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!
Fortunately for Loren and Jax, Pim was having a lovely nap next to Rhett, who absentmindedly scratched behind his horns, and Phoebe was engrossed in making a supper to feed a crowd and so missed the lowered volume of their voices amongst the din of cooking. But at his response, Jax’s eyes seemed to match the frown that curved his lips, sad and empathetic. ”What did you do?” he asked in a whisper still, glancing occasionally over towards the kitchen to make sure they wouldn’t be caught.
”Jax, we are not suppose to talk to people in time outs.” Cormac whispered dutifully to his brother. Jax looked between him and Loren, seeming to be torn about what to do. ”But he looks sad and hungry.” Jax whispered back to his brother, as if that alone was a perfectly good excuse. Cormac gave his brother a flat look though. ”He is in time outs, that is why he is sad.” Cormac whispered back, before looking back to his book.
Well. This was awkward. It wasn’t as if Loren hadn’t been around small children: he took care of Beatrix and Jace, and he’d helped raise his sister Astra (and Neron, though the summoner’s elder twin would never admit that). But Loren wasn’t quite sure how to interact with the sons of a woman he’d helped to arrest, who also happened to be nephews of a woman who hated the summoner. Tricky was an understatement.
It got even stranger when another one of the blonde-haired boys got involved. This was the non distinct one, but at least the Launceleyn now knew the chubby one was Jax. ”You should listen to your brother, Jax. But if you must know I said some very bad things.” That seemed like a safe thing to admit, because Loren knew he had. Would own up to it, even. Hopefully Jax wouldn’t ask what, though the summoner knew he wouldn't get that lucky. His voice still came out in that same barely audible whisper.
10-09-2019, 12:44 AM (This post was last modified: 10-09-2019, 12:56 AM by Phoebe.)
PHOEBE
Jax made a dramatic "ohhhhh" face when Loren revealed the naughty thing he had done. The boy reached out and gently patted his knee, as if to comfort the summoner. "It's okay. Sometimes the bad things just come out." he whispered. But he glanced back at his brother and shrugged a bit. "Cormac is just the biggest so he has tuh set a good eh-zample is all. That's what momma says." Jax whispered, clearly more concerned with the summoner's feelings than had brother's - not that Cormac seemed to care in the least.
The chubby little boy looked into the kitchen ar his aunt, sniffing the air as the smell of cooking food wafted through the clinic. A look of excitement crossed his features before he looked back at Loren. "If you say sorry real nice, Auntie will probably let you out of time-out early. She is very uhm....hold on...Rhett?" Jax whispered, turning to the boy with the glasses. "What's the word for uhm...being friends again when you say sorry?"
"Forgive." Rhett said quietly, not glancing away from his book for even a second.
Jax grinned and looked back at Loren. "That. Auntie is very forgiving."
This was as surreal a conversation as Loren had ever had, and he included that time Frey had him fuck himself. However, the three children talking to the Launceleyn as he waited to search their belongings for contraband topped even that for sheer confusion and strangeness. And it wasn’t helped by the fact that he had to whisper everything. ”Just because the bad things come out doesn’t mean it’s okay to say them.” Then Jax had to bring up Roana and the summoner needed to pause for a moment. ”Well that’s very admirable of Cormac. You can also set a good example, you know. I was never the biggest, but I tried to be good anyway.” In fact, as a child, it was all Loren wanted, even if the definition of good was probably far from what Roana had taught her sons.
And then the third boy (Rhett) was looped into the conversation for vocabulary help. ”Your Auntie is very forgiving, yes. But some things aren’t easily forgiven.” Maybe that wasn’t the best moral to impart to the boys, but it was important to teach them at some point. Moreover, Loren knew the healer wouldn’t forgive, even if he’d been ready and willing to ask for it, which he was pretty sure he wasn’t.
Jax grinned up at Loren, covering his mouth to suppress a few giggles. "Well yeah, that's why your in timeout." he whispered. He wasn't saying it was okay, just trying to make him feel better. He tilted his head at Loren's advice, considering quietly. "Me too! I give good hugs when people are sad and make cookies!" he whispered happily.
That something couldn't be easily forgiven by his aunt seemed to perplex the child. It just didn't seem like her, the happy lady who pretended to be the honeysuckle pricess for them to rescue when they played knights. "I bet she would though if you said it real nicely." he insisted in a whisper.
