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!
Phoebe had sent a letter to Harper asking to meet after her conversation with Flora. She didn't think it would be easy, but she hoped to coax an apology out of him. If she could make it a logical move, perhaps he might.
He had agreed to meet with her in the Bodega, where Phoebe had found a private table for them to chat. He was bound to be unhappy with the topic of conversation so she wanted to keep a low profile. She ordered two waters and some light finger foods - the best way to earn a man's favor was through his stomach after all.
When she saw him appear, she waved to get his attention. "Thank you for coming." she said with a smile as he took his seat.
Clinging to the ruin of your broken home, too lost and hurting to carry your load You know we all need someone to hold
Given everything that has happened, Harper isn't exactly sure which topic she intends to talk about when he finally arrives. Jude and Sohalia dating? Sohalia's new leadership of Stormbreak? Had she heard Maeve was found through gossip or through Jude? It seems like they just met up not long ago and already everything has changed.
As he arrives, already squinting wearily at their surroundings and wondering why she'd chosen this place, the weight on his shoulders isn't obvious from afar. Still just as tan, muscled, and sure on his feet as ever. Once he's close enough to sit down though the dark smudges around his eyes and the drawn set of his mouth makes it clear there's little going well in his life right now.
Wrapping his hand around the water glass on his side for something to do - though he doesn't pick it up - Harper looks at the food before lifting his eyes to Phoebe with a slightly raised brow. "This feels...formal." Her greeting included. "Did you start leading?" He would've expected her to include that in her letter so that he could bring a congratulatory gift, but now he's not so sure.
Phoebe could see that something or things were weighing on him. It was in his stance, his eyes, his voice. Oooh boy this may be a more difficult conversation than she had anticipated. Maybe best to address the elephant in the room first? Clear the air of whatever bothered him so deeply, then make her request?
"It's not formal." she said, leaning back in her chair casually to prove her point. To his question she nodded. "I did with very little fanfare. Just how I like it." she said. Hence why she hadn't put it into her letter. She didn't want a congratulatory gift. His presence and approval was enough.
"Before we go any further though...what's wrong?" she asked, a look of concern on her face. She was reminded of the night he had been drunk and broken the table. Only this time he was sober - which was for the best.
Definitely glad she ordered water and not something stronger.
Clinging to the ruin of your broken home, too lost and hurting to carry your load You know we all need someone to hold
Slightly mollified to hear it's not formal, he tries to brighten his spirits enough for a pout when she admits she did indeed assert herself as Guardian without telling him. "But I love fanfare," he grumbles, still playful but clearly not feeling himself. Normally he would tease or whine that she'd stolen his opportunity for gift-giving and obnoxious streamers, but he lets the topic die instead. "Congratulations all the same."
He shouldn't be surprised she notices, nor that she asks him upfront. It would be disingenuous to believe he could hide his burdens from her given how long they'd been attached at the hip. Still, he thumbs condensation off the side of his glass and watches the water trickle down to rest on the table, considering. There's really no good way to approach it all.
"Jude found Maeve." Silence reigns for a while after that as he clearly fights to figure out what to say. "And...I haven't decided whether we will be continuing our relationship." They were in limbo now, neither on nor off, and Harper knows it all rests on his shoulders, his decision. That merely makes it worse.
Pushing up from the ground before you is a blood-red rose.
You’ve encountered one of Vi’s Roses.. This counts as a rare 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. You can post a link to this thread in the character updates thread if you pick the rose, to have it added to your inventory.
Vi's Roses (rare): A beautiful crimson flower with thorns of deep gold, it is rumoured that these roses are coloured with Vi's lifeblood. When planted, they have the ability to cleanse the area around them.
06-29-2023, 07:48 PM (This post was last modified: 06-29-2023, 07:49 PM by Phoebe.)
Phoebe
Phoebe grinned as he pouted the slightest bit. "I know you do. Why do you think I didn't tell you right away?" she said with a light laugh. She took a sip of water and then smiled at him. "Thank you." Her eyes glanced down at the Vi's rose as it grew up from the ground. "Give me that if you are insistant on fanfare." she teased with a grin.
