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!
"In fairness, Tobi, they probably already think it's me," Ronin points out with a kind smile. "It doesn't matter what they think anyway - what matters is helping you to feel better, and you can't very well do that riding around on a cloud out in the middle of the street, can you?" A very long winded way of saying we are going to my place, and the Star won't hear another word about it. Hopefully Remi won't mind.
The alchemist isn't at home to mind, in fact, because the Mortar and Pestle's door is decorated with a sign that says gone fishin' (Ronin's design), which is code for "brb, probably with Mateo". So Ronin lets them in, guiding the nimbus inside where it can lower Tobi down safely. "Don't apologise to me," he says softly, smiling to her. "Remember when you came to the barracks when I got drunk and impaled myself? Consider this me repaying the favour. Do you want me to make some tea? Peppermint might help."
This is your heart undone, Take all the time you want
"Wha..?" There are too many ways that the doctor could take that sentence, and so her brain takes them all: he's a whore, you're easy, why would someone like you be with someone like Finn, of course you couldn't resist Ronin's charms, and so on. "There's no feeling better, Ronin. Morning sickness just...is what it is." There's a bite to her words that wasn't there before, and whether or not Ronin will judge defensive-Tobi to be preferable to weepy-Tobi remains to be seen.
Tobi notices nothing at all about the alchemist's shop, the quaint sign on the door, or anything else of what Ronin may or may not be saying; not until his very last comment. "So you're only doing this to pay me back?" Tobi wonders unhappily as she slides from the nimbus. Of course, riding through town on a cloud is bound to draw stares, all the more so because of who the doctor is with, but she isn't above storming off into the middle of the street. Or at least, thanks to her hormones, she isn't.
"Well I mean... you just announced it in public in front of me and burst out crying," Ronin says, rubbing at the back of his head and shrugging his shoulders. Because of course that's the only reason he's said it - Ronin is not currently in a position to come up with elaborate reasons why the rest of those in the Celestine and the Plaza might think him the father of Tobi's child. "Okay, okay," he says, holding up his hands - but it seems as though Ronin can only succeed right now in saying the wrong thing.
Wincing, he sags back against the counter and lets out a long sigh. "I was just trying to lighten the mood," he murmurs. "Not that... yeah. Anyway. If you want to take a seat, I'll get you some tea. We can go up to the apartment if you think you'll be okay to walk up the stairs?"
This is your heart undone, Take all the time you want
'Ronin, I'm pregnant. I only slept with the father once, and the next day he just...he...' Cue the waterworks. Tobi doesn't make it upstairs, at least not right away. Instead, she sags onto the lowest step of the spiral staircase, burying her face in her hands. '...and...and...I don't mean to take it out on you, you're just trying to be nice, and...' Hiccups and sobs break up most of what she's saying, and whatever else Tobi tries to add is lost in a serious of sniffles and attempts at catching her breath.
Remembering the flowers Ronin had been carrying, Tobi suddenly looks up with wide and horrified eyes. "You..you were on your way somewhere, weren't you? Gods and now you're stuck here dealing with me. Ronin I'm so sorry, I can go." Rising immediately, Tobi wipes at her eyes with her sleeve, already marching toward the door.
"Hey. Hey, wait..." Ronin, having set the flowers down, swoops across the room to try and stop her as she goes to leave. His hands clasp her shoulders, as if to halt her departure with an embrace, and he lets out a deep breath to centre himself. "No, no - I'm sorry," he says. "This is obviously something a huge surprise for you, and I'm being blase about it." Giving her shoulders a squeeze, the Star will draw Tobi into a hug if she lets him.
"I didn't realise it was only a one time thing, with the father." For all Ronin knew she was trying to get pregnant, and these were happy tears. (Lol what). "And I was only on my way here, and Remi is out anyway. You don't have to go anywhere, okay? Do you want to come upstairs and talk about it?"
04-12-2021, 05:22 PM (This post was last modified: 04-12-2021, 05:22 PM by October.)
This is your heart undone, Take all the time you want
Oh, she'll let him. Wrapping her arms around the Star for all she's worth, Tobi buries her nose against his chest. Inadvertently wiping her nose and eyes against his shirt, the doctor sniffles against him as she shakes her head. "It...it wasn't meant to be, or.." Even Tobi was starting to get sick of this narrative, but she still couldn't wrap her mind around how she'd been so wrong about Finn and what they were to each other. What they might be, with time. "...I think I really misjudged things, and now.." Peeling herself back if only to gaze down at her stomach—still perfectly flat—Tobi worries her lower lip between her teeth to keep herself from sobbing again.
'Mmhmmm.' With watery eyes, Tobi nods. She doesn't quite want to let Ronin go, but she feels like an absolute fool for being so wildly needy. It isn't like her at all, and if she's repulsed by her own behaviour, she can only imagine what Ronin must think of her.
Far from repulsed, the Star gathers her close against him, smoothing a hand across her upper back and letting her get her bearings for as long as she needs. "Ah," he says, both understanding completely (from Tobi's perspective) and misunderstanding (from Finn's). "And now there's a lot more on the line than a broken heart," he says in explanation, letting an arm loop around her shoulders so he can guide her up into the apartment.
Only the spiral staircase means that they need to part from each other, and when they do reach the apartment properly, he ushers her to the couch in the living area so he can put a pot of tea onto the stove. "Well... do you think you are going to let him know?" he asks. "Because he might still want to be a part of things, even if..." He sighs. "Regardless, you're not going to be alone through this."
