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!
Bastien had run back to the Church as soon as he'd realised the light of the Sparkbird allowed him to do so. Staying in the Rathskeller where people he knew could see him was no longer an option, not in the state Safrin had left him in. Once he'd drunk himself into a stupor and suffered a terrible headache he finally got the courage to look at himself in a large bowl of water that could suffice as a mirror.
He didn't look like himself.
...He didn't look like himself.
Suddenly, Bastien knew just how he was going to survive his trial. Safrin had not said that he had to do it as Bastien. Just that he had to be humble and survive the months without begging for his out. So he was going to do just that - as Jedidiah.
The name was mostly random. Something he vaguely remembered from the few church sermons he'd attended as a child. But the persona he adopted was anything but; a careful arrangement of veils and robes hid any recognisable part of his body and the only parts revealed were two old hands and his virtually entirely morphed face. When he looked back in the water, Bastien found it easier because now he was simply donning a costume.
But he knew Safrin would likely not like this twist, so he did something else: he took down the trappings of his half-born brothel idea and reorganised the church into something much more traditional, pews leading up to an altar bearing just candles and flowers. On the door he hung a notice that just said: 'Under New Management'.
The people would come, he hoped. As they headed to their homes, as they ran from the confines of the temple; they would see the soft blue glow from the door and the sweet smell of incense and enter. When they did they would see an old man draped in robes sat by the altar, seemingly praying patiently.
Bastien
Jedediah
Tremble little lion man, you'll never settle any of your scores
Phoebe couldn't actually get to her house. The light from the Sparkbird didn't reach that far. But she could still enjoy a little bit of freedom and walk around now. Her path was a bit aimless, a bit listless, the only planned part being sticking to areas she knew to make it easier to get back to the Rathskellar.
But doing so was how she wound up passing Bastien's...enterprise. She didn't really know what to call it. Brown eyes glanced up at the door briefly, only to do a double take. Under new management? What did that mean?
Curiousity peaked, she approached and quietly stuck her head in. It certainly looked different than the last time she had seen the inside of the building. More importantly, no Bastien. Just a very old man she most certainly didn't recognize. "Uhm...hello, sir." she said, obviously confused. "I don't mean to intrude but...who are you? Did something happen to Bastien?"
“Bastien!” she calls, almost breathlessly. “Bastien! Did you see? Did you - ?” within the safehaven of the Spark Bird’s light, Lily races to the Church, having been unable to find her host in the crowd.
The sign stops her. She looks at it like it’s in a foreign language, like she can’t comprehend the simple words. It’s not that she cares what the Church is - it’s that this is her home for the time being and how - how can her house be under New Management? And while she knows it’s stupid to continue yelling his name, she does so anyway, because she doesn’t know what else to yell. And this is most definitely a yelling type of situation.
“Bastien! What do you mean Under New -” she fumes loudly, entering the Church’s door dramatically, only to find another young woman and an old man in there. The place looks - different. Much more like the churches she’s seen at home. Been in. Revolted against. There’s an immediate recoil in her, though her body actually leans forward to try and look into the back room, where her meagre belongings are.
And then, like the fired-up redhead that she is, Lily demands of the two of them (just in case one of them knew something), “What the fuck is going on?”
merry of soul, she sailed on a day over the sea to Skye
Bastien could of thrown his hands in the air and cheered when Phoebe of all people came in (he was going to make her miss him so much!), but he kept himself strictly in character, simply raising his head and giving a faint smile with a nod. "Hello, my child. I--" He was cut off by a call of his name outside, which he looked up at despite his efforts to be someone else.
Still, he could pass that off as just being distracted by the noise. Lily entered and asked the same question as Phoebe, basically, but in much franker terms. With a perfectly acted shocked expression at her language, he frowned and looked between the both of them.
"Welcome, both of you. I understand this is a shock. But...there is some bad news." He dipped his head dramatically, clearly overtaken by the news he had to impart. "Bastien...he has been killed. By a monster of the Longnight. But I..a disciple of Safrin...was entrusted with this church."
He looked about then laughed softly. "As you can see. I made...some changes."
Bastien
Jedediah
Tremble little lion man, you'll never settle any of your scores
A brow quirked above one of Phoebe's wide eyes as the man started at hearing the name Bastien shouted outside. Odd. Was his name Bastien too? It seemed unlikely but...she supposed many weirder things had been known to happen in Caido. Phoebe glanced over when a red-headed woman came barrelling in shortly after. Lily, that was her name. She remembered encountering the Luxere with her for the first time a few weeks back. It seemed much longer than that with all that had taken place during Long Night.
