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!
Wessex, with braids in her hair? Maea laughed nervously, as if the Wraith might be lurking nearby and might hear them. "I dare you to try, and see how she reacts." She wiggled her own eyebrows at him this time, and there was a look of catlike satisfaction about her she couldn't quite hide.
Allowing him to take her hand, she rubbed her thumb along his fingers.
"Then I'm honored to be the exception," she murmured, somewhat overwhelmed by the depths of the emotions that came flooding in. "Even if I am the worst sister."
Settling in more comfortably in the embrace, she nestled her head against his shoulder and savored the simple joy in being close.
"Not sure how much help I will be in that regard, either. But I'll do my very best," Maea promised. "Do you want to have a look at the study, when we get back? Just to make sure there's nothing there to find?" Maybe the Sage had left books behind. At some point Amalia was to have taken over as guild master, but her priorities had always been elsewhere.
I'm an angel bored like hell And you're a devil meaning well
BASE INSPIRED BY ODD <3
♦ Violence, magic, thievery is permitted with Maea at all times. DM me if you have any ideas ♦
Amun held up his hands as he laughed. Shaking his head at Maea's dare, he grinned. "No thank you! I like having all my fingers and toes, even if they are pretty easy to reattach." He wiggled said fingers in her direction.
"Absolutely the worst. After all, you won't even let me tug on your pigtails." So saying, he reached up and pinched the braid he'd made. Then he shifted the flower crown to a better angle so it wouldn't fall off quite as easily if she keep moving around.
Hugging her close, he smiled. "You'll do better than me. At least you have some idea how to research properly. I only like the books with the pictures in them." He craned his head back a bit so she could see his wink. "Yeah, that seems like a good place to start. I'd feel particularly dumb if we went all the way down there and braved all those dangers only to discover what we were looking for was in the Atheneum all along."
Giggling at his refusal she let the matter drop, before he could think to counter with some return dare meant for her. "I let you braid my hair," she countered as he fussed with her flower crown, "and you get to pick out my wardrobe. And you even get to tell me what to do, sometimes. I think that's plenty generous." Especially given that she had agreed to not chase away any potential suitors with a broom, should he recommend them. It was downright benevolent of her, even, and absolutely no grounds for complaining about this one boundary. No pigtails. No.
"Hmm. I'm actually a bit surprised. I thought for sure you might enjoy a book now and then." Peering up in time to see the wink, she smiled lazily, with no inclination whatsoever to move for a while. "Then we have a plan. Good."
For a while, a pleasant silence fell. Then; "Amun? Would you... tell me something about the Voice? Something good? I only ever hear the bad things."
I'm an angel bored like hell And you're a devil meaning well
BASE INSPIRED BY ODD <3
♦ Violence, magic, thievery is permitted with Maea at all times. DM me if you have any ideas ♦
Amun arched an eyebrow. Smirking at Maea, he tsked at her. "Well, when you put it like that, I sound entirely unreasonable and greedy, don't I? And we both know that couldn't possibly be true." He stuck out his tongue.
Humming a few notes at her confusion, he cocked his head to one side. "I told you, I like the ones with pictures." He chuckled. When she asked to hear something nice about the Voice, though, he narrowed his eyes. "I can do that. Let me think."
He let his gaze drift off to the side as he considered what to tell his sister. Finally, he nodded. "I'm not sure this is exactly what you were asking, but, a few years ago I damaged my hand beyond repair. I got a prosthetic but...it wasn't the same. The Ascended were all gathered for an important ritual, but the Voice still took the time to single me out and restore my missing hand. Beyond that, she promised to help me make a boat for us all." He smiled at the memory.
She gave him a wide eyed look that was entirely genuine. "Greedy? You? Since when and in what way have you ever been greedy? You're one of the most selfless people I have ever met, Amun." Reaching up a hand she cupped his cheek, just like he had done to her. "Whoever told you that is wrong, and I want a word with them." And if her expression of protective indignation was a touch exaggerated, the intent was not.
She waited patiently while he decided on a story, and listened quietly. It was more or less along the lines of what she hoped for; a glimpse of light in the darkness. Some display of kindness and compassion to counter the many terrible things she had been fed with over the years. It was so ingrained in her to dislike and distrust the Voice that it took her some time to process this newer perspective, even now.
