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 wanted to see where this trail led,” came on a deep rumble towards his traveling companions, human and animal alike - a place not marked on his map of Climb notations, beginning with pathways towards hot springs, bejeweled caverns, or even mountainous roars of waterfalls. Though, perhaps, given the name of the world before them, the expectations for what they’d see were mismatched and disproportionate. Angels, perhaps, might have once tread and flown, but descended into the murk, solidified magma, and bursting, dry winds suddenly billowing through the sector. Even Belial didn’t seem readily inclined to go hovering about the whirlwind of thermals, tucked beside Zuriel for the moment.
But stepping in, testing out a darkened slate beneath his feet, Deimos rolled up the sleeves of his tunic, before glancing at Hotaru. In between hunts and long winters, there hadn’t been much time for idle discussion, the comings and goings of adventures, or anything else circumventing their lives. The Sword, as often noted, had inquiries upon inquiries for the Valkyrie, but started with the most important. “How have you been?”
under the bludgeonings of chance my head is bloody, but unbowed
“I’ve never been here either,” she admits easily, eyes roving over the obsidian rivers of hardened lava that echo strangely beneath their footsteps. A mimicry of stone. It’s not a far cry from the remnants of the eruption in Torchline, though it’s undoubtedly more widespread; continuous flows clearly having built layers upon layers that hardened into traversable pathways.
Adventuring has never particularly called her name even in youth, but knowledge is power, and that alone is her reasoning for exploring every far reach of Caido. Of course today is different; Deimos had invited her out after all, and Ru would never turn down a chance to spend time with her heart-brother. His inquiry isn’t unexpected, though he beats her to it. Smiling warmly, she moves closer, drawn away from her curious wandering. “Better than I’ve been in a long time. Bored, sometimes, but in that restless way that always comes before war.” She’s certain he knows what she means. They’d often experienced that restless itch at the same time, waiting on the same frontlines. “And you? No problems during the winter this time?” The silence, the waiting and wondering, it would never get easier. The only solution would be moving back, and Hotaru admittedly was avoiding that particular choice, too torn between possibilities.
In a coat of gold or of red, a lion still has claws And mine are long and sharp, my lord
as long and sharp as yours
Hotaru has a passive magic that makes her glow with an internal golden light; it makes her appear youthful and her hair seems to look like moving sunlight. Can only subtly illuminate dark spaces.
Maybe it was the blind leading the blind then, striding out along slate and magma proportions. He raised his chin and jawline, perhaps a bit defiantly, glancing out along the crust and mantle with a furrowed brow – pondering layers, hows, and whys amidst the land’s creation, but permitting himself to be leisurely distracted by Ru’s answers in the same stead.
Bored was dangerous in the Valkyrie’s midst – though perhaps not as much as her mercurial aspects in vengeance and spite. The Sword managed another slow, lazy smile at the response, hastening to draw his locks back into a bun, already uncertain if he enjoyed the levels of heat conspiring along the plumes and vestiges. “The waiting,” he nodded in understanding, having been on many a battlefield, restlessly standing in line, or moving along, muscles fine-tuned and ready.
Moving closer to a mound of solidified lava, mostly to crouch and inspect, his stare went back to her. “Deepfrost was quiet.” And then a subtle smirk, mostly to tease and taunt in different directions. “Talyson was worried about your spa.”
under the bludgeonings of chance my head is bloody, but unbowed
He is entirely accurate in his assessment. Boredom lead more to juvenile measures and childish entrapments. Resentment and revenge had far more long-reaching and catastrophic effects. But with isolation came silence, and a lack of need for things like that. As Deimos ties his hair up, the Valkyrie follows his example, letting the dampness at the nape of her neck breathe what little it can with only humid air to meet it. “And I loathe waiting,” she agrees, wry and amused in a way only veterans can truly be, content with dark humor and the way it makes things marginally easier to bear.
As Deimos crouches to inspect a thicker lump, Hotaru laughs at the unexpected news he shares. “Just my spa hm? He’s quite good at projecting being a sour grape of a young man, but he’s a wrinkly, squishy one even so.” Like the sad, shriveled ones at the bottom of the bag that you debate the worthiness of before desperation - or lack of sense - makes you pluck it from the depths to ascertain its sweetness. Ru had always had a soft spot for those types though; her current company was proof enough. “If he is so worried about it, maybe he’ll finally take my offer of stepping through the doorway. You’d think it was a portal to the afterlife, the way he looks at it.” Tittering with amusement, the Valkyrie steps up beside Deimos and toes at the lump of magma rock with her boot. “Perhaps it’s time for a visit after all.” Even if it will be hard. It always is these days. Constantly torn by the desire to move back, even with all it would entail emotionally and politically.
