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!
Flora's stomach curdles to hear the word fuck in this context, and had they had anything more than a bit of cider at the market, it would likely be decorating the snow around their feet just now. "NO. I mean, no. I mean.." Flustered and annoyed and sexually frustrated in the weirdest way, Flora gives her head a stern shake. "The idea of his naked bo—d-y" This is said around an involuntary heave. "—is appalling."
Now that the image of Neron's naked body was unhelpfully wrapped up in her daddy-issues, Flora wasn't entirely sure what she wanted from this night. Especially if this became the sort of first-meeting which could no longer be told as a cute story at their wedding.
"Well, I think he's only around others because Ronin makes him." Flora counters, before tilting her chin up slightly. "They used to say you liked being alone?" She wonders, softening around the edges now that it was only Neron in her field of view and not Cursed Images of Neron and her father. "I've only been alone since coming to Torchline. I have a twin, so..." She shrugs, assuming the world implicitly knew all the things that followed from being a twin.
"Pumped up with a hair-trigger temper not your type, huh?" Fortunately for Flora, Neron interprets her genuine horror about the sight of Remi naked as just more sass and banter; and it's probably for the best, to be honest. Letting his steely blues flick back down to her face, the Hailstorm huffs out a breath he doesn't need that substitutes a laugh. "Bet if they just left him to be alone for a few seasons he'd soon come crawling back out," he drawls. But enough about Remi - he seems to be souring a conversation that started off very sweet indeed.
"Mm? Yes, they did. I'm an Outlander - when I was first dropped here, it was in Halo. I spent those first couple of years mostly alone," he explains, only to light up a bit to hear that she has a twin. Of course, most of Caido wouldn't know those implications - but Neron does. "So do I," he says softly. "But I haven't heard from him for so long that I suspect he might be dead."
Content to let talk of her father die away (even if it would probably haunt her dreams tonight), Flora stuffs her hands into her pockets to fiddle absently with the lining of her coat. 'Oh. I would have never guessed.' She hums, of him being an Outlander. There wasn't a stigma about Outlanders really, but there wasn't not a stigma about it either.
"Oh?"" Her smile which had faded drastically from talk of Remi now began to shine again. "Maybe the world can only handle one of you." Flora chuckles, before realizing that her flattery might come across as tone-deaf instead. Clearing her throat, she gives her head a slight shake and reins in her smile. "I mean...I feel like you'd know if he was dead. Even as an ascended without..you know, gut feelings or whatever. This place is big, but somehow it isn't either. You know?" Lost was one thing, but dead?
"I must have acclimatised very well over the years," Neron says with a fanged smile, as if her words are a compliment - and he supposes they are. He can still remember a time when talking about Northaven and the Wall felt like it was always bubbling under the surface of his thoughts, but these days he barely thinks about it, save for occasions like this.
Whether or not it was tone-deaf, her remark still has a chuckle rumbling up in his chest, and Neron inclines his head to her. "Luckily, we couldn't be more different," he says, before his expression sobers somewhat. "Mm... I know," he agrees slowly. "I feel like he's around. Hiding, probably. That's his knee-jerk reaction when things get difficult. But that isn't to say that I can tell if I'll ever see him again."
And ain't that depressing. "What about your twin? Did they not feel as though Torchline was a good fit for them?"
Not able to quite say why, Flora was very glad to hear that Neron's twin was not like him at all. Maybe it was because she liked him, and knowing that there was another one of him out there sullied his uniqueness. Or maybe her capacity for irrational jealousy was simply that high.
"I think he'll probably move here...." Flora answers, the spark in her eyes dulling slightly as her eyes lower a fraction. "I did it without talking to him first, so I expect he's a bit cross with me. When we were younger we did everything together and now when we're apart it's like..." She rolls her eyes and shrugs. "It's like this big scandal that we pretend is fine." Pulling in a breath the girl peers up at Neron again, smiling despite herself.
"It can be hard to just..be yourself when you're a twin, you know?" And yeah, he probably did.
As Flora establishes that her twin is a he, perhaps Neron is a little disappointed, if only because unlike his companion, he would quite enjoy seeing the trouble that two Floras could get up to. (wink wonk?) Wrinkling his nose a little, mostly in understanding as she explains the nature of her move to Torchline, he nods to her. "You need to be apart before you can come back together," he points out. "I daresay it will be good for both of you. It was for my brother and I."
Even if, you know, Loren had still ended up as a librarian (lol).
"Then again," he adds, surreptitiously turning them to stroll back towards the festivities, "when we came to Caido, I woke up looking like a different person. So we weren't identical any more - and that was stranger than anything else I have had to deal with."
"I'll be sure to tell him that. He'll love taking advice from a mysterious man who walked me away into the dark." Now it's only her eyes that are smiling; Flora's lips have curled into a coy little shape that sits rather prettily on her face. (Yes, she's practiced it in the mirror). Part of her is excited to tell Enzo about her run in with Neron if only because she knows it's going to make him insanely jealous, and especially if they end up kissing..under the.. Oh look, they're heading back. Gods, she had some luck tonight.
"Wait, really?" Flora openly gapes. "Which face did you like more...?" Was there a more attractive Neron out there? Gasps in Spanish.
"I am only mysterious to him, I hope. You know my name and a lot of different things about me by now - and I am walking you back into the light, if that means anything." For Neron it would have been more than just a kiss of course, so perhaps it's better that he's strolling her back where the festivities are taking place, lest she lose her positive opinion of him.
"Yes, really," he drawls, stepping a touch closer and lowering his voice, like he's imparting a secret. "Truth be told, I prefer this one. I was always the better looking of us, in my opinion, and this definitely confirmed it." Then again, it's been so long since Neron saw Loren, he's almost forgotten what his original face was meant to look like.
"I know some things about you." Flora agrees with a suggestive shrug as if to imply that there might be a good deal more to learn. As for heading back into the light? The girl narrows her aqua gaze at the shiny and warm torches and lanterns twinkling ahead and nods. "Mmmmm." She agrees, because while it might mean something, it likely meant a very different something to each of them.
As Neron nears, Flora's heart is suddenly in her throat and all of those dead butterflies are starting to wiggle themselves back to life. "Oh." It's hardly a sound at all, more just a sigh pushed out through the O shape of her lips. Gods but he really was handsome, wasn't he? And how much of that to do with how mysterious he was? How dangerous?
This was the moment she should lean up and kiss him. That would make a good story at their wedding, surely. Only...well, Flora didn't quite know where her lips were supposed to go. Did she kiss his top lip, or bottom? Surely it wasn't like a smooch, like when you kiss someone on the cheek? Oh gods, oh gods, oh gods—
"Well...maybe I'll come find you at your bar sometime."
Before they know it they find themselves back among the bustle of festival-goers, of sleigh rides and hot cocoa and trinkets from stalls, and Neron straightens back up as if to preserve Flora's dignity - or to save her embarrassment. Who knows, truly? "Maybe you will. I'd not say no to a pretty face darkening the doorway," he purrs, offering her a shallow bow (noble) and a crooked wink (less so).
"The VlamVloed in the Hollowed Grounds," he says, as a reminder in case she should ever need it. "It was a pleasure to meet you, Flora. Until we meet next, don't do anything I wouldn't do." And without a kiss even to the hand, the Hailstorm takes his leave of the young woman. Alas.
Perhaps she can tell the story about how gallant he was at their wedding instead.
