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!
Whatever moments of relaxation and luxury you allowed yourself to have in Frey's Breath with Sera, you're now doubling your efforts to make up for lost time. So it is that as you arrive at Finn's bedside your hair is still wet from the springs, tied on top of your head in a messy knot. You smell faintly of sulphur as well which likely isn't amazing, but you can apologize to Finn for it afterward.
"Finn," You whisper breathlessly, cheeks flushed and excitement making your voice even brighter than normal. In your hand you hold a cup of water which appears to glint and shine somehow. It's actually still sort of warm; having used the compass to return back to the city, you've only been away from the Climb for an hour or so. Just long enough to quickly test the sample to make sure there wasn't anything obviously harmful in it.
Already assuming this is going to be a bit of a battle, you seat yourself on Finn's bed, a hand softly pressing against his shoulder.
Finn needs to give up this drug induced slumber, one of these days. He can quit any time he wants, in fact. He just doesn’t want to right now, is all. And he’s not all that keen to wake up either, as October will find as she tries to rouse him from his sleep. Falke has managed to force a bit of food into the Spyglass, and IV fluids are keeping him hydrated, but he still looks fairly terrible. Cheeks flushed and in dire need of a shave, he looks like he’s just been dragged in off the streets.
With a groan, he tries to feebly shrug the doctor away, but it’s about as effective as a gentle breeze. Finn peels his eyes open, squinting up at Tobi. ”Finn isn’t home,” he whispers, closing is eyes again and trying to bury his face in the pillow. ”Go away, Tobi.” A rare thing, indeed, to catch the Spyglass grumpy.
You can't help but find Finn to be anything other than adorable. His beard is scraggly and long, his curls a wild mess, and even his eyebrows look as though they could use a good combing. While it seems the nurses have tried to sponge-bath him, the Spyglass could probably benefit from the pools you've just come from. If only there was a way to get him there. In lieu of that, you've brought the next best thing.
"Well, even if he isn't home, this still needs to happen." You chime brightly, your voice taking on an entirely sing-song quality, so cheerful is your mood. Other than Finn's cast-arm, you've nothing much to worry about from him (you don't think), and so you edge yourself closer on the bed. Carefully though, not wanting to spill the water.
"How about this. You answer one simple question correctly, and I'll leave you be if you like." You beam down at him. "Deal?"
His continued attempt to swat her away is little more than a half-hearted flailing of the arm with the IV in it, Finn trying instead to inch further under the blankets. That also proves impossible with Tobi’s weight on the bed, and so it is a very begrudging Spyglass indeed who opens his eyes again to peep up at her. ”I don’t have any secret compartments,” he tells her, as if guessing the answer to the question she wants to ask him.
It will probably give her more questions than answers, but it’s the best she’ll get out of him right now. He rubs at his face, cheeks hot with fever, hair damp with sweat, and he sighs up at her. ”I don’t have any ice cream either,” he complains. ”Deal.”
"That's good to know. I'll absolutely keep that in mind." You hum, nearly laughing at the way he sulkily buries himself in the blankets, only to find that there's nowhere for him to go. He's like a child in the body of a man, and you can't help but adore him a little for his efforts to thwart you at every step.
"Okay, really simple. What is the sound and mouth movement that the dentist has you do when they need to check in your mouth to see your tonsils? Do you remember? Show me, if you do." The Ahhh sound will help keep his throat closed so he doesn't choke on the water, while the opening of his mouth should allow you the time (and target) you need to get some of the water into his mouth. Getting him to swallow will be another step, but one thing at a time.
Finn has the decency to look mildly suspicious as he listens to Tobi, like he’s not sure whether or not her question is a trick one. He knows it of course, but his nose and mouth are hidden beneath the blankets. He wonders if she will fall for it if he shows her with the blanket barrier in the way, before remembering that she absolutely won’t. That’s just how she is.
With a little huff, then, the Spyglass pulls down the blanket to his chin and sighs at her. ”Ahhhhh,” he says, the timbre of his voice just as singsong as hers was, as if he’s trying to mimic her brightness and her levity. Quite why is anyone’s guess.
09-22-2020, 06:56 PM (This post was last modified: 09-22-2020, 06:58 PM by October.)
i promise you i will learn from all my mistakes
"Thisisforyourowngooddon'thateme" You say in one long melodic stream as you pour a mouthful of water into his mouth. Instantly one of your hands is on the bottom of his chin trying to gently but firmly press it up. Your gaze is a dark mixture of seriousness and shiny-amusement as you lean against Finn to better leverage your weight.
"Swallow it." You encourage gently as you set down the cup with your free hand so that you can utilize it if necessary. It shouldn't feel as though you're choking him by any means and you don't really weigh enough to crush him, but in Finn's state of mind (and with the vague details of his history swimming into the back of yours), you wonder if this was the wrong approach.
Even so, all he has to do is swallow, and then he'll understand.
Finn is still in the middle of singing up at Tobi when she assaults him tips the water into his mouth. The result is immediate and predictably unhappy - Finn’s voice cuts off in a warbling splutter, and a lot of the water ends up everywhere even before the doctor is grabbing his chin and forcing it up. He’s too weak to get away and too exhausted to even fight against it properly, but the hand that grips the blankets as she leans on him has white knuckles, and he follows her command for no other reason than because it sounds like one.
He’s half arched off the bed to try and fight her off, tears already streaming down his cheeks when the world slowly starts to cool off, Finn left gasping hard, squinting up at the ceiling and having to look away because the world is so bright. ”Doctor Hart,” he says very slowly, ”would you take your hands off me, please?”
