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!
Should'a seen what I wore I had a cane and a party hat
Saying I know seems like a dick move, so Mateo only gives a gentle nod to his friend. It's all going well so far, and so of course it crashes abruptly into a wall with she died in my arms. Mateo's mouth falls open, and he reaches out without thought to take one of Ever's hands between both of his own. Partially it's for the paramedic, but gods, it's also for him too - and he'll apologise for it later, properly.
"Ever... you didn't say anything all night," he mumbles, whipping around to yell in Italian at the cab that honks its horn at them (it speeds away, naturally). Huffing out another shaky breath, he turns back to his friend. "If she died in your arms, then she wouldn't have been afraid. Not with you. I'm sorry you had to do that though, Ever."
I was the king of this hologram where there's no such thing as getting out of hand
Ever's hand will be cold and clammy in Mateo's, and the paramedic would apologize for it had had any idea. Just now though his limbs seemed to be gangly things that were only vaguely attached to him in ways he couldn't care less about.
"It was your night.." Ever replies apologetically, before flinching dramatically at the sound of the cab honking so nearby. "No, you don't understand." Shifting his gaze from the blur of yellow that was their receding cab back to his friend, the paramedic gives his head a hopeless shake. "I told her yes." The words tumble out just before a sob shivers out of him, and though Ever clenches his eyes closed, he still sees it all so clearly.
even if i had to lose you to know you, i'd still be that temporary phase that you grow through
Should'a seen what I wore I had a cane and a party hat
"Some things are more important. This is is more important, Ever," Mateo says, his brows furrowed enough that he'll probably need a face mask to get rid of the wrinkles that will want to start to form. Giving Ever's hand a gentle squeeze (it's like holding onto a wet shirt), the florist tilts his head as if wondering how things could be worse than what his friend is already saying. And as it turns out to be a lie in a woman's dying moments?
It's no surprise that Mateo is crying too, because he's a hot mess at the best of times, but at least it's for an entirely different reason. "Ever, that's a nice thing. She would have been happy to think about that," he mumbles. "I promise. If it had been me, I'd have been glad you were there."
I was the king of this hologram where there's no such thing as getting out of hand
"I wanted you to have a good night. Your...award..." Pleading now, the paramedic feels his vision begin to swim again as his breathing increases. His sleeve is now covered in blue syrup, the stickiness of which feels as though it has sunk beneath his skin and affixed itself to his bones. He wants to shower and scream and scrub the back of his eyeballs.
"But it was a lie, Mateo." Ever sobs. "The last thing she ever heard, and it was a lie." Spittle has formed into little bubbles at the corners of Ever's mouth, but he hasn't the wherewithal to rub it away. Instead, he just hiccups against another sob. "I couldn't help her and I lied to her." Shivering, not because he was cold but because his body was going into shock, Ever's eyes begin to roll in drowsy circles.
"I'm so sorry." He sobs against Mateo.
even if i had to lose you to know you, i'd still be that temporary phase that you grow through
Should'a seen what I wore I had a cane and a party hat
"Is important too, yes, but we both matter. I can't help you if I don't know things," Mateo says gently, swiping at his eyes with his free hand before things take more of a turn, suddenly, than he expects. "Ever..." Frowning and reaching to try and cup the paramedic's cheek, he swallows down the hiccup of panic that tries to jump into his own throat. Ever has told him about this kind of thing, he's sure of it. Or was it a podcast about it? Maybe a Youtube video...?
Fuck it.
"It's okay," he says quietly, peeling his fingers away and shrugging out of his bunny-ear coat to wrap it around the paramedic's shoulders. "Everything's going to be okay. I know things went a bit wrong, but we'll get through it, alright? Can you lay down for me, though? I don't want you to hit your head." Even as he's trying to guide his friend to do just that, he's fishing his phone out so he can call for an ambulance. Because this is way beyond his pay grade.
I was the king of this hologram where there's no such thing as getting out of hand
'How...?' Glancing at the bunny ears around his shoulders and then back to Mateo, Ever frowns beneath the wet blanket of his confusion. "Weren't...you just wearing this?" He wonders, before glancing at the ground at shaking his head. It's filthy, after all. 'Can we go home? Please Mateo, I don't want to be.." Vaguely he gestures around them. "..here anymore."
