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!
blessed are the curious, for they shall have adventures
Finn has received Tobi's letter. There's no way to get one back to her, of course, and given the nature of what she writes (i.e. the suggestion that Cian not be involved), the Spyglass has two choices. But he's just tried to create a polite and healthy distance between he and Remi, so that leaves one choice.
A desert, Tobi says. Finn only knows of one place like that, and there's only one viable area that his compass will take him in order that he might get there. So, with a rush of adrenaline similar to that which previously had him seizing a skeletal hand and stamping on it, Finn collects together some supplies, and he gets going.
By the time the lush, cool vibrancy of the Greatwood fades to sand, the Spyglass has covered his nose and mouth with a damp scarf, shifting the bag on his shoulder (it's filled with food, water, medicines and a light blanket that would stave off the harsh light of the sun). He reaches into his pockets to withdraw his glasses, and it's with a breath that only shakes a bit in his chest that he slips them on, hoping to find Tobi's aura in this vast wasteland of nothing.
How long has she been out in the sun? She doesn't remember. The last thing she does remember is being forced to shift that she might more effectively dig herself a grave hole to lay in. Her black fur is thick and becomes almost scalding to the touch as she works to pull the sand away with her paws. Panting wildly, her instincts telling her to conserve her energy, Tobi shifts back into her body once she's managed to make a substantial enough hole for herself that the sand beneath is cooler.
Having stripped off her shirt, jacket, and pants, she's cut them at the seams and bound them back together in order to make a covering for her hole, both to act as shade, but also to perhaps signal to anyone who might be passing by, that there's a body within. Dead or alive she doesn't know what they'll find yet. Sucking on a zipper to try and generate enough saliva to trick her brain into thinking her body isn't as dehydrated as it is, Tobi tries to remain as still as she can lest she attracts the attention of any landsharks or other predators.
Vultures circle overhead, just waiting. Her clothes and hair will make a nice addition to their nests.
Don't make it bad take a sad song and make it b e t t e r
blessed are the curious, for they shall have adventures
There's nothing, at first. Finn narrows his eyes, concerned by the absolute lack of aura anywhere around. Not many places are like this, and the ones that are tend to be graveyards or shunned places. Still, he begins to walk, his footsteps sinking in the sand... until he catches it. A glint, just barely, and likely about to fade too, but it's an Attuned. Its someone he knows well. Despite the heat, Finn breaks into a clumsy jog in the direction of the aura, tracking it until it gets stronger and more vibrant.
He tracks it right up to a splodge of colour in the sand - a sheet, he realises belatedly. And gods he's not sure if he can look under that sheet, Finn merely standing before it, worring at the sleeve of his jacket, feeling the sun beat down overhead. "Tobi?" he calls eventually, steeling himself for whatever he might find and carefully lifting up the sheet, crouching down so he might peer inside.
If she's alive, she doesn't look it. Her lips are dry, the cracks that formed and bled have just given up now. Her eyes are closed, cheeks pale, and her body where it isn't covered by her bra and underwear is red from sand fleas, constant irritation from the sand, and the heat. Her fingers are dug into the ground as if she might anchor herself, while the rest of her body is tucked into as tight a ball as she can manage, long-limbed as she is.
Were she with Finn instead of in the hole, she'd have all sorts of advice to give him on how best to revive her. The things he should and shouldn't do. Maybe if she hadn't used the paper she'd sent him a message with, she could have left a note on her body with tips to help her regain consciousness, or maybe her last wishes.
But Tobi entered King End's on four hooves, expecting nothing more than to stretch her legs and experience the world as Finn had suggested she could. She never expected to wind up in a place like this, much less die in one.
Don't make it bad take a sad song and make it b e t t e r
blessed are the curious, for they shall have adventures
It takes a lot to bring a curse to Finn's lips, but by all the gods does the sight of Tobi manage it. A hissed fuck slips from his lips as he peels back the sheet enough to reveal Tobi properly, the Spyglass shrugging the bag from his shoulder and beginning to rifle through it. No, he has no idea how to revive her, and no, he's never been in this situation before in his life, but survival kicks in and there's only action, no thought needed.
