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!
Drinking on the beach, under the stars, was just as good as any other time to the Honeybee. And while she had no sorrows or angst to forgo and forget, at the moment, she could be charmed by the cosmic patterns in the sky, and simply exist.
Melita didn’t know peace well enough to consider this some sort of repose, but with her toes dug into the sand, lanterns placed on rocks so they glittered overhead, and only the vague sounds of waves, and other dune-interlopers further down the ocean avenue, she figured it was close enough. While Sila kept close watch, and Fangorn grumbled and played with the sandy grains in his vines, the youth wistfully glanced across the horizon, liquor bottle to her mouth on occasion, with a light hum strung underneath. “All right,” she cast off to her closest companion, coinciding with many other one-sided conversations she’d had with the pumpkin, “should we go for a healing item next,” as she’d discussed with others forever ago, ”or something else to blow shit up?”
A rhetorical inquiry, in her world. She could see his eerie eyes roll though, and she scoffed in response.
Pay a little more attention to the healing power of incandescent rage
'Definitely blows shit up!' Comes a pantomimed answer from somewhere behind Melita. What a toothy-pumpkin was supposed to sound like the Doubletake had absolutely no idea, but high and squeaky was more or less the go-to when you were imitating a voice, and so that's what she defaulted to.
With her sandals in one hand and the bottom of her sundress coiled in the other so that neither would drag along the sand, Flora steps into the Honeybee's eye line with a bright grin. 'Wow, what a great idea.' She chirped as if having just overheard both sides of the conversation. "Blowing shit up is always so much fun."
On one of her bare shoulders, a small mound of white suddenly stretched before looking doubtfully at Sila with dark blue eyes. Whether this was about to be some fire and ice competition nonsense or if the dragonling was just grumpy at having woken up was yet to be seen. "Mind if we sit?"
We need love, But all we want is danger We team up, Then switch sides like a record changer
A look of pure bafflement and bewilderment struck the Honeybee and pumpkin in turn, both heads shifting to watch as Flora came chirping through – it took more than a few seconds of blinking for Melita to come back to reality and realize what had occurred, enough to snort and for the gourd to tumble around. “It’s true. But I have a feather from the KingMaker I should use.” Which was the only explanation for even veering towards healing, considering who the woman was. All sting and vitriol, with nary a thought of mending.
Though perhaps that could be construed vaguely too, her eyes going towards the sand and the bottle in her hand instead of the Doubletake. “Go ahead.” Her eyes did go to the companion though, and she could feel her own curl behind her curtain of hair, hidden from view. “Nice dragon.” Quietly, fingers shifting along the cool glass, her shoulders shrugged. “Sorry about the issues at the karaoke.” She might’ve been more apologetic if she’d left blood on the floor, but somehow she felt dissatisfied that none had been spilt either – mercurial in her efforts.
Pay a little more attention to the healing power of incandescent rage
'Ohh..well.' Turning slightly and yanking a touch at her sundress—would Melita mind this sudden showing of thigh? Flora didn't really think so—where her daggers were kept on a garter belt. 'Mine are from manticore feathers, but...' Handing one to Melita that the Honeybee might see for herself, Flora holds up a warning finger. "There's poison on them, so be careful. But you could do something like that? Mine always fly back into my hand but maybe yours explode if that's your vibe."
Sitting down a comfortable distance away, Flora reaches for Spice and tries to corral the dragonling into her lap. "Thanks. Ronin found her. You know Ronin, right?" Who didn't, Cassanova that he was. However as the Honeybee brings up the incident at the tavern, all thoughts of dragons and demigods are forgotten.
Turning mischievously toward the other girl, her jaw dropped with bright intrigue, Flora exhales pointedly. "Yeah, what the fuck was that? I mean, first off I always thought he was trying to bang my mom, but like...girl you turned him down hard." Said with approval rather than judgement, Flora twists her lips into a smug little frown.
We need love, But all we want is danger We team up, Then switch sides like a record changer
Considering Melita kept multitudes of knives beneath the seams of her dresses, she didn’t even blink as Flora did the same. “Ooooh,” came on a complimentary sound though, as the daggers, and warnings, were extended. Heeding it, though barely, with the lightest touch of a smirk as her finger danced neatly over the edge, she perused and studied, meticulous with a weapon. “Not a bad idea. The KingMaker’s is supposed to be for healing…but that doesn’t mean I can’t ask for other things down the road.” Humming lightly at the subject, for it was one of her favorites, she passed the armament back to the Doubletake. “I was thinking something like my arrows…,” amidst the whole realm of elements at her quiver.
Her eyes did watch the other dragonling carefully, but given Sila’s shyness, and Spice’s imminent corralling, there didn’t seem to be anything amiss. “Of course,” and she smiled, laughing. “Well, congratulations just the same.”
Then the other filaments fell, and she took a swig of her drink, a dramatic roll of her eyes immediately after. “Gods, fuck if I know. He’s always hung around, but I’ve never given him the time of day. Then there was the whole limbo fiasco.” Not the slightest bit of interest, other than to ponder how she could escape or murder him. The second statement made her furrowed brows jump upward though, a heady blink and a shake of her head in bewilderment. “Ru?” She’d eat him alive. What on earth would the Valkyrie see in that doofus? “Gross.”