But his next words had her stilling. Jude had found Maeve? Why did Jude never tell her anything? But of course the subject went deeper than that. Would they stay together, or would he leave her like he left Phoebe? Her honeyed eyes glanced down at the table. No wonder he seemed so down. "You forgave me once for disappearing." she said softly, looking back up at him. When she had disappeared the first time when Frey made her a demigod. "Why are you hesitant to forgive her now?" she asked.
Clinging to the ruin of your broken home, too lost and hurting to carry your load You know we all need someone to hold
They both notice Vi's rose at the same time, and her offer is so smooth it's a shame she wastes it on him instead of some handsome beau. Laughing quietly, Harper leans over and plucks the rose as close to the base as he can, extending it across the table to her. "Perfect. Likely rarer and more valuable than anything I could have purchased anyway." So in the end he'll consider it as a point to him.
The humor dies thereafter, and Harper envies her consideration, her kindness. Even if it makes everything so much harder. "Because I'm tired of being forgiving." An admission that pains him, because he doesn't like to think that maybe all this hurt, all this abandonment, has changed him. Like maybe he's not the same man he was once proud of being. "How many times is the limit? When is it socially acceptable to end my own relationship?" And why should he care what other people think when it's his heart on the line in the end? Shaking his head slightly, more dejected than angry, Harper sighs. "Do I forgive her just because she couldn't control getting sick? Sure, I can hear plenty of people saying that. But why did she leave? Why without me?" Those had been her conscious choices. Didn't those still matter?
Phoebe smiled and took the rose from him. "Thank you, kind sir." she said teasingly. Then she set the rose in her water glass - she could always get another drink.
But the conversation had gone serious, and the look of concern stayed firmly planted on her face. "You misunderstand me." she said. "Forgiveness isn't for the other person. It's for yourself. Forgive her so you can let go of the angst that is tearing you up. And just because you forgive, doesn't mean you stay with her." She clasped her hands on her lap. "It is socially acceptable to end your relationship whenever you feel like it. She hurt you deeply. She broke your trust. And once trust is gone, what else is there?" she asked with a frown.
Phoebe sighed and briefly looked away. "And please...I am not saying you should consider leaving her because I want you to run to me. But I care about you Harper, and I don't want you in a relationship with someone you can't trust." That had been the crux of why he left her after all - he couldn't trust her to not disappear.
Clinging to the ruin of your broken home, too lost and hurting to carry your load You know we all need someone to hold
It's true that he misunderstands her, but he's quite grateful that he has. So many people have quoted forgiveness to him that the word itself makes him itch beneath the skin. The fact that she is taking his side for once is a relief he didn't know he was looking for.
"You're right. But regardless of my choice, regardless of the fact I'm valid in my hurt and ability to end things, it stands to hurt her too. And it's difficult to put myself first." It always has been, and Phoebe knows that. "And considering she resigned but is still the former Queen, everything is so public. Jude has barely been home because it's affecting him so badly." Harper doesn't have the same liberty to escape as often, not now that he's ruling alongside Hadama. He tries not to let the public's opinion influence his pending decision, but it's difficult.
"I didn't assume that was your reasoning," he reassures with a slight shake of his dark curls. "I just...I'm sure you get it, but it's hard to feel I can ever see love in my future again if I end this. And that fear influences me to forgive her when perhaps I shouldn't. Trust is everything, but I don't think I can trust again if I move on." But, even beneath all his melancholy, Harper is an optimist, so he can't even say that and truly believe it. Huffing a sad excuse for a laugh, he smiles slightly. "At least not for a long time. And that makes me sad." Such a small word for how he feels. "I want to love someone. I want to have a family. But it just keeps crumbling." He doesn't mean to make her feel guilty if he does, not meaning her specifically. In fact he's deeply grateful that she has worked so hard to continue holding the ties of their family unit despite distance and time, never abandoning their son.
Phoebe managed a tiny smile as he agreed with her. That was a good step. "Maeve hurt herself when she went off to wherever she went." Phoebe said. "You have to do what is best for you. And if she hurt you this badly, then staying with her is the wrong answer. If Jude feels uncomfortable now with how things are imagine if you forced yourself to stay with her."
Speaking of Jude..."Where has he been staying? Because it isn't here." she remarked.
