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!
Though Flora wasn't quite convinced she believed anything about Amanda's apology, it would not only be rude to argue with her but it would also prolong this interaction. Peering in the box, Flora's eyes alight on a gold and blue feather that actually looked really beautiful. Still wary, she glanced over the rim of the box towards Amanda before back down. "You aren't going to, like, snap this closed on my fingers, are you?" Hoping that wouldn't be the case, Flora reached in and then snapped her hand back as quick as she could to try and avoid any sort of trap if indeed there was one.
"My Dad has this thing with feathers, so...I guess that's where it comes from." She explains with a casual shrug; there was no quick way of saying I have daddy issues so I turned an aspect of my father into a weapon, especially to someone you didn't really know that well.
We need love, But all we want is danger We team up, Then switch sides like a record changer
09-19-2022, 07:07 PM (This post was last modified: 09-19-2022, 07:08 PM by Amanda.)
Amanda rolled her eyes. "No, I'm not going to trick you. I'm done being a bitch." She let Flora help herself, then brought the box back over and tucked it away in her backpack once more. As she was tying the backpack shut she said, "I know I can be a pain in the ass. Sometimes I don't mean to be. You just get used to people treating you like trash, so it becomes a bad habit to treat everyone harshly, and sometimes you forget that not everyone deserves it."
Keeping her eyes averted, her face turning a light shade of pink as she admitted her own faults, she added, "If you want, I can actually help you with your aim for real. Your main problem is you're thinking too much about it. If you were in a real fight and had to defend yourself, you don't have time to stand there and carefully line up your shot. You have to make it a reflex. Here, I'll show you."
She reached for her belt knife, before remembering it was back home, and it wasn't a knife anymore. Instead, she reached down and grabbed a rock off the ground. "Don't think. Thinking makes you hesitate. Just react. Do it enough times and your muscles will remember how."
She stepped back to ten feet from the target and threw her arm out to the side before she had even planted her feet. As the rock hurled forth, she cheated a bit channeled her telekinesis to help aid the throw. She couldn't reach all the way to the target from here, but she could channel a flow of force aimed right at the target, so that by the time the rock was outside of her telekinetic range, the magic had already straightened its aim. The rock struck the target, though a bit to the right of center. Her aim was far from perfect, but with a little magical aid, she could hit a broad target often enough.
Quick to anger but quick to get over things as well, it took only a moment or so for Flora to let the final dregs of her annoyance and upset drip away. The gift of a feather had made this decidedly easier as well.
Twirling the plumage between her fingers, Flora shrugs her shoulders in a gesture that's meant to be understanding. "No, I get it, or...well. People always pre-judge me because of who my family is, which..I don't know, feels like it might be similar." Again she shrugs, her cheeks still flushed. 'I'm sorry people treat you like trash, though.' Flora adds, offering the other woman an earnest if not slightly apprehensive smile.
Raising an eyebrow at Amanda's offer, Flora watched as she picked up a rock and smoothly tossed it towards the target where it struck nearly dead center. "Yeah. I'm trying to get the hang of it. Maybe I should just have Frey make it so they always hit their targets." She jokes, though in reality, was that such a bad idea? Trying to mimic Amanda's ease and speed and succeeding in neither, Flora clunkily threw out one of her feathers towards the target.
We need love, But all we want is danger We team up, Then switch sides like a record changer
"Well I don't know who your family is," Amanda said, picking up another rock. "And I don't care. I judge people based on their actions. And today we both almost killed each other with cool magic feather knives. So based on that, I judge you pretty cool."
She tossed a few more rocks, missing some, hitting others, though with the aid of her telekinesis to stabilize the throw she hit plenty more than she would have on her own.
Her ears perked up when she heard mention of Frey's name. "The sex god gave you those? Hmm. They gave me a dildo."
This was the second person she'd met who'd mentioned receiving gifts from Frey. At least the feathers seemed cooler than a penis-growing plant.
She thought it over for a second, tossing a rock up and down in the palm of her hand. "So, like, you met Frey? Cause I'd like to...ahh, have a conversation with them."
For a moment Flora looked as though she was going to be offended by Amanda's ignorance, but instead she just tipped her head back and laughed. "Good, because honestly? They're like..nothing special. Or at least my dad isn't." Her twin was pretty great and even her half-brother wasn't so bad. "True. I don't know how many people would offer to help after almost being killed, even if it was an accident." Flora agrees with a wide smile.
"Mmm, well it was the nature-part of Frey I want to see for these." Flora explains, twirling a feather around her finger. "Everyone makes a big deal out of the sex-version too, but I think they just don't understand them. Everyone wants to go to them for help with stuff they don't care about, and then get upset when Frey tells them to leave."
Recalling the two feathers she'd thrown, Flora, whose arm was hurting from the effort, pocketed her weapons. "If you go, make sure you bring an offering. Bad things happen if you don't, but make sure it makes sense based on which Frey you're going to see."
We need love, But all we want is danger We team up, Then switch sides like a record changer
Amanda scratched her head. This whole "offerings to the gods" thing still confused her. She'd always chalked it off to blind superstition and fools who thought a bribe would make the gods give enough fucks help them with their meager lives. She knew the gods didn't care one bit about her or her kind, so she never bothered making offerings.
