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!
Where the river meets the sea, Jude sits with stick in hand, drawing little designs in the wet sand beside the estuary's waters and quietly singing to himself. While he'd gotten his father's singing voice and often shared in it with him - Harper playing his guitar as the two sat on the back porch watching the night sky - he isn't confident enough to do it around anybody else. Here, the river is quiet enough and the waves far enough that he can hear himself, but nobody is around to venture across him.
One arm around his shins and chin resting on his knees, the teen scratches out his most recent drawing with his stick and sighs, debating what to draw next. He doesn't want to go home just yet, but sand isn't exactly the best medium for advanced artistic endeavors.
I LEND EVERYONE MY EAR, BUT NOBODY MY HEART I'D LIKE TO CHANGE THAT, BUT I DON'T KNOW WHERE TO START
04-19-2023, 09:28 PM (This post was last modified: 04-19-2023, 09:43 PM by Phoebe.)
and there she was, living, despite it all
Phoebe was one concerned momma. Jude had gone off to play and wasn't home yet. It wasn't like him. He missed lunch. That boy never missed a meal, just like his father that way. So she took matters into her own hands and set out. First she searched the little glen he usually played in to no avail. That led her to the Crimson Cataract - the colored water had fascinated him when they visited the shrine. No sign there either.
Now she was down by the estuary. Maybe he had gone swimming. She knew he could, spending half his time in Torchline it was a necessity. As her eyes scanned the shores, she spotted a young, dark headed teen. Perhaps he had seen Jude? "Excuse me, young man..." she called out as she approached from behind. "Have you seen my son? He is 10 years old about this height..." she said, holding her hand up to Jude's approximate height. "His name is Jude."
The second his mother's voice washes over him, Jude's shoulders reach his ears and his hand tightens painfully around the stick in his palm. Of all the options to find him right now, why did it have to be her? He was already dreading showing up changed and older, robbing her of the years with her son she'd always wanted, and now he couldn't even do it on his own terms.
For a split second before he turns his head, Jude considers lying. He's not good at it by any stretch of the imagination, but maybe his new face would sell it? The moment he turns and locks eyes with his mother though, he knows he doesn't have the heart to do it, and the regret and emotion is clear on his face. "Hi, mom," he murmurs.
I LEND EVERYONE MY EAR, BUT NOBODY MY HEART I'D LIKE TO CHANGE THAT, BUT I DON'T KNOW WHERE TO START
He didn't need to call her mom. He didn't need to identify himself. He didn't even need to explain what happened. As soon as he turned his face, she knew. His face had matured but she would recognize her son anywhere. Harper's face was there, and so was her own. And she knew exactly why he was suddenly a young man. The visit to the shrine. His questions of Frey.
Her feet were moving before her mind was, running then sliding on her knees in the sand to be before him. Her hands reached up to hold his cheeks, thumbs running over high cheekbones. Then briefly they rose to his hair, then back down to his face again. Her own expression was pained, tormented even, and tears flowed down her cheeks like the river beside them. "Jude..." she said with a shaky breath. "Oh my baby boy...what have you done?"
In the wind you hear voices. It sounds like children playing some kind of game with laughter and mischief. Then one screams. There’s a call for ‘Mom!’ ‘Papa!’ and other adults as the laughter stops. Glancing towards the direction of the commotion, you’ll see fins cutting the water. A pack of echo sharks lucks, ready to leap up and grab any who fall for their trap.
You’ve encountered a pack of echo sharks. This counts as a common creature encounter for the purposes of levelling, but does not count as a Random Event for levelling or MP. There will be no further admin/re intervention. If you choose to follow this creature, you do so at your own risk, however, just having it in this thread is enough to satisfy your levelling requirements.
Echo Shark (common) - A dwarf species of shark known for hunting in packs, the Echo Shark can live in both freshwater and saltwater. They are able to mimic any sound they’ve heard and band together to increase their range of vocals. The sharks use the words and sounds they’ve learned to lure unsuspecting prey into the water, where the sharks will then leap up and drag them into the waves.
