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!
03-29-2022, 08:31 PM (This post was last modified: 03-29-2022, 08:32 PM by Talyson.)
Tal liked Halo.
Sure, it was cold all the time, and some seasons were colder than others; brutally, lethally cold. And sure, there were ursurs and frost giants and dragons from the Draig and the occasional cultist, but the cannibals had finally been burned out and the aurora borealis was beautiful and bright on the coldest nights of Deepfrost.
And a civilized man could dogsled or ski to where he wanted to go. He didn't have to walk, step by burning step, across unstable ground between fields of bubbling lava.
Tal scowled and pulled the scarf more tightly around his face to try and block the worst of the ash that floated in the air. His goggles, usually his defense against snow glare, protected his eyes from smoke and heat, but did nothing to relieve the rivers of sweat that dripped from his skin beneath the light linen shirt and sturdy trousers.
The delivery to the Falls had gone with only a few minor mishaps, but he'd gotten turned around in the tunnels on the way back and come out at a different place on the surface. Boreal wheeled above him, her pale hide grown dingy with smoke, a beacon in the sky as out of place as he was as she tried to guide him back towards the mountain path that would lead towards home.
His foot broke through a treacherous scab of glassy stone and Tal cursed as he windmilled his arms and tried to catch his balance without pitching head-first into the newly-revealed lava chamber below...
Eating fire is your ambition to swallow the flame down
Melita, undaunted and unafraid, stomped her way from the Lava Pits with her satchel and quiver on her back, and an overt menace to her stride. Half of her mind was split, distracted, between returning to Torchline and receiving her upcoming companion, and the other with the recent news (debacle, really) of her uncle’s immortality and siege upon Stormbreak.
All in all, the day could’ve been better.
Fangorn let out some garbled outcry and she sighed, slowing down only lightly so the vampire gourd had an opportunity to catch up. “I’m so tired of this shit all the time,” she murmured, though which notion had such a claim could probably be up for debate.
And only for a crashing sound to echo around the pits and chambers. Her brows furrowed, and she stopped, glancing around with seditious inquiry, hand instantly going to her staff.
When she saw some stranger windmilling his ass down to the ground.
“You all right?” She called out, head tilting vaguely, features clearly trying to stifle a laugh bubbling through her throat – because that whole scene had been ridiculous.
to be lit up from within, vein by vein to be the sun
The good news was that he hadn't landed head-first in hot lava.
The bad news was that someone had seen him flailing like an idiot, and he hadn't landed head-first in hot lava to put himself out of his embarrassment.
The worse news was that--
Tal looked behind himself from where he'd landed on the ground, face obscured by scarf and goggles, and saw his worst fears realized.
Sure enough, there was a girl trying not to laugh at him. A cute girl.
He groaned and dropped his face into his hands, words muffled by fabric and fingers alike. "Not anymore." Boreal drifted down, reptilian amusement replete in every scaly line, and she began to snuffle over him, looking for bruises or fresh burns. "Look, can we just... pretend you didn't see that?"
Eating fire is your ambition to swallow the flame down
“Afraid not,” she called, letting the potency of her laughter drift over the surroundings. Wild and chaotic, untamed and frenetic, the giggles ran rampant much like herself, undaunted that she might’ve ruffled his feathers by the mere state of her amusement.
But then figured she’d probably be able to kick his ass, so.
Wandering forward, staff still in her hand and Fangorn trailing behind, she noted the dragon coming to collect her bonded, and muffled another snort threatening to rally. “At least you didn’t fall into the lava,” and she shrugged, because there wouldn’t been much of a way of him getting out in time. Her eyes swept over him for a moment, some semblance of an assessment, before the gilded set went back to the Climb’s infrastructure. “Did you get hurt?”
to be lit up from within, vein by vein to be the sun
Tal scowled beneath his makeshift mask as she laughed at him openly. "This is fuckin' dismal" he groaned to himself and his dragon. The only saving grace was that his flushed cheeks were hidden from view as he tried to push Boreal away and got slowly to his feet, dusting himself off with an attempt at dignity that was far too little, too late. The sturdy dragon didn't even budge an inch, snorting her amusement in a trickle of smoke from her nostrils.
