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!
10-06-2021, 05:37 PM (This post was last modified: 10-06-2021, 05:38 PM by Everest.)
Everest
Crisp and cool, the snowy trees of the Greatwood sparkled like garish diamonds (this would be twee, wouldn't it?). It made everything feel rather beautiful and picturesque in a way that made the Hart boy's stomach feel a bit fluttery and funny.
Mateo's present was tucked neatly away in one of the many pockets of Ever's jacket, wrapped in an abundance of leaves so that the smell wouldn't waft out. Sitting on a log and giving the glowing ice-dick nearby a curious glance (surely it couldn't be anatomically correct?), Ever kicks one foot absently as he awaits the arrival of his friend. Though he was rather proud of what he'd made for Mateo, Ever was almost nauseously worried that Mateo would feel bad for having not got him something in return. Was it better then to pass off his gift as some random thing he'd just picked up, instead of the prepared and planned present it really was?
Ever didn't know, and despite the brisk air, he'd started to sweat beneath his scarf as he worried over it.
Mateo emerges from the houseboat like the chaos tornado he absolutely is. There's only one arm in the sleeve of his coat, his scarf has been draped loosely over his neck and he's got a triangle of toast poking out of his mouth, all the why yelling a "G'bye dads!" as he tromps down onto the snow. Shrugging into his coat properly and taking an obnoxious bite out of the toast, he still manages to offer Ever a bright and dimpled smile.
"Ready! Want some?" he asks, holding out his buttered toast to share even as he fights to button his coat and knot his scarf properly with one free hand. "Oh - they made it glow," he says of the snow-dick, sounding a little bit traumatised by it but refusing to let it dampen his mood. "Must have been worried you'd get lost, I guess!"
Watching with his usual mixture of horror and fascination, Ever gives his head a shake so hard that his curls bob and flit around his forehead. "No...no that's okay. But thank you." He says of the toast, before glancing over his shoulder at the snow dick. "Is that..." what they look like? he means to ask, before swallowing down the words. His certainly didn't look like that, but then again this wasn't really a conversation he wanted to have. Ever. At all.
"Hey so...uhm..." Ruffling a hand through his curls and trying to comb them back into place, Ever drops one of his hands toward his pocket where his fingers nervously wrap around Mateo's present. "I got you something. It isn't a big deal or anything. Just ... something to help you wake up in the mornings. Not..not that sleeping in is bad or anything.." He rambles. "..but so that you have more time to take care of your plants, and...yeah." So saying (or verbally vomiting), Ever awkwardly shoves the small leaf-wrapped packet of bound peppermint bark towards Mateo, unable to meet his friend's gaze.
"A snowdick? Mmhm," Mateo says, munching through the rest of his toast and seeming utterly unbothered that the other boy has declined the offer. "I think they made it so people would know how to find the boat? Or to find the way home, maybe?" He shrugs, more than happy to turn his back on the abomination to face his friend. Dusting the crumbs off his coat, he finally finishes fussing with his scarf just as Ever is word vomiting.
"Hmm? Oh, I love peppermint bark!" Grinning broadly, he accepts the package and lifts it to his nose to inhale deeply. "I tried to grow some, but I can't get a whole tree to sprout in the shop," he explains, cheerfully tucking the gift away into his pockets. "Thanks, Ever. That's really kind of you - maybe I'll be able to actually make it to classes on time now!"
For how awkward and clumsy Ever was, Mateo was precisely the opposite in seemingly equal measure, and gods if the boy didn't appreciate that about his friend. "Yeah, that would be hard." Ever agrees with a relieved laugh, before bashfully shrugging off Mateo's appreciation. "No problem."
Once properly dressed, Ever follows Mateo out into the woods as they casually crunch around through the snow. "Hey, can I ask you something?" And, knowing Mateo would say yes, Ever continues on. "Is it weird that your dads have kids with other people?" His recent conversation with Finn about marriage and the lack of it in his parent's lives, now had him wondering if either Finn or Tobi would be with other people in a way that would result in more kids.
He'd been an accident after all, and accidents did happen, so...
It's one of Mateo's favourite things these days, to cromch through the fallen snow and to look for things that still manage to grow even in such difficult conditions. And that Ever is happy to accompany him is even better, the boy humming tunelessly and hopping over an icy log before his friend speaks again. "Mm? Sure," he says - as Everest always knew he would.
"Oh," he says softly, rubbing at the back of his head and biting at the inside of his cheek. "Oh, well... I mean... yeah, it's weird. The twins don't live on the boat, and it's weird that they're around but they're not really around, you know? But my pa would kill them if they got to close to home, here."
Despite his frown, Ever's expression is mostly one of thoughtful understanding. "What about your sisters?" One was dead, sure, and was born before Mateo's dad's were together, but Ever was far too young and inexperienced to know if that mattered or not. "D'you think they'll do the growing-up thing? Like we did?" The growing-up thing being suddenly aging up a number of years rather abruptly. Given the war, it seemed lots of kids were doing it these days.
