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!
09-15-2022, 02:37 AM (This post was last modified: 09-15-2022, 02:38 AM by Enzo.)
Enzo
Though neither has quite learned to hold their liquor yet, the Hanged Man is a regular haunting ground for the twins. Enzo opens the door with a flourish - ignoring the scowls as the cold wind gusts in after - and bows as Flora steps through, spinning in her wake like the scent of her newest choice of perfume that week. "Dearest sister of mine, I have not had a moment to bend your ear in too long, and we live together," he bemoans, dropping in a graceful slouch onto one of the bar chairs, long legs artfully splayed.
The bartenders - even the rotating staff - know the terrors well enough by now to guess that their drinks orders have changed yet again, so the lovely young man comes over with a raised brow. "Sangria for me please," Enzo purrs, eyes half-lidded and lips coyly playing with the suggestion of a smirk. Best to get his foot in the door before Flora makes her own move.
he's got all the boys pulling daisies but he'll leave you pushing them
Flora, for her part, dances through the doorway as if carried by some invisible wave that her twin's elegant fingers had created. Slinking onto her seat to ensure that the slit of her dress did not rise too hard (things left to the imagination and all that, though given how often she flounced about in a bikini there was hardly much left to wonder about), Flora let her chin flop dramatically into one hand. "Like ships in the night." She agrees theatrically.
Perhaps Enzo will note (or perhaps not given how the bartender seems keen to keep her twin's gaze), that Flora does not try and one-up her counterpart. Instead, like some demur bird, Flora orders a whiskey on the rocks (this being far from the fruity and easily sipped cocktail she normally goes for), and sits back into her chair.
"Okay, you first then dearest brother of mine and don't think I haven't noticed two pairs of shoes at the front door when you've claimed to be reading in the back garden."
The bartender escapes his claws far too early (though not without a blush that has Enzo's smirk sliding higher). Luckily or unluckily for the fellow however, Enzo isn't on the prowl tonight. No, his fairer counterpart has all of his attention the moment the chilled glass hits his palm, and after a sip he spins in his chair to face her. Smirk shifting from flirtatious to shameless.
"I have plenty of pairs of shoes, who's to say they were not both mine?" he teases. Never-idle fingers fiddle with the edge of his glass. Not that the suspense is kept for long, his dramatics wouldn't allow it. "I've been bored Flora-mine. Not that the various owners of those shoes aren't delightful, but this cold snap is chasing away all the fresh meat. Didn't we move here for sun and sand?" Huffing, the young man takes another sip - though it's more of a pouting gulp. "My garden is pitiful, we have no information on Nonna's death, and I have no tan to speak of. If you haven't had a more eventful season, I'm shipping us off on a vacation posthaste." The serious parts are sandwiched artfully amidst the lighter fare, shying away from the things that truly hurt.
he's got all the boys pulling daisies but he'll leave you pushing them
Raising the whiskey to her nose Flora takes an experimental sip. The bite of the alcohol has her wanting to wince or gag, but like any teenager trying to appear as though this was nothing out of the ordinary, she swallowed hard and took a sip.
Gods it was awful. Why did anyone drink this stuff?
"Perhaps your feet have grown for they were very large shoes." Flora replies, shrugging casually before glancing down at Enzo's fashionable choice of footwear and raising her eyebrows with a small hmm! Her twin's words strike an interesting chord because while sun and sand certainly were lacking, unlike her more chiselled counterpart, she had been anything but bored.
The curve of Flora's lips rise and fall with the music of her twin's words; her eyes darken and fall at the mention of Vai, and the smile she manages to muster at the suggestion of a vacation is hidden behind a hasty sip of her own drink. "Well.." Forcing down this sudden flare of grief with a sharp upwards tilt of her head like it was a pill to be swallowed, Flora seems to recalibrate her expression into one mystery. "..I happen to know that little Mateo has nearly finished his skyboat and that his weird little friend is able to fly it. So vacation or not, I say they take us all the way up to the desert to get some colour on our bones, mm?"
Pressing her lips together as if to smooth out her perfect lipgloss application, Flora offers her twin a dainty shrug. "And...I might have met someone.." She muses softly.
She can't hide her reaction from him, so Enzo gracefully swaps their drinks. Out of pure curiosity of course. Though once he sips from her glass, the same ill-concealed grimace appears, and he swipes fingers over his wet mouth to hide it in the guise of a considering expression. Gods, but it's bad.
The grief is still new not just in time but in experience, and they navigate it gracelessly. At least the news she has to share is intriguing enough to help distract him. "Finally! I swore they'd never finish it. Though perhaps we won't be on the maiden voyage," he hastens to add, envisioning explosions and fire and screaming kids. Nooooo thank you.
