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!
It wasn't raining anymore, and Maea cursed the awful timing. Receiving a bucket from the person behind her, she heaved it up with both hands and hurled the water forward. A furious hiss erupted as the last of a furious fire went out, leaving naught but embers left to smolder. As the last person in a bucket line, her tolerance to fire had left her closest to the inferno and as she signaled down the chain for the neighbors to rest, she slumped down to sit on her heels with an exhausted sigh.
The pottery was gone, as was the houses on either side of it. Across the street another building still burned. Burning meteors had hit her home dead on and only a season's worth of rain kept the whole neighborhood from being caught in the explosion and fire that followed. Only luck had kept her from dying. That, and being fire proof; nicks and scratches marred her from top to toe however, and being flung across the room had her bruised and aching all over.
Someone patted her on the shoulder, and a man's gruff voice informed her that the chain would move on. Off to assist with the other fire. Maea nodded wearily and waved him off. Remaining before the ashes of her home, wiping blood and tears from her eyes, she was too numb to think of what to do next. Help, probably. Do what Grounders had always done and hang in there, endure, rebuild. She found it such an ingrained part of herself that she hadn't even hesitated to join the effort to protect the rest of the town, despite complaining to Harper about how little she cared.
It kept her going.
Dragging herself up on her feet again, Maea approached the burned out husk of the building. Debris of wood and stone blocked the path and made it hard to get around. Most things were ruined. Clothes, pottery, the kiln, all the furniture - gone. Dust and ashes and more dust. The heat was intense enough that her clothes smoldered on her very skin, yet enveloped her like a comfortable embrace. Impractical. Maybe fireproof clothing would be a marketable product for Ancients... this was hardly the time for that, though.
A glimmer of sooty steel caught her eye. Half buried beneath a layer of charred wood, Maea found her daggers. A bit of rummaging produced the compass, miraculously intact; the bag they were stored in was ruined though. Sighing, she picked her way out of the building. In the distance, flames were dying down and people were starting to look at each other, finally given a moment to process. Above, the clear sky remained streaked with an otherworldly purple that did not fade.
Down the street, a voice cried out. Followed soon by a second, then a third voice. The absolute terror in the sound had Maea sprinting down the cobbled road before she could stop to think, and the scene she found as the rounded a corner was one of mayhem.
Spiders. There were spiders everywhere. Men and women were fleeing their homes with wine-spiders on their heels, only they were wrong; eerie, black, swollen things, they launched themselves on anyone who wasn't fast enough, and left a trail of panicked, frenzied bodies in their wake.
Standing frozen, she tried desperately to get her feet moving. There were so many of them, and just one of her; with a sinking feeling in her gut, the Ancient raised her daggers and picked a target.
Voidweaver Spiders (Common - The Hollowed Grounds, Torchline, Halo): The once-useful Wine Spiders have become Voidweavers, their once-drunk demeanor replaced with a malevolent hunger. They spin webs of void energy, ensnaring anything that comes too close. Their venom induces nightmares, trapping victims in a perpetual state of terror.
Light is easy to love Show me your darkness
BASE INSPIRED BY ODD <3
♦ Violence, magic, thievery is permitted with Maea at all times. DM me if you have any ideas ♦
we're just two ghosts swimming in a glass half empty
Ophelia is not as impacted by the impact (hah) as others. They have lived in the Grounds their entire life, and never left it. The damage is minimal, and Ophelia does not care about regions they have never been to. Screaming in the inner quarter, however, is a more immediate and pressing concern.
Ophelia jogs toward the sound, head tilted slightly and eternal-daydreaming expression slightly crinkled with concern. People are fleeing in droves, and behind them are spiders. Wine spiders - except they look wrong. Given the infect variants Ophelia has already seen, they can only assume this is more of the same, and they pull their scythe off their back with a little hum of sound, generally unflappable.
