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!
Although the berries that she and Mateo collected hadn't actually been for a cocktail, the fib she'd told her brother was actually a really good idea. A blushberry cocktail for first dates? Not only was it an adorable idea, but Flora could use it as a way to encourage business on some of her slower nights; not that there were many, but a good business owner always plans ahead.
With several golden berries in front of her, the Doubletake was currently mashing them in various amounts to see how much juice she could extract from each and just how badly beaten that left the pulp. Some fruits could be shaken into drinks while still looking appetizing, while others started to dissolve making the glasses they were in look unwashed. Humming to herself and not minding at all the golden stain on her fingertips, Flora was just in the process of realizing that she probably should have brought a taste-tester with her for this portion when she heard the bell above the door jangle.
"Back hereeeeeee!" She sang out, assuming it was Ever with a deliver from Stormbreak.
Flexing like a goddamn acrobat Me and karma vibe like that
It isn't not a delivery, but it's not from Everest. Given that he's down from the Cordillera a lot more often these days, Ronin makes a point of bringing shipments of Remi's gin to the Hanged Man whenever he gets the chance. Today it's only a couple of crates, one hefted over his shoulder and another tucked under his arm. They might as well be pillows for how easily he hauls them through the door, Flora's call echoing through to him.
"It's just me!" he calls to the Doubletake, his greeting accompanied not by one trill, but two - and the second is a lot more like a squeak, to be honest. Sugar is perched on the crate over his shoulder, preening and lounging as if she belongs there, but Spice - still looking more like a small ornament than a living, breathing dragon - is nestled in the Supernova's dark hair, tiny wings outstretched as if she's flying and Ronin is just there to help.
"Oh." One side of Flora's lip raises with comical confusion as she looks up at the huntsman, all herculean muscle and storybook charm. 'Hey." She adds, smoothing out the ripple in her lip to offer her adopted father a full-blown smile before waggling golden-tipped fingers at him. "I was expecting Everest, but you'll do!" Not that the Doubletake was anything but an extrovert, but she hadn't minded at all the constant string of people who seemed to just help themselves to her Tavern at all hours of the day. Not only did it make her feel wanted and valued, but it chased away any moments in which she might be tempted to sulk about unrequited crushes or complicated relationships.
Trying not to inhale too much of the fine mist of juice resulting from her continued beating of the berries, Flora suddenly narrows her eyes as she does a doubletake at the Supernova. "Uh....Ronin?" Eyebrows raised and lips pursed together as she prepares the setup for what's sure to be the pinnacle of her comedy career, Flora nods casually toward the top of the demigod's head. "I think there's something in your hair."
Flexing like a goddamn acrobat Me and karma vibe like that
It isn't often that the Supernova is told he'll do, and his ego doesn't know if it's quaintly surprised by it, or offended. Settling on the former (because it's his adopted daughter, of course), it's with a gentle tilt of his head that he sets down the crates. Sugar heads up to perch among the rafters as her seat is rudely jostled away from her, and Spice - of course - only clings on harder to Ronin's scalp so she doesn't slide off with the movement. Which is just as pleasant as one might imagine.
"I'll do for wh-- ow," he's saying when Flora brings up the hatchling in the room, Ronin reaching up to detach the tiny dragon's claws from his skin and hair. "Yeah, this is Spice," he introduces. "Found her up in the Cordillera - the rest of her clutch and her mother didn't make it, so I'm playing mother until she's old enough to fly."
In truth, Flora had thought Spice was some sort of lizard at first despite her fledgling wings. Sugar was small, yes, but the Doubletake hadn't ever expected that even she'd been that small once and the realization that Ronin had a dragon on his head had Flora stifling a laugh. It was Ronin, and so of course he was playing mother dragon, but still, the picture was amusing despite its predictability.
'Oh sure," Flora agrees with a breezy roll of her eyes as she reaches for a cloth to wipe her hands off with. "As one does." Approaching with smooth movements as if expecting the dragonling to panic at any moment and fly away, the Doubletake glances up to the rafters where Sugar was perched trying to determine if the older dragon looked her regular amount of haughty, or if she was offended by all of this.
"How is Sugar taking it?" Flora asks in a low whisper, before holding her hand up toward the top of Ronin's head for Spice to smell. Likely she'd smell of blushberries, but given the nearly-nothing she knew about dragons, Flora didn't think it would matter.
Flexing like a goddamn acrobat Me and karma vibe like that
Amusing and predictable - title of Ronin's sex tape.
"Of course. I have to find some kind of hobby up there, and there are a lot of dragons. Why not be a dragon tamer?" Smiling and shrugging his shoulders to the Doubletake, he's appropriately still to let her approach, reaching up again to carefully disentangle the baby dragon and bring her down into his hands so she can snorfle at Flora's fingers.
"You know, surprisingly well," he replies in an equally as quiet voice, despite the fact that he knows Sugar is absolutely aware of their conversation and her place in it. "She was an only survivor, too. I think she realises they're similar." Smiling down at Spice, the hatchling offers a sudden squeak at Flora and tries to clumsily clamber onto the back of her hand.
"Why not!" Flora agrees as if this is the most reasonable thing she's ever heard and not the sort of lunacy that only the heroes in fairytales can say and still sound sincere.
"Aww, I didn't know that." Looking up at Sugar and trying to keep the pity from her smile as she spied the dragon, Flora's attention was dragged back down by the strangely gentle pin-prick claws trying to find purchase on the back of her hand. "Er-" Splaying out her other hand like that might somehow keep Spice more balanced, Flora focuses the entirety of her attention on keeping her hand and arm as still as possible so as not to upset her new interloper. "Careful, careful." She coos softly before drawing her arm in toward her chest to try and keep the dragon from falling.
"Hey, while you're here, care to try my new drink?"