But like a shark he focuses back in as soon as Flora's words go trailing. She never finds herself at a loss for words. Enzo hooks a leg immediately around the foot of her bar stool and drags her closer until they're hip to hip, eyes bright and attentive. "Flora!" he gasps in strained undertone. "Tell me everything!"
he's got all the boys pulling daisies but he'll leave you pushing them
In response Flora can only crinkle her nose and nod as subtly as she might, using whatever twin telepathy they possess to say, but everyone cool drinks it.
'Honestly.' Flora agrees with a dramatic roll of her eyes. It wasn't as if their father really ever did anything that would account for the delay. Oh sure there was the occasional monster fight, but he was a demigod. Like, find the time. Regardless, once the carousel of their conversation circles back around to her, Flora (of course) acts as though her twin's attention is ever so cumbersome. Even so, she can't help the small squeal of pleasure that pushes past her lips as he focuses his gaze firmly on her.
"Well," She begins, intending to remain coy for as long as she's able. "He's come over to help me bake. We had a romantic picnic on a secluded island, (Jack had accidentally found her there and had happily shared the things she'd brought) he gave me a necklace, (a manta crystal as she seemed to have a tendency to drown, and only because he'd had it on him at the time) he's promised to take me sailing in the clouds, (Jack had mentioned that the Ark could fly at nighttime) and gods kissing him..!" Flora places her fingertips against her cheeks and sighs softly into them before turning towards Enzo.
"I think he very nearly said that he loved me when we lasted parted." She adds with a wistful hum. And who knew, maybe if Jack had immediately received a concussion or had needed to win a bet, he might well have said that.
09-15-2022, 04:50 AM (This post was last modified: 09-15-2022, 04:51 AM by Enzo.)
Enzo
Enzo grimaces slightly, twin telepathy working perfectly - unfortunately. And because he is a gracious twin (the best really) he lets her keep the sangria if she wants.
"I'm sure there's a wonderful pun somewhere in calling him a deadbeat dad, but it feels like low-hanging fruit y'know?" he gripes, using the sour face of his disgruntlement to conceal the wince of another sip. Ah, but Flora is a palate cleanser, and the squeal of her joy tastes like fresh cream on the roof of his mouth that no liquor can sour.
Certain as he is that she's embellishing details, Enzo has no idea just how much. Leaning closer, fingertips dancing up her forearm to tickle in the velvet of her inner arm where her pulse flutters through her skin as if to greet him, Enzo breathes in her delight and lets it fill his lungs like smoke. "Kissing him? You minx! How dare you not tell me immediately!" His fingers wrap gently around her arm to shake her playfully. "He is wrapped around your little finger, clearly. But do you love him?" A far more concerning matter than names or - Gods forbid - ages. Flora could conquer whomever she liked in Enzo's opinion, could break as many hearts as she so chose, so long as her own remained safe.
he's got all the boys pulling daisies but he'll leave you pushing them
'And we're much too clever for low hanging fruit. Even if it is true.' Flora agrees with a sage nod, and though she absolutely does keep the sangria, all it takes is a half-wink to the bartender who'd been eyeing Enzo to have him disappear into the back to fix her twin another drink.
"Well I'm telling you now aren't I?!" She laughs, both pulling away and leaning into his feather-light touches with unfettered delight. Using the hand not currently restrained by her twin's elegant fingers, Flora fluffs up her hair a bit before teasing at a curl. "No of course not. You're the only man for me. But.." And now, despite her attempts to keep her excitement tamped down to an appropriately casual level, her cheeks flush as her smile grows crooked. "..I am really enjoying spending time with him." Eyes widening dramatically, Flora places a finger to her lips that this might be kept secret.
"He's going off to fight in this stupid war, though. So..." So he might die, which meant, perhaps, that she ought to make the most out of the time they potentially had left.
Flora is the only one privy to the pleased, cat that ate the canary smirk the bartender’s eagerness inspires. Still got it.As if he’s old enough to lose it yet.
“Fashionably late isn’t acceptable with me,” he grumbles in the half-breath he has before her excitement sweeps them onward. Playfully restraining hand gentles and retreats down the length of her arm, fingertips caressing the pathways of her veins down to the pulse in her wrist at her reassurances. His possessiveness may not be on their father’s scale, but it’s an inherited thing all the same.