Only one other person seems to be taking a stand, and Ophelia is surprised to not recognize them - though it's equally startling to see someone who looks so similar. Smiling slightly in encouragement, Phi swings their scythe to cut the webbing in an arc, and lifts a hand to direct the fire in the street lamps to leap out of their cages and burn swathes of spiders closest to their halo glows.
trying vainly to forget the pain that came with heartbeats
In all her roving years since the barrier fell, the only constant in Maea's life had been fighting. Training with weapons and without them, on her own and with whomever crossed her path. It all came together now and turned her battle into a dance, unintended grace carrying her from stance to stance. The chakram glowed crimson in her hands and made short work of the spiders. On their own they were not much of a threat, but as they focused their attention on herself and another defender, the sheer number made them unpredictable.
Somewhat late, a small group of soldiers poured in and began to evacuate people, a task made difficult by the panicked frenzy some had fallen into. As she focused on keeping the skittering little pests away from the injured, Maea soon found herself back to back with her own mirror image. One could be excused for mistaking the two as twins; equally fair, short and delicate of build, and moving in synch as if they had known each other for years.
In the middle of destruction and confusion, Maea let out a huff of laughter, and dispatched a spider as it leaped for her face.
"I thought I was the only moon touched freak around here –" she ducked as the blade of the scythe came swinging – "but clearly not. How the hail have we never met?"
Light is easy to love Show me your darkness
BASE INSPIRED BY ODD <3
♦ Violence, magic, thievery is permitted with Maea at all times. DM me if you have any ideas ♦
we're just two ghosts swimming in a glass half empty
Ophelia's fighting has been entirely shaped by their previous Ascended brethren, but their handiness with the scythe is something that dates back much further. It is an extension of their arm, a limb like any other, and as their counterpart ducks its swing with easy grace, the delight of the rhythm they share washes away any trepidation or fear. They fight back-to-back, only stepping outside of the unspoken radius to cut through swathes of spiders before returning. A lonely creature prone to finding family wherever even a shadow of it exists, Ophelia is ecstatic.
"We are never as alone as we think," Ophelia's sweet, dreamlike tone responds, a phrase that would otherwise be ominous instead delivered with something like awe. "I was not allowed to leave my family farm. Are you a Grounder too?" Another twirl of the scythe, and then a burst of fire from the nearby lantern surges toward Ophelia's grasping hand, obliterating a few more spiders on the way toward their beckoning call. Something eager and dazzled shines in their voice as they ask, riveted by this warped mirror of a person they've discovered.
trying vainly to forget the pain that came with heartbeats
With the Hollowed Grounds’ alterations in landscape, some of the animals have grown a bit wilder. A bit bolder.
So while it may surprise some, and others not at all, a crow swoops down, snatching at clothing and bags with sharp, irritating, and annoying talons. Maybe you just lost a piece of bread, or a valuable keepsake!
01-02-2024, 01:46 AM (This post was last modified: 01-02-2024, 01:47 AM by Maea.)
MAEA
Apparently not! And while the idea of being trapped on a farm for her whole life was appalling, it was no more so than the notion of a box in a box in a box. What had the Hollowed Grounds ever been except a cage to trap wild things?
"Yeah," Maea replied enthusiastically, baring her fangs in a bloodthirsty grin as she managed to take out a whole heap of spider with the stomp of her bare foot. The crunch beneath her sole was very satisfying, easing the burn of Bloodlust in her throat like a gentle tonic. "Maea Valair - we farmed apples and sheep." Until one LongNight, when the rest of the household fell victim to the monsters. There had only been one more delivery of Valair Cider to the bars of the Grounds after that.
Meeting others who had experienced the barrier in earnest always brought on a strange sense of kinship in the albino woman. No one else could truly know the depth of despair they had lived, or the dual love-hate relation towards the region. It had been all their world, once, and many still had yet to set foot outside its borders, even after all these years. For all that it had been a cage, it was their cage.
For the first time in many years, Maea found that the ownership of the place still hadn't quite burned out of her.