At home he could let his panic out. He could have a proper scream into his pillow, could sit in the shower under freezing water, could burn his tongue on hot tea to distract his mind. At home he could look at pictures of his mother and cry himself to sleep. But out here where people were already starting to stare (it now looked like Everest was just on some rough trip, especially with the addition of Mateo's coat), Ever was going to have a very different sort of breakdown.
even if i had to lose you to know you, i'd still be that temporary phase that you grow through
Should'a seen what I wore I had a cane and a party hat
With his phone still limp and trembling in his hand, 91 dialled into it, Mateo's cheeks are wet all over again as he glances back to his friend. "But I..." Unknowingly he's defaulted into Ever-mode, in that the other man in sick, and when people were sick and they couldn't get better by themselves, they went to the hospital. But of course, he's also very selfish in that he wants very much to just go home as well. And so, stuffing his phone back into his pocket, the florist nods a couple of times.
"Yeah, of course we can. We just... I'll need to you walk, okay?" However proficient he might have proven himself to be on the rowing machine, Mateo absolutely does not have the core strength to deadlift Everest Hart (or even just one of Ever's legs, truthfully). So it's with gentle but eager hands that he tries to help the paramedic to get his feet beneath him. Their pants are soaked through from being on the ground, and there will be a lot of crying into pillows tonight, but providing Ever can hold his own weight, it's a very good start.
And Mateo doesn't know when his award-nominated flower shop comes into view, precisely, just that he's overjoyed to see it, already fumbling to get out his set of keys for their apartment. "Come on, nearly there."
I was the king of this hologram where there's no such thing as getting out of hand
'Okay' Ever agrees, before adding a series of, "okay okay okay okay"'s under his breath. Somehow he manages to stand, leaning more on Mateo than he literally or metaphorically has ever done before. The world is a series of blurry faces and blue lights. It feels like he's standing beneath a hot air vent and is overheating despite the way that his fingertips feel like ice.
Nearly where? Ever wants to ask, but as Mateo pulls open the door to their building, the paramedic nearly collapses with relief. Had Mateo not been there to hold him up, he might have crawled up the stairs the way young children do when they're pretending to be cats or dogs.
Petunia is at the door to greet them with a yowl of displeasure, hissing at them before fleeing up the back of the couch where she perches and judges. As if being in their apartment is permission to fall entirely apart, Ever begins shedding everything he's wearing; from Mateo's jacket, to his, to his sweater, and finally the shirt beneath. His pants are unbuttoned and nearly off by the time he reaches his door, but because he hasn't kicked off his shoes, they just tangle around his ankles. "I'm just.." Ever starts to explain, before falling (intentionally?) onto his bed.
even if i had to lose you to know you, i'd still be that temporary phase that you grow through
Should'a seen what I wore I had a cane and a party hat
"Ciao, bella," Mateo greets Petunia softly, barely having time to let Everest go to lock the door and turn on the lights. Before he can say anything further, the paramedic is quite promptly just... getting undressed apparently, and Mateo is forced to hop over a trail of jackets and coats to get to his side. "Careful--!" He's holding his breath as Ever flumps onto the bed, thinking for a second that he's keeled over after all, until he notices the shoe-pants situation.
"Here, let me..." Leaning down, he unlaces and tugs off Ever's shoes for him, and then his bunched up pants, hefting his legs up and onto the bed so he's properly horizontal, at least. "Don't move, okay?" He smiles, hurrying out of the room (as if Ever's going anywhere) and returning once, twice, three times, each with something different. First it's a tall glass of cold water, next it's his blanket and pillows which he sets up on the floor, and third it's just Mateo, but in pajamas.
"I'll stay in here tonight," he says, like it's not already obvious. "You don't have to talk or anything. I just don't want you to be by yourself."
I was the king of this hologram where there's no such thing as getting out of hand
Unable to breathe, face planted as he is, Ever is considering whether or not it’s worth the effort it would take to lift his head when Mateo fusses with his shoes. A flare of panic and guilt streaks through him, though rather than jolting him into motion, Mateo’s kindness only renders the paramedic even more paralyzed than he had been before. Not only had he ruined everything, but now he’d obligated Mateo into taking care of him.
