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!
10-01-2021, 05:13 PM (This post was last modified: 10-06-2021, 06:04 PM by Odd.)
Nice flex, but I don't fuck with all the vanity
LongNight came to every corner of Caido, though certainly there were parts of the world that required more attention and some that required less. Here in Stormbreak there was no need of snow moss stuffed beneath floorboards or food to be stockpiled, but typically preparation included something not unlike spring-cleaning, so that the week of darkness could be spent free of clutter. Though most boys Ever's age would not have thought dusting, filing, and getting their father's office ready for LongNight was an enjoyable way to spend a Saturday, given how much chaos there had been in his life lately, Ever clung to this mundane chore like peanut butter to a carpet.
"Yes." He answers perfunctorily when Finn asks if he remembered to bring all the cleaning materials that had been left out, neatly ordered on a list that morning. Holding up a bucket filled with bottles and rags as evidence, Ever smiles up at his father with cautious joy. "Where should we start?"
Finn has learned to savour these afternoons with his son. The Spyglass has undergone something of a transformation ever since the boy had been born, and these days his life is as carefree and simple as it likely ever will be. Certainly more than he had any right to expect, given his life, his story up until now. And so it's with a breezy sort of simplicity that he stands in his office, the falling snow outside casting pale light which mingles with the warm gold of the lanterns.
"Very good," he praises Everest, smiling down at him and pushing up the sleeves of his cable knit sweater. "When cleaning, it is best to work from the top downwards. The dust will fall down," he explains. "Would you like to start with the bookcase, or the desk?"
one moment you’re lost in a carnival of delights
the next, it leads you somewhere you don’t want to go
"Top-down." The boy repeats, the wisdom cemented forever in his mind. Given the choice, Ever brightly replies, "bookcase!" and with Finn's approval, he'll set off for it. He's inherited his father's love of organizing, but likely to the Spyglass's dismay, a bit of Tobi's eclectic sense of what counts as organized has also crept it. For instance, Ever will occasionally bend the rules regard alphabetization if it suits an aesthetic purpose. Not by much, but there have been instances where Sir's or prefixes are...not ignored, but creatively reinterpreted if one book would look better next to another based on age, or colour, or height.
With hands recently washed, Ever begins to dust the bookshelf, starting at the top. As he goes, his eyes look over the titles and authors, making sure they're in the right place (they are of course, this being Finn's office). Coming across a bright green tennis ball apparently being used as a bookend, Ever frowns, and turns over his shoulder, holding the ball up for his father to see. "Does this...stay here?"
Finn, naturally, gives his approval, and he sets Ever up with a step-stool that he might be able to reach the top of the bookcase to dust it. "I would usually remove the books and then replace them after dusting," he explains, "but I have realphabetised them recently, so there is no need to worry about that." Ensuring that his son is safe atop the stool, Finn withdraws and begins to remove all of the items from his desk in preparation to dust that as well.
There is very little to actually clean, in reality, given that Finn is who he is, but that doesn't mean there's a lack of fun to be had reorganising things. "Hm?" He glances up as he spots the tennis ball in Ever's hands, and despite himself, a dimpled smile flashes across his face. "That belongs to your mother," he explains. "It usually means she would like me to take a break. I must have missed that one. Pass it here, I'll keep it in the desk. Unless you'd like to play with it."
one moment you’re lost in a carnival of delights
the next, it leads you somewhere you don’t want to go
10-03-2021, 09:38 PM (This post was last modified: 10-03-2021, 09:39 PM by Everest.)
Nice flex, but I don't fuck with all the vanity
Slyly, Ever pokes his tongue out of his mouth as he glances over his shoulder at his father, fingers waggling. There isn't much mischief in the boy, but oh! wouldn't the volume of curiosities look so much better next to one of his father's grimoiries, if the Sr. was dropped from the author's name? Tempted as he is to swap the books, Ever doesn't.
Ever holds the ball clumsily in his hands. He might be a canine like his mother, but not enough life has passed for him yet to properly appreciate ball. "Well..we should finish cleaning first. But after? Maybe?" The boy's smile is as hopeful as it is slightly nervous. That he adores his father is evident enough, but that he also desperately wants his father to like him back is just as apparent. And we all know what an athlete Finn isn't.
"Dad...can I ask you something?" Turning away from the Spylgass and facing the books to hide the flush in his cheeks, Ever does his best to straighten and sound unbothered. "It's just something some of the kids have said at school. About...you know...where kids like Mateo live, and how his parents are in the Greatwood but how they're married, and.." Trailing off, he dusts and redusts the same book over and over and over again. "...I know you and Mom aren't married, and..I guess...uhm..but...you're going to stay together, right?"
It's a good thing that Finn has learned to appreciate playfulness, at least in the most harmless terms since his life has collided with Tobi's, but also that he would absolutely notice that the books were swapped. Either way, he leaves Ever's mischievous threat dangling against his wiggling fingers, focusing instead on his desk again and letting the boy keep the ball. "Later sounds good," he says, and the levity in his tone suggests that it isn't something he would mind at all. Throwing ball is not the same as chasing it. That's going to be Ever's job.
Still, the question the boy has to ask nearly has a delicate paperweight slipping from the Spyglass's fingertips, and he manages to catch it - just - as he turns to look at the back of Ever's head. "Uh," he says eloquently. "Well. Your mother and I have never discussed marriage, but I don't think that means we aren't going to stay together," he explains, or tries to. "Has anything made you believe that we won't?"
one moment you’re lost in a carnival of delights
the next, it leads you somewhere you don’t want to go
What Ever expects to hear and what he wants to hear are worlds apart. Still, he nods slightly, his curls shifting, as he blinks at the spine in front of him as if it might sturdy him. "Well...it's just...most of the kids in school have parents who are married." This wasn't so surprising, given how traditional Stormbreak was. "And...If you like something, you have it as a job, right? Not just as a hobby. Because a job makes it more serious and more...you know. It's always going to be there." Fumbling around with his childish notions of commitment, Ever sucks in on his lower lip as his shoulders sag.
