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!
I've been very hopeful so far
Now for the first time I think we're going wrong
Hurry up and tell me this is all a dream
Or could we start again, please?
”Weren’t you a Duke? Isn’t that lesson one in Duke-ly-ness?” Phoebe said, her tone light and teasing, and now interjected with giggles as she tried to get the hysterics back under control. But it felt good to laugh. It was freeing and comforting and lifted weights off her shoulders. ”What do you think a gentleman is supposed to be?” she asked, curious.
But when he told her to repeat the phrase again another fit of giggles overcame her and more tears rolled down her cheeks. Pim blinked at him, looking as confused as a dragon could. That noise she was making was good, but the water leaking from her eyes was not. What on earth had he done to her? He would definitely have to ask Daddy Frey about that. ”It was the blight, not me.” she said loudly, still giggling but with much more gusto than before.
”No, that was ordering people around like you owned the place.” It was a ghost of the former humor Loren had once shown, and it poked its way out like a plant at the beginning of Flowerbirth, tentatively, but reaching for the light. It had been so long since he’d allowed anything good out from his empty core that it surprised even him. However, it disappeared at Phoebe’s question. ”I don’t know. Kind. Courteous. Helpful to others. Stalwart and brave, and not afraid to admit when he’s out of his depth.” He shrugged, a haunted look coming over him. ”A good person.” Everything Loren was not.
Her repetition had a bit more force behind it, but he still wasn’t totally satisfied. ”Better. Again.” The cadence of drilling lessons into someone was familiar from his childhood, though he was usually on the other end and hopefully this would have a much more positive outcome.
I've been very hopeful so far
Now for the first time I think we're going wrong
Hurry up and tell me this is all a dream
Or could we start again, please?
"Dukes owned lots of things so the odds were pretty high that they did own the place." she said, giggling a bit. But he grew serious as he tried to explain what he thought a gentleman was, and she tried to control her laughter in turn but it was hard. She was on a roll and near hyperventilating from laughing as hard as she had been. "Oh, well then I would say you are a gentleman." she said with a small smile. He was trying to cheer her up after all. Good people would do things like that.
She half groaned half giggled as he ordered her to repeat it again. "It was the blight, not me!" she declared loudly before starting to giggle again. But this time, her giggles were interrupted by a very loud hiccup. She froze in place, blinking in surprise. Even Pim scurried over, sniffing at her, jumping back as she hiccuped again. Phoebe looked over at Loren with a bemused, but slightly guilty expression. "Uh-oh." she said, hiccupping again and once more giggling.
Loren just grinned at Phoebe’s quip. ”Not me. I was one of those impoverished patrician types.” Then, however, his smile faltered. ”Though I guess I own the Manor now.” It was a stark reminder of just how much he’d lost, how much he’d missed, in his time away. So when she commented that he was indeed a gentleman, he shook his head. ”I appreciate you saying so, but I’m not. You don’t really know me, Phoebe.” His words came out kindly, gently, but they were also the truth: her first picture of him, the monster that hurt her best friend, was the far more accurate image.
When she started hiccuping, he sighed, but gave her a sympathetic look. ”Take a few deep breaths, and then hold one for as long as you can. After that, say it again.” Just because she was giggling and hiccuping and barely able to control herself did not mean she was off the hook. Still, this might take way longer than he’d been expecting.
I've been very hopeful so far
Now for the first time I think we're going wrong
Hurry up and tell me this is all a dream
Or could we start again, please?
"Oh my favorite, the kind that have no wealth but pretend they do." she said with a smirk. "The Manor is rather impressive. All it's missing are some gargoyles or dragon statues on either side of the door." she said with a small smile. But his mood shifted and as she continued to hiccup she tilted her head at him. He insisted he wasn't a good person, but with the blight receding, she didn't have the same fire against him that she had before.
"From what I have seen so far you seem like it. You've made some mistakes, but we all do." she said, punctuating it with a little hiccup.
Phoebe tried to follow his instructions, breathing deeply despite the hiccup interruptions. With a small gasp noise she took another deep breath, holding it with her cheeks puffed out with air. After a few moments of peace she hiccuped silently, the jerk of her torso the indication of it. And then again. And again. Pim sniffed at her, tail flicking side to side. This was a behavior he hadn't seen before and was intrigued. What was it's purpose?
Eventually she had to breathe though, and exhaled slowly, hoping that was the end of the hiccups. "It was the blight, not me." she said quickly just in case she hiccuped again.
Loren had never pretended to be wealthy, strangely enough. Lots of other things: a poor farmer, a learned librarian, a true blue duke with absolutely no problems to speak of, but wealth was a new experience to him. Oh sure, he’d had access to the family money, but as the weakest among them he’d only been given the bare necessities. Granted, that meant something different to the Launceleyns than it did to a commoner.
