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!
Draw the cat eye sharp enough to kill a man You did some bad things, but I'm the worst of them
Noe was making a lantern again, but this time, it was for light rather than remembrance.
The difference was relatively nonexistent, truth be told, at least in terms of construction. The lantern still sat in a wrought iron frame, glass protecting the wick where, eventually, a fragile flame would blossom. That didn't mean that there were no differences, of course: with this lantern, thoughts of Noe's mother weren't at the forefront of her mind, and she could focus on the simple artistry of the design for beauty's sake rather than for the sake of making her mother proud. Thias was not a lantern to impress a deity; this was a lantern to light the darkness of Longnight.
The young woman sat at home, on her porch, on an uncharacteristically warm day in early Deepfrost. Though she still wore a heavy sweater and long, warm pants, she was fairly comfortable on the porch, and it had better light for her lantern-making than the kitchen table. More space, too - things had gotten a little cramped in her impromptu indoor working space. All in all, Noe was content. Oh, sure, she worried about this and that: about her father's heath, about her brother's well-being, about her own progress in becoming an engineer and making her mark on the world; but today, those worries felt distant, and for that, Noe could only be grateful.
Sometimes I wonder which one will be your last lie They say looks can kill and I might try
Soleil is visiting friends with the change of the seasons - even if they don't exactly know they're going to be visited yet. That was simply part of the charm!
Noe is first on her list given the young woman is quickly becoming one of her closest friends. Soleil also suspects she'll be far more available than Sohalia, given her Heart duties. Already knowing the location of the Carpenter home, Soleil invites herself confidently down the front walkway - only to brighten immediately upon seeing the exact person she is looking for sat outside on the porch.
"Noe!" she trills from afar, lifting her hand in a jaunty wave as she sets off at a long-legged jog, grinning ear-to-ear. Prancing onto the porch with more skip than step, Soleil pokes her nose right into the young woman's newest creation, hands braced on the edge of the chair she's inhabiting and leaning in to investigate. "Whatcha makin'?"
Lavender forever, kiss it till it's better Honey sticky fingers for life
Draw the cat eye sharp enough to kill a man You did some bad things, but I'm the worst of them
"Sol!" Noe cried happily, dropping her tools and clapping her hands together excitedly. Before she could rise to greet Soleil, however, the other girl had already skipped onto the porch and leaned over her work. While Noe might have been annoyed had it been anyone else, Soleil had quickly become one of her dearest friends, and so she put up with a great deal more from the other young woman than she might anyone else.
Reaching up to loop an affectionate arm around her friend, Noe gave her a quick squeeze before turning her attention back to the lantern. "Oh, this? Our old lantern went out, so I'm making a new one for Longnight," she explained, pointing to a nearby sketch of what the finished lantern would look like. "I've got an extra, if you want to join me?" Truth be told, she had the extra in case she messed the first one up, but that hardly seemed to matter now. Pulling out the blank lantern and placing it nearby, she turned her attention brightly back to her friend. "Gods, it feels like it's been forever," she complained. "Tell me what you've been up to! Where have you been?"
Sometimes I wonder which one will be your last lie They say looks can kill and I might try
Leaning eagerly into the arm that loops around her neck, Soleil summarily ends up squishing them together as she half-falls into Noe's side, a physical being with little reservation or respect for personal space. Looking down at the lantern, Soleil snorts a laugh, sass broiling in her throat. "Great timing, huh? At least it had the decency to go out before LongNight." Sol suspects that Stormbreak is likely one of the best places to be during LongNight, with all its street lanterns and shop lights. The wonders of human advancements.
Plopping down into the other chair on the porch - though she pulls it obnoxiously close so that her knees bump companionably with Noe's - Soleil regards the other lantern curiously. Far from an engineer, it would be interesting to see if this turned out positively at all. Or even functional.
Mostly just mimicking what Noe is doing while she starts, Soleil brightens at the other young woman's dramatics. "I know! You have to get out of Stormbreak more, I swear!" She knows the young Carpenter sometimes visits Torchline, but that's not where Soleil is. It warms her to know that Noe is aware enough of her current goals to assume she has been focusing on adventuring, asking where she has been as well as what she has been up to. "I went to the Greatwood most recently and helped chase off a huge group of will-o-wisps! Ran across a cute boy too," she grins and winks. They don't talk much of romance, but Soleil has no reservations about...well, anything really. So any conversational topic is pretty much on the table. "Mostly I've just been in Torchline since it's already snowy in Halo, and all the snow everywhere else isn't exactly new or exciting when I can just find it at home." Maybe when the season changes again she'll do more investigation of the Grounds and the Wilds, but for now she's content to simply see more and more of the three regions she already has under her belt. "What about you? Anything fun?"
