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!
lights will guide you home, & ignite your bones & i will try to fix you
It was time for Finn to be discharged, and honestly, you're not quite sure what to think about it. The mind is strictly Falke's domain, but still you want to scream at him that somehow progress should be made. Or if not progress, at least understanding. You can see why Finn slammed his fingers in the door to prevent your leaving his side. What you can't see, is how he ended up overdosed and unconscious in his room, only to plead with you hours later that it hadn't been intentional. He hadn't even remembered doing it.
And so, not wanting the heat in your cheeks to reveal just how worried you were about your friend, you instead trot into his exam room (much to the chagrin of your colleagues), with Finn's medication gripped firmly between your teeth.
Tail wagging, you whine in the back of your throat to get his attention, as you place your forepaws on the side of his bed.
He's ready to go again, and Finn swears it's more embarrassing every time it happens. The Spyglass has been awake since the Star brought him out of his overdosed state, which means he looks as haggard and weary as ever as he sits at the side of the hospital bed to lace up his shoes. Call it fear, call it shame, but he's even more adverse to sleep than usual, and only the familiar click of claws on the tiled floors draws him out of his own personal lecturing.
"Hey, Tobi," he says as she pads into the room, his voice warming, a rare smile spreading across his face. Reaching out, it's with a comfort that he can never show when the doctor isn't in shift that he gives her a soft scritch behind the ears, tilting his head at the medication she's holding. "Oh I see, is that a hint?" he wants to know, already guessing that it is. "Alright. Do I need to sign anything else, or shall we just get out of here?"
one moment you’re lost in a carnival of delights
the next, it leads you somewhere you don’t want to go
lights will guide you home, & ignite your bones & i will try to fix you
You groan your unfettered appreciation and pleasure as his fingers find the skin behind your ear. Huffing as he stops, you nevertheless have a canine smile on your lips despite the bottle in your mouth. Placing the bottle on the bed (sorry about the drool), you bark brightly in response. This draws a scolding look from one of the nurses, but she doesn't interrupt.
Wagging your tail enough that your entire body wriggles, you tug at one of Finn's pant legs to answer his question. Whether the answer is "no" or "who cares" isn't entirely evident, but nor do you seem intent on answering with anything more than bright animal mischief. Before you'll allow Finn to leave though, you trot toward the telltale cupboard where you often go to either shift, or find a ball. Sitting in front of the door you wag your tail expectantly.
It's quickly becoming impossible to stay wrapped up in his own head with a ball of excitable fur waggling in front of him, and Finn absently wipes off the bottle on his pant leg (the same one Tobi is about to tug on, so at least it's a matching mess). "Yeah?" he responds to her bark, rising to his feet and stretching enough for his chest and back to give a satisfying crackle, before following her over to the cupboard. "This is not the way out," he points out to the doctor wagging her tail at his feet, opening the door and peering inside.
"Oh, I see." Finn emerges with a new ball, holding it expectantly aloft in one hand, his medicine in the other. "I think we're all set now, don't you?" he asks, promptly tossing the ball out of the door to the medical clinic, fully expecting chaos to follow (and feeling uncharacteristically lighthearted about it all, if he's honest).
one moment you’re lost in a carnival of delights
the next, it leads you somewhere you don’t want to go
lights will guide you home, & ignite your bones & i will try to fix you
You hrrmph under your breath (which as a canine comes out like a snort), but you assume Finn will get the message: ha-ha, so funny. now get the ball.
And, of course he does.
Barking again, you half-launch yourself toward the ball before sitting back on your haunches with a single paw in the air. As he tosses the ball you forget yourself completely—your professionalism, your attempt at being someone authoritative in this place—and go skittering out after the ball. Your hind-end swings wide as you run through the door sending you bouncing between the frame. Yelping slightly, your nails claw at the hard ground, finding absolutely no purchase and not caring one bit.
