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!
Champagne, cocaine, gasoline and most things in between
Mateo is smiling, but Ever won't be able to see it because he's got his face pressed into the mat, though he does hum a note of thanks at his friend's encouragement. Mateo also likes yoga, because it doesn't involve running and he can wear his favourite boho clothes to do it. Also the sort of spiritual guys and dolls who frequent yoga classes are usually a little DTFy. At the pat against his back, his fingers spider forward to lengthen the stretch along his spine, and by the time he sinks back onto his knees Ever has almost completely pretzeled himself against the ground.
"Tell me again why we aren't getting you into online dating?" he says jokingly, stretching out his hamstrings now. "That kind of flexibility will have people melting all over each other to get to you. Didn't know you were so limber." Maybe paramedics had to bend and stretch themselves into impossible positions to get to patients, though - he sure as fuck doesn't know.
I roam the city in a shopping cart a pack of Camels and a smoke alarm
Frowning against the blue of the mat, Ever tilts his head slightly to peer up at Mateo with his eyes narrowed. "We did try, remember? You said my bio was wrong, and then added the app onto your phone and said you'd do it for me." As for having people melt, Ever's shrug isn't even a little bit ironic. "My work requires me to be limber." He explains with a practical shrug as he kicks his legs out behind himself and stretches his head back into cobra pose.
"You keep mentioning me dating...is it...a hint?" Ever against with his eyes closed. "Would you like me out of the house more?"
even if i had to lose you to know you, i'd still be that temporary phase that you grow through
Champagne, cocaine, gasoline and most things in between
Mateo's gasp is dramatic enough to have two guys weight training glance over, assuming he's hurt, only for the florist to sit up and promptly pull out his phone. "You are right, I am so sorry," he agrees, tapping into the app and instantly abandoning his stretches to begin building a dating profile for Everest. It probably comes to the surprise of no one that Mateo actually doesn't date, not online at least. He tends to simply fall in and out of people's beds.
"Mmm...? Oh, no, no of course not. I'd like you in the house more, so I don't have to worry you've been stabbed again," he says, the truth slipping out off-handedly because Mateo is busy with the app. "I just... I worry you're not happy sometimes, I guess." Maybe the florist is a little biased, given the vibrancy of his sex life, but he feels somehow like Ever is missing out where he doesn't have to be.
I roam the city in a shopping cart a pack of Camels and a smoke alarm
Ever watches with uneasy dismay as Mateo opens up the dreaded app (he doesn't know which it is, the names change so often), but he doesn't protest. Hopefully, like last time, Mateo will get distracted by 'vetting' all of Ever's possible matches (which includes taking them out for meals and bedding them himself), that the paramedic won't actually have to meet any of them. A man can dream, after all.
"I will still have to do my job, even if I am dating someone." Ever offers, as if that will make it better. "And presumably if I'm dating someone I will be out of the house even more, so..." So, Mateo should just really handle the dating for the both of them, the way that Everest handles their taxes. "I just don't think dating is for me." He concludes as he lets his shoulders return to the mat. "It's too confusing."
even if i had to lose you to know you, i'd still be that temporary phase that you grow through
Champagne, cocaine, gasoline and most things in between
Mateo is busy selecting a few pictures of the paramedic saved on his phone (mostly charming candid shots, because that's all he can ever get without Ever freezing up and becoming mannequin-esque), his legs crossed comfortably even if his thighs are still screaming from the rowing machine. "What if you date a millionaire and you don't have to work any more?" he inquires with a bounce of his eyebrows, though his humour fades as Ever continues.
"...Okay, but do you want to?" he urges, putting his phone away for now and flattening himself against the mat so his head is level with his friend's. "We can deal with confusing if you want to find someone. And you'll always have me anyways." As should be painfully apparent by his squashed grin. "But if you don't want to, no one will make you." Least of all Mateo.
I roam the city in a shopping cart a pack of Camels and a smoke alarm
"Why would dating a millionaire mean I wouldn't have to work?" Ever wants to know with a small frown as he arches himself up into an effortless backbend that results in a few crackles from his lower spine.
