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!
And honestly? Finn has never slept better in all the time in his recent memory, medicated or otherwise. He punctuates her fairytale narration with his soft snoring after a while, her voice seeming to reach deeply into his subconscious to soothe and chase away any rising nightmares. His dreams are whimsical and pleasant, staying far from the shadows that lurk in his mind, and when Tobi finally does shift to accommodate sleeping arrangements, the Spyglass doesn't stir.
He doesn't stir all night, either.
Only when the rumblings from the clinic suggest that the working day has well and truly begun does Finn even start to surface from his slumber; he's stretched comfortable on the couch with his hands plunged into soft, fluffy fur, his cheek lolling against a warm, canine head as he begins to come around. Humming out a sigh, he peels his eyes open to peek around a place he doesn't immediately recognise. And yet, he's so comfortable and rested that he doesn't even care, currently.
Absent fingers scritch into the scruff of Tobi's fur, Finn lolling back into the cushions as if prepared for another doze.
Techinically, Tobi is working. So as her sensitive ears catch the sound of the clinic-proper being opened, she doesn't worry about leaving her place on the couch. Even as Finn stirs, she doesn't think much of it. Cracking open one eye, Tobi huffs against him, burrowing her nose all the deeper against the Spyglass as her tail thuds loudly against the side of the couch. She is radiantly comfortable in his arms, and though she has an itch on her back, she'd have to extract herself completely from Finn to reach it. Ever practical, still, Tobi finds herself very much choosing to stay where she is, instead.
Licking at the side of Finn's neck, just behind his ear—crumbs? no crumbs. none at all, and you can't prove anything—Tobi lets her head flop lazily, perking her ears for a moment in a silent question.
He's almost a lost cause; the pull of restful sleep in this cosy little section of Tobi's couch is almost too much to resist, and it's only the thump of an excitable tail against the side of it that has Finn's eyes flickering back open. A smile makes its way across his face, one too dozy to be anything other than genuine, and his fingers move to scritch behind Tobi's ear. It's not her back, but he doesn't have the ability to know that's where she wants scritching.
Finally, the hand not occupied with giving fuss reaches up to rub at his eyes, the Spyglass blinking a bit more intentionally as he glances around. And down. "Oh," he says, utterly nonplussed by this turn of events. "Good morning, Tobi. Did I...?" He glances around again, properly this time, and the smile only grows. "Gods. Thank you." The words are sighed out, Finn's head flopping back into the cushions. There isn't really a way to tell her, in truth, how much it means to get that rest.
please don't ever become a stranger whose laugh I could recognize anywhere
Tobi's mouth opens and her tongue lolls out of the side of her mouth as she grins up at him. As a doctor she's pleased that he's managed to get some sleep; even the circles under his eyes look a little less intimidating, though perhaps it's just the morning light. As his friend though, Tobi is all but a puddle of fur to know that perhaps she hasn't shoved him quite so far away as she'd thought.
Without thinking, wanting only to be able to talk to him, Tobi shifts that she might speak. "Anytime. Maybe we can be sleeping buddies and we'll both be forced to get regular sleep." The doctor says with a bright laugh. Having been against Finn all night as a dog, it doesn't occur to her now to correct that way they're still tangled up given her change in form.
"I haven't slept that long, in..." She pauses, trying to remember, but it's something else that occupies her mind, and without even thinking about it, she leans a fraction closer to him, thoughts tangled in sleepy blue eyes.
She shifts in his arms and really, this is closer and more awkward than anything that happened in the desert. And yet Finn doesn't move. Perhaps it's the morning light and the lazy start to the day; maybe it's because he's finally gotten some sleep. It might even be the novelty of where they are - not in a bed, Tobi snug beneath his arm in as nonthreatening a position as Finn has ever known. Whatever it might be, the change barely seems to register to the Spyglass at first, and he's more focused on her words.
"It was nice to know I still can sleep, without medicine," he admits, blinking his eyes open to gaze down at her. And only now does his heart skip a beat, to see Tobi leaning in closer, to see her so close to begin with. He sinks deeper into the couch, though whether it's just to solidify where he is, or if it's to lean away is something even Finn doesn't know. "In how long...?" He asks, as if she might need prompting.
please don't ever become a stranger whose laugh I could recognize anywhere
'All this time, all you needed was a bedtime story." Tobi adds with a cheerful smile.
In her mind, Tobi suddenly sees the man who protects the whipped cream of her hot chocolate against the snow, who all but decimates anatomical models, and who came up with the worst answer to her puns. "..uhm..." She mumbles, before giving her head a slight shake. Had she just been about to kiss him?