In the lobby you nearly knock over a nurse who comically throws a pile of paper into the air. As it snows down around you, you triumphantly manage to snag the ball from beneath a chair. Now if only Finn would magically appear and open the door so you don't have to deal with what you've just done, that would be great.
It is unlike Finn to leave a mess without cleaning it up. It's also unlike Finn to do anything reckless in the name of (dare he say it) fun. So it will probably surprise everyone, including the Spyglass, when he pokes his head around the door to find the nurse showering Tobi with papers, and does precisely nothing about it. Clearing his throat and skirting around the chaos, slipping his medication into his pocket, he quickly opens the door and ushers his doctor out of the clinic.
And he closes the door on the scene after himself as well. "We never talk about that," he decides, glancing pointedly at Tobi and holding a hand out expectantly for the ball. "We're walking up to my apartments?" he assumes, heading that way, but able to swing around in case Tobi has other plans in mind.
one moment you’re lost in a carnival of delights
the next, it leads you somewhere you don’t want to go
lights will guide you home, & ignite your bones & i will try to fix you
Finn is your patient, and where he goes, you must go. Sorry mess. Sorry to those glaring daggers at your back, it'll just have to wait. You glance up toward Finn with honeyed eyes ringed by dark fur, opening your muzzle and panting your unwavering agreement. With the utmost care and reverence, you place the ball into Finn's hand, before shuffling backward and dropping your head low, hind-end high and tail wagging.
In that moment you'd follow Finn directly into the lavas of The Climb so long as he brought the ball with him. So yes, his apartment was fine.
On his way back from something or other, the Eye strolls with his head down and eyes focused on the paper in front of him. This posed no problems though, given the wide berth he was afforded by just about everyone. Like Ronin, you'd hoped to deal with things before Cian got involved. Having gone straight to Gus, you found yourself too late, the consequences of your actions having already had their fair share of consequences.
Seeing Cian now, your tail tucks between your legs and you drop the ball, slinking between Finn's legs as if somehow that might make you invisible.
The ball is placed in his hand and Finn raises his eyebrows questioningly, as if Tobi might be able to give him a genuine response. And she does, more or less, and he's just about to turn and throw the ball down the corridor for her when a very unmistakeable man is spotted strolling in the opposite direction. And the Spyglass doesns't so much as throw the ball rather than let it go, where it goes bouncing lazily across the floor towards Cian.
Then Tobi worms her way between his legs and damn near topples him, Finn forced to crouch with her, his fingers working into the deep ruff of her fur as if that might somehow get them both out of the situation. With any luck, the Eye wouldn't see either of them. Yeah, Finn already knows how stupid that statement sounds. He's probably already aware of them both.
one moment you’re lost in a carnival of delights
the next, it leads you somewhere you don’t want to go
lights will guide you home, & ignite your bones & i will try to fix you
As if he had a third eye (or perhaps it was the sense that let him know everything else), Cian stops just as he's about to trip and fall over the ball which has rolled right into his path. Instead, he lowers the paper he was reading and sternly inspects the ball. Without needing to look anywhere else, his denim stare travels directly to Finn and Tobi. Kneeling down to pick up the ball, his fingers holding it at a distance from his palm that his hands might stay clean, he walks directly toward the crouching Spyglass and cowering doctor.
"Be careful. Someone might trip." Cian says warmly, reaching out to place the ball stiffly into one of Finn's hands. "Doctor Hart, we should speak soon." He says to the dog, before glancing toward Finn. "Looking well." Cian adds conversationally, despite Finn's general appearance levels being terrible, even for him.
Nodding to them both, Cian continues. Having been all but trembling against Finn, your body taut, as soon as he leaves you let out an unhappy whine. Nudging Finn hard with your nose, you take off toward the stairs. With much more energy in this form, you race up the winding stairways to the top level, where you collapse against Finn's door. Slipping back into your own skin, you cradle your head in your hands, waiting for Finn to catch up.