"I'm not sure. It seems like a lot of work to find someone, and then you spend all your time together and even if you try not to, your lives become really intertwined. What happens if the person doesn't like the movies you and I watch? Or our Halloween sushi tradition?" Already roadblocks are forming in his mind just to consider dating someone, such that Ever can feel his heart begin to pound. "I think I'll just stick with you." He says confidently, just as Frida and Mary walk by (Mary awwwwwwws under her breath, assuming Ever had been saying something loving to Mateo).
even if i had to lose you to know you, i'd still be that temporary phase that you grow through
01-16-2022, 12:21 AM (This post was last modified: 01-16-2022, 12:22 AM by Mateo.)
Mateo
Champagne, cocaine, gasoline and most things in between
"Well maybe you would work, still. But you wouldn't have to be a paramedic, you could just open a tattoo parlour and your millionaire could pay the bills," Mateo explains, attempting to follow his friend into a backbend but ending up slumping over so he can stare up at Ever from the safety of the mat.
"I mean, if you were dating someone I imagine you would find movies you both like to watch instead, and make new traditions," he tries gently, as if to plant the seed that if Ever was in a relationship then that necessarily meant that Mateo probably wouldn't be there.
But if Ever wants to stick with him, Mateo isn't going to complain, and he rolls back into a sitting position. "Hey, what if I date and find someone? What then?" He asks with a playful raise of his brows. It's a joke, of course (the most committed he's ever come to anything is his career and Petunia), but it's still funny to think about.
I roam the city in a shopping cart a pack of Camels and a smoke alarm
"I would never ask someone else to pay my bills." Ever replies promptly, wondering if perhaps this was some sort of test (had the app asked Mateo to see if he was a golddigger?). 'Besides, I like my job. I like helping people.' Which, given that the paramedic had a hard time maintaining eye contact or being touched seemed a bit strange, but there you have it, right from the horse's mouth.
Curling his lip thoughtfully before shaking his head—no, Mateo would be there, and new things made him feel anxious—Ever lets his entire body relax onto the mat before taking a deep breath. What Mateo thinks is a joke is interpreted with all the seriousness of a heart attack, such that all those muscles Ever had just worked on relaxing suddenly bunch up. "What...I mean..." His cheeks flush suddenly as Ever closes his eyes to blot out how the world has started to spin. 'What about our trip? That is..you can take someone else. Your date. I understand." He stammers, his mind having leapt from his playful hypothetical to Mateo moving out tomorrow.
even if i had to lose you to know you, i'd still be that temporary phase that you grow through
Champagne, cocaine, gasoline and most things in between
Now it's Mateo's turn to awwww, his cheeks dimpling as he smiles down at his very quirky and incredibly soft hearted friend. He'll delete the app from his phone later, he decides, but in all likelihood he'll forget to tell Ever about it, and so the paramedic will live in abject fear of a sudden impending date until Mateo remembers to mention it again. He also relaxes into the mat - from his cross-legged position, anyway - which means he gets a front row seat to the panic attack that grabs hold of Ever and shakes him.
"What? No, that trip is for the two of us. Un'avventura italiana," he reminds the other man, shifting to lean over him as if he might suddenly pass out and require movement into the recovery position. (And Mateo only knows how to do that from the paramedic). "Ever, I am not dating anybody and I don't plan to. I was just joking," he says.
I roam the city in a shopping cart a pack of Camels and a smoke alarm
"But if you're dating someone and want to have una-adventura-italiana with them..." Ever protests, looking up at Mateo and having no idea at all how intimate this all must look to the rest of the gym. "..or maybe I could buy extra tickets. I could definitely do that." He quickly adds as bells begin to sound in his ears.
