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!
who are these people? I just woke up in my underwear
Find something that relaxes Everest mentally and see if the same thing relaxes him physically.
Alright, Mateo has been fucking terrible slacking on the quest front. In his defence, though, he's a hot fucking mess and it's his first quest from a god and Ever has this thing where he leaves Stormbreak frequently, so... yeah.
Operation: Fetch seemed to work alright, but the botanist suspects that this second part might need fewer balls. (Boo, Everest, booooo.)
Luckily, he has friends all over the place in the city, and he happens to have made an acquaintance with someone at the Archive.
"Thank you for coming with me today," he is saying to the aviator as they head up towards the Archive's large double doors. "I promised I would help catalogue some new items about the flora that has been appearing all over the place, but I thought it might be something you would enjoy, too."
no liquor left on the shelf I should probably introduce myself
Having stored his umbrella when they'd entered and with his rain jacket draped over one arm (it wasn't raining today nor did it seem as though it would, but these days you really never knew and of course, Everest wasn't the sort of man to be caught out by the weather if he could avoid it), he pulled in a deep breath, savoring the stale and still air. "Of course." He replies instantly, falling into heel step with his friend as they move quietly through the Archive. Everest would have come along with Mateo on any task if the botanist asked it of him, though there was a clear bounce in his step given the specific nature of this task.
"I haven't seen anything strange in Stormbreak despite all of the occurrences elsewhere. Have you?" Of course the aviator has his notebook at the ready to jot down any new information that Mateo might have to share.
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
who are these people? I just woke up in my underwear
"I have not," Mateo confirms as they head through the Archive, his own voice lowering to a softer timbre. "Not even in the Celestine. I have been wondering whether to send a letter to Flora or my fathers, asking if they have seen anything." Or if they can sneak a specimen up to him so he might do some research of his own. Alas, for now it's just books and papers, and the botanist nods up ahead to the section they've been designated.
The table is piled and cluttered with research, and a few shelves have been cleared in preparation for the new material, but gods if it isn't going to be a slog (in Mateo's opinion). Luckily, he has Everest as a secret weapon with him. "I suppose we ought to divide this into the flora and fauna it pertains to," he murmurs. "And go from there. What do you think?"
no liquor left on the shelf I should probably introduce myself
"That's a good idea." Everest agrees in a whisper. "I have seen some strange purple flowers on the beaches in Torchline when I do deliveries for Flora, though..." Frowning softly, the aviator glances over his shoulder toward Mateo. "She snapped at me when I asked her about them just a few days ago." Flora, who was always flirtatious and occasionally sassy, had never once snapped at Everest before. "Maybe you'll have better luck." Or more understanding of what had caused it, if anything.
Ever's blue eyes widen as he falls to a stilted halt upon seeing the table. Simultaneously delighted at the prospect of organizing everything and horrified at the current state, he glances at Mateo and nods stiffly. "I think that sounds very reasonable. I can do the fauna if you want to take the Flora?"
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
who are these people? I just woke up in my underwear
"On the beaches? Perhaps I could--" Mateo, naturally, lets the rest of his sentence die on his tongue to hear that his sister had snapped at Everest. For a fraction of a second his blue eyes darken to something like a midnight storm, before concern creases his brow. "Are you alright?" he asks, knowing Ever's propensity to over-analyse, especially when it came to social interactions. "That does not sound like Flora. I will see if I can visit her, make sure she is doing okay as well."
But anyway - back to the mess work at hand.
"Good idea. That will be the first task, then." Dividing the papers into flora and fauna, he means. Grabbing a chair and huffing out a breath that displaces a curl against his forehead, the botanist begins. And if he surreptitiously glances to Ever once in a while to see if the aviator appears less tense for the work, well, that's coincidental.
no liquor left on the shelf I should probably introduce myself
"I think so." Rubbing at the back of his neck with one hand, Everest shrugs a touch bashfully. "I just wish I knew what I'd done to upset her so that I could avoid it. I know that it wasn't hormonal, unless..." Well, unless she was pregnant. It should surprise exactly no one that Everest has (intentionally or unintentionally), internalized Flora's period cycles. "She did hurt her arm recently. Maybe she's upset because of the pain." He supplies as he sets his jacket on the back of one of the chairs and looks down at the papers.
