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!
With a mouth suddenly dry from nerves, Finn can't help but concede that Tobi is right about efficiency. "I... uh, yes. It is," he murmurs with a nod, and though he doesn't seem to quite know where to look when it comes to the doctor, Finn (naturally) has none of the same kind of hang ups about his own body. It's precisely because he likes Tobi that it makes his stomach flutter to think of them changing in the same room, and he quickly goes to collect a soft grey shirt and a pair of pants that he can slip into himself.
"Was there anywhere you would like to go in particular, for breakfast?" he asks. "There is a small bistro on the outskirts of the Silk Houses that opens early." He knows this, of course, because he used to frequent it quite often in his days at Molly's. The coffee there is strong and the breakfast is fresh.
Shrugging out of Finn's shirt with a bit more modesty than one might expect, Tobi tugs on an undershirt (#smallboobsforthewin) instead of a bra, before reaching for her shirt. "No, I hadn't really thought past being hungry." The doctor admits as she gently pulls the shirt over her head. Still just in her underwear now but feeling a good deal more covered, Tobi shakes out the pants she plans on wearing before stepping one leg into them. "That sounds nice." She doesn't ask Finn if he's sure about going near the Silk Houses, because it had been his suggestion. Despite how fragile the Spyglass both could and couldn't be, Tobi thought it was important to take him at his word wherever possible.
Brushing her teeth and applying a quick layer of mascara, Tobi wraps a mustard-coloured scarf around her neck to ward off whatever early morning chill there might be in the air. Letting Finn lead them out of the Tower and toward the winding streets of the Silk Houses, Tobi buries her nose beneath the folds of her scarf for a moment as she forms the question she'd been wondering how to ask Finn. "Can I ask you something?" She says, before immediately laughing and responding to herself in a poor imitation of Finn's voice: "You just did, Doctor Hart." Giving her head a slight shake, Tobi tries again. "I'd...been thinking about how hard it is to travel around for me. With Cian sending you all over the world and with Ever staying away so often, I realized that I'm at the mercy of the skyboats if I ever need to get somewhere quickly. As far as I can see, I have two options...I could speak to Rae or Frey about a new shift. Something flighted. Or I could ask Cian for a more active role in the Order..." Which would qualify her for a certain ring.
Tobi has no suggestions of her own or objections to the bistro, so Finn considers the matter settled as he gets himself dressed. He forgoes the mascara in lieu of washing his face and making sure his stubble isn't out of control, and he pulls on his coat as they meander out of the Tower together. He doesn't have a scarf or gloves, but - as a conscious choice, this time - he does reach out to offer his hand for Tobi to take.
She's asking a question and answering it (and then asking another one too) before he can do much about it, the Spyglass raising his eyebrows as he works to try and figure out what she's actually saying. "Oh," he says, once she's finally finished, and his stormy eyes are quite clearly troubled. "The Capitol Compass is very helpful," he murmurs. "But you would be at Cian's mercy, even more than you are now. I cannot say I would want that for you, but..." Smiling a touch, he gazes out at the path ahead. "You are a strong person. You know what is best for you."
Giving his hand a warm squeeze as they walk, Tobi shrugs her shoulders unhelpfully. "I don't know what's best right now though. That's why I'm asking you." She says softly. "You're right that going to the gods comes with far fewer strings attached, but unless they see fit to grant me with another—" Tobi's voice lowers drastically now, "—mythical shift—I would still be quite slow as a bird. The compass would be much faster, but comes with Cian's oversight, as you've mentioned."
The streets are beginning to come to life as travelling stalls are set up for the day, and Tobi is grateful for the noise so that their conversation won't be so easily overheard. "But I've never really seen Cian interfere with Falke. He's been sent out a few times, but it's always just routine medical stuff." Shaking her head slightly in a way which causes her messy ponytail to sway against her neck and scarf, the doctor sighs. "I've just been feeling a bit...unprepared lately, I think."
"He would interfere with you," Finn says softly, sounding both sad and certain about that. "Not because of your job - because of me." For reasons that the Spyglass understands and doesn't, Cian keeps him on a particularly tight leash, and enjoys exploiting his personal relationships more than any other members of the Order. It's something that he's come to expect and not question, but he can't say he'd feel the same if the Eye started using Tobi in the same way.
