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!
As twee as he found the whole concept sometimes, Adam did like the amount of festivals and gift-giving occasions Caido provided; it gave him a chance to party without having to put in that much effort, and to give and get gifts, something that he enjoyed a hell of a lot (though admittedly, gifts here tended to be a bit more wholesome than he was used to).
He walked up and down the market stalls, eyeing them up for anything he could use to put together a present. Perhaps buying (stealing) something was out of the spirit, but he had never been very good at arts, only knew crafts that a common farmer might and certainly couldn't make anything pretty.
By the end of his little shopping spree, he'd grabbed a couple of (likely glass) gems and a chain, thinking he could perhaps make a bracelet or necklace if he found a way to hook the gems onto it. Not that he really knew how to do that, but it was a nice idea. Coffee leaned down from his shoulder to glance at the rocks and he held them up, letting the dragon sniff at them. "No, I don't know what the hell I'm doing with 'em either."
Given Amun’s injury, he had been unable to really work for a living. Not that the potter did much actual work, but he still hadn't mastered his prosthetic, and he was increasingly worried that it would never happen. So he had resorted to older skills of his, charming things out of people (and taking them when they weren't looking as the case might be).
Which was why he was in the market, cloaked despite the heat, given the sun overhead. Not that the heat bothered him, but he did draw looks, most of which he ignored. Sadly, it was too much attention for him to pilfer anything, so he was just eying the wares at the moment as he strolled by.
However, a familiar voice spoke up nearby, and he angled himself towards it. Smirking at Adam’s comment, the Ascended sidled up to the other man. "I feel bad for your partner, then." Still, there was a slightly off quality to the Amun's teasing reply.
Hearing Amun's voice, Adam glanced up and snorted, shaking his head at the expected dirty joke. "Oh, I know what I'm doing with that. It's these--" He held out the gems towards Amun, turning his hand a little so they sparkled in the sunlight. "--That I'm unsure about. I'm trying to think of some gift to make for this midnight meeting thing."
Tilting his head, he looked the cloaked man up and down ,trying to work out what looked wrong. As he realised it was the heavy cloak itself, he remembered Amun was Ascended. "D'y'lot do the midnight gathering? Toothy guys, I mean? Ascended?"
At Adam’s response, Amun grinned wickedly, though it didn’t reach his eyes. ”Sureeeee you do. It's why you needed all that help to make your man feel special.” As the other man revealed the gems, the potter leaned forward to take a closer look. "Well, those are gems, though mostly fake ones. I guess you could make some costume jewelry." He shrugged.
However, when Adam asked about the Ascended and the midnight gathering, Amun raised his eyebrows. He wasn't particularly amused, though somewhere deep in his eyes the barest spark of mischief glittered. ”You lot? Toothy guys? Should I refer to your kind as something demeaning too?" There was something mocking about his tone, though it was subtle. "What midnight gathering?"
"Hey, fucking is fucking and romance is romance. Doesn't matter how good you are at either, don't necessarily mean you're a master at the other. ...Something tells me you don't do a right lot of romancing, though." Adam laughed, looking Amun up and down; it certainly seemed like the man was far more interested in physical matters than building any kind of relationship (not that this was really anything Adam could judge him for).
Costume jewellery. He wrinkled up his nose, not liking the sound of that at all, though his expression softened as he came up with a idea. "Wait, don't you make pots and shit? Can you show me how to make one I could put these into?"
It seemed he had caused some offence. "Call me and my fellow animal fuckers whatever you want, mate." Adam winked, holding out his arms and letting feathers grow along them. "Bird brain might be a good one." As for the gathering... "Well, I didn't go last year. Far as I know, though, basically everyone meets up at midnight and has a party and gives out gifts."
"And some people are bad at both fucking and romance." Amun tilted his head, and gave Adam an unimpressed look. There was something strangely muted about the potter's expression and voice. "I know you're bad at kissing, and at romance, so I wonder which one you are." The teasing was a little stilted, a little off.
Frowning, he gave the other man a confused look. "You want me to make a pot so you can put your fake jewels inside?" The Ascended waved his prosthetic. "I can show you, but I can't make it for you." His tone was shockingly matter-of-fact, without any hint of playfulness.
Shrugging, he crossed his arms. "After Fiat Lux, not sure how I feel about parties in the Hollowed Grounds." There was almost an angry edge to the words.
It seemed he had managed to piss Amun off, if the irritated undercurrent that ran through all of his words was anything to go by. Still, Adam wasn't one to leave just because he was annoying people; he would rarely stay anywhere if that were the case. "Well, if you think so. Fortunate Pet has a different opinion, huh?"
As for the pot, he shook his head. "No, no. I was thinking I could make something clay with the jewels like, y'know, included in the clay part. And cool, you could teach me! Could be fun and I'll pay you in uh...something. What d'ya want?" He doubted, given the vibes coming off Amun, that he would do it out of the kindness of his heart.
Though maybe it was just the horror of Fiat Lux weighing on Amun's mind; that Adam could sympathise with. "Yeah, I get what you mean...but...we can't never celebrate again. We need to get back to it before it becomes a big scary thing, right? 'Whenever we have a party it's gonna be a disaster' isn't any way to live."
Amun smirked, though there still wasn’t much animus behind it. ”Fortunate for you, certainly.” However, the potter very carefully refrained from saying if it was lucky for Adam's pet.