But her attention was drawn back to the old man as he spoke, answering their similar questions in one fell swoop. Thick brows furrowed now, the tale the old man was weaving might seem normal enough - someone dying during Long Night far from a far fetched tale. But there were...plot holes. Gaping ones. Or gaping to those who had never been so easily wooed by whatever weird charming spell Bastien had been able to cast over people. Of course, she was but seventeen. Exhausted. Her patience worn as thin as her nerves were bare. "That makes no sense." Phoebe said, her blunt, dry tone now mimicking that of the woman next to her, though her volume certainly didn't match.
Of course, now she would have to explain herself, and so she would. "Bastien didn't have a church anymore. This was his brothel. He stopped running a church after Safrin spurned him. More importantly, Safrin disliked Bastien because of his arrogance and disrespect and...general stupidity. She told me this just before Long Night. She wouldn't have cared enough to send a disciple of hers to care for this place. Frankly, I am not certain she would have cared about his death anyways beyond it being death in general as antonymous to her nature as a goddess of life." Phoebe's head tilted to the side, considering him. This didn't add up to her. Something fishy was going on here.
Of course, Phoebe had to bring up issues. It seemed like her special talent to Bastien, that no matter what he did Phoebe would be buzzing about like an especially annoying fly in the house. But nothing she said was anything he didn't have an answer prepared for, so he launched into his explanations.
"Please, child, do not argue. Bastien's brothel was a...short lived effort. People knew this as Safrin's church, and Safrin is conscious of what is said about her name. It is not about the man who ran this place but the Goddess it was devoted to. She wants someone to come in and pick up the...mess. That Bastien left." To say such words about his own careful plans was painful, but necessary.
"Does that answer your questions?"
Bastien
Jedediah
Tremble little lion man, you'll never settle any of your scores
Phoebe stared at the old man, wide-eyed and unconvinced. Had…had he called her a child? ”I wasn’t arguing, just stating some facts.” she said, a bit dryly, her arms crossing over her waist. Frankly she just didn’t buy it that Safrin was somehow involved in anything involving this place. She hadn’t been particularly impressed with it or with Bastien – if he died it just didn’t seem logical that she would care about it enough to send someone who espoused devotion to her to take it over.
”So Safrin sent you. Then you wouldn’t mind at all if I asked her that, that specifically she sent you to take this place over because Bastien died?” she said seriously. She was too emotionally exhausted to play games, so she was more than pleased to just get down to business to find out the truth. None of this added up to her, and she thought that could only mean this old man had something to hide.
Bastien wondered why the hell Phoebe was so interested in his church (or brothel, or cult, or exercise in public masturbation, whatever you wanted to call it) if she held such disdain for it and everything to do with it, wanted nothing more than to push her out and shut the door, but he was being Jedidiah now. And he had decided Jedidiah did not do things like that.
Oh, she thought she was being smart calling his bluff, did she? Bastien leaned back and raised his eyebrows in the perfect replica of an elder amused at the antics of a young innocent messing with things they didn't understand.
"Ask her, though she is busy this time of year. I do not think she would want to be bothered with such questions when she is mourning the death of a fine disciple. What do you know, child? More than I? I have lived here my whole life, worshipped Safrin all that time." Being able to take on the persona of somebody who hypothetically knew more allowed him smugness he had previously craved over Phoebe and he smiled with it, nearly laughing.
Bastien
Jedediah
Tremble little lion man, you'll never settle any of your scores
This…attitude this old man was giving felt all too familiar. She had been confronted by older people who thought they knew more than her, and when they presented it logically she tended to agree. But even as he insisted, even his exact phrasing of how Safrin might portray Bastien, it didn’t sound right. ”I will ask her, when Long Night is over.” she said first to clarify. She had already had an unsettling run in with Ludo and wasn’t sure she felt up to testing the patience of the deities again this Long Night.
”But I spoke with Safrin right before Long Night. I had gone to her to apologize for Bastien’s rude behavior towards her. She didn’t think him a fine disciple, she thought him a player that used her name to get what he wanted. Safrin didn’t think him a disciple any more than an eagle thinks a rat a friend.” And here she was again, defending Safrin’s name and feelings to a man. What was it with this place, this building, that seemed to breed lies about the goddess.
