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!
12-13-2023, 10:22 PM (This post was last modified: 12-17-2023, 06:38 AM by Hotaru.)
Set your faith in my hands - close your eyes, let go, you'll see
It is bittersweet to organize what will be her last academy training as Headmistress. Though she had hoped to host it in the Academy itself, there was no waterway for Hadama to port into there, so instead she stands on the icy edge of the Sea of Glass and comforts herself with the knowledge that she can say personal goodbyes before handing over the keys to Evie.
By time the first two lucky students arrive, Hotaru has crossed over to a separate ice floe, separating herself from the shore with a few feet of water. Greeting her students with a smile, the Valkyrie extends her arms to the scattered ice around them. “Our training today will be lighthearted. Think of it as a snowball fight with no teams.” The intensity is befitting their underdeveloped magic, and the levity a companion to her own bittersweet heart.
“As always, focus on utilizing the magic you intend to strengthen, though you can pair attacks with other abilities.” A blonde brow rises, making it clear she wants to see creativity in those combinations, and little reliance on alternative skills.
“There is no score to be kept. You will be graded on creativity and stamina.” Glancing between her two students, she smiles, mischief curling in the corners. “Begin!” And her own magic pushes at the water around her ice floe, disturbing the others around it in small, rocking motions that are strengthened by the paired gust of wind that races alongside it to strengthen the buck and sway of the ice.
- - -
Welcome to the Flowerbirth 317 Magic Training! You must claim your spot with a post to participate in this training, there are no holds, and the PQ will move on as soon as spots are filled. This training will be for turning Basic magic to Upgraded magic.
Please list what magic you are upgrading in your posts. For this PQ, weapons and companions are not permitted. Remember this training is for the magic you are choosing to upgrade and should heavily involve it.
You can have your character arrive and begin immediately!
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.
Hadama had aquaported into the cold waters of the Sea early, wanting to spend time congratulating Evie on her wedding before their training began in earnest. There were farewells to say to the Academy's current headmistress as well, both teacher and friend - though of course, she would remain both even without the title.
But there would be time afterwards, as well, and soon enough the Valkyrie began the proceedings. The mermanta listened intently, quietly pleased at the choice of something a little less fraught than some of their previous trainings. His experience with snow had increased greatly in the seasons that he had visited Evie and Noah in Svaturis Bay, and he nodded with serene confidence at Hotaru's directions.
"I will be working on my Air magic today," he rumbled, letting Hotaru's waves push him backwards. He considered both of the women on their ice floes before emerald eyes landed with mischief on Evie.
He ducked beneath the water, swimming beneath her ice flow before popping up on the other side. Since it was his Air Manipulation that he was focusing his attention on, Hadama attempted to sweep up a little of the snow at Evie's feet with a sprightly breeze and swirl it up into her eyes so she wouldn't be able to see to aim her own magic.
Hadama is upgrading his Air Manipulation!
He tries to use a light breeze to blow snow into Evie's eyes.
I count your heartbeats before you sleep I bite my fingernails to bone
There is a different energy in the air today - not counting the general bittersweet, lighthearted undertones - because Evie knows that today is her last chance to take notes on leading these trainings before she takes on the mantle of Headmistress. It’s daunting, and her smile is a little far-away with concentration because of it as she stands on her own ice floe, trying not to shift her feet too much and risk losing her balance.
Hadama’s presence is a balm to her nerves, making her smile. She hasn’t seen him since the morning of her wedding given she has only just returned from her honeymoon, and it’s good to reunite even if they don’t have a moment to converse.
Spluttering when snow blows up in her face, Evie just barely manages not to give into the desire for revenge, and instead uses her own air magic to try and tousle up Hotaru’s hair to blind her with her own golden strands.
- - -
Evie is upgrading her Air Manipulation!
She uses her magic to try and blow Hotaru’s hair around to blind her.