You hold, despite the stress you see in the lines on his face. Despite the tears and the panic. Despite how his body strains against you with strength it probably doesn't have to give to this. But as soon as he gasps, letting you know that there's no more water in his mouth, you comply with his request even as he's making it, your hand falling away from his chin.
Still leaning against him, your dark eyes search his face for signs of something to indicate that this is more than just a flicker of clarity. "Finn?" You whisper gently. "I'm so sorry to have done it like that." You are not the sort whose emotions are let off the hook simply because something is (arguably) the right thing to do. You hate causing anyone pain or tension, and that after everything it's still Finn who has to bear your clumsiness hurts most of all.
"How do you feel?" You ask, abruptly sitting up. It's one thing to lay all over him as a dog, but another entirely as a doctor and friend.
”You did the right thing,” Finn murmurs, despite not knowing what she’s actually done. Either way, it has allowed a lot of the fog to clear from his mind, and it’s still soothing through him now, whatever was in the water. She moves back and he reaches up to wipe his eyes, taking note of the needle in his arm with a softly furrowed brow. ”I feel very, very foolish,” he murmurs, feebly trying to get himself into a sitting position.
Falke managed to make the bed do... something, before, he thinks. It made the bed move, but Finn doesn’t have the patience for that right now. ”How long...?” he asks, taking in the clinic room with stormy eyes growing clearer by the second. ”Water was the cure...?” His hand comes up again suddenly, as if trying to take off his glasses, and he seems puzzled to find nothing there.
"Carefully, you're still very weak." You murmur, instantly on your feet to try and help him readjust however you can. Mostly you fluff the pillows behind him to try and give his back some support. You don't sit back down, instead wrapping your arms around themselves as if giving yourself a hug.
"You've been here a few days. Its been...about a week since Torchline." You reply softly, not wanting to complicate things too quickly for a mind still waking up. "Not a cure no, but a temporary break I suppose. You could live endlessly on the water if you had to, but hopefully, that won't be the case. I've brought quite a few samples back so that I can study how this water works, if it isn't purely magical, I mean."
If you notice the way he moves glasses which aren't there, you give no notice. Instead, you laugh somewhat awkwardly under your breath. "The hot springs that this water came from are really something. Sera, the Artificer, might help me make a small pool here if it's possible. To help with relaxation and such." You think out of everyone you know, Finn would be best served by an hour or two in Frey's Breath. You also think he's probably the very last one to ever find himself there and in the water willingly.
Finn stops his movements at her instruction, waiting until there’s enough support behind him before he settles back again with a murmur of thanks. If nothing else, clarity has brought back the Spyglass’s docile nature, and he flashes a quick and apologetic smile to Tobi for not thinking. ”A week since...” He shakes his head softly, looking almost pained. ”I thought that was a dream...” Finn remembers a lot of dreams in his time away, but he shies away from remembering them.
His gaze sharpens to hear that his reprieve is temporary, and he gazes down at himself as if he can feel the weakness in his muscles, the weight of his bones. ”I am quite a mess,” he observes. Glancing back at her as she describes the hot springs, it dawns on him suddenly that this means she has been out of the Stormbreak. ”I am glad you enjoyed them,” he says. Finn is never going back to the Climb again in his life if he can help it, but that shouldn’t stop Tobi.
”...Is there any more water?” he asks. ”Not magical, necessarily. I’m just thirsty.”
You don't know in this moment what will best serve Finn. A friend, to confide in, should he want to? A soft place to rest? Or a doctor, providing clinical and non-judgemental answers to his questions?
Take your hands off of me, Doctor Hart, he'd said. So perhaps you already have your answer.
In so thinking, you take a step back from the bed to stand more toward his knees and thighs. "Not a dream." You acknowledge with a slight shake of your head. "How much do you remember?" The drowning incident with one demigod, and the..whatever had happened on the volcano with another. The broken hand from upstairs.
"You're sick." You correct, your expression somehow both sharp and utterly sympathetic all at once. Having not said that you had enjoyed the hot springs, you hear in his words an accusation. It's likely because you feel guilty about having stayed longer in Frey's Breath than you strictly needed to. You could have been here perhaps an hour sooner had you and Sera not...detoured slightly. So you read in annoyance and criticism into the Spyglass's words, which causes your smile to falter slightly as you nod.
"It probably won't hurt to drink a bit more. It might help you regain some of your strength faster. But I'll put some ice in so that it isn't so cold." So saying you turn away to fetch the ice, allowing a few cubes to plonk into the glass before you hand it back to Finn.
It’s a sad reality, that there’s give and take in all things. Finn’s feverish insanity makes him whimsical and even sociable, to an extent, and with the return of lucidity is a return to his introverted self. So he (of course) misses all the social cues that suggests Doctor Hart is uncomfortable or guilty, and he’s trying to focus besides, on her questions. ”I remember... being at the Hollowed Grounds. I met with the Shield of Safrin - it was accidental, but I believe that’s how I got sick.”
With a sigh, he tries to continue, rubbing at his forehead. ”I confined myself to the room at the inn. I messaged Cian. He told me to come home, and I... I was coming home.” It all blurs, then, into swimming colours and pain and fog. ”I thought I was drowning, with the Shield... and then I heard your voice. I remember the volcano, at Torchline... and Ludo’s chosen. I hung from my leg, from the Falling. And I was at the Silk Houses... Then I hurt my hand.”
He is sick, she’s right, and he accepts the cup of water as she adds the ice cubes to it. ”Thank you,” he murmurs, sipping at it carefully.