And more importantly, why hadn't she?
"I don't remember." She whispers. Feeling as though the moment was gone as quickly as it had come, Tobi laughs with nervous brightness as she glances over her shoulder toward the door. She hasn't shifted herself away from him, but at least this way her lips aren't close enough to give away her fleeting intentions. 'If we get up now, you know who will absolutely be out there.' Tobi mumbles under her breath, the long-standing feud between nurse Mildred and Finn comical around the clinic. "And I haven't been this comfortable in what seems like forever." Apparently all her old couch needed was Finn to order to feel like nirvana. Who knew.
"Can we pretend to be asleep for just a few more minutes?"
"Apparently," Finn agrees, pondering on the bedtime story she'd told him and trying to remember what about it had caused him to drift off so easily. He remembers little more than a prince and a fox, and then Tobi is shaking her head and shrinking back away from him; she might have realised she'd been about to lean in and kiss him, but it's safe to say that the Spyglass was none the wiser. She says that she doesn't remember and, still half-asleep as he is, Finn is in no position to question it further.
"Oh," he says softly, blinking up at the ceiling - it's only when she mentions Nurse Milligan does Finn zone back in, furrowing his brow at the door. When isn't she out there?" he wonders, wearing his heart uncharacteristically on his sleeve as he waits for wakefulness to seize him properly. Settling back down and closing his eyes, his content sigh should do more than most to show his agreement with Tobi.
Indeed, Finn even scoffs out a soft laugh at her suggestion. "You can pretend," he says. "I will probably fall back asleep for real if you give me half a chance."
please don't ever become a stranger whose laugh I could recognize anywhere
'Honestly? I don't think she ever sleeps. She's worse than we are.' Tobi's voice is hushed conspiratorially as if the nurse might be lurking just outside. "It wouldn't surprise me to learn that she has some sort of charm that just...sucks away happiness in return for never needing to sleep.'
Glancing back at Finn and forcing herself to see him as someone potentially still in need of her more medically-minded attention, Tobi extracts one of her hands to reach up and lay it on his forehead. Her movements are slow and the intention of her hand should have been obvious enough. "Mmmm...mhmm. Just what I thought." She mumbles under her breath. "You absolutely need more sleep." Tobi concludes as if his temperature was any indication at all.
'Do..you mind if I stay?" She asks softly, and it isn't shyness that makes her voice quiet; just simple respect for what Finn was most comfortable with. But then, not wanting for her words to be misconstrued (especially for Finn, "stay" could mean any number of things), she adds: "Like this, I mean. I can shift if you'd prefer, but..." Nearly, she says it's more comfortable, but she doesn't. Because it isn't the full truth. "..I like this, more."
Sort of like a Dementor, Finn would say, if he had any idea what a Dementor was. As it stands he can only scrunch his nose a bit at the mere thought of the nurse and her sleep powers. He's concentrating enough on whether he thinks there's cause to believe nurse Milligan is a secret Abandoned not to notice when Tobi's fingers come up to brush against his forehead. Blinking, the Spyglass starts to flinch away but stops himself, instead gazing back down at her.
And then a lopsided smile tugs at the corners of his lips, Finn letting out a relieved sigh as if worried that she'd say he needed to do more work. "Well," he says. "I appreciate it, Doctor Hart, but even I could have told you that." Settling down, he's about to let his eyes flutter shut and not think about the woman tucked under his arm when Tobi speaks again.
Honestly, he's not sure how to respond at first, because it calls up the reality of the situation so starkly that Finn is almost forced to face it in a way that his tired mind is not ready for. So instead, he just focuses on the warmth and comfort of the couch, of Tobi's body tucked against his own. "I don't mind," he murmurs. "This is the most comfortable I have been for a while as well. And the best sleep I have had."
please don't ever become a stranger whose laugh I could recognize anywhere
'I am the medical professional here, Mr Rosencrantz." Tobi replies, doing her best impression of nurse Milligan. She gets the sharpness right, but her voice is far too sweet, especially whispered as it is, to mimic the haughty cruelty that the nurse is known for.
Tobi all but holds her breath, ready to instantly shift or flee from the cozy spot beneath his arm, and though it surely hasn't, the doctor is quite confident that the room has gone completely silent and an infinity has passed before he answers her. ' 'kay.' Tobi hums through a sigh of relief. "Sleeping buddies, it is."
Leaning her head back down, all Tobi can think about is where her hands are, and where they should go. His arm is around her...can hers be around his? If she glanced up, would his eyes be open? Intently, she listens to the rhythm of his heart and his breathing, trying to detect if he is actually falling back to sleep or not. Moments pass, and though Tobi has closed her eyes again, her mind is hyperactive. She wants to enjoy the moment for what it is, but...what is it?
