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!
Inspired by the things the family Lilliane was staying with had told her about the Festival of Lights, Lilliane had decided to try and make one for herself. Armed with a few thin wooden boards, a bundle of flexible and relatively straights sticks, thin paper, string, and a few tools, she was ready to start.
Settling down in a calm area - probably the garden of an abandoned house - she spread out her materials and looked at them appraisingly. She had never made something like that before, but it couldn't be that difficult. With a smile, she rolled up her sleeves and started comparing the wooden pieces, thinking about what to use as the base of her lantern.
Cam happened to be coming and going from their own little not-so-abandoned house when they spotted Lilliane in a neighboring garden. A smile crossed their face; they were glad to see Lilliane again, even if they weren't sure what she was doing with all that paper and wood and string.
Well, only one way to find out. Cam came over and leaned over the garden wall, gazing down at Lilliane and her work. "Hey, what's up? Are you settling in OK? What are you working on?"
That was a lot of questions, Cam realized, giving Lilliane a rueful smile. But they sincerely wanted to know.
As Lilliane heard a familiar voice talking to her, she looked up. Smiling at Cam, she answered. "Hi. I think I'm settling in fine." There was a slight shrug. "Many Caido-things are still pretty new to me and it still feels more like I'm on a long vacation rather than home. But I feel like I'm slowly getting used to all of this." And saying this, she gestured around in a somewhat all-encompassing gesture.
"How about you? You were planning to move out and get our own house right? And how's the art going?" A lot of questions as well, but that's what catching up with one another was about after all.
Looking at the materials spread out before her, Lilliane continued: "The family I'm staying with told me about the Festival of Lights, and that many people make lanterns in preparation for it. I guess as part of immersing myself in this world, I wanted to try my hand at making one as well. Though I certainly have no idea how to go about it." Another smile, though now slightly embarrassed. Though at the same time, she chuckled about herself, just running off doing things she had no knowledge about.
Cam listened to Lilliane's answers with a smile, nodding their head a couple times.
"I'm glad to hear that you're settling in," they said. "I know what you mean about feeling like it's a long vacation. I've been here for what, two years? And still sometimes I think about, like, 'when I go home,' or stuff I'm going to tell my parents about. It's ... hard sometimes."
That thought had brought Cam's mood down, but they brightened when Lilliane asked about their housing adventure. "Yeah, I actually found this really nice little place right down here -- it was abandoned, and I guess it is what you might call a bit of a fixer-upper, but it suits me just fine. It's interesting, being Ascended. It's really made me re-examine what I actually need in a home."
Cam came around the wall into the garden to get a closer look at Lilliane's materials. "Oh, yeah, I heard about the Festival of Lights. Something about lighting lanterns for the dead?" Cam glanced over Lilliane's work. "Hey, do you want a hand? I'm not really doing anything right now. Not that I have any more experience making lanterns than you do, but together I'm sure we can figure it out."
Lilliane nodded, expression slightly saddened. It was difficult sometimes. Thinking of Collin and remembering that she wouldn't be able to go back. Remembering the life she had left behind. But they weren't here to mope, right?
Instead, she focused on other topics. "If you ever need some help with the house, you know where to find me." Pondering for a moment, she continued. "True, you don't need to eat or sleep, so a few things fall away. Though, can you sleep if you want to?"
Upon the offer of help, Lilliane smiled at Cameron. "Sure. I have some extra materials, so I think there should be enough for both of us. And I'd be glad to have some company." She gestured at the ground next to her, inviting Cameron to take a seat. "I've been told the lanterns are used to help the souls find their way somehow. Back in the past, I would have seen it as just a festival, but I suppose here in Caido, things should be taken a bit more literal."
Cam nodded, happy to move on from the more serious subject of homesickness. "Thanks, I will! Yeah, I don't even need lights. And, uh, might be better off without them, actually. Ascended are a little ... flammable." Cam winced, thinking of how they'd burned themself when they first Ascended -- and that was just from sunlight, not an open flame. Then they refocused on Lilliane's question. "Yeah, we can sleep, and I have a bed in case I want to lie down. But I usually just ... don't. I don't actually get tired or sleepy or anything, and I don't dream anymore." They sighed. "I do kind of miss dreaming. It was cool."
