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!
Should'a seen what I wore I had a cane and a party hat
"It is true. Perhaps I should try out Torchline for Longheat - it seems to have worked its wonders on you," he remarks. "And besides, Paige seems to have a business proposition for me, so I may have another reason to fly down here more often." You know, besides his little sister, which is absolutely a good enough reason all on its own, as Flora undoubtedly agrees.
"Mm...? How did it taste?" he asks, genuinely curious. "If you wanted to try other flavours, I have a herb garden in my boat. Personal supply." Who knows what that's code for, if it is code for anything at all.
The smug part of Mateo wants to take a bit of pride at having rendered Flora (almost) speechless, but he's too busy feeling pleased to be invited back to the apartment to care. And while he does notice the ellipsis where Enzo should be, the botanist is practiced in the art of saving feelings. "I would love to," he says, and he means it. "Maybe I can try some of your gin, if you have any left."
I was the king of this hologram where there's no such thing as getting out of hand
Humming a note of utter delight in response to her brother's compliment, Flora rubs her lips together and gazes intently at something in the distance at the mention of Paige's name. "Oh?" She murmurs, trying to sound uninterested. "What sort of proposition...?"
Twisting back only once she was sure that the flush Paige's name had inspired on her cheeks was sufficiently diffused, Flora regards Mateo with a raised brow. "In your boat?" She repeats, skeptically. "Is that like...some weird way of saying you haven't cleaned it and it's growing fungus or something?" Or..were there sky barnacles or something gross like that, attached to the hull? Eww David Mateo. 'Not too bad. I mean, Dad's is obviously really good and since I intentionally made it not like his it was lacking a little, but.." She shrugs, clearly of the opinion that whatever her gin might have lacked in taste, it more than made up for in willful disobedience.
'Yeah, sure.' There isn't any gin left, but just now Flora finds that saying so might be too much of a risk, if only because she suddenly very much wants Mateo to come over. "That would be nice."
Should'a seen what I wore I had a cane and a party hat
"A business proposition," Mateo says, raising his eyebrows as if wondering how much he really ought to say (given that he has no idea how close Paige and Flora are, plus that thread hasn't moved on to the details yet, ooop). "I have a shop up in Stormbreak, and a workshop behind it for more dangerous plants. I feel like Paige is interested in the latter."
In his boat earns an animated nod which quickly turns to horrified curiosity - because of course now he wants to know if there's fungus growing on his hull, and what kind. "No, I... well, it is easier for you to see it, to be honest. It is like a floating garden," he explains with no small hint of pride. "The next time Everest is free I will ask if he can fly it down here again for a bit."
Gin and willful disobedience aside, they are apparently both of the opinion about it being nice, and so Mateo somewhat awkwardly gestures for Flora to lead the way. "Since we have time to kill," he murmurs.
I was the king of this hologram where there's no such thing as getting out of hand
Flora isn't really aware of just how tight all of her muscles are, until Mateo mentions that it has to do with plants and she finds herself sighing out all the tension in one breezy exhale. "Oh," She says, laughing with shivery relief. "I thought it might be..you know, brothel related, or whatever." Her discomfort, she hoped, could be shrugged off as having not wanted her brother to become a prostitute.
Crinkling her nose, what she imagines and what Mateo is describing are two vastly different things. "If I wasn't your sister, I'd say that sounds like a line." She complains, and it's only the mention of Everest, Mateo's weird little friend, that has her thinking maybe the garden isn't actually a rampant fungus after all. "Okay, well just to be safe you can have him park the boat on the beach." Flora decides, just in case whatever Mateo was growing decided to take itself for a walk into her own garden. Still not a metaphor.
Shifting the basket on her arm and sniffing, feeling quite certain that her brother was well aware she wasn't meeting friends, Flora nevertheless takes the excuse and runs with it. "Oh definitely. My friends are always late, anyway."
Should'a seen what I wore I had a cane and a party hat
"Mmm? Oh, no, no. Or, well, if it is, it is to do with botany and brothels," Mateo says with an easy laugh and a shrug. Never mind the fact that he would absolutely lavish Paige with his attention without needing a business contract in place, but he's not sure his sister knows all that much about that side of him. (Yet. Time will absolutely give it away, now that she isn't buried under grief).
