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!
The warning has been given, and the world is awake to it.
But it's too little, too late.
No stroke of luck or starry-eyed goddess can prevent the inevitable now - much as she has tried - and on a dark Flowerbirth night, two moons shine ever so bright across Caido.
It matters not where you look, or from what region you hail. Hanging in the sky, bright as a button, the moon and its sister twinkle, innocuous and ominous, heralding a new chapter, a sign of things to come.
An arrival.
Welcome to this SWE! Whilst this takes place in the Arclight Ocean, you may post your character seeing Caido's extra moon from wherever they happen to be at the time. (The assumption being, of course, that it is visible everywhere).
12-30-2023, 08:19 PM (This post was last modified: 12-30-2023, 08:20 PM by Remi.)
the lullaby
It was convenient how very little Remi needed to sleep, what with the state of constant alert he'd set himself on since Ronin had awakened nearly dead in the middle of the night. All the more convenient still was the fact that Ronin required just as little sleep, such that the pair often whiled away the hours working on their houseboat or just taking in the night instead of slumbering through it.
So it was this particular evening saw the pair sitting on their deck with blankets around bare shoulders and sweatpants on their hips, as the Northaven bobbed cheerfully along. Staring at his cards by candlelight, the Lullaby glanced from his hand across to Ronin, narrowing his eyes and stealthily trying to reach a toe toward the Nova's foot to get a read on his emotions (read: cheat).
Glancing surreptitiously toward the ocean in an effort to hide the movement of his leg, Remi's expression hardened slightly to see not one but two moons hanging in the sky. Swallowing and knowing that his husband's death potentially hung somewhere up in all that darkness, the Lullaby turns his attention back toward the cards in his hand.
"Got any eights?"
I got a feeling inside that I can't domesticate
It doesn't wanna live in a cage,
A feeling that I can't housebreak
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Busy trying to chase his straw around his glass with his lips, alas Remi will only find a blank sort of contentment rolling from his husband's emotions. (Aka, he has done his best not to look at his cards and so prevent Remi from cheating). Even so, he swats at the other man's toes with his own, smirking around his finally captured drink and settling back with his hand of cards.
Following the Lullaby's gaze almost on autopilot by this point, Ronin similarly feels himself grow rigid in his seat as he spots the double moon, and he spends a few moments purposely adjusting to cause the awning over their deck to conceal it from his view. "Mm... go fish," he murmurs, the words muffled around his straw.
i'm nothing more than a page unwritten on the pavement, blowing in the wind
It has been a quiet night so far in King’s End, cresting over the hill of Meadowreach after digging up the foundation and laying it out for one of the homes he’s adding to the location. Hands covered in dirt and mud, fruitlessly wiped against his pants, lifting one to his lips where a cigarette is half gone, his head lifts up just in time to see the addition to the night sky. It's a place Sunjata doesn't look too often - despising the stars for what they represented, but the second moon catches his eye and with it, dread.
A flicker of light sparks across his skin, blooming from each and every scar in his surprise and the sinking sensation in his stomach, he can’t help but to stare for a few heartbeats of a moment before he realizes that the House of Midnight likely will start panicking shortly. The cigarette forgotten, Sunjata takes to the skies in his Pegasus shift, something small and inconspicuous as he dives back toward the brothel to start calming everyone down, worry sinking deep into his gut at what the next stage of this strange new battle might bring, and what it means for everyone around.
you win a lot, and you lose just a little bit more than you gained in the end
No permission needed for power play!
Feel free to use magic/force on Sunjata, without killing him <3
Sunjata speaks with an Australian accent and has a passive magic that makes him produce a subtle scent that matches exactly to whatever those around him most desire him to smell like.
He'll wrap you in his arms
Tell you that you've been a good boy
Dorian can't help but revel in the orchestrated chaos outside the White Hart. A subtle smile dances on his lips, and he lifts his glass to take a sip, the flickering candlelight carves shadows across his face. He turns his gaze to Dahlia, meeting her eyes with a knowing glint that mirrors the spectacle unfolding outside where gasps and brewing cries of alarm are already rising.
"Well my dear." He hums thoughtfully as he sets his glass down precisely upon its coaster. 'I think perhaps things are going to get a touch more interesting soon, don't you?"
Sitting up in their booth, he casually glances over his shoulder, appraising the unfolding panic outside with a brief look. Then, turning back to regard Dahlia, he fixes her with a stare so intense it seems to have fingers that reach for her throat, pressing softly against her lips.
