From Attuned to Ascended to Ancient, Kiada Njovu-Reyes has been reborn several times throughout her short life, but her fighting spirit has never once been diminished. With beauty, grace and a quick wit, Kiada is the whole package wrapped in an infectious smile. Recent endeavours have found her in the heart of the Hollowed Grounds, aiding the region and bettering it for her new Ancient kin, and whatever she does next, we know it's sure to pack a punch.
Congratulations, Kiada!
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!
Perhaps later, when he's gotten up in the middle of the night to look over those maps again, or get a glass of water (or maybe just to roll over and curl up against Tobi, who knows at this point), Finn will reflect on what Tobi already knows has just happened. For now, though, with his overactive mind as blissfully empty as it will ever be, he's pliant and gentle as the doctor shifts against him, his fingers whispering up the length of her spine.
Indeed, as he finds himself looking up at her, showered in kisses that don't feel forced or like something to be endured, he offers her a smile that's about as boyish as any she'll ever see from the Spyglass. "Good," he agrees, riding the words out on a breathy laugh and leaning into the touch of her hand. It's more than good, but he doesn't currently have the vocabulary for it, so hopefully this will be enough.
please don't ever become a stranger whose laugh I could recognize anywhere
Beaming down at him, her heart aflutter in her chest, Tobi has to stifle the laughter that suddenly wants to bubble out. "You're really handsome, you know that?" Normally said rhetorically, this isn't; not that Tobi expects Finn to be able to agree with her. But he is, all the moreso in the dim light where the best of him shines through effortlessly.
They're laying the wrong way in the (their?) bed, but Tobi finds she couldn't care less. Not right now, anyway. Shifting off of him with an awkward crinkling of her nose that she hides against his cheek, Tobi rolls onto her side, immediately fitting herself against Finn. Draping one arm across his chest so that her fingertips could trail impromptu patterns against his skin, she also takes the liberty of covering his thighs with one of her legs as well. "The fact that there's only a very small chance of nurse Milligan bursting in this time, is nice." Tobi says, chuckling under her breath as she gazes at Finn with a look of near school-girl wonder and affection.
Scrambled as his brains are currently, to hear Tobi call him handsome, the only thing he's really capable of doing is blushing furiously down at her, his smile growing flustered as he hurriedly averts his gaze. "It isn't the sort of thing I notice about myself," he murmurs, much preferring the feel of her fingers against his cheek than the sudden compliment (though he does enjoy that too, even if he can't admit it yet).
She shifts away from him and before Finn has a chance to get up or let old conventions get the better of him, she's back snug against his side. And he remembers the last time this had happened - and nurse Milligan, actually - the Spyglass narrowing his eyes only half playfully up at the ceiling, even as his arms come to wrap around Tobi in a way that feels far too comfortable to be real. "I wouldn't count on it," he mutters, his cheek lolling against her curls. "I bet she was at the door with a glass pressed to it, to hear better."
10-20-2021, 09:28 PM (This post was last modified: 10-20-2021, 09:29 PM by October.)
please don't ever become a stranger whose laugh I could recognize anywhere
"I know it isn't. Maybe I should tell you more often then." Tobi whispers, a touch wickedly, if only so that he knows she's teasing. But then, his brains were post-orgasm where hers were not, and so it's with a clearer mind that she adds: "Or not. But you are. I like how you look." Hoping that clarification and reassurance will do, Tobi strains her face toward his to press her lips against his cheek, before sinking down gratefully into his arms.
"Eww, Finn." Tobi huffs scoldingly, though she's grinning even as her toes curl in revulsion. "Don't, or I'll have to get up and check." The doctor complains with a laugh, though comfortable as she was, even if Nurse Milligan did burst in, she probably wouldn't move.
"So..." Raising her eyebrows as she focuses on the skin of Finn's chest, her fingers draw unsymmetrical circles as she pulls in a breath. "..is..this just a yearly thing we're going to do, or..." Tobi's expression as she glances up at Finn is one of nervous excitement, and tentative understanding. Yes or no, she'll understand, and assuming that Finn does make it home from the Peepholes, this is probably a conversation worth at least trying to have.
"You do...?" Somehow Finn manages to glance back at her, his smile softening enough that the dimple not covered by her hand is on full display. "I like how you look as well." And despite the social conventions that Finn knows, he isn't just saying it to reciprocate. He does like how Tobi looks, and his hand gently wanders down the length of her back and along the thigh draped across him as if to prove it.
Snickering to himself but holding her a touch closer, he shakes his head. "Don't do that - what will you do if she is there?" he wonders; it's true that the endorphins ravaging his system are responsible for his playful elation, but it doesn't matter surely?
