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!
Now that there wasn’t snow everywhere, Amun had decided it was past time he set up his pottery studio. Granted, now there was mud everywhere, but at least that would be easier for the non-Ascended to cope with. He finally decided that it would be best if the studio could double as his home; that would reduce the amount of work he would have to do and get him out of Wessex’s house. She was nice and all, but he figured it would be best to stand on his own two feet.
So he’d first dragged all the construction supplies over from the Temple that they’d used to fortify the place for LongnNight, since hey, he figured no one else was using them at the moment. Then he’d posted a notice for people to meet him after sundown at a building near the Artist’s Sanctuary. It had outlined that he was hoping to build his pottery studio, and that he’d be happy to discuss commissions or other offers in exchange for the assistance.
Now he was just waiting, leaning against the doorway, an easy grin on his face. Hopefully people would show up before too long. In the meantime, he whistled a sea shanty and watched the moon and the stars above.
PQ for setting up Amun's pottery studio. No limit on participants.
Helping out people was something Oliver enjoyed doing, especially when it came to...particular individuals. He liked spending time with those who made him feel happy or at least acknowledged his existence. Plus, Oliver had discovered that he wanted to spend time with people, especially after the events of LongNight. He despised laying around, wasting away. So when he saw the message on the Notice Board, well, he didn't see a reason to not go.
It took him a bit of navigating to actually arrive to the location, but the moment he saw the familiar figure in the door: Oliver knew he had found the correct place. With a faint smile on his face, Oliver approached the building, calling out to the fanged individual. "Heard you needed some help?" Nobody else had arrived quite yet, allowing him to hopefully be able to talk with Amun a small bit. "Never seen a pottery studio, but I'll try my best to be as helpful as possible."
Night time was considered a more haunted time. It was dark and scary and people’s senses were limited. But really, it was no more active with the dead than any other time – it was just easier for the average person to perceive her father’s realm when their other senses were dampened. Of course, even that was very limited in comparison to what she could do. One’s instinctual sense of not being alone was far different than being able to see the imprint of death on the land and carry a conversation with it.
And yet, here she was, roaming the streets in the dead of night, curious what she might find without the hustle and bustle of the day to distract her. As she did so, she noticed a familiar form standing in a doorway. It was oddly late for the average person to be out still, and so she decided to investigate. ”Building something in the middle of the night?” she said softly, glancing at all the man she had met on the bridge had gathered.
Amun grinned when he saw Oliver approaching. ”Help is always welcome, Blondie.” Then the potter chuckled. ”Don’t worry. I’ll guide you through it." When Delphia arrived, though, the Ascended’s eyebrows rose. ”Building something in the dead of night, yes. Wasn’t expecting to see you here, Smokey.” His tone was inscrutable, but before long he chuckled, the sound dark and low. ”Well, the more the merrier, I always say.” He winked at the woman before turning to them both.
”Thanks for coming.” Gesturing at the ruined building behind him, he grinned. ”It’s a bit of a fixer-upper, but it’s got potential.” Then the normally easy-going Amun got a little bit more serious. ”Unfortunately it’s going to take a lot of work. We’ll need to rebuild the outside, clean up the inside, and build a potter’s wheel and a kiln.” He paused to let that sink in. ”The kiln will probably take all of us working together, so let’s start with the first three.” Grinning at both of them, the Ascended pointed at the pile of building supplies, then waited to see what they’d choose.
There are three tasks to begin with: rebuilding the outside, cleaning up the inside, and building a potter’s wheel. Please post which task you’re taking care of at the bottom of your next post. No post order!
Delphia shrugged slightly at his comment. "I am wherever there are dead." she said simply, pale eyes seemingly distracted by a number of things that weren't obvious to anyone but her. Not that it mattered terribly much. He seemed to have a few specific tasks that needed to be carried out. Of the three, there was on she was confident she could do. "I can cleanse the inside." she said softly, stepping passed the man and into the structure.
Of course, her idea of cleaning and his were likely very different.
She paused in the middle of the room, looking at all the dust and cobwebs and whatever else was dirtying the place, but what she saw was the residual energy within. Little corners were the most basic of spirits had taken hold, heavy and dark, out of place and unsociable. This would be an easy task to resolve. From the pocket of her cloak she pulled out a bundle of sage and a flint striker, lighting it so it smoked more than burned, wafting the herbal smoke about the room.