He'll rekindle all the dreams It took you a lifetime to destroy
Each night seemed to become later, as plans and machinations and calculations drifted into evenings. Patrols shifted to eternal, watchful hours, soldiers rotating in and out at various intervals, training and brawling committed upon frequent and necessary notions. These were things Deimos understood – strength, fortitude, endurance, determination – and instantly flickered back to them out of habit, while the rest of their plans waited until the arrival of a new season. The uncertainty weighed and lacked balance; and he’d find his mind drifting to other leagues and measures of protection, jotting them down within notebooks and parchment, bringing them home to peruse until exhaustion seemed imminent – or until Evie took the healthier route and ensured neither succumbed.
So his head wasn’t bowed as he walked out of the barracks, sight steady on the roads of the Citadel, along stony pathways and Halo routes, Belial following above, Zuriel hanging back. More logical suppositions were tucked in his pockets or folded into his bag, and the journey home wouldn’t take any time at all –
But he paused and ceased entirely, in the middle of the street, when he saw the secondary moon.
Spine straightened, his gaze narrowed, and the trepidation began all over again. Because maybe he’d only dreamed of more, ample time before calamity and chaos, and Safrin had merely ensured them that it was all up.
"I believe you might just be right about that," Dahlia smiles back to Dorian, though her gaze is directed towards the spray of botanicals decorating their table in a small vase. Her fingers caress their leaves and dried petals, before encircling them like a noose and crushing. Careless, easy, brutal, she sweeps the debris from the table, leaving no evidence of the violence that follows in the wake of her soft caress.
"A long wait," she continues, lifting her eyes to meet Dorian's, her own gaze dark and warm; a forbidden invitation. "But worth every second." Smiling, showing small, white teeth, Dahlia lifts her glass to her lips and indulges in the chaos within and without.
hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul
From within the Plaza, sitting along the café’s chairs, Lena’s faith didn’t shatter. It didn’t rumble, it didn’t ruin. It quietly stoked over the fibers of her heart, where the organ pressed and fluttered, nervous and anxious as she peered above garden walls and wondrous heights. Another moon, amidst all the chaos and warnings, as if something had come to invade again and again, a repeated reverberation of war refrains and drums. She remembered collapsing towers and the sounds of screams, the silence of her sister’s existence; multitudes of lives snuffed out.
And perhaps this wasn’t it. Maybe they were safe. Maybe they were high or low enough to not be a bother.
But still, she swallowed down a whole trace of things, called it dread, and began to walk towards the Tower.
and sings the tune without the words and never stops at all
Snow fell lightly, with big giant and bright snowflakes clinging to the brick and mortar throughout Snowcloak. Roused in the middle of the night by Vi’dore, Noah shuffled his way to the window. Rubbing sleep from his eyes, Noah looked out and stopped. Everything within him froze and the dread that filled him could not be compared to anything else except for looking at Caido themselves being devoured by the Core.
”Vi help us…” Noah said, a pulse of the feeling a tidal wave over the bond. Cordelia certainly couldn’t stop the feeling from reaching her, even in her sleep. ”We need you.” He couldn’t say anything else, couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe. Whatever they feared was coming, was coming.
Am I a prisoner to instincts or do my thoughts just live as free
And detached as boats to the dock?
your dreams are all full of war you are from another time
For once, the Honeybee wasn’t on the ocean, but near her home, fixing one more nuance of rocky targets. A few kept falling over, and she huffed, irritated and annoyed, half-tempted to simply knock them all over and save it for the morning. With a fiendish little kick to one, she left the stones all in their places. “C’mon,” she gestured to Sila and Fangorn, figuring it’d be enough to slip in residences for the evening, and as she turned back, her eyes caught the beacon in the horizon.
Well, two.
Her eyes narrowed, and she blinked several times, figuring she was seeing something. She hadn’t heard any other warnings, not yet anyway, and so, could only utter the first thing that came to her mind. “That’s not fuckin good.”
salvation doesn't look like light So what remains?
Down and out, and out of luck, we're spinning but the needle's stuck
When sleep eluded her and the dampness of her shelter became too much, Maea tossed her blankets aside and got up. Shivering in the cold air, she stoked the fire and found a shawl to wrap about her shoulders. As the fire munched on meager kindling, she glanced outside at the ever pouring rain, frowning at a peculiar light in the sky.
