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!
It's a feeling that has snuck up on him over the past few days; he and Remi are closer than ever, and the Mortar and Pestle is starting to come along nicely. His work is enjoyable, reminiscent almost of his role as captain in the Storm Guard. His son is thriving in Stormbreak and (it's a big and) he has been able to see his starborn daughter again.
We won't talk about the particulars of that because timelines have not yet been set in stone, but suffice to say, the Star is shining brighter than ever.
He strolls through the Celestine on what equates to a break from his work. He's on his way home to enjoy a meal with Remi, in fact, having circled through the gardens for something specific to gift to his husband when he arrives, and the rich white blooms he carries in a bit of canvas (soil and roots and all) have been carefully cultivated, with permission.
He's heard that they don't close up at night like ordinary flowers, and that their pollen is luminescent, creating beautiful patterns in the air. They will see, he supposes.
This is your heart undone, Take all the time you want
It is a good thing that Ronin's appetite is not so easily diminished; for many the sounds coming from behind one of the bushes would absolutely put them off their lunch. Whatever the doctor has been trying to throw up is absolutely out of her stomach, and yet her body continues to heave just the same. Tears stream down her cheeks, and when finally her body stops its retching, she simply lets herself indulge in a breathless moment of silence, before wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.
It's nothing, she tells herself. It's easy to be ignorant as a doctor, and you can think of hundreds of things with precisely the same symptoms as pregnancy this.
Forcing herself to her feet despite how jello-like her legs suddenly feel, Tobi kicks a bit of dirt over her pile of sick before stepping back out onto the path..
..and directly in front of one of the most handsome men in all of Caido, bouquet of flowers in hand.
Put him off his lunch? Never. Spark concern in his breast? Absolutely. Ronin's steps have slowed even before Tobi pops out from behind the bushes, and he blinks down at her in blank confusion at first. Why he doesn't think that doctors can get sick is something that not even the Star can likely answer, but here is Doctor Hart proving him wrong nonetheless. For a second or two they simply stand there, before Ronin remembers himself and clears his throat.
"Are you okay, Tobi?" he asks, concern knitting his brows together. He glances over her shoulder as if to check whether she's been out walking with someone - tending a patient perhaps - but nope, it's just the two of them out here, and a pile of dirt covered sick. "Shall we sit down...? I can get you something to drink, if you'd like?" The stalls around the Celestine are few and far between, but they do exist, and some water shouldn't be difficult to come by.
This is your heart undone, Take all the time you want
Tobi isn't one easily prone to anger, but gods if it isn't unfair in a way that makes her want to slap him, that Ronin is so attractive. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just some...food poisoning, probably." Tobi tries on a wobbling smile that she hasn't the energy to hold for long.
"Water would be amazing, thank you." She says with a grateful nod, before zeroing in on the closest bench and utterly collapsing onto it. Tilting her head back and tugging at the collar of her scrubs to try and let more air in, Tobi tries to swallow around the you-know-what-this-is lump in the back of her throat.
Though there is absolutely no need to do so, Tobi finds herself straightening the front of her smock so that it lays flat against her stomach. No bulges here. Not a single one. Regardless of how normal she looks, still the doctor finds herself silently wishing that Rae could do her one little favour and turn back time just a few moments that she might have slipped past Ronin undetected.
"To get food poisoning you have to actually eat something," Ronin points out, though for all his teasing his smile is kind, and he helps to guide the doctor over to the bench. "I won't be a second," he promises, setting down the bouquet of flowers in their canvas beside her and striding off down the path to the nearest refreshments stand. He isn't gone for long, and when he returns its with two cups of cool water with ice and lemon, eyebrows raising to see Tobi smoothing her hands over the front of her smock.
"Food poisoning isn't visible from the outside," he says helpfully, handing her a cup and sitting down beside her, taking care not to squash the blooms by accident. "Not the last I noticed anyway. Though you're the doctor, so please tell me if I'm wrong." Smiling across at her, he sips at his drink. "How are you feeling now?"
This is your heart undone, Take all the time you want
'Oh, and you've been watching what I've eaten today?" Tobi snarls with uncalled-for venom in her voice, before immediately flushing and covering her mouth with one hand. "Sorry, I didn't mean that." She mumbles instantly, grimacing up at Ronin.
Glancing sidelong at the flowers that he's left on the bench, Tobi can already feel her mouth begin to salivate and her stomach turn thanks to their faint perfume. So as Ronin returns, the doctor offers him a weary smile, deciding against asking him to move the flowers. She'll be fine. 'You're wrong. Food poisoning often comes with a fever, which explains why I feel so clammy all of a sudden." Does it, October?.
"Way better, I—" Turning abruptly away, Tobi throws up over the side of the bench. It isn't much—because there isn't much left in her to throw up—but it's enough to make her eyes water again.
Eyes widening a fraction, Ronin doesn't quite know what to do as Tobi suddenly snaps at him - he doesn't think he has ever heard the doctor raise her voice, let alone any of this, and he swallows and sits back a bit on the bench. "I... is everything really alright, Doctor Hart?" he asks - food poisoning or otherwise, she doesn't at all seem to be acting like herself. And he's never suggested that he might be a hundred percent correct about the food poisoning, so the abject denial is a surprise.
"Of course," he begins, "I was only-- oh...!" Wincing to see her retch again, the Star straightens back up and rubs at the back of his head. "Would you like me to take you home, Tobi?" Ronin asks, offering her out a sip of his own water so she might wash her mouth out before they move again. He has no qualms about carrying her, or she can sit on his nimbus if she likes.
This is your heart undone, Take all the time you want
"Sorry, yes, I'm fine. I really didn't mean to say that, I don't—" know what came over me? Oh, but she does. She really, really does.
