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!
01-02-2024, 07:46 PM (This post was last modified: 01-02-2024, 09:32 PM by Everest.)
Though I've handled the wood, I still worship the flame
Torchline was one of the last places Everest would normally want to be during Longheat, and yet only a day or so before he'd requested that his Heart allow him to spend the majority of time there. Obligation would always come before personal preferences, which only meant that Ever would need to find a way of keeping cool if he was going to be working in the sun all season.
Having been to Flora's house with fairly low expectations of finding Isla there, the aviator had left a note wedged by the handle letting her know that he'd be by the healing fountain working on first aid kits should she be inclined to lend her expertise. He hoped to see her; despite the relative simplicity of the work and that he'd been raised by a doctor, Everest was quite sure from even having just been around Isla briefly that there was no limit on the things she might teach him.
Having removed his shirt if only because the feeling of his own drying salty sweat was driving him slightly insane, Everest sat beneath a palm tree encircled by several bottles, bandages, tinctures in tubes, and peppermint bark sitting in cups of sugar-water.
Longheat, of course, is Isla's new favourite time of year, and it's in a flowing sundress and bare shoulders and feet that she quickly sets out to the fountain to find Ever. One might accuse her of almost fleeing towards it, and they'd not be far wrong, either. Trauma, it feels, lives right on her doorstep no matter where she chooses to call home, and gods if she's not fed up of it. Between meteors, the utter devastation on Torchline's shores and the state of Remi when she'd been called to stitch him up, she jumps at the opportunity to keep her hands busy (and not suturing her best friend).
Spotting the young aviator in the shade of a palm, she calls to him as she approaches, offering a gentle wave. "Hey, Ever! Thank you so much for coming." Shifting her medical bag on her shoulder, she hurries under the palm as well and sets it down, careful not to disturb any of his items. "How are things in Stormbreak? Is everything alright?"
Though I've handled the wood, I still worship the flame
Glancing up, his eyes shaded behind dark lenses, the aviator raises his hand almost immediately in return. Though comparably Isla was dressed in not much, given what she'd worn when he'd last seen her, this felt appropriate. "But...I asked you here?" Above his sunglasses his eyebrows itched together as his head cocked at a canine angle to the side. Understanding took a comically long time, but when it finally dawned, it was with a sheepish smile that he lowered his eyes. "You meant to Torchline, in general. Not right here and now." He explained to himself in a slightly chastising voice.
Shifting himself back to make room, Everest reaches out to adjust any items that might have been moved by their positions, ensuring that everything remained just so. "I feel guilty saying so, but things are fine in Stormbreak. Everyone is understandably upset, but in terms of damage..." Swallowing, he tilts his head ever so slightly. "There is nothing. Everyone is fine." He doesn't ask how Torchline is, or how Isla is, already able to assume the answer. Even someone of Ever's limited emotional range was capable of that.
So instead he handed Isla a bottle of water with a bit of lemon in it. "It's important to stay hydrated."
Now that Ever hasn't caught her mid-medical text after seeing an ominous second moon in the sky, Isla gets a chance to look at the aviator properly. And one might say that she clearly hasn't been around Ever long enough, because she doesn't dislike what she sees. Granted, he dispels the illusion of suave, half naked pilot by opening his mouth a second later, but sue her, she finds it quietly charming. "Indeed," she agrees with an easy smile, ensuring her bag is out of the way before taking a seat next to him in the shade.
"Please don't feel guilty about it. I'm glad that at least one region was untouched by all of this," Isla says, and she means it. "And credit to Stormbreak, I have seen so many people already reaching out to help other places, especially here." Smiling and unbuckling her bag to open it up, she withdraws a small, well-used notebook, though when she glances back to Ever, it's to be offered water.
"Oh! Thank you." She smiles. "Quite right, too. Especially in Longheat, though I don't have to worry about overheating so much any more."
Though I've handled the wood, I still worship the flame
Ever might inadvertently look the part of jet-setting hunk with his naturally bronzed skin thanks to his mother, his curls and blue eyes, his unintentionally strong physique, but as Isla has noted for herself it takes only a bit of eye contact or a few words to deduce that Everest is in a body he not only appreciates, but never quite seems comfortable in.
"It's true. Anju made sure enough dragoons remained in case anything threatened the city, but for the most part I think the majority of the city has come down here or to Halo." He says, finding himself relaxing a touch to see Isla pull out a notebook of her own.
"No?" Reaching behind himself for his own notebook, the aviator brushes his thumb along the cover as he mentally tried to reason whether it would be rude to take notes on Isla with her seated directly across from him. "I was never sure what the correlation between fire resistance and regular bodily functions was. There isn't much information in the Archives about the Ancients." He explains, before glancing at the items he'd been included in his kits.