Squeezing her hand back, they turn down a skinny lane where the lanterns are still garishly coloured, and up ahead the smell of coffee already twists through the air. The bistro is located on the corner between two streets, a large and welcoming place, and though the clientele are probably more scantily clad than most, it treats all customers the same. "But it would certainly help you to be more prepared." Of that there is no doubt. "What would you prefer to do? I would support you either way."
"Do you really think so?" Turning to regard the Spyglass now, with dark eyes and furrowed brows, Tobi is on the verge of suggesting that something be done about Cian's overstepping if that was really the case. "Besides, I'm a doctor. I'm not like you, or the others, even." Tobi did not come equipped with special items that let her be more than she was. She was just...October. A healer. Nothing more than that.
Having no lewd or unsavoury memories of the Silk Houses, Tobi is able to appreciate the morning smells and sounds as nothing more than what they were. Stepping inside the bistro and noticing only tangentially what the typically level of dress was, the doctor keeps her thoughts to herself until they're settled and seated.
Unwrapping her scarf and setting it on the corner of the table, Tobi drums her fingers on her menu. "I'm not sure. It's hard to know what I prefer since I don't have any idea what either option would be like, really." Her dark eyes drift over the offerings of the bistro written in a font that's too cursive to be easily legible, but she isn't really seeing anything more than scribbles anyway. "Do you ever see yourself not being in the Order?"
"You are better than most of us," Finn says easily, without even much realising he has spoken the words. "But yes, I do think so. He would use you to ensure that my job got done. He has done it before." Has he always been so open about this? Absolutely not - but things have changed, obviously, and with everything he has to (potentially) look forward to with Cian after this latest debacle, Finn doesn't want Tobi to walk into this with her eyes closed.
For the Spyglass it's as though the memories of this place are dusted with sugar. They are far enough away and innocuous enough for the most part that he barely considers them. Indeed, it's the food and the coffee he remembers most of all, unbuttoning his coat and shrugging out of it as he gazes over the menu.
"No, I don't think so," he says softly, about the Order. "Whether I agree with it all the time or not, it saved my life. I don't know what I would do with myself if I weren't the Spyglass," he admits, though that's not necessarily helpful for Tobi to make her decision. The organisation provided Finn with purpose, a strict routine, and a way out of his old life. He has never truly considered anything more, other than the speakeasy he'd once dreamed about. But that's barely even a dream, at this point.
Tobi's eyebrows raise slightly at this sudden (and probably not-true-at-all compliment). "But...you always do do your job." The doctor points out, before pausing. "Don't you?" For all their closeness over the past year, there was still so much to Finn that the doctor could hardly even guess at.
Trying not to be too distracted by the way the soft grey of Finn's shirt compliments the brewing storm-blue of his eyes, Tobi tries to blink her menu into focus. Immediately she finds herself overwhelmed by the food options, thinking that they all sound absolutely incredible. "Mmm." The doctor hums noncommittally. She'd once felt the same way about the Order and her duty to Stormbreak. Only...that had been before she'd had a son. Now her loyalties felt as though they were only tenuously tied to Cian and his plans. "Even...if it gets you killed?" She wonders, looking down at her menu, not wanting to know the answer but needing to, just the same.
"Yes, as best I can anyway," Finn mumbles, furrowing his brow down at the menu. "Perhaps he just enjoys tormenting me." It wouldn't surprise the Spyglass to learn as much, and almost on autopilot, he selects a black coffee sweetened with honey and an almond pastry - to begin, anyway. He still needs time for the rest of himself to wake up.
Folding his menu and placing it back down on the table, Finn shakes his head softly, though it isn't exactly a no. "Lots of things can get you killed," he murmurs. "I cannot guarantee that one of my assignments won't end that way. But I would not accept anything I knew was walking into certain death, if that is what you mean." Like Tobi, he has too much to live for now.
'Well, you know what they say about bullies.' Tobi offers, though for the life of her she can't see what about Finn is so bullyable in Cian's eyes. Out of all of them the Spyglass is the most steadfast and loyal; Finn was an asset that the Eye would be a fool to misuse. Ordering for herself an iced coffee and toast, Tobi interlaces her fingers around her glass of water to keep her hands from fidgeting.