The onslaught of spiders let up for a bit. Taking a moment to breathe, she shook the gore from her blades and turned to get a better look at her new companion. "You Ascended?" she inquired, upon catching sight of the horns on their ivory head. No judgement - she just tried to place timelines in her mind, sorting out ages and events that death and petrification had made hazy.
The crow came without warning; swooping down from behind Maea, it snatched at her pocket where a compass lay tucked away, causing the singed fabric to bulge. Crying out in vexation, she swatted at it - but before she could cut it down, the bird was airborne and about to get away.
Light is easy to love Show me your darkness
BASE INSPIRED BY ODD <3
♦ Violence, magic, thievery is permitted with Maea at all times. DM me if you have any ideas ♦
we're just two ghosts swimming in a glass half empty
It's somehow endearing to fight alongside this strange woman while holding a conversation like erstwhile sisters. Delight and recognition light up their white-blue eyes, fang-filled smile emerging in perfect counter to Maea's. "Valair! The cider suppliers!" They had lived in the same area, for all that mattered when there was so much acreage between neighbors. Old names like theirs have died and dwindled, or otherwise disappeared as droves moved out of the Grounds in the wake of the barrier's collapse. Ophelia hadn't been freed from their family's strangling hold until years after that, and by then the few people she'd ever met on rare days delivering goods when their siblings were ill had vanished. Spinning on their feet, they flick away a few spiders with their ivory prehensile tail and take a page from Maea's book to crush a few beneath the soles of their boots.
"Ophelia Athanasia - we farmed cattle and we were weavers." Their land had been filled with poplar and birch, reeds and tough ferns. Perfect for cattle and baskets, but inhospitable to any other kind of animal. They'd made it work - Ophelia had been urged to stay inside all the more, because that's where the work was done; the eternal creation of baskets, purses, parasols, anything. If anyone remembered or even knew of the youngest Athanasia child, it was only through the items they made.
Crows in the Grounds have always been wily, but something like panic grips Ophelia's usually unflappable heart when Maea cries out in dismay. Without a second thought, the running ribbon of fire Ophelia had been controlling sharply rises into the air, chasing after the crow until its feathers alight and combust all at once. It hits the ground already dead, and Ophelia runs toward it - slicing a wide arc with her scythe to clear the area to give them the time to bend over and retrieve it. They bring the bird with them, holding both out to Maea with an expression like an eager dog awaiting praise, hopeful despite having been kicked each time in the past. "Here you go. You can have the crow if you want!" Their bloodlust will catch up to them eventually, but for now they are fine, and maybe the gift of food will win them Maea's affection.
trying vainly to forget the pain that came with heartbeats
"Ah! I know of that family. My father used to trade with yours, I think, and my brother too. I was... not strong enough to come with." Confined due to illness most of her childhood, it had taken years before she was strong enough to contribute. Years more before her eyes were healed and stopped hindering her attempts to help.
There were strangers, and then there were friends she just hadn't met yet. Why it was easy to connect with some but not others would always escape her, but it seemed that she had met a friend today. Keeping half an eye on the ground for more spiders, Maea watched with approval how swiftly Ophelia dealt with the thieving bird. She followed more slowly, and bent down to pick up the compass before it was lost to void-blighted arachnids, only to find herself presented with a meal that filled the air with the aroma of lightly charred meat. Her stomach twisted, churning with hunger and a craving for something salty, warm...
"Thank you," she said solemnly, accepting the dead bird; she didn't know why Phi was giving it to her, but appreciated the gesture. "We can share it later. For now..." She glanced back and took in the state of the square. More people had joined in, decimating the spiders with torches and weapons of their own; the ground was covered in black carcasses, so many that she wondered if they had eradicated every spider in the Domiciles. If more were emerging from their hiding places, they at least didn't seem to get far.
Yet the screams kept rising towards the merciless sun, and those who had been bit kept writhing against the grip of helping hands, lost in some waking nightmare.