"Oh." The panic remains because words can't really soothe away irrationally-caused chemicals, but it feels a bit easier to breathe. 'You..can you know. But if you're taking any input, 6 months to a years' notice would be appreciated.' Ever adds, sitting up and rubbing the heel of his hand into one of his eyes. "Let's go and get a smoothie." He suggests. "It's getting crowded in here." It absolutely wasn't, because it wasn't even 8 a.m. yet on this particular Tuesday morning, but Ever was already reaching for the spray and cloth he'd brought over with him, and was vigorously rubbing down the mat as if he might drive away any potential suitors (for either of them) away if he scrubbed hard enough.
even if i had to lose you to know you, i'd still be that temporary phase that you grow through
Champagne, cocaine, gasoline and most things in between
"You will not," Mateo says, because in the tug of war of their friendship, he is good at making impulse decisions (and also shutting them down) while Ever fights to accommodate every possibility. "We will be going to Italy together, with the two tickets you got me for Christmas, and it will be magical and that is all there is to say about that." Nodding and shifting back to allow the other man room to sit up, he gives a bright and empathic smile.
"6 months to a year's notice," he agrees. "Not that it will ever happen. I am a leaf on the wind, Everest." Sighing, as if overcome with his own metaphor, he simultaneously rallies and also sags at the conflict between smoothies and crowds. Glancing around, Mateo just about has time to scoot off the mat before he's caught in the whirlwind of Ever's cleaning.
He gives the paramedic half a minute to get the excess panicky energy out of his system before finally reaching out to give his arm a tug. "C'mon," he urges. "I want a mango smoothie - if we're quick we can get home and shower before we ever realise we're awake." Meaning, of course, that they can go back to bed.
I roam the city in a shopping cart a pack of Camels and a smoke alarm
Ever's heart rate is slowly coming back down, all the more so now that he can focus on cleaning instead of how his life would abruptly change should Mateo start dating. Mumbling okay, okay off and on under his breath, eventually, he decides the mat is clean enough and allows himself to be tugged up. "Mango..." Ever is about to say that Mango's are very high in sugar, but having just realized how close he'd come to losing Mateo (which was not close at all, but that wasn't how Ever saw it), instead the paramedic just nods. "..sounds good." Nor does he argue about going back to bed (he has to work, Mateo knows this), because sometimes in relationships you have to make compromises and keep your mouth closed, even if that relationship was with your dysfunctional florist drug-addicted roommate.
"Thanks for coming with me today. Normally at this time of the year the gym is full of" yous "everyone pretending to fall through with their New Years Resolution and it gets really annoying."
even if i had to lose you to know you, i'd still be that temporary phase that you grow through
Champagne, cocaine, gasoline and most things in between
It does sound good, and that notion carries Mateo all the way back into the locker room so he can wait for Ever to get himself ready. Thoughts of mango smoothies, in fact, take him all the way out of the gym again, though his winter coat does little to protect him given the mesh shirt he's wearing beneath. "Any time," he chimes to Ever. "I might even make a habit of it. At least on the days where you're working in the afternoons," he says, hiding a wide yawn behind his hand.
How true this is remains an absolute mystery, of course. He could decide to make this a lifelong commitment, or he might get distracted in ten minutes and never think about it again. "It's Jess's birthday on the weekend," he says as they slush through the snow to stand in line at a smoothie stall. Jess, of course, being Carnations, but after a hookup and some minor sexual assault, Mateo has tried to use her actual name.
"She's having a thing at the Cellar. You want to come?"
I roam the city in a shopping cart a pack of Camels and a smoke alarm
Looking appropriately understated in just a hoodie and jeans, Ever folds his workout clothes and places them in a special bag inside of his gym bag. They aren't sweaty today, but that doesn't mean he should just toss them in; everything had a place.
"Oh, is it?" Said as if this was something Ever had forgotten about, the paramedic frowns slightly as he adjusts the strap of the gym bag on his shoulder. Having learned that do you want to come actually means, would you be willing to come, Ever ignores his initial reaction which is to say that no, he absolutely does not want to, and nods. After having left their Halloween outing so abruptly, he probably owed Jess his presence.
Oh, and an actual present too.
"Should we get her something?"
even if i had to lose you to know you, i'd still be that temporary phase that you grow through