But if that was how you bribed a god into showing up...
"I guess I'll give it a try," she said, throwing another rock. It flew wide of the target. She held her hand out and another nearby rock flew up into her grasp. She gave this one a good, hard throw, putting her body into it and giving an extra thrust of telekinetic energy to increase the power of the throw. It missed the target and dug into the tree, embedding itself in the bark.
"Sounds like Frey's kind of a bitch, though. Bad things will happen if you forget to bring a bribe? Doesn't sound so good to me. And people say the gods are generous..."
"Sex Frey likes nudity and like..suggestive things. Nature Frey obviously likes nature-y things. Ludo likes games, and Safrin always says she doesn't want offerings, but she absolutely does." Flora elaborates. With her family's extensive history with the various gods, Flora knew better than most what to do or not to do.
'If you want I can go with you. You might have better luck that way.' She offers. "Though..if it's sex Frey...you might wanna go alone." Blushing openly now, Flora clears her throat and looks a touch awkwardly out to the distance until the thud of Amanda's rock into the tree brings her focus back. "I think it's more...a give and take kind of thing. If you're going to bother them for something, why wouldn't you bring something for them?" Again Flora shrugs. "I don't know that any of them are generous so much as...I mean, nothing is ever free, right? Even if it doesn't come with an immediate price."
We need love, But all we want is danger We team up, Then switch sides like a record changer
Amanda snorted. The gods were starting to sounds more like business folk than deities. That, she could understand. It wasn't making an offering. It was making a trade.
And if you could trade with a god, you could negotiate with them.
"I wouldn't mind you coming along," Amanda said, winking at Flora. Her eyes quickly roamed over the girl's figure. Yeah, she wouldn't mind at all. "After all, you're the one who knows them. Maybe you can give me some suggestions on what kind of...'offerings' they might like. I mean, if Frey likes nudity, maybe we can just flash our tits at the shrine and they'll show up? Or I know a guy in town who makes some very erotic drawings and sculptures..."
Not normally one to mind the gaze of another (Flora did work rather hard on her figure and wasn't ashamed at all of what others thought of as being shallow), Amanda's stare has her flushing anew. "Yeah, uhm, no problem at all." Mention of toplessness has her giggling nervously as her blush grows more coral and pronounced.
"Yeah, Frey would absolutely like that. They're uhm..the reason I was born, actually. My dad went to the shrine for something, and my mom was coming by to see Frey too. She asked if he could stay, and when Frey appeared...they basically said they'd do what my mom wanted if she and my dad could both make each other orgasm faster than Frey could finish, and.." Smoothing down a portion of her dress, Flora shrugs. "Well, it's easier to both finish during sex, so...they did. Oh! I should say, my dad was married at the time. Still is, actually, so the whole thing was sort of a deal, but.."
We need love, But all we want is danger We team up, Then switch sides like a record changer
Amanda blinked a few times at the story of Flora's conception. "Well," she said, "that's, err, quite a tale. Which your parents must have told you, I suppose."
Her parents had certainly never told her anything about the actual day of conception. Not that Dad had been around anyway, but still, it sounded like a hell of an awkward dinner conversation. Mom, where do babies come from? Well dear, your father and I made a bet with a sex god to see who could cum fastest...
She chuckled, shaking her head. "You're not at all subtle, girlie. I like that. Tell it like it is, right?" She nodded. "Well, you're the expert and all. So, it's a date then. We'll go to the shrine together and...see where the evening takes us..." She looked into Flora's eyes, a mischievous smirk on her face.
"Yeah...it wasn't the sort of thing they could really keep from us...mostly because my twin and I had to live with our grandma, because my dad's husband hated us and threatened to kill our mom when he saw her. At least at the beginning." Flora shrugs. It was all water under the bridge now. Or was it? She didn't actually know. Maybe she should phone Ronin and see if there was still salt to rub in that particular wound.
Huffing out a laugh, Flora shrugs her shoulders and finds it a touch harder than she might have otherwise expected to meet Amanda's gaze. "Yeah well, no point in beating around the bush, huh? The shrine to Frey is where we first met, on the Rainbow Road. You just let me know when and I"ll be there." Gods, that meant she needed to go shopping; she couldn't just show up to a shrine with an abandoned and not look her absolute best.
We need love, But all we want is danger We team up, Then switch sides like a record changer
Amanda tried her best to follow the abridged version of the family drama history, but she ended up a bit lost. It sounded like there was one hell of a story there.
"Sounds like a plan," she said. She gave Flora the time to be there so that they could meet up for their "date." She had no idea if Frey would actually show up, but hey, it was worth a shot.
Now she just needed to make sure she was prepared for the god's arrival.
"I'm looking forward to it," Amanda said. She took Flora's hand in hers, leaning over it to leave a gentle kiss on the back of her fingers. "I'll see you then."
She turned away before the other girl could react, walking off in the direction of Torchline. There was a bit of sway in her step as she left, her shoulders straight and her head held high. She hadn't expected to almost get killed and then end up arranging a date with a cute girl and a god, but it had been a surprising day, to say the least.
And she was sure the next time they got together, there would be even more surprises.