"Yeah, well... I guess." He grumbled at the silver lining she'd so helpfully found for him, but a quick glance at her lithely muscled frame and ready staff convinced him not to say anything that could get him 'helpfully' dumped back into the fiery pool. "I'm fi--" he started to wave her off with the usual platitudes, but as soon as he tried to take a step on his right leg he felt his ankle buckle and he hissed, only barely catching himself against the warm, scaly companion that suddenly pressed close to his injured side with a grumble of concerned annoyance for her idiot bonded. "Uh..." Tal's eyes watered behind his goggles and he quickly blinked them clear.
Eating fire is your ambition to swallow the flame down
An arch of her brow followed, expecting the steady display of ‘I’m fine’ that mostly everyone uttered when nothing was suitable (signal and code for: thank you very much but please carry on and leave me alone), when it altered and changed. So she ceased her laughter (because she supposed it wasn’t very nice to giggle at an injured person), relegating to a more serious disposition.
“Hm,” she pondered, gaining closer access with her signature devil-may-care attitude, Fangorn tucking in close behind. “Maybe you twisted something?” Another shrug of her shoulders followed, before her gaze lifted over the surroundings, pondering whereabouts and lengths of potential journeys. “I’m not a healer,” which was probably obvious by the way she carried herself. “But Frey’s Breath is close by. Maybe some of that water will help.” If it was good enough for sickness, perhaps it’d be decent enough for wounded ligaments or busted ankles.
to be lit up from within, vein by vein to be the sun
"Yeah, sounds about fuckin' right," Tal grumbled, leaning on Boreal's broad shoulders to keep weight off the ankle - twisted, sprained, or otherwise out of commission. He watched her approach with a little wariness, but he didn't yet feel threatened by the pretty redhead.
Most people weren't too eager to try anything with a hound-sized dragon around, either, lending Tal a potentially false sense of security.
Her suggestion evoked a wrinkled brow above his goggles - followed by a cough as some ash made it through his scarf. "The... waterfall?" He scrabbled a waterskin from his belt and took a swig to soothe his throat, then reluctantly offered it towards the stranger. "Saw it on the map, but haven't been there m'self. Uh. Tal," he finished, jerking his thumb at his own chest in an introduction of pure poetry.
At his side, Boreal rolled her eyes and heaved a mighty snort.
Eating fire is your ambition to swallow the flame down
If he was wary, that only made her grin widen. Melita thought it amusing to be seen as dangerous after all – and acted righteously so in those treacherous regards every so often. Best to leave the world with an impression that she could end a majority of them on her willfullness alone.
She hummed something under her breath, clearly unbothered by either his dragon (met too many; was bound to get her own) or him, though she took the offered waterskin. “Thanks.” Pouring a little into her mouth, she swished it around out of amusement, before swallowing and returning it to the stranger. “Hot springs.” She’d been to the falls – it hadn’t been of the healing variety.
The gourd at her side offered a wave of his vines at the other companion as the honeybee moved along, changing course and direction towards the aforementioned location. “I’m Melita. This is Fangorn.”
to be lit up from within, vein by vein to be the sun
He accepted the water skin back and took another small drink before returning it to his belt for safe-keeping. "Wait... what?" He blinked at her correction and dug the map out of his pack as introductions were made and Boreal snorted in annoyance, stopping his searches with large, heavy jaws clamped gently around his wrist.
Tal tugged futilely and glared down at the dragon. "Hey! Bor--oh." He couldn't reach up to rub the back of his neck so he settled for scowling in a generally awkward manner as he continued to lean down on the dragon's shoulders. "This is Boreal," he introduced the dragon, who promptly snorted a contented smoke ring and released his hand. She peered curiously at the lively little gourd as Tal went back to fishing out the parchment and showing it to Melita.
"Looks like a waterfall t'me." Indeed, the markings on the map seemed to indicate as much.
But only about half the map was correct, it would quickly be obvious to anyone who'd spent any time in the Climb at all.
Eating fire is your ambition to swallow the flame down
Having met several other dragons and enjoying their presence, Fangorn thought everything would likely be the same with one more. His vines continued to wave and dance, altering in random patterns, while some source of argument about locations began to brew.
Sorry? Was he mansplaining a location to her? That she’d been to several times?
