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 Climb was a lot more tolerable now that he had his Frostbite Cuff blessed to ease the heat, but Tal still shied away from the lava pools and grumbled quietly to his dragon as they made their way through the Burrows to the steamy oasis of Frey's Breath.
"Look, I'm not against deliverin' things here, but you're not th'one who was almost et by a rock slider last time!" he informed the companion at his side. She was glacier-pale and built like a mastiff, broad-chested and muscular, with a heavy, blunt muzzle and a pair of stubby horns sweeping back from her skull. Her equally pale eyes regarded her human with amusement as she trundled along at his side, her shoulders nearly reaching his ribs.
Grorf! she informed him, before a smoky belch escaped her gullet. Tal wrinkled his nose down at her as they entered the hot spring cavern, his own pale eyes an echo of the dragon's. Where she was nearly white - although at the moment it was more of a dusty grey from the Climb's ash - he had nut-brown skin and dark, shaggy hair pulled back from his brow with a leather headband. His clothes were simple and rugged but of a decent quality, and a polished Dagger was sheathed at his hip.
"What've you been eating??" He rolled his eyes in affectionate exasperation and pushed her muzzle away from him before he looked around the cavern, dark brows beetling together in puzzlement as the rising steam made it hard to see for any distance. "Lessee... they said it was kinda off t'the side..."
02-12-2024, 11:25 PM (This post was last modified: 02-14-2024, 12:28 AM by Caelynn.
Edit Reason: adding table
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CAELYNN
You wake up every morning to fight the same demons that left you so tired the nights before.
Caelynn stood from the bubbling pool of blood and wiped the excess drippings from her face. Groaning happily she stepped onto the edge of the pool and then looked down at her skin, "Good. As. New." After running her hands through her long dark hair she stepped into a rinsing pool and ensured she didn't have any blood caked on her body anywhere and then she dried and tugged her outfit back on. Black flowy pants and a black cropped top covered her lightly tanned skin. The heat never seemed to bother her when she wore the flowy clothing. Now she was born and raised here in the Climb so could the heat really ever bother her. The breeze easily cut through the fabric, and the fabric didn't hold sweat long.
As she headed out towards the entrance and guiding walkways to the cavern she could hear a soft conversation. She giggled softly thinking to herself, Rock sliders... annoying little shits... when the response was a thick animal omph Caelynn slowed her pace. Turning her ears toward the sound her natural hearing senses kicked into over drive. What was coming at her? She heard normal two legged being steps and softer paw like dragging steps. Heavy pay like steps.
Figuring it was just a companion animal she continued on. She began to whistle out a soft turn in order to let the others know that she was coming towards then, she didn't want to jump scare anyone today. She just had her bath after all, wanting to get ready for her trip off of the magma island.
As she approached the cavern entrance she saw a relatively handsome man walking towards her pushing the muzzle of a grey white dragon away from him playfully. Caelynn kept her face stony in order to mind her business, but on the inside she was giggling with how adorable their connection was. As the man asked the dragon about it's eating habits she snorted, her laugh unable to be contained.
Watching him look around confused with his eyes drawn down into slits to see better she stepped closer, "Lost?" Her question was concise and she looked over the pair as she waited for an answer. She smiled ever so softly at them to show that she was attempting to be helpful and friendly approachable.
In the mists from the hot springs the whistling seemed to come from several places at once, bounced around and obscuring its true direction. Tal shook his head, not quite sure he was hearing another person at first. Not until he heard the snort of laughter did he stop talking to his companion, but the sound brought him to an immediate halt, looking around warily for the source. Boreal, conversely, continued forward, undeterred. A curious rumble arose from her deep chest as she sniffed the air and headed towards the Ancient at a relaxed amble.
Tal followed her progress with his eyes, lifting a pair of Goggles from his neck to peer through the smoked lenses with a frown. He caught sight of the woman just before she stepped forward thanks to the magic in the goggles, and he looked her over cautiously, relaxing only a little when he didn't see an obvious weapon. She was short, but so were a lot of the women he knew who could kick his ass, and the ram's horns that curled out from her hair were an extra reason not to take her lightly.
"Uh... not really. Just tryin' t'find the, um..." He trailed off, nose wrinkling up in discomfort. "Th'blood bath? Which apparently is a thing now?" It hadn't been the last time he'd visited Frey's Breath, but that had been several seasons back by now, when the Ancients and Dygra were still newly awakened and just starting to spread out from the Climb. "Have y'seen anythin' like that?" Because hail, if anyone would know about something like that, it would probably be an Ancient!
02-14-2024, 12:16 AM (This post was last modified: 02-14-2024, 12:53 AM by Caelynn.)