Cam came and sat where Lilliane had indicated, looking over the materials before selecting a thin piece of wood to try to use as a base. They hoped they were visualizing the structure of the lantern correctly ... "Yeah, good point. Maybe the souls here really do need to be guided home ... It's harder to distinguish myth from fact in a world where magic and gods are real." Wait, had they just protected their atheism onto Lilliane? "I mean, I know plenty of people back home believe their gods are real, and I can't definitively say otherwise, but they're definitely more obvious in Caido."
Lilliane tilted her head slightly. "I can imagine that not dreaming might be difficult for an artist. Don't many people with creative professions use their dreams for inspiration? That reminds me, I never asked, what kind of things do you paint?" While she was no artist herself, she did like to look at it.
While listening to Cam, Lilliane started to take a look at her own soon-to-be lantern as well. "Well, whether or not the gods back on earth are real, I think we can safely assume that if they are, they don't really care about us. Or else they would actually answer prayers." Although she shrugged, there was a hint of anger in her voice. Directed more to herself, for having even tried that approach in the past, rather than anyone else.
It didn't take long for her mood to brighten again though. She took for of the sticks with roughly the same diameter and started cutting them to the same length. "I was thinking of using those sticks for the corners and then wrapping the paper around it."
Cam nods. "Yeah, I used to take inspiration from my dreams pretty often. But I also had a lot of bad dreams, so I guess it balances out." They never again had to work about uneasy sleep due to haunting dreams ... or about uneasy sleep for any other reason, either. "I've been painting mostly still lifes lately, because it's easy to find things to look at and paint. Landscapes, too. Not so much people. It's hard when you can't look up reference photos -- I'd have to get people to actually sit for a sketch or something."
The hint of anger in Lilliane's voice makes Cam frown a little. Sounded like she hasn't had the greatest religious experience either ... But rather than pry, Cam just agrees. "My dad used to have this kind of ... Deist perspective, I guess is what it's called. He thought that God created the universe and then just sort of stepped back and let it run. Which I suppose is what Caido did here, except he created other gods who do meddle in our affairs."
"That's smart," Cam adds, copying Lilliane. Once they have four similar-looking sticks of the same length, they start to work on attaching them to their lantern base. "Wait, are these lanterns supposed to float, or fly, or what?"
Lilliane nodded. She knew how annoying bad dreams could be. Though they were never that bad for her to want to give up dreaming entirely. "How about sitting down somewhere many people come by? That way, you could work on speed sketches or something like that. Wasn't that something digital artists did every now and then?" At least she remembered having seen something like that online. "I'm not sure if I'd make a good motif for a painting, but if you need to train, I can sit for a sketch if you want."
The anger was gone as quick as it had appeared, and Lilliane was back to her usual calm demeanor. "I wonder if he created them so that they would take care of what he had made. And if he's still content with what they are doing." Now she chuckled. "Do you think it's just like one of those simulation videogames for Caido? Now I've made this world and its creatures, and I'll take a look at it every now and then to see how it has developed." she said in her best godly voice imitation.
With the sticks cut to size, Lilliane was working on attaching them to the base as well when Cameron asked their question. Looking over at Cam, she couldn't help but laugh. "I actually hadn't thought about that." Maybe she should have thought about the whole thing more. "I suppose we could use some string and hang it from somewhere." Looking over the material they had, she then added: "Or we could make tiny boats for them to float in?" Then she looked over to Cam. "What do you think?"
Cam nodded thoughtfully, assessing the suggestion. "That could be an option, but I'm really not that fast ... Hmm, I guess I could pick somewhere that people tend to sit for a while, like the Temple. Though something about drawing strangers without their knowledge feels a bit ... invasive? I guess if it's just practice it's OK, though." When Lilliane offered to sit for them, they blushed -- or, at least, they would have blushed, but Ascended didn't do that, since they didn't have blood. "Oh, uh, that would be lovely, actually. Just, uh, don't expect it to be any good, OK?" They let out a self-deprecating little laugh.
