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!
Mildew had never thought of her supplies and decorations as a collection, but smiled at Aurelia anyway, appreciating the compliment; it had been a long time since a mortal had stepped foot in her home, and in the past some of them had been rather rude about it: they had been swiftly removed.
Chuckling as she sat opposite Aurelia, watching her try to relax, Mildew shuffled the cards in her hands. She'd met these types before; always on, unable to calm themselves and just be for even a moment, lest thoughts they didn't want had a chance to creep in. The real strength came in allowing those thoughts and then dealing with them, but so many believed if they just tried hard enough, they could bat them away like pests.
Still, Aurelia seemed to do well enough at getting herself centred. "That's a fine question. Let's see." Mildew closed her own eyes and her lips moved with a long, complicated whisper; a prayer of sorts, the words of which would be hard to pick out. Once she was done she opened her eyes and held out the cards towards Aurelia. "Choose three."
---
(Fun interactive bit ;D. https://serennu.com/tarot/pick.php?nc=0&deck= go to this site, click '3 cards', draw three and put in the end of your post what you get. Mildew isn't using a tarot deck exactly, but close enough :U )
Aurelia's gaze flitted up to Mildew's as the witch recited some sort of prayer she couldn't understand. Hopefully it was a good one. She leaned back a bit when the cards were spread out before her. "Three? Okay.." Hesitation made her take a pause as she gazed at the backs of the cards. It mattered which ones she chose, right? Or would the cards already know the answer? Would they hold the same outcome no matter which ones she chose?
She wasn't sure how this really worked and she didn't want to find an answer she wouldn't like or distract with unnecessary questions. Mildew was waiting and the only way to find out was to just pick the cards already.
Biting her lip, Aurelia chose two from the sides and one from the center. She flipped them over each time with a glance up at Mildew, not sure if she was allowed to look at them or not and to gauge the other woman's reactions. What she saw, she admittedly didn't understand. Her brows furrowed.
Setting them down in front of Mildew in the way she picked them, she looked up again with hopeful uncertainty.
"I like this one..." she pressed her forefinger across the lion's face, the card entitled with 'Strength'. Then, she withdrew her hand and awaited... whatever was supposed to come next.
It was interesting to observe a mortal after so long alone and Mildew smiled at Aurelia's hesitation; whatever she did didn't matter - it was already decided which cards were hers, she was only the vehicle to bring them to herself. Still, she patiently watched, knowing well that these sorts of things were best experienced to the fullest and not rushed. When Aurelia had taken her three Mildew laid the rest of the cards next to her then leaned in to look over what had been drawn.
Saying nothing to Aurelia admiring the strength card, Mildew ran her fingers over the edges of the pictures; strength indeed bore a lion, the moon a smiling white face and the star of course had an image of Safrin, posing before a black and star-punctured sky. "Do you pray to Safrin?" Mildew asked, half in thought, as her fingertips ran over the final card.
As for the reading as a whole, she finally sat up straight and nodded. "So, this is what the cards are telling me. You stay in Torchline, you will face dangers and horrors unlike anything you've seen before, honey. It will rip you apart....but." Holding up a finger she caught Aurelia's eyes, a smirk forming on her lips. "You will put yourself back together, if you have the mind to do it, and become stronger, better. Even a hero, maybe. Who knows."
Gathering the cards up in her hands, Mildew stared at them as if daring them to reveal anything further. "Make sure you don't fall into the wrong side with the higher powers of this world. Pray to Gods - Safrin, for you, I think - and do their work. You will be rewarded." She nodded, sure now that she had seen it all, and put the cards back with the rest of the deck. "That was a good fortune. Lots of potential. Are you confident you can live up to it?"
Aurelia wasn't sure what Safrin had to do with anything; she's not the type to connect Gods or Heralds to any part of her life. She merely shook her head with a contemplative frown in answer, though. It's not the first time she's heard someone talk about Safrin but, as far as knowledge or prayer goes, Aurelia was fairly clueless.