It was hard to argue with Jax’s comment about why Loren was in time-out, because he was lying about actually being in time-out. Indeed, he was here by choice and not actually banished by Phoebe. The giggles were odd, and his eyes flicked to Pim and the healer to make sure neither had noticed. Still, the longer the Launceleyn played along, the harder it would get to disabuse the chubby boy of the notion that the summoner had done something wrong. Given that he had, indeed, done some things wrong, he wasn’t even going to bother. ”I suppose you’re right.” He was still whispering, hoping only the boys noticed the conversation.
However, the next comment out of Jax’s mouth surprised Loren. This child couldn’t have been more than six or seven, and definitely not old enough to be baking cookies unsupervised. ”What kind of cookies? Do you have a favorite?” Maybe Roana let her sons think they were baking but was the one doing the actually difficult and dangerous parts. The Launceleyn obviously didn’t know how parents normally interacted with their kids.
Maybe the midwife would forgive the Launceleyn if he gave a sincere apology, maybe she wouldn’t. They’d never find out, since the summoner wasn’t going to do it. He wasn’t sure he was capable of mustering up the type of apology that would result in forgiveness. ”I don’t know that there are words that are nice enough.” That seemed like a safer thing to say than the truth. Great. Now Loren was lying to children.
10-09-2019, 02:14 PM (This post was last modified: 10-09-2019, 02:15 PM by Phoebe.)
PHOEBE
”Uhhhhmmmmmmmmmuhhhhhhhhh…” Jax hummed thoughtfully. ”All of them. Choc-et chips, peanut butter, smickendodole…” As Jax absolutely butchered the pronunciation of “snickerdoodle”, Rhett visibly winced before turning to look at him. ”Snickerdoodle.” Rhett corrected. ”Yeah, that’s what I said to him!” Jax huffed at him.
”No you didn’t.” Rhett argued.
”Yeahuh I did!” Jax argued back.
”Nuhuh.”
"Yeah – HUH!”
”Nuh-UH!”
Now the volume had risen enough for Phoebe to noticed and she came into the room, looking very stern. ”Boys!” she snapped with a sort of motherly tone that would make even a grown person straighten up. Jax and Rhett indeed went stick straight. ”What have I told you about shouting at each other?”
”It only hurts feelings and doesn’t fix anything.” the boys near recited, looking down bashfully. Phoebe nodded, pleased with the response. ”Now what happened?”
”Jax said snickerdoodle wrong, and I told him how, but he kept saying he said it right but he didn’t.” Rhett said quickly before his brother could get in his side, making Jax pout. As odd as that sentence may have been, clearly Phoebe had experience enough things similar to not be phased. ”Jax, did you mispronounce the word and get embarrassed?” she asked, getting a pouty nod from the boy. ”Well, there is no reason to be embarrassed. Snickerdoodle is a hard word to say.” she said, giving Rhett a look.
”I am sorry for embarrassing you. I was just trying to help.” Rhett said, equally bashfully. Then the look from Phoebe got turned back to Jax. ”It’s okay. I’m sorry for yelling at you.”
Once Rhett accepted the apology, she sent Jax back to the couch to continue reading. ”Sorry about that.” she said softly to Loren as she made to go back to the kitchen.
10-09-2019, 02:28 PM (This post was last modified: 10-09-2019, 02:28 PM by Loren.)
Well that escalated quickly. At least the boys were only fighting verbally; when Loren had sparred with his brothers (especially Neron) it had been with both physical and magical violence. This was tame in comparison. However, it was enough to bring Phoebe out of the kitchen to settle the children down. The summoner watched, eyes unreadable as the midwife straightened her nephews out and got everyone to apologize to everyone else. Except for the Launceleyn, of course: in fact, the healer said sorry to him. ”No need to apologize.” His voice came out in another whisper, and he watched as she went back to the kitchen before returning his gaze to the room, still standing in his corner.
Phoebe disagreed with that sentiment though. ”Of course there is. You are helping the queen who wants to take them from me.” she said softly as she walked passed him, stirring a pot on the stove. The last thing she wanted was a little spat between siblings – which was impossible to anticipate at certain points – to reflect on her poorly and get back to Wessex. And with Loren standing there staring at it all, as if looking for some sort of fault to report, she felt no sense of ease with the situation.
