magic oozing out of him, he aims to drag the energy from the lead luxere, slowing its footsteps to something clumsy enough that will let Wessex pick it off easy as you like. The herd will be able to find a new leader, he's sure.
With the herd successfully heading back towards them, Wessex is looking for any opening they can grab. It’s obvious when the lead luxere stumbles that this is it. Lasers stream from her eyes, focused, and aiming to make a clean, quick killshot to the chest - let’s just pretend we all know anatomy here and say that it cuts through to the beast’s weakened heart and the heat makes it burst in its chest.
Their victim goes down, dropping suddenly to the effect that the luxere immediately following it are entangled for a moment. Wessex then dismisses the polar bear and the panicked, bleating creatures are able to get themselves away from their dead comrade and the two Ascended fairly quickly.
“Well. That wasn’t too hard, was it?” the Wraith says with a grin as she approaches the prize and unsheathes her talons. Even Loki reappears at the back of the heard, diving out of the night sky to land near the fresh kill.
there was a time that we were kind, but now don't write me, you're not fooling anyone
They're like well oiled machines, except they don't even need oil, and as laserbeams cut through the darkness, Neron lets his upgrade drop away again. He doesn't try to mask the awe on his face, either, tucking his hands back in the pockets of his coat and looking far too casual among the chaos as the luxere herd makes a hasty exit back into the tundra. Clicking his tongue at Loki in greeting, he steps up to watch the Wraith at work with the antlers.
"I've found it more difficult getting up in the morning," he drawls, flashing her a fanged grin. "A pleasure doing business with you as always, Wessex. Who knows - maybe my helping you with this will endear the Eirachi towards me again." His laughter rings emptily through the night. They both know that's about as likely as Safrin letting him suck on her tits.