"Hopefully we can get your studio up and running soon. I'd love to see what you can make." Especially when Oliver knew how great and talented Amun's hands were. Oliver half expected it to just be him and Amun tonight. Maybe a couple of ascendeds would arrive, but nobody else. However, he was soon proven wrong when someone else actually did arrive. Amun seemed familiar with the girl, using yet another nickname for her. The man never seemed to lack nicknames, no matter how simplistic they may seem at times. It was nice to have unique nicknames, even if his was just based on his hair.
Turning to look back at Amun, Oliver was surprised to see a brand new serious side of the fanged individual. He took charge and had a clear plan set out. Oliver would've chosen to clean up, but soon that task was taken by the other person. Not wanting to start any arguments, Oliver settled on the next easiest thing. "Guess I'll work on rebuilding the outside? I have absolutely no idea how a potter's wheel works, so probably best that I not mess with that." Rebuilding would be hard, absolutely, but he was still going to try his best.
With that, work had begun. He gathered up some of the materials and made his way over to one of the most obvious problem spots. Removing away some of the broken pieces of the stone, he grabbed some of the cement like material and laid it out using a flat blade type object. Then, he placed in some new material to fill in the gaps. Hopefully he was doing this right...hopefully.
Oliver has chosen to repair the outside! He starts by removing away some broken pieces and replacing it with brand new ones.
Amun gave Delphia an unimpressed look, then shrugged, before nodding as she agreed to work on the inside. Turning to Oliver, the Ascended smirked. ”Hopefully. And that works for me.” With that, the potter retrieved a few likely pieces of wood, a saw, and a hammer and nails before retreating inside.
Where he was confronted by the sight of the daughter of Mort doing something. ”Hey, I know your nickname is Smokey and all, but the idea was to clean up, not make it dirtier.” Dumping the pile of supplies he lugged in, he pointed at the dust and the dirt and the broken pieces. ”Mind taking care of the physical mess?” He winked at her. ”Not that I mind getting messy, but for the shop I’m trying to keep it clean.” Waggling his eyebrows, his voice came out cheerfully enough.
Then he bent down and retrieved a few boards and the saw. Striding over to the corner, he placed two boards on the ground, then one on top of them, making an H shape. He hammered the one on top into the ones on the ground, then placed a second board to close off the top of the H, which got hammered in as well. Then he got three more boards. Two were placed upright on the ends, then next to the board in the middle, placing it in the center of the frame. He eyed them, then attempted to saw them until they were the same height. Unfortunately, he misjudged, and the one in the middle was too short.
Sighing, he went to grab another board. This time, his sawing was more precise. Sadly, when he went to hammer them in, the one in the center and the top left cracked, the old and broken wood not standing up to the force. Sighing, he went back to repeat the process.
Outside, unseen to Amun, Blondie was hard at work. Unfortunately for the other man, the mud wasn’t going to make it easy: it slowly oozed out of the spots where Oliver was placing the new stones, carrying the new construction with them with a series of soft thumps.
Delphia blinked and looked back at Amun as he spoke to her, clearly not pleased with the work she was doing. ”I am cleansing the inside.” she said, shrugging a bit. But if he wanted to have unhappy spirits crowding his shop, that was his prerogative she supposed.
She carefully put out the sage with a little piece of treated leather, folding it up before pocketing the herbal bundle again. Then she set to picking things up, sweeping up broken bits of things and cobwebs and dust, shoving it all out the door where the wind could easily take it and distribute it where nature could put it all to much better use.
Things were...really not going great, not at all in the slightest. Oliver had started to really regret taking this up as an option. Really, he had wanted to clean the inside, but someone else already took it and at first, he thought repairing the building was going to be easy: he was fucking wrong. Very wrong. This task had proven to be extremely hard.
The stuff he had been using to hopefully attach the stone hadn't worked and was even starting to get everywhere, even on his shoes! Fucking great. Oliver just loved mud and mud related things. Just so much. It was gross. So gross. Mud is gross. You know what's not gross? Amun. Yeah...he's not gross. But dammit. he was going to need some new shoes! or find a way to get the nasty stuff off of it.
With a sigh, Oliver realized he'd have to start over. He removed the stoned and worked towards removing any excess mud. With that he started back over. This time, he attached the material to the stone and its sided before placing it in very carefully. he put down a small bit of pressure, hoping his new method was working. If it did work: he'd continue on. If not? Well, he was an idiot who couldn't build.
Oliver tries a new method to get the stones to work. He is very unhappy.