Lighting up to hear that he's potentially got a new line to use, Mateo blows Flora a kiss and makes a mental note to remember it. "I am told," he says slowly, as if he is trying to remember something crucial, "that you do not park a boat. Apparently you moor it, or dock it, or something." Rolling his wrist in a gesture that is arguably as much Remi as it is Mateo, he leaves that terminology where it belongs - with Ever.
"Well, I will not complain about their tardiness," he continues, following after Flora to head back to her place. "So what did you get up to at Longnight, besides the gin?"
I was the king of this hologram where there's no such thing as getting out of hand
Happy to leave that particular thread un-pulled for now, even though it would be very like this family for Flora and Mateo to sleep with the same girl, Flora sniffs and nods distantly. A warmth spreads through her fingertips and up from the balls of her feet that she's only lazily chasing away, thanks to the continued conversation about Paige.
As they stroll, the crinkle of Flora's nose tells of her disinterest rather than her dislike, and she merely shrugs at whatever the appropriate terminology is supposed to be when it comes to landing/mooring/docking (wink) or crashing a sky boat.
Pulling out a set of keys, Flora opens the door to her apartment. It feels both larger and smaller without Enzo's presence within, though it won't take Mateo long to still see bits of him everywhere. 'Oh, you know. Enjoyed the fire, put on a bit of a show on the beach to pass the time..that sort of thing." Coyly, Flora shrugs as she meanders into the kitchen to fetch two glasses and a bottle of something. "You know," She calls from behind a cabinet. "They've started calling me the Doubletake. Isn't that fun?"
Should'a seen what I wore I had a cane and a party hat
If only Mateo shared certain talents with a Torchline captain, he'd likely have the time of his life trying to tease further information about Paige from his sister. Alas, while he's certainly sus in that absolute gossip big brother sort of way, the conversation is pretty much closed. And so instead, following Flora into her apartment, Mateo turns his attention to not looking for - and nonetheless finding - Enzo in every slice of decor he lays his eyes upon.
"Oh? A bit of a show huh?" He's not bothering to hide his grin, leaning his elbows against one of the counters to raise his eyebrows at Flora; and it only gets better from there. "They have not," he gushes, clearly delighted. "Well, I cannot say that I blame them. I do not know if you are aware, but you turned a lot of heads just walking through the marketplace."
I was the king of this hologram where there's no such thing as getting out of hand
"Mmhhmmm." Flora sings in response, and it's lucky for them both that Mateo does not possess certain talents, lest his mind suddenly be filled with images of his sister that will keep him up all night in all the wrong ways.
As for her new title? "Oh they absolutely have." Quite who started the rumour that Flora was to be known as the Doubletake was anyone's guess. "Gasp." She gasps, flashing Mateo a smile as she returns with two glasses filled with something the colour of rust. "Here, try this. It's..." Pausing, Flora purses her lips together while narrowing her eyes, trying to think of how to describe what it is she's offering her sibling.
"..local." She decides at last, of what is basically flavourless water that roars fire once you swallow it.
Should'a seen what I wore I had a cane and a party hat
Or the right ways - don't kink shame, Flora.
Grinning as his sister confirms what he already very much knows to be true, Mateo feels warmth bloom in his chest to see her more like herself; more the way he remembers her, before Enzo and before the war. And so when she hands him the glass of firewater, he reaches out to clasp her wrist for a moment. "You are looking really well," he says, his smile softening. "And I am glad. I really was worried about you," he murmurs.
But then there's liquor to throw back, so Mateo doesn't squeeze out the sentimentality for too long, releasing Flora to tip back the glass and let the rust set fire to his throat. His lips pinch into a line for a second before he huffs out a breath that seems as though he's trying to cool down from the inside, but it quickly devolves into coughing and spluttering.
"Gods, Flora - where did you get that local vintage?"
I was the king of this hologram where there's no such thing as getting out of hand
No, no; we don't do incest. Hard and fast line in the sand.