And now I crawl back under the stairwell To a place I call my home
Set your faith in my hands - close your eyes, let go, you'll see
Their magic is well-suited to the environment, which means training will be much easier and the effects more entertaining. Hadama's magic works with the ocean breeze to blind Evie, upsetting her aim and only causing a faint breeze to catch the side of Hotaru's cheek from the Warden's attack - while Hotaru's water works with the tide to upset the ice floes, also ruining the Evergreen's balance which she scantly regains.
Giving Evie a moment to breathe after the incidental tag-team, Hotaru uses her magic to swell water up and over Hadama, drizzling it down over him in annoying streams that will hopefully blind him in the same way. If not, well, there's a little surprise static hiding within to zap and sting at his skin.
- - -
Great rolls for Ru and Dama, bad luck Evie! Hotaru uses her water and lightning magic on Hadama and does not set up any defensive countermeasures.
Round two!
HOTARU
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.
Hadama's eyes gleamed with silent laughter as his trick with the snow worked as well as he could have hoped. And he managed to avoid the attention of both women for the first exhange, which meant, of course, that his good luck could not last...
As Hotaru turned her considerable attention on him he braced himself for her next 'attack,' which came at first in the shape of rain - which did, indeed, bother him not at all - and next in the annoying little zaps that accompanied the rain.
Which bothered him rather a bit.
He dove into the icy waters to escape the annoying zaps of electricity and this time when he resurfaced it was behind Hotaru's ice floe - not too far from Evie, recognizing that her air magic was as weak as his own still - freezing a handful of water into a fluffy snowball that he sent towards the back of their teacher's head, guided by the determined breeze of his air magic and ready to nudge it to one side or the other with his sprightly zephyr if she tried to dodge.
Hadama dodges Hotaru's attack by diving into the water, then resurfaces behind her and throws a snowball guided by his air magic!
I count your heartbeats before you sleep I bite my fingernails to bone
Evie stumbles and nearly falls, having to fall down to one knee - which is still uncomfortable even with the cold muted thanks to their blessings - just to keep herself on the ice floe and not in the depths of the dauntingly frigid water. Grateful that Hotaru has turned her sights on Hadama (and that Hadama seems more capable of countering it as he dips under the water) the Evergreen uses the opportunity to reorient herself.
Choosing to remain with one knee down for stability, Evie uses her magic to try and aid Hadama in a team-up this time for a bit of revenge against the Valkyrie. Hoping to distract her from the front, Evie uses her water magic to lift droplets from the sea and her air magic to buffet them toward the blonde to try and give one of their attacks a chance.
- - -
Evie uses her water magic to lift droplets out of the ocean and her air magic to buffet them toward Hotaru to try and distract her so Hadama's attack will hit.
And now I crawl back under the stairwell To a place I call my home
Set your faith in my hands - close your eyes, let go, you'll see
Hotaru's sizzling rain works well against Hadama while it lasts, leaving the slight buzz of aftershocks even after he dips below the water, but fading thereafter. Meanwhile, the Tidebreaker's luck is the best of the lot this time around, and as Hotaru turns her eyes to check on Evie - needing to ensure her students are safe even during these more intense training sessions - she gives the Merking the perfect opening to pop up behind her.
Temporarily blinded by the haze of water in her eyes, Hotaru lifts her hand to try and dispel the remaining droplets of water before they hit her face. That's when the snowball hits her in the back of her head. Not a painful level thankfully, but enough to jolt her and make her stumble slightly on the ice. Feigning incense despite how proud she is of their continuous displays of teamwork when paired up, Hotaru uses her water magic to encourage the ice floes spotted around them closer to create more obstacles and fewer and fewer areas for Hadama to emerge. No harm in going on the defensive for a bit, even if it brings Evie closer to her too.
- - -
Middling success for everyone! Round three!
Hotaru has used her water magic to make a current to drag the ice floes closer, bringing Evie closer but also blocking out areas for Hadama to emerge to attack.
HOTARU
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.
Among friends, the mermanta allowed a brief grin of triumph to cross his face, lightening its usual solemnity for a moment after his snowball struck true. He tipped Evie a wink for her part in distracting the headmistress, but there was no chance to linger over their success. Hotaru recovered swiftly and her retaliation was no laughing matter as the ice floes danced closer together, forcing Hadama to dive beneath them or become crushed in between.