CAELYNN
You wake up every morning to fight the same demons that left you so tired the nights before.
Caelynn nodded, "This way." She noticed the things he put over his eyes and she turned to lead the way to the blood pool. With one of her sharpened nails she cleaned between a few teeth and kept her eyes peeled.
They walked along the wall of the space and she listened as the swishing of her tail against the floor echoed a bit. After a few minutes of walking the silence started to grow awkward. "You're not an ancient, nor from here?" It was said like a statement in regard to the way he looked in comparison to the people that she was used to seeing, and the people who visited Frey's Breath to her knowledge. She was pretty bad at small talk.
Another minute passed and she pointed, "Don't fall in. As much as I would laugh, I just got rinsed and dressed. I don't want to take another bath." She chuffed out a short laugh and looked him over, "Just curious or here to take some blood?" Her smirk was tight but visible, at her own little joke.
Her own curiosity got the best of her as she angled and walked around the pool a little bit to watch him. At least around the blood pool it was easier to see, the blood not creating as much steam as the hot water.
Tal fell in behind his unexpected guide and Boreal sniffed curiously at her heels as she walked. He wasn't any good at small talk either, so her abrupt questions didn't seem to bother him as he gave a shrug and looked over at her with equal curiosity. "Nah, I'm just an Accepted." He looked more resigned than upset by the admission, but he nodded his head at his dragon. "That's why she's with me," he added. "An' we're from Ha-- uh. Well. Guess we're from King's End right now." He winced as he caught himself and made the correction, the change obviously not coming naturally.
At least the conversation got them to their destination and he wrinkled his nose again as he looked at the pool dubiously. "...Huh. Yup. That's definitely it..." He shot her a look of bemusement at her joke and shook his head as he reached into the large bag at his side. Boreal, meanwhile, had stuck her head down to sniff the pool curiously, stealing a lick of blood when Tal wasn't looking. "Yeah, well, it wouldn't be my idea of a good time, either. But neither. I was hired t'deliver some stuff here." He pulled out two packages of medium size that definitely shouldn't have both been able to fit inside the bag that looked mostly empty. Setting them down on a ledge beside the blood bath, he cut the boxes open to reveal several supplies within: a collapsible bucket, several sponges and loofahs, a pair of larger brushes and another pair of smaller ones as well as a copper ladle and some fancy soaps.
Just what good soap was going to do in a pool full of blood, Tal didn't know, but he'd just been hired to deliver it.
Once he'd broken the boxes down and packed them away again he stood up and brushed his knees off, looking back to the Ancient curiously. "What's your name, anyways?" Never long on manners, he'd managed to forget to introduce himself first again.
02-14-2024, 02:30 AM (This post was last modified: 02-14-2024, 02:33 AM by Caelynn.)
CAELYNN
You wake up every morning to fight the same demons that left you so tired the nights before.
Caelynn cocked and jerked her head at his words as if she'd been offended, "Just an accepted? You speak as if you're disappointed." Though he didn't look upset when she looked back at him and then down to the dragon when he gestured. "That's not my business, nevermind."
She smiled hearing him stumble. Either he didn't trust her or he'd recently made a change in his life. She'll go with a trust issue. It's always safer to assume you're not trusted, that way it's not offensive when you admit to the other person that you don't trust them. "I've never been to King's End. I'm from here... naturally. Never met an Ancient not from here, so that was probably redundant information." Shrugging she watched as he looked over the pool. The disgusted look on his face made her giggle. "Yep, pool of blood. Helpful to cure bloodlust, great for the skin. Though I haven't tried drinking it as your little companion is. What's the dragon's name?"
He moved so smoothly near the pool, as if he'd been in this type of odd situation often. "Ah, a courier?" Her eyes bulged when she saw the items he was yanking from the small bag. "Just an accepted, you said. Liar What kind of magic is that you've used on that bag!" Her excitement was audible and read clearly across her face, though she was slightly accusatory in her tone when she called him a liar, but mostly her tone sounded excited. She'd never seen magic like that. When she saw the supplies she grimaced, "The person who sent those items want you to use them too? Courier turned janitor?" She glided closer to him around the pool, cautiously of both the dragon and the man. Knowing that he wore a shiny knife made her take him seriously as an opponent.
She squatted down much like Gollum trying to find his ring, she slipped closer and looked at the bag as he moved the items. She kept her hands behind her back her hair falling forward dangerously close to touching the hot blood pool as she tilted more. She kept far enough away not to enter his space, but she was close enough to draw at least a questioning glance. "Caelynn, Caelynn Rae, and yours?" She liked how simply he spoke. Quick, precise, and most importantly (so far) unbothered by her awkwardness.