In a coat of gold or of red, a lion still has claws And mine are long and sharp, my lord
as long and sharp as yours
Hotaru has a passive magic that makes her glow with an internal golden light; it makes her appear youthful and her hair seems to look like moving sunlight. Can only subtly illuminate dark spaces.
Deimos was never quite bored - he had enough duties and responsibilities to ensure he had enough to fill his days. And even then, he found juvenile amusements within them. Perhaps the true danger was when he found a way to terrorize friends and family in the childish aspects, easily molded and driven into the temptation when comfortable.
Like now, inspecting the press of hardened magma, pondering what to do with it.
But he was permitted the distraction of some distant and familiar taunting, lifting his gaze to the Valkyrie’s, laughing at the brief, but accurate, description of the courier. “Probably you too, but that would be more difficult to admit.” And even then, he tilted his head, a silent gesture – not proclaimed across the bond, likely akin to you sure you are all right? in some feline dimension.
Another snort volleyed its way through his chest at the mention of affinities towards spas. “Or perhaps he is afraid you will bully him there,” for they both knew better. A perfect opportunity for anarchy and intimidation, even if it might’ve been for a worthy cause. “Good place to start,” at the notions of visits, not pressing any further into the wakes and midsts of everything else lurking in those semblances.
Once she was done kicking at the lump, he picked up a fragment of it, broken off, light, tossing it along his palm, catching it rapidly thereafter.
under the bludgeonings of chance my head is bloody, but unbowed
Fondness overwhelms her at his admittance, visually softening at the notion of Tal’s affection for her, prickles and all. “None of us are good at admitting it, it’s why we’re all such good friends,” she snorts, amused. His inspection and inquiry through bond and all-seeing gaze are unmistakable, and damn it all but Ru can’t contend with back-to-back proof of love for her, no matter the shape it takes. The loose grip she holds on her bond to streamline the emotions he feels off her dissipates, letting him examine more closely. There is a contentment there - purposeless, yes, but with a quiet acceptance of where her life is at - and the only concerning notions are the whisps of loneliness that are quieter now in his presence. Sown from long days alone in the Greatwood, children moved both out and on, but still feeling as if she could not fully return to Halo. Her smile as she averts her eyes tells him ’all is well’. Loneliness is an easier burden for the Valkyrie to bear than many of the other things she’s had to carry in the past.
A slightly sinister laugh sneaks out of her at his teasing, and she flicks her hair over her shoulder in a well-practiced, but undoubtedly intentionally dramatic show of flounce. “It’s true, and it’s why he avoids the threshold like the plague. But I’ll get him in there one way or another - by force if I tire of his resistance,” she snickers. It would be utterly harmless, perhaps a dunk in the mud bath, but Ru for all her petite frame would happily haul Tal over her shoulder to accomplish it. “You know speaking of, while we’re here, it might be a good idea to restock on volcanic rock for the bottom of the bath.” Is she aware of the restlessness of his rock investigations and is hoping to redirect his attention from potential future terrorizing of her person? Yes. Yes she is.
In a coat of gold or of red, a lion still has claws And mine are long and sharp, my lord
as long and sharp as yours
Hotaru has a passive magic that makes her glow with an internal golden light; it makes her appear youthful and her hair seems to look like moving sunlight. Can only subtly illuminate dark spaces.
He snorted in return, but studied the modulations and alterations in mood, in tone, much more than that distinct noise. Deimos had never known Ru to be purposeless, meandering, wandering, along a rambling cord. Driven, sometimes to ridiculous heights and notions, but nonetheless potent and ruthless when the ambition was caught in her teeth. The quiet, almost listless, acceptance of the present, along with the drifting loneliness, caused his brows to furrow, for that distinct, inaudible accord to flatten along his eyes, narrowing them to nearly-defiant slits. The all is well blended and bent, and even if he didn’t like it, even if this seemed just as foreign as the days they’d first landed in Caido, it wasn’t his to refute. If you are sure was the most he could grant and give – even if some measures were already taking hold in his mind. But trying to right a languid beat only mattered, only held meaning, if the one it was for craved the accord.
Rising from his crouch, the rock remained in his palm, rolling through his calloused fingers as he drummed it back and forth. “Let me know if he should be thrown in.” Because bullying friends had never been above his means to an end.