Flexing like a goddamn acrobat Me and karma vibe like that
"Mm, I found her in Deepfrost, in the Oasis in the Hollowed Grounds. It was frozen over - I have no idea how long the eggs were down there," he says, smiling up at Sugar, though there's more pride than pity in his smile, and the dragon puffs out her chest accordingly. Meanwhile, of course Spice is making a beeline for Flora's hair and head, and Ronin is doing nothing to stop her.
"Your new drink?" he drawls, raising his eyebrows skeptically. "Does it smell like blushberries, by any chance?" His husband makes gin out of them and he and Remi have had one or two encounters with them separately to this - of course he knows what they're all about.
"I never knew any of that." Flora said softly, before grinning up at Sugar. "Good thing you found him though. Can you imagine where he'd be without you?" She wonders, before looking a touch startled and panicked as Spice began to meander toward her curls. Shooting Ronin a pleading look for assistance, Flora winced as one of the dragon's claws gripped the inside of her ear for purchase. "Ow, nn, just-" Reaching up and using the back of her hand to try and hasten the dragon's assent of her head, only when Spice had reached the pinnacle of her skull did the dragon cease her wandering.
"My, what a good nose you have." Flora trills, re-writing the line from one of Vai's storybooks about a wolf disguised in human clothes. "Yeah, Mateo and I came up with it." She adds, turning carefully and looking as though she was practicing her posture for an upcoming ball so as not to disturb her new passenger.
Flexing like a goddamn acrobat Me and karma vibe like that
"Mm, I can't imagine where I'd be without her, to be honest," Ronin admits; for all of Sugar's haughtiness and jealous nature, she's still his companion. Following after Flora and chuckling as Spice makes herself comfortable atop the Doubletake's head, Sugar offers them a chirp of amusement before settling to loll about among the beams, wanting no part of whatever shenanigans that are about to unfold.
Now that his head is free of dragons, Ronin takes a moment to better arrange the crates he'd brought so Flora will be able to open and unpack them easily, before gesturing for her to go ahead and use him as a lab experiment, if that's what she wants. "All the better to smell you with, my dear," he replies, naturally responding with the next line in Vai's stories, because they'd all been blessed with them at one point or another.
"Who do you think gets more jealous, Sugar, or my dad?" Flora wonders suddenly, her grin crooked and her eyes suddenly narrowed into mischievous little specks of aqua amidst her long lashes.
"Grosssssssssssssssss," The Doubletake complains despite Ronin perfectly playing his part. Perhaps if this playful father-daughter relationship of theirs had bloomed sooner the girl would have a fetish for handsome hero-types, perhaps with a clumsy streak and boyish tendency to find themselves in compromising situations. Alas.
"Okay, so first I'm going to give you just a bit of blushberry and I want to know how it affects you." In fact Flora was giving Ronin quite a lot of blushberry, but what the girl actually wanted to know was how much a difference one's mental state played when it came to the cocktail. "Cheers!" So saying Flora begins to mix the drink only to find Spice scrambling down her shoulder, then her arm, only to hop onto the counter. "Uh.." Having no idea what about this would be interesting to a dragon, Flora watches with amazement as the little creature huffed and puffed and blew an adorably small breath at Ronin's glass, frosting one side of it.
"Awwwwwwww! Did you see that?" Grinning from ear to ear and looking between Spice and Ronin, Flora clapped her hands together. "She frosted it for you!"
Flexing like a goddamn acrobat Me and karma vibe like that
At Flora's question, an expression of genuine concern crosses Ronin's features, the Supernova taking a seat at the bar while she mixies the drink. "I don't like to think about that," he admits with a small smile, because either answer might prompt the other contender to treat it as a challenge. And living with them both is challenging enough at times, not that he'd change it for the world.
Quite happy to be labelled gross - such is the nature of his part of this relationship - he listens carefully to her instructions and nods along, already knowing very well how blushberries affect him, but if Flora insists on seeing him sheepish and embarrassed, so be it. About to cheers her right back, Ronin pauses to see Spice clumsily helping to frost his glass, the Supernova offering a grin.
"Clever girl," he croons. "Considering a future behind a bar, huh?" Reaching out to tickle the hatchling under the chin, Ronin nonetheless raises his glass and takes a generous sip of the cocktail.
'Okay, but now that you are thinking about it, you have to answer.' Flora prompts, and though it's very sad indeed that neither of Ronin's other two children made it to their teenage years in quite the same way, he has been saved by this sort of girlish relentlessness thus far.
'Oh...weird." Blinking down at Spice as Ronin's finger scratches her under the chin, Flora itches at the base of her neck before pulling a face. "That's so weird, it's almost like...I felt that?" Unable to describe it, the Doubletake just shrugs and gives her head a little shake. Phantom feelings, whatever.
"Sooooooooooo, watcha think?" Leaning forward with interest, eyebrows raised and keen aqua eyes looking for a hint of blush on Ronin's cheeks, Flora again feels a mental something in the back of her mind that has her frowning and rubbing at her temple.
Flexing like a goddamn acrobat Me and karma vibe like that
Groaning and rolling his eyes, Ronin lowers his voice to a secretive hush that will make absolutely no difference given the proximity of his companion and leans forward to share the secret with Flora. "Definitely Sugar, but your dad is more dramatic about it," he whispers, grinning and sitting back just as Flora and Spice get all weird in a familiar sort of way. "Oh?" Ronin's smile is suddenly knowing, but before he can comment further on it, he's seized by the blushberry cocktail.
And thus Flora will see the Supernova flush from the apples of his cheeks all the way to the tips of his ears, Ronin clearing his throat and awkwardly averting his gaze. "It's strong," he tells her. "Not that it doesn't taste good, though! What else did you put in there?" Smooth dad moment, activate.