Of course, as a child he’d also been left in a stone cell and dropped off in the wilderness in the harshest of conditions to fend for himself for a while, so his thoughts about what did and did not constitute normal were a bit off.
When he finally responded his voice was just tired. ”The dragon statues are on the inside.” Well, crests, technically, crests that he’d mostly removed because they were hideous and a reminder of a past and a legacy that he was trying to reject. At her comment, his moved his already crossed arms to hug himself. ”This is the second time you’ve seen me.” She’d learn, in time, just what the summoner was capable of.
Still, even as his discomfort rose, he wasn’t going to let her get away with that paltry effort, both to get rid of the hiccups and at speaking the creed he was trying to drill into her. Glancing about the temple and estimating how much room he had to work with, Loren reached out to his magic. There were other ways to get rid of hiccups, less pleasant but quite, quite effective ones.
Two wolves would suddenly appear, snarling and charging forward towards and snapping their teeth at the healer. The Launceleyn wasn’t trying to do anything other than scare her momentarily to shock the hiccups out of her, so he dismissed them almost immediately. ”Again.” Hopefully his magic would do the trick and Phoebe, Pim, and the blight within her wouldn’t react poorly to his little trick.
I've been very hopeful so far
Now for the first time I think we're going wrong
Hurry up and tell me this is all a dream
Or could we start again, please?
”Family crest tapestries?” Phoebe guessed. She had never been inside the manor, but you’d be hard pressed to find someone in the Hollowed Grounds who couldn’t recognize the Launceleyn Family Crest after Zariah’s reign. The Dragon was of course, quite prominent within it. Her head tilted slightly at his comment though, considering him for a moment. ”True. But I have heard about you. And Remi loved you, so you I can’t imagine you’re actually a bad person. Whether you have made some poor choices though…” she shrugged a bit. Everyone made poor choices on occasion. She was pretty sure Frey had a list full of all of hers.
But she was quickly distracted by the sudden appearance of wolves, snarling and charging at her. Immediately she had flashbacks of her encounter with Melita in the Labyrinth, surrounded by a whole pack, fighting them off with sticks and stones. But this time she had no sticks or stones, and she was cornered in a ball by the window. She screamed in alarm, startling back and hitting her head on the wooden window pane. Pim jumped into action immediately, whirling around on the oncoming wolves, rainbow colored lightning shooting out at them from his jaw.
And then they were gone.
Lightning hit the stone walls of the Sanctuary, leaving two small cracked divots where they had struck; bits of stone crumbling down in chunks and dust to the ground. Pim looked around, bewildered and alarmed. That wasn’t how that was supposed to work. Where were the bodies of his enemies, vanquished by his small-ish, rainbow might? Phoebe blinked, the panicked look on her face melting into confusion, wincing and rubbing her head where she hit it. ”What did you do that for??” she huffed at Loren in irritation.
Loren nodded at Phoebe’s observation about the tapestries. Although he didn’t know if she actually seen them, or was just guessing, she was right on the money. At her next comment, however, the summoner shook his head. ”A person’s actions speak to their character.” And he’d made so many poor choices, wrong decisions, acted so rashly, that he couldn’t in good conscience call himself a good person.
Now he had another mistake to add to his list: summoning wolves simply to chase away some hiccups. Pim’s lightning was a surprise, and the Launceleyn ducked out of the way, throwing himself to the ground. Luckily, the dragon’s strike hit only stone. Of course, the healer had also hit the wall, and immediately Loren scrambled to his feet and hurried over to Phoebe, healing magic already at his fingertips. Assuming she didn’t stop him, he would lay a hand that glowed a soft-sky blue on her head, banishing whatever injury she’d received because of him. ”Sorry! I’m sorry! I was trying to startle the hiccups away.” His voice was filled with both horror at what he’d done and a great deal of contrition.
I've been very hopeful so far
Now for the first time I think we're going wrong
Hurry up and tell me this is all a dream
Or could we start again, please?
Her head tilted a bit at his words. Funny, how he stood there making her repeat a phrase, abdicating herself of guilt for horrible things, while insisting that his own actions were somehow unforgivable. ”Well, have you tried to atone for the things you’ve done?” she asked him, curious now about this double standard he held himself to.
But she would have to focus on that later, for the moment, her head was throbbing. She wasn’t exactly in a state to stop him from anything, and Pim was far too distracted by the prospect of invisible wolves to notice, and so he was able to work his healing magic freely. As the pain in her head dissipated, so did her anger, and she sighed in relief. ”It’s okay, I just knocked my head.” she said, tilting her head as she smiled – close lipped as the blight still had her teeth blackened which bothered her. But that startling her would get rid of the hiccups…well she waited. And waited. And what do you know, it seemed to have worked! ”It looks like it worked, so thank you actually.” she said with a light laugh.
