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
I'll drop by for that prescription, maybe. That's what Finn had said as he slipped away and out of the medical clinic to begin a day of work that, despite the desperately needed rest afforded him by Tobi, is nowhere near as productive as he would have liked. Finn does manage to get back to his apartments to shower and shave and change his clothes, but when he gets to his office, much of the day is spent cleaning up after himself and whatever he's gotten up to whilst he's been deprived of sleep.
And in the times when he's not reorganising his files and tidying the space, he finds himself pausing at the windowed wall of his office, his fingers ghosting across his lips as if remembering a warmth now missing from them.
So when the working day draws to a close and when the sun dips away beneath the cliffs of Stormbreak, the Spyglass does indeed return to the medical clinic. For his prescription obviously. Nothing more.
In one telling of this, Tobi has gone home, showered and shaved as well (shaved-shaved, mind you). She's still in her scrubs, but ones that are bright white and clean, leaving her looking effortlessly put together. Is there a candle or two she's found in her office? Do they smell of spring and has she found two wine glasses? Perhaps.
But that is not the reality we find ourselves in. Instead, Milligan has appeared at Tobi's door at each and every moment that the doctor thought she might slip away. Paperwork the likes of which October has never seen is suddenly on her desk with deadlines that are sudden and absurd. So when Finn returns it will be to a Tobi who is hunched over her desk with a pencil between her teeth, having not eaten in hours, with her fingers in her hair muttering something to herself.
Outside at the nurse's station, Milligan is of course looking just as pleased as punch, sitting on a stool with a bit of knitting in her lap.
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
As nurse Milligan told Finn yesterday, he cannot take all of his medication at once. And she knows he knows where it is. So at least that hardly needs to be said this time. Even so, he finds himself standing at the nurse's station, watching her knit with quiet curiosity until he gets her attention. However long that takes. "Hello. I am here for my prescription," he says softly, as if she's the dragon guarding some treasure room beyond. (Because she is).
He doesn't expect to get the prescription just from that, of course. But perhaps the sound of familiar voices will at least alert Doctor Hart to his presence, just as it had the day before. And if not? Well... Finn will get what he came for, and he'll leave. And his disappointment will be crushed underfoot with the safe knowledge that this was probably a terrible idea anyway.
"Prescription." She mutters under her breath, even though Finn is the only one around to hear it. "Is that what the kids are calling it these days." Her eyes widen with her sarcasm as she nods toward Doctor Hart's office. "Well you know who will have to write you a new prescription." She says with a sour smile, as if it's some big joke that they're all in on. And honestly, everyone is, except for maybe Finn.
"Hey, Finn." Tobi doesn't even pretend at professionalism. This has been a what? 10-hour day? 12? What is time, even? She's exhausted and Milligan has gotten exactly what she's wanted from it all. "Come on in." Offering the nurse a weary smile, Tobi stands back to let Finn enter, and as he does, she closes and locks the door.
Pausing, her mind working as if trying to wade through mud, she belatedly gives her head a shake. "That's...it's not because of..." It isn't awkwardness tying Tobi's tongue, but the need for food and rest. "...but if she brings another stack of paperwork, I might just bite her."
Don't make it bad take a sad song and make it b e t t e r
03-27-2021, 07:43 PM (This post was last modified: 03-27-2021, 07:44 PM by Finn.)
blessed are the curious, for they shall have adventures
"You have dropped a stitch, nurse Milligan. Just there." Because of course Finn's eyes have never left the knitting, even as she snips and sasses and judges. He points out the missed stitch, then nods and heads towards Tobi's office - and the doctor is already waiting for him, it seems. Finn's smile is directed at the collar of her scrubs, and he definitely notices how she clicks the door shut - and locks it. And honestly, his heart is already thundering when Tobi explains, the Spyglass forcing his hands to relax where they have started to clench.
