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!
Jiao was feeling uncomfortable, in a way she hadn't in a very long time. Since she'd begun to work on the Ark and make closer relationships, unable to hide away in her seamstress shop or behind a professional smile of the retail clerk, she had felt both the happiest she ever had and the most upset.
She wasn't even really sure why. This was a good thing, wasn't it? Yet still, her chest felt like someone had taken a whisk to it any time she spoke to one of her burgeoning friends.
Grumpy, she'd decided to hop off to the islands to float about for a bit and think, try and practice her flying. Bouncing from island to island (as long as they were small) she fluttered her wings, glad to find strength returning to the one that had been damaged in Halo. Flying up to a tree she drew back her foot, then just stopped short of kicking it, suddenly thinking better of it and not wanting crushed toes.
Clearly in a huff she floated slowly down to the island ground again, crossing her arms.
my whole life is mine, but whoever says so will deprive me,
for it is infinite.
Amun had visited most places in Torchline already. However, he hadn't had the opportunity to visit the islands that floated just off the coast. He'd heard many interesting rumors about them, and so finally decided to head over.
Besides, he needed a change of scenery while he still coped with Maea's death. His normally cheerful demeanor was gone, and grief was writ large on his features.
Cutlass strapped to his hip, he leaned over the railing of the fishing boat he was staying on. He'd managed to charm the owner into giving him a lift out there, on the promise that he'd help haul the catch onto the docks on the return trip. The portly older gentleman dropped the potter off before continuing further out to sea.
However, as he explored the small landmass, he swiftly discovered he was not alone. As the sight of a familiar winged woman greeted him, he raised his eyebrows. "Jiao? What're you doing here." Last he'd seen and heard, the Fae was firmly ensconced in Halo, though he'd seen her get blessed by that giant sea bird thing.
Jiao paused mid-air, flinching a little at the sudden call of her name, looking over to Amun. For a moment she didn't recognise him, then she did and a surprised but not displeased look came over her face. Flying to approach him she shrugged, twirling a little in the air. "I'm just spending some time here before going back to my job on a ship."
She considered just jumping away to get back to her very important frolicking around, but something made her stay; she asked: "...What are you doing here?"
my whole life is mine, but whoever says so will deprive me,
for it is infinite.
As Jiao flinched, Amun gave her a weak smile. It definitely didn't serve to make him look happy. "Sorry. Didn't mean to startle you." There was something dull about his voice. Indeed, his entire demeanor was muted.
Raising his eyebrows at her question, he shrugged. Walking forward, he moved in an arc around her, peering at the vegetation and the ground. It seemed more out of rote than out of any real curiosity. "Spending some time here before I go back to my job in a studio." His tone was inflectionless, and he didn't even bother looking at you.
Pausing in front of a bush that he'd never seen before he stared at it. "Want me to leave?" He didn't sound bothered or curious, just blank.
Jiao certainly noticed when Amun replied that there was something...off about his tone, something different from the last time she had spoken to him, where he had been one of the more fun humans she'd met, joking and showing her around the Citadel with ease. While she didn't know him well enough to be deeply concerned she did frown a little, confused about the change in the man.
He walked forward and she floated to hover by his side. Her wings had grown stronger recently and she was finding it easier to stay in place by the air. "Um..no, you don't have to." Still, it was feeling increasingly awkward as the moments passed.
Normally Jiao was not one for personal conversations, but Amun was so obviously down about something she thought it'd be more uncomfortable to not do it. "..What's wrong? You're all flat and sad."
my whole life is mine, but whoever says so will deprive me,
for it is infinite.
Nodding distractedly, Amun went to lean against a nearby tree. "Thanks." It came out in a distant tone, though he sounded at least a little grateful that Jiao hadn't asked him to leave.
Sighing, he shook his head sadly. "Someone very close to me died." For a moment, fluid threatened to spill from his eyes, as was shockingly common these days. However, he managed to stop it through sheer force of will.
He gestured vaguely in her direction. "How about you? You don't seem to be quite as vivacious as usual." Granted, they didn't know each other that well. Still, she'd lost that adventurous spark he'd seen in her, at least a little bit.
Luckily Amun didn't seem to mind her blunt assessment of his mood and apparently agreed with it as he went on to explain someone close to him had died. Jiao had thought she'd reached the limits of her uncomfortableness but found more as she froze a little, unsure of what to say about that. "Um. Sorry..er...who...?" Did people want asking who, when someone had died? She'd never had to mourn a death, Fae around her typically living for a very long time and sheltered within the Greatwood.