As Everest shuffles and sifts, were one at all inclined to look more closely at his body than normal (or maybe this is your normal, who knows), you'd notice his shoulders bunched by his ears, his breath often held and then let out in a rush, his brow constantly furrowed. All in all, though if asked he would say he was enjoying this activity immensely, he was physically more tense than not.
"You know, with some of these..." He saps at some of the carnivorous plants. "..it's a bit hard to tell if it's flora or fauna, you know?" Smiling a touch at this mystery, Everest nevertheless sorts the papers appropriately, delighted to have a new problem to fixate on for later.
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
who are these people? I just woke up in my underwear
Hopefully Mateo can be forgiven by the scrunch of his nose and the way his jaw drops a little to hear that Everest knows (not suspects, knows) that his sister's mood wasn't hormonal, and he shakes it away as quickly as he can. "Oh, she did? I... I think I will go and visit her before the end of the season. Maybe I can help to clarify it for you." And also see if Flora needs anything, whether it be a hug or some extra healing from their nonna.
Managing to sort his own pile of research rather easily, since not a plant is more readily defined than plant with teeth, the botanist does notice the way his friend is, if anything, more wound up than usual, locking the information away for later. "I like to look at the root systems to decide," he says conversationally. "Though, have you seen the cloud manta in Torchline? That is a very difficult one to categorise."
no liquor left on the shelf I should probably introduce myself
12-13-2023, 10:16 PM (This post was last modified: 12-13-2023, 10:16 PM by Everest.)
Everest
"I would really appreciate that. I do everything I can to maintain a good working relationship with your sister." He adds emphatically, just in case there was ever any doubt in Mateo's mind that he took his job as personal slave transporter very seriously.
"I have!" Everest agrees before immediately cowering; enthusiasm had made his voice far louder than he'd meant for it to be. "The fact that they seem to use the same mechanism as plants to generate energy for themselves is fascinating." Smiling for just a moment, the aviator goes back to clenching his jaw as he sorts and re-resorts things into different piles.
"Do you think it's coincidence, that these new species have seemingly arrived or developed right after LongNight? I wonder if it's some mutation caused by lack of sunlight."
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
who are these people? I just woke up in my underwear
"I know that you do," Mateo says with a dimpled smile. "And you know, snapping at you aside that one time, I know that she likes you well enough. So you must be doing a good job." He's sure Flora will have said as much, though given that his sister's generosity with compliments is liable to make the tips of Ever's ears turn pink, it might be easier to hear coming from him.
The botanist's smile turns a bit wicked as he realises he's tempted an increase in volume out of his friend, and he adds another definitely-a-plant to his pile, glad to see the table almost clear of chaotic research by now. "I have always wondered whether I would be able to keep some of them," he admits, of the cloud manta. "For now I just like to go and watch them at the Celestine."
As for this curious new phenomena, though, the botanist is unsure, though Ever makes a good point. "Why now, though?" he wonders. "Would it not have occurred after Longnight before this? I did hear some people talking about a meteorite landing. Perhaps it corrupted the ground, but I would not expect it to be so far reaching."
no liquor left on the shelf I should probably introduce myself
"I wonder if that's the sort of thing Frey could grant. Some sort of...way of replicating the environment any creature needs to survive, but keeping it to just around their body." He's imagining a fish with a layer of water constantly around it so that it can breathe while also maybe swimming through the air as if water. "Then again...I suppose that opens up the possibility of invasive species, and.." Trailing off, Everest finds himself trying to internally debate Frey's careful attitude about nature doing whatever it wants, with the global ramifications of precisely that.