"Hey—" Reaching for Mateo's sleeve, Ever gives it a tug as he falls still. "Do you—" There's no need to say hear that, given the rhythmic crunching of snow echoing through the woods. "It sounds like...horses?" Only that couldn't be right, could it?
"Well... I never knew Aoife," Mateo says of his sisters. "I just make a lantern for her every year. And Seren's all grown up, and she travels all over, so..." He shrugs a bit, as if to say that he's not really given them much thought even if he probably should have done. As for whether the twins will suddenly spring up in age, the boy smiles to his friend. "I dunno, but I hope so. It'll be nice to have some more kids to play with right?"
But then there's definitely something worth hearing, Mateo's blue eyes lighting up as he glances around, almost like he can feel the thunder of the earth beneath his feet. "Do you think it's luxere?" he asks, completely disregarding that he has no idea if they are close, if it's an accidental stampede, or if they are in the way.
Twitching his lips, Ever considers. "So...maybe if my parents wait until I'm older and have kids with other people, it will be okay." He couldn't necessarily understand the correlation between age and okay-ness, but as with almost everything, Ever did trust Mateo almost infallibly. "Not if they're anything like you." He teases with uncharacteristic brightness, before falling silent.
"Oh uhm, I don't know. I've never seen one before." Releasing Mateo's sleeve and moving to stand stiffly behind the trunk of a tree, Ever peers out into the woods which suddenly seem quite spooky and big even though they hadn't a moment ago. "Should we...run?"
10-06-2021, 07:05 PM (This post was last modified: 10-06-2021, 07:20 PM by Mateo.)
MATEO
"What?" Mateo says with a sunny and dimpled smile, having absolutely no idea what Ever is talking about when it comes to his parents and having kids with other people. So instead he just gives the other boy a good natured elbow to the ribs that will be all but absorbed by the layers he's wearing. "And what's wrong with me?" he wants to know, before hurriedly hopping behind the tree trunk with his friend.
"They're very pretty," he hisses to Ever, like whispering will help (it doesn't especially as the thunder of hooves grows louder). "You'll love them - we should definitely stick around. We'll be safe behind the tree." Through the snowy gloom, a telltale glow does begin to dance along a few of the trunks.
"What?" Ever repeats, hardly aware that he'd started thinking midthought, and looking confused. Flinching even though he hardly feels Mateo's elbow at all thanks to his sweaters and shirts and jacket, the Hart boy grins. "Nothing. I just don't think there's enough of me to be friends with more than one of you." He answers reasonably. Which you know, is absolutely true.
'Okay." Ever whispers back, completely reassured in the knowledge that this tree would protect them against the luxere, which was probably true if the sound was caused by a herd of luxere.
While waiting for the stampede to come closer, the glow of which was already beginning to cast a sheen on the trees in the distance, Ever cocks his head to the side. "If we touched a wicker woman on accident and was covered in sap and we were hallucinating...do you think we'd know?" He wonders, completely serious despite the absolute lack of..well, anything, to justify this sudden question.
"Oh, I see. How very kind of you," Mateo says, though he's clearly taking it as a compliment at this point. The boys huddle behind the tree trunk like they're playing hide and seek with the forest, and all around them the glow of the hopefully-luxere grows ever brighter, and the thunder in the ground beneath their feet starts to vibrate up Mateo's legs. "Hmm...? Oh, I don't know. We should get some though and experiment with it!" he tells Ever brightly.
At that moment, though, the first of the luxere come leaping and prancing through the Greatwood, threading through the trees with a grace that one wouldn't expect of such large creatures. Mateo's eyes are round, the Taliesin boy trying to get a better look but also trying not to risk getting trampled.
"—er—" Ever begins to counter, before the whiteness of snow is somehow made to look dull and dirty thanks to the glistening and blindingly white pelts of the luxere. Flinching, his fingers gripping into the bark as if he was expecting to be swept away by the herd, it takes a moment for Ever to peek out again.
"Where—" Ever begins, though realizes that the thunder of hooves, muted slightly as it is by the snow, makes his whisper inaudible. "WHERE DO YOU THINK THEY'RE GOING?" He shouts, his voice only a dim hum in his own skull. Surely not to the Hollowed Ground, not with all the ascended there. Realizing that he hadn't brought his notebook with him, Ever huffs and begins to unhappily chew his lip.
Neither boy is particularly frightened, but Mateo is definitely the more enthralled out of the two of them, and he grins as he watches the luxere prance and weave around the trees, their antlers lighting the way. "I HAVE NO IDEA!" he shouts back to his friend, turning his grin on Everest even as the woods continue to vibrate and hum through them. "DO YOU WANT TO FOLLOW THEM?"
Clearly he hasn't considered what would happen if the luxere were on the way to the Grounds, and in all honesty Mateo probably wouldn't even notice he had crossed the boundary until it was too late. Either way, as the last of the deer begin to dash through, he's turning to see if he can spot which direction they're going in.