There wasn’t anything Loren could do to atone, though he had indeed been trying. ”Not every mistake can be fixed.” And sometimes people were irrevocably broken as well. Unlike Phoebe, who hadn’t been in control of herself, the summoner had a choice. Granted, he hadn’t exactly been at his sanest, but even then he could’ve found some way to claw out of the darkness that had swamped his mind.
Instead, he’d given in to it.
Hopefully he didn’t have to explain to the Dean of the Medical College how dangerous head wounds could be. ”No just about it. Are you dizzy? Headache? Flashing lights?” While his healing magic was powerful—more powerful than he’d ever possibly imagined it could be—that was no excuse not to be thorough. At her laughter and he gratitude, he shook his head. ”Don’t thank me. You got hurt because of me.” She seemed fine, however, and he stepped back and let his hand fall to his side.
I've been very hopeful so far
Now for the first time I think we're going wrong
Hurry up and tell me this is all a dream
Or could we start again, please?
”No. It can’t. But if you learned from it, and try not to repeat it that is what is important. We are human, making mistakes is part of what we do.” she said softly with a bit of a smile. Frey didn’t even hold grudges, and they were a god. But it seemed maybe Loren needed a taste of his own medicine. ”So it is your turn to repeat after me: I’ve made mistakes, but I will do better.” she said with a cheeky smirk at him.
Phoebe of course knew the danger of head injuries, but this was just a knock on the noggin, not something serious. ”No, no, I’m fine, I promise. I am tougher than I look.” she said with a small smile. ”It was just a small knock on the window sill, nothing serious. And your magic helped.” she said, clearly very much over the incident and holding no ill will or grudge for it.
But he continued to tear himself down over it, and she shook her head. ”Stop it. It really is okay. You didn’t mean for me to hit my head and were just trying to help.” she said with a small smile. She glanced over at Pim who was sniffing around, searching for these invisible wolves. ”I think Pim is much more upset than I am.” she said with a little laugh.
As Phoebe turned the tables on Loren, he could feel a little bit of his old mask creeping in. ”I’ve made mistakes, but I will do better.” He didn’t really need to believe it, but he sunk a great deal of conviction into his tone. The problem was, even though he kept trying to do better, every attempt he made failed. The healer didn’t need to know that, and the summoner was an expert at hiding his true feelings by now.
As she insisted she was fine, the Launceleyn held up his hands in defeat. ”Alright. If you’re sure.” He’d take her at her word, though he was still planning to keep an eye on her just to make sure she wasn’t acting tough for some weird reason. Not particularly wanting to argue about the incident any longer, Loren just gave Pim a chagrined look. ”Sorry Pim. Didn’t mean to startle you.” Once again, the summoner’s best efforts to do good backfired horribly. His eyes rose to the scorch marks on the stone, the visible reminder of his latest mistake.
I've been very hopeful so far
Now for the first time I think we're going wrong
Hurry up and tell me this is all a dream
Or could we start again, please?
Phoebe blinked in surprise. He said it with such ease right away it was…unbelievable. ”You flipped sides of the coin pretty quick.” she said dubiously. She of course didn’t know him well enough to know he could hide how he really felt with practiced ease, but she could surmise he was putting on an act with this one, if only to get off of the topic. ”Yes, I am sure. Thanks for the concern though.” she said with a small smile.
Pim clambered over, claws scratching against the hard floor, and made an irritated grumbling noise at him. Phoebe tilted her head to the side, trying to decipher from the pictures and emotions she was getting from the dragonling via their connection what was wrong with him. ”Oh!” she said, giggling a bit. ”He is confused about where the wolves went. He hasn’t really seen a lot of magic.” she said.
09-19-2019, 05:32 PM (This post was last modified: 09-19-2019, 05:33 PM by Loren.)
LOREN
”I’ve had a lot of good advice thrown at me recently, so I’ve gotten decent at knowing it when I hear it.” And Loren had even more practice throwing up and taking off facades. Partially, it was a function of nominally being a spy and having one for a father, but mostly the summoner had hidden who he was for so long that he’d developed personas for pretty much every situation. They still came in handy, it seemed.
As Pim came over to the healer, the dragon grumbling all the while, the Launceleyn smiled briefly, though it didn’t reach his eyes. ”He’s not the only one.” Strange as it was to someone who’d grown up in a family of mages—and who’d come from Northaven, where magic was much more common—summoning was an almost completely unknown art. Indeed, Loren seemed to be the strongest at that particular magic in the Hollowed Grounds, though from his encounter with the Fae he was pretty sure they had some who could challenge him.
He wasn't used to being the best at anything, and something about it bothered him.