He's almost let his eyes slip shut when Tobi raises an annoyingly valid point, and this is usually the part when the shutters come slamming down. But this time Finn shifts to look at her properly, the Spyglass furrowing his brow and leaning in suddenly to kiss her; softly, slowly, as if to savour it. "I don't want it to be a yearly thing. I would do this again right now if I were able," he murmurs against her lips.
please don't ever become a stranger whose laugh I could recognize anywhere
Feeling a fresh flush of affection for Finn as his dimple hollows beneath her thumb, Tobi nods in earnest. As he redirects the compliment at her, the doctor can only blush and marvel at how easy and comfortable it feels to be completely naked and tangled against Finn. Humming a note of approval at his fingers on her skin, Tobi watches his hand move with a wayward sort of fascination.
Considering his question for a moment, Tobi narrows her eyes before huffing her defeat. "You're right. I'd probably just bark at her." She admits, and then imagines a memo on her desk the next morning requiring she wear a muzzle at work fOr thE SaFEty Of ThE StAfF.
Turning so that she's more on her stomach than her side now so that she can better peer up at Finn, Tobi's eyes search his in the seemingly long silence that had fallen between them. So when he kisses her, her eyes are predictably large and surprised, though she melts readily into the now-familiar sensation of his lips against hers. "Oh." She says, laughing softly against him. "From one extreme to the other, huh?" Sucking in on her cheeks as if to contain her smile, Tobi's eyes drop to his chest for a moment as her lips twitch. "Well...you know, Ever won't be home until sometime tomorrow, so.." So they had all night, even if that night wouldn't be demarcated by a rising sun.
They are both fascinated, it seems; Tobi by watching him and Finn in the act itself. He can't remember the last time he was an active participant in what constitutes as after-sex cuddling, the Spyglass enduring what's asked of him rather than enjoying himself. But it's not the case here, and Finn seems nearly overwhelmed by how easy it is. "Your bark is worse than your bite. I think that might be enough to scare her off."
He's not privy to the thoughts about memos and muzzles, and besides, he's more interested in kissing Tobi at the moment. At least until she murmurs against his lips, Finn drawing back and blushing right up to the tips of his ears. "Oh," he blurts, "I didn't mean to suggest-- I mean, we don't have to if you don't want to..." And really, Tobi ought to have expected this sudden attempt to backtrack.
please don't ever become a stranger whose laugh I could recognize anywhere
"The pencils on my desk would disagree." Tobi returns with an easy smile. Indeed, there were many chewed-through objects in her desk, its drawers, and the garbage nearby that would disagree about the compatible strength of her bite.
Watching as Finn wriggles back on his words has the doctor grinning and leaning down to sweetly kiss the corner of his mouth. "I like making you feel good, Finn." She whispers, as if saying the words softly might make them easier for the Spyglass to hear. "And I absolutely like it when you make me feel good, too." Which was just to say that yes, Tobi unequivocally wanted to. Tucking a bit of hair behind her ear before letting her fingers return to his jaw, Tobi shrugs softly in Finn's arms. "I like how it feels when you touch me, and I like...how I feel being touched by you." Maybe that didn't make sense, but then, maybe Tobi was saying it more for her benefit than his at this point. His arms around her and his hands against her skin made her feel seen and safe in a way she hadn't realized was possible.
Sliding down slightly, her lips humming over his heart, Tobi tilts her head that she might listen to the beating of his heart. "We could shower off if you want." She suggests. " Or stay here, like this."
I used to think that I was bold, I used to think love would be fun
Finn wishes he was still able to think about the pencils on Tobi's desk, but he's at risk of spiralling into himself, and only the touch of her lips draws him back from the precipice. He blinks down at her, not returning the kiss as if afraid she might taste the doubts on his tongue, but as she begins to speak, her reassurances turn him back from stone and into a man. His smile might only be faint, but it's as honest as they come, and he nods his understanding (as much as he can, at least).