The other suggestions took him faintly by surprise, but maybe the Valkyrie had been catching on to her own impending danger – if the Sword was left to become restless for far too long. “Sure,” beginning to ply away at any loose debris with air incantations, watching as the particles were swept out and around. “I need you to attack a scale with lightning later, when you have a moment,” said with a nefarious grin and zero explanation.
under the bludgeonings of chance my head is bloody, but unbowed
He had never known her to be aimless because she never had been before. Not even as a child freshly and stupidly leaving her birthland; even then she had known she would seek out the Basin, her father’s home, to be with her people. She can read his concern and confusion in his face, but she has no answer for why she occupies this state of limbo, and it seems he knows that with how he gracefully lets the topic lie.
For now, until war comes and she hopefully sees the other side, Ru has no intention of making grand decisions and plans.
Her grin is seditious, sinister, at his proposal. “We could do it together for the most fun.” Betray the straight laced young man from both sides, perhaps even after using Deimos’ presence to lure him into the spa itself. Ru could be patient; the cat within her had given her an appreciation for the stalk, the hunt, and Tal couldn’t escape them forever.
Amused relief flows through her (craftily withheld from bonds and expressions alike) as her diversion works perfectly. Only to brighten herself at the opportunity for magical expression. “Oh, with pleasure. Is it for a quest?” Ever intrigued by the items others sought, curious of their designs and purposes. But for now she calls on the birds around them, compelling them to come to her aid. They flock slowly from various directions, bending to her whims with easy, eager minds. Rocks begin to pile at their feet as the birds flit to and fro, seeking out loose stones with their beaks.
In a coat of gold or of red, a lion still has claws And mine are long and sharp, my lord
as long and sharp as yours
Hotaru has a passive magic that makes her glow with an internal golden light; it makes her appear youthful and her hair seems to look like moving sunlight. Can only subtly illuminate dark spaces.
The Sword doubted Talyson would fall for that line of thinking – one of the courier’s nature would certainly be suspicious (and rightfully so) if Deimos or Hotaru were working together. The deception would have to be layered and lacquered in its appeal, and the curl of his smile drew slightly nefarious, as if the notions of plotting alone garnered his amusement. “That would present its own challenge,” which he rarely shied away from. Leaving that to flicker into the reels of acceptance, he tossed the stone back and forth, before placing it along a newly made pile.
Turning towards his bags, reaching out to pat the unicorn presiding over them, he opened the satchel to retrieve the scale, upon the Valkyrie’s agreement of power and might. A deeper rumble followed as he walked back to their current stature, allowing for some manner of explanation. “Yes. Intend to use the scale for some armor.” Considering, tilting his head, watching as the birds meandered in and out with the growing rock collection (his brow arching, and the sudden predacious urge to chase and fray was immediately dampened), he rolled his shoulders, presenting her with a unique twist. “Want to see if you can hit it mid-air?” Trusting her abilities and enchantments, and his own to snake it back before it crashed into the ground.
under the bludgeonings of chance my head is bloody, but unbowed
"We can always ambush him if he gets too squirrelly," she hums pleasantly, as if they're discussing what tea they'll be having that evening instead of the details of kidnapping Talyson to throw him into a mud bath. She'll have to butter him up sufficiently both before and after the event to ensure he wouldn't ride off into the farthest reaches of Halo to pout and brood where nobody could find him. Still, it would be worth it.
Deimos retrieves the scale more readily than she'd anticipated, but Hotaru is always ready to indulge in magical devastation, especially with her oldest and most favored element. "I haven't seen you in armor in years," she comments with a sigh of fond nostalgia. It makes her miss her own. There had been a power to sliding on those armaments, a security in knowing they were forged for her skin alone (sometimes, given her thievery), and that sense memory would never fade.
A predatory grin reveals the whites of her teeth all the way to the blunt fangs of her canines. "See if I can? So little faith in me, Deimos?" A hand comes to her chest as if he has wounded her, and the other rises to flick commandingly towards the sky. "Give it your best." As far or as high as he liked, she is confident she can strike it true, and the lightning already builds around and within her. Golden hair rising with static, dark clouds overhead growing only more so.
In a coat of gold or of red, a lion still has claws And mine are long and sharp, my lord
as long and sharp as yours
Hotaru has a passive magic that makes her glow with an internal golden light; it makes her appear youthful and her hair seems to look like moving sunlight. Can only subtly illuminate dark spaces.
Ambushing and mauling the courier wouldn’t be the challenge – it would be dealing with the impending cycle of moods and petulance thereafter. Deimos presumed he could always chuck the child into the mud and then leave, his work and assistance in the matter complete.