He takes the blanket and one of several bottles of water from the bag, dousing it until it's soaked through, before gently covering Tobi's body as if the damp, cool feel of it might help. Another bottle is opened and the scarf is removed from Finn's face - he freshly soaks it with the water too, pressing this to the doctor's forehead. "Tobi, it's Finn," he says slowly, his voice clear and his words carefully enunciated.
Finally, he tips a little water into his hands, bringing it up to wet her lips with it - enough, he hopes, for her to register that it's there.
Not a bad start Finn, not a bad start. Were Tobi there, and not nearly entombed in the sand, she'd have offered him a radiant smile and nod of approval that he should keep going.
Instinctively her body jerks as the cool cloth is applied to her skin; it isn't much, but it's enough that Finn might safely say she's alive. Or, at least living.
The water from his fingertips stings against her sunburned lips, and without any conscious decision on her part, Tobi's lips and teeth partially shift to try and bite at the offending fingers. The movement is utterly without energy though, and Finn will find the teeth that settle around his fingers are about as dangerous as flower petals. The partial-shifting is too hard to hold and it quickly falls away. The moisture on her tongue has Tobi's instincts clawing to the surface, and with a sentence I never thought I'd write, the doctor's lips close around the Spyglass's fingers as if there might be more water to drain from them.
Don't make it bad take a sad song and make it b e t t e r
blessed are the curious, for they shall have adventures
Finn resists the urge to jerk his hand away as sharp, canine teeth threaten to close around his fingers, but the danger is short lived. Huffing out a sigh of relief only for Tobi to try and suck his fingers, were this not a situation of literally life or death, he might have blushed all the way to the tips of his ears and refused to engage any further. "Hey, hold on," he says, tipping a little more water into his hands so she might get, at best, a very small mouthful.
In the meantime he uses more of the second bottle to slowly and carefully trickle some more water into the scarf on her forehead. His hope is that it might saturate the fabric and start to wet her hair. Until then, though, he reaches back out of the hole to drag the bag he's brought with him closer, as if worried that it might escape.
"Tobi, you are so close to the Greatwood. If you can come around enough to speak, I'll carry you to the shade. I just... I need a little help to know what to do," he manages.
The salt from your fingers won't help. Why not use some of the extra cloth? Tobi might have suggested were she present for this. But she isn't, and as Finn makes his hands into a make-shift-bowl, the dog in October is more than eager to press her mouth against his palms to lap up all that was on offer.
The best thing he'd done so far is not to simply pour the water he has entirely into her mouth. And so after a few moments, Tobi's eyes do open. She doesn't see much at first; Finn is a blur of brown against a sky that's blisteringly pale. "-nn-" She tries, but her throat is raw, and quickly she realizes it isn't worth it. Blinking again, her eyelids feeling scratchy, Tobi groans against the sudden onslaught of a headache that pounds between her temples.
"Finn?" It's the glasses that give him away. The shine of them hides the blue of his eyes and the aura of the sun bleeds his curls into nothing, but the glasses? It has to be Finn. "..ho..w?" She wonders, and he'll likely understand that to mean how are you here. Really though she's wondering how he can carry her, when it means touching her more than, even in this state of severe dehydration, she knows he's comfortable with.
Don't make it bad take a sad song and make it b e t t e r
blessed are the curious, for they shall have adventures
"Tobi." Finn all but breathes out his relief to hear her speak, his shoulders relaxing and his free hand coming up to wipe at the sweat on his brow with his sleeve. "I got your letter," he explains - because there's nothing about what's going on to suggest that he isn't going to do whatever is necessary to get her somewhere safe. "It isn't far, let me just get everything together..."
With hands that are suddenly fumbling, Finn packs away the extra bottles of water, leaving the open one (which is still half full, he's glad to note out to use further. He tips a little more into the scarf, this time gently pressing the wet cloth to her cheeks and her neck and against her lips, letting out another breath. "Okay," he mutters. "I'm going to lift you up, and it's going to be sunny. But it isn't far to the woods, alright? Do you need more water before...?"
Tobi can't help, nor does she try and stifle the moan of appreciation that leaves her lips. The water is likely quite warm from Finn's trek across the desert, but to Tobi's skin it feels perfect. Closing her eyes and trying to swallow, she nearly chokes on the button that had all but stuck to the inside of her cheek. With shaky fingers she reaches up to her mouth, pulling it out. Even this amount of movement causes her to heave out a breath of exertion.