Which, after a moment's consideration, was not a bad thing for the Tidebreaker.
His water magic was mastered, and since they had permission to make use of their other abilities as well so long as they focused on the one they were training, he used his power over water to create an opening for his weaker air manipulation. Swimming beneath Hotaru's floe, he watched her shadow move above him and swiftly melted the ice in front of her, driving a small column the size of a tennis ball like a straw up through the floe. It was his turn to support Evie as he cut through to the surface and then attempted to use his air magic to guide the subsequent jet of steam in front of Hotaru's face to distract her from the Evergreen's attack.
Hadama swims underneath Hotaru's ice floe and uses his mastered water magic to melt a small hole through it, so he can use his air magic to waft the steam in front of her eyes so she doesn't see Evie!
I count your heartbeats before you sleep I bite my fingernails to bone
Braced as she is on one knee, it's less of a disturbance when the ice beneath her is hooked and dragged, bumping up against the others on the surface - and most notably, Hotaru's. Evie is no slacker when it comes to close-quarters fighting given how often she and Deimos train, but use of magic this close becomes tricky, risking catching herself in the blowback. Especially given the type of magic she's using.
This time, Hadama is the one to step in and support her before the Valkyrie can attack, and Evie doesn't waste the opportunity. Using her own air to bolster the stream of Hadama's, strengthening it and funneling it directly at Hotaru, Evie takes a page from the Tidebreaker's book and utilizes another magic in tandem. From below, the water surges on one side of Hotaru's ice floe, hoping to thrust and buck her off while Hadama is safely below the surface and not at risk of getting thumped in the head.
- - -
Evie doubles her air magic with Hadama's, and uses her water magic to make Ru's ice floe lift up sharply on one side to try and throw her off.
And now I crawl back under the stairwell To a place I call my home
Set your faith in my hands - close your eyes, let go, you'll see
The ice floes drag together nicely, though her magic is equally new and untested, so they only come half the distance she had hoped. Luckily the momentum of the water works in her favor, though that's where her luck stops holding out. Hadama melts through her floe perfectly, though with little air beneath the floe to draw from, his attack stream is relatively weak despite the accuracy of it. Unfortunately for her, that's when Evie lends her power to the attack, and the two magics combine together to blind her with the steam - which is when the surface beneath her feet bucks wildly.
She's thrown immediately, though that might partially be due to her frame and weight. Knowing her water magic isn't strong enough to break the fall or ensure more ice is in the proper place, Hotaru lets herself fall and instead covers her back in the protective scales of her Komodo form to lessen the damage. In retribution, she plucks a lighter from her pocket and flicks it on, taking the flame that emerges and manipulating it into a stream of heat that encircles them and melts away as many of the ice floes as she can see. Evie's remains intact, though definitely having dwindled in size, and Hotaru uses her water magic to make the surface even more slippery with the melted ice to try and bring the Evergreen down with her. With Hadama under the water, maybe she can lure him out by dumping Evie into the frigid ocean. As Evie wobbles and tilts sideways, heading in that direction, the Valkyrie grins.
- - -
Ru is successfully thrown back onto the ice cluster behind her! She uses her fire magic to melt as much of the ice as she can aside from her own and Evie's, and uses her water magic to pull all the melted water under Evie's feet to try and send her falling into the ocean to distract Hadama.
Final round before closings!
HOTARU
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 couldn't see the fine details of his success through the thick and cloudy ice, but the thump of Hotaru's landing was audible beneath the water. He was already swimming out from under her icy platform when fire circled and spread out overhead, melting the other ice floes and widening his own field of play considerably. He surfaced in time to see Evie's shrinking platform grow slick and begin to tilt, and though he recalled that there were no teams today...
Well. When it came down to it, he would always be on Evie's side against all other comers.
"I have you," he called to the Evergreen, emerald eyes flashing sapphire as his own water magic built a low railing of ice around her platform to stop her from sliding into the cold and dangerous sea.