Shrugging his shoulders and not revealing any portion of the plan save for the dregs of his impish smile, his eyes turned towards the scale, and then back towards the Valkyrie, snorting at the implications. There’d been no reason for armor here, save for instances where he probably should’ve been protected, guarded, and then did nothing of the sort. “War,” for the reasons before, and presently, horizon’s bending their shadows into closer and closer inklings.
He managed a laugh at the retort, flashing his own feral grin in return. “I know you enjoy defiance,” and if his provocations were enough to segment the whirlwind of tempests into the…somewhat safe threshold of the world around them, then so be it. With a complimentary nod, he tossed the scale into the air, and then gripped upon it with the same incantations, causing it to flicker and dance about in the surroundings without a predictable course, intending to impart the sedition upon Ru and her lightning.
under the bludgeonings of chance my head is bloody, but unbowed
War indeed. “Well, I shan’t look a gift horse in the mouth. Whatever the reason, I’m glad you’ll have it.” Which is as close as she’ll get to saying I’m glad you’ll be safer. He can surely glean the lightly withheld whisps of her sisterly love and concern in their bond, should he go looking, but Ru doesn’t doubt that he already knows.
Just as he knows her. The declaration is right on the mark, and it inspires a laugh that’s bright and sharp. Eager for a challenge that she is certain he’ll provide. By the sway and jerk of the scale in the air, she is correct. Oh, but lightning is a many-fingered greedy thing, not unlike the woman that wields it, and overkill can negate nearly anything requiring finesse and accuracy. From all sides her lightning descends from the clouds, pinning the scale between striking bolts that arc at the twitch of her finger. It’s a cacophonous event, blinding to untrained eyes, but it’s a relatively quick affair as well. Turning her head in a graceful, easy loll towards Deimos, the Valkyrie simpers smugly. “Still got it,” she preens. “Will that be enough?” Or would it require a certain amount of charge so to speak?
In a coat of gold or of red, a lion still has claws And mine are long and sharp, my lord
as long and sharp as yours
Hotaru has a passive magic that makes her glow with an internal golden light; it makes her appear youthful and her hair seems to look like moving sunlight. Can only subtly illuminate dark spaces.
Those unsaid layers still immersed in the boundaries of bonds, and he gave a slight, lopsided grin at the gesture; because very rarely had he ever taken the means to protect himself. But there were days where he’d realized if he was marred and wounded, broken and lacerated, others would continually be at a higher risk, and maybe it was the only rationale he could barter with to ensure those sanctities and shelters. If only for a little while. The silence lingered in its stead, entangled with a piece and portion of gratitude.
He didn’t ask her about the war or where she’d be within it. Not yet.
Besides, there were multitudes of lightning and brambles of power to watch and tease, flickering the scale this way and that with the coming of tempests, and even with the challenge, the goading behind it, Deimos was content to watch Ru’s multitudes come to life. It descended in rapid pace, surrounding and conforming to the sliver of leviathan with ample prestige, prowess, and might, sizzling, sparking, until it was engulfed in mid-air, swallowed and consumed by pinnacles of light and danger. Adding nothing to it, he merely grinned as incantation after incantation wound its way through, and in the end, with everything had dispersed, the scale was no less tarnished.
“You do,” he uttered in agreement, hand lifting to snag at the future folds of armor as it meandered back to him. “Thank you. It should be.” His eyes went towards her makeshift rock pile, and the birds (presuming they hadn’t been scattered or hastened off in the light show) who’d brought forth others. “What about you?”
under the bludgeonings of chance my head is bloody, but unbowed
There is so much history, and so much future, and so little time for the two of them to share to bring either of those to light. But there is no need to mourn when the time they have is actively unspooling between them, when enchantments can herald delight and mischief, when spirits are high and the shadows on the horizon close but still at a distance.
She preens at his compliments, so rarely given - though never maliciously, they merely both favor teasing and juvenile taunts - but all the same capable of sustaining the grin on her lips. Glancing down at the pile of rocks gathered by the birds, she estimates visually what their efforts had garnered, and nods decisively. “This should work well. I don’t want to deal with carrying much more anyway.” Not without a way to transport it. And though Atlas’ loss twinges like a phantom limb, Ru doesn’t linger in those dark spaces. Instead, she turns to Deimos and grins impetuously. “Speaking of, care to help me with bagging these?” And whether he does or not, she is grateful for time shared, because it is time well-spent.
- FIN <3
In a coat of gold or of red, a lion still has claws And mine are long and sharp, my lord
as long and sharp as yours
Hotaru has a passive magic that makes her glow with an internal golden light; it makes her appear youthful and her hair seems to look like moving sunlight. Can only subtly illuminate dark spaces.
