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 had been some time since Lucas had met with the man who had shot him - and strange though it was to believe it, he still didn't feel any particular ill will about it. Hells, it had been funny if he thought about it long enough. But he wasn't thinking about it now. He was thinking about Adam though, but more in a way that he thought the other man could be useful.
Obviously he hadn't found his beloved wherever-the-fuck he had wanted to go, and so that made him relatively easy to track down. Through word of mouth and verbal requests at the Rathskeller to send the ex-highwayman Lucas's way when he could next find the time, it was the Ascended's least favourite game. The waiting game.
So he sat comfortably in an armchair in his home, a book in hand that he needed no light to read by. It would almost appear as if he wasn't home. And unless Adam walked in, it would stay that way.
Adam would be dead before he admitted it, but he was very glad to hear Lucas was looking for him. As he had been when he had had to go to Ludo's shrine; it was a promise of a purpose, something to do. Something to start that might not be over in ten minutes.
...Though, it could be that Lucas wanted a hook up, or to beat him up finally for shooting him. He hoped it was something a bit more interesting.
Finding the house took a little bit of work (mostly because he was always a little bit drunk, especially now Ludo had given him the horn of enabling) but when he did Adam knocked heavily with the side of his fist before opening the door and sticking his head in. "Hey! I was told I was wanted in here? Not really surprising given you know, I'm me, but--...shit, it's dark in here. Light a candle, man."
"And risk setting fire to myself? Aren't you a demanding one?" Lucas's grin was audible, luckily, and the Ascended put down his book and rose to his feet. Moments later a blond head would appear, a match held up which he used to light a few candles on the table. "Better, snowflake?" He laughed, arching an eyebrow at Adam and not bothering to hide his judgement: worse for wear and drunk.
"Take a seat," he invited, making it sound like a demand somehow. "Did you end up getting where you needed to go, in the end?" He already knew the answer, as evidenced by Adam's still being here. But he wanted to hear it from the man himself.
"Aren't you really the snowflake, if a bit of light's gonna melt you?" Adam asked, but was glad for the candles, finally able to actually see Lucas and gauge him, work out what exactly he was here for. The other man was laughing at him (which grated on him a bit, but he could handle that) which meant he was likely not pissed off; it didn't have enough venom in it.
He sat, tossing an arm over the back of his chair. "It's pretty fucking obvious I didn't if I'm still in this shithole, right?" Not that it was for lack of trying, his first attempt leaving the forest putting him right into a pit where he'd been bored and hungry for a week. He wouldn't tell that to Lucas though, not yet, not until he knew if the other man was on the lookout for blackmail.
"So is this a hook up or a deal, or what?" Adam asked, resting his booted feet on the table.
"You know what I meant." Lucas tsked the other man and rolled his eyes indulgently. He was in the mood for a few of Adam's verbal games, hoping that while he was at it he might cultivate something more than some interesting conversation. Sitting as well to join the ex-highwayman, Lucas barked out a laugh at his comment and shrugged his shoulders. "How was I to know that this shithole didn't just grow on you like it has done with a bunch of the other sheep?"
Not that Adam seemed that type, as proven by the refreshing candidness of his next comment. "A deal, mostly, a hookup if you fancy it," he drawled, before flicking open the book he'd been reading again and pushing it across the table to Adam. "What do you make of that?". It looked as though it was a book from the Atheneum, detailing previous leaders in the Hollowed Grounds and so on.
"I mean, it's alright sometimes, but I had a goddamn life I got plucked outta for no reason." Adam complained, making a face. He'd begun to forget a lot of the things he'd been doing back in his world, had lost memories of faces and names. It was frightening, the way he felt himself slipping away from his 27 years on the road.
The mentioned hook up brightened his spirits somewhat; sex was always a pick-me-up. What decidedly did not lift them was Lucas suddenly thrusting a book before his face, Adam feeling hot creeping embarrassment in his chest before he'd even laid eyes on the meaningless scribbles.
He scanned the page for any of the few words he knew, not because he knew the letters but because he could recognise the shape. Inn, Gun, Adam, Town, Invitation. None of them were there, and he stared blankly for a moment before forcing a fake smile.
"I think its fucking boring. Why don't you tell me just what I'm looking at?" He said, with enough sass to come off as obnoxious rather than clueless.
Adam watched the book and Lucas watched Adam; watched the ricochet of expressions that danced across his face, the seeming nothingness that came from his examination of the book. It wasn't enough, of course, to hint to him that anything was off. Not right now, at least. "You and me both," he grumbled regarding having a live to live prior to being dropped in this place. Taking the book back, Lucas flicked through it and set it down again.