"It takes time to heal. But it only took you a year last time. This is the end of a relationship, not the end of love in your life." she said, taking a bite of one of the little finger sandwiches. As she chewed she considered that more. "Sometimes we don't get what we want, but we get what we need. Maybe right now love isn't in your cards. But you have a family, me and Jude. We will always be your family." she said with a soft smile.
Clinging to the ruin of your broken home, too lost and hurting to carry your load You know we all need someone to hold
It's nice to hear her say that. To have someone else put the blame on shoulders that aren't his without him begging them to see his side. "I just don't know why she felt she had to do it alone. Edmund is as good as my son too, and we're supposed to be partners." He knows she won't have an answer for that, but he just wants to say it so badly he can't keep it in. She'd left and he'd tried to pick up all the pieces, support Hadama, raise Jude. Too much for one man. "I know even if I leave that Jude will still have her. I didn't think about the discomfort - I assumed it would be worse if I decided to leave as opposed to taking her back. At least us being in a relationship is familiar to Jude." Then again so is divorce considering how he'd been raised between two regions, two parents.
Trying not to get too woe-is-me (and likely having already failed) Harper wipes a hand down his face and chuckles slightly. "With Sohalia in Stormbreak. They finally got together." Harper had seen it coming a mile away, but he'd been happy to let them figure it out on their own time. He's at least grateful that Jude has somewhere to hide where he feels safe and supported if Harper can't provide that for him.
He's glad she doesn't phrase the year it had taken him to move on as something negative. Harper has so much love to give that closing off his heart with walls and warnings feels against his very nature, but he's so tired of heartbreak too. Smiling a little, he touches her hand with the tips of his fingers and nothing more. "Thank you. I know I do, but it means a lot to hear it."
"Maeve has always been staunchly independent." she said with a shrug. "Your ideas of partnership may not be the same. It certainly doesn't seem that way." she said, taking another small bite of her sandwich. Considering Jude she shook her head. "Just because it is familiar doesn't make it comfortable. If you're unhappy because you can't trust Maeve, then he won't be happy either. He is also used to having parents who are separated." she pointed out.
"I should have guessed. You know he still hasn't told me that they are together." she said with a huff, cheeks bulging slightly as she pushed air into them. "Ever since he grew up again he doesn't tell me anything and hardly visits." she complained.
His fingertips touched hers and she smiled at his words. "The world won't fall apart, and you won't be alone. I promise."
Clinging to the ruin of your broken home, too lost and hurting to carry your load You know we all need someone to hold
Ironically, it's the one answer Harper had never considered. That maybe they simply consider relationships and being in one to mean different things. Harper had already known that she was more open-minded and flexible than himself given her history with polyamory and open relationships, but he'd never once considered that this might be the crux of the issue. It's clear that he takes it to heart as he stares down at this water glass. "Maybe you're right. Maybe that's all it really comes down to." He has no way of knowing for sure, but it's the best answer he's gotten so far. Not that his own head counts much as a varied census.
In some ways he's glad to be distracted by her complaints - which make him huff a small laugh - because it doesn't let him linger on the idea of hurting Jude, which makes him feel sick. "He's the one who found Maeve, and then Sohalia began leading. It's been a hard season for him, so I don't think he did it intentionally." Not that he'll shelter Jude from his mother's wrath if he continues to court her patience, but he can at least stick up for the young man in the moment.
Taking her hand fully for a brief moment, he squeezes gently. "Thank you, Phoebe. Really. I'm sorry to bring all this to you so suddenly." Shaking his head he chuckles sardonically. "You didn't even get a chance to say why you did ask me here." Maybe, by mentioning it now, he can guide them back to the origin of their meeting.
Perhaps it was as simple as that, different expectations of what a relationship looked like. From the outside looking in it certainly seemed that way. But Phoebe had never really understood the basis of his relationship with Maeve in the first place. That may have stemmed from her own hurt at losing him though.
"Well I am still his mother and would at least like a letter or something to know he is alive." she said with a drawl and another huff. She loved her son to death and this distance was hurting her. Phoebe didn't know or understand what she had done to deserve it.
She squeezed his hand, then withdrew it as he turned the conversation back to the initial purpose...which she was even more hesitant about now that she knew where he stood emotionally. "It was about one of your residents, and my neice, Flora." she said with a slight sigh, clasping her hands. "I believe it would be wise of you to issue her a formal apology for disparaging her during your campaign."