As the other man went on to explain what he'd been thinking of, the Ascended shrugged. "I can teach you to make clay settings for the jewels, yes. Or ceramic beads, which can be threaded on a string with the jewels to make a necklace or a bracelet. Or both." Seeing as it seemed they were heading to the studio, Amun started leading the way there. "If you split the jewelry with me for the party, we'll call it even."
He glanced at Adam. "Might be a good way to die though." With that, the potter turned his attention back to the path that led to his studio. "And I can celebrate without it being a party." He ducked and wove through the crowd, leading them to the much less crowded Domiciles.
Glad to have convinced Amun to be his teacher, Adam followed along, nodding. "Sure! If we need more I can always get some. Maybe jewellery would be cool...y'know, I don't think I've ever really done stuff with clay before." He'd never been an artistic soul, not really. He was talented in other areas, but when it came to drawing or inventing poetic words, he always fell short.
Though he couldn't keep up the easy smiles and chat if Amun was going to be so dour the whole time. "Man, what's twisting up your panties so much? You seem really goddamn tense. Is it just what happened at Fiat Lux...? Cos I mean...I get that." He really did. "If it's that, I have some stuff that might help you feel better for a while? Oh. Hmm..I'm not sure if it'd work for Ascended, actually..." He pondered as he followed Amun into the domiciles.
Nodding idly along with Adam's words, Amun focused mainly on getting them to the studio as quickly as possible. "Well, get ready, because you're about to be doing all the work." The words were as distracted as the potter's expression.
However, as the Attuned kept talking, the Ascended grinned suddenly and unexpectedly. There was something downright predatory about the expression. ”Tell you what. Why don’t you go and lose your dominant hand and find yourself suddenly unable to perform basically any task that you actually want to do. Then you come back to me and see if you’d be acting so cheerful.” The smile slipped away as he pushed open the doors to his studio. Making his way to the corner, shucking off his cloak as he did, he snagged an apron and tossed it at the other man without looking.
Adam didn't really understand Amun's quip and didn't until the man's outburst, at which point he stayed in the doorway of the studio, holding onto the doorframe with a surprised look on his face, eyes flicking down to look at Amun's hands now that the man had removed his cloak. "Oh...fuck, man." He said, words awkward in the quiet tension that remained in the room.
"...How'd that happen, then?" He asked, taking a step in. "Isn't your Goddess mum meant to be really good at making new bits and fixing things? Can't you go ask her for something?" Adam didn't know much, but he knew Rexanna had found herself a new pair of eyes; surely a hand for Amun wouldn't be too big of an ask.
Expression having slipped into something dull, Amun shrugged at Adam’s question. ”It got crushed at Fiat Lux. And getting caught up in everything with the Temple probably didn’t help. It became clear that it wasn’t healing, so I dealt with it.” The potter’s tone was low.
”Wow, what a good idea! If only I had thought of it.” The sarcasm was palpable as the Ascended rolled his eyes. ”Oh wait. I did." He paused, eyes glittering. "She didn’t answer.”
Pointing at the apron, which the other man had completely failed to catch, Amun raised his eyebrows. "So. If you want to get to work on jewelry, put that on, wet your hands in the water bucket, then come to the workstation." Workstation was a generous name for a table with some unworked clay on it, but it would have to do. Hopefully Adam would get to work while the potter cut a few lumps off clay off of a larger block.
"Eurgh, rough. Still, you don't feel pain though, do you?" Sure, it sucked having a hand out of commission, but Adam was sure it would eventually get fixed one way or another; if Amun could miss out on the pain, he didn't think it was all that bad. After all, there were people hurt much worse after Fiat Lux, Amalia being the obvious example.
He was really beginning to have enough of Amun's attitude. Turned out when the guy wasn't being overly sexy at every moment, he was being incredibly petty. Still, finding out that The Voice hadn't responded...it surprised Adam enough that he forgot to be grumpy about the sarcasm. "Oof. Savage. Did you do something to piss her off, then? I thought she was meant to be all into the family thing." It was clear Amun was already pissy, so Adam didn't really care if he continued to be now; he may as well ask what he wanted.
Though, to be fair, the guy was showing him how to make jewellery...Adam had never been very good at staying mean, unless he really had something to be mad about. "You know what? Sorry, actually, that was a dick question. You don't have to talk about it if you don't wanna. Y'know, there's some guys in the market that'd probably make you a splint or something." Adam bent down to take the apron he had previously missed (oops lol) and tied it around his waist, going to wet his hands as instructed, then walked towards the clay, excitedly poking it to make a dent.
Amun rolled his eyes. ”No, I don't feel pain. But that doesn’t mean I like not being able to do things. How would you feel if someone chopped off your right hand, even if you couldn’t feel anything?” The anger had drained away, leaving annoyance, but he was mostly just tired of Adam acting like this was no big deal and that the potter was just whining for no reason.
Sure he was whining, but he thought he had a pretty fucking good reason to do so.
Shrugging, he leaned against the wall by the workstation. ”Besides failing to save the Temple? I can’t think of anything, but again, hard to know when she won’t answer.” The words didn’t come out annoyed or angry, just with a matter of fact tone.
Holding up the prosthetic for the other man to look at, the Ascended waved it in the air vaguely. As Adam went to poke at the clay, Amun dropped his arm to his side. ”Roll it around a bit, so its all wet and loosened. Then decide what type of jewelry you want to make.” Crossing his arms, he waited patiently.