Pay a little more attention to the healing power of incandescent rage
"Oh, well...maybe it heals but..painfully." She suggests with a grin. "You know, like you get to stab someone with it but it instantly heals the wound and whatever else is hurting them." No part of Flora thought that this was a good suggestion, but then, she didn't particularly think the moment called for thoughtful ideas, either.
'Thanks!' She trills before making small kissing sounds at the dragonling. For her part, Spice seemed to be more interested now in trying to freeze the hem of Flora's dress, which, given the heat, was entirely fine with the Doubletake.
"Limbo fiasco?" Raising her brows and glancing over her shoulder at Melita, the girl gives a slight shake of her head. "Yeah. After my brother died and I went to Halo to stay with her, he was just like...there at the house. But like, super comfortable, you know? And then he showed up with her to my party and seemed, like, jealous when she was with other men." Not to mention the fact that her mother had never actually denied the affair all the times Flora had joked about it.
We need love, But all we want is danger We team up, Then switch sides like a record changer
A cackle flickered through her chest at the suggestion, taking another sip of her drink as the thought made her mouth curl into something feral again. “Ludo would love that,” she was fairly certain, humming along in a welcome conspiracy. Thereafter, she cradled the bottle while snagging at her bag, grabbing hold of a couple treats and snacks, offering them up to Flora by placing the items in between them.
Grabbing hold of a few crackers and bits of jerky, she extended both to Fangorn and Sila, before chewing on the edge of one on her own, considering. Eventually though, a long sigh unwound, and an eyeroll to follow the inquiry. “Tanau hosted some limbo event last season,” as if this was a perfectly normal thing to do – and given the chaos, Melita would’ve been one of the many to line up. “Anyway, it was down to the courier and I – and I won – but he made it look like he threw the damn thing.” With another ungrateful huff, she finished off the cracker, dusting her hands off on her pants.
She’d had no idea about the other gossip though – certainly Talyson wasn’t Ru’s type? Like…weak, awkward, and annoying? “I wouldn’t think Ru to like his sort. Like…at all.” Her nose wrinkled and curled, much like when someone ate something quite poor, then a brief shudder went through her.
Pay a little more attention to the healing power of incandescent rage
"MMmm!" Flora hummed as an approximation for saying thank you, as she helped herself to a few bits of jerky and some crackers. On her lap, Spice glanced up haughtily, before deciding that freezing a nearby bit of seashell was much more interesting and wobbled off to do that.
The fire god? Weird, but okay. This was Caido after all, and after a certain age you more or less lost the ability to be surprised about the happenstance fuckery that often took place; at least when it came to the gods. "Ugh, men." She declared with an exaggerated roll of her eyes. "He probably knew that he was going to lose and was just trying to save face." Was this likely given the type of person Talyson was? Irrelevant. That was how gossip and bitchy stories exchanged on the beaches worked.
"Mmm, no, me neither. Especially not with Sunjata back in the mix." Bobbing her eyebrows suggestively and having no idea of the relation between Honeybee and Flood, Flora could only grin. "I think Tal is like...I dunno, you know those things that are so sad that they're cute? I think it's like that. Or just because he's so...like good." If anything she thought maybe her mother just liked being able to take whatever she wanted from someone like Tal, but who knew.
We need love, But all we want is danger We team up, Then switch sides like a record changer
Helping herself to some more jerky, she huffed in agreement over the audacity of men. “Right? Asshat.” One day she’d bludgeon him into tiny pieces, or set him ablaze, and then maybe he’d be sorry. Or dead, and it wouldn’t really matter to the Honeybee either way. Besides, the bitching felt good – and she was relieved Flora hadn’t found any of the actions bothersome. Women power or something and all that.
Sunjata’s name thrown into the mix made her audibly gag, choke, and sputter, and then quicken into some put-upon sigh. “Again? Fuck sake.” On a brief handwave, where the jerky dangled and Fangorn eyed it rather speculatively, the smuggler snorted. “He’s my uncle. And they’ve had a lot of fucking drama.” Enough to make Melita wonder just why on earth Ru would want to even bother, but perhaps she was trying to alleviate the past and all its bullshit – or the Flood was.
As for Tal, her facial expression (one of haphazard disgust) firmly disagreed. “Is he though?” Sad? Cute? Good? Pressuring her into a date after she said no, and serenading her when she was clearly uncomfortable, didn’t strike her as the latter, and she didn’t care about the other two. “Just seems shitty to me.”
Pay a little more attention to the healing power of incandescent rage
Having never heard it put quite like that before, Flora mentally added asshat into her vocabulary as she flashed Melita an appreciative smirk. "I like that." She agreed, before muttering it approvingly under her breath.