Finn isn't trembling, but that's only because he's used to his exquisitely bad luck, used to the Eye's penetrating gaze, to being on the receiving end of enigmatic disdain. "Sorry. I ought to have kept a better hold on it," he says to Cian, accepting the ball as it's placed into his palm, his other hand still buried in Tobi's soft fur. "Uh... thank you." He watches the Eye go, almost knocked on his ass again once he's finally out of sight thanks to Tobi's nudging. "Hey..."
He's absolutely not in the right sort of shape to be running up the stairs to the towers, so Finn does his best to ascend after the canine, ball still clutched in his hands. He doesn't appear until a few minutes after she's shifted back, a little dizzy and a lot out of breath as he approaches down the corridor. "Are you... alright...?" he pants, his curls even more of a mess, his legs and chest burning.
one moment you’re lost in a carnival of delights
the next, it leads you somewhere you don’t want to go
"I fucked up, Finn." Not unlike the Spyglass, swear words sound particularly crass leaving your lips, given how uncharacteristic they are. Your knees are drawn up to your chest, your hair a messy knot on top of your head. Fingers twined together, knuckles knocking against your forehead, you eventually let your hands slip low as you offer the Spyglass a look of apology and exquisite sadness.
"I did something really stupid, and dumb." You add, swallowing hard. The apples of your cheeks are bright red, but the rest of your face is quite pale. You look not unlike a porcelain doll with perfect circles of colour beneath your large, dark eyes. "And now someone else has paid the price for it."
Don't make it bad take a sad song and make it b e t t e r
"It was only a ball...?" Finn reasons, glancing down at the offending object as if that's what Tobi's talking about. But as she continues and the Spyglass actually draws closer, he's able to put the pieces together (yes, even Finn is capable of that when it's so obvious), and he places the ball on the ground so he can hunker down in front of the doctor, his forarms resting on his knees as he crouches. "How do you mean?" he asks, considering their situation for a couple of moments before finally rising to his feet again.
He reaches out silently to offer Tobi a hand up, his gaze fluttering somewhere over her shoulder. "I'll make us a drink. Come on," he says, his voice carefully devoid of emotion. The doctor has been in his apartments before. Has watched over him while he's slept. There's no reason to fear her presence there now, especially given her current state.
Once she's on her feet, Finn reaches for a book on the small case outside his rooms, selecting the hardback about owls so he can remove the key from between its pages.
one moment you’re lost in a carnival of delights
the next, it leads you somewhere you don’t want to go
You can hardly look at Finn. The ball dropped before you snatches your attention for just a moment, some playful spark inside of your stomach wanting to shift, and run, and play, before your much more human emotions swamp away your joy. "I...Ronin and I stole a skyboat. He insists we borrowed it, but.." Your face falls. As if that makes a difference now. "...I made us crash against the rocks. I thought...I should have gone to Gus right away. I thought I'd beat Cian to him, even if I waited until daylight."
Pulling in a breath, you close your eyes and shake your head. Even now, upset as you are, you know how much Finn values his privacy. "We could have it out here?" You offer, looking up at him with a hopeful smile, not wanting to make him uncomfortable just on your behalf.
Not wanting someone else to bear the burdens of your mistakes twice in one day.
Don't make it bad take a sad song and make it b e t t e r
Of all the things he expects to hear, that's probably the last thing on his mental list. Finn's eyebrows shoot up, the Spyglass half thinking she's going to tell him it's a joke, but... no. A stolen skyboat crashing against the rocks on the Falling. "So now Ronin is in trouble...?" he asks slowly, the words tasting foreign on his tongue. So long has the Spyglass spent researching demi-gods and their many and varied powers, he can't help but think of them as above such things.
Maybe it's a good thing for one of them to get into trouble, he thinks absently, before dismissing it to slip the key into the door. "Or we could have it in here," he suggests, slipping the book back onto the shelf. Finn doesn't bend easily, but he is not so stubborn as to break before he does so. "You bathed me and put me to bed in these rooms. I daresay that a cup of tea should be much less exciting after that."
one moment you’re lost in a carnival of delights
the next, it leads you somewhere you don’t want to go