Every time the florist goes and returns, Ever bunches in on himself more like some abused shelter dog that expects at any moment he might be beaten. Though when Mateo returns and remains, only then does Ever raise his face from his bed to appraise his roommate. “I’m so sorry Mateo.” He manages, flinching slightly at the sound of his own voice. Peering down at the unhappy nest of blankets on the ground, Ever bites at the inside of his cheek wondering how to phrase the bright need which had just made itself known in the back of his head. Rarely if Ever did the paramedic seek out others, especially physically, in any situation. But just now the thought of Mateo sleeping on the ground was as unacceptable to him as was the idea of him sleeping in his bed alone.
“You’ll have a terrible sleep down there.” He says slowly. “My mattress is memory foam.” Ever adds unhelpfully.
even if i had to lose you to know you, i'd still be that temporary phase that you grow through
Should'a seen what I wore I had a cane and a party hat
"Stai zitto, è un piacere," Mateo all but sings to his friend from his place nestled on the ground. It is uncomfortable, and he will get a terrible sleep, but the amount of situations that Ever has rescued him from, he can absolutely stick this out for one night. They're traversing unknown territory here, besides, and he's not going anywhere. So when the other man speaks again, in subtleties that confuse Mateo more because they're coming from Everest than because he can't read between the lines, the florist sits himself up.
"But then you will get a terrible sleep," he says, whether that's because he's wide awake from having someone share his bed or because he's the one on the floor. Rubbing at one eye and gathering his blanket around his shoulders, he peers up at the paramedic with sleepy honesty. "Do you want me to stay up there with you? Or are you being polite?"
I was the king of this hologram where there's no such thing as getting out of hand
Ever considers, and then shrugs. “I am going to have a terrible sleep anyway.” He murmurs softly. Much as Ever suddenly wants to pretend he’s never said anything, or to send Mateo back into his own room, the paramedic manages to steal himself enough to speak the truth. “I would like it if you came up here. I don’t like the thought of you sleeping on the floor, but also...” No point in stopping now, Ever. “...I would like it.”
Whether or not he only likes the idea of it or whether Mateo’s presence will actually help, he has no idea. All he knows is that despite not being able to remember the last time he willingly spent a night in the same bed as someone else, just now he desperately feels as though it will help. Sliding to the far side of the bed, Ever tugs back the covers a touch uncertainly. Even he isn’t sure what he wants from Mateo in this moment—to just exist in the same bed, not touching? To cuddle? To....
Flinching at the thought, the paramedic just swallows and waits.
even if i had to lose you to know you, i'd still be that temporary phase that you grow through
Should'a seen what I wore I had a cane and a party hat
For all of Ever's awkwardness, Mateo only needs the go ahead before smiling warmly and nodding to his friend. "Okay, but I'm bringing my blanket. It's weighted," he informs Ever, rising to his feet and draping said blanket across the bed. He'd never expected to be the one fully clothed (in his pajamas, anyway) if he was sharing a bed with the paramedic - because obviously it's crossed his mind in the years they've been friends - and so it's with an amused smile that he sidles beneath the covers.
"There," he says, just in case Ever has closed his eyes or pulled the covers over his head and needs to know that Mateo is actually present. "I tend to starfish, and I'm a cuddler," he says, and it's a reminder more than anything, "so if you need to move me, just push me away. I'll be fine." Scooting down to get comfortable, it's weird to be in Ever's bed, and that's saying something given how many beds Mateo has been in. It smells clean and yet familiar, and there's nothing extra lying around for him to end up hugging or drooling on.
I was the king of this hologram where there's no such thing as getting out of hand
It has absolutely never crossed Ever’s mind until precisely this moment, and the only reason that it is crossing his mind is because of the romcoms and various TV shows the pair have watched over the years. This is the moment where trauma and circumstance make a couple out of two unlikely friends, right? The thump of Mateo’s weighted blanket saves Ever from the worst of what his mind might conjure up, at least until Mateo reminds him that he’s a sprawled and a snuggler.
”Oh.” Ever mumbles. “Okay.”
Not entirely regretting his decision—already Ever feels better for not being alone, and the heat from his roommate certainly helps—he can’t help but lay quite stiff as he regards the doorknob of his closet where a sliver of moonlight is illuminating it. If Ever were to move, he’d be faced with the following dilemma: moving closer to Mateo might be interpreted, as...well, moving closer. But moving farther away might make his friend think that Ever was regretting his decision, which he absolutely wasn’t.
That only left remaining precisely where he was, however uncomfortable. For the remainder of the night.
even if i had to lose you to know you, i'd still be that temporary phase that you grow through