"I see. So she can be kind too." It shouldn't surprise her. It shouldn't be strange, when both Amun and so many others kept following her. "Was I there, when you lost your hand? I remember you talking about the boat, so I must have, but..." Maea scowled softly at the hazy parts in her memory. There were several gaps that made it difficult to pinpoint specific periods in time. "Seems like my memory is already bad, Amun. Help, what do I do, I'll turn senile before I'm even forty." Spoken in jest, her tone was light and playful to hide the massive guilt. How terrible was she even at keeping up with what her brother went through?
I'm an angel bored like hell And you're a devil meaning well
BASE INSPIRED BY ODD <3
♦ Violence, magic, thievery is permitted with Maea at all times. DM me if you have any ideas ♦
Amun blinked at Maea's complaints. Opening his mouth, he shut it again as she reached for him and then went on to defend him. Rolling his eyes, he patted the hand she had on his cheek. "Maea. It was a joke." He threw back his head and laughed. "I appreciate the kind words, though," he informed her in between chuckles.
"Yes, she can. She's certainly been patient enough with all my missteps and stumbles, and always forgives us no matter what." Frowning as she asked about the hand, he nodded. Before he could try to fill in the gaps in her memory, though, she made a quip about it. "Mmmm no, it's too late for you I'm afraid. At least your hair is light enough that the grey won't be noticeable, but I am afraid you'll need a cane." Hunching his shoulders, he shook his fist in the air.
She blinked. Slowly a sheepish look crept across her features, and with a groan she buried her face back in his shoulder. Embarrassed was putting it mildly. "Mmhf, you're welcome. I suppose." The words were muffled - the only consolation here was his laughter. Honestly.
For perhaps the first time, talking about their goddess came as a respite. Only too late did she notice that he was about to speak, and quickly returned to the subject. "I'll be a crotchety old lady and you'll never get a moment's peace. But you were going to tell me something. About your hand?" She fumbled through the haze, tried to think of where he might have been injured. "Was it... what happened at the Temple? With Ronin?" Gods, she hoped that was it. And felt terrible for not knowing more about what he had been up to, back then.
I'm an angel bored like hell And you're a devil meaning well
BASE INSPIRED BY ODD <3
♦ Violence, magic, thievery is permitted with Maea at all times. DM me if you have any ideas ♦
The laughter still lingered as Maea realized she'd misconstrued Amun's comment. Holding her, he let out another guffaw as she threatened to stalk him in her guise as an old lady. "Oh no, the horror!" he quipped.
As she asked about his hand, he shrugged. Reaching up to reposition the flower crown he'd made for himself, he sighed. "Slightly before. I was injured initially when the ice wall shattered at the Festival. It was damaged, but maybe salvageable." He grimaced. "But it got hit by some falling masonry in the Temple, yes. That was the final straw."
Leaning back, he shook his head. "I guess that's why the whole Stormbreak incident bothers me so much, since it mirrored what Ronin did to the Temple, yet he's still a good guy somehow." He looked down and picked at some grass.
Right, the Fiat Lux Fiasco. "Ah, that makes more sense," she hummed, and casually pinched him for laughing at her. Not that it had any effect, but still. "I wasn't there when the monster attacked. After you brought me back to the Grounds, I went straight home." To rubble and dust, and an empty house. It was all coming back, now. No wonder she didn't remember; she had been lost and roaming gods knew where for an entire year at that point.
Stretching out slightly, she reached up to touch his hair with gentle fingers. "I see. That's a very understandable reason. As for Ronin? That makes certain sense, at least from one side, don't you think? We are the bad guys in their narrative. Unnatural and corrupt, a blight on the world. Why should anyone blame such a hero as Ronin for doing his duty as a demigod?" Tension gathered in her jaw, a quiet storm building up behind her eyes. She had believed that too, not so very long ago. Up to a point. But Amun had made her doubt that way of thinking, made her reconsider, and she had changed. Slowly, sure, and she still had a long way to go, but it was not so far fetched now to accept that there wasn't one single truth above all others.
"You know... even when I was at my most stuck up and self-righteous, I never believed that the Ascended were evil. It was always more a fear of what the Voice's intentions were, and this idea that the bedtime stories were true, about creatures with fangs would creep into people's rooms at night, to drink their blood." She rolled her eyes - it sounded ridiculous now. "Mindless fear and lacking information, that was my problem. What makes Ronin and Remi so frustrating is that they are so much more well informed than I was. Yet they still intend to wipe us out."
Why couldn't there be a middle ground? Why was no one willing to negotiate? Five years had passed since the Outlanders arrived, and now they were a few seasons away from a war. All this time, and for what?