With shaky hands and eyes that can't rise up to meet his own, Tobi reaches for the cup and raises it to her lips. Hardly able to take anything more than a sip before her lips start to quiver, the doctor clutches at the cup as she lowers it into her lap. "I guess if I can't even fool you into thinking this is food poisoning after two minutes, no one in the hospital is going to believe me either." She whispers, more to herself than to Ronin.
"I'm so stupid." This is certainly directed just at herself, as she raises a gaze that's as knowing as it is wildly disappointed. "I think home would be best. But..if we could make one stop?" Because of course she had to know for sure.
"If you are in trouble with anything, Tobi, you know you can tell me right?" It might seem like a strange tangent, given that for all intents and purposes, he's merely happened upon her whilst she's been unwell, but Ronin is precisely that sort of chivalrous idiot. And even while she might be speaking to herself, the Star is the unfortunate audience for all of this, and so he can't help but tilt his head at her in curiosity.
"But I thought you said it was food poisoning," he mumbles, deciding not to push the matter and instead allowing her to keep his cup of water, rising to his feet to whistle for his nimbus. He invites her to get comfortable on it (it will likely be a much smoother ride than if he was to carry her) while he collects up the flowers again. "I don't think you're stupid. You're one of the smartest people I know," he objects. "We can make as many stops as you like. Just give me directions and we'll get you wherever you need to be."
This is your heart undone, Take all the time you want
"I..." Did she know? Looking up into Ronin's blue eyes—and thank the gods they looked nothing like Finn's—Tobi realizes that yes, she does think she knows. She and Ronin might not know each other well, but there's something unmistakably trustworthy about the Star. Not that it helps much with what she's dealing with, just now. "..if only this was the sort of thing your pretty lights and starry-explosions could help with." She mumbles, trying for levity and falling hopelessly short.
'It isn't..or at least if it is, I've discovered a new strain of it." Having not even realized that she's appropriated Ronin's cup, Tobi begins to dig her nails into the top of it until it begins to come apart. Glancing up at his nimbus, Tobi rises and eases herself onto it, already trying to think up excuses for why she needed to be carried about should anyone see.
He says she's one of the smartest people he knows and without warning, the doctor has burst into tears. "No, I'm not." She protests as crocodile tears roll down her cheeks. "I'm not smart. I'm pregnant."
"You don't know until you try," Ronin jokes with Tobi - but given what she's about to say to him, perhaps he ought not to have suggested the use of his pretty lights and exploding stars. "Who knows? Maybe you are a scientist as well as a doctor. You could be famous for..." Vomiting in the bushes? Ronin offers her an awkward smile, promptly trying to backtrack. "Never mind."
They stroll easily enough - or at least, Ronin strolls and the nimbus carries Tobi along - for a few curved pathways, the birds chirping and others enjoying a leisurely stroll in from the Pacifist Plaza. Then she fucking bursts out crying and the Star finds himself trying to figure out to apologise for calling her smart. If only that was the only thing on her mind, though, Ronin left speechless (a rare event) to hear that she's having a baby.
Honestly, the first thing that he feels he should do is smile and offer his congratulations, but clearly Tobi isn't feeling the same way. "Hey, whoa..." Halting the nimbus, he instead moves to sink down onto it as well, thinking nothing of reaching out to try and wipe at her cheeks with the sleeve of his jacket. "Slow down, Tobi. How do... what makes you say that?"
This is your heart undone, Take all the time you want
The Celestine is a blur of green and cherry-blossom pink that has Tobi wanting to cry at its beauty. As a doctor—and a woman—she knows what it feels like to be carried away by emotions she can't control. But no amount of PMS has ever prepared her for the drastic mood swings she's about to experience.
Suddenly Ronin is at her side, wiping at her cheeks and she can't help but wish that he was Finn with every bone in her body. Finn should be who she was telling, who should be wiping away her tears, only...if it was Finn, would there be any tears to dry? That thought has her hiccuping against the Star, as she shakes her head with a helpless mewling sound. "Oh, I don't know...the weird cravings, the nausea and sudden vomiting, oh, and the fact that I had unprotected sex and now haven't had my period?"
Ronin folds an arm around Tobi even as he gently spurs the nimbus onwards, not wanting her to have to break down in full view of anyone who happens to be wandering through the Celestine. "Oh," he says unhelpfully, because what the fuck else is there to say to that? Clearing his throat, he keeps an arm around her and continues to carefully wipe at her cheeks, even as the nimbus works on getting them out of the gardens.
"Would you like to come with me back to my place? It's a little closer than the Tower. We can talk more, or... well. Whatever you'd like," he suggests. "I take that you don't... that this isn't something you want?" he asks, reaching out with his free hand for her to hold it if that's what she wants. Honestly, Ronin has no idea how to handle this sort of situation, but he'll damned well do his best.
This is your heart undone, Take all the time you want
Swallowing hard, Tobi shivers slightly in Ronin's embrace as she tries to swallow down the emotions that threaten to sob out from beneath her lips. "But..but they'll think it's you." She protests, which only makes her tears flow all the harder. "And it isn't." Tobi adds, her sadness suddenly without context to anyone who isn't in her mind. Just that morning she'd slipped another stupid note beneath Finn's door, and having done so, she noticed the pile of them on the other side.
Ronin offers out his hand in the same unassuming way she often did to Finn, which of course just crumples the doctor's expression into one of anguish. "He...he isn't even around, and.." Shaking her head and wishing she could burrow all the way inside of Ronin's jacket where she couldn't be found, Tobi tries and fails once more to get a handle on things. "Sorry. Sorry, I'm not normally like this." Not normally pregnant? "I don't...gods I'm a mess. I'm so sorry."