This isn't normal for Finn, but is that just because she really has pushed him so far? And if she says what's on her mind—if she does what's on her mind—will he feel taken advantaged of?
"Finn." Whispered so softly, it's all but just air pushed over her lips.
"Don't do that," Finn says, though his smile is audible in his voice, his eyes slipping shut. "You do not have the same disappointment in your voice as the nurse - it doesn't suit you." Far be it for Finn to even think of commenting on someone elses appearance or voice, but here in the dappled light of the morning and the comfort of another presence beside him, unthreatening and welcomed, is enough to loosen his lips (clearly). But sleeping buddies it is, and Finn nestles down to while away another hour or so with some desperately needed rest.
Unlike Tobi (and this must absolutely be a first for the Spyglass), Finn is not overthinking things, and he is quite contently dropping off into a nap with the doctor snug around him, his fingers just barely whispering through the ends of her ponytail. It isn't something he can confess to having done before, lying like this in such easy contentment, and if he was awake enough to think it through properly, it might have implications that would lead down rabbit holes that he doesn't want to visit.
As it stands, though, Tobi's voice is a whispered siren in the morning light, and Finn stirs enough to blink his eyes open and smile a little. "Yes?" he asks.
please don't ever become a stranger whose laugh I could recognize anywhere
As soon as she does, Tobi wishes she hadn't said anything. Why couldn't you have just gone to sleep? It's good that he can't see her, tucked away against him as she is. Biting the inside of her cheek, Tobi suddenly loses all track of time as the words she's wrestling with bounce around inside of her mind.
Say it! Part of her yells. Say something stupid like 'you're soft' and shut up, says another.
"I..uhm.." Go on. "..when we woke up, I...Ialmostkissedyou,oratleastIthoughtaboutit,and—" The words come out in a tangled heap, and though she's only halfway, Tobi closes her eyes and mentally gives herself a shake. She isn't this person. She can perform complex surgeries, heal the sick, and command a team like no one's business. She can tell a boy that she likes him.
Peeking up at him, Tobi crinkles her nose apologetically. "What I was trying to say, is that...I like you, Finn. And when we woke up, I wanted to kiss you. I still do, so..."
Well, too late to turn back now. Even so, her voice is far steadier, and though her cheeks are brightly blushed, her dark gaze is even and sure.
Finn doesnt know what he expects to hear from Tobi when she speaks. Maybe something like you're lying on my hair or I have an appointment with a patient or anything, really, but the precise thing that comes out of her mouth. It's true that her first attempt to tell him falls on deaf ears. Well, not exactly deaf, but definitely not ears that understand the rushed jumble of words that leave her lips. And then when she repeats herself...?
The Spyglass frowns a bit. Perhaps it's a dream, and if he decides to roll with it he'll wake up. (And maybe it isn't, another voice says in the back of his mind - the voice responsible for the parts of him that wake up with morning wood, or catch the look of the doctor in profile in the sunlight and think more than innocent thoughts about her. Either way, when she clarifies what it is she's thinking - when she asks if it's okay - he can only smile.
Finn is smiling because he has no idea how he's gotten here; he's smiling because never, in his entire life, does he think someone has ever asked to kiss him. "I... why...?" He says, unable to really think of anything more to say. Well. There is more to say, but that's part of it. "I mean... yes. If you'd like to. But why?"
please don't ever become a stranger whose laugh I could recognize anywhere
He frowns, and Tobi feels herself freeze. There aren't quite sirens in her mind, but still she's left wondering how she read things so wrong. But then he confuses her more, but smiling and asking her why.
"Why?" Tobi repeats, and though she doesn't possess a single shift that's part of the deer family, she looks doe-eyed enough in her innocent confusion to make it seem like she might. His yes has her stomach fluttering and causes a smile that threatens to be too large to allow her to speak. Glancing down, Tobi tries to give it honest thought, but his sleepy blush eyes and boyish smile have made her irrevocably tongue-tied. "Lots of reasons, I suppose. And also..none? I just...wanted to." She pauses, blushing. "Want to." The correction is quickly made, because the desire is still very much present tense.
If it was anyone else, that would be that. She'd just wriggle up and kiss him. But this wasn't anyone else. This was Finn, killer of anatomical skeletons and saver of beverages and silly doctors. "I do, but...only if you want me to." Looking up at him and trying to convey as wordlessly as was possible (what a great strategy with someone like Finn), that whatever he said would be okay.
