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!
10-21-2021, 08:15 PM (This post was last modified: 10-21-2021, 08:16 PM by Everest.)
so much life in one little world
The Skyport was lit up bright as any lighthouse that the Skyships might be able to find their way back to port despite the thick darkness brought along with LongNight. It made it a rather novel place to spend their afternoon, though Ever probably enjoyed the lack of crowds far more than Mateo did, who had suggested they peruse the market instead. "My mom told me that once your dad stole a skyboat and took her flying." The Hart boy says with eyebrows raised to impart the scandalousness of this. "If he'd gotten her accidentally pregnant instead of my dad, we could have been brothers maybe." He adds with a casual shrug.
Ever, of course, had followed up the why aren't you and dad married conversation with Tobi, with a why did you have a baby conversation. Tobi, frankly and lovingly, had told Ever as delicately as she could, that he hadn't been planned. This knowledge didn't really bother him very much.
Mateo, who had been planned with more detail, perhaps, than most other children, has never needed to ask these questions of his parents. More to the point, he has never needed to ask why they got married or had babies. It isn't because he's not curious, of course; it's more that his parents tend to talk about things with him without needing a prompt. They also have quite a bit of sex, and he's learned from a very young age what that is and when not to burst into his fathers' bedroom to find out who is being murdered.
"Did he?" His eyebrows raise at the anecdote that Ever has to offer, Mateo licking the cream from the hot chocolate he's brought from the Pacifist Plaza. "Ohh, we would be, wouldn't we? I already have an accidental brother and sister, but I probably would prefer you," he admits. "Though you don't have to have the same parents to be brothers. We can make our own family."
"Yeah. " Ever says, narrowing his eyes at one of the skyboats as if it might be culpable for Ronin's actions. While on their way, the Hart-boy had declined to get a beverage alongside his friend; he had told Tobi he wouldn't get any snacks while he was out so as not to spoil his dinner. "I don't know if I would like having siblings. Maybe I'll ask my dad if he's going to make any more babies so I can start to prepare." And you thought being asked about marriage was bad, Finn.
"How?" Everest wonders with a frown, which is Ever-speak for nooooo. "That's the definition of brother, having at least one of the same parents." He points out logically, his lips still forming an upside down u.
"Do you think he will know?" Mateo asks, taking a long slurp of his hot chocolate upon realising it's quickly getting cold. "If he's going to have any more, I mean. I'm pretty sure my dad didn't mean to have my brother and sister." If he's unintentionally muddying the waters, he certainly doesn't mean to, but it's in his nature to toe the line between black and white.
After another gulp of chocolate, he wipes the his mouth with the back of his mittened hand and hops to his feet. "Well what about kids who are adopted?" he asks. "They might not share any parents, but they are still family." With a dimpled grin, he starts to gather up some of the memory snow that has formed into strange lumps against the walls. "I bet we could make snow-parents to go with the two of us. Would that count?"
"Well, normally my dad doesn't make the same mistake more than once. My mom is the same, so..." Ever's shoulders rise and fall. "So if there aren't any more accidents, that means the only kind of babies left are the planned ones." He reasons, before glancing over his shoulder at Mateo. "What makes you say that?" Ever asks, of Remi's accidental children.
"Family yes, but then you call them step-brothers and sisters." He answers knowledgeably, rigid in his understanding of family dynamics. Watching Mateo begin to sculpt with a skeptical blue gaze, he reaches out to help mould a shoulder before pausing and stiffening. "We won't...have to make them...you know.." Blushing, Ever's mind having gone from snow-parents to necessarily snow-sex in order for he and Mateo to be snow-brothers, he yanks his hands back.
"Your parents are really clever," Mateo remarks without thinking about it, scooping his snow up into one 'parent'. "My dads still make loads of mistakes, sometimes the same one twice a day!" As for how he knows, Mateo grins brightly at his friend. "Because," he says confidently, "they're married, but my dad had kids with someone else. And if they wanted more themselves, they could have just done it the same way they made me. So it had to be accidental."
He's clearly working on the taller, father-like snow-parent, because he has to stand up on his toes to mould the shape, only for Everest to make it weird again. In the coming years Mateo will very much come to appreciate this about his brotherfriendperson, but right now he pulls a face and shakes his head. "Ew, no," he says. "I was just gonna give this one a tie. It's what my pa does when he wants to take my dad out somewhere special."
10-21-2021, 08:54 PM (This post was last modified: 10-21-2021, 08:55 PM by Everest.)
so much life in one little world
"Really?" Sounding horrified and fascinated, Ever straightens, one eyebrow raised as the other scrunched. How could someone make the same mistake twice in a single day? He couldn't imagine. Distracted by Mateo's explanation, Ever's expression smoothes out somewhat as he nods. "That makes sense. Can you imagine though, making a mistake that changes your life forever? And makes other lives?" He shivers. If having sex could lead to that sort of thing, why take the chance? Gods, it seemed way too problematic to be worth it.
Slumping his shoulders with relief—they were nearly touching his ears before Mateo clarified—Ever nods. "Mine isn't going to be a boy or a girl." He declares. His reasoning isn't to be inclusive, so much as he doesn't want his friend to think that Ever is judging the fact that he has two dads by including a mom, or pandering to him by including another dad. "But they're going to be wearing a hat." He adds confidently; hats were practical and good for everyone.