"Erm, so...so far I've been including water from the fountain, bandages, and disinfectant." He explains. "I didn't add anything for stitches or bandaids as I assumed the water would be able to take care of those sorts of things, but if you think..." He raises his eyebrows softly, having learned that was a way of asking for someone's opinion.
"And just the other day we were wondering why the regions didn't work together more," Isla says, though there's a hint of sadness to her smile. It would have been nice if the catalyst for their working together hadn't been a literal calamity, but... well. Here we are. She's already flicking through her notebook as Everest gets his own, Isla taking a sip of water from her bottle before using it to keep the pages of the book open where she wants them.
Had he asked, she would have most likely encouraged his note taking; alas, they're stuck with only conversation to go by. "Mm, most of what I have learned has been through trial and error," she says with a furrowed brow. "I suppose our core body temperature must be naturally higher in order to not be affected by heat. I can say that I do still get sunburnt."
But anyway - first aid kits. Smiling, Isla invites him to take a look at her book. "It's sad that I've been through enough things like this to have made a list of items worth putting in a first aid kit," she murmurs. "Given the fountain's healing water, it might not all be necessary, but I would still perhaps include some ordinary water, scissors, pins, maybe even some antiseptic ointment. You never know how many people will be injured when you need something like this."
Though I've handled the wood, I still worship the flame
"All it took was a global catastrophe." Anyone else might have said as much with a wry chuckle, but Everest, meaning the sentiment literal, merely matched the sadness in Isla's expression.
The explanation has Everest removing his sunglasses if only to see the natural colour of Isla's skin. He wonders what would happen if he reached out and pressed down—how quickly would the blood return? would she feel as warm as she ought to, or did she run naturally cooler? or perhaps hotter?—but of course his wonderings remained just that. "I do have plenty of sunscreen." He offers, helpfully.
Shifting slightly to peer at her writing and finding it looked remarkably like his mother's, a trait of doctors to be sure, Everest itches at his forehead with the back of his hand as he leans back with a conciliatory sigh. "I'm very glad you came today. I wouldn't have thought of those things." Glancing at the peppermint bark in the sugar water, the aviator's shoulders hunched ever so slightly.
"We always used to have chocolate in the medical wing of the Tower. Sometimes it was for low blood sugar, but my mother always said that a smile could assist with healing as much as anything else." Flushing a touch, he pulls out a sprig of bark and holds it out to Isla. "Chocolate would melt here, but I thought the peppermint in the sugar water...it might do the trick. Or if nothing else, chewing on something helps with dehydration."
"Well that is no bad thing," Isla says of Ever's sunscreen, letting her smile grow a touch more gentle as they shoulder the conversational toll of knowing how dire their situation might be. She sits back out of his space to let him peruse her notes, all the while enjoying the warm breeze and the comparatively quiet day - especially given all that's just occurred. At the hunching of his shoulders, though, Isla shakes her head and gestures to the book.
"No one should ever feel bad because they didn't know something," she says. "I wasn't born knowing all of this, after all. And now you've learned, so that's something to celebrate, surely." And his own ideas haven't been at all bad - especially when he starts talking about the chocolate, and she accepts the sprig of bark with a murmur of thanks.
"That's a good idea," she tells him, adding the sprig to her water bottle and giving it a gentle shake. And then, even better, she reaches out to add it - and chocolate - to her list. "Right - shall we start, then?"
Though I've handled the wood, I still worship the flame
"No, of course you're right." The aviator agrees on the heels of a sigh, before giving his head a little shake. "I suppose sometimes I just look at the body of things I do know, and wonder why I spent so much time learning it when I've failed to consider some of the basics." You know, things like field medicine or advanced medical techniques to be employed during wartime. Stuff everyone knows.
"How did you come to learn it all? You set up the clinic just after arriving in to the Grounds, so you must already have had a basis for your knowledge?"
Watching with bated breath as Isla accepted the sprig of bark before exhaling his relief that she hadn't thought his idea a foolish one, Ever nodded. Of course the attuned has made a diagram about how he thought their kits should be packed, and though he flipped to that page himself, he didn't nudge it forward for Isla to use. Though he was surprised to think so, something told him he'd be perfectly alright with her way of doing things.
"That is always the case, I think," Isla says kindly. "I may have my specialties, but then I look back and wonder why I never learned how to properly put up a shelf, or string a bow, or make maps. I suppose it's those sorts of things that makes working with other people so important." Or not, in the case of the Spyglass/aviator/barman beside her, if Ever's colourful career pattern has anything to do with it.
