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!
"Alright then, he's an asshole for breaking his word." Remi agreed. "You're still a naive idiot for going through with it in the first place. Lashing out just to make someone else hurt? Grow up, Phoebe." For all the venom his words held, he wasn't actually cross with the midwife, he simply didn't have the energy to care or coddle her for a mess she'd made herself.
Tsking a touch at that, Remi turned his haze up towards the sky and frowned. "I did used to care, yes. Then Aoife died and everything changed. I won't be shackled to your memory of me just because it makes you sad. You can either accept who and what I am now, or not." That was the long and short of it. Remi wasn't making excuses for who he was now, wasn't trying to justify it. He was farther from perfect than he'd ever been, but it was also where he was in life and gods if he wasn't exhausted from fitting himself into the ideals of those around him.
Phoebe could take him or leave him with no hard feelings, but his days of pretending to care and be kind were long since over.
Coding base by Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
"I know. I'm working on it." she said quietly. And she was, in a roundabout way. She accepted the things she had done wrong, and unlike Jata, she didn't try to hide them. All she could do was move forward, and try not to repeat her mistakes. Making friends with talking cats and keeping humans at a distance was one of those precautionary steps.
"Who and what are you then?" she asked, looking at him through narrowed eyes. "The care I felt for you was always unconditional, and still is. I would call you a friend in a heartbeat. But that isn't want you want, is it?" she asked, tilting her head. At any rate it didn't seem like it was what he wanted. He seemed to want her to stay at arms reach if not farther, to not care as much as he didn't care. Try as she might though, it simply wasn't in her. Caring is what she did. It was who she was at a core level. And though she had shattered more times in the last year than she could count, that had always been the first piece to be sewn back together again.
The alchemist shrugged again, flicking his hands out in a tada gesture. "What you see is what you get."
Considering her silently for a moment, sea-glass eyes narrowed thoughtfully, Remi eventually huffed out a sigh. "You can call me whatever you like, Phoebe. I'll even be your friend, but that doesn't mean you get to decide what that means for me any longer. It doesn't mean I'll silently stand by, watching you make a fool of yourself. That I won't call you an idiot when you're being one. Ronin is the only one who has my full allegiance and love now. He will always come before anyone else." Opening his palms in a gesture of earnestness, the alchemist tilted his head slightly. "If you can agree to that, then we can be friends. But if you want more than that, someone always available for you, always sympathetic and kind, someone always willing to put you first, that isn't me. Not anymore."
Coding base by Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Phoebe fell silent, holding his gaze as he spoke. There were no tears, no signs of emotion, nothing terribly indicative of the Phoebe he had once known. "I can agree with that." she said at length, voice quiet but steady. The things he said he wouldn't be...she wasn't sure she wanted that anyways. It sounded like pretty white lies, the same sort she had been telling herself all along. Fairytales and happy endings...and they simply didn't exist. Not now. Not ever.
"I'm tired of people blowing sunshine up my skirt anyways. Honesty...it's far more valuable and far more difficult to find." she said, venturing to smile just the tiniest bit. It was hardly a change in expression compared to the sunny bright smiles she used to wear, but it was something. "So...friends then?"
"Friends." The alchemist agreed with a nod, and the ghost of a smile.
"So...a cat then. You know you could just become an attuned and have all the animals at your beck and call." After a time and some levelling anyways. "Compelling them and forcing them to be your friend. That sounds healthy, right?" Remi smirked a touch at this, sitting up and looking at the Hel still awkwardly bound at Phoebe's feet.
Coding base by Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
It was a turn of events she had not expected but...it was nice. Comforting even. Perhaps things weren't the way they used to be, and more than likely they probably shouldn't have been anyways, but it was something. A small glimmer that maybe someday they would both come out on the other side of whatever all of this was and be okay.
"Completely changing my physical being just to have a bunch of friends? Sounds like the old Phoebe to me." she said with a mirthless laugh. "No, I think just a talking cat. Then I will have a dragon to maul and electrocute people I don't like and a cat to make snarky comments about them." she said with a smirk.