"Maybe." Another nod. "I feel like if Caido cared what the lesser gods are doing to us, though, it wouldn't be that hard for him to speak up. And, like, most sim games I've played actually let you meddle in your simulated people's lives a lot ... My dad always saw God more as a scientist, just setting up the universe as an experiment. Maybe that's why Caido doesn't intervene -- it would spoil the data."
Cam frowned, trying to cast their mind across everything they'd heard about this holiday. They had done some studying of Caido's myths and legends, after all. "I think they're supposed to float on water or something? So that they can carry the souls away? I honestly have no idea, though. Damn, I should know this." They sighed and continued working on their lantern, wrapping the paper around the sticks which were now attached to the base.
"It's so you can train, so we both shouldn't expect a perfect portrait the first time around," Lilliane said with a smile.
Then she nodded. "Maybe. Do you think Caido has a bunch of worlds just like this one then? To have several instances of the same thing and just watch how they differ from one another? And then he stands there with a clipboard and scribbles away on it." She added with a chuckle.
"Well, I guess we'll just have to go by our gut feeling then. And we can try to use the leftover materials to make little boats to put them in, if necessary." Lilliane shrugged. By now, she was working on wrapping the lantern in the paper as well. For a moment, she looked at her lantern, then at Cameron. "Say, do you think we can paint the paper in a way that light can still shine through?" They were an artist after all.
Cam nodded. "It's been an adjustment to go from drawing mostly digitally to a world where nothing digital exists. My first few traditional paintings were ... not great. And I keep having this reflex to Ctrl+Z a real-life canvas." They laugh a little at their own silly habits.
After considering the idea, Cam shook their head. "I mean, maybe. But that requires me to think about parallel universes and like ... other versions of us, and that just gives me a headache. I guess it's possible. Maybe there's a universe out there where we all get along." Cam sighed. "If there is, I'd like to see how they managed it."
Glancing over the materials, Cam nodded again. "Little boats would be cute, and I think we could do it. And we can definitely get the light to shine through if we just paint lightly over them." They picked up a brush and checked out the paints Lilliane had brought. "Yeah, this will work. What are you going to paint on yours?"
At the notion of Cameron standing in front of a canvas and trying to press Ctrl+Z, Lilliane chuckled. "I think I get what you mean. Whenever I have a question for someone or want to talk to someone, my first instinct is to shoot them an SMS or something similar." She shrugged.
"Yeah, I think there is way too much to keep track of when thinking about this. Plus, I doubt we would ever meet other-universe us." Lilliane furrowed her brows slightly. "Though I would be interested in what I'd be like in an alternate universe." Then she shrugged. "But you're right, it is headache-inducing."
Smiling, Lilliane nodded. "Little boats it is then." Taking a look at her lantern, then at the colors, Lilliane made a little hum while thinking. "I was thinking of painting some flowers. Blue ones." She nodded, more to herself than to Cameron. "And you?"
"Oh, god, I miss texting," Cam admits. "And like ... the Internet. I haven't seen a funny cat gif in like two years and I'm in withdrawal. Or like ... memes. Remember memes?" About to rattle off a meme, they pause, uncertain whether Lilliane would have heard of "none pizza with left beef." Nothing worse than citing a meme to someone who doesn't know what it is, after all.
"I mean ... how much of yourself can you change in an alternate universe before you're just a different person?" Cam thinks of their hypothetical alternate-universe selves. Is there a Cam out there who's living their best life on Earth as a successful photographer? Is there another one wasting away in a version of Caido where Ascension isn't an option? "Eh. Spooky."
Looking at the lantern that will serve as their canvas, Cam considers the matter. "Blue flowers sound nice ... I might go for butterflies. These are supposed to be guiding the souls of the dead, right? So butterflies as a symbol of change and hope ..." Maybe they're putting too much thought into it.