When Mildew's posture straightened, Aurelia mirrored it with interest. She relaxed the expression on her face and tilted her head; opening her mind to the words Mildew was about to give her. So she listened... and, she certainly wasn't disappointed.
Perhaps dread is an expected and reasonable reaction to being told that you'd be torn apart by unimaginable horrors.
Even if she did feel fear or apprehension at the notions of Mildew's fortune, such emotions weren't an obstacle for her. Aurelia had felt them many times before - and she knew she would feel them many times again. Maybe it was the thick, calming aura wafting around them, or maybe it was because Aurelia didn't flinch at the concept of 'danger lies ahead'. Peril was a language she was all too familiar with...
"A hero..." the words unintentionally echoed from her lips.
Her green eyes brightened, rather than widened, and her expression solidified into determination, not worry. Even her hands, spreading out on either end of the table, fastened into fists. This was a subconscious action, of course, but something in her mind seemed to switch and begin churning. Maybe she had a real chance of redeeming herself after all.
But Mildew wasn't done, and Aurelia lifted her brows in surprise. There was more?
The instruction to choose a side- no, specifically to choose Safrin, caught her off guard. At first, she didn't know what to say. She could only watch in stunned silence as Mildew shuffled her deck back into its place. Resolve dissipated, even if only for the moment; this was the part of the fortune that made her uneasy. The question broached through her indecision, however, and Aurelia furrowed her brows.
She swallowed a knot in her throat, shifting her weight, unclasping her hands from the table. "I hope so," she spoke the words with humble finality while desires and ambitions burned and crackled inside of her.
Her gaze wavered about the room for a minute, her thoughts dwelling on Safrin and something Melita had told her about Ludo. "As for the Gods, I don't know. I've been avoiding that decision ever since I found out about them," she smiled grimly and shook her head, "I wouldn't know what to say, what to offer... What if Safrin doesn't come? Or, if she does, what if she asks me to do something that-" her eyes flickered back to Mildew, uncertain, "that I can't?"
Mildew's mouth formed a quiet, knowing smile as Aurelia repeated that one word, knowing that it would appeal to the mortal when she said it. They always wanted to be heroes, someone important, someone that would be remembered - it took the wisdom and perspective of hundreds of years to realise it really didn't matter, and she wouldn't take that wonder from the girl yet.
It seemed that Aurelia wasn't entirely willing, or at least confident, to put herself behind Safrin; well, she'd learn soon enough. Any attempt to work against the creators of the world ended poorly. "You offer yourself. Though..." She tilted her head and smiled. "For Safrin, something beautiful wouldn't hurt, especially something with stars on it. She likes that sort of thing." Not Mildew's patron God, but one she was fond of all the same.
"The Gods know exactly what you are capable of, dear. In and out. They wouldn't ask for something you can't do." She gestured with her hands out, as if it were obvious - because to Mildew, it was. "As for if she doesn't show....well. Try again the next season. If you wanted an audience with a King or Queen, you wouldn't expect to be able to just walk in and demand it, would you?"
Aurelia's lips pursed to the side of her mouth and her gaze averted. Silent as she listened to more of Mildew's counsel.
As for the Gods knowing exactly what she was capable of, well... that's what Aurelia was afraid of. Her expression grew dark and she tucked her hands closer to her body, shoulders hunching.
"No... I wouldn't," Aurelia answered quietly, distracted. That had never been her plan anyway. Well, she hadn't had a plan but, if she did, it wouldn't be that.
She started, leaned forward again, pausing and nervously chewing on the inside of her cheek, "I'm capable of terrible things. Before Caido, I wasn't a good person. I was doing whatever I had to, to provide for my family, to survive," her gaze flinched because it was hard to admit something like that so plainly, but she did it anyway, "I've taken countless lives, sometimes I was glad to..."
"That's why I'm afraid to go to them. I wouldn't want someone like me, why should they?" She grimaced and looked away with a bitter shake of her head.
It was clear that something was on Aurelia's mind; Mildew had seen humans with a conscious before. Usually she had little sympathy but she'd found that Aurelia was a good, respectful guest. She could afford to humour her a little. As the issue came to light Mildew nodded, sucking her teeth and making a show of thinking the problem over, even though it was easily solved in a matter of seconds.
