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!
I'm made of dead man's money, you can see it in my smile
No lack of skyport will stop Hotaru from getting to her daughter. She doesn't even remain in King's End long enough to receive Flora's letter. As soon as the meteor lands, she's already gone.
She flies harder than she ever has, traumatized by reminders of a similar flight just before the birth of the twins. It still takes time - too much time. She doesn’t rest, and it’s still not enough, and by the time she makes it to Torchline her stamina is at its limit.
The devastation is immense with an aerial view, and panic grips her heart the whole way down. Harried survivors and coordinators are shoved past and through, cutting a swathe through the madness to her daughter’s door. It will be mad for days, weeks, seasons, and yet Hotaru could not care less for their grief.
Sweeping inside, Hotaru abandons the door half-open, hair a windswept mess and static sparking up her arms as she visually sweeps the house. "Flora?! Flora, where are you?!" She runs to each doorframe, sweeping through the house like a hurricane, ready to abandon the place and head for the skies to find her daughter one way or another if she isn’t here.
Watch the fire rise, burning through my paper skin
Hotaru has a passive magic that makes her glow with an internal golden light; it makes her appear youthful and her hair seems to look like moving sunlight. Can only subtly illuminate dark spaces.
It's a convenient merging of timelines that finds Flora returning to her home only moments after Hotaru has entered it. Exhausted and drained, the Doubletake moves with the weary determination of one who could fall asleep in an instant but has to resist for reasons far larger than her mind can comprehend.
"Wh—" Perhaps it isn't so surprising to see her door half open. Perhaps it was the wind, perhaps a monster, or perhaps some wayward citizen looking for their queen. Either way, it's with a sigh that Flora enters, pushing down the urge to collapse to the floor in tears.
"Is...someone here?" Pressing at the ring on her finger lest whoever—or whatever—means her harm, Flora glances into the living room and then kitchen before eyeing the staircase warily and wearily.
I'm made of dead man's money, you can see it in my smile
Hotaru would surely close the door upon her exit (surely), but currently any respect for Flora’s home is unfortunately rock bottom on her list of concerns. Manic, she whirls on her heel when the last room turns up empty, feet scarcely touching the stairs as she heads back for the door. How can she find her, hunt her, track her -?
Flora’s voice calls out as they unintentionally meet in the middle, electrifying Hotaru’s heart like a bare wire stripped by rough tools. “Flora,” she gasps like her lungs are full of water, tortured and overflowing. She rushes to her immediately, hands desperate as they seek purchase on any piece of her daughter to hold her close. Healing magic explodes out of her like a feral animal finally snapping its leash, chasing down any minor cut or lingering exhaustion in her child’s body. Anything at all that she can mend, because it had amounted to nothing when she’d held Enzo in her arms the same way. Torchline has already taken one of her children, and she is nearly shaking out of her skin with the relief that it has failed to do so a second time.
“Gods, I had no idea if you were okay. Are you okay?” Ru rips herself slowly from Flora to hold her out just enough to look her over, as if her magic might have missed something glaringly obvious. And if her cheeks are already wet with tears, she pays it no mind, unashamed to demonstrate how terrified she’d been to lose the Doubletake.
Watch the fire rise, burning through my paper skin
Hotaru has a passive magic that makes her glow with an internal golden light; it makes her appear youthful and her hair seems to look like moving sunlight. Can only subtly illuminate dark spaces.
Tugged forward with all the resistance of a ragdoll, Flora flops unceremoniously in her mother's arms for a moment as her exhausted mind takes its sweet time in sorting things into place. "Hi mom." Weakly said, the Doubletake pulls in a breath that's at first nothing but her mother's perfume and natural scent, before her lungs are treated to the first real breath in what feels like hours.
Though Hotaru's magic makes Flora feel stronger, she nevertheless collapses more fully into the arms wrapped around her, caring little for smearing her makeup or otherwise looking disheveled. Here, if perhaps nowhere else in all of Caido, she could let her ugly and her panic be known. "I'm okay." She murmurs against her mother's shoulder, not knowing if that was precisely true.
The sting of her tears is the only real warning that Flora has before the floodgates she'd been holding back for so long buckle and snap as her mind realizes she's in a place safe enough to fall apart. "Mom, it's...it's so unfair." She sobs bitterly. It was a selfish admission to be sure, and against it Flora hid her eyes against her mother's skin. "I've only just become queen, and now this. So many people are dead, and Torchline is fucked up, and...and...." Dissolving into sobs, the girl hiccups her anguish and upset through clenched teeth.
I'm made of dead man's money, you can see it in my smile
There is no state of being Flora could ever occupy to be ugly in her mother's eyes, and when it's made clear she only wants to slump on Hotaru's shoulder, the Valkyrie reluctantly contents herself with the assurances the Doubletake has made as to her health and holds her close. "I'm here," she murmurs, because it's clear Flora is not okay, but what more can Ru do to fix that?
The dam breaks swiftly and suddenly, and Ru's arms tighten around Flora, one hand rising to smooth over her tousled hair in soothing strokes. "I know, my love. I know." Her heart tastes sour where it sits on her tongue. Halo's devastation moments before severing her ties to the region feels much the same in her chest - bitterly unfair. "But we will fix it. The reason you became queen - your ties, your influence - will ensure that aid pours in from every corner of Caido. You're not alone, Flora. You are never alone." Her insistence is as heavy as the meteor sitting in the ocean. Turning her cheek, she presses a kiss to Flora's temple. "This isn't your fault." Gods, please don't let her think that. And though she wants to carry her daughter straight to bed, she lingers there, the open doorway spilling a mockery of golden afternoon light across the floorboards and onto their feet, holding the crumbling pieces of her daughter in her arms.
Watch the fire rise, burning through my paper skin
Hotaru has a passive magic that makes her glow with an internal golden light; it makes her appear youthful and her hair seems to look like moving sunlight. Can only subtly illuminate dark spaces.