For a moment Flora bristles as her brother takes her wrist. Part of her wants to jerk it from his grasp, to slap his face and throw the fire water into his eyes and demand to know what he means. She has always looked well, thank you very much, unless he's referencing the death of her twin brother, in which case there simply is no right thing to say and she'll make sure Mateo knows it. Oh, but she doesn't really feel like being that sort of dramatic, and it is rather nice having Mateo around. So instead, she merely turns her hand so that she can brush the underside of his wrist with her fingers and smiles softly. "Thanks big brother."
Grinning as Mateo splutters through his drink, Flora takes a much more refined sip. "Oh, I should have mentioned you're meant to sip it." She adds with a feline narrowing of her eyes. As for where it came from? "Mmmm, some local fellow has a still somewhere on the rainbow road." Quite what that entailed the Doubletake had absolutely no idea whatsoever, nor did she have any intention of finding out so long as she could keep buying it in the market.
"Sooooo, tell me about you. Anyone...new? in your life these days?"
Should'a seen what I wore I had a cane and a party hat
"Are you? Well I am so glad that I know that now," Mateo wheezes, wiping at watering eyes and flashing his sister a reproachful sort of grin. "Whatever I did, I'm sorry."
But he is absolutely not the sort to give up, especially when it comes to booze, and so he follows in Flora's footsteps and takes a more measured sip of the drink - which consquently finishes it off, but never mind. "I will have to visit the Rainbow Road before I head back," he decides, sounding a little less breathless at least.
But now they're onto him, and Mateo smiles enough to show only a single dimple. "Flora, there is somebody new in my life every other week," he tells her. "Things are good, though. Business is booming, the Silk Houses keep me busy, and apparently this Longheat I am going to be a lot less pale. What is not to like?"
I was the king of this hologram where there's no such thing as getting out of hand
Flora purrs a little sound in the back of her throat as she shrugs, making it seem as though Mateo really was the one who owed her an apology for his mis-drinking of the firewater. Bobbing her eyebrows in agreement, Flora also takes another sip. If she's watered hers down somewhat to make it go down smoother and make it appear that she's able to better hold her liquor, so what? "More?" She offers, inclining her head toward the kitchen where the bottle sits on the counter.
Rolling her eyes dramatically, the Doubletake huffs without looking surprised. "I know, but I more meant like..anyone special. Someone who you actually might, you know, like-like." She says this last bit with all the high-school sentiment it deserves. "Have you talked to either of the dads, lately?" Ronin wasn't her dad ofc, but it was easier to just lump he and Remi together when talking to Mateo.
Should'a seen what I wore I had a cane and a party hat
If Flora wants to water down her booze to make herself seem all the more refined, Mateo is absolutely happy to go along with the charade. If he makes himself even more drunk, then perhaps she'll look even better by comparison, right? And besides, he did sober for Longnight, and it's a new season. A season of celebration. All of this is to say that he hums an agreement around the last of the firewater, toasts her with the empty glass, and goes to pour himself another.
Only to giggle at the prospect of like-liking anyone. "Everybody is special, Flora. It would be rude of me to pick just one of them." Which is a very Mateo way of saying he likes to sleep around and he isn't sad about it. "Why, do you have a special someone?"
As for the dads, Mateo nods around another sip of liquor. "Dad came to visit me at Stormbreak, which was a surprise," he says. "He invited me up to see the houseboat in the Cordillera, so I can look at some of the plants up there. His arm is... better. You know, the weird Core-blighted one?"
I was the king of this hologram where there's no such thing as getting out of hand
"Everybody is not special." Flora trills, spinning on one toe to watch her brother's trek into the kitchen. "Or, if they are, then some are speshuler. More special." She shrugs, caring little for the nomenclature and only wanting the gossip. As he turns the question on her, rather than answering, Flora just widens her aqua eyes in his direction and grins triumphantly. 'Is that deflection, big brother?" She wonders, in a tone bordering on the comical.
DAd CaMe To ViSiT me IN StorMBreAk Flora's expression seems to say, though the smirk falls off of her lips at the mention of the Cordillera invite. "Mmm." She hums as her lips twist and she hastily finishes off her drink. 'Wow. So cool." Whatever fledging sibling bond was reforming between the two wasn't strong enough for Flora to be happy that Mateo was the more cherished sibling. So, rather than keeping her fake smile plastered onto her lips, Flora opts to pour herself another glass of firewater, sans water this time.