She moves so fast, but even before she hits her knees Jude can see the profound hurt on her face, and it makes his eyes well up without his permission. Every emotion is clearer now with an older mind, the desire to cry less of a skinned-knee response and more of a sensation of grief and regret. Her hands touch his face, his hair, and as they cradle his face the first few tears collect in the grooves where her fingers touch his cheeks. "I'm sorry mom," he tries to force out through suddenly quaking lungs. "I just - I didn't want -" whatever he was going to say is interrupted by a chilling scream, and Jude wilts closer toward his mother, spooked.
Confused because he'd known the beach was empty, Jude searches with just his eyes, shrinking further as more voices call out, making it clear it's echo sharks lurking in the water. He'd been educated on them from a very young age given his predilection for swimming. At least they're a temporary distraction from the pain he is causing his mother.
I LEND EVERYONE MY EAR, BUT NOBODY MY HEART I'D LIKE TO CHANGE THAT, BUT I DON'T KNOW WHERE TO START
It is hardly enough to be a balm for her heart. Years had past in the span of an afternoon. Now she doubted she was even old enough to be his mother - but he was her baby. Her baby. The child she had pined for for so long. Even as she felt anger rising, she had already forgiven him. How could she do anything else.
But the sudden screams have her arms around his shoulders in an instant, pulling him close to her chest as best she could. Her eyes scanned the water and spotted the fins of echo sharks. She sighed, arms loosening. "Just echo sharks." she said as soothingly as she could manage, unsure now how much of her comforting he needed now.
Her hands took him by the shoulders, holding him now in outstretched arms. She looked him over, every inch a gangly teen. Not a chubby cheek or pudgie finger left. Phoebe sighed shakily. "Why?" she asked again, drying her cheeks on the shoulders of her dress.
Her arms around him are a defense against the world at large, and Jude selfishly turns into them, knowing whatever is out there can't make it through her to hurt him. It gives him the chance to soak up the comfort he doesn't deserve, having been to one to hurt her in the first place - and a chance to hide from explaining why. At least for a moment.
But he can't hide from it forever, just as he couldn't hide out on the beach and never return home. Even the tears on his cheeks - itchy, now - won't save him his mother's distress. "I didn't want to be a burden anymore," he whispers. "Maman is gone, and Dad is working so hard, and always taking time to bring me here...I thought maybe if I was closer to school ending I wouldn't be a bother anymore, and I could help out more." The tears spill over fresh, knowing it will do nothing to make her feel better for what he has stolen from her. Jude has never been a parent, so to him it felt like a loss that could be outweighed by the benefits, but seeing her hurt so badly is making him rethink that.
I LEND EVERYONE MY EAR, BUT NOBODY MY HEART I'D LIKE TO CHANGE THAT, BUT I DON'T KNOW WHERE TO START
Tears washed over her cheeks anew as his answer peirced her heart. She and Harper were failures as parents, utter failures. Phoebe pulled him close again in a tight hug. For a moment she just held him there, feeling his heart beat, listening to him breathing. "You were and will never be a burden to your father or me." she said, unable to hold back the quiet sob that followed. "I am so sorry for making you feel that way. Please forgive me." she whispered.
But there was nothing to be changed now. What was done was done.
Phoebe held him back out again, wiping her cheeks with a hand. "How old are you now?" she asked with a cracking voice.
It's everything he wanted to hear, if a little too late. But Jude stands firm in his belief that their rifted home and his education had been the pinnacle of all their issues, so while it's a comfort to know she did not see him as a burden, he is still quietly, privately, relieved. I still fixed it. And as she holds him close he lingers there, dropping his stick to wind his skinny arms around her. A silent comfort he hopes to give in actions instead of empty words to show her he will always need her. Will always want her love.
"I just wanted to help, it's not your fault," he insists, though his voice wobbles. "Now I can travel alone, and you and Dad don't have to be gone all the time." They would be free to be people instead of just parents, free to become leaders if they wanted, or rise above their council station. If she could just see and understand what Jude did, maybe it would be alright.
