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!
Champagne, cocaine, gasoline and most things in between
Mateo doesn't know what day it is and, to be frank, he doesn't care. Someone possibly mentioned the Festival of Lights, and he'll go when he's finished drinking away his hangover. (He's actually missed it by at least a day, but hey what's twenty-four hours between friends?) All he does know is that since the whole bullshit with Mort and Enzo, seeing Remi again, dealing with Hotaru and fLoRa, he's just... ugh.
Just ugh.
You wouldn't know it to look at him, of course; it's mid-morning and he's riding on the back of a wagon through the Silk Houses, lifting his skirts (yep) to any of the lovely young things he knows and flashing them a whoop and a wink when he isn't drinking from the bottle of wine in his hands. It's fine, what's not to like?
I roam the city in a shopping cart a pack of Camels and a smoke alarm
Everest checks his watch, pulls his sweater down over his wrist before realizing that he hadn't actually noted the time and checks again. Do we have watches? shut up, who cares. Pulling a face, he clenches his teeth together, immediately hears Tobi's voice in his mind telling him not to do that, and forces out a slow exhale. Unlike Mateo, Everest has never learned how to completely conceal the flurry of thoughts in his mind, leaving him with an expression that's a mixture of constipated and uneasy.
What was causing this ulcer-inducing level of stress in him, you ask? Well, Mateo was now 20 minutes late for their lunch date, and having been nearly 30 minutes early, Ever had been pacing about for nearly an hour by the time the little wagon came into view. During that time he'd imagined that Mateo had died or had found reason to no longer be his friend, and so as the botanist appeared, it was with a disproportionate amount of relief that Ever went out to meet him.
"Mateo." He breathes, looking worried still.
even if i had to lose you to know you, i'd still be that temporary phase that you grow through
Champagne, cocaine, gasoline and most things in between
"Everest," Mateo all but sings in return, only seeing his friend once the wagon has appropriately turned the corner. Of course he lifts his skirts for the other man too, flashing him some polka dot underwear and odd, knee high socks. Wiggling his legs to get down, he almost trips over himself, just about catching his balance before he falls into Ever completely. "Tu bella cosa," he trills, straightening up enough to clap him on the shoulder with a cold hand.
"I did not know we were meeting today! I thought it was tomorrow," he continues, taking another long pull from his wine bottle and raking a hand through his messy curls. The bottle is empty, alas, and he ends up staring at it curiously before sighing and setting it down at his feet. "Let us do lunch, then," he announces, linking his arm through Ever's and gesturing for him to lead the way.
I roam the city in a shopping cart a pack of Camels and a smoke alarm
Gasping as the other man stumbles, Ever's arms instinctively open even as his body tenses. Mateo doesn't weigh much, but still the attuned staggers slightly as his hands close around his friend's shoulders. "You..too." He mumbles with a light frown, making sure Mateo was alright to stand on his own before taking a step back.
"I thought we said today. Didn't we? I-" Reaching into his pocket to find his notebook, his stomach suddenly heavy with anxiety, Ever isn't able to find the page with his calendar before Mateo has coiled around his arm. "-well, if you're busy we can-" The remainder of what he'd been trying to say is cut off as a man stumbles drunkenly out of the door the pair are about to go in, crashing against their linked arms before bouncing back against the door frame. "Fuckin wotch it." He snarls, before taking one look at Mateo's hair and sneering.
even if i had to lose you to know you, i'd still be that temporary phase that you grow through
Champagne, cocaine, gasoline and most things in between
"I am only busy getting into trouble. But now you are here to stop me getting into more trouble, yes?" Flashing a smile up at Ever, Mateo is all sunshine and gypsy skirts until someone very rudely barges into them both, only to ricochet back against the doorframe. And Mateo starts off with an oop, sorry, before the stranger ever-so-rudely sneers at him. And more importantly, at his hair.
"So che non mi stai guardando. Non oseresti," he hisses, and although Mateo is absolutely not a fighting man, the way he straightens up and clenches the fist that once held the wine bottle says otherwise. "I did not know this establishment had a security guard," he continues, glancing up at Ever as if to ask what he wants to do about it.
I roam the city in a shopping cart a pack of Camels and a smoke alarm
Ever isn't sure what his friend has said, though his tone suggests it was not, "gee, I like your shirt". Swallowing hard as Mateo straightens, though it might be said that as a shepherd Everest indeed was a fighting dog man, just now his stomach was a long coil of ropes that were making his knees weak and his fingertips feel filled with static.
"Hah, a good joke. Because...because you look so strong." Ever says with a nervous laugh, sliding to one side and sucking in his stomach so far he was unable to breathe. So long as the man could pass, that was all that mattered. Indeed, the man did try to pass, and while anyone watching could see that it was on his own feet that he tripped, as he sailed down the remaining few steps to land with a thud on the cobblestones, he turned his head sharply to glare accusingly up at the two men.
"Y'did that on purpose, I fuckin' seen it." He spat while rocking to get onto his knees and reaching for the knife in his belt.
even if i had to lose you to know you, i'd still be that temporary phase that you grow through
Champagne, cocaine, gasoline and most things in between
It absolutely was the man's own fault, but the way Mateo's composure dissolves into laughter certainly doesn't make it seem that way. (Also he doesn't like the guy's shirt, so no way would he have said that even if it was in the travelling tongue). "Did you?" he fires back, apparently oblivious to the knife fight that is quickly about to ensue. "I did not know you had that many eyes. You ought to have been able to keep on your feet if that is the case."