"I just don't want you or mom to go anywhere." He admits in a low voice, and had he a tail just now, it would have been tucked between his legs. "Not anywhere that we won't all be together." And wasn't that what marriage meant?
It always hits Finn at the strangest of times, how different his life might have been if he had had parents like the ones he and Tobi are trying to be. And it has him placing down the paperweight and stepping around the desk, so he can draw up next to Ever at the bookcase. "Some people have jobs that they don't like. But they do them, because they have to," he says softly. "And I don't have to stay with your mother - I choose to. She isn't a job that I don't like."
But none of that really gets to the core of the issue, and Finn leans down so he can be eye to eye with the shelf his son is dusting. "Can you describe to me what you think would be different if I was married to mom, instead of how things are now? Would you have less homework or chores? Or more time to play the guitar? Do you think she would leave me more tennis balls?"
one moment you’re lost in a carnival of delights
the next, it leads you somewhere you don’t want to go
Turning, slowly, as if his father might be prepared to rub his nose in the wrong questions he's asked, Ever glances up into his father's eyes. Looking suddenly terrified, because already his mind has taken the words jobs they don't like and they have to, and run with them. Ever was an accident. All the kids at school said so. And his parents didn't even love each other, and now Finn was saying he had to be here, and.. "She isn't?"
With one hand still on the spine of the book and the other nervously tangled around the hem of his shirt, Ever does his best to consider his Dad's question. "Well...because isn't marriage promising that you'll stay? Like how having a job means promising you'll do it, even on days when you're sick and don't want to?" He answers softly, blinking at blue eyes that were almost precisely the same colour as his own. "No it wouldn't do those things, but it would...I..." Looking down and trying to tell his lip that frowning was okay but that pouting was not, Ever just shrugs. "idunno." He concludes at last, sounding defeated.
"Hey..." It's like looking at fear reflected back into himself, and Finn wordlessly holds out his hand for his son to take. It's a habit picked up from between he and Tobi and one that he mimics without thinking, an act of consent even when perhaps his son might just need a hug. Still, Finn is who he is, whether he likes it or not. "No, she isn't a job I don't like. I wouldn't even call mom a job - but I understand how you would think that is similar to marriage."
Letting out a sigh, Finn sits back on his heels. "Do you think that if mom and I were married then it would mean that all of us would never be apart from one another?" he asks, and his stormy eyes are smiling even if he isn't. "Because Mateo's parents are married, and they are very far away from him, aren't they?"
one moment you’re lost in a carnival of delights
the next, it leads you somewhere you don’t want to go
Silently the hand balled up in his shirt relaxes and reaches out for one of Finn's. Ever doesn't break their eye contact, but something in him relaxes to feel his Dad's large hand around his. Even if he isn't married to his mom. Hearing only you're wrong in Finn's words, Ever swallows, and is almost surprised when his dad continues speaking.
"Well...no. I know if you were married we would be apart sometimes. But it means you always come back together." He says adamantly. "Its...marriage is about the future, right? About things you promise to do in time's that aren't right now." Ever adds. "That's why it's okay that Mateo is here, and his Dads are there. Because marriage means it isn't that way forever. Because if they weren't married, then..well then you would never know." He reasons, before deciding to switch tactics.
"So if marrying mom doesn't mean more guitar or less homework, and it doesn't mean things for you...then...why wouldn't you?"
His hand closes around Ever's, Finn hearing his son out and tilting his head as he considers his words, both the ones that make an annoying amount of sense and the ones that come from a child's naivete. "Some people don't stay married, though," he points out, giving the boy's hand a gentle squeeze. "It can go wrong sometimes. And other people never get married, but they stay together for years and years."
But as for himself and Tobi, Finn can only offer Ever a gentle smile, even if the mere thought churns his insides up with a mix of nerves and uncertainty. "Your mother and I have never really had that discussion," he says. "I am not even sure it is something she has thought about. But I can tell you that we have spoken about being together, and about staying together. And we aren't going anywhere."
one moment you’re lost in a carnival of delights
the next, it leads you somewhere you don’t want to go
It all sounds very reasonable in an abstract sort of way, but where his own parents are concerned, Ever has a hard time accepting his dad's logic. With flushed cheeks, the boy nods, pauses to consider something, and then throws his arms around Finn's neck. It's a flagrant display of affection and weakness that Ever often tries to stifle, especially around the Spyglass, but just now with talk of forever mixed with confusing adult-things he didn't quite understand, the boy just needed a hug.
With his heart hammering wildly in his chest, Ever squeezes with all his boyish might. "I love you dad. And I don't want you to die, or go away...okay?" Asked with naive and childish hopefulness, Ever snuffles against the side of Finn's sweater
The force of Ever's hug almost knocks Finn off his feet, and he manages to catch himself in time to wrap his arms around the boy in return. It is a flagrant display of affection, but whereas most would find Finn awkward and stiff in the face of such an embrace, his son is always the exception to the rule. "I love you too," he murmurs, holding him close and smiling to himself.
"Okay. If it makes you feel any better, I don't want any of that either. Not or me, or you, or mom." He stays like that for a while longer before finally straightening up, letting his arm move around Ever's shoulders. "Would you like to finish cleaning up later? We could go for a walk in the Celestine and get cocoa before it gets dark."
one moment you’re lost in a carnival of delights
the next, it leads you somewhere you don’t want to go