"Do you know anything about healing?" she asked the Athanasia. A troubled frown tugged on Maea's brows; there was little she could do once the fighting was over.
Light is easy to love Show me your darkness
BASE INSPIRED BY ODD <3
♦ Violence, magic, thievery is permitted with Maea at all times. DM me if you have any ideas ♦
we're just two ghosts swimming in a glass half empty
"I was not allowed to," Ophelia shares freely, nearly chipper were it not for the dreamy tone subduing the childlike excitement at being able to share anything at all. Few have ever asked after their backstory, and while Ophelia knows that their upbringing was terrible, it has never quite...clicked. Being isolated and abused for most of their life and then having all their Ascended family killed had not led to much healthy personal growth even after they'd been freed.
Ophelia smiles brightly at Maea's gratitude, fangs making small, cute wrinkles in their upper lip. Following the other Ancient's gaze, they tilt their head slightly as they observe the ensuing devastation wreaked by the hands of fellow Grounders. The screaming does not bother Phi, so they instead turn back to Maea and shake their head slightly. "Only basic first aid. This seems more...magical?" It doesn't feel like quite the right word, but Ophelia can only shrug. They had only just learned to properly read before the war, so they often just give up when things don't fit right. "But we can always help carry people to the Infirmary." Ophelia is certain other Grounders will do that and wouldn't normally offer to do so themselves - would have already melted back off the beaten path by now had Maea not so intrigued them - but the woman seems invested in helping, so Ophelia supposes they should follow her lead.
trying vainly to forget the pain that came with heartbeats
Frowning at the tormented victims, Maea had to agree with the assessment. Healers from the Infirmary were already there, attempting to soothe the panic and pain, but from what she could tell nothing seemed to really work.
"It doesn't seem to be fatal, at least. Not yet, anyway." A grim thought, that. "Come on, let's give them a hand."
Setting her own fatigue and aches aside, Maea pushed the roasted crow into the hands of a startled spectator and headed for the first person she could reach. Counting on Ophelia to help, it felt better to lift and carry than just standing around uselessly. It left her no time to dwell on her own losses, material though they may be.
"You live around here?" she huffed to get doppleganger over the groaning bulk of a middle aged lady who used to sell sweets at market.
Light is easy to love Show me your darkness
BASE INSPIRED BY ODD <3
♦ Violence, magic, thievery is permitted with Maea at all times. DM me if you have any ideas ♦
we're just two ghosts swimming in a glass half empty
Ophelia takes Maea's guidance readily, having not been inclined to help until their strange almost-twin dictated they should. These people had never done anything to help Ophelia in their lifetime, whether as a human, Ascended, or Ancient. They don't exactly care. Any loyalty they feel is to the other Ancients and perhaps the land itself, not to the people in it.
Tagging along like a fawn, Ophelia leverages a young man onto their shoulders and follows in Maea's wake with only minimally less struggle. Neither of them seems particularly strong or suited physically for these sorts of endeavors. (All the more reason to have not helped, in Phi's opinion.)
"I don't have a home," they share lackadaisically. "I sleep wherever I can and stash my clothes in a bolthole that I move around." Or they simply sleep and maneuver around in their shifted form, which hasn't bothered them yet. Nor the occasional necessity for nudity when chances to wash their clothes become few and far between. Looking to the side at Maea past the man's arm, they raise one pale brow. "Where do you live?" Her family's farm is out of the question given what Phi knows of the family's history, but Ophelia has equally not seen Maea at any other time. Perhaps she has recently returned to the Grounds then?
trying vainly to forget the pain that came with heartbeats
Momentarily stunned into silence, Maea found herself reeling at the idea that people might not have a roof over their head. Even though it had become her own reality, and a conscious choice in the past, it never quite struck her that others might be in the same predicament.