"Oh, I see. Have you not left this office since this morning?" Finn asks, tilting his head and blinking at the enormous pile of paperwork on Tobi's desk. "That... I am not sure that is healthy for you or for your patience, Doctor Hart." Suddenly any awkwardness that might have built between them has disappeared. "I think you ought to clock out of work for a while."
The look Milligan offers Finn is triumphant and argumentative because she's quite certain that she hasn't dropped a stitch, until her eyes lower and she sees the small but unmistakable hole in her knitting. Biting the inside of her cheek and openly glaring at the Spyglass as he trudges off toward Tobi's office.
'I think I left to pee...once?' Tobi says, before laughing at herself for how horrifically awkward of a thing that was to say. Running a hand over her eyes, she smiles warmly but wearily at Finn and shrugs. "She just kept bringing more and more paperwork. I swear she had it hidden somewhere."
Chuckling and nodding, he's right of course, Tobi can only grin as she folds her arms over her chest. "Well I can't quite clock out, can I? Not when I still have one more patient." That's him, of course, though...she can't hide the fact she isn't thinking of him as a patient just now. Not with the couch they'd been on just a few feet away.
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
"That sounds equally as unhealthy," Finn points out. "Might I suggest making that a priority when you do clock out? I hasten to point out, Doctor Hart, that if you are receiving health tips from me, there is a dire problem." If Finn notices that this is anything close to witty banter, it doesn't show on his face, and he is still mentally counting the number of files still left for Tobi to work through. "Do you suspect that all of them are blank, like the one you showed me this morning?"
Ah, but then he is thinking about this morning and a flush of heat threatens to creep up the back of his neck and into his cheeks. Clearing his throat, he ducks his head in a nod to October. "Well, luckily I am only here for that prescription. I doubt it will take you longer than a few moments, and then I will be on my way."
Finn might not realize, but Tobi does. And intentional or not, it has her laughing. "Another way of putting that is that I've become such a good influence on you, that you're starting to give rather good health advice yourself." To answer his question, Tobi reaches for a file and thumbs through it. "This one is already complete. You know how I can tell? Because I've signed it, and it the administrations approved stamp is on it." Setting it down on her desk, Tobi sighs. "It's just mean to look like a lot of work." BUt that hasn't stopped Tobi from adamantly checking just the same
Tobi mentally winces. As soon as she'd referred to Finn as a patient, she's wanted to pull the words back. 'Well, it might not be so easy as that.." Tobi replies, flashing the Spyglass a smile that hopefully even he might interpret as being playful. "We recently learned that there are other forms of treatment which might be better suited to you. Surely going back to the usual dosage would be a step backward?"
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
"Perhaps I ought to begin volunteering in the medical clinic after I finish work," Finn suggests. "I am sure nurse Milligan will jump at the chance to interact with me on a more regular basis." He raises his eyebrows at Tobi, quite convinced that they can both imagine the sour lemon face that will twist the nurse's expression at that very thought. Still, the sight of the completed file has Finn wrinkling his nose; the lack of organisation (deliberate or otherwise) is precisely the sort of thing that would have him volunteering.
His attention moves from the filing to Tobi's sudden smile - a smile that is quite contagious, he thinks, the Spyglass dropping his gaze to the ground. "You are the doctor," he murmurs. "It would be remiss of me not to follow your recommendation. There is a snag, though - I am not ready to sleep just now. How do you suppose I begin my treatment?"
"You said 'interact', but what I heard was try and torture you to your breaking point." Milligan was the bane of interns and resident students everywhere. Tobi has a few stories to tell of her time under the nurse's wing, but perhaps those are best saved for another time when the question of will they, won't they doesn't linger quite so brightly overhead.
It isn't quite like before, with their hot chocolates in hand. This very much strikes Tobi as flirting, only...the way Finn says everything so dryly and with such rationality, it very much might not be. "Well," She begins, having absolutely no idea where she intended for the sentence to go when she opened her lips. "Sleeping isn't just about falling asleep. It's about...making sure you've had adequate exercise, and that you're physically relaxed and that your obvious needs have been met, like hydration and nutrition...All of those things will greatly enhance your chances of falling asleep under these...new trial conditions."