The man is on his feet by now - if not exactly steadily - and the botanist is fumbling in his corset/waistcoat/he isn't sure for something. "Wait, wait, wait," he demands, as though he's about to turn the tides with what he's searching for. Only when he takes it out, it's a half eaten bar of chocolate. "Okay, go," he tells the drunk, already munching on it.
I roam the city in a shopping cart a pack of Camels and a smoke alarm
Looking a touch confused, the man indeed waits, if only because who says 'wait, wait, wait' and then pulls out a chocolate bar in the middle of a fight? The man's eyes grow smaller and more piggish with outrage as he tosses the knife back and forth between his pudgy palms.
"What do you mean okay go??" Everest hisses from behind Mateo. For his part, Ever is holding up his hands as if this were a robbery.
"Gonna teach yous' a lesson, boy." The man pauses, looks at Mateo's skirt and then his curls, and smirks. "If'n you even is a boy." Swiping out towards Mateo's stomach, the thug launches himself forward.
even if i had to lose you to know you, i'd still be that temporary phase that you grow through
Champagne, cocaine, gasoline and most things in between
"Mm...?" Mateo glances over his shoulder, busy putting the wrapper back in his pocket - because ew, littering - and shrugging at Ever. "I do not like to fight on an empty stomach. It is something my dads taught me." He gazes back to his opponent just as he swipes out at him, and it's with a squeak of sorts that he tries to dance back and away. The knife scores a tear in his definitely a corset and deals him a shallow cut to the abdomen too, which okay, maybe he deserved.
"I is a boy," he confirms. "And a Taliesin. And an Accepted. And I am going to tell my fathers on you," he informs him, raising his empty hands up in an appropriately mystical gesture, as if he's about to do some spookity oogly boogly Channelling business. Maybe Knifey McDrunkStab wants to talk to Remi and/or Ronin about it?
(Listen, he doesn't know Mateo isn't able to channel them for real).
I roam the city in a shopping cart a pack of Camels and a smoke alarm
The man's expression goes from smug to concerned as Mateo mentions being a Taliesin. Scrunching up his nose as if deciding whether or not this whole ordeal was worth it, he buys himself a bit of time by shifting his attention to Everest. "Put yer fuckin' hands down ya godsdamn unic." Bolstered somewhat by this, he looks back to Mateo and the smudge of chocolate on his lips.
"Yur a little bitch is what you are, Taliesin or no." Licking his tongue across his yellow teeth, he narrows his eyes once more before spitting at Mateo's feet. Unsure quite what to do, Ever begins to slowly lower his hands. "Come on," he whispers in a low voice, hoping that maybe they could just...go inside and have lunch and forget any of this had happened.
even if i had to lose you to know you, i'd still be that temporary phase that you grow through
Champagne, cocaine, gasoline and most things in between
"Mi scusi, I can confirm that he definitely has testicles," Mateo objects, as if defending Everest is a lot more important than anything he might be trying to achieve himself. But now the guy is calling him a little bitch and spitting at his feet, and honestly Mateo's hands are getting tired (from gesticulating, you understand) and his stomach smarts a bit from getting all sliced up.
"Well we cannot all be quivering pussies like you," he points out with a narrowing of his eyes, looking the man up and down and letting his hands fall to his sides. Ever's voice is enough to have him stepping towards the interior of the tavern, where of course there's an audience watching them. "Go on, git."
I roam the city in a shopping cart a pack of Camels and a smoke alarm
'Oh yeah? Seen 'em have you? Yeah I just bet you have." The man grunts. Growing paler and paler as his testicles continue to be discussed, Ever clenches one fist to keep it from reaching out and grabbing at Mateo's shoulder (mostly because he knows his friend will take far more offence to accidental clothes-tearing than anything else).
'Least I seen a pussy.' The thug shouts as Mateo turns away, this of course being a last-ditch effort to get the Taliesin to engage out in the street. Huffing something that's drowned out by the murmur of voices in the tavern, Mateo is suddenly showered with hands offering aid and voices marvelling at his bravery.
Meanwhile, Everest looks like he's about to pass out, and as his friend is given a hero's welcome into the pub, Ever is frantically looking for a place for them to sit.
A safe place for them to sit.
even if i had to lose you to know you, i'd still be that temporary phase that you grow through
Champagne, cocaine, gasoline and most things in between
"Sure you have," Mateo hollers back as he's partially ushered and partially walks inside, "everyone looks in the mirror in the morning, right?" Scowling deeply and cursing under his breath as he turns away at last - it's more because if his cut up clothes than the knife wound, it's with good-natured (read: tipsy) conversation that he accepts his attention, affections and aid from those in the tavern.
Indeed, by the time he's able to escape to the nice, safe little booth they usually sit at, there's a dressing pressed against his abdoment and he's ordered drinks to their table. "Some people," he huffs as he sidles into his seat opposite Ever, blinking up at his friend and belatedly realising how clearly uncomfortable every second of the encounter must have been. "I am sorry," he murmurs in a low voice.
I roam the city in a shopping cart a pack of Camels and a smoke alarm
Having shrunk into the booth and turned a near-ghostly shade of white, Ever has completely shredded both of their napkins and was arranging them into neat little piles when Mateo finally joined him. Glancing up, the apprentice just nods a little woozily, before his gaze latches onto the bandage strapped across Mateo's midsection. "Wait, he got you?" He asks, straightening, as his cheeks blush a guilty shade of pink.
"I..I didn't know, I thought you moved back, I.." I was distracted by you both talking about my testicles, he wants to say, but it's unclear if that's appropriate or not, and so he opts to gulp instead.
'Are you alright? Do you want to go? Do you need anything?"
even if i had to lose you to know you, i'd still be that temporary phase that you grow through