As for his air magic? That he turned upon Hotaru with a gleam of mischief in his eyes, half-beaching himself upon her floe to get within the five foot range limit of his weakest power as he sent a wicked zephyr to whip her lovely golden hair into her eyes to disorient her.
And with any luck, his weight would tilt her own platform enough to send the Valkyrie into the drink with him.
Hadama uses his water magic defensively to create a rail around Evie's ice floe so she won't fall in. Then he pulls himself up onto Hotaru's ice floe to try and tilt it while using his air magic to attempt to blind her with her own hair.
I count your heartbeats before you sleep I bite my fingernails to bone
Evie flails as amidst the destruction of the others her own platform shrinks and grows slick beneath her feet, trying in vain to keep her balance. She tenses, ready for the shock of unimaginable cold even with the Academy blessing, only to land against a secure ice formation instead. Grasping at it gratefully despite the minor bruise she will surely have, Evie only has a brief moment to spare Hadama a grateful smile for having her back.
Flustered now and with less time to work with, Evie chooses to repeat the same tactic as before, lending her air magic to Hadama's to make it stronger in the hopes of blinding the Valkyrie. Hoping to assist even further, she compels a wave of water to rise on the other side from where Hadama is tilting the floe with his own body weight, aiming to douse Hotaru's legs if not return the favor by making the surface of the ice floe even slicker.
- - -
Evie combines her magic with Hadama's again to try and blind Hotaru with her hair, and uses her water magic to rise on the opposite side to help sweep Ru off into the water or douse her legs.
And now I crawl back under the stairwell To a place I call my home
Set your faith in my hands - close your eyes, let go, you'll see
Evie and Hadama always work in tandem during their combined trainings, and while Hotaru knows of their friendship in some objective sense, it's always intriguing to watch how easily they move together against her. Although her magic is formidable enough to handle the both of them, it does make her roll her eyes with reluctant amusement when what was meant to be a free-for-all becomes a coordinated effort against the Valkyrie.
Still, it makes for an interesting challenge. Using her own water magic against Evie's to minimize the effects of the wave meant to douse her - for the Evergreen's control is superior to her own for now - Hotaru feels her gravity shift and knows she won't be able to save herself from the same fate she'd intended for the Warden, not with where her magic is now.
Instead, she shifts. Golden wings emerge and she climbs higher into the air with a few powerful buffets of them, though she cheekily hopes she catches Hadama with her flight feathers. Circling a few times overhead, she descends to one of the few ice floes remaining from her fire attack and shifts back to stand with an easy grace, hands making the 'time out' motion as a smile begins to grow on her pretty face. "I think that's enough. Wonderful job you two." And, because she can't help it, her expression softens slightly. "Thank you for being such loyal students, and for making this last session a pleasure to host." Her eyes turn to Evie, and though she smiles, something in her eyes says, now it's your turn.
- - -
Closing posts with any last reactions/defenses! Make sure to report your upgrades to Account Updates.
Code:
[b]NAME[/b] has completed the below Arcane Academy Advanced Magical Training to get Mastered [b]MAGIC TYPE[/b] in the season of [b]SEASON, YEAR[/b]
[thread=]
HOTARU
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.
I count your heartbeats before you sleep I bite my fingernails to bone
Though Hotaru does not end up in the water, it still feels like a success, and Evie grins brightly toward Hadama. It had been a bit unintentional to end up pairing up against Hotaru, but she has no regrets about it. Straightening out and setting a hand on the ice railing beside her, Evie tracks Hotaru's flight with her eyes, prepared but suspecting they are drawing to a close - which is confirmed when the woman shifts back and signals to stop.
There is a strange weight to her gaze when it meets Evie's, but the Evergreen has been coming to terms with taking over the mantle all season, and she feels ready. Tilting her head, Evie tries to communicate her respect, and her willingness to move forward with the Valkyrie's dream. "It will be strange to be your teacher next time Dama," she calls out to him with a small grin, aiming for levity. With a touch of magic, she begins edging their icy platforms closer to the beach, ready to go home and take a hot bath to refill her stamina reserves.
And now I crawl back under the stairwell To a place I call my home