Her honeyed gaze glanced up at him before focusing back on her work. ”You really can sit down. They aren’t going anywhere and neither are their things.” she said, hoping he would sit to make her feel more comfortable at the very least.
Ah. Well, from that perspective, maybe Phoebe was right to apologize. However, seeing as Loren wanted the kids to stay with her, he wasn’t going to give Wessex anything less than a glowing report. ”I will tell the queen that you are an excellent caregiver. I told you I don’t want any harm to come to the boys, or any children.” The midwife probably wouldn’t believe him, but it was the truth. Moreover, in the grand scheme of things, this was a small disturbance. When the Launceleyn’s fought, they tended to literally blow things up.
At the healer’s request, he wavered. Standing here was starting to feel a bit silly, but he also didn’t want to impose or ruin the quiet scene before him. So instead, he compromised again. ”I really am fine standing.” However, instead of staying at a parade rest, he leaned against the walls behind him and slipped his hands in his pockets. Hopefully that was better.
She glanced over at him, a little warily, even as he assured her he would give the queen a glowing review of her capabilities. ”You also made clear you hold your duty above that.” she said softly with a little shrug. It was neither here nor there though; what was, was. The blonde worked quietly for a moment, popping a few things into the oven and setting a lid on the pot to simmer for a time. Phoebe wiped her hands on her apron before leaning back against the counter, crossing her arms as she looked over at him and the children in the room just beyond.
”They are sweet boys.” she said softly as she looked at them, a small frown on her face. They deserved better than this mess they were inheriting. She glanced over at him as he leaned against the wall, still refusing to sit. ”Restless legs, or are you just that uncomfortable here?” she asked.
Phoebe had him there. Of course, Loren had told her that looking through the boy’s belongings was a matter of public safety (which it was). However, while he knew that if Wessex ordered him to take the boys away from the midwife, the summoner would tell the queen to do it herself, consequences be damned, the healer didn’t know that. Didn’t know him. He held his morals above his duty, but he didn’t know of any way to convince her of that. ”My duty to the people of the Hollowed Grounds is more important than my duty to the queen.” Phoebe would probably just criticize him further, but he didn’t really need to explain himself to her.
They were sweet boys, but there didn’t seem to be any reason to respond to that. The midwife was probably just trying to butter the summoner up. Again, he was actually on her side in at least wanting her nephews stay with her, so she didn’t really need to convince him. However, her question caught him off guard. He regarded her, expression inscrutable. ”Why do you ask?” Honestly, he couldn’t figure out why she wasn’t just ignoring him.
Her head tilted slightly at him when he answered her. The people of the Hollowed Grounds, hm? ”Why?” she asked, curiously. ”Roana had a cousin that married into your family. She told me about how strict and duty bound the Launceleyn’s were…why not be free of duty to anyone but yourself for a while?” she asked him gently, her tone unaccusing but genuinely curious. She had never been bound by anything like his family apparently had been, so she wasn’t really certain what all that could do to a person. But it seemed curious to her that he wouldn’t take his freedom and run with it, rather than weighing himself down with the duty of a whole people again.
She looked at the ground as he answered her question with a question. ”In part because it makes me uncomfortable. You’re just…watching like a wolf over sheep. But I also don’t like the thought of anyone coming into my home and not being comfortable.” she said shrugging a little bit as she looked back over at him.
Roana probably knew the barest minimum about the Launceleyns: Loren’s family, other than him, were usually quite secretive and tended to both keep to themselves and keep the knowledge of what went on in the compound to themselves. However, Phoebe just seemed to know the outward facing part of his family’s legacy. People kept asking why he just fell back into old habits. None of them understood that he felt obligated to do so for a very good reason. ”I was free of duty and responsibility for a while. And while I was, a lot of people died, and many more were harmed.” Maybe if he’d been here, he could’ve prevented some of the tragedy. As it stood, he had to try to prevent as many new ones as he could.
It wasn’t really his job to put her at ease. However, he relented somewhat, and walked over to the most uncomfortable looking seat—though one that still had a good view of the place—and perched on it stiffly. ”Why does it bother you, the fact that someone might be uncomfortable in your home? Me especially. You don’t even like me.” He’d certainly made sure of that.
