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!
Sam did not often come to the Artist's Sanctuary; really he would struggle to remember the last time he'd actually gone in the doors. He occasionally came to find paints or inks for his books but found the general atmosphere of the place, it's easy sexual mood and artistic hedonism intimidating him no small amount.
Still, he needed some leather and the market was out; he'd thought the only place likely to have any on short notice was the Artist's Sanctuary: he wanted to get this book done as soon as possible so he could move onto another project, finding this particular volume on mathematics to be very boring indeed to work on.
Coming to the door and peeking in, he couldn't see Bastien - but he could see Amun. Not...his favourite of his Ascended siblings, but one he didn't mind, he supposed. "Hello - um, do you know where Bastien is...?" He asked, then paused and looked at Amun again. "...I didn't know you were into..art things. Oh, wait. You're a potter." Sam laughed and shook his head. "Sorry."
my whole life is mine, but whoever says so will deprive me,
for it is infinite.
Amun didn't know why he'd thought going to the Artist's Sanctuary would help him with his ongoing grief over Maea's death. After staring at a blank canvas for an indeterminate amount of time, he'd finally sighed. Apparently, his muse was still gone.
Instead, he'd gone to check the art supplies. They were running low on purple paint, so he'd gotten out the blues and the reds. It wasn't the best way to make purple, but he didn't have anything better on hand. Still, he hesitated before he began to mix them.
It was almost a relief when Sam showed up. "No, sorry, I don't know where Bastien is. Or Rexanna." The potter's voice was subdued, and he made no move to flirt or tease, or anything of that sort. He just waved away the bookmaker's apology. "It's alright. What did you need?"
Sam noticed, when he stared at Amun for longer than a moment, that the canvas before him was empty. He didn't comment on that but it was clear he was curious about the to-be artwork as he walked further into the Sanctuary, keeping his eyes on it as he came in. "Um...well, I don't know if you can help me. I need some leather for books...sometimes Bastien has some soft leather around. We aren't...on great terms right now, but I was hoping he might..." He shrugged.
Eager to pull away from that he looked at the canvas and decided to finally satisfy his curiosity. "What is it going to be?"
my whole life is mine, but whoever says so will deprive me,
for it is infinite.
As Sam explained the problem, Amun nodded mutely. Setting down his paints, he padded silently over to the corner where he knew they kept many of their supplies. He rummaged through it, before pulling out the leather that the bookmaker had requested. Wordlessly, the potter walked over to the other man and held it out. "Will this do?" The question came out softly, and he stood there as the redhead inspected the leather.
When the other Ascended asked about the canvas, Amun glanced towards it. "Nothing." He shrugged. "I was hoping inspiration would strike me but it's in short supply these days." Slipping his hands into his pocket, he seemingly checked out again, going still as only an Ascended could.
Sam was surprised to see Amun was confident enough with the layout of the room to go and get the leather right away and walked forward to inspect it, holding the corners in his hands as he ran a thumb over it. "Yes, this'll do fine. Bastien won't mind you giving this to me?"
Looking over to the blank canvas he nodded, knowing well enough that sometimes creative motivation just wouldn't come when you wanted it to. "You have...some colours out. Blue and red." He walked closer to pick up one of the paint tubes and turn it in his hand, smiling faintly as the familiar smell of old paint reached him. "Maybe you could just see how you could put the colours together...I know there's a lot of more abstract art in here." That much was obvious on the walls, which were covered in plenty of canvases bearing colour but no real forms.
my whole life is mine, but whoever says so will deprive me,
for it is infinite.
Giving Sam a confused look, Amun shook his head. "Why would he? I'm a member of the Sanctuary." Although his voice was still muted, he genuinely didn't understand the question.
Without responding, he took out the patch he carried with him. Laying it on his palm, he commanded it to swirl in every shade of blue and red he could imagine, in more and more intricate patterns. "I've got ways of testing that, but I appreciate the suggestion."
Ordering the square to go back to looking like normal skin, he lowered his hand. "Actually I took them out because I saw that we were running low on purple paint. I know it's not the most efficient way to make it, but I don't know when the next shipment is. I figured I'd try mixing it, but I don't want to waste it."
"Oh, well, yes...but..." Sighing, Sam rubbed the back of his neck and looked off, not wanting to rehash this if Amun really didn't know: but he supposed he'd started it now. "Last Longnight I put Rexanna in quite a lot of danger. Bastien has not been fond of me since...so I suppose I just want to be careful. But he has given me supplies since, so..." He shrugged, stroking a hand lightly over the surface of the leather and trying to look intensely interested in that rather than at Amun.
At least Amun had a distraction literally on-hand: Sam leaned forward to look at the square in his palm, gasping as it changed colour and swirled on his skin. "That really is quite special." He agreed, nodding and thinking it was probably a similar technology to that which let him blend into scenery.