"Maybe because Safrin is gone? It did seem much darker this year." He suggests before falling silent and giving Mateo a thoroughly thoughtful expression. "Right, I did hear about that. I wouldn't have thought so either, although maybe bits of it broke up as it was flying over? That might explain how some of the debris landed in places like Halo or Hak Etme?"
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
who are these people? I just woke up in my underwear
"If anyone could, I am sure Frey would be capable," Mateo hums thoughtfully, gathering up his pile of plant-related research and scooting to the opposite side of the table where they might not get in each other's way when it comes to organisation. "Though you are right. Have you heard of Walking Palms? I saw one, once. They are like their own kind of invasive species, I would say."
Thumbing through his papers and beginning to divide them up into subject matter, Mateo reaches down for a few empty binders and folios, raising his gaze only as Ever speaks again. "That is a very good point," he murmurs. "Perhaps after we are done here we can go and look at the astronomy section. I am sure that could not have been the first meteorite to land on Caido."
no liquor left on the shelf I should probably introduce myself
Tilting his head to the side, Ever's eyes glance up vaguely toward the corners of the room without actually seeing them. "Yes, they...wasn't it a seed that was brought by..." Turning to the notebook on the table, the aviator frowns realizing it wasn't the one that had relevant snippets of history in it. Sighing a touch and giving his head a shake, he looks back to Mateo. "I suppose anything that can move from place to place is an invasive species. We certainly are, and the original outlander all the moreso."
This of course had him wondering if he'd been too quick to judge invasive species for their purported invasiveness, such that he missed the first portion of what Mateo had said. Blinking and looking up, it takes his mind a moment to shake loose its previous line of inquiry and to catch up to what had been said. "Oh, that's a really good idea. We could just see if this sort of thing had happened before and that the outcome was."
Flushed suddenly as he looks down at the papers, Everest takes a steadying breath before looking up at his friend. "You're very smart." Compliments were nearly as hard for the aviator to give as they were to receive. "I hope you know that."
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
who are these people? I just woke up in my underwear
"Mm, something like that," Mateo says with a nod, much more easily letting go of a thought he can't catch than his companion. "Oh? I will let my fathers know they are invasive - they will enjoy that, I think," he adds, grinning down at his papers and continuing to sort them. So far he's got entries about something people have been calling spineblooms, nether vines and echo ferns, and it takes every shred of his concentration not to pause to read through them extensively.
"That is what I thought," he agrees of their perusal into astronomy. "Although you would have thought that there would be more information already if it had happened previously, especially if the outcome was negative. Or that Safrin would know..." But the starry goddess isn't here to ask, and that creates a wave of apprehension about their situation that Mateo finds difficult to ignore.
Drawn out of his thoughts by his friends sudden remark, Mateo blinks blue eyes across at Ever before a dimpled smile flashes across his face. "Thank you," he says, beaming. "I try to match your intellect as much as I can." Because of course the botanist is well-versed in receiving and returning compliments. "It is why we work together so well, I like to think."
no liquor left on the shelf I should probably introduce myself
Looking a touch nervous but smiling nonetheless, Everest tries to imagine what it might be look to look at two of the most powerful men in all of Caido at present, and tell them that they were an invasive species. He still couldn't tell his mother when she'd overseasoned his food.
"You would think." The aviator agrees a touch glumly, before shrugging slightly. People were notoriously bad at turning to things like books in times of crisis so it was entirely possible that the knowledge they wanted had indeed been recorded and was somewhere around them.
Blushing furiously and mistaking the sensation for the first hint of a fever, the aviator sits down and reaches into his bag for some water. Not wanting to itch at the warmth on his cheeks just in case it was actually some sort of rash, the aviator clears his throat before taking a large gulp of his water and setting his sights on the pages before them instead. "So...how bad do you think all of this is going to be?" The weather, the disappearance of Safrin and her warnings, the strange flora and fauna.
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