Thinking perhaps that her friend was choking, the Doubletake turned her shoulders to fully face the other girl while looking her up and down to try and figure out if this was a pat on the back type of situation or a Heimlich situation. Proving to be neither (what a relief), now it was Flora's turn to put on an affect, only hers went from theatrical to genuine in a flash. "Wait, seriously?" Open-mouthed but looking intensely interested in this new bit of information rather than put off by it, Flora edged slightly closer. "So..if they get together..what does that make us?" Something complicated, Flora was absolutely positive, which really was just par for the course around Caido.
"I mean...that's all I can figure, really. But-" Leaning closer still and dropping her voice despite the fact that no one was around, Flora cleared her throat that the moment might be made all the more dramatic by her pause. "-I was at my mom's in Halo, and he just...came in. She wasn't even home, but he has a key or something, and just...walked in. With cookies!" Huffing, as if that somehow made it all the more damning for the courier, Flora shakes her head. "And his dragon just..went to the fire place like it was old hat. He was practically all settled in before he realized that I was home instead of her."
We need love, But all we want is danger We team up, Then switch sides like a record changer
The Honeybee had a vocabulary full of uncommon curses and profanities, and would certainly teach Flora an array of them if the Doubletake craved it. For now, she beamed in her feral wickedness, plunging her fingers into another portion of crackers.
The other notions, however, made her take another swig of her drink. “Seriously.” As for the other considerations, of which she clearly hadn’t bothered with before, her brows furrowed, giving it some deliberation. If they truly got together again, Ru would be her aunt…which would make Flora…”Cousins?” She said, though not too confidently.
Gossip and dramatics were much more the Honeybee’s taste, and she leaned in closer as Flora’s voice got lower – the perfect audience member as her mouth rounded into a vague ‘oh’ and her jaw dropped significantly. Eventually her lips moved in a silent ‘what the fuck’, before any words came out. “That’s like…really disturbing. Ru wouldn’t let someone just…take advantage of her,” tapping on her chin, and pondering if her uncle fit into that category, her nose wrinkled once more. “Huh. Bizarre. And she’d never said anything about it?” What if he was like - some live in...service and errand boy? Like a pool boy but...courier...Melita ended up shaking her head and ridding the mental image away.
Pay a little more attention to the healing power of incandescent rage
Puckering out her lower lip and trying to imagine the family tree Ru and Jata were currently (maybe) trying to grow, Flora gave up and shrugged. "Cousins sounds good." She muttered, grinning mischievously for a moment before casting a much more sombre stare out toward the sea. "I wonder if they'll have kids." Said more or less rhetorically, Flora thought of her twin's face, frowned, and said no more.
"No, I know." Just like the Honeybee, Flora was much more content to be amused at the expense of others, especially when that other was Tal. Just because he'd helped her on a few quests didn't mean he was safe. "He said he came all the time." Was the innuendo intentional? Come on. "That he basically lived there to get away from his sisters or something, but like...it isn't like there's no other place to live in Halo, you know? So I definitely call bullshit." Pulling in a breath only so that she could theatrically sigh it out, Flora glanced up at the darkening sky with a roll of her eyes.
"Whatever it is, it's weird. Like, he keeps saying how she's his best friend, but like...he definitely isn't hers, Deimos is, so..."
We need love, But all we want is danger We team up, Then switch sides like a record changer
Children made Melita think of the twins Nate and Sunjata had…adopted (?), and then traces of the Safrin daughter, up in the midst of the stars somewhere. Overall, her nose wrinkled at the thought of it – mostly because of all the drama, the loss, and the heartache; Flora would know well enough of that on her own.
So instead of adding fuel to that fire, she steered around the other topic at hand – bristling gossip, twining around a piece of jerky to punctuate for emphasis as her features altered and changed with each new tidbit of information. At the innuendo, her eyes widened. At the other theatrical influences, her jaw dropped, or her head shook, mind reeling a thousand points. “What? He can’t just build or find his own fucking house? Sounds like a leech.”
At the whole best friend thing, her eyes rolled to the sky, glancing up at the stars and heavens while sticking the jerky in the corner of her mouth. “More I hear, the more he seems to be like a little weasel.” Unfortunately, she could only agree in the end. “That’s so strange. Why would she let him hang around then? Do you think she feels bad for him?”
Pay a little more attention to the healing power of incandescent rage
08-23-2023, 01:02 AM (This post was last modified: 08-23-2023, 01:02 AM by Flora.)
flora
'Oh my god, right???' Flora agreed emphatically as if Melita was the only one in the world who agreed with her on this point. "Like, just find your own place??" She added with an indignant toss of her head, before finally giving it a little shake and collapsing onto her back for dramatic emphasis.
"Honestly, I don't get it. Like, maybe she's lonely, or honestly?" Looking at Melita over one shoulder and raising a brow, Flora smirks to herself before turning her gaze up toward the sky. "Maybe he like..asked Frey for it. Or not Frey, but Safrin. She'd totally pull that shit." Realizing that she didn't quite know what Melita's loyalty to the gods was, if any, the Doubletake clears her throat.
"Only cause...you know, I think Safrin would sort of do whatever you asked of her, so long as you did whatever she asked in return."
We need love, But all we want is danger We team up, Then switch sides like a record changer