This is your heart undone, Take all the time you want
'We weren't even together long enough for it to be broken.' Tobi says with a sniff, unsure if that made it better or worse. "It was just a few dates, but.." Inwardly, she feels something inside of herself wilt. "But I did really like him." I still do, she thinks to herself with a shaky sigh.
Following silently, not even really bothering to take a look around at her surroundings, Tobi plops herself onto the couch. Immediately drawing her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around her shins, the doctor rather pathetically places her chin against her knees and huffs out a sigh. 'I don't even know where he is right now." Tobi explains. "He...he told me to forget about him." Balling her fingers up into fists inside of her sleeves, the doctor nibbles at the inside of her cheek to keep her tears from falling anew.
"And..I still don't really know what to do with that."
There's nothing really to say to that, so Ronin doesn't try. Instead he potters about in the kitchenette, returning in due course with a pot of tea and two small and mismatched cups. Placing it all on the table before the couch, he sinks down beside Tobi and offers his arm out for her to huddle beneath. "That is..." He sighs deeply. "That's a fucking shit situation, Tobi, even without finding out you're having a baby. I'm sorry."
His smile is sad, and he reaches out to pour them both some tea, filling the air with a peppermint tang. "And what will you do?" he asks. "You and the little doctor, I mean." He can't help it as he nods down at her stomach, before suddenly wincing. "Sorry, I don't mean to act as though it's already... in case you didn't want to keep it."
This is your heart undone, Take all the time you want
Maybe it's because she knows Ronin has slept with Sera, (though really it's everything to do with Finn, Tobi just doesn't want to admit it), that her heart doesn't flutter in her chest in response to Ronin's chivalry. Once so taken by his charm, now as she scootches closer, she feels nothing else other than a comforting presence at her side.
Hiccuping in a gasp that's both strangely sweet and unhappy to hear the clump of cells referred to as the little doctor, she immediately shakes her head. "No of course I will." A practical doctor though she might be, as a follower of Rae especially Tobi absolutely believes that the life growing inside of her deserves a chance. Her mistake didn't outweigh a future person.
"If you told someone to forget you, but then this happened...would you want to know?"
Ronin nods, needing to hear nothing more about it as she says she'll be keeping the life growing within her, and as she nestles close to him he moves only briefly to offer her out the mug of tea, leaving his own to cool down. "Me?" he echoes, frowning gently. "...I would want to know, yes," he says. "But then I have always wanted a large family. Always wanted to be a father, so... there would be no question about it in my mind."
He doesn't know anything about the father of Tobi's child, and he tilts his head to her as if to invite her to speak more about it. "Do you think he would feel the same?" he asks. "Where is he, if I might ask? There aren't that many places to go or hide in Stormbreak. Do you want me to..." Beat the fuck out of him? Talk to him? Find out what the fuck is going on in his head? Beat the fuck out of him again?
This is your heart undone, Take all the time you want
Reaching for the mug of tea, Tobi's fingers revolve around the cup beneath her fingertips as she stares down into it. "He...I don't know, actually. It isn't something we ever talked about." It was just a few dates..."I don't know. Cian sent him on some...assignment, or something. Of course Cian won't say where. Just that he'll be back soon, whatever that means. I don't even think he's in Stormbreak." Because I've looked. Because I've left notes piling up under his door.
Glancing over her shoulder, Tobi suddenly finds it absurdly funny that he's close enough to kiss. She couldn't say why if her life depended on it, just that it strikes her as nauseatingly amusing that he was so close and—
—oh. Nope. It was the tea that was nauseating. Despite peppermints calming and stomach-settling properties, suddenly the smell of it is too much. In an instant Tobi is on her feet dashing towards the sink. She throws up a small amount—the water he'd offered her in the Celestine—and with just a spurt of water from the tap all evidence is gone. Of having thrown up, anyway. In her haste the doctor has broken her mug in the sink. Cracked into two large pieces it's easily fixed, but it makes Tobi cry again just the same.
'Oh!' She mewls, reaching for the pieces and holding them up for Ronin to see.
"Is he a member of the Order...?" Ronin asks, unintentionally following the same train of thought that Sera has already wandered down. "Do you... I mean, I could ask around and see if I could figure out where he's gone? I know you said he mentioned you should forget him, but... could that be because of the assignment, rather because of anything between the two of you? I know if I was going somewhere dangerous, or where I didn't know when I'd be back... I'd not want someone to wait for me if they didn't have to."
It's an interesting thread of conversation that they will regrettably not be able to follow, because oh - a broken cup and a sobbing doctor. "Tobi," Ronin says kindly, smiling to her as he rises to his feet and crosses the room. "It's just a cup. Easily fixed," he assures her, guiding the pieces of the mug out of her hands to put them back into the sink. "What's good for morning sickness? You're a doctor - help me to help you?"
This is your heart undone, Take all the time you want
Tobi nods. "Sera already is...I...Gods this makes it sound dramatic. I feel like I'm in school all over again, having my friends try and talk to his friends, and.." Sighing, her brows knit together as she shoots the Star an incredulous look. "I don't believe you. Even before you were married, did you ever tell Remi not to wait for you?" Is she making unfounded assumptions? Yes, and the way she crumples against the Star says as much. "If he had said something like hey, I'll be gone for a while so..you know, feel free not to wait around, I would understand that."
But now she's crying over spilled tea and broken porcelain and it feels like the world is ending even though she objectively knows it isn't. "uhmm.." Flustered, the doctor shakes her head. "Gin..ger. And maybe some crackers. Something plain." Then, utterly forgetting herself and her manners apparently, quickly adds: "Please. If..it isn't too much trouble."