Tasty though secrets normally are, his responding wink is akin to blood on a silencing contract. “He must be a cut above the normal rabble to earn such high praise.” Which makes it funnier that seconds later Enzo badly hides his rolling eyes behind one last giant gulp of the whiskey (waste not!) because of course mystery man is going to war. “Think he’ll send you rousing letters from the frontlines you can weep over? Or really rousing ones you can put to better use?” Because death is inevitable and swifter for the stupid, so they might as well squeeze as much fun out of the doomed while they still toddle about.
he's got all the boys pulling daisies but he'll leave you pushing them
"Don't think of it as being late then, think of it as...building tension." Flora purrs, and though her voice rises and falls dramatically with the story she's telling, she's all but putty in her twin's hands. Any who might look upon them might draw the wrong idea, but what of it? Chalk that up to building tension too, or whatever else was needed to justify the twin's closeness. Where Enzo might have inherited their father's possessive streak, Flora had inherited Hotaru's boldness; the knowledge that Enzo and Remi would always be there to save her however seemed to make her a good deal more reckless than Hotaru. Though, perhaps that's only because she'd never heard much of her mother's younger days and escapades.
"Why? You want to read them too?"s Flora wonders, flashing her counterpart a dazzling smile as she draped an arm across his back so that she might lay her head against his shoulder. Reaching forward to draw a small heart on the bar from the condensation of Enzo's drink, Flora sighs. "Where will you be during this whole thing brother of mine? In paradise with Sunjata, or here in the real world getting your hands dirty?"
If anyone looks and questions, all that matters is that they look no? Enzo rolls his eyes dramatically, and oh how convenient, as they circle around he catches sight of the new drink the cute bartender had fetched. Seems he has one free hand, so -
A little swivel of the hips as he sips (ooh, rhymes) and his shoulder is hers to lounge on. “Absolutely I would,” he purrs, uncaring of the insinuations or judgements in sharing such a thing. “If he’s a baker, a sailor, and a good kisser, I’m sure he writes wonderful letters too.” Though Enzo’s eyes glitter like crushed glass, sharp and mean, as he kisses the top of Flora’s head. “Or perhaps not. Seems he may be short on brains if he’s off to war when he could be in bed with you.” Cutting the stranger at the figurative knees, for nobody could be flawless enough for his twin.
What an easy segue though, almost planned. Enzo tracks the idle path of her finger and hums softly. “The only dirtying I do with my hands is gardening and sex,” he snorts. “Seems foolish to risk lives we’ve only just started. But wherever you go is where I will be, you know that.” To accompany, defend, embolden, etcetera etcetera.
he's got all the boys pulling daisies but he'll leave you pushing them
Flora's laugh is not loud; building in her throat, it bubbles across her tongue and past her lips to drop onto Enzo's shoulder. "Perfect. Love having our own bookclub." Now if only she thought Jack was the sort to write salacious letters, they'd be all set.
'Mmmmm.' Flora hums in agreement, though it's unclear whether or not it's intended to follow the barbs shot at Jack or the metaphorical cleanliness of her twin's hands. "I know. Part of me thinks it could be a good time...Sunjata seems..interesting. All the moreso because Dad seems to hate him, but then, it wouldn't be very like us to intentionally be away from the action." Raising her head from Enzo's shoulder, Flora pouts prettily for the viewing pleasure of a server who seemed to be trying to get up the nerve to come and speak with Enzo.
"Do you know where our workaholic mother plans to spend the war?"
It’s no surprise she has met Sunjata. Gods, Enzo needs to get out more. Lovely as Torchline’s towns are, maybe he needs his own sailor to show him the sights around the rest of Caido. “Dad hates most anything bipedal and capable of speech,” he waves away flippantly, humor in the corner of his lips. Seaglass eyes too sharp around the corners to befit their namesake flick from Flora’s pout to the server in the corner and away. If he couldn’t nut up, he wasn’t worth Enzo’s time. “Action is our name, but not all of us have fun toys and a direct line to spirits when we get in over our heads,” he teases, elbow propping on the bar and hand dropping backwards to curl her hair idly around his knuckles.
“In the last letter I got she said she had moved back to the spa. I assume she’ll be staying there.” Though why she would is beyond him. Ice and snow eternally? Yuck.
he's got all the boys pulling daisies but he'll leave you pushing them
'Well you always have me if you need some fun toys." Flora trills back mischievously, even as she leans into her brother's touches like a greedy kitten desperate for fuss. "Or a line to the spirits." She adds, though in her mind, that's far less interesting than the tangible goodies she's managed to secure for herself.
"Ah. That makes sense I suppose, though what she sees in ice-land I have no idea. Especially with a figure like hers, it seems a crime to be bundled up all the time." Shrugging, the pair continue on like this for some time. Drinks are sipped, and bartenders flirted with, but in the end, it's with each other that the pair inevitably decide to leave.
