how far i run

Everest

Failure is something that everyone has to deal with at some point in their lives. No matter their expertise, no matter their strength or cunning, everyone inevitably fails. Some failures hit harder than others, though. Failure to win at a hot dog eating contest might not keep you up at night at all, even if you came in last place. So it is for Everest Hart. Failure to win at sports, for instance, is never something that has bothered him terribly much. A little of course, given his personality, but not much.

Failure when it comes to academics?

When it comes to test-taking?

Sitting on one of the large boulders that ring the edges of the Skyport to act as both a barrier and a seating area, sits Ever. Head bowed, ankles crossed, and eyes staring intently at a piece of paper held in his hands. He is dressed perfectly appropriately for the weather with his grey sun-shirt, modest khaki pants, and boat shoes. There's a bottle of water and some granola bars in a bag by his side, and yet for the picture of preparedness that he seems to be, nothing could have prepared him for this.

Everest Hart had failed his skyship exam.

I wish that I could find the words,
to tell you how much that it hurts
That I'm not who you wanted me to be

Mateo

That's the thing about expectations and letting them trip you up. Just as no one, likely Everest included, would expect Mateo to fail at cultivating a finicky species of plant (for example), the botanist in turn simply doesn't expect his friend to fail at tests. He's never done before and given that they're grown up he feels it unlikely that Ever will start now. Oh, how he is about to be proven wrong.

Given the above assumption, however, it's with a tragically cheerful smile on his lips and a balloon bearing Congratulations! that Mateo approaches his friend on the boulder. One could argue that he is also dressed appropriately for the season, only the botanist is wearing a pair of sandals, a sunhat, and some tye-dyed nightmare that probably wants to be a toga.

"Ahoy, Captain Hart," he trills, moving to sit down on the rock beside Ever.

i've told you time and time again
i'm not as think as you drunk i am

Everest

Not one to be aware of his surroundings when he's fixated on something, as he quite clearly is now, the world around him (including Mateo's colourful presence) is just a blur of noise and dull movement that buzzes faintly in his ears. Actually that's probably his blood pressure plummeting.

The sudden ("sudden") presence of a body next to him has Ever turning, all wide blue eyes and pale cheeks as if Mateo was a jump-scare from a horror movie. At first the congratulations from his friend's lips sounds like the wonnnwohnnwonnn from the teacher in Charlie brown; it's only the movement of the balloon that catches the aviator's gaze and snaps him into some sort of focus.

"Oh." Blood rushes into Ever's cheeks, the effort of which has his heart suddenly hammering. "No, I...It..." Unable to articulate the insectile-buzz of his thoughts, Ever merely holds the paper out for Mateo to see whereupon a large red F has been circled and underlined.

I wish that I could find the words,
to tell you how much that it hurts
That I'm not who you wanted me to be

Mateo

If it were anyone else, the reaction would have immediately put Mateo on edge with the assumption that something terrible has happened. Alas, with Ever, even if things are going swimmingly, appearing without warning next to his friend is likely to cause a panic attack, and the botanist offers a warm smile and patiently waits for the other man's brain to catch up with his senses.

"It what?" He chuckles, giving a cursory glance down at the paper as if wondering why Ever thinks he'd want to see it. (He doesn't know shit about skyships, despite living on one).

F.

Ah. Well. Right.

"F... for fantastic job?" he hazards, wincing and surreptitiously trying to pull down the balloon so it's out of sight behind his back. "Was this the written one, or the practical test...?"

i've told you time and time again
i'm not as think as you drunk i am

Everest

Deadpan as ever (ha, get it), the aviator shakes his head. "No, not fantastic job." He replies as if this had been a genuine question. Unsure how long to keep the exam held out in Mateo's direction, Ever waits a few seconds longer before pulling it back into his lap. "F for failed."