Heading for the door, she walked barefoot into the night. Cold bit into her soles, cold damp settling into her hair, but the Ancient paid it no heed as she craned her neck and squinted up at the diffuse glow of the moon, somewhere above the clouds. Yet somehow, there was not only one, but two points of illumination tonight.
It could be magic, it could be illusion, or a number of things. But her thoughts went to Noah and his talk of strange events and corrupted life, and the sudden chill walking down her spine had nothing to do with the weather.
Turning around on her heel, Maea went back inside and slammed the door shut behind her. Tomorrow would be soon enough to figure out what it meant to have two moons in the sky.
Maea
♦ Violence, magic, thievery is permitted with Maea at all times. DM me if you have any ideas ♦
The nightmare was the same as always: a replay of the vision she'd had on the Sea of Dreams, when she'd been frozen, helpless, unable to do anything as her loved ones bled out in front of her. She hadn't been able to shake that particular illusion. It haunted her memories, dragging her from sleep more often than not. Especially now that Safrin had returned - unsuccessful.
The seer sat up and turned to look at where Talyson slept beside her. She held her breath until she saw his chest rise and fall, reassuring her that he was still here, still alive. Movement caught her eye as Sascha raised her head sleepily from her spot at the foot of the bed, blinking at her bonded. The cub moved as though to come closer, but Alys stopped her with a gentle thought. Go back to sleep. Sascha shifted, curling up closer to Boreal, and did just that.
It wasn't going to be so easy for Alys, though, and so she rose silently from the bed, trying not to wake Tal. She slipped from the room, her footsteps padding softly on wood as she made her way to the Peregrine's railing. It was there that she let loose a shuddering sigh, bracing her hands on the railing and looking out over the land they'd been flying over when they stopped for the night. She didn't see any of it, still wrapped up in her nightmare's embrace.
The cool night air was refreshing, if nothing else, and silence blanketed the landscape. She slowly began to calm from the dream, shoving it deeper and deeper into the recesses of her memory. Then she made the mistake of looking up. To where not one, but two moons hung in the sky.
Her breath caught in her throat, her heart seizing painfully. That wasn't normal. It went against the laws of their world. Moons didn't just appear.
"Tal!" she called sharply. Her voice sounded high and tinny in her ears, as though she was close to panic. Maybe she was hallucinating. Maybe she was still dreaming. But she knew deep down that, even if none of this was real, it was still a warning. A threat still loomed.
And there was nothing she could do to stop it.
funny how it all works out in the end you dance with the devil and you lose your head
Minor powerplay allowed without permission.
Feel free to use force/magic on Alys.
A machine where your heart once was Slowly takes the place of you
It was strange to be back in Stormbreak, but it hurt rather less than Liam had imagined. He'd taken up residence in the blocks surrounding the Pacifist Plaza - not far from his last home in the city, but far enough that he could avoid most of the memories made there. He'd yet to decide what he was going to do in Stormbreak - whether he would rejoin the Dragoons or find another occupation - but it was something of a relief to be back. His time in the Greatwood had been helpful, necessary even, but coming back to Stormbreak... it was coming home.
The ex-Dragoon strolled through the streets, hands shoved into his pockets, enjoying the nighttime revelry. There were always shops to explore, street vendors to greet, things to do, and places to be - and yet, for Liam, it was enough to simply walk and observe.
Something overhead caught his eye, and he looked up - then stopped dead in his tracks, blinking against the street lamps and squinting to better see the night sky. For up above hung not one, but two moons. And for a moment it was all Liam could do to stare, dread settling in his chest.
Only hold the memories now Of a love I thought I knew
'Cause, baby, I could build a castle Out of all the bricks they threw at me
Noe was in Torchline, sitting in Jude's apartment, stroking the cat affectionately. She'd taken to staying in the region more and more, especially as the storms lingered in Stormbreak, especially after Jude had asked for her help in watching his place, especially after she'd realized that she didn't have the heart to bring down Stormbreak's leader and throw the region back into leaderless chaos. Her mouth twisted into a frown at that thought, her hand stilling on Winifred's head. The cat headbutted her, looking at her expectantly, but Noe only gave her one last pat and stood, going to a nearby window.
She looked out at the night sky and froze. She, like the rest of Caido, had spent her entire life under these stars, and never - never had she seen the second moon hanging in the sky. With everything else going on (the strange weather, the angry flora, the disappearance of Safrin), she couldn't help but feel like something was coming - and she was entirely unprepared.
And every day is like a battle But every night with us is like a dream