"I'm sorry," she replied. "I guess, we're in the same boat. I used to stay with Amun - at his pottery shop - but... now..." Lifting her gaze to the rooftops where some fires still blazed and others had burned down into black plumes of smoke, stark against the brightening sky, the first real pang of loss hit home. Amun's things, his clothes, all the pots and artworks he had created... gone. What would he say when he came back? What would she do? There was nowhere else... Danta's brothel flashed through her mind but was just as quickly dismissed.
"Would you... Are you okay, like that? Or do you want to have a home?" Maea didn't want to think about herself. Didn't want to feel what bubbled and boiled within. It was too much, too dark and too overwhelming. Shifting her grip on the injured, she guided thrm around a corner and up the steps of the Temple, where the Infirmary waited. Given the way her head was spinning, it would likely be her end destination for a while.
Light is easy to love Show me your darkness
BASE INSPIRED BY ODD <3
♦ Violence, magic, thievery is permitted with Maea at all times. DM me if you have any ideas ♦
we're just two ghosts swimming in a glass half empty
Amun's name causes a ripple of true emotion across Ophelia’s face, something sharp and jagged that cuts through the normal passive, ethereal shroud. “He was one of the best of us,” they murmur. Incapable of jealousy over Maea getting more time with him than themself, but reluctant to remember their grief in this way. Ophelia often copes by simply floating and forgetting; reality is far less appealing.
Unlike Maea, Ophelia’s expression clears into something dreamlike within moments, moving past the moment. The question makes them tilt their head to the sky, considering. “I haven’t thought about it that way,” they admit plainly. They are alive, so that has been their only focus. “I don’t know what a home that I don’t despise feels like so I haven’t longed for it. But, logically, it would make life easier in this form.” Their lial form needs little more than food and heat, while human bodies are more finicky.
Going up the steps is more difficult, and Phi grunts slightly as they struggle their way up with their unwitting passengers, handing them off to the staff who flock their way - clearly already aware of what’s happening. Stepping aside to stay out of their way, Ophelia takes the opportunity to see Maea clearly once more to turn their pale eyes her way. “Do you want that? I can help you.” They are fewer now, but the Ascended had brought Ophelia in with the notion of family, and it has cemented itself firmly into their brain.
trying vainly to forget the pain that came with heartbeats
Is. The thought sparked like lightning through Maea's mind, though she didn't say it aloud. In her mind, Amun was very much alive. Not present, but out there somewhere, waiting to be found. Like she had been. Any other fate was unacceptable, and she could not stand to even think the thought to end. So she said nothing, and let the shared pain hang in the air until Ophelia changed the subject back to homes and houses.
Easing her patient into a bed and backing up so that healers could get to him, Maea sighed and wiped beading sweat from her brow with the butt of her hand. "I suppose... not that I know what I would like, either." Falling in beside the younger woman, she nudged her chin towards the Temple in mute suggestion that the should retreat to a quieter place. She was tired; her body ached, and she wanted to sit down. "At the very least, it would be more practical to have a room of my own, where no one will touch my things. Not that I have many."
Finding an empty pew, she slumped down and felt her spine crack as she leaned back over the back rest. Sighing with relief, she rolled stiff shoulders to ease the tension from the muscles. Pain was a newfound downside to a true body, conflicting the pure joy of sensation with its grueling touch.
"That's nice of you to offer, though." An idea struck her, and Maea turned to look at the pale young woman. "Maybe we could be roommates? I don't really need a whole house to myself. Unless you want something that's all your own, of course. I'd gladly help you, too." Either way was fine; better than a bunk in the military barracks, better than a cushy brothel suite, and certainly better than crashing in alleyways or some ramshackle ruin in the Domicile yet to be restored to comfortable lodging.
She hadn't been certain she even wanted to stay in the Grounds. But now that she had nowhere else... perhaps building something, however temporary, might not be such a bad idea.
Light is easy to love Show me your darkness
BASE INSPIRED BY ODD <3
♦ Violence, magic, thievery is permitted with Maea at all times. DM me if you have any ideas ♦
