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Mateo Taliesin
Botanist

Age: 23 | Height: 5'7 | Race: Accepted | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Stormbreak
Level: 5 - Strg: 18 - Dext: 25 - Endr: 18 - Luck: 17 - Int: 0
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#1
My spores been growing by the day; my days been shining bright
Mateo has a laboratory now.

Alright, it's really just the stock room of the alchemy shop that's now his greenhouse (and his parents/his Stormbreak home, he guesses). But it's got a lock and an eye wash station and his father's terrarium in it, and all his most dangerous specimens are inside.

So he feels very proud of it, naturally. And he also feels like he absolutely must fill it with more things.

This is all to say that the Taliesin teenager is marching through the City Gates with tar up to his knees and an angry hand in a jar. The hand isn't actually a hand, of course - it's a Devil's Klaw that Mateo has used his face as bait captured, and it daren't move while it's being looked at. He wonders how secure he will have to make its private terrarium.

He hopes it will need chains, and a big dangerous sign to say how big and dangerous it is.
mateo!


Everest Hart
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Age: 22 | Height: 5'11" | Race: Attuned | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Stormbreak
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#2
Everest
Scuttling along behind Mateo, covered in an unhappy about of tar and yellow moss, is Everest. One of his shoelaces has come untied, but he knows that if he stops to remedy it, he'll hear excitable cursing from his friend in a language he has yet to learn. So, soggy-panted, flushed and sweating in places he didn't know he could sweat from, Ever toddles in Mateo's wake making desperate marks in his notebook and trying not to trip over his own feet.

"How .... are you ... goi...nnng...to..feed..it?" Ever pants, sounding as if he's on the verge of having an asthmatic episode. Hopefully, Mateo has some peppermint bark back at his LaboRatOry; smelling it always makes Ever feel better. Until then, he'd do his best to choke politely and quietly.
Mateo Taliesin
Botanist

Age: 23 | Height: 5'7 | Race: Accepted | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Stormbreak
Level: 5 - Strg: 18 - Dext: 25 - Endr: 18 - Luck: 17 - Int: 0
Played by: Honey Offline
Change author:
Posts: 802 | Total: 16,319
MP: 3061
#3
My spores been growing by the day; my days been shining bright
"Well, I..." Mateo blinks, as if Ever has just this minute brought up a very good point that he definitely perhaps ought to have considered before he went out to the Feverlands in the first place. "...I will have to find a synthetic food source," he says logically enough after an uncomfortable period of silence. "The books in the Archive must have something about that, right?"

He hopes so, before the Devil's Klaw breaks out in the middle of the night and tries to climb onto his fathers' faces. Not his own, naturally. Mateo's sleeping mask would prevent that. (One of the girls at Molly's told him about them, and he's sure it's stopping him from getting wrinkles, since he hasn't found a single one).

"Hallo!" he chimes to the Dragoon guards as they swan back into Stormbreak - and it's at this point, at least, that they are stopped by a couple of them and ushered away to be offered water and a sit down. It's one thing for two boys to come sliming up to the gates, but when they are Taliesin and Hart boys, it's another matter entirely.
mateo!


Everest Hart
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Age: 22 | Height: 5'11" | Race: Attuned | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Stormbreak
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#4
Everest
"..must they?" Ever repeats dubiously, though no part of him wants to actually challenge his friend's plan lest the answers fall to him to provide. 'I'm not sure that anyone has...erm, attempted this before. You might be the first!" This latter sentiment is added rather hastily at the end, to try and suggest that Mateo was being groundbreaking instead of stupid.

Thankful for the halt, Everest drops to one knee and begins the process of tying up his shoe. Only..the laces are exceptionally dirty and grimy now, and if he were to tie the shoe, his fingers would become exceptionally dirty and grimey. WHich...well, was that preferably to a potential trip hazard? The stuff on his laces could be a biohazard for all he knew, and so instead of doing much of anything, Everest just knelt in place with his hands hovering around one foot, doing precisely nothing.

"Is..your friend okay?" One of the dragoons asks Mateo in a stage-whisper.
Mateo Taliesin
Botanist

Age: 23 | Height: 5'7 | Race: Accepted | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Stormbreak
Level: 5 - Strg: 18 - Dext: 25 - Endr: 18 - Luck: 17 - Int: 0
Played by: Honey Offline
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MP: 3061
#5
My spores been growing by the day; my days been shining bright
Everest will learn, over the coming seasons, that Mateo is always groundbreaking and stupid, thank you very much. "Well, I suppose I will have to do more research on the plant first. If it is carniverous then perhaps I can just feed it meat? But I wonder if it has a need to secrete the hallucinogens..." All very good questions for later, undoubtedly.

But for now, Ever is having A Moment over his shoelaces, and Mateo is already carefully setting down his angry hand to smile at the dragoon. "Oh, yes. He is just stuck in his own thoughts," he assures him, before promptly kneeling down in Ever's line of sight.