"I mean--" he started to reply, brows furrowing towards a frown when she retracted her question. It caught him mid-sentence and he closed his mouth abruptly, caught between annoyance and being mollified. Boreal chuffed her amusement at his confusion and padded ahead, her talons clicking on the wet stone as Tal trailed behind the Ancient, frown deepening as she revealed a little bit about herself.
"... Huh. Really? Most o' th'Ancients I've met have been from--" he waved his hand, first south and then east. "Well, not here. Torchline an' th'Hollowed Grounds, mostly." Though maybe Danta was from here. He'd never really sat down and chatted with the weird guy before, not the way he'd gotten to know Edmund and Maea and even Fox, a little. He didn't have much chance to think about Danta before his attention was drawn to what his dragon was doing and he swore under his breath. "Boreal! Stop that! What'd we just talk about??" he scolded her. For her part the dragon looked unimpressed, though she backed up and began to lick at her talons, the very picture of innocence as if she hadn't just been caught red-tongued.
Once he was sure his companion was going to behave, Tal set about seeing through his delivery instructions, but he jerked and glared at the woman when she called him a 'liar.' "Like hail I am! I ain't usin' any kind o' magic. It's all in th'item. D--... A fr--... someone I used to... anyways, someone else made it," he huffed, stumbling over his words as his face screwed up into a complicated expression. One that darkened as she called him a janitor. "No. I'm just deliverin' 'em. Guess they're s'posed t'make bath time more comfortable. In th' blood." The last part was added with a grimace, but he kept a wary side-eye on her as she lurked about, and his hand was never far from his knife.
He stood as soon as he was finished, and realized only when she answered what he'd forgotten. "... Tal," he muttered, clearly trying to decide how offended he should be about the 'janitor' comment. "Talyson Seawright, courier an' captain o' th'Peregrine," he added, puffing his chest out proudly. It was a more impressive chest than it used to be, but he was still a lean man, with more whipcord than bulk on his slender frame.
You wake up every morning to fight the same demons that left you so tired the nights before.
Caelynn wasn’t oblivious to his bumbled answer, but she didn’t seem to bother with bringing it back up, she felt it was to personal. Not for her ears to hear and not for her mind to know. For maybe she’ll begin to make a friend, she couldn’t have that.
Caelynn looked it him over her shoulder and blushed ”Do you know many Ancients? Dygra must have blessed the other lands, how wonderful…”Her un-comfort was palpable. Every time she saw someone else they found a way to fracture her understanding of the world. No Ancients were born off Climb, none chose to live away from the mother, from their warm and heated home, not for long. They always came home and intended to come home. Why has that changed? Could she even believe the man? After all he was wearing weird glasses and talking to a dragon.
Cerlynn shifted her attention to the beautiful beast and watched as it reacted to being scolded. When the beast turned and faced its talons tucking its wings and bowing in mock innocence, Caelynn giggled a large smile crossing her face, ”You have a beautiful companion.”
Back to the tall man she looked. Watching as he bumbled and stumbled about the magic bag. She glared right back into his eyes, ”These are the moments that make or break relationships. Seems you weren’t lying afterall.” He just had the face of being honest, and the shock and awe without time to think up a lie. She huffed out in a bit of an annoyance, ”Well, apologies…”
Listening she chuckled, ”A block of smelly stuff and a scratchy thing. More comfort?” Shrugging she watched him stand, ”Is it like soap? This seems like a weird package to deliver. Especially to a blood bath.”effectively having lightened her tone and mood again she bit her lip, awkwardness radiating from her as she realized she may have offended him. It wasn’t that she cared that he was offended, it was that she was growing more confused. Boats in the sky, ancients being *from* outside the Climb, bags that hold more than what they appear to, men delivering scrub brushes and bricks to a bath. What world had she woken in? She knew in order to get information she needed to be nice and approachable, no matter if it made her more awkward.
Caelynn looked him over once more and stood craning her next to meet his eyes. ”Tal, Talyson the Courier Captain, not janitor.” A snorted chuckled escaped her and she nodded, ”The Peregrine. Is that your boat? Do you ever transport people?” Her questions were collected and calm, but he could tell that she was curious for more than curiosities sake. She’s helped him, and she needed a way off the Climb - a way away from this mess she woke up in. Of course she’d help more with his deliveries and whatever else he needed to pay her way.
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Currently on mobile, please forgive any grammar or spelling errors as it is both hard to see them and hard to fix them.