"Oh, I'm just getting used to living out here. Sometimes it's hard." She shrugged, feeling like her problems sounded trivial now in comparison and not wanting to spend too much time on them.
my whole life is mine, but whoever says so will deprive me,
for it is infinite.
At Jiao's awkward response to Amun's revelation, he sighed. "Her name was Maea." Smiling sadly, he glanced out towards the water that lapped at the shore nearby. "We considered each other family." For a moment, his grief was so raw that he was practically blinded to the world.
However, he was brought back to reality when she mentioned that she was going through struggling of her own. "What's hard about it?" There was something almost desperate about the way he asked it. Then again, pretty much anything was a distraction from the pain he felt about his non-blood sister's death. Indeed, focusing on someone else's troubles was a welcome escape.
"Maea..." Jiao repeated softly, trying to remember the name, but she couldn't recall; one of the many humans she'd heard of but never met then, she supposed. "How...how did she die? Do you want to say?" It was clear she was uncomfortable and unsure if this was appropriate to ask, but they'd started this conversation now and Jiao found she wanted very much for Amun's face to return to it's usual easy smirk.
A little alarmed by Amun's eagerness to learn of her problems she took a moment to answer, trying to suddenly find the words. "I guess...I'm just not used to being a part of something, you know? Back in the Greatwood I just kept to myself in my shop. I was never close to my family and I had friends, but...not proper ones. Not real ones." Uncomfortable she hugged herself and looked off as she said this, feeling guilty for it but knowing it was true. "Here I feel like I found somewhere I could be happy, but it just isn't clicking right. I dunno."
my whole life is mine, but whoever says so will deprive me,
for it is infinite.
Shrugging, Amun gave Jiao a sorrowful look. "Honestly? I have no idea." His hands clenched as another wave of grief and anger coursed through him. "I found out through a note, and it had no mention of what happened." It was clear how much that bothered him.
Shifting so he he could watch her more closely as she explained he hummed thoughtfully. There was no judgment in his gaze, just the same bleak expression he wore when he couldn't be bothered to pretend. "What do you think is preventing it from clicking?" The words were soft, said more out of politeness, as even the brief bought of curiosity and interest was fading rapidly.
"...Oh." Jiao frowned, thinking it very odd that Amun hadn't found out yet how his friend had died: when someone died in the Greatwood it was a big bit of news, the longer lifetimes of the Fae making it a rarer occasion. "...Can't you ask someone? Did she have other friends?"
Amun certainly sounded very interested indeed (not) in her problems, but Jiao wasn't going to turn down a chance to talk about them. "Um..I guess...I know that to be close to people I have to let them know me and I don't wanna do that cos they might not like it." She widened her eyes after she said this as if surprised by her own words, cursed her inability to tell a lie.
my whole life is mine, but whoever says so will deprive me,
for it is infinite.
Amun shook his head at Jiao's question. "I don't know. I don't know who was there, or who I'd even ask." For a moment, his hands clenched until he relaxed again, choosing to go entirely still, not even breathing.
Again, talking about someone else's troubles, even if they paled in comparison to his, was a welcome change. "Why wouldn't they like you? You're great." The compliment rolled off his tongue easily. Still, he gave her a confused look/ "And if they don't like you, or you don't feel comfortable opening up to them, fuck them and move on." He shrugged, not quite understanding what the problem was here.
"...Can't you find out? You gotta know at least someone who might know, right?" Of course, for all Jiao knew, Amun's friend might have been a lonely hermit with no other connections at all: but she didn't know how else to advise the man to continue. She certainly didn't have anything else up her figurative fashionable sleeve to comfort him with.
Smiling as he complimented her, Jiao flicked her hair as if taking the comment as a given, but her expression was genuine. "Thanks, but...I want to. That's the problem. I dunno. I think it's me, not them, but I don't know how to fix it." She shrugged. "Maybe I'll just get over it in time?"
04-17-2020, 06:59 PM (This post was last modified: 04-19-2020, 03:32 PM by Amun.)
my whole life is mine, but whoever says so will deprive me,
for it is infinite.
Amun sighed as Jiao insisted he could find out what had happened to Maea. "I could probably find out, yes. But that wouldn't bring her back. And I don't know if it would make me any less sad." Though he shrugged and was clear unhappy, he still gave the Fae a grateful look.
As she explained the problem further he nodded thoughtfully. "Then I think the only things for it are time and taking a risk. Sorry I can't give you better advice than that." He gave her an apologetic smile, though it faded swiftly. Scuffing one foot in the sandy ground, he found his gaze drawn to the horizon.