"We can drop this off at my lab first," he announces, reaching out with already dirty hands to tie his friend's shoelace for him. "Then would you like to go and shower at your house? I can meet you at the Archive afterwards."
mateo!


Everest Hart
Aviator

Age: 22 | Height: 5'11" | Race: Attuned | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Stormbreak
Level: 6 - Strg: 27 - Dext: 16 - Endr: 21 - Luck: 5 - Int: 0
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#6
Everest
"I've read that some predators--" Wait, was there a difference between a carnivore and a predator? Were all predators carnivores? Or were all carnivores predators? Help, help, help! Ever's brain whined as the boy forced the rest of his sentence out. "--need to kill their food themselves or they won't eat it."

Running various mental models to determine the likelihood of serious trip-related accidents versus biohazardous ones, Ever hardly notices that Mateo is tying his shoe for him until he's already done. It's a bit too tight for his liking, but that's an easier mental load to bear than the catastrophic situations which would undoubtedly have followed. Meanwhile, one of the guards is saying something about how a boy of Ever's age should really be able to tie his shoe himself, though the Hart-boy is too focused on Mateo's question to hear.

"Yes please. Unless that's inconvenient, and then I can wait." He really couldn't, but he would, because of course being a burden was far worse than mentally imploding.
Mateo Taliesin
Botanist

Age: 23 | Height: 5'7 | Race: Accepted | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Stormbreak
Level: 5 - Strg: 18 - Dext: 25 - Endr: 18 - Luck: 17 - Int: 0
Played by: Honey Offline
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Posts: 802 | Total: 16,319
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#7
My spores been growing by the day; my days been shining bright
"Oh? That is interesting. Perhaps I will need to experiment with ordinary meat from the butcher, and live prey if it comes to it." The circle of life holds no nightmares for Mateo Taliesin, not when considering who his parents are. Having tied his friend's shoelace and leaving him to recalibrate once the task is done, he straightens up and smiles to the dragoon. "He can, he has just got too many thoughts in his head sometimes. I suppose you may not know what that is like."

Is Mateo throwing shade? Will we ever know?

"It is not inconvenient," he assures Ever, collecting up his jar again and waving to the dragoons before setting off again. "Luckily we both live in the Plaza now as well, so we do not have to walk so far to see each other," he continues. "I bet it will be very empty when the war starts. We may have the whole plaza to ourselves!"
mateo!


Everest Hart
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Age: 22 | Height: 5'11" | Race: Attuned | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Stormbreak
Level: 6 - Strg: 27 - Dext: 16 - Endr: 21 - Luck: 5 - Int: 0
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#8
Everest
Catching the final snippets of what Mateo was saying to the dragoons, Ever smiles politely (most situations call for polite smiles, so it's a fairly safe bet), and waves a goodbye having assumed that his friend was simply doing the same.

Relieved that he would be able to shower and wouldn't be a burden and that his shoe was tied, Ever walks far more comfortably at Mateo's side now. "Oh..well...so.." Twisting his lips and having meticulously planned how to bring up this conversation to Mateo (this was not it), Ever begins to frantically flip through his notebook to find the conversational steps he'd set out. "..just a second.." He mumbles, trying to determine what step they were on.

"Okay, I think we're on...3?" He says doubtfully. Step 1 was telling Mateo how good of a friend he was and how the world would be worse off without him. Step 2 was reiterating thoughts and feelings about boundaries and listening to his parents. Step 3 Was bringing up his conversation with Finn. "That seems right." Tapping the circled 3, Ever looks at his friend. "My dad says I have to go to the Haven during the war." He says bluntly; without steps 1 and 2, this step seemed very stark on its own all of a sudden.
Mateo Taliesin
Botanist

Age: 23 | Height: 5'7 | Race: Accepted | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Stormbreak
Level: 5 - Strg: 18 - Dext: 25 - Endr: 18 - Luck: 17 - Int: 0
Played by: Honey Offline
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Posts: 802 | Total: 16,319
MP: 3061
#9
My spores been growing by the day; my days been shining bright
They are both very comfortable, as it happens, but especially Mateo who has managed to successfully capture a very fiendish plant from the Feverlands. He is busy wondering who might win should he pair a Devil's Klaw and a vampire gourd against one another when Ever (who, as far as Mateo can gather, has been engaging in his regularly scheduled mutterings in his notebook) blurts out a game changer.

The boy doesn't stop, at least, but there is definite shock on his face as he realises what Ever is saying, and his shoulders slump a bit. "Oh," he says, because for all that Mateo is, he also knows the boundaries between his own parents - and between Ever's - and for them to say things like have to implies there is no room for negotiation.

"Oh," he says again. "Well I... I suppose you will have to go, won't you?" Everest Hart doesn't do things like sneak out of Safe Havens, after all.
mateo!


