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!
07-04-2019, 02:51 PM (This post was last modified: 07-04-2019, 02:53 PM by Eli.)
Eli
Eli glared at Pim as the dragonling came a little closure and started to sniff at him; leaning away from him he wandered over toward her, trying to keep Pim in sight as much as he could, just wanting to get away from the small little thing, he was unnerved by it, a dragon? It was a bit much right now. "Here, let me help." came the words, firmly and direct as if there was no question as to if he was going to be allowed to help or not, he reached over to take one of the books from her, offering a small nod.
"Where does... this one go?" he asked, eyeing the cover, without much clue as to what it could possibly entail. He'd only ever read about books, never actually seen one up close like this; he run a finger down the spine curiously, blinking as he looked back to her, awaiting his instructions.
"Si vis pacem, para bellum." - If you want peace, prepare for war.
She grinned a bit, watching the man and the dragonling eye eachother warily, as if unsure which would win some unspoken fight for dominance. "Don't mind Pim. He was given to me by Frey to help me protect myself, so he is just a bit wary of strangers. He will warm up in time." she assured Eli with a grin. Pim grumble growled at her, as if irritated she would accuse him of ever warming up to anyone other than her.
The young midwife blinked in surprise as he took the book from her hands, apprently intent on helping. "Oh, that one goes up there between 'Medical Maladies and Modern Medicines' and 'Nursing Nomenclature'." she said, pointing to the top shelf. She didn't really need help reaching it, but if he wanted to be helpful she would let him. It might be a pride thing after she helped him out after all.
"Yeah well for now, the further Pim is from me, the better." his words indicated he was a little perturbed by the little dragonling, how such a broadly built man was perturbed by such a little thing was anyone's guess but he pushed it to the back of his mind and slid the book between the two books she mentioned, though he actually managed to put it in upside down, but having achieved the spine facing outward, so there was a win in such failure, though Eli didn't exactly seem to notice such a blunder. Eli offered her a small smile, this being the smallest thing he could do to pay her back for actually helping him and not merely wandering off to leave him in a brooding state.
"Who's 'Frey'? Friend of yours? he asked curiously, clearly not up to date on his religious pantheon skills, he had no idea Frey was actually a deity and really, he was still sure that no such things existed, how could they? It was ridiculous.
"Si vis pacem, para bellum." - If you want peace, prepare for war.
Pim growled, as if returning Eli's sentiment. "Oh, come on you two stop being so grumpy! Apparently you are both very similar!" she said with a laugh. But as Eli placed the book on the shelf, she tilted her head to the side. "Close! You put it upside down." she said, reaching up and correcting the mistake. "See how the titles are all the same way now?" she said, running her finger along the spines of the books. Though she was correcting him, her tone remained light and happy, showing him only so he would know, not to demean.
"Has no one told you about the gods yet?" she said curiously. "Frey is the god herald of Rae, the god of nature. Frey themself is the god of sexuality, passion, and fertility. And yes, they are my friend." she said with a smile, blushing as she suddenly realized what that probably sounded like. "It's not as...uh...intimate as that sounds like. Just friends. Friend friends. No benefits." she said quickly, face turning a deep red color.
He wasn't quite sure how it made much of a difference, the whole idea of using such space to house text that he was so used to reading from a single device was both silly and oddly funny. He simply nodded, accepted his mistake and blinked, looking to her as she spoke about the gods. He eyed her for a moment, a look of unsure skepticism etched on his features, a small grin pushing its way on to his lips. "Ahuh, sounds real friendly. You must be good friends. he teased, finally feeling a little more comfortable in her presence, he shook his head eyeing the books again, he didn't actually believe they were beings that showed themselves to people, and thought she merely had a deity she prayed to.
"Does Frey come down and smite heathens? Perform miracles? It sounds a little silly from where I'm standing Phoebe, no offense." he once against teased offering her a gruff chuckle, idly helping her with the rest of the books as they spoke, actually getting the hang of putting books back on a shelf which was truly a skill to be proud of.
"Si vis pacem, para bellum." - If you want peace, prepare for war.
At the teasing comment her entire face flared beet red. "Ah! Uh-N-no no it isn't like that!" she said shaking her head and hands rapidly. "I mean, our work intersects you know what they influence means pregnant women which means work for me so that's good but we don't - I haven't- I mean not that I haven't ever but -oh for the love of Frey you didn't need to know that!" she groaned, covering her face in her hands with and embarrassment.
