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!
"I'm not trying to get out of anything," Mateo snaps without meaning to, already on his feet and blushing furiously as he gazes out over the edge of the Falling. "I really don't feel well. My hands are all sweaty and my mouth is dry and my face is hot." Ever's usually the hypochondriac, and his mother is a nurse, so surely he knows what kind of flu Mateo is coming down with.
It's hard to think about that, though, when suddenly Everest is imploding in on himself. "What?" he says weakly. "Ever, no. I do want to hang out with you. We've hung out loads of times, haven't we? I just... my clothes feel too small and it seems like everyone's looking at me and... è imbarazzante." It's an awkward enough admission not to be in the common tongue, evidently.
'Are you saying you're allergic to me?' Ever wonders, trying on a glare for good measure only to immediately feel sick and ashamed of himself. Budding hormones mixed with embarrassment were certainly not a good combination for either boy.
"Your clothes?" Ever repeats, glancing up, but not daring to move. "Now you're not even trying to come up with a good excuse!" Shoving his hands under his armpits as if he was trying to give himself a hug and also use himself as a straightjacket, the attuned grits his teeth before rubbing one very hot cheek against his shoulder.
"I don't know what that means!" He mewls finally, the words bursting from his lips. "I never know, and you always just expect me to understand from context and sometimes I do but you don't have to rub it in my face all the time that you know another language, or that your dad is better than mine!"
"How can I be allergic to you? I'd have been covered in a rash or I'd have stopped breathing by now if I had an allergy! You can't even be allergic to people, Ever!" Mateo complains, the logic following the (albeit still kind of logical) whimsy of his earlier statement. Despite the other boy's insistence that apparently Mateo is making it all up, the boy does try to tug at his shirt, like he can make it less tight; not that it's tight at all to begin with, it fits perfectly well.
His mouth falls open again to say something, but apparently embarrassment makes Everest talkative and does the complete opposite for Mateo, and he swallows hard and feels the tips of his ears heat up as he's confronted with his friend's annoyance. "I'm sorry," he says in a small voice. "I said it was embarrassing. Being out here feels really embarrassing all of a sudden, and it's not you, it's just... it... hey!" Rallying suddenly, he scowls at Ever.
"My dad is not better than yours! I had to work really hard just to get him to come to your house, and it was still weird! He couldn't even be normal for like two hours!" He shakes his head.
'How do you know!" Ever yells back. It's all he can think to say in the moment, and considering how rarely he ever argues like this, it's a decent enough comeback. Still, his cheeks grow burning hot and it feels like he's wearing a mask of fire that covers his face and ears. "Your shirt looks like it always does!" He adds. "All..cool, and nice, and..." And yeah.
"So not allergic to me then." Ever clarifies in a wounded voice. "Just embarrassed." Looking around to indicate that it's just the two of them, he turns back to his friend with his lower lip puckered. "Am I not good enough now?" Pause that fight though and back to the dad fight,
"Oh really? Well my dad can't just heal things magically. Or change into anything. Or talk back to the gods, or make babies out of dreams. He can't even marry my mom!"
"Because no one has ever recorded that before! I bet if you went to the infirmary, no one would be there because of allergies to people," Mateo insists. And he feels like he should be the authority on this sort of subject, given the number of experiments he does. And the amount of allergies he definitely doesn't have to Everest. "I... oh... thanks. I like your shirt too," he mumbles, not expecting the compliment and blushing further. But anyway.
"I said it wasn't you," he insists, his voice raising, which of course only makes him more embarrassed even though there really is only the two of them out here. "What did I say wasn't good enough? Ever, you aren't making sense."
Ahem, dad fight though. "Yeah, but he lives in the same house as you, doesn't he? And he helps you with homework, and plays guitar with you, and is there. Besides, I don't have a mom, so how's my dad supposed to marry her?"
"HOW. DO. YOU. KNOW?" Ever demands again, and had this been over discord, he'd have included the clap emoticon between each word. "Besides. Allergies have to start at some time, so you could just have started being allergic to me right now." Wait, whose side was he on? "Yeah, well...that's only cause it's one of yours." Ever huffs miserably.
"No you." Ever counters, having fully lost the plot of their argument but feeling compelled to have something to say back. "Well..yeah, but so does yours. And you don't need help with your homework. And...and, okay, but at least your dad married someone, and at least your dad meant to have you..like, on purpose." Feeling tears welling up in his eyes now, Ever tightens his self-hug and looks away. 'Whatever.' He adds in a small voice.
"Well FINE. I'll go to the infirmary tomorrow and I'll ask everyone there if they're visiting because of an allergy! I'll do it for a month and I'll record all the most common allergies and I BET NOT EVEN ONE OF THEM is because of a person!" Why is Mateo yelling out his next experiment? He doesn't know. None of this makes any sense, okay?
"Just because they had me on purpose doesn't mean they meant to have me," he says, feeling his eyes start to sting as well as he defensively gathers up his basket. "Whatever," he agrees. "At least you can go home now and complain about me. To your parents," he snips, beginning to stomp off away from the Falling to sulk.
'GREAT.' Ever yells back. "I'LL HELP." Why did he sound so angry when they had just made a plan to do something that Ever was going to really enjoy? He had no idea, but right now something inside of himself was twisting his embarrassment into anger such that it felt as though the only thing he could do was yell.
"That's exactly what it means." Ever huffs, losing steam. Watching as Mateo began to pack, Ever petulantly grabbed for his napkin of seeds and balled it up into a fist. "Great. You can go home to parents who have promised to stay together and who have all sorts of powers to keep you safe!" Ever's voice breaks halfway through, rising sharply upward which only has his ears burning all the more. Frowning and wrapping his arms around him all the more tightly, he waits until he thinks Mateo is out of eyesight (why though) before going home himself.
