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!
07-02-2021, 09:08 PM (This post was last modified: 07-02-2021, 09:34 PM by Paige.)
Paige
Paige sneaks towards the door of what she thinks is the still empty and old jail. The girl doesn't know that it has since been repaired, refurbished, and re-inhabited by the Arbiter of Torchline. If she did know such a thing then maybe she wouldn't be so eager to sneak into what she thought to be a very spooky building. Paige reaches up, gripping the handle of the door and slowly turning the know, pushing the door open with an audible creak. She peeks inside, head craning around the door, pursing her lips as she starts to sneak inside. The girl is crouched low to the ground, tip toeing along, trying her best not to make a single sound.
Not that it's going to do her much good considering that Aurelia likely hears every single sound and sees every little movement. Still, the girl presses forward, creeping along the ground on her hands and knees until she reaches the first hallway that holds all of the cells.
Love you to the moon and to Saturn Passed down like folk songs, the love lasts so long
but the thing is, even if i could go back, i wouldn't belong there anymore
The creak of the door is enough to make Aurelia's eyes flash open from where she's fallen asleep at her desk. She jumps to attention, righting herself, thinking it must be someone coming to speak with her. Her hand almost immediately shoots up to her neck, to rub at the kink that's formed there from being at such an odd angle.
But moments tick by, and there's no voice or knock or someone trying to make their presence known. Aurelia feels tension form along each and every muscle in her hands, as they grip the desk. Despite the panic starting to form, she gets up slowly from her chair, trying not to draw attention to herself.
She moves with silent footsteps, sneaking along the side of the wall, trying to remain undetected until she finds out who has intruded and is being so sneaky.
Just when she's about to peer around the corner of her office, something moves directly past her. The bones in her body nearly jump out of her skin and she instinctually lets out a loud "Ah!"
The brown hair, the blue eyes, the fact that it's a kid. Recognition eventually finds its way into Aurelia's gaze, and she relaxes. Although, annoyance can clearly be heard in her voice. "What do you think you're doing here?" She demands with amusement that's difficult to hide. She reaches out to try and grasp Paige by the arm to stop her from running off, "I hope you're not planning on stealing something from me."
Of course, Aurelia doesn't realize that Paige won't recognize her at all.
The last thing Paige is expecting is to actually be caught by someone. The little girl was sure this place was empty. Nevermind the torches lighting the wall or the fact that it's all clean. Ghosts coulda done it. At least, that's what makes sense in her head.
Aurelia cries out at being startled and Paige does the same, yelping as she starts to scramble onto her feet, attempting to dart past Aurelia back the way she came. The Arbiter grabs her by her upper arm and Paige's eyes go impossibly wide as she looks up at the very annoyed woman.
Uh oh.
Paige quickly shakes her head a the question, face pale with the fear of being caught by what seems like a rather upset grown up, "N-no! I wasn't going to steal from you." She squeaks, obviously not realizing who she's talking to. If she had then maybe she wouldn't be so scared. Especially knowing this lady was her bandit-in-crime from the party. "I was just exploring! Honest!"
Love you to the moon and to Saturn Passed down like folk songs, the love lasts so long
but the thing is, even if i could go back, i wouldn't belong there anymore
Aurelia screams, Paige screams, the ghosts scream (probably), they all scream for ice cream. Later, the Arbiter will look back on this moment and laugh. Right now, though, she's a bit annoyed. What is with this kid and her penchant for getting into misadventures? Sure, the party had been a perfect place for that. But a jailhouse? Come on now.
Her brows lower deeply toward her eyes and she tilts her head, trying to decipher a lie in the girl's words. "Well, there's no giant cake here for you to steal, if that was the case. Just some bread and cheese," she remarks, expression softening a bit as an amused smile creeps in.
"You probably don't recognize me, do you?" She realizes, letting go of the girl's arm suddenly.
"Hmm... maybe this will jog your memory?" And suddenly Aurelia's form whisks away into something smaller, not even big enough to come up to Paige's hip. Well, unless she stands on her hind legs... which she does. Dark red fur fluffs up and she tilts her head with a happy chirp.
There is no lie to decipher. For once, Paige is being totally, completely, and utterly honest. She thought that the jail was abandoned and haunted and a perfect place to maybe find a scary spirit. That was her only goal. Instead she found a very cranky Arbiter who thought she was here to steal! Paige blinks up at her, brows drawing together in confusion, "A- A cake.." She's not putting two and two together. Not one bit.
It isn't until Aurelia releases her, airing her question that she starts to think there might be more to this. Paige shakes her head, no she didn't recognize her at all, but she's starting to think that Aurelia might actually know her.
Suddenly the Arbiter shifts and the recognition dawns on her face, "Bandit-in-crime!" She exclaims, surging forward and picking her up to give her a hug, holding her very close to her chest before she sets her down gently, "M'sorry for sneaking into the jail. I was just looking for spirits..."