Feeling both too warm and too cold and not at all comfortable in his body (even more than usual), Everest fights the urge to shift his position, opting for etiquette rather than comfort. "No, the practical exam went fine." Fine meaning he'd gotten 100%. "This was the interview portion where they ask you questions and evaluate your answers." Changing which ankle was resting over which, Ever sighs shamefully. "Questions like...how to handle upset passengers, personel conflicts..what to do when faced with certain scenarios, that sort of thing." Aka the social interaction portion of becoming a skyship captain.

I wish that I could find the words,
to tell you how much that it hurts
That I'm not who you wanted me to be

Mateo

"Ah," says Mateo, despite knowing very well what the F really stands for. Still, when Ever remarks about the practical aspects of the exam, he can't help but brighten significantly, scooting a little closer to the other man and giving him a gentle nudge. "Arguably that is the important part," he points out. "A passenger cannot be upset if they are dead because the ship crashed, after all."

But a fail is still a fail, and despite their vastly different personalities, it's safe to say they are both booksmart in that respect. "I am sorry, Everest," he murmurs. "So they will not give you your licence, even though you are able to fly skyships? Do you have an opportunity to retake the exam?"

i've told you time and time again
i'm not as think as you drunk i am

Everest

Bracing against the physical contact in a way in which Mateo has likely come to expect, Ever blinks sternly down at his paper. "Apparently not. I did try and argue that, or...I mentioned it, anyways." It wasn't clear at all to the young aviator why he had to deal with passengers at all. Wasn't there a crew for that? His job was to fly, and un-arguably, (that was, factually), he was the best pilot out of his entire class. 'But they said both components had to be completed at a passing level."

Mateo's I am sorry soothes Everest more than he ever thought it would, and he finds himself looking gratefully over his shoulder at the botanist and nodding slightly. "Yes, I can retake it." He answers, pausing to indicate that was the answer to Mateo's question before continuing. "But..." Unsure quite how to put it, though feeling as safe with Mateo in a way he'd never felt with anyone else, Ever lets his shoulders sag. "...I am how I am. I try and smile and be polite and say and do the things I'm supposed to, but I just...I don't know how to be like everyone else." And, to ward off any platitudes of just Be UrSeLf, Ever waggles the paper slightly in his fingers.

"At least, I don't know how to be the kind of person who would pass this."

I wish that I could find the words,
to tell you how much that it hurts
That I'm not who you wanted me to be

Mateo

Mateo doesn't really have a response for that, because as much as he hates authority, arguing with an institution that hands out pilot licences on behalf of his friend is guaranteed to be fruitless. So instead he merely scrunches his nose and glares down at the paper in Ever's hands, as if he might set it on fire with his mind and thus erase the failing grade. (And hey, maybe he's a closet demigod, you don't know).

"Well... is the exam face to face, or just written?" he asks, running his fingers through wild curls and shifting to sit cross-legged on his boulder. "I wonder if you would be able to get a different sort of licence. One that just lets you pilot. You would not want to deal with passengers anyway."

i've told you time and time again
i'm not as think as you drunk i am

Everest

"Face to face." Ever replies. "In a very small room with poor air conditioning." He adds with a frown. He likely wouldn't have been able to give better answers in a more suitable room, but at least the entire experience wouldn't have been so terrible. Though, now that he thinks about it, perhaps that was the point.

Mateo, who now looks like some tye-dyed guru sat upon the boulder handing out his wisdom, does the best he can and Everest tries to recognize that. "Maybe." He concedes, though if he wants to work for the Skyport, he has to follow their rules and as of now no such position exists.

"I'm sorry you wasted your time on getting me a balloon." The aviator mumbles as he meticulously rolls up the failed exam and tucks it safely away in his bag.

I wish that I could find the words,
to tell you how much that it hurts
That I'm not who you wanted me to be

Mateo

Huffing out a short sigh through his nose, Mateo's opinion of both face-to-face examinations and small, poorly ventilated rooms is made very apparent. "Well, that puts a snag on my idea," he complains, because of course the botanist would have simply cheated and completed Ever's exam himself had it been paper based. (As if the other man would have let him).