Everest Hart
Aviator

Age: 22 | Height: 5'11" | Race: Attuned | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Stormbreak
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#10
Everest
"Yeah..I will, see..?" Tilting his notebook, Ever taps desperately on his father's signature. It feels as though there is a rope rapidly slipping through his fingers, and if the length runs out, he's doomed; only Everest doesn't have the emotional intelligence to understand quite what this emotion is.

"I think so. But, I was thinking--" Okay, this was step 4. He knew step 4. "--there hasn't been a haven like this before. Not one that has its own ecosystem and weather patterns and where abilities and things don't work. It would sure be a shame if there was no one around to document the effects on the flora and fauna.." Was Everest being manipulative? No, no he absolutely wasn't. What he was doing was trying to provide his friend with rational reasons to come with him to the haven, so that Mateo might have something more to be persuaded by than just because I really don't want to go alone.
Mateo Taliesin
Botanist

Age: 23 | Height: 5'7 | Race: Accepted | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Stormbreak
Level: 5 - Strg: 18 - Dext: 25 - Endr: 18 - Luck: 17 - Int: 0
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#11
My spores been growing by the day; my days been shining bright
Given that Mateo is both the more emotionally intelligent one out of the two of them, and the one who arguably deals with change a lot more easily, to say this is a skyship crashing into his subconscious would be an understatement. "But I thought..." he says slowly, looking at but not really seeing Finn's signature on the notebook as he rubs a dirty hand against the back of his neck.

"Well, I suppose you will be a very good addition to the Safe Haven then," he says, putting on a dimpled smile for his friend. "With your notebooks and with your eye for detail and things. You will be able to document everything that happens." He's trying to be cheerful, and he's trying too hard, and it shows. "I will see you when you get out, I suppose."
mateo!


Everest Hart
Aviator

Age: 22 | Height: 5'11" | Race: Attuned | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Stormbreak
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#12
Everest
Ever knows what his friend thought; he'd prepared pages and pages of notes to combat any and all objections, though just now looking into Mateo's face, all of his carefully thought-out work suddenly seemed utterly useless.

"Nnnn." Ever was forced to agree, though the sound was more like a canine whine than anything else. "Well, you absolutely will see me when I get out." He says with a nod, because that didn't necessarily entail Mateo wouldn't be with him, even if it implied it. "But...you could come too, you know. To help me with all of my notes, and...and you could bring a cutting of your plants so we could run tests to see if they develop any differently, and..." keeping me company still doesn't seem to Everest like a good reason for Mateo to do anything, and so despite how heavily it weighs on his tongue, he chokes it back and flips through his notebook looking for more valid reasons for his friend to come with him.
Mateo Taliesin
Botanist

Age: 23 | Height: 5'7 | Race: Accepted | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Stormbreak
Level: 5 - Strg: 18 - Dext: 25 - Endr: 18 - Luck: 17 - Int: 0
Played by: Honey Offline
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Posts: 802 | Total: 16,319
MP: 3061
#13
My spores been growing by the day; my days been shining bright
If Mateo's brain wasn't fizzing around with white noise he might have objected to Ever's remark, because in his mind, he might not see him when he gets out, because Mateo will be out here and he might be dead. "Oh," he says of coming with the other boy, because while half of him desperately wants to, the other, coated in the cold, black water of fear, feels as though it should be out here, waiting for news of his fathers.

"I just... are your parents going?" he asks quietly. "Because mine aren't. And I thought... well, I thought I would be out here to see what happens," he says, oblivious to the fact that this decision has already been made for him. "What if they die and I don't know...?" The last part is tacked on unnecessarily, and it doesn't really matter if Mateo is in the safe haven or not. What if they die is an equally as important question.
mateo!


Everest Hart
Aviator

Age: 22 | Height: 5'11" | Race: Attuned | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Stormbreak
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#14
Everest
"Yes." Ever answers studiously, desperately wishing that his friend would ask more questions like that so he could easily answer them. " I understand that." Biting at the inside of his cheek, Ever looks down at his feet. "Well...If you were here...would you find out any sooner than if you were in the Haven? I mean..how are we supposed to get information, anyway?" Ever asks, trying to take the logical route forward but likely sounding all the more cold for it. Such was his way, though. "It could be that priority will be given to the Haven because so many people are there waiting on news, and that actually Stormbreak won't receive an update until much later."

But then Mateo mentions becoming an orphan and suddenly all of Ever's well-founded arguments seem to fall by the wayside. Not one to say don't worry, they won't or I'm sure they'll be fine, instead all the Hart boy feels he can do is nod his head sadly because Ronin and Remi really might die, and Mateo really might not know about it regardless of where he is. "I hope that doesn't happen." Ever mumbles finally as he reaches out to stiffly pat his friend on the arm.


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