"Finn," His name is unhappily said, her eyes opening and doing their best to focus on him as she offers him the closest approximation to apologetic as her facial muscles will allow. "..so..sorry." And had she the ability, there might have been tears in her eyes, realizing what she was putting him through.
'..no..not here. and..no matter what I might say later..' Her words are cut off by shaky sips of breath that she woozily exhales out. "..only a sip at a time." Even Tobi, with all her medical knowledge, wouldn't be able to stop herself from wanting to guzzle down everything Finn had brought.
Don't make it bad take a sad song and make it b e t t e r
blessed are the curious, for they shall have adventures
"Don't apologise - I am just glad I found you." Finn would smile if he had the social knowhow to think it might help, but as it stands he merely follows her directions, putting away the rest of the water and continuing to mop her brow and her face with the scarf. In the end he carefully wraps it around her neck and shoulders, that she might benefit from the coolish water while he shoulders the bag and scoops her into his arms.
The process means he needs to pull away the sheet she's made for herself, and they're bathed afresh in pale light as he does so. The damp sheet means they aren't skin to skin, for the most part - unlikely anyway since Finn is still clothed, but still - and he carefully lifts her up with a strength that might surprise most who know him. Make no mistake, it's all adrenaline (and he will pay dearly for it later) but for now it does the job and then some.
"Just hold tight, okay? I have my compass with me. I can get us both back to Stormbreak, but I am afraid it won't be pretty." Nausea rarely is.
It isn't a hero/damsel in distress moment to be sure. Tobi doesn't gaze adoringly into Finn's eyes as he scoops her up, the pair of them dramatically backlit by the sun. Instead, she bites down on a flash of pain as her body cramps and tenses against the sudden movement. While it's true the doctor is probably on the low side of a healthy weight for someone of her height, currently, she's all dead weight in Finn's arms. And those adoring eyes? They're all but rolling back in her head as dizziness grips her, and she, in turn, grips Finn.
Whimpering words of apology and trying to focus on something to quiet her mind (it's difficult though, given how disoriented she is), the doctor just shivers in Finn's arms. 'O-kay' Pressing her forehead against his shoulder and gritting her teeth knowing full well what it means for him to transport them both with one compass, she nods against him, unsure quite where she's gripping onto with her fingers (his shirt? his hair? his arm?), but she's doing so for dear life.
Don't make it bad take a sad song and make it b e t t e r
blessed are the curious, for they shall have adventures
It's the collar of his shirt, and Finn is trying to ignore the way it constricts against his skin and reminds him of other, more unsavoury moments in his life. Instead, swallowing hard and shifting Tobi in his arms as best he can, he begins the slow trudge towards the Greatwood. "No more travelling for you," he murmurs in what is meant to be a joke, but he can't help that it sounds serious. And worried. "Not without an escort, anyway."
They walk for what can only be about ten minutes, Finn following his own prints in the sand which (thankfully) have not been blown away yet by the desert breeze, after which time the terrain becomes more rocky, more hard underfoot. Another ten and small amounts of vegetation begin to appear, patchy at first, but there are trees slowly bleeding into the world around them.
By this time, of course, even with the adrenaline Finn's muscles are screaming, and the first tree that offers any kind of leafy shade is the one he chooses to shelter beneath. Just for a little while. Bathed in cool shadows, the Spyglass huffs a sigh of relief and carefully sets Tobi down against the trunk. "There."
Tobi is all but delirious against Finn. She's mumbling things about the circle of fifths and the orbit of the planet, and how they're both circles, and isn't that neat? His walk probably isn't as bouncy as it feels to her, and yet every step feels like a weightless moment in which they might rise up to the sun, only to come crashing back down. Whimpering often, the sound muffled against his shirt, Tobi all but flails as if she's falling off the face of the planet as he sets her down.
Blinking large confused eyes up at him, Tobi looks around dazedly. It's so dark her comparatively, that she's finding it hard to see or focus. "Don't go-" She says in a small voice, her hands seeking him out as evidence or reassurance that he won't leave. Tobi's head is splitting, and all she can think of is water and Finn, both she wants but only one she can have.
Don't make it bad take a sad song and make it b e t t e r