"You make the mistake of believing the Gods will care, sweet." She said with a smirk, tucking hair back behind her ear. "They don't. They don't have the same morals or concerns as mortals. What you did in your old world? May as well be fiction." Mildew reached out two hands in a gesture, fingers spread, to show the memories going out into the air. "Besides, they only see what they look for. Don't bring it up and they won't either." Aurelia was committing one of the most common crimes mortal did: ego. Believing the Gods would care about her past when they had so many more important things to do.
01-31-2021, 09:29 AM (This post was last modified: 01-31-2021, 09:29 AM by Aurelia.)
Aurelia
Aurelia's mouth shut in a taut line, taken aback by the way Mildew laid down the reality of the matter. How simply she put it, and how those simple words were wounding. "Yeah, you're probably right," she let out a deep breath. But, it wasn't anything for her to be disappointed about. Completely opposite, in fact, because it meant that she actually stood a chance in spite of what she'd done.
"Thank you, Mildew..." she said, a bit demure, "I'll see about it. Going to Safrin, I mean. I think it'll take me some time to warm up to the idea but... I'll take your advice, when I do," she nodded, feeling more certainty than she expected to have. "This has helped me... a lot, actually. Strangely enough," she smirked, referring to the initial warning in Mildew's fortune.
Her expression straightened out and she looked up at Mildew with a mixture of question and concern, "Are you sure there's nothing you want me to do for you? I mean... I can try to get you something from the city, or..." she shrugged, the offer feeling flat. Mildew didn't seem the materialistic type. "Or I can come back sometime, if you want..." she lifted her brows, uncertain of if the witch wanted her friendship or not. "Could come by every now and then to let you know the horrors of Torchline haven't bested me yet," a small, joking smile crossed her expression at that, a glint of challenge in her gaze.
"I am." Mildew assured her, her eyes filled with years of knowledge she'd gained both from positive and negative experiences. She was somewhat of a God herself, but she'd still had to learn some of how they worked, what happened when mortals overestimated their own importance.
She nodded, idly picking up and tidying cards and things on the floor before her. She had a good feeling about Aurelia; she felt that the young lady had a promising future, as short as human lives were. "I'm glad it's helped, dear. Remember, you may not get an answer right away, but persistence and faith are good values to keep close to heart." Mildew herself had to be patient with the Gods, even with her powers and position as a Demi.
"You don't owe me, sweet. I charge for my charms, but you don't need one." A shame, because she loved to make and give them, but Aurelia had all she needed within herself. "A visit every so often would be nice, though. Maybe one day you could bring me a firstborn, to eat." Mildew maintained a straight face for just long enough to make Aurelia wonder, then laughed. "I'm joking. But I would like the occasional hello."
02-06-2021, 02:00 AM (This post was last modified: 02-06-2021, 02:00 AM by Aurelia.)
Aurelia
Aurelia took Mildew's word for it, able to see the warning of personal experience in the witch's dark eyes. Perhaps when Aurelia returned someday, she could ask about it. She found herself more and more curious about Mildew with each bit of wisdom she offered. But it is getting late. The seasons are changing. And Aurelia has a port, a ship, and a crabby captain to get back to.
"I don't give up easily," Aurelia replied, backing it up with true confidence. If there was anything she knew about herself, it was that. Tenacious - to a reasonable degree - and adaptable. She could do it, whatever 'it' was. She smiled warmly at the invitation to return for a visit, though it did falter at the mention of bringing a firstborn along. Her brows pressed together in concern and she leaned back, awkwardly wondering if she'd have to make a run for the hills.
A laugh, though, is prompted from her. Relief mixed in with the amusement, though, because for a second there... "You almost had me," she gives Mildew a humorous look and readies herself for the journey home. "I'll uh.. I'll see you later, then. Thanks again."
'Later' meaning she didn't really know but, she would make an effort to at some point in the near future - if she could.