"You're looking at a list - a short, stupid list - of the leaders that the Hollowed Grounds has seen come and go in the past three hundred years. Surprise surprise - there is no leader currently." He arched an eyebrow at Adam. "Until now."
Adam could have almost sighed in relief when Lucas gave a full explanation for what the letters before him were, but he didn't of course. Instead he just nodded and smiled as if he'd known but had been asking rhetorically. When he looked at the list he supposed it could be names, though if asked he'd struggle to put voice to any of them.
His attention was taken from the book with Lucas' last words. 'Until Now.' A grin began to form on Adam's face, at first just a small smile but quickly it grew, cocky and pleased. "Oohhh. I get it now. So you need someone handsome, cool. Sexy. Leader...y. To be in charge, right? So that's why you got me here."
Folding his arms and raising his eyebrows, he tilted his head with a smirk. "You made a good choice."
Lucas could have interjected at any point upon realising that Adam had completely grasped the wrong end of what he was suggesting. But he didn't - it was far more amusing this way, the Ascended folding his arms across his chest and arching an eyebrow, grinning right along with the ex-highwayman. "Sure," he agreed. "I mean, why not? You've only accidentally shot one person with that pea-shooter of yours, and your manners are impeccable."
Snorting, he barked out a laugh. "I was rather going to ask if you would be a part of my cabinet, when I decide to lay this whole wretched place to waste."
When Lucas said 'sure', Adam felt his heart soar for a second before it was ripped down by the clear sarcasm that followed. He crossed his arms and huffed a little, irritated that Lucas didn't see his clear potential. What was a bit of a shooting and a few swear words? He was still fully competent.
...Mostly competent.
...Some what competent.
At the word 'cabinet' he frowned further, not sure what that meant. Some kind of innuendo, maybe...? Was Lucas wanting to put his 'crockery' into Adam's 'cabinet'...? No, that seemed convoluted. But from the context, it seemed Lucas was asking him to be a part of a team. His initial reaction to this was negative, as he'd always been more of a lone hero, but...he was desperate for a purpose here.
"So...you're gonna be a leader who's gonna...lay the place to waste? No like, schools or uh...infrastructure or nothing?" He raised an eyebrow. "And what do you need me to do?"
"Listen, sometimes you have to tear a place down before you can rebuild it properly," Lucas said with an imperious wave of his hand, the Ascended flashing Adam a fanged smile through the candlelight. "And when we do rebuild it properly, I had you in mind as a Master of Coin," he drawled, arching an eyebrow.
"I have the distinct impression that you would be very good at finding and keeping tabs on trade and money, if you put your mind to it." And if Lucas had his way then Adam most certainly would put his mind to it. Even if he had to do some convincing rather than laying to waste.
06-14-2019, 08:21 PM (This post was last modified: 06-14-2019, 08:21 PM by Adam.)
ADAM
it's not a cry for help,
it's just a cry for connection.
Adam wasn't really sure if he agreed with the statement, but he admittedly didn't have much experience in destroying and building governments. Lucas did seem like he was being a bit of a drama queen about the whole thing, but...Suddenly, the second half of the words caught up to him. Master of coin?!
Immediately 3 things came to mind.
1. He liked coin a lot.
2. There weren't any coins in Caido.
3. He couldn't read, which would be an issue if Lucas found out.
He thought it over for a moment then nodded and smiled. "I bet that impression's right, but I got a couple questions. I guess y'know there isn't actually any cash here, right? People just give their shit away for free. And...who else have you got in this operation?"
Deep in the back of his mind, Lucas had always known that Adam was never going to say no to the prospect of riches, even if he was quite right in that there wasn't actually any money in the Hollowed Grounds currently. "Currency can be made. And if not, we can always just make a trading system more befitting of the society we want to build," he said, an all too feline smile spreading across his face.
"Who else? Edrei Launceleyn is my Master of War thus far, and I have someone in mind who might make a good spy... if all goes well, you'll meet him soon." He arched an eyebrow, as if to ask Adam if that was sufficient.
Lucas said currency can be made with such confidence that Adam almost believed him, but he knew the process would not be as easy as the man wanted him to believe. You could make the currency, sure, but getting people to actually use it..? Well, that was another thing entirely. He knew if some random guy came up to him and told him a circle of metal was worth something now, he wouldn't want to agree unless he had a lot of them already.
"Edrei..oh, the fire." He nodded, as if this made perfect sense. "Yeah, I can see why that's your fit...okay, so...when is this all kicking off, if you do it? And uh..." Adam chewed at his lip and looked to the corner of the room, intensely embarrassed at himself that he wanted to ask this. "If I agree, can you promise protection on someone? That he won't get hurt in alla this?"