Lavender forever, kiss it till it's better Honey sticky fingers for life
Draw the cat eye sharp enough to kill a man You did some bad things, but I'm the worst of them
Fortunately, Noe had never been bothered by personal space; she leaned into her friend affectionately, half-supporting Soleil as the other girl nearly fell into her. "I know, right?" she said of the lantern, laughing. "But, honestly, the sheer audacity of it to go out this time of year." She shook her head, sighing dramatically. "But this one will be better, anyway. So there."
She really should get out of Stormbreak more, she thought with a mental sigh. It was so boring here these days. Her friends seemed to always be on adventures, Koa was spending time in Torchline, and she was just... existing. Ugh. "Maybe I'll come adventuring with you," she teased. "Oooo, we should go to the Hollowed Grounds. I know it's got such a bad rap, but like, how bad can it be?" Besides, maybe it would be something new they could do together, somewhere neither of them had been. That would be fun!
But mentions of romance? Count Noe in. "A cute boy?! Tell me more!" she squealed, eager to hear the latest gossip from her bestie. Of course, hearing about the Greatwood was interesting, too, and a horde of will-o-wisps? She wished she'd been there to see it.
As for Noe... "Ugh, nothing," she said, rolling her eyes. "It's been so boring here with everyone off adventuring. I've been doing my engineering classes, and there've been a few good parties, but, like, now that it's Deepfrost, everyone's kind of just... chilling, you know?" LOL, pun intended. "It feels like everyone has something to do but me."
Sometimes I wonder which one will be your last lie They say looks can kill and I might try
Always happy to encourage the people around her, Soleil jumps on the opportunity to let Noe show off her engineering training. “Is there even a way to service them regularly ahead of time?” It doesn’t seem particularly technologically advanced to Soleil, but that doesn’t mean much coming from her.
“You could also join the Guild!” That way she’d be sure to see her friend more frequently instead of having to show up on her doorstep. When is she going to graduate? Gods, is this how Sol’s friends felt when they aged and she didn’t? Soleil just wants Noe to be free already from the drudgery of school. “Well I guess we can find out together, right?” Mischief glints in her amber eyes as she knocks her ankle against Noe’s, already shifting her plans to move up her timeline for exploring the Grounds. “Then you won’t be so bored either!”
But boy talk is just as fun, and Soleil fiddles with the lantern she was given to busy her hands as she shares. “He’s my guild leader actually. Around our age, an Ancient. His name’s Edmund - but he’s easy to fluster, since he’s so proper.” Her soft laugh is well-meaning, aware few people are as self-assured and exploratory as herself. “My dad’s friend is cute too, but he’s a few years older than me and more grumbly when he gets embarrassed.” Unlike most, Soleil has never been on the bad end of Talyson’s anger, so she has never thought to find it anything but adorable. Flopping further into her chair dramatically, she groans, curls bobbing around her face. “I aged up because there were so many people my age I wanted to catch up to, and now I swear they all disappeared.” Taking her youthful dating plans with them.
Lavender forever, kiss it till it's better Honey sticky fingers for life
Draw the cat eye sharp enough to kill a man You did some bad things, but I'm the worst of them
Noe waved a hand impatiently. "Sure, they should be checked every so often - the easiest thing is to just do a quick once-over whenever you fill up the oil," she explained. "I think Dad forgot to fill up the oil - see, the wick doesn't burn so long as there's oil in the lamp to fuel it, but if you don't fill it up, the wick'll burn out." She shrugged. "I guess I could just replace the wick, but where's the fun in that? This one will be prettier." If Dad was going to forget, though, maybe she should find a magic lantern that wouldn't need oil to stay lit. It was getting harder and harder for him to move around, anyway, she thought with a mental sigh. She added an oil-less lantern to the never-ending list of things to look into in her free time.
But it was hard to stay down when Sol was there, and Noe perked up considerably at the mention of a guild. "Oooooh," she squealed. Gods, anything to get her out of Stormbreak. And if it meant spending more time with Sol? "Cute people and adventuring? Sign me up!" She didn't have that much school left, after all - and she was mostly working on an independent study, anyway. What if she made her final project to explore the technology of the various regions? That idea held some promise.