Mateo can imagine it, but that absolutely doesn't mean he wants to, and the scrunch of his nose says as much. "Maybe a life changing one, but not one that makes other lives. I don't know if I want to have kids," he admits with a gentle shake of his head. "We seem like a lot of work, you know?" He's grinning because he's absolutely parroting the things he's heard adults say in the Plaza, but if only he knew how right he was.
"Oh, that's a good idea!" Nodding at the practical hat snow-parent, he continues to work on the going-on-a-date one. "So if we finish these and they are made of memory snow, that means you're my step-snow-brother?" He's not sure if he's got that right, and Ever's memory for this stuff is a lot better than his own.
'The responsibility...of a whole 'nother life..' Ever agrees in earnest, not needing to borrow phrases he's heard to describe the horror of having a child. "I don't even know if I want a companion." He adds emphatically, before giving Mateo a look that begs for his friend to fill the subsequent silence with his own thoughts on companions.
"I think so? Or we could be half-snow-brothers, if we each came from one of them, and then they got married." Ever reasons. "But either way it's okay with me." Later that evening, Ever won't understand why his father has suddenly gone pale to hear that Mateo is now his snow-brother and that they're a family. Ronin meanwhile, will likely have to kick Remi under the table to keep his husband silent on the subject.
"This time next year, our snow-parents will form themselves again." Ever observes, before frowning. "Do..you think we'll be here this time next year?" All of their dads were now working On ThE WaR such that it was a hard subject to avoid thinking about.
Luckily for Everest, his friend is getting to know him well enough by now to start to instinctively pick up where he leaves off, and he hums out a sigh as he considers how he feels about companions. "My dads both have one. Sugar has been around for as long as I can remember, but I think there were other companions before Oria. Dad seems happier now she's here." Mateo isn't to know that it's the loss of a companion that caused such sadness in the first place, of course. "You would never get lonely, right?"
Smiling brightly as he finishes his snow-parent (which is tall and mostly formless except for the tie and the smile Mateo has put on its face), he glances across to his new half-snow-brother and nods. "It's okay with me too," he confirms, tucking his cold hands back into his coat pockets.
Some might have become solemn at the thought of next year or tHe WaR, but not Mateo. He merely glances across at his new brother and nods his head. "We have to be," he tells him. "Otherwise we wouldn't be very good snow-sons, would we?"
"But I don't get lonely now." Ever muses. "I have you." He adds with a shrug. In the coming years it would be Ever who seemed to be more of Mateo's companion rather than the other way around, but the point still stood.
"Are we snow brothers all year round, or just during Deepfrost?" The Hart-boy wonders suddenly. He's of two minds when it comes to this: if they're only brothers so long as their parents are together, then necessarily they stopped being together when the memory snow melted. But, if marriage was until death do them part, melting wasn't death. Really, it was all very confusing.
"Oh." That makes Ever smile. "That's a good point. And I suppose we could always take them with us if we had to go somewhere else." He adds, suddenly now quite relieved.
"Oh," Mateo chirps suddenly. "That's right, you do have me. And I'm not going anywhere." He smiles. He doesn't plan to, anyway. Especially not now that he's just started growing Vampire Gourds and all sorts of other stuff in the alchemy shop. "Or if I do go somewhere, you can always come with me." That at least will absolutely remain true as the years pass, he's sure of it.
"...Well, I think now that we have made our snow parents, we're brothers all year around," he says slowly. "People's parents die and they're still siblings, right? And these parents aren't dying, since they're coming back. They just go on vacation." Is his very mature assumption, clearly.
"Oh, we could!" Mateo nods, fishing around in his pockets for a couple of vials that are always there (for samples, duh). "Here," he says, passing one to Ever. "You collect a bit of snow from your hat one, and I'll collect some from my tie one, and we'll swap. Then we can always keep a bit of them with us?"
"Thanks." Ever says with a genuine smile. It's still small and contained, but there's a bit of a shine in his blue eyes that isn't normally there. In years to come being dragged along on Mateo's adventures might be a chore—a dangerous, dangerous chore—but deep down Ever will always be grateful that it means he's never alone.
'Oh good. I'm glad it's all year.' What has started as some silly way of completing a seasonal requirement snow sculpting has taken root as being very serious in young Ever's mind. Even had he been able to find fault in his friend's logic (not a hard thing to do), would he have mentioned it?
Maybe. But maybe not.
Reaching for one of Mateo's vials, Ever considers carefully what bit of this snow parent should be saved. Deciding on a bit of its hand—Mateo could always use an extra pair of hands, or hand in this case—he delicately encourages a few of the flakes into the vial before quickly placing the stopper on top as if some of the family-magic might escape. 'Here.'
Mateo is glad as well, and even with the cold around them, he feels warm from the inside out as he reaches up to gather some snow from his chosen parent. He decides to collect it from the shoulder - because Ever can always use someone to lean on, right? - and gathers it into his little vial. Putting a cap on it, he turns to hold it out to the other boy, a broad smile on his face. "And here you go," he announces, happily swapping and tucking his own snow-vial into the pocket of his coat.
"Thanks, snow-parents," he trills to the sculptures as well, offering them a respectful nod. "Do you want to go and watch some of the skyships a bit closer? I can see some starting to come into the dock," he says, pointing out into the bleak, snow filled skies, and a hazy shape emerging in the distance.
