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!
07-24-2023, 02:06 AM (This post was last modified: 07-25-2023, 08:45 PM by Talyson.)
So those cloud spiders that were going everywhere and getting into everything and leaving their Frey-damned webs all over other people's stuff? Yeah. Fuck those guys.
This was the refrain going through Tal's head as he stood in chest-deep water next to the dock in the Hollowed Grounds; a place he'd never expected to be and really didn't want to be. But after his and Sohalia's little adventure in Hak Etme the Peregrine had gotten coated in fucking cloud spider webs and he'd barely limped her to port at Jack Tar Landing for cleaning.
And the damned webs were both tough and persistent enough that he'd needed to bring the skyship down into the salt water to soak the hull and soften the silky shit that stuck to it, weakening them enough that he could scrape them off the hull, like sky-barnacles.
He was grumbling a steady stream of curses under his breath as he worked the scraper over a particularly large splotch of webbing, trying not to let the waves from other ships knock him over. His vest was the opposite of buoyant, but it was light and comfortable enough that he hadn't thought twice about wearing it into the water and the magical black rock of it glittered from the sunlight that filtered through the surface of the bay.
07-25-2023, 03:18 PM (This post was last modified: 07-25-2023, 07:28 PM by Kaiden.)
kaiden
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Kaiden had gotten tired of all of the people, all of the noise. Returning to the open ocean for a few months had been an excellent choice. Slowly meandering the waterways they'd eventually drifted into the Hollowed Grounds. As the tiger shark swam lazily, something caught the corner of their eye. Something shiny.
With a twist of their tail, they doubled back. Yes. Something very shiny. Now Kaiden was never one to boast an impressive impulse control. In fact, they hardly had one. And shiny things were worth biting. Even if they were attached to someone. Or was that the tiger shark impulse?
Oh well. Kaiden didn't care. And it couldn't stop them. They rushed forward and latched onto the vest with sharp teeth and empty thoughts. Ooo yes. This was fun to bite.
Scraping away at the webbing took some fucking elbow grease and Tal was thoroughly distracted by the task. Sure, he knew about the allogators in the swampy coasts around the Hollowed Grounds, but there was no way they'd be hanging out the busy docks, right? With ships coming in and out of the Landing he figured most wild animals would steer clear and the water was safe enough.
Oh boy, was he wrong about that.
"Fuckin' hail!" The courier yowled as pressure suddenly compressed against his chest and side, jerking him away from the side of the boat. He grabbed for the gunwale with one hand, gripping the wood white-knuckled to avoid getting pulled away from the shallows. In his panic he dropped the scraper with his other and balled his hand into a fist, flailing a punch down at whatever had hold of him. "Leggo!"
07-25-2023, 07:26 PM (This post was last modified: 07-25-2023, 07:28 PM by Kaiden.)
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Kaiden thrashed their tail with annoyance at the unwelcome punch, giving the vest another chomp in retaliation. This rude person didn't deserve such a shiny. Mind made up, the shark began to tug at the man, determined to take the vest for themselves. Could they even wear a vest? Probably not without shifting. But that was too much work.
Eh, they'd figure out what to do with it later. As soon as this entitled fool gave up and let Kaiden claim their prize. The tiger shark twisted, trying to throw the man off balance. They would win. This man didn't stand a chance.
Luckily the vest protected Tal from any piercing damage from the teeth of what had him, so while the biting was annoying it wasn't truly painful. Still, he grunted as the jaws closed down again and compressed his ribs uncomfortably.
Between hanging onto his ship and the lack of leverage in the water whatever beastie had hold of him was able to keep him off balance enough that his attempts at attack didn't have much power behind them. It also prevented him from fully seeing what was biting him as the water chopped and frothed with their struggles. "Go on, geddoff y'gods-damned fucker!" He kicked out as he was pulled off his feet and found himself more or less floating, though the hand on the gunwale was gripping it strongly enough that the wood would likely break before he let go. Saltwater filled his eyes from the spray of the struggle as a draconic speck high over head turned and started a downwards dive.
Tal's kicking had the unintended effect of stomping onto one of Kaiden's fins. The pain caught the tiger shark off guard, and they let go. Ignoring the unknown, incoming, speck in the sky, they backed off from the courier.
Swimming a small distance away, the turned around and surged back, hoping to catch him off guard and bite down once more onto the vest. A repeat ambush might not succeed but at least their fins would get a break. Maybe the rude person would fall into a sense of false security and Kaiden could finally get the shiny vest? Damn it to hell, that shiny would be theirs.
For a moment Tal didn't even realize that he'd been released. The easing of pressure felt so good it was practically an endorphin rush and he drew in a full, deep breath and exhaled before realizing that he was free--
And Boreal was still arrowing down in an intended strafing run. "I'm fine! I'm fine!" he yelped, scrambling to get his feet back on the sandy seabed beneath him so he could wave the dragon off before she blasted him with dragonfire. The concerned companion swallowed back her fire and pulled up into a heavy landing on the roof of the Peregrine's deck cabin, burping a large cloud of smoke out as her expression turned peculiar.
Tal breathed a sigh of relief and glanced around to make sure the other danger was gone when he spied the fin a mere handful of feet away. He had just enough time to grab the gunwale again before the shark - shark?!?!?! - grabbed him again. It was lucky (he thought) that it kept biting his Vest instead of an arm or a leg since it left one arm free to retaliate.
"The fuck is wrong with you? Stupid shark!" Remembering something someone had once said in Torchline, Tal tried to brace himself as best he could and thump the offending fish on the top of its (tender?) nose.
If Kaiden had been in their mer form, they would have cursed and maybe even whimpered at the forceful punch to their nose. Gods, it probably would have broken their nose. As it was, it dislodged their teeth and sent them backwards. Angry and hurt, the mer tried one last time to claim the vest.
Trying to be strategic, Kaiden attempted to leap up and grab the top of the vest to pull it over the mean man's head. The mer wasn't trying to kill him, even if the rude bitch deserved it. Who punches an innocent shark? Evil people who didn't deserve shinies, that's who.
This shark was persistent and Tal had a sudden, horrible thought: had Ludo woven sharkbait into his Rockhide Vest?? It was enough to make him break out in a cold sweat, but the rough nose the side of his fist found flinched back and wiggled away and the courier breathed a sigh of relief.
Yeah, he wasn't sticking around for this!
Boreal watched from her perch with interest as the shark backed up and then made another dash towards her human, this time with a leap. Her rumbled warning was enough for Tal to get his free hand on the gunwale and pull, lifting himself out of the water and tumbling to the deck of the Peregrine as the shark flashed by. There was a tearing sensation right around his knee and he bit back another yelp as he twisted around to check the wound--
Twas but a scratch, as it turned out, but the shark had torn off the bottom of one of his pant's legs. Tal scrambled back to the rail and leaned over, glaring down into the water. "An' stay fucked off!" he yelled after the dark shape below.
Grumbling grumpily, he shook out his hair and got back to scraping webbing off his ship.
Kaiden was furious as the man escaped with their shiny. Swimming back and forth across the shore, they flicked their tail and splashed the man with water. How dare he! The audacity! It was like that bullshit with the Darkeye man all over again!
Having gotten the last word splash, the mer did one last loop before turning and swimming away. They'd find a shiny somewhere else. Somewhere were there weren't rude, entitled men who had shinies that they didn't deserve. Maybe Kaiden should get a flying companion to help them steal collect these kinds of things? It was worth looking into.