"Oh, I see. Well..." He paused, trying to think of a solution, then grinned as one came to him: he'd been wanting to use his new upgrade for a while. "Well, if you try mixing them quickly enough, if it's not right, I could get the paint back in the tube. See, um..." Reaching for one of the tubes he squeezed it just so some paint would come out of the top, then used his fingers to reverse time, the tube filling back up and the paint returning inside. "..Like that."
my whole life is mine, but whoever says so will deprive me,
for it is infinite.
As Sam explained his worry, Amun just shrugged. "If he asks I'll tell him I used it." Again, he spoke in a distant and almost disinterested tone, probably because he was. He didn't exactly have the emotional bandwidth for the squabbles of his fellow Ascended right now. In addition, he wasn't doing much to pretend that he was a regular human.
Even the compliment about the square wasn't enough to bring a smile to the potter's face. "That it is. Among the many gifts from our goddess." Leaving the patch where it was, he looked back up at the bookmaker.
When the other man demonstrated his own little trick, Amun's eyebrows rose. "That really is quite special as well." When Sam suggested using it to help with the paints, the potter immediately got into position. Picking up one of the tubes of red, he squeezed it out a bit. Then he took up a blue, and mixed it. The purple was far too muddy, though. "Bad." It all happened with the characteristic speed that only Ascended were capable of.
"Oh, that's nice of you. Thank you." Sam smiled, appreciating the gesture. While he didn't think Bastien would actually be that bothered about it, it was nice to not have another social worry floating around in the back of his mind all day. It meant he'd be able to get his work done too and he found himself in quite a good mood now, though it was clear Amun wasn't.
At least he had the decency to act a little impressed over Sam's time ability, and he stood forward to help Amun. Personally he didn't mind the purple that was made, always having had a fondness for murky dark colours, but he wasn't the member of the Artist's guild here so he obediently lay his fingers on the tube of blue paint to send it slurping back into the casement, the paint unmixing before their eyes.
my whole life is mine, but whoever says so will deprive me,
for it is infinite.
Amun just nodded idly at Sam's thanks. "You're welcome." It cost the potter nothing, and might make the next Ascended gathering go more smoothly not knowing it was going to go to shit relatively quickly, given the subject matter.
As the paint rolled back into tube under the bookmaker's magic (or tech or whatever), Amun gave the other man an appreciative, if distant look. "Thanks." The potter selected another tube of blue. Squeezing it out onto the red, he mixed it together. However, it quickly became apparent that it overpowered the red entirely, leaving on the faintest hint of purple visible. "No." Again, he did this as quickly as he could, since he didn't know the limits of Sam's power.
Amun seemed distracted but thanked him for his work with the paint and Sam nodded, glad to be able to help. He'd never been much of an artist beyond his books, which were usually made out of copied and studied elements. While this was hardly making art, it felt like he was being involved in the creative process, something that he found rather special.
He obediently took back the blue paint again when Amun was unhappy with the colour. While it seemed the other man was happy to just do this and nothing else, Sam felt the awkward crawl in his chest that wanted a conversation. "So um..have you found that being in this guild is helpful? Have you made anything good while you've been here?"
my whole life is mine, but whoever says so will deprive me,
for it is infinite.
Taking yet another tube of blue out, Amun squeezed it onto the red and mixed it. However, this one had the opposite problem of the one just before: it was such a pale blue that the red overwhelmed it. Sighing, he quickly shook his head. "No." Perhaps he was being picky and temperamental, but then again he was an artist.
Which was apparently something Sam wanted to talk about. The potter went completely still again for a moment. "It's been nice, yes. And I've made quite a few pieces I've been pleased with." Glancing over at the bookmaker, Amun raised his eyebrows. "Do you have an interest in art?"
Sam couldn't help the quiet laugh that came from him when Amun decided that the next colour wasn't good enough either, wondering just what was going to be good enough. Obediently he still reached forward to take the paint back into the tube, willing enough to do this until it was satisfactory more out of curiosity to see what colour would finally make the cut more than anything else.
"Oh - could I see them?" He asked of Amun's pieces, wondering if he could hang some 'Ascended art' in his shop to prove to the people that came in the humanity of his family. "Ah...I have an interest to be sure, but no skill for it. I'm quite happy with the craft of making my books."
my whole life is mine, but whoever says so will deprive me,
for it is infinite.
Taking yet another tube of blue, Amun mixed it with the red. This time around, it came out in a rich, but fairly neutral shade of purple. Nodding, he smiled faintly and gratefully at Sam. "That's good. Thanks for your help." He mixed the rest of the paints together, glad he could help the Sanctuary even a little bit.
Scraping the new purple into an empty tube, he made sure it was sealed. Gesturing around at the shelves displaying various pieces, he went about cleaning up the paints he'd taken out. "Most of the pottery in here is mine. Bastien sometimes displays it. You can find more examples of my work in my personal studio."