"Honestly, being able to change your physical appearance does more than get you friends." The alchemist said with a chuckle. "But suit yourself." And he knew she would. Phoebe had held out longer than anyone else he'd known, in being an accepted.
Standing up with an exaggerated stretch that caused his neck to crack, Remi folded his arms comfortably across his chest. "So how goes the clinic and college and such?"
Coding base by Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
"I'm sure it does." she said with a hint of a laugh, but clearly her mind wasn't changed. Becoming Attuned...it wasn't that she was against it per se, but she just didn't feel the need. It wasn't very often when she thought that being an animal would somehow make her life easier. There was nothing quite like having opposable thumbs when trying to tie up a stitch after all.
Phoebe sighed and shook her head, looking down at the basket that held the Hel as she secured it closed. "The clinic is fine. Unless men and women swear each other off for good, there will always be pregnant women and babies to attend to." she said with a bit of a shrug. It was one of the more reliable things in nature - those with the urge to procreate (especially with Frey around) - so that line of work would always have a natural flow. "But...the College has become more of a one person endeavor. I'm not even sure it is worth keeping it open to be honest."
The alchemist merely rolled his shoulders and shrugged. "You don't know what you're missing." But what of it? Remi didn't know what he was missing with regards to loads of things, and he thought he was just fine.
At Phoebe's explanation of the college, the alchemist could only snort. "Phoebe, you opened up an academic institution for a people who, for the last three hundred years, hadn't been able to leave their little bubble. Did you suddenly think they'd all want to become scholars? That they'd leave their farms and blacksmith hovels to try and better themselves?" He clucked his tongue a touch disapprovingly at that. "No of course not. They want to run off and play hero. Those who have magic will themselves to learn to heal if they care about it, and those who don't rely on the abandoned or the unicorns around."
Coding base by Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Phoebe was quiet as he chided her, and though she seemed to simply let it roll off her back, she took the criticism to heart. And for a moment after she remained silent, staring at her pink dragon who blinked up at her. "No. I didn't expect that. Not really anyways." It had been clear from the moment she opened the college that no one cared about it. It had become increasingly clear when she alerted people to what ended up being the real cause of the blight and no one listened. But had that ever really been what she was after?
No. Not if she was being honest with herself.
"It just...gave me something to do. Something to focus on besides my life being a mess. Gave me a sense of purpose." she said, shrugging as she reached out to pat Pim's head. "But now I am pretty sure driftwood feels it has more purpose than I do so...maybe it's run its course." she said, thoughtfully.
"What have you been up to here?" she asked, looking up at him once more.
"So pick a new one." Remi said with an easy shrug. "You picked that as your purpose and it worked for a while, but now it isn't. Move on." It was the only advice he had to offer; advice he'd recently taken. Though he'd not suggest that Phoebe run to Frey for purpose, but then again...it had worked for him. "You know my feelings about Frey but...recently I've spoken with Ludo about purpose and its helped."
He'd let the midwife do with that information what she would.
"A little of this and a little of that. There's always something going on in Torchline." Remi replied unable to say more since this is so far back in the timeline.
Coding base by Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
So pick a new one. Phoebe blinked at him, a bit surprised to hear that bit of advice flow so freely from Remi's lips. Just...pick something else. It was equal parts novel and painfully obvious. Her head tilted slightly at the revelation that he had asked the same of Ludo, knowing he and the trickster god also had a storied past...but clearly he must have gained something of real value if he would suggest she seek Frey's advise on something.
She hummed a bit, nodding in thought as he glanced over her question, eyes glancing down at Pim and the basket with the Hel in it. Perhaps, when she sought out Frey again after completing these tasks, she could seek their guidance too. "Thank you, Remi...I...think I will follow your advice. But I should probably go find a Sear Cat before this Hel gets too cramped to give a good hunt." she said, turning to head back down towards the port. But she paused once more before looking back at him, her friend, with a smile. "Thanks for your help. I'll see you soon."