As the talk turned to boys, Noe listened intently. "Sounds like fun," she said wickedly, eyes dancing mischievously. But then Sol groaned, and Noe reached out to pat her knee. "There, there," she said. "There have to be some eligible people around our age out there. We just have to find them."
Sometimes I wonder which one will be your last lie They say looks can kill and I might try
As planned, Noe takes the proverbial bait and goes running with it, sharing her enviable knowledge freely while Soleil simply basks in having given the young woman a stage to stand on from which she could showcase her brilliance. "Out with the old and in with the new!" she croons in agreement as if she is half as invested in the intricacies of the lanterns sitting in their possession as the young Carpenter. At least Noe's explanation had made it easier for Soleil to copy her adjustments, already better understanding the mechanics of the lantern because of it.
"I can tell Edmund you're interested! Or I can introduce you to him - I think we're going on a scouting party soon?" Speaking of, she'll need to check in on that herself, lest she accidentally miss it and paint herself as a flaky guild member. It's a more enticing thought than moping at least. Not that Noe lets her do that for long.
Still, Soleil doesn't let the topic drop without a dramatic groan. "I guess you're right. All the more reason to adventure, hm?" Ah, and there it is. The return of the mischievous sparkle to Soleil's amber eyes, the quirk of her lips as she nudges her foot against Noe's.
Lavender forever, kiss it till it's better Honey sticky fingers for life
Draw the cat eye sharp enough to kill a man You did some bad things, but I'm the worst of them
Sol seemed interested in the lanterns, which was just as well, because Noe could ramble about the mechanics of various things for hours. As it was, though, her attention was diverted to talk of adventure and cute boys (and girls?). She was nearly done with her lantern anyway, and she began to put the finishing touches on it as she continued to talk. "Definitely!" she gushed. "I mean, fuck it, I need something to do, and I've never really been out of Stormbreak. Adventuring sounds perfect! Just let me know where and when, and I'll be there with bells on."
If a nagging voice in the back of her mind told her she was running away from her responsibilities at home, she ignored it. She was not her father's or her brother's keeper; she'd have to let go of the burden that her mother's death had placed upon her shoulders as the glue that kept the Carpenters together at some point. And if her father needed her help? If her brother wanted her company? Well, that was just too bad for them.
Or that's what she'd tell herself, anyway.
Sometimes I wonder which one will be your last lie They say looks can kill and I might try
Soleil wrinkles her nose immediately at the notion of never leaving Stormbreak. "I get it, my dad wanted me to stay in Halo forever it seemed like. He's been great about letting me adventure now that I'm older, but how are we supposed to be worldly and wise if we never leave?" The only way to keep themselves safe - aside from being locked inside - was to get enough experience to know when to trust their guts, when to run, when to fight.
Sensing that Noe is getting deeper into her head about something, Soleil bumps their ankles together again, her impassioned expression melting into something warm and understanding. She can't read her thoughts, but she can sense the topic has caused hesitation for one reason or another. Soleil won't pry, but she'll happily change the vibe.
"Right after the sun returns, okay? I'll come to you and we'll take the first skyboat to the Grounds. Deal?" And, though they're getting a little old for it, Soleil extends her pinky finger instead of her hand to shake.
Lavender forever, kiss it till it's better Honey sticky fingers for life
Draw the cat eye sharp enough to kill a man You did some bad things, but I'm the worst of them
For the briefest moment, Noe toyed with her lantern, carefully putting the pieces back together as her mind wandered down unwelcome paths. If she was going to leave, there was plenty to do before spring. She'd have to make sure that their father was squared away, and Koa would probably want a down-to-the-minute itinerary of her trip. There were endless things to gather and plans to make...
It was a wonderful thing, to have a friend so near and dear to the heart that they could tell what she was thinking without her even saying a word. As Sol's ankles bumped into hers, Noe glanced up from her lantern, the furrow in her brow disappearing. "Deal," she promised, and reached out with her pinky to grasp Sol in a pinky promise. Maybe they were a little too old for it, but that hardly seemed to matter. For right now, in this moment, it could just be she and Sol against the world. And that was just the way she liked it.
---
Fin <3
Sometimes I wonder which one will be your last lie They say looks can kill and I might try