”I am not saying I know more than you, but it is clear you are a liar if you claim that Safrin held any warm feelings for the previous occupant of this place.”
"You went to...apologise?" He asked, an eyebrow raising. Was that why Safrin had been so cold as to ignore him? Why she had issued such a cruel curse on him? Could it be that again, the source of all of his problems was Phoebe? What had he ever done to this girl? The wording eagle thinks a rat made him internally flinch, only experience keeping him from showing the reaction outwardly.
Bastien sighed heavily at her final statement, going to pinch his nose. "You are an aggressive girl, hm? Safrin is not like us mortals, holding grudges. He proved himself in death and she has forgiven him. You do not know every inch of this man's life, and neither did I. To speculate on if he was worthy of her admiration is pointless."
There was a part of this that was personal, not just lies made up to get her to leave; it annoyed him that Phoebe so easily judged him without knowing what had brought him to this point. In her he saw the snotty noble girls who had turned up their noses at his freedom, his boldness, his refusal to be what they expected.
Bastien
Jedediah
Tremble little lion man, you'll never settle any of your scores
Lily watches the their verbal spar with narrowed gaze, which is convenient because they both seem to have forgotten she’s still there. Funny how that happens - first with Sam and Remi, now with Phoebe and… this old dude. For a moment, she thinks to do either one of two things: leave or go into the back room and make it very clear that that is her space and if he wants to keep his knees, he’ll do well to stay away.
But then things start to turn a little uglier as accusations fly; and for once the redhead doesn’t live up to her reputation. She has her own opinions about the matter and knows the truth will be found out, but this arguing doesn’t help, and she doesn’t take kindly to men using aggressive as a derogatory term towards women. She steps forward and places a hand on Phoebe’s shoulder. “And you are ignorant of us, it seems. I’ve never seen you and I’ve lived here all of Deepfrost. So as far as Bastien’s death is concerned, this is my place now.” She takes another step forward, arms crossed over her chest. “I do not know you. Anyone could come in here and call themselves a disciple of Safrin and try to take control of things. You expect me to take your word for it? We don’t even know your name.” She shakes her head slowly back and forth.
“Please leave. Or I’m afraid I will have to go get someone much bigger and stronger to make you.”
A voice - no, the Voice whispered, silken, directly into Bastien's ear. The others in the space would not hear a peep, of course, for she spoke within the not-dead man's mind.
"Not just them - Safrin, too. Making you jump through hoops, punishing you for trying to serve her. I bet she is watching now, and laughing at your misfortune. A shame, Bastien. You deserve better than this."
Bastien had not expected Lily to join Phoebe with such fire, and his surprise showed in his face as the mask dropped for a moment, genuine shock coming through. She thought she was entitled to his church because he'd let her sleep there for a while? So much so she was willing to threaten him? While he looked like a frail old man?
He had liked Lily before, but now he considered her a most rude person indeed.
"...I...do not know what I have done to earn such suspicion and hatred." He said to the both of them, was about to take a breath and continue to tell them how disappointed he was when suddenly there was a voice in his ear and he paused to listen to it. The Voice put forth a tempting deal, a promise at recognition. One he could not act on right now but that he definitely took to heart.
With this promise in mind he stepped away from his seat and held up his hands in surrender. "Alright. Alright. If it will please you, I will leave. But there is to be a funeral service for Bastien soon, that I am meant to preside over. Could you at least let me hold the memory for a dead man?"
Bastien
Jedediah
Tremble little lion man, you'll never settle any of your scores
Lily softens ever so slightly. She is not trying to hurt him, to drive him from the place - but he must understand. “Do not play the pity card. You are a stranger to us, and it is natural for anyone to be suspicious, particularly when parts of a story don’t make sense. It isn’t hatred and you know it.” Her eyes challenge him, chastise him for playing the injured child when he’d all but provoked it with his ‘I know best’ bullshit.
She takes a deep breath, using it to calm herself even more. “You are welcome to Bastien’s ‘church,’” she puts that part in air quotes, “head it and continue to worship Safrin in whichever way you think best. But it can no longer be housed here. Come back for the service, I have no problem with hosting it.”
And with that, she goes to the door and pointedly opens it. The conversation is over. He can have whatever he wants, except for this building, and she will not stop him. Call it squatter’s rights, if you will, or call it self-preservation. What Lily does know is that she doesn’t trust the old man, and she won’t have him creeping around.
merry of soul, she sailed on a day over the sea to Skye
