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!
She got there early, about quarter 'til the hour Mr. Wordsworth had told her to be here. She hoped he'd successfully convinced his 'friend' to come. She asked for a glass of cider - not the hard stuff, please - and settled in at a table where she could see the door.
She was wearing the (mended and washed) clothes Mr. Wordsworth had seen her wearing in the Labyrinth, hoping that any description he'd given she would match. This late in the season, she had a coat on, too, but she took that off and hung it on the back of her chair as she sipped her cider and waited.
If I'd thought of it, I'd've pretended not to have magic, too, she thought to herself, a tad bitterly. Whoever this friend was, they were already more clever than she was. She hoped they'd be a help to her in accepting what it was to be A-... to have magic.
Evie is nervous, to say the least. She knows Sam would never knowingly lead her astray or into a questionable situation, but it's the 'knowingly' part of that statement that concerns her. His heart may be true, but it doesn't mean he always makes the best decisions to be frank. Nevertheless she is inspired to help this stranger, all too aware of how daunting it can be to live as an Abandoned in a place like the Hollowed Grounds. Where the barrier has only just fallen, where the Naturals still spurn and curse and spit over their shoulders in superstitious terror at the notion of being Abandoned.
It has taken many, many years to get to where she is now. Even remotely accepting of her own magic. So after some deliberation, she agrees. Her own status is still a secret, though it is slowly becoming an open secret over time as she feels her way around those trustworthy enough to know of her powers. So when she arrives - in a long sleeved shirt and leggings, as the cold no longer bothers her with the Academy's gift - her blue eyes seek out the description of the woman she'd been given. First she acquires her own drink (though in contrast to Freina, hers is alcoholic if on the weak side) and then, steeling herself, she moves to sit down across from the beautiful woman. "Hello, are you Freina?" Not yet offering her own name for now.
a golden cage, for all it's worth is still just a cage
She looks up when the stranger helps herself to a chair and, although she doesn't show it, she's surprised. She's seen this woman before, many times, though she never knew - and still doesn't know - her name. But she just nods and offers a polite smile (not one of Quanil's constantly effervescent ones). "I am, yes. Are you here from Mr. Wordsworth?"
She's careful because if this woman has managed to keep her status hidden all this time, Freina doesn't want to be the one to muck it up. As much as she wants to ask her name, she doesn't. Ultimately, it's irrelevant to the matter at hand, and she's too grateful for this chance to do anything to ruin it.
Her familiarity makes this all the more daunting. Evie had known the other woman to be a Natural before she arrived, but realizing it in person is a far different experience. At least hearing the young girl call Sam 'Mr. Wordsworth' is enough to break that particular spell, biting the tip of her tongue to keep from laughing or showing her amusement. "Yes. He told me you had questions, or perhaps reservations, about your designation?" There's little chance of anyone overhearing them with how they've positioned themselves, but Evie isn't going to take chances.
But she's asking a lot of truth and trust from the girl, and even she can admit that such things don't come easily when given nothing as collateral. "My name is Evie, I'm Sam's twin sister." A proverbial reaching of the hand, an olive branch, to encourage Freina to open up about her fears.
a golden cage, for all it's worth is still just a cage
05-01-2020, 08:49 PM (This post was last modified: 05-01-2020, 08:49 PM by Freina.)
"Ah, I see the resemblance." She smiled when the woman introduced herself. "Freina," she replied in turn, "and, yes, I'd say 'reservations' is a good way to put it."
She glanced around at the bar. End of the season, and people are already starting to abandon the Hollowed Ground for safer locales. It's thinning out, but there's still a decent crowd here. She sipped her cider and kept her voice low.
"You know what it's like here when they find out. I wish I'd had the forethought to hide it, like you've apparently done. Now my family knows, everyone knows, and..." She sighed harshly. "I had a plan for my life and I liked it. And now it's gone. And, sure, I can make new plans. I'm not going to just sit around and mope... uh, anymore than I already have." She still felt self-conscious about that: running away, casting herself into the Labyrinth and waiting to die. All the trouble that caused for people - including Evie's brother, apparently.
"When I found out, it felt like the end of the world, even though I'd be dead without my magic. How... how do you deal with everything you know just going sideways on you?"
hmu in DM if you want/need more info about who Freina was and how she met Sam and all that
Evie quirks a smile at the comment. It's true, there aren't many redheads in Caido in the first place, and though of separate genders they're still similar enough when one cares to think upon it. Freina's offered name is like a sealed pact of trust, one that Evie is glad she could inspire the girl to agree to.
Her story is different from Evie's, but nevertheless easy to empathize with. "It's only a small comfort now, but times are changing. The Outlanders don't have the same reservations about magic, and neither do those living in Halo or Torchline." Is the girl an adventurer? Perhaps it would do her some good to get away from the prejudiced views of those in the Grounds. "I didn't deal with it, frankly. Not until quite recently. But I realized that there was no fixing me, not unless I groveled and prayed and tried to convince on of the Gods to Attune me." She takes a sip of her cider, hand clenched slightly around it in order to keep her face from showing the twist it wants to give. Evie doesn't want to sway the young girl to her own bitter path.
"You can do that. Being Abandoned...it's not hopeless. It hurts, and being out and proud about it isn't easy around other Naturals. But the more you integrate with other magic users, the more you see that the world is so much bigger and more diverse outside of the barrier, you'll see that even if the Gods may have left us behind, people as a whole haven't. There's an entire world of strangers out there who will accept you as you are if those in the Grounds will not." Not that it would be easy to forget or forsake her family. Evie had chosen that path, but much later in life. It's not a decision she can make for Freina.
a golden cage, for all it's worth is still just a cage
"I don't want to have to leave home to find acceptance, though," she said. "And I shouldn't have to. But I suppose that's childish of me. I guess it's not much different than saying, 'It's not fair that a landshark got him.' I mean, it's not, but what can you do about it, right?
"But I do know I don't want to leave home. Not permanently. Maybe... maybe visit some of these other places. Quanil's been to Torchline, and they bring me sea shells... I've never seen an ocean. But this is still my home. Maybe it's stupid and stubborn of me, but... I feel like, if I leave for good? Then it's like... like the magic won, somehow. Wow, that is even stupider than I thought, saying it out loud like that."
She shook her head and took a drink. "You're... okay with having magic now? It... it does happen eventually?"