Delphia, thankfully, started cleaning up properly and Amun gave her an approving nod, a brilliant smile, and a wink for her efforts. This time, Oliver’s much more cautious building techniques would work out, and the stones would stay in place. For the Ascended’s part, he was still hard at work on the wheel. He placed another board on top of the two upright ones and hammered it in. Then he laid another one so that it was supported by the upright board in the middle and the plank he’d just secured.
The end of this latest board jutted out to the bottom of the frame. Taking a knife, he picked up a wooden pole that he’d scrounged up for just this purpose. Placing the pole on the end of the board, the potter carved a circle into the wood around the circumference of the pole. Then he carefully cut a hole into the plank.
Settling the knife aside, he picked up a sheet of wood. He carved three perfect circles into it, then three discs of wood. He used the pole to to put a hole in two of the discs, then slid the pole through it. Lashing it to the disc with a length of cord, he hammered the disc that had no hole onto the one, then stood up.
”Could I get both of your help over here.” Walking over to the frame, he stood, unused disc and cord in one hand, pole in the other. ”I’m going to slide this through the hole in the frame. Could one of you hold the final disc steady at the bottom while the other lashes it to the pole? I need the disc to be flat and off the ground.” He held out the disc and the cord to whoever was doing each task, before sliding the end of the pole into the frame.
No post order! Whoever posts nexts will steady the disc and the other person will secure it.
Thank the gods! Maybe they actually did listen to him, because soon things were actually working out! Yeah, he'd have to clean his shoes, but the stones were sticking! Using this same method, Oliver managed to finish up with all of the repairs. Soon, the building looked brand new- er- newer. It looked far more inviting in the blonde's eyes, very professional. Hopefully the rest of the tasks would be finished up with ease and they'd be able to get the shop up and running quickly.
Returning back to Amun, Oliver was a bit surprised that he would need help with the wheel. Thankfully, the Ascended was able to explain everything that they needed to do. With a nod, Oliver took the disk from Amun. Following the orders as best as he could, he manured the disk to where it was needed and squatted. It wasn't the most comfortable of ways to position himself, but it'd work with the task they had. Holding the disk in place, he turned to look up at Amun and gave the man a nod, ready for them to finish up with the tasks. Hopefully he was doing this right. It'd be really shitty if it turned out for him to royally fuck up something as important as a pottery wheel.
Delphia managed to make quick work of the cleaning of the shop - though she did try to urge the little spirits to find a new home. Whispering to corners might look odd to others but it was very commonplace for her. But her whispering was interrupted by Amun calling her and the othet fellow over. Her head tilted slightly as he explained, nodding after a moment. Straightforward enough.
She took the cord from Amun, and once the disk and pole were in place, she worked quickly to tie the pieces together as needed.
Thankfully, their efforts managed to succeed. Stepping back, Amun nodded in approval. "Thanks. You can let go now." Assuming they did so, he'd kick at the bottom disc and watch with satisfaction as it spun the top disc with it. "That'll do." Turning to the two of them, he gave them his most winning smile. "Thanks Smokey, for the cleaning." Turning to Oliver, the Ascended winked. "And thanks for getting dirty for me, Blondie."
Then the potter let out a chuckle. "No offense, though, I think I'll leave the kiln to an expert. I can finish up around here for now." Grinning broadly, he dragged a chair he'd salvaged over and plunked it down by the wheel. Then he got a bit of paint and a large unbroken rectangular piece of wood. Dipping his fingers in it, he traced two words, one above the other, slightly offset let's assume this is correct because the writer is shit at coding:
Potter's
Play
Stepping back, he admired his handiwork. Then he hammered it onto a post, walked outside, and planted it in the muddy ground. Placing his hands on his hips, he grinned at the sight.
This PQ is now concluded! Feel free to do a wrap-up post.
Releasing the disk, Oliver watched as Amun finished off the last bit of the job, checking to make sure it was functional. Actually completing his work earned a small smile from Oliver as he actually felt like he had done something really great and useful. He'd be able to help Amun's life and that was great. He laughed a bit at the comment from Amun, "No problem, Fangs." Was it okay for him to use such a nickname with him? Oliver wasn't the time to normally use nicknames like that, not at all, but it felt right in the moment.
Standing back up, Oliver chose to wait around for just a small bit more, to watch Amun finish off the sign. Hopefully the ascended wouldn't mind. "I know it's late, but I'm free if you want me to stay around? I could try to help you out with some stuff in the shop." If not, then he'd be fine with leaving and simply going to sleep.
