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!
see what you find there with grace in your heart and flowers in your hair
Auntie Maeve had been very specific with the task. Go scoop up stars from the water and she would send someone to help her out. Who that someone would be, Paige didn't know. Thus, here she was with a basket full of empty jars and her long pants ditched for shorts to keep from getting too wet. Placing the basket onto the rocks, Paige takes a moment to pile her hair onto her head in a messy bun, uncaring for the strands that fall loose across her forehead.
She scoops up one of the jars, carefully making her way along the rocks until she could kneel down close to the water, watching the surface ripple and dance with each gust of wind that came in off the water. Her eyes search for a clear reflection of one of the stars and she carefully stretches forward to scoop the water along with the star's reflection into the glass container. Her eyes widen when it comes back glowing, the star twinkling merrily inside, "Woah..."
"Pretty cool huh?" Flora calls with all the confidence and poise of someone who had spent a lifetime catching stars in precisely this way. "You're Paige, right? I doubt you'd—" She was going to say that she doubted if Paige would remember her, but that wasn't quite right. "—recognize me. I'm Flora, Enzo's sister?" And Mateo's, but who cares.
Smiling slightly and shrugging as if the fact she was now a gorgeous girl of 16 was no big deal (but it was, just look at her), Flora grins and tucks her hair behind one ear. "Love what you've done with your hair." She adds, aqua eyes landing appreciatively on the mess of hair atop Paige's head.
We need love, But all we want is danger We team up, Then switch sides like a record changer
see what you find there with grace in your heart and flowers in your hair
The voice ringing out almost makes her lose her balance, barely managing to catch herself before tumbling head first into the pool before her. Precariously clutching onto the jar and slowly righting herself, Paige turns back towards the direction of the voice, cornflower blue eyes landing on the freshly aged sixteen year old. "That's right." The girl says slowly, eyes slowly looking her over from head to toe, noting the familiar features between herself and Enzo even before Flora mentions their connection. "Yeah, I know. You guys favor each other." Given the whole twin thing.
Paige feels her cheeks flush, struggling to discern if Flora was being genuine or not. "Uh, thank you. Just wanted it out of my way." And suddenly she feels a whole lot less put together than her star catching partner who seems all sorts of calm, cool and collected.
"We..?" Flora blanks, not really knowing what Paige meant, but rolling with it anyways with a sunny smile. "Oh no totally." The now-older girl agrees. "Stylish and practical. So good." She adds, flashing Paige another smile before glancing at the jar she was holding.
"Okay so...do you have any idea how this is supposed to work?" From what she'd gathered this whole star-catching thing was largely supposed to be metaphorical or whatever, but...well, this was Caido and she supposed that anything was possible. Maybe the stars in the water would solidify somehow, or maybe Paige knew something she didn't (which was very likely, all things considered).
We need love, But all we want is danger We team up, Then switch sides like a record changer
see what you find there with grace in your heart and flowers in your hair
Paige blinks slowly. Still processing her words, but she eventually offers a hesitant smile back. "Thanks... I keep thinking about cutting it, but the girls at the Halenani don't think I should." She says after a moment, tucking a stray curl behind her ears, carefully placing the jar in the basket she brought. "Auntie Maeve says that we just have to scoop it up in the jar." Her shoulders lift in a shrug, thinking that it was pretty self explanatory. The Attuned had already successfully done it herself.
Passing Flora a jar and grabbing another for herself, the girl moves back to the edge of the water, watching the reflections of the stars dance on top of the water. Leaning down she scoops it beneath one of the reflections, capturing the twinkling light again. Truthfully she didn't know how it really worked, but she wasn't going to question it.
07-11-2022, 07:58 PM (This post was last modified: 07-11-2022, 07:58 PM by Flora.)
flora
"Well, I think you should do whatever you want." Flora says confidently. "Besides, it's only hair. It'll grow back, and if it doesn't fast enough? I'm sure someone has magic to fix that." She adds with a grin.
'Oh.' Frowning thoughtfully, Flora shrugs and accepts the offered jar. "Seems strange, but I trust you." Winking in Paige's direction, the aqua-eyed girl turns her attention to the water. "I think I want..." Her eyes scan the surface and the stars shimmering thereupon. "...this one!" So saying she scoops up some water that held a constellation she seemed to like best. Of course what was in the jar was just water, but...well, whatever
We need love, But all we want is danger We team up, Then switch sides like a record changer
see what you find there with grace in your heart and flowers in your hair
The conviction on the older girl's voice surprises her, but Paige can't help the little smile that finds her lips at her words. Maybe it would look good. Flora seemed to think so. "I haven't cut my hair before." She begins, nerves building up again as she glances over at her, watching as she moves towards the water, "Do you think you could maybe help me?" Paige finally asks, bottom lip catching between her teeth and her cheeks flushing pink. Thankfully the sun isn't out to give her away.
Flora scoops up the water and it doesn't sparkle the way that Paige's does, but she doesn't point it out. Not really. Except she does absolutely point it out. "Why isn't yours sparkling?" In comparison to Paige's it just looked wrong.
07-15-2022, 04:29 PM (This post was last modified: 07-15-2022, 04:29 PM by Flora.)
flora
"Totally I can." Flora says with an instant nod, and if she catches any indication at all of Paige's nervousness, she doesn't show it. "I know some people with illusion magic too, so we could always test out different styles if you aren't sure what you want." She adds with a wink before turning her attention back to her jar.
'Uhm?' Flora twitches her lips a few times as she gives the jar an experimental shake as if she might somehow wake up the starlight within. "Maybe I did it wrong? Or maybe you're just better at it than I am." Shrugging her shoulders, she gives the jar another shake—harder this time—but of course it does nothing.
"Well, I'm sure yours is good enough. Want to head back?"
We need love, But all we want is danger We team up, Then switch sides like a record changer
07-15-2022, 04:44 PM (This post was last modified: 07-17-2022, 04:08 PM by Paige.)
see what you find there with grace in your heart and flowers in your hair
"Okay, that's- that's great." Paige says with a decisive nod, ignoring the heat on her cheeks and letting out a breath she didn't realize she was holding. Ignoring that same fluttering in her belly, Paige carefully climbs back up the rocks, offering Flora her hand to help her up too all while balancing her jar. "I don't think it's that. I'm sure we did a good enough job." If not her Auntie Maeve would just go out and scoop up more stars herself. Besides, Paige already saw the basket of stars that the queen had collected and she was sure they had more than enough.
"Uh, yeah... We could grab something to eat? If you're hungry? I know this really good stall that sells great kabobs, but if you don't like kabobs we could get something else? Do you like fish? Or, uhm, there are probably people cooking down by the beach? We could go there?" The words area rush and all strung together. Whatever bravado she normally has seemingly gone in the older girl's presence.
Depending on the answer, the rest of the evening is spent doing just that and Paige finds herself wondering just what she's feeling when she tucks herself into bed that night.