She catches a glance at the Attuned's diagram and smiles, never having thought of creating one herself (her hands knew instinctively where to put things), and she of course finds it useful. Stealing further glimpses of it as she begins to put the kits together, Isla brightens at his question. Few people ask about her past, and it's with a hint of nostalgia that she speaks.
"My parents," she tells him. "I'm an Outlander. Back where I'm from, my family were famous for possessing healing magic, but it wasn't a blessing I possessed. So my mother and father gave me the education and tools to be able to heal people without magic. When war broke out, I joined the military as a field medic."
Though I've handled the wood, I still worship the flame
Not quite able to help it, Everest chuckles under his breath with disbelief, before quickly inhaling through his nose as if to cover the sound. "I'm quite sure you could put up a shelf or string a bow." He counters with a slight tilt of his head. Those were exercises in logical thinking, though when it came to cartography, he offered no argument. Raising his eyebrows for a moment, the aviator leans back into himself for a moment to consider. "That...seems like using people for what they know, then." He says, though if anyhting it sounds as though he's just started thinking in the middle of a thought. "If you specialize in certain knowledge with the assumption others will do the same, and then you use each other...but I suppose if it's mutually beneficial..." Realizing he'd been rambling, the attuned promptly presses his lips together and offers Isla an apologetic smile.
Glancing up from his work, it took only a few mental gymnastics for Everest to imagine a world where magic wasn't seen as a curse, and he found himself nodding along. "War?" He frowns, then sighs. "I suppose it's inevitable everywhere."
"Ah, don't say that until you've seen me try," Isla says with a self-deprecating grin. Exercises in logic don't necessarily make her innately suited for those particular tasks, after all. Continuing to put their first aid kits together, rather than finding his sudden train of thought a bother, Isla considers it with interest. "Well, I suppose that's right," she says slowly. "I never considered it like that. People are innately social animals, though, and it would be impossible to do everything, to have every skill."
Not to mention, attempting such a thing would make one's life very busy - and very lonely, at that. Completing a couple of kits and placing them in a neat stack to one side, the medic scrunches her nose a bit in reluctant agreement. "For social animals, people also do tend to love their conflicts," she murmurs. "It's a bit of a paradox, isn't it?"
01-21-2024, 07:22 PM (This post was last modified: 01-21-2024, 07:22 PM by Everest.)
Though I've handled the wood, I still worship the flame
"Alright." The aviator agrees willingly. "I will withhold my judgment until then." Already in his mind he's made a note of it, and indeed should Isla ever string a bow or hang a shelf in his presence, Ever will be quick to call back this very moment.
Ever's long lashes flutter for a moment as his head tilts just so; like a dog that's heard a very high-pitched sound very far away. Considering thoughtfully for a moment as his fingers continue their rhythm of wrapping, packing, and assembling, slowly he nods. "I wonder if that's what makes us social." He hazards, blue eyes glancing at Isla through a furrowed brow covered in curls. "Because we can't do everything ourselves, we're forced to be social because of it."
Twitching his lips thoughtfully and matching Isla kit for kit as they went, Ever nods. "It is. Honestly, it's probably because we're all so used to just being together that we don't realize that, once upon a time, we chose to be this way because it was better than being alone." Falling silent, Ever wonders if there isn't some way of reminding everyone of precisely that fact. That living in a society was a kind of choice, and by staying, you agreed to certain things.
Wiping at his brow with the back of one arm, Everest suddenly realized how warm he was. Frowning and putting the inside of his wrist against his forehead, despite his proclivity against being touched, he turned suddenly to Isla. "As you are a doctor...Do I feel warm to you?"
Intrigued, not only by the conversation, but by the way she can almost visibly see Ever's mind work overtime to come to the conclusions that he does, Isla hmms under her breath and completes another couple of first aid kits with deft fingers. "I wouldn't say forced to be. More that we're pre-programmed to seek out other people. But it's an interesting point," she agrees with a nod.
Given how quickly they're able to assemble the kits, it isn't long before Isla is sitting back on her knees to stack them into a box ready to be distributed. "You're quite right, but I'm not sure that works so much in these circumstances..." Void-creatures, meteors falling from the sky... it feels very much us and them, rather than a sense of working together.
Drawn out of that dark train of thought by the Attuned's eyes suddenly on her, Isla tilts her head and reaches out with the back of her hand to feel his forehead. "A little," she admits, glancing up and around them. "The sun is at its highest point. It's probably hot even in the shade. Shall we take these to the Hanged Man for now, and you can sit indoors for a while?"