There was no point trying to explain it. That Frey was what Frey was meant there was always going to be that assumption so she ought get used to it.
But the way he spoke of Frey in general, his conception of what gods did, it gave her pause. "Oh. There were no gods where you are from." she surmised with a smile. "Sometimes the gods do appear when you pray to them and they will speak with you. If you waste their time or insult you they will punish you. But Frey has never done so to me. Everything they have ever asked me to do has led to my own personal growth." she explained.
Merely gazing at her for a time as she got redder and redder and redder, made him merely grin, having lost track of the book task he was doing he simply watched she flailed about, like she'd said the most embarrassing thing to him. "Hey, hey... calm down, it's alright, I've heard much worse, alright? Shit, I've said much worse. he said, his husky, slightly monotone voice lending an air of calm to the air, it was about the most calming thing he had going for him.
"And well, we had 'gods' but... well most people didn't believe in anything of that sort, me included, all seemed like superstitious nonsense really, I don't much like putting my life in the hands of some infallible being is all." he added calmly, giving her a small nudge with his shoulder, offering a small smile.
"Let's get the final few books sorted huh, then get out of here- and maybe you can show me around the college huh?" he said finally, though a tour did sound a little dull, he thought she could use a bit of company, like he could and wandering around the college sounded like an easy thing to do.
"Si vis pacem, para bellum." - If you want peace, prepare for war.
Mortified. Phoebe was downright mortified. She pressed her hands to her cheeks, smooshing her face in a comically cute manner. "Oh I know, I have heard much worse but that was pretty bad for me..." she had to admit, still feeling rather flustered. But he clearly wasn't going to tease her anymore over it, so she took the respite while she could and took a deep breath to calm her nerves back down.
Instead, the young midwife focused on his description of gods and religion from his home world and she nodded in understanding. "I would not say your life is in the hands of an infallible being here." she said slowly, trying to piece together what she wanted to say. "They are more...beings of higher knowledge. They are infinite and ensure the balance of the world, life, growth, and death." she explained. "While you and I are perhaps part of that balance and those cycles, we aren't their sole concern. We are but mere blips of life passing through their eternal existence. They can aid us or hinder us, based on our interactions with them, but our lives are intended to be lived as we feel it should be for our own growth, not for the sake of any god. Unless, we feel compelled to of course." she said with a smile.
She looked clearly surprised that he asked for a tour, but pleasantly so. "Well, alright then. I am happy to show you around." she said with a smile, placing the last of the books in its spot. "Well, this is a study room, clearly. And these next to rooms down this hall are research labs...really I am the only one that uses them right now. Still recruiting you know." she said with a grin, showing him through the two labs. One though had an odd contraption that looked more advanced than anything else - rather like a microscope, if such things had existed in Eli's world.
Eli still wasn't quite sure what to make of these 'gods', he didn't trust them in the slightest right now, he didn't like feeling he was just a blip on some all powerful being's radar, but as long as they left him alone, he felt that would at least be alright. He followed her out, trailing after her. As they entered the labs, he gazed around, sniffing a little, he wasn't quite sure what everything did in here, some things he seemed to recognise, other things seemed completely foreign. "Really it's just you right now? Seems like a load of work for a single person." he asked, a little puzzled by her sheer devotion seeing as she was the only one, but perhaps it wasn't as difficult as he thought and she was just a very hard worker.
Finally they reached the odd looking contraption, Eli stared at it for a minute before pacing over toward it for a closer look, it seemed familiar, but there was just enough different about it, so make him question it. What's this thing? he asked as his peered over his shoulder to look at her with the familiar scowl on his brow.
"Si vis pacem, para bellum." - If you want peace, prepare for war.
"Well, there are a couple other people who are members of the college but...yes. Pretty much just me for the most part." she said with a small smile. It didn't seem like much to her. Sure, there was a lot of upkeep and a lot of prep to do and now she had to do monthly reports, but it didn't seem like it was a huge task. Maybe she was just a workaholic though. Huh. She hadn't really considered that before. "Is that really so surprising?" she asked, looking at him wide eyed.