Scrubbing at his own face messily to rid his cheeks of teartracks, Jude sniffles. "Newly sixteen," he murmurs, hoping knowing he was days shy of fifteen would somehow lessen the blow. "I didn't want Edmund to stop being my big brother." And the seventeen year old would likely react in much the same way as his mother and father. Jude is dreading it already.
I LEND EVERYONE MY EAR, BUT NOBODY MY HEART I'D LIKE TO CHANGE THAT, BUT I DON'T KNOW WHERE TO START
Phoebe shook her head, not taking his consolation. "If you felt like a burden, then it is my fault." she reaffirmed, leaving little room in her tone for argument. Nothing he could say would change her mind on the matter. A child should never feel like a burden - and especially not to the point that they take matters into their own hands to try and fix it. "Sweetheart...we did all of those things because we love you, not because you were a burden. We were happy to do them for you. It's part of being a parent." she said, as though somehow that would soothe whatever part of him felt burdensome and reverse his age.
But it wouldn't. And it didn't.
He didn't want Edmund to stop being his big brother, but he wanted to ride a skyship on his own? The logic really was that of someone immature. And she supposed he still was at just 16. But 16. He was only 9 years younger than her! She couldn't help the short laugh that accompanied a new set of tears. "I'm not even old enough to be your mother anymore." she said with a wry smile.
It can’t rewind his age, but it can soothe his heart, no matter how Jude might disagree. It may be that way for Phoebe, but Jude has been privy to Harper’s difficulties in a way he hadn’t been able to properly voice to his mother as a ten year old. “I wanted to be able to help Dad too,” he confesses, because now at sixteen he knows not to blab that sort of information freely as he might have at ten. “I couldn’t make you guys get back together, but I didn’t want you both to struggle raising me alone.” Given her objections, they won’t see eye-to-eye on this, but Jude just wants her to understand his reasonings.
But it’s his turn for his heart to break as she begins to cry again, misunderstanding what she’s implying. “No! No, you’re still my mom - right? Nobody’s gonna care or know but us!” His own tears restart, hands reaching to grab onto her blouse as if terrified she’d get up and leave, no longer seeing the need to be his mother. “I’m sorry! Please,” he begs, uncertain what he’s even asking for
I LEND EVERYONE MY EAR, BUT NOBODY MY HEART I'D LIKE TO CHANGE THAT, BUT I DON'T KNOW WHERE TO START
"Oh sweetheart..." she said with a sigh, a hand rising to the side of his face. "It isn't the child's place to do things like that." she said with a small smile. "You have a big heart. And some day you'll understand when you become a parent." she told him with confidence.
That her words could be misconstrued though hadn't crossed her mind. Her eyes widened as he panicked and grabbed at her dress. "Oh! Oh no, no baby." she soothed, running a hand over his curls. "Hush now, I'm not going anywhere. It's just... well I would've been 9 to have given birth to you now." she said knowing he likely had no conception of how young his parent's actually were. "But I will never stop being your mother. No god can take that from me."
"You think I'll be a parent?" he asks, something a little hopeful in his tone. Whether he wants to be a parent or not isn't the question, but whether his mother thinks he has the heart and fortitude for it. Seeing how much his parents struggle to give him a good life - even the way Phoebe comforts him now - paints parenthood in a light that Jude can't help but respect.
From there, it all goes a bit to hell. The panic that grips his chest isn't new, but it's stronger, and he can put a name to it now - anxiety. He leans into her touch, trying to quiet the shuddering in his lungs, the terror that she would abandon him for this transgression. Honestly, Jude had never asked how old his parents were, and knowing his mother is so young is definitely strange. But - "You said moms were young where you came from. Nobody will notice, right? Plus you're Frey's demigod, that like...makes you not count," is his lame argument. Demigods could eventually become immortal with time, so why would it matter? Especially when his mother is always magically beautiful and young in appearance. To Jude, that solves the problem. "Unless...you wanna be older? Can Frey do that for you?" If she places that much weight on age, maybe they could do it together?
I LEND EVERYONE MY EAR, BUT NOBODY MY HEART I'D LIKE TO CHANGE THAT, BUT I DON'T KNOW WHERE TO START
