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!
Where had Delphia been since the war? Everywhere and nowhere, traipsing between life and death at will. What had she been doing? Mourning. Mourning all the lost souls of the Ascended, so cruelly taken from Mort to corrupt the highest of all the gods. She had raged, she had cried, and now she felt lost. What was her purpose? Ludo did not need her to fulfill the tasks of soul finder and guide. There was no war of the divine to be caught in. She did have a quest from her father, but it all seemed so trivial now.
And so she made a move, carrying what little she could in a black backpack, Tishy kept safe in the hood of her sweater. She didn't really know how long it took, as time seemed to stand still in the realm of the spirits. But eventually she found herself in the center of the holiest of cities, most blessed by the gods (to her knowledge), Stormbreak. Delphia reentered Vi's realm, much to the surprise and terror of several onlookers, gazing around the bustling plaza. There were so many people, and it was so loud.
The lightning scar that covered one side of her neck and licked the edges of her jawline stretched as she tilted her head up to see better. Where did one even start in such a sprawling place?
DELPHIA
but she is magic
Code blatantly stolen from the fantastical, wonderful Odd
Anju does not often people watch, or even necessarily glance pryingly into the faces of passerby, given her rather introverted nature. Still, she is a Dragoon, and with that comes a certain level of inspection of those around her even when she is not on duty. Habit, mostly. It has aided her in stopping any manner of small crime both on and off the clock, though it has never amounted to anything particularly eventful.
Until today that is.
Delphia may not be recognizable to most at first glance, but Anju could never hope to forget the face of Mort's daughter, not after having awoken her from her half-life slumber in Ludo's Woods so long ago. Recognition lances through her like a spear through her stomach, and she finds herself hurrying towards the demigoddess before her mind can catch up with her feet - Riya uttering a startled noise from where she flies lazily overhead. "Delphia?" It shouldn't be a question, and Anju isn't sure why it comes out as one. Perhaps it's disbelief instead of uncertainty, because nobody had been able to tell Anju whether Delphia had survived the war. For two years she has simply wondered.
Reaching for Delphia's arm, she looks into the demigoddess' pale blue eyes and her smile goes tremulous, suddenly emotional. Finally, someone who lived. "I have missed you so. What are you doing in Stormbreak?" Because what else is there to ask?
Delphia glanced up when she heard her name, eyes scanning the crowd. When they landed upon Anju hurrying towards her, the corners of her eyes crinkled as if with smile. She could never forget the woman who had awoken her after all, chosen by her companion to do so. "Anju." she said with a certainty the other woman's voice lacked. Unlike the Dragoon, she did not worry about who had lived or died, knowing that all but the Ascended rested peacefully in her father's realm.
Her arm was grabbed and so she did the same, copying the gesture as if in greeting. Tishy for her part peeked up her head and meowed lazily, a catish greeting. "As I have missed you, my savior. But it seems that Vi's love has treated you well." she said. At the question she glanced away, eyes focusing on the large stone structures that made up the region. "The Greatwood is no longer the home I knew. So I have come to the most blessed city to reside." she explained.
DELPHIA
but she is magic
Code blatantly stolen from the fantastical, wonderful Odd
Delphia's characteristic certainty and bluntness has always appealed to Anju, who is much the same. To hear it exercised on the syllables of her own name wipes away any doubt or disbelief, and the sound of her voice - so familiar still even after all this time - makes the Captain smile uncharacteristically.
It's accompanied by a subtle darkening of her brown skin, rosy hues warming her visage at Delphia's poetic charm. Now that is something Anju does not have in common with her, though she envies it all the same. "You know I am more your father's follower than Vi's," she teases, or as close to teasing as Anju's subtleties usually involve. "But I have been well." Changed, of course, but war will always do that to people.
It makes her frown to hear that the Greatwood has changed enough for Delphia to leave, but selfishly Anju is grateful that the demigoddess had chosen Stormbreak as her new home. "Truly? Where do you live? I'd like to visit you if you'll have me." From above Riya descends, having finally caught up with her bonded and landing heavily at her feet, preening up at Tish and Delphia alike as her entire body shakes and wriggles with excitement, fantail slapping against Anju's leg.
"Perhaps." she said to Anju's words. "But for now you reside on Vi's plane, in the flesh and bone of Rae. It is to them I must be thankful for your presence." she said with a hint of a smile. Often she had to remind her father's followers how inextricably linked Vi, Rae, and Mort were. To follow one was to follow them all, and to do that was to be on the great path Caido had realized upon the world.
Where Dygra fit in she did not yet know. But she understood the goddess to be a balancing point to Caido and that was enough for her.
As to where she lived? Delphia looked around aimlessly, then shrugged. "I do not yet know. I supposed I would find a little nook of trees or grasses to settle in. But it seems everything here is stone. So I assume a street corner will suffice." she said, then laughed a little in amusement. "So you are visiting me in my home, as it is currently wherever I happen to be." she said. Then her gaze turned to Riya and she held her hand out to the dragonling as Tishy mewed her own greeting.
DELPHIA
but she is magic
Code blatantly stolen from the fantastical, wonderful Odd
If anyone understands the way the gods exist in cohesive harmony - heralds aside at times - it is Anju, but Delphia is somehow even more literal than Anju herself, which often leads to amusing dovetailing conversation the likes of which she currently finds herself in. "Even I am not so somber as to say that aging is merely slow dying, but that would be my only rebuttal." Vi and Rae may yet have been the constructs behind her life, but Anju is more of the mind that once a human is made and they are granted free will, the rest is up to them.
Anju has never turned her nose up at sleeping roughly or even embracing the wilder sides of homekeeping that the Greatwood often favored, but in this moment she merely stares silent and dumbstruck at Delphia's easily spoken plan.
"No," she bluntly dismisses, dark hair shimmering as she shakes her head abruptly, arm cutting to the side as if severing a string. "Absolutely not. I will not abide you sleeping on the street Delphia, no matter how little mortal comforts you need." Even Anju can admit that some desires - even when not necessities - were still in many ways too much of a boon to the heart and mind to discard so readily. "I have a spare bedroom. Please, take it. Make my home your own." Riya bumps her head against Delphia's offered hand, hum-growling in her throat in clear agreement as Anju offers her own in a symbolic gesture - or perhaps simply one to ensnare, so she might grab Delphia and run off with her to the district she lives in before the demigoddess can refuse.