"I think that's what I was asking." The doctor admits with a slow nod. "If you would give your life, for the Order." She clarifies with a bashful shrug, before her expression grows confused as her eyes scan her menu. 'Does...' Picking it up and turning it to the side, and then flipping it over entirely, Tobi raises a brow. "..does the border look like...breasts to you?" She wonders in a stage-whisper. The more she looked, the more nipples she thought she saw. And...was the background butts?
"I... no, I am afraid I don't know," Finn admits, raising his eyes from the closed menu to Tobi's face, wondering what it was, exactly, that they said about bullies. And who were they, anyway? Shifting in his seat, he can't help but notice the fan of her eyelashes as she examines the menu, or the way her fingers laced together leave condensation around the edge of her water glass. And when she speaks again, it is comparatively easy to give clarification.
"No, then," he murmurs. "I suppose my answer is no. I would not give my life for the Order." Not on purpose. If the worst should happen when he is away on an assignment then there is little Finn can do about it. But to walk into death on behalf of the Order? He's not sure he's that man any more.
His stormy blues flicker down to their boob-and-butt menu, and rather than becoming flustered, Finn cocks his head to the side. "Perhaps if you are lucky, there will be similar artistry on your iced coffee," he remarks in a dry tone that is undoubtedly humour when it comes to the Spyglass.
And indeed, when their drinks, toast and pastry arrives, the cream on Tobi's iced coffee has been crafted suspiciously into the peak of a breast, with cocoa dusting for a nipple.
"That if you don't let them see that you're bothered by their bullying, they give up." Tobi replies with a smile. "That, or it's usually a sign they have a crush on you. In children, it is, anyway." She adds with a tittery laugh.
Dramatically arching an eyebrow so high that it disappears beneath the thick curtain of her bangs, Tobi continues to twist her menu about to spy even more hidden bits of artistry. "I'm impressed. The anatomy is actually pretty good." She hums approvingly, looking at what she thought was just a drawing of flowers in a vase previously, but which is actually a stylized assortment of fallopian tubes.
Looking down into her drink with a huff of amusement, Tobi reaches her finger in to scoop out the cocoa nipple. She might have done so with her tongue had she not been worried about what Finn's reaction might have been. Her fingertip was likely just as salacious, but she supposed that couldn't be helped. 'Mmmmmmm.' Sucking the cream from her finger, there's a bout of filthy laughter from one of the nearby tables, where a man whispers something that sounds like "-bet u wish urs were that plucky, ey love?" under his breath.
"I sincerely hope that is not the case," Finn says quietly, and there might be the slightest scrunch of his nose that gives away his opinion regarding Cian and any crush he might have on the Spyglass. "But what you say does have merit, I suppose. I shall have to do my best to ignore it. Either that, or I will have to stop wearing such fetching heels when I visit his office." Now he is smiling into his coffee, giving it a gentle stir to ensure that the honey is properly dissolved and turning his attention to the pastry.
Which is just about when the dirty laughter and salacious remarks worm their away across from the table nearby. Finn might have done a number of things in that moment, and perhaps it's the location that makes his reaction what it is, but he merely gazes across at the man, gives him a slow, yet dismissive rake up and down with his eyes, and turns back to Tobi.
Tobi simply stares for a moment, before snorting laughter that's so abrupt she instinctively covers her mouth with her hands. The idea of Finn wearing heels (and doing so completely seriously), has her wanting to reach over kiss him for his foolishness. Instead, she just lets her hand fall away, beaming at him. "Maybe you could bring your attack dog with you next time. Or tell him I've picked up fleas somewhere. That would surely make him keep his distance."
Tobi, used to catcalls and rude remarks about her body simply because she was a woman, takes little notice of the men's remarks other than to mentally roll her eyes. As Finn gives the table an optical dressing-down, one of the men nudges the other and smirks at Finn. "Weren't talkin' to you, but you come to the right place if you're finding yerself unsatisfied." Making boob-squeezing-gestures with both of his hands and looking absolutely like the sort of man who'd touch a woman exactly in that matter. And, given his proximity to Molly's had probably done precisely that last night or even early this morning.
Stretching out her foot beneath the table, Tobi taps the toe of her shoe against Finn's. "Hey. It's fine." She whispers gently.