"Dunno 'bout 'many,' but I know a few, yeah." His answer was cautious and a little confused as he paused in setting out the contents of the box to glance over at her, brow furrowing. "Hard not to, what with all th'Ascended gettin' turned into Ancients after th'War. If they wanted t'survive at least, I guess." He wasn't entirely certain on that last point. There were decisions being made way above the head of a mere courier back then, and he hadn't gone prying into any of the new-made Ancients' private business, either.
They were both looking a little uncomfortable at that point, and Tal wasn't any better at hiding it than Caelynn was. His nose wrinkled as she made her apology, not sure whether or not he should accept it when it seemed so grudging, but Boreal just rumbled her amusement, clearly at ease with the stranger.
Which didn't say much. Boreal liked just about everyone.
He held his silence until he had to defend his profession, and at the Ancient's doubtful questions he just gave a surly shrug. "Look, I dunno. Maybe someone's just tryin' t'be neighborly? Not my job t'ask 'why' someone wants somethin' delivered. I just gotta get it where it's goin'." Not that he wasn't curious sometimes... but as long as he got payment upfront, he could live without knowing all the answers.
Answers that Caelynn was apparently even more short on than he was. His brows beetled together at her repetitive way of speaking, and he narrowed his eyes in suspicion that she was making fun of him with the second 'janitor' comment, but maybe that was just her way? He took a deep, steamy breath and counted to seven and then gave a wary nod. "Yeah, she's my skyboat. An' I take people, sometimes. Only got space for one passenger, an' th'commodations aren't exactly fancy, but... yeah." It was his turn to tilt his head at her, chewing his lip thoughtfully. "Guessin' you're wantin' a ride?"
02-17-2024, 01:11 AM (This post was last modified: 02-17-2024, 03:23 PM by Caelynn.)
CAELYNN
You wake up every morning to fight the same demons that left you so tired the nights before.
Caelynn scratched her head and made a huffing sound in a bit of confused anger,
"You're the second person to mention a war that I've never heard of. It's not like a war happened overnight." Uncomfortably she rubbed her arms. The more she talked to people the more she felt she was in a different world. "When did the war begin and end? She asked looking up into his eyes, her own shining with ready to shed tears.
At the little rumble, Caelynn looked down at the dragon and wished she had a treat to give the little one. Wondering if the little beast liked her was pointless, it wasn't like she was going to reach down and attempt to pet the animal. Especially not when dragons were known to bite off hands and spew fire at the simplest of movements. This one seemed tamed and friendly, but she wasn't going to attempt to push her luck.
"Valid. They do say curiosity killed the cat." Cracking her neck Caelynn tried to relax herself from all of the information she'd gathered. She hated when she began to feel awkward but at least she knew that he was feeling awkward too.
"Seeing as I apparently don't remember the events of the world, I'm thinking I'm going to need a ride of this island to a place where I can find answers. Being that I don't remember any war and you're the second person to tell me this, you're talking about people being made into Ancients but Dygra hasn't told us our family is growing. It's... it's weird." It was so weird to her. It was like she woke up and her whole world had turned up side down. "What would you take for payment? I have gems that I've mined that I use to trade, or I can work to help you deliver whatever you have. What's a good price for moving people around the world?"
02-17-2024, 06:29 AM (This post was last modified: 02-17-2024, 06:30 AM by Talyson.)
Dark brows rose towards his hairline as she seemed to have missed the whole 'world shattering god war' thing that had reshaped the world and seen the fall and rise of deities. He didn't know much about the 'old' Ancients, not compared to the new ones, at least, though at least he knew that there were some out there. Tal reached up to scratch his head, looking uncomfortable as Caelynn watched him with something that was suspiciously like tears in her eyes, and fuck he didn't know how to deal with people crying.
"I mean... kind of? Leastwise, th' main fightin' was mostly done in a day or two. Guess it depends on how y'define 'start." He shrugged uncomfortably and looked away as his face pulled into a scowl of concentrated thought. " Skippin' two, three hundred years o' history, th'big showdown was only mebbe 'official' three years ago," he mused, trying to sift all the rumors and revelations of the past that he'd mostly heard third or fourth hand with the immediate strife that he'd personally lived through. "Th'Voice an' her Ascended made their play an' lost to th'Old Gods an' then... I dunno. I guess th'Voice did somethin' t'wake Dygra up from where she'd been sleepin' all this time an' got her t'take the Ascended in since th'Voice was dyin'?" He wasn't privy to the inner thoughts of gods and goddesses, and that was probably for the best!
Boreal also clearly wished that Caelynn had a treat for her, her hopeful eyes finally fading to a sad huff as the bath supplies were sorted out and the two-leggers looked like they were ready to head out.