"I wonder what's going to have to happen, before this is over and the gods settle on some agreement." A subdued thought - would this war be over in a sigh, or drag on for years? What would be left, when the dust settled?
I'm an angel bored like hell And you're a devil meaning well
BASE INSPIRED BY ODD <3
♦ Violence, magic, thievery is permitted with Maea at all times. DM me if you have any ideas ♦
Shrugging, Amun's lip twitched into a smile for a moment. "Don't worry. It was a crazy time in so many ways, and the time I spent with the prosthetic was honestly pretty limited." He reached up to rub his thumb across her chin for a moment.
Frowning, he picked at the grass some more. This time, when a full clump came out, he grimaced and tossed it aside. Resting his hands in his lap, he sighed. "Believe me, I know. Doesn't mean it doesn't bother me." As she went on, he rubbed his eyes. "Yes, but you were trapped in the Hollowed Ground. The people of Torchline and Halo have only had a few years of exposure to us being around again, and yet they've fallen in line with the old gods." He pressed his lips together.
Snorting, he picked up a single dandelion. Bringing it to his mouth, he blew on it and scattered the dander everywhere. "If we lose, I don't think we'll have to worry about it. Small blessings there."
"Mh, while that is true, it's still not okay that I didn't remember. I'm sorry, you deserve more than that from me." She nuzzled her cheek into his hand for a moment. It was simply a result of being far too self-centered. Something that would have to change, and quickly.
It was the problem with being late to the party. All her profound insights, and he already knew. It became a simple rehashing of truths he had lived with and fought against before she ever knew to question hers. Maea bowed her head, quieting when her arguments ran dry. A heavy weight of guilt might never lift; how much had her own actions in Torchline swayed opinion against the Ascended? Even if it was just a drop in the sea, it should not have happened.
"Don't say that," she pleaded quietly, as Amun went on. "Don't let them win before it's even begun. I take back what I said, you're right. The best fight is the one we get out of alive. So let's... let's just do that? As long as we still live, they haven't won. Right?" There was still the Relics to find. There was still time to grow stronger. Time to change and improve - and even if she wouldn't be able to match Amun in however long it was left until the war-horn sounded, she could still try to make herself as difficult to kill as possible.
All she had to do was pluck up the courage and fix her biases towards their goddess.
I'm an angel bored like hell And you're a devil meaning well
BASE INSPIRED BY ODD <3
♦ Violence, magic, thievery is permitted with Maea at all times. DM me if you have any ideas ♦
Amun let Maea press her cheek against his palm. "Fine. Apology accepted." Smiling, he gave her cheek one last pat before dropping his hand.
Arching an eyebrow at her protest, he cocked his head to one side. "I do remember." He snorted. "I also remember you saying that there was no such thing as a good fight." Sighing, he shook his head.
"Yes, as long as we're alive there's still hope," he acknowledged. Tossing the stem of the dandelion aside, he narrowed his eyes at her. "See what you've done? Now I'm all melancholy. Next thing you know I'll be writing bad poetry and painting my nails black." He stuck out his tongue.
Maea nodded solemnly, hating every time he sighed like that. Like the burdens of the world lay on his shoulders. They might, to some extent, but it still wasn't right. "Yes, and that's the part I take back. Even if it's theoretically correct, it's pointless if it makes you worried. Or melancholy."
He stuck out his tongue at her, and viper quick she tried to poke it with a finger. Laughing, she tumbled out of his lap and was on her feet, backing away quickly even as her eyebrows mimicked his constant wiggling. Clearly trying to lure him to give chase.
"Awh, are you feeling sad? Are you gloomy? Black nails would look good on you though. Maybe some dark under the eyes too. Then everyone will know exactly when you've cried and will come give you hugs. How's that for a pick-up strategy?" She smirked at him, looking very pleased with herself.
I'm an angel bored like hell And you're a devil meaning well
BASE INSPIRED BY ODD <3
♦ Violence, magic, thievery is permitted with Maea at all times. DM me if you have any ideas ♦
Shaking his head at Maea's words, Amun's brow furrowed. Pressing his lips together, he cocked his head to one side. "Don't be afraid to speak your mind simply because you're worried it might hurt my feelings. Okay?" He narrowed his eyes at her.
As her finger poked his tongue, his eyes widened even as his tongue shot back into his mouth. "Oi!" Rolling to his feet, he dashed after her. "The day I have to rely on cheap theatrics to pick up men is the day I want you to put me out to pasture, sis." He let out a laugh that didn't stop him from pursuing her.