I haven't eaten yet, want to come to the cafeteria with me? Would have been so much easier than this.
"So...are you..deficient in any of those areas?"
ArE u DeFicIenT iN NE of ThoSe AreEs. October, why.
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
"Nurse Milligan does not frighten me," Finn says with a wry smile that probably makes him come across as much more cool and suave than I have been tortured and it's nothing like that. Indeed, all of their interactions thus far paint Finn with a confidence that he's not sure if he's faking; is he trying to be witty, or is he merely answering Tobi's questions as he ordinarily would? The Spyglass doesn't know, so Tobi won't have a chance of it.
Still, he tilts his head to listen as she puts it to him, the ways he is expected to prepare for sleep, and whilst October might be absolutely kicking herself for what would be perceived as a terrible attempt at flirtation, she's lucky. It goes entirely over Finn's head. "Most of them," he informs her. "Though I suppose I did walk from the Collegium down here. Where would you recommend I begin? I apologise, but I do not believe wine and crackers will help me to sleep."
"That's not bad." Tobi says with a nod. It's more exercise than she's had today, so it would be a bit hypocritical of her to say anything else. "And you look like you've showered, so that's a flight of stairs both ways." Does that imply Tobi has noticed he's showered (and changed his clothes?). It does for those of you paying close attention, for which Tobi is currently praying Finn isn't one.
"Have you tried wine and crackers?" The doctor wants to know with a skeptical raise of her brows. "With many I find, physical relaxation is one of the best sleep aids. Releasing tension in joints and muscles can be the difference between a restful sleep, and sleep that merely passes the time, if that makes sense."
Biting the inside of her cheek, now it's Tobi's turn to direct her eyes somewhere near Finn's collar as she tries to shrug as casually as her racing mind will allow. "I can...show you, if you want?" Tobi isn't an abandoned and nor does she have a magical device to counteract the flush of colour that appears on her cheeks, so she's left blushing as she eyes the pattern of Finn's shirt absolutely not imagining it on the floor.
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
"I will begin an exercise log for you," Finn remarks, and he does recognise his attempt at wry humour this time, a smile creeping across his lips before he raises stormy eyes back to Tobi's face. "I can't say that I have tried wine and crackers as part of my regular diet, no. Is it something that you would recommend, Doctor Hart?" Is he needling her, just a little? At this point, anything is possible.
And Finn is just settling in to enjoy this sort of half-banter between them when Tobi really raises the stakes, and the Spyglass swallows uncertainly. "How do you mean?" he asks, and already he can feel himself not quite shrinking back towards the (locked) door. Finn has to remind himself who he's with and the space he's in, taking a deep breath in and letting it out again.
"I... what I mean to say is that I understand. The difference, that is. But I don't think I have ever..." Trailing off, Finn smiles suddenly - a much more sad and real expression than before. "I don't think I remember the last time I felt physically relaxed."
"Recommend is such an...official word." Tobi replies with a crinkle of her nose. Because no, absolutely, she would not recommend it. But the fact that he's called her bluff does make her smile a touch bashfully.
{asy}'Oh, no I didn't mean—" Tobi is quick to clarify, her eyes growing almost owlishly large as concern makes her features seem comically exaggerated. Her mind is suddenly full of lewd interpretations that have her suggesting that he ought to masturbate before bed more, or that nude yoga and copious amounts of alcohol are someone what she's recommending.
'Well...that's probably one of the reasons your sleep isn't restful.' Tobi mentions softly, placing her hands firmly in the pockets of her scrubs and offering him an apologetic smile. 'But that doesn't have to be something we work on today if it's..." You both can't be awkward, and even though you don't want to think of him as a patient, you're still the more knowledgable here. Act like it. "..uncomfortable. I can absolutely understand why it would be." Tobi adds, her normal steady warmth returning to her smile even though her cheeks remain slightly flushed.
Don't make it bad take a sad song and make it b e t t e r