But he paused by her prized piece of equipment and she grinned, clearly pleased to explain it. "Oh! That's my micro-lens! My friend Remi made it for me to use! It allows you to see the tiny little bits that make up things!" she said excitedly. "Frey showed them to me, and no one else has ever heard of them because they are so small. But I am going to study them, and learn how they work, so then I can come up with better ways to treat illnesses and such!" she said brightly, clearly having been set off on some tangent that she was clearly passionate about. "The quality of life for people will get so much better if we can just understand how the body works more clearly!"
"Not surprising. Just impressive. Doubt I could do it." He added, giving her a nod with a slight grin. He looked back to the so called 'micro-lens' tilting his head at it, it honestly sounded like a microscope. He looked back at her, brow raised. "You mean a microscope, for seeing microbes, DNA... stuff like that?" he probed, but he doubted she had any idea what he was on about so simply shrugged. It doesn't matter... but it's something at least, something that's similiar to things we have where I'm from."
"Sounds like a noble goal Phoebe, I wish you luck with it quite honestly, it beats what I'm good at, at any rate. I doubt being a fighter and a soldier is something of a great benefit to society huh?" he said, a small laugh echoing around the lab as he shook his head, a pang of truth in his words that made him exhaled. "Nah, your work is far more important, I'm sure you'll become a great and notable woman yet, huh? The great already seems to apply to you as far as I can see, so you don't have too far to go. he laughed a little more, eyes watching her for a moment longer before he looked around to the exit. "Let's continue then."
"Si vis pacem, para bellum." - If you want peace, prepare for war.
It took her a moment, but once she realized he had given her a compliment, she blushed. "Oh. Thank you. I just...like staying busy." she said, feeling a bit embarrassed though she didn't know why. But it was quickly washed away by his next statement. A...microscope? So...he had seen things like this before? Microbes? De-yen-ay? Her eyes glazed over a bit as she stared at him. "Uhm...maybe? What's a microbe? Or a Deyenay?" she asked. A sudden realization dawned on her and she gaped at him. "Do you know about the little circles and squares with dots in them? I call them cells but I don't know if that's the right name." she said excitedly.
But he changed the topic of conversation and began to talk down about himself. The blonde frowned as she led him out and down the stairs. "That isn't true. Soldiers put their lives on the line to protect us. And even if they come back alive, they usually have life long wounds they carry, when if they can't be seen. It's just as important and noble a job." she said sincerely and with conviction. He complimented her again and once more she blushed. "Oh, I don't know about that. I'm just a midwife with some crazy ideas." she said with a small smile.
She led him into the largest room in the building, which was clearly a lecture hall. "This will be the main lecture hall, once we start hosting classes." she said with a smile, clearly proud of it. "Oh, and outback is the medicinal herb garden too."
He murmured, pondering on her words as they entered the hall, he didn't quite believe her in many ways, but sighed and nodded. He supposed she was right, what he did or had done was something noble, he'd given up his personal safety to safeguard what he cared for. He didn't have time to dwell on it much longer though as she introduced the main lecture hall to him, he blinked, letting his eyes wander for a moment. "What capacity does the hall seat exactly?" he puzzled to her. "I don't suppose we could get some fresh air as well? Being inside too long isn't exactly something I enjoy." he murmured to her, running a hand across a scarred cheek. "The garden open air?" he followed up, exhaling as he did.
It was true he didn't like being inside for too long, everything became restrictive, he felt like he was being penned in, forced inside an ever smaller room to the point where he became stressed and irritable. He offered her a glance, almost pleading in a way, almost demanding, looking a little eager to get out of here.
"Si vis pacem, para bellum." - If you want peace, prepare for war.
"I can hold about 150 comfortably. A few more if people got friendly." she said with a smile, clearly proud of the space. A lot of work had been put into it, she had every reason to be proud. It wasn't in anyway the same size or grandeur as the sanctuary itself, but it was something she had worked to make happen.
But he was getting antsy, and she smiled at him warmly as he expressed this. "Of course it's open air. What else would it be?" she said with a light laugh. Phoebe led him through the hall to the back where there was a door. It opened up to a garden that was still in full bloom and full of life and color. Plants of every sort filled the little courtyard, the light hum of evening crickets filled the air. "These here are some of the ones in your medicines. That's stinging nettle. That's the chamomile. That one there is the valerian root." she said, pointing them out.
