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!
living in this big blue world with my head up in outer space Stirring stars instead of sugar in my lemonade
He preens beneath the compliment, cheeks turning softly pink as he smiles beatifically. He is a very easy child, if not a little overly honest and obedient, and easily pleased by compliments and praise. “Thank you mom,” he makes sure to respond, even though he is far more focused on where she’s going with the little experiment they have between them.
He hesitates over the first one she mentioned, but wavers and goes to the strawberry one. The chunks had been too cold on his teeth, so perhaps he’ll try one without any inclusions. The strawberry earns very wide eyes and a little wiggle in his seat, only just managing to swallow before he exclaims his excitement. “Oh, I liked that one a lot!” he gushes. Then, sharing what amounts to a conspiratorial expression with his mother, he leans closer to whisper (badly). “Are there any bad flavors?” He won’t say it loud enough to hurt the seller’s feelings, but surely there must be!
Phoebe smiled and ruffled his hair as he thanked her. Such a polite boy - it made her proud.
But it seemed he had stumbled on a flavor he liked, a simple strawberry ice cream. She smiled warmly and pointed out another ice cream near it. "This one is chocolate. You should try a bite of it with the strawberry at the same time." she encouraged. Chocolate and strawberry did go well together after all.
"There are no bad flavors, but there might be some you don't like." Phoebe said, pointing to another small scoop. "This is called Butter Pecan. It isn't one I particularly like but plenty of other people do." she said. "But whatever you don't like, I will eat so don't worry if you don't like some." she assured him. Nothing would go to waste. This was about pure, unadulterated surgary exploration after all!
living in this big blue world with my head up in outer space Stirring stars instead of sugar in my lemonade
Jude nods seriously, as if this is a matter of life or death, and carefully measures out as equal of portions as he can manage of each of the flavors. Upon trying it, he kicks his heels against the stool, clearly delighted by the taste well before he hums excitedly. "It's so good! Why don't they mix it ahead of time, though?" If it tastes so wonderful when paired, he's curious why they don't do it preemptively. When too thoroughly mixed, would the flavors not pair as well?
Jude spares an admiring glance towards his mother as she tells him she'll finish whatever he doesn't like. "I hope I can do that when I'm bigger," he admits, taking a spoonful of something green and staring at it curiously. "Be able to eat every vegetable without caring if I like it!" While he's an obedient child and has always eaten whatever he is told is good for him, he certainly dislikes certain vegetables. Trying the green flavor - pistachio, he realizes with a contemplative expression - he swallows and beams at his mother. "Thank you for taking me, mom. This is really fun!"
Phoebe smiled brightly at Jude's delight. "Because they want you to buy both." She explained. "Businesses do things like that so they can sell more and be more profitable." She would be sure to keep chocolate and strawberry ice cream on hand for whenever he was staying with her from now on. It would be a good way to make sure he ate his vegetables at least.
Speaking of vegetables, she couldn't help but laugh at his comparison. "Let me tell you a secret." she said conspiratorially. "When you're bigger, you can decide which vegetable you want to eat and which ones you don't." she whispered with a grin.
Then she ruffled his hair and kissed his head. "You're welcome, sweetheart. I'm glad you're having fun." she said brightly. Because soon they would be cooped up in the sanctuary and the outside world would be turned upside down by war. Pain was in the future and it was unavoidable. So she was glad to give her son memories like these to hold on to in the dark times ahead.
Once he was finished though, she had him take the bowl back to the shopkeep and took him back to Harper and Maeve's compound, leaving him with a big hug and kiss before watching him disappear inside.