Love you to the moon and to Saturn Passed down like folk songs, the love lasts so long
07-13-2021, 11:28 PM (This post was last modified: 07-13-2021, 11:29 PM by Aurelia.)
but the thing is, even if i could go back, i wouldn't belong there anymore
Aurelia trills, a cooing sound, as Paige wraps her into a kind hug. It's the sort of human kindness she's been in such desperate need of. Without Milo around, with him gone on the Ark, she'd been spending many a lonely night here at the jailhouse. Pretending that she didn't miss him so much that it almost physically pained her. But the sudden brightness that blooms in Paige's face has her melting into the little embrace.
Until she's set down, to which she perks up to listen to the girl's apology. Aurelia tuts around, haunches wiggling as she brings up her tail to swat the tip playfully across the underside of the girl's chin. Then, she steps back in order to shift into her human form again.
"My name-" she laughs gently "-is Aurelia. Some of my close friends call me 'Relia, though... if you want," she says, kneeling down to be more level with the girl, "And it's okay. Just remember, this isn't a safe place for kids to be on their own. Sometimes I have to wrangle the real bandits in here, to keep them out of trouble, and keep you safe," she gives Paige a gentle little poke in the ribs, expression softening, "So what's your name, then, miss Bandit? I don't think you ever told me." There's a happiness in her smile that she just can't seem to contain.
Paige giggles as Aurelia's tail tickles the underside of her chin, eyes bright as she looks down at the fuzzy little creature before her eyes flick up as she shifts back into her human form, looking up with wide eyes at her. That was so cool! She hadn't seen anyone ever shift before. Was she a close friend? Did that mean she got to call her 'Relia too?
"'Relia is a pretty name! If I get to call you that does that mean I'm your friend too?" Paige asks brightly, head cocking to the side curiously, clasping her hands behind her back as she sways side to side. She grew serious at Aurelia's words, nodding gravely, "You catch real bandits? Does that make you a knight?" She asks, thinking that it must be the only plausible answer. Knights were what kept order in the cities in all of her storybooks. Another giggle rises from her as Aurelia pokes her ribs, tickling her lightly, but she swats gently at her hand as she squirms. "My name is Paige."
She perks up, eyes bright as she looks at the Arbiter, a spark of mischief in her eyes, "Are you the miss 'Relia who is friends with my Auntie Maeve?"
Love you to the moon and to Saturn Passed down like folk songs, the love lasts so long
but the thing is, even if i could go back, i wouldn't belong there anymore
She smiles and nods with earnest. "You know? I think it does!" She decides, eyes shining a little brighter as she tilts her head in tandem with Paige's. As she crouches down, she places her hands on either knee and explains why kids shouldn't come strolling into the jailhouse. The way the girl grows somber and asks if she's a knight makes Aurelia bark out a laugh - she can't help it. "No, no, I'm not a knight. I'm the Arbiter, which means... well, I make sure there's order, and that everyone is treated fairly." Something Torchline sorely needs.
She withdraws her hand and grins broadly, "Paige? I've never heard that name before." But her brows raise speculatively when Paige seems to have something to say, and when the question comes out Aurelia's eyes nearly pop out of her head. Immediately, she clears her throat and straightens back up.
"Uh... ahaha, well-" she struggles here, not having expected that, and furrows her brows down at Paige, "Maeve is your.. aunt?" her tone is puzzled, until she realizes, "or.. are you.. do you live with her at the Halenani?"
Furthermore, what was Maeve doing telling this kid about her? Her cheeks suddenly flush a redder color than usual.
08-31-2021, 02:56 AM (This post was last modified: 09-18-2021, 05:24 AM by Paige.)
Paige
They were friends. Paige's eyes are bright and her smile large as she holds Aurelia's gaze, bouncing on the balls of her feet, unable to keep still. "I don't have a lot of friends. I'm glad that we're friends." She chirps before growing somber at Aurelia's warning about coming into jailhouses and sneaking around places she shouldn't, but at the laugh her smile grows and a little giggle bubbles out of her. "That's kinda the same thing though? Knights and, uhm, Arbiters both keep the peace!" At least they did in her stories.
The girl nods, confirming that Aurelia did in fact get it right, "It isn't page like the book. There's an 'i' in it." She stresses, making sure that Aurelia knew the difference, but she's totally distracted by the way that her eyes seem to suddenly bug out of her head when she mentions her Auntie Maeve.
"My momma works for Auntie Maeve and we live there! She told us how you helped rebuild our new big house." She tells her as way of explanation, thinking that would surely explain things because to her it made perfect sense.
Soon their conversation shifts away from talks of Auntie Maeve and chasing bad guys to things more fitting for the season like scary stories. While Paige isn't the best at telling stories in a proper manner, the girl tries and the result is no less entertaining, but Aurelia does a much better job of it. Maybe sneaking in here wasn't such a bad idea after all.
~FIN~
Love you to the moon and to Saturn Passed down like folk songs, the love lasts so long