"Um. Well, I dunno what t'tell y'about what your goddess is an' isn't sayin'," the courier admitted with another shrug, starting to walk towards the exit of the hot springs cavern. "But yeah, I c'n trade passage on my boat. Gems'd work," he decided thoughtfully. He'd done some mining of his own in the Climb in previous years, for various tasks set by his own gods. The results were always worth the work, and he had the connections to sell the raw materials in other regions. "Are we talkin' rough or polished?"
You wake up every morning to fight the same demons that left you so tired the nights before.
Caelynn shoved the emotions back down and forced the tears to suck back into the sockets of her eyes. She didn't need to cry, that wasn't for his eyes to see anyway. Caelynn wasn't about crying in front of others. No way, no how!
"This Voice... You say they woke up Dygra as if Dygra wasn't awake when this all started? Two or three hundred years. This voice god had been around that long?" She tugged her bag closer to her in fear. She really was in another world. It all seemed so surreal, to think that her god had apparently gone to sleep. That didn't make any sense to her, just under a year ago she was giving Frankie back to Dygra, and Dygra had accepted him.
Caelynn followed in Tal's direction. They walked next to one another both seeming to be thinking. Caelynn about the world, her god, and why in the world she wouldn't know about war and Dygra being asleep. As he asked about the stones she carefully swirled her bag around her body and opened the top. She had a few changes of clothes, another pair of shoes, and tucked blew those guarded by a blanket surrounding them and a pillow to cushion the bottom she pulled out another baggie which contained the stones. She had a few polished stones but mainly raw. "I've never been the best at polishing and carving stone, but I love the mining." She showed him many raw obsidian, ruby, and some other precious more common stones. "I'd offer three raw stones for travel, that's what it used to cost me to take a boat made for water."
"Uhh..." Her questions just kept getting weirder and weirder, and Tal's expression screwed up in consternation as he finally had to admit to himself that it was starting to feel like she'd missed a lot more than just a couple of years or even decades. Apparently some of the Ascended had been asleep for most of the Voice's exile as well, so it wasn't entirely unheard of. Just... really disconcerting to encounter. "I mean, Dygra's been asleep an' pretty much gone for... I dunno. As far back as records go," he admitted with a shrug, stealing an uncomfortable glance over at Caelynn as they walked. "She'd been asleep so long that everyone forgot about her 'til she an' her Ancients woke up after th'War. Hundreds o' years, at least. Maybe more?" He cleared his throat self-consciously, looking forward again so he wouldn't have to see if Caelynn started getting woobly-eyed again. "An' yeah, I guess th'Voice became a god or whatever maybe... three hundred years ago?" The origins of that, too, had largely passed out of memory until recent events had dragged the past back into the present by sheer force.
Tal moved quickly through the Burrows, slowing only when Caelynn needed to rummage in her bag. He looked over curiously a couple of times, but when the bag of stones came out his pale eyes sharpened with interest and a bargainer's keen focus. "Hmm... we'll be goin' a lot faster'n a water boat, an' th'wear an' tear on th'sails ain't cheap. Two raw stones an' one polished," he countered confidently.
Boreal, meanwhile, trotted ahead, heavy muzzle swinging back and forth as she scouted for trouble on their path.
I will keep you, day and night, here until the day I die.
Taking in what he said was hard. Every word just bounced around her head. Dygra's been asleep as far back as records go. Caelynn's jaw twitched. so long that everyone forgot about her. Holding back her gasp and tears she rubbed her shoulders hugging herself. "None of this makes any sense, at first I thought that the Lena woman might just be playing a trick on me. The same information, the same confusing information." Caelynn had no choice but to admit that something had happened, maybe she really had been asleep for hundreds of years.
"The ancients that woke after the war, are they all the ones that were saved by Dygra, changed into Ancients? Or are there any like me? Those who were born Ancient and seem to know nothing of this war." Her question was tentative, knowing that he may not know the answer to her odd and pitiful question.
Caelynn watched the way he looked at her bag, in her 26 years she knew that look, a bargainer. A pro. Not one that would run her for all she's worth unless that had changed in the time that had passed without her knowledge. With a tilt of her head, she nodded, "Sure, have your pick of one out of the five large polished stones. There are a few smaller polished stones but they aren't as precious or uncommon. Then I'll give you two unpolished larger ones as well." Giving someone the choice wasn't always the best move, but he'd been kind and she felt it a fair trade for the information and travel.
Watching him look through the stones she thought to herself, Aren't polished stones worth less... Raw material to work with has always been better for bargains. People wanted to polish and design their own stones, rather than buy them already polished. That was what she had always been told. Another thing to have changed between going to sleep and waking up.
