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!
The thieves of the street could find Elias at his stall, like always, settled in a chair, his wares on display. His ship was permanently docked, so his crew was helping around the stall as well. But the typical sight of Elias at the stall would be only him, his adopted son, and most recently the Outlander girl he'd taken under his wing.
There's a thieves' code and the man knows it well. But he also carries a moral code of his own creation, as he had proven again and against with the madame of the Halenani. Today's wares on display, the sun high in the sky, he's chatting with a young woman about some fabrics he's got on display when a shadow falls over the stall.
Lips turned upward, he greets the man smoothly, standing, "Afternoon. What can I do for you?" One of the crew takes over haggling with the woman, women who wanted fine things at a low cost often tried to offer their bodies in return, but that simply didn't work with Elias, but the crewmember who had taken over the woman disappeared with her.
His business was public, done in the public eye so as to draw little suspicion, or oftentimes conducted onboard his docked ship. But for now, it seems, he was content to conduct this matter at the stall.
"Hello!" Theo said, with his usual ready, expansive smile. "I hear you're the man to ask for a good trade around here."
Glancing over the stall gave Theo an idea that his intelligence was correct. Some nice things there -- things that almost gave Theo itchy fingers. But he knew better than to steal from a fence, especially a fence he intended to trade with.
"I have a couple pieces of jewelry looking for a new home. And I'm looking for some things that might be easier to trade for bed and board." Things less recognizable he might have said, because if he tried to offer anyone else the jewelry, they might ask uncomfortable questions about where it came from. But he didn't intend to say so out loud. Presumably the fence had an idea of what he was getting into, and if not, that wasn't Theo's problem.
Elias listened, nodding. "Yeah, yeah. Show me what you've got, we'll get you set up." He offered. Lately people were bringing him jewelry, which wasn't a terrible thing, really.
He was already making a list of items that might be fit to trade out. Fabrics, perhaps some medicines. He still had most of what Phoebe had brought last.
Welcome to Wonderland, I'll be your guide.
Holding your hand under sapphire skies,
Let's go exploring or we could just go for a walk.
Theo slipped from his pocket two items: a delicate silver necklace set with mother-of-pearl, and a golden ring with rubies and diamonds. At least, he was pretty sure they were rubies and diamonds; they could have been lesser stones, but the woman whose pocket he had picked for it had looked quite wealthy. The necklace's provenance was a little less openly criminal: he'd won it -- not exactly fair and square -- in one of his many scams.
"What do you think?" he asked, angling himself so that the fence could see the items, but anyone else would have a hard time catching a glimpse.
Elias reached for the necklace first, fingers rubbing the pearls, and his lips curved. "Love me some pearls," he mused, reaching for the ring next. He waved the boy over, and they peered at the gemstones, determining they were the real deal and the man flashed a grin.
"This'll do just fine." He had replaced each item back in the man's grasp after examining it. "Good for..." He began to set out medicines, all obtained legally from his favorite blonde-haired madame, so there was no worry of anyone thinking it was suspicious.
Counting various vials of medicine, and pouches of herbs out, he added in some left-over, high quality fabric and a pouch of questionable herbs, that he had not obtained from the madame.
Welcome to Wonderland, I'll be your guide.
Holding your hand under sapphire skies,
Let's go exploring or we could just go for a walk.
Theo checked over the goods on offer, once again stifling his itchy fingers' urge to pocket just a little something, maybe some of the herbs ... He appreciated that Elias hadn't tried to cheat him by claiming either item to be fake -- after all, Theo himself had no way of knowing whether the gems and gold were real. Even if Theo had been foolish enough to steal from a fence, doing so would be a poor way to repay Elias' honesty -- though moral considerations like that rarely stopped Theo.
He might not intend to steal from Elias, but that wouldn't stop Theo from pushing his luck a little. "You sure you can't go a little further? Real gold, and that ruby's flawless."
Elias watched the man, with sharp eyes. He'd not be the first to steal from him. At the request, Elias hummed softly, and shook his head. "Nope. That's all I'm offerin'," he responded.
He was more than generous with what he offered, he thought. "That fabric'll trade for quite a bit alone," he stated, in case the man had no idea how much high-end fabrics went to the young women of Caido.
"Guess I could get you to the brothel on a discount, if you're interested in getting laid." He offered, thoughtfully.
Welcome to Wonderland, I'll be your guide.
Holding your hand under sapphire skies,
Let's go exploring or we could just go for a walk.
Theo shrugged. "Ah, well, you can't blame a man for trying."
A lie like so many others: people blamed him for trying all the time. But Theo didn't mind that Elias had turned him down. He'd known haggling was a long shot.
Or ... it had gotten him something, at least. Not something he particularly wanted, but he appreciated that Elias was a creative fence. "Mm, not at the moment, I'm seeing this absolutely brilliant girl."
A complete and completely unnecessary lie. But maybe there was still a way that Theo could turn this to his advantage: "But if you have contacts there ... I know a love song or two, if they're looking for background music."
Theo raised his shoulder to indicate the lute hanging off of it. His expertise with the instrument wasn't a lie; he was a genuinely good musician, though no prodigy. And, besides the pay a musician might receive for his music, the brothel seemed like a place where people might set aside their valuables for a minute or two while they were ... distracted.
Elias's lips curved, "Aye, I know the Madame of the place. Tell her I sent ya, see what she'll offer for some tunes." He flashed the man a grin.
He held out a hand, "Elias Vaughn, and you?" He was friendly, though the man in front of him had done nothing to upset Elias, so why shouldn't he be friendly?
"My boy can take you ov--Dudley! Take the kind gentleman to the brothel."
Welcome to Wonderland, I'll be your guide.
Holding your hand under sapphire skies,
Let's go exploring or we could just go for a walk.
"Theo Caldwell." Theo shook Elias' hand, quite satisfied with the transaction. The false surname came easily to his lips, and why not? He'd used it enough around Torchline by now for it to be basically true. "Thank you, that's mighty kind of you. Let me just -- "
He took the pack from his back and carefully packed up the fine fabrics Elias had offered him. Yes, that would keep him in room and board for a little bit. Maybe he could even live it up a little. Some fine wine, some good food, a soft bed -- it didn't take much to make Theo happy, really.
With his goods packed, Theo looked to Dudley for direction. He knew where the brothel was, of course, but presumably the boy's presence would prove that he came with Elias' approval.
Elias waved Dudley over, and slipped the boy his payment for his own visit. "Enjoy Miwa, kid."
Dudley, a tall, lanky boy, grunted and accepted the payment, moving off in the direction of the brothel. He wasn't much of a talker when it came to strangers; but he'd lead the stranger to the madame, and then find Miwa.
Back at the stall, Elias was packing his newly acquired items up, waving for his crew to do the same. They'd pass out the day's payment, and pack the stall up safely. They still had to move supplies from the ship to the brothel, as it were.
-FIN-
Welcome to Wonderland, I'll be your guide.
Holding your hand under sapphire skies,
Let's go exploring or we could just go for a walk.