"I suppose if you are able to retake the test, we can prepare you for the sort of questions you might be asked," he says, offering a small smile to Ever. "We can study together, like we used to in the Collegium." As for the balloon, he lets it bob back up beside them now that it's clear that Ever has already seen it.

"I do not consider it a waste of time. Now it is just a Condolences instead of a Congratulations balloon. I will make sure to get you another when you do pass." Because he will; there's no doubt about that in Mateo's mind.

i've told you time and time again
i'm not as think as you drunk i am

Everest

Raising an eyebrow and scouring his friend's face for some sort of clue about what such a plan might be (any idiot could probably figure it out based on Mateo's inclinations, but of course, Everest was not just any idiot); finding nothing, the aviator just frowned softly and shifted his feet.

"We can try." He agrees somewhat glumly. "I feel like...my mother tried to explain it to me once. So did my dad, but he didn't really understand it either. It's like...these are things you're just supposed to know, if that makes sense. You make the right choices because you're a certain kind of person, and.." Twitching his lip, he just shrugs again, eyeing the balloon.

"Okay." Said doubtfully, he reaches out for the balloon because decorum dictated he should. It was for him, sooooo...shouldn't he take it from Mateo?

"What's been going on with you, while I've been studying and everything?"

I wish that I could find the words,
to tell you how much that it hurts
That I'm not who you wanted me to be

Mateo

"Well," Mateo says softly, picking at a loose thread on his outfit and wondering whether it would all unravel if he plucked at the wrong part of it. "I think perhaps your mother is right when it comes to this sort of thing in general. But you do not have to be that kind of person, Everest. You just need to know a few answers for a very specific test, and then that is it." Just like studying for a topic he's unfamiliar about, right?

Beaming as Ever reaches for the balloon, Mateo surrenders it willingly and settles at last, leaning back on his hands to gaze up at the sky - a brilliant blue today, as it happens. "Mm... me? Oh, well, I made an outfit out of flowers and took it to the Oerwoud for some feast with Ghilio," he explains, like it's an everyday occurrence. "I replanted them all afterwards, of course. I met a cartographer too - that is someone who makes maps. And I brought someone back to life."

Context? Who needs it?

i've told you time and time again
i'm not as think as you drunk i am

Everest

Thoughtful, if only because it was rude to immediately shoot down an idea no matter how outlandish it sounded, Everest lets an appropriate amount of silence fall between them before nodding. "We can try. I remember all of the questions I was asked this time around." Because of course he did.

"Oh, I heard about that." The aviator says of the feast. "How did you do that?" He wonders next. Given everything we know about Ever, the question could apply equally well to bringing someone back from the dead as it could to meeting someone, and the look of wary intrigue on his face doesn't really offer any clues about which he was referring to.

I wish that I could find the words,
to tell you how much that it hurts
That I'm not who you wanted me to be

Mateo

"If we do not try, we will never know," Mateo trills with a nod, apparently neither noticing nor minding that he sounds like a bad Hallmark card. "If you write down all of the questions you remember, I will see if I can find some resources about the pilot exams and we can study together." It will be like old times, except Mateo has absolutely no intention of piloting his own skyship, thank you very much.

Oh, well - I used some sentient vines for the frame of the outfit, and I braided the flowers around it," he begins, assuming Ever is speaking about the feast and his fashion choices for it. It does (thankfully) occur to him that this might not be the case, though, and he reconsiders. "Nonna healed them," he explains of the person he saved, touching a hand to his chest and the corded bone necklace that sits beneath his clothes.

"Though I believe it may have been better to let him die. The cartographer had stabbed him, you see, but it was in self defence. I think he intended to be inappropriate with her."

i've told you time and time again
i'm not as think as you drunk i am