A look of displeasure crossed her features – furrowed brows, a general demeanor veering towards unimpressed. She double-backed towards him, glancing at his map, and gave a snort. “You’re missing a part.” And her finger ran over a portion sorely lacking, markers that should’ve been there. “We all journeyed there a lot when people were sick. Pretty sure I know how to get there.” And with that, she raised her chin defiantly, and began heading toward that direction again. “Where’d you get that map anyway?” Maybe someone had tricked him.
to be lit up from within, vein by vein to be the sun
04-02-2022, 10:50 PM (This post was last modified: 04-02-2022, 10:51 PM by Talyson.)
Boreal wasn't a dragon of the vegetarian persuasion, and didn't consider the gourd to be food in the slightest. A toy? Possibly. But with her idiot bonded injured and using her as a support-dog, she stayed put and simply watched the dancing vines with reptilian bemusement, ignoring the humans and their usual silliness. Her tail swept the air slowly from side to side in a curious wag as she put her head down on her thick neck and tried to sniff the vampiric veggie.
Tal tried to look offended through his shielding scarf and goggles, with mixed results, as Melita traced over a potion of the map that maybe hadn't led him exactly where it had said it would on his way out of the burrows.
But he didn't want to admit it that it - and by extension, he - might be wrong. Not when his pride was already stinging.
"Yeah? Well... I was taking medical supplies to the tribes in the Tundra," he grumbled, not really able to compete with someone who had personal experience in the Climb, but not letting that stop him from trying. "Didn't have time to be runnin' around in the lava."
He started to hobble after her with Boreal's help, not wanting to get left behind if his map really was wrong. "Trader in Snowcloak," he said shortly. "Some guy... I think he said he was from Torchline? Didn't get his name." He chewed his lip fiercely, debating whether to stay quiet or speak up, but his curiosity was eating him alive.
"So... were you one of the ones that found the Longheat deity?"
Eating fire is your ambition to swallow the flame down
Melita gave an offhand shrug that indicated a silent ‘not my problem’ gesture. “Good for you,” and she handwaved him off, continuing onward, hand clutching her staff, the bag over her shoulder remaining tucked safely beside her quiver. Fangorn bobbled, rolled, and grumbled after her, offering another coaxing of vines to the dragon, before they were all on their way again.
As for how he’d been duped, the honeybee gave another laugh. If it reverberated against crag and lava, so be it. “Torchline markets are notorious for that. They duped you.” With a wry grin tossed back over her shoulder towards him, all mischief and sedition, she turned down a particular path, picking her way through the void with natural endeavors and indifference – clearly used to magma and craters and the general state of disarray and bedlam around them.
At the mentioning of Tanau, her brow furrowed, and she shook her head. “No. But I was there when all the lilies were placed, and he had to be helped through the falls.” And when a leviathan just popped out of nowhere – a customary condition around Caido.
to be lit up from within, vein by vein to be the sun
Melita didn't seem to be impressed and Tal scowled harder at her back. Boreal, the traitor, just chuffed her amusement at his predicament as she walked steadily beside him, following Fangorn's beckoning wake with her usual curiosity for other companions who had chosen to bond to these fascinating human creatures.
Her laughter was fey, musical, and free in the hellish landscape and it gave Tal another moment's wary pause, wondering if the girl was entirely human, or if the Climb had its own version of elementals and genies to watch out for.
Then again, with a busted ankle and an untrustworthy map, did he really have a choice?
His thoughts kept him silent as he hopped and hobbled along in her footsteps, not rising to the jibe of being duped - not least because he was afraid she was right, but fuck if he'd admit it. It was the lilies that brought his head up again, and the he who could only be one being.
Eating fire is your ambition to swallow the flame down
Flickering downward as the trail seemed to slant slightly, the youth wandered along, now swinging her staff back and forth, twirling it through her fingers in makeshift warmups. Habitual, allowing the weapon to roam over callouses as she thought, before moving it to the other hand and doing the same.
When he had no counter to her proclamation, the defiant edge to her chin lifted even higher, a haughty little smirk he couldn’t see rounding out her mouth. She only glanced back, ensuring his dragon had kept him somewhat tethered and not floundering to the ground again, at the inquiry of Tanau.
She hadn’t been the one to fight the leviathan or interact too much, so she could only shrug once more. “He seemed nice. Young. Kind.” A differential piece to many of the other deities and celestial beings. “Have you met any of the gods?”
to be lit up from within, vein by vein to be the sun