Tobi settles against his chest and the Spyglass lets out a slow breath he doesn't realise he's been holding, his fingers stroking back up the length of her spine so they can tease through her dark curls. "I would like to stay here," he decides. He's worried that if he moves it might break this spell they've fallen under, and he's desperate to let it last for as long as possible. "Though maybe we should lay in bed properly..."
please don't ever become a stranger whose laugh I could recognize anywhere
Something about wanting to lay in bed properly has Tobi chuckling against Finn, adoringly bemused. Having dealt with enough patients who had (or had as a symptom) the sort of OCD ritualistic behaviours that Finn did, the doctor was more than happy to oblige his request no matter how comfortable she was. 'Okay. Up you get, then.' Chastizing herself for wanting to be so girlishly clingy, Tobi resists the urge to keep herself wound around Finn as they shift. Not unlike the Spyglass, Tobi is worried that too much movement, too much change, will obscure the surprising path they've found themselves on. Unlike Finn though, Tobi is pragmatic enough to know that if something as simple as a shift of position is enough to break what they've found here, that it wouldn't have lasted anyway. Holding tightly onto it is as liable to make it break as moving.
Both comforted and troubled by her thoughts, Tobi pushes herself up onto one elbow and tucks her leg back underneath herself so that Finn was free to correct their positions. Waiting for him to settle before re-adhering herself to his side, the doctor instead tilts her head softly with a patient smile on her lips. "Better?"
I used to think that I was bold, I used to think love would be fun
"Alright." Even though he has been the one to suggest it, it takes Finn a surprising amount of time to shift enough for them to reposition. His curls are a mess and he moves sluggishly, trying to stifle a yawn behind the back of his hand (it's absolutely not because he finds Tobi boring, and he'd say as much if he weren't so busy with the act itself), but in the end he does slouch back down amongst the pillows.
Sinking comfortably into the bed, Tobi is a welcome presence against his side, and the warmth of her skin chases away the chill of Longnight that seems to sink into the walls of the Tower. "Much better," he tells her, smiling to himself and letting his arm wind around her once again. "When I get back," he begins, because it's nicer to think about coming back than it is about going, "would you like to go out somewhere? With me?"
please don't ever become a stranger whose laugh I could recognize anywhere
Curling herself around the curves of his torso and allowing her hand to slide back across his chest, Tobi finds herself shocking nervous now that they're in bed the right way. Crosswise on the mattress had been a result of where their emotions had taken them, but here like this? This was where they slept each night, though never once had they found themselves half as close as they were now.
"We go out lots of places." Tobi replies with a smile, knowing she's being unfairly teasing. As if in contrition, she lightly kisses Finn's chest before nodding against him. "I assume you mean out-out." She clarifies. "In which case...yes, I would like that." Butterflies rise to the back of Tobi's throat, and against the shivers of girlish joy she feels at being asked out by Finn, she can only smile. 'Maybe it could even be out of Stormbreak? There's so much of the world I haven't seen."
I used to think that I was bold, I used to think love would be fun
In contrast, Finn feels very comfortable indeed as they curl up together properly in bed. Perhaps he's got the post-sex haze to thank for it, or perhaps Tobi has just unlocked some part of him that has been sleeping until now, but as he shifts to nestle further against the pillows, he finds that his mind has remained mostly blank and sluggish. And he likes it. "What is out-out?" he asks softly. "I was talking about a date." Because obviously Finn is only able to be blunt even when he is being sweet.
And assuming that Tobi knows that as well, he smiles down at her to hear that it's a yes in reply, the Spyglass nodding at the suggestion. "Would you like to go to Torchline, or the Greatwood?" he asks. "Skyships will take us to both places."
please don't ever become a stranger whose laugh I could recognize anywhere
'That's what out-out means. A date.' Tobi says helpfully, her heart suddenly in her throat as if to make room for more butterflies. Surprised at Finn's suggestions though given Skyships as the mode of transportation she really shouldn't be, Tobi hums a low note to indicate she's thinking. The Greatwood held Remi Taliesin, and while she hadn't heard Finn worry about him lately, wasn't keen on seeing. Reasons for avoiding Torchline were incredibly obvious. But other places, beyond the reach of Skyships? Finn had been forced to rescue Tobi from the desert once, and though there were fabled Hotsprings in the Climb, Cian had bloodied Finn's thoughts with whatever he had made to witness there. The Oerwoud was where the Spyglass was about to set off to, which really left only King's End, the Feverlands, or Halo as places untarnished by Finn's past. None of which held any real interest for the doctor.
"Mmmm...The Greatwood." She decides. It was large enough that they could surely avoid one demigod. "I'd quite like to see some of the waterfalls." Though she hasn't realized it, Tobi's finger has begun to trace patterns that look dangerously like hearts on Finn's skin as she sinks bonelessly into his embrace. A poet in another world—the one that held the mountain their son was named after—once said, "If you want love, just pick someone and love them". So it was that in that moment, with the steady beat of Finn's heart threatening to lull her to sleep, that October Hart made the choice to love Finn, instead of waiting to fall in love with him. And maybe, just maybe, that was better.
