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!
His smile stays entirely in place to hear Tobi laugh - he hasn't realised it before now, but he very much enjoys the sound of it. "Perhaps I will. Though it does mean I will just receive strongly worded instructions in a letter rather than in person." Nevertheless, that is probably easier to handle for the Spyglass, and there won't be as much bullying in ink (he assumes).
The tap of Tobi's shoe against his own comes about at the same time as the rude remarks from the men at the table, and Finn has a choice to make. He does not think it's fine, as evidenced by the tight lipped way he sips at his coffee, but at the same time, he is not the type to make a scene on someone else's behalf. "If you are sure," he murmurs, picking at his pastry and doing his best to let it go.
'I could always read you your strongly worded instructions in my best narrator voice." Tobi offers, waggling her eyebrows. This voice would undoubtedly be from the collection used when Ever was young and Tobi read him stories before bed. Terrible at accents but full of enthusiasm, no doubt the Eye's sarcasm and veiled threats would sound far less biting if Tobi was reading them as a dragon, or tavern-wench.
"Remember what I said about ignoring bullies?" Tobi whispers with a smile before taking a large sip of her coffee. Besides, it was perfectly reasonable to think that she wasn't in possession of Finn's ideal body type, but as there wasn't anything she could do about it, the doctor didn't dwell on it.
'Mhmmm. I have a surgery scheduled for this afternoon. It should be fairly straightforward. What about you? Just waiting for the demigods to return, or do you have any other leads to follow up?"
"I would like that, I think," Finn murmurs, and once it becomes clear that the table across the way isn't going to be giving them any more grief, he seems to relax a bit, digging into his breakfast and sipping at his coffee. "Or perhaps I will let Ever practice his reading, and he can read them to me," he suggests, slowly seeming more awake and alert as the coffee goes down. Tapping his toe against her shoe again, he sighs and nods.
"You're right. Well, at least now I have evidence that it works as well," he reasons, finishing up his pastry and glancing back to the doctor as she walks him through her day. "Would you like me to bring you some lunch?" he offers. "I have a few pieces of research I can work on while I wait for the demigods to return, but they can be done in my own time at the office. I can be there when Everest gets home, too."
Feeling a small shiver of electricity rise up her leg as Finn taps his foot against hers—the gesture so simple and yet so sweet at the same time, especially coming from Finn—Tobi smiles into the last remaining dregs of her iced coffee.
The offer of lunch is just as unexpected and welcome and Tobi wonders in the back of her mind if there's some lingering magic from Frey in the walls of the Bistro that has Finn loosening up. "I'd really like that. It beats eating whatever granola bars I've left in my desk." Thoughts of Ever coming home are bittersweet; the doctor is eager to see her son, but another night alone with Finn would be nice too. "He should be on the late afternoon skyship from the Greatwood." Having heard nothing of the contrary from either Ever or Remi, that was the plan she'd discussed with her son before he'd left.
"I met with Noah when he first arrived." Tobi segues. "To do his preliminary exams and bloodwork. He seems as though he has a good head on his shoulders." A good number of other things too the doctor had noticed before things had grown a degree or two more serious between she and the Spyglass again. "I'm sure he and Ronin won't be long."
"I will make sure that you get something better than granola bars," Finn assures her, smiling into the last sips of his own coffee before finishing it up and setting the cup down. "I'll pick up something for Ever to eat as well, for when he gets off the skyboat." It is probably of no surprise to anyone that Finn takes his role as a father very seriously, and things are as equal as they can be on the parenting front.
Talk of Noah brings his attention back to the here and now rather than later on in the day, and he huffs out a soft sigh and nods his head. "He must have had good reason for going with Ronin right away, rather than waiting until it was time to leave as a group," he says, having found the Sentinel to be similarly level headed. "So I suppose I'll just have to wait... Do you want to order anything else?"
'My hero.' Tobi gushes, knowing Finn would likely scoff or argue with her and not minding one bit. From bringing her food to making sure their son is appropriately fed and received after his trek, there's almost nothing more the doctor could think of that she'd ask of Finn.
'Who else was meant to go? The same group as last time?' Tobi asks, before picking up her menu and turning without hesitation toward the breakfast deserts. Her mouth begins to water despite her stomach's protests that overly sweet things probably aren't the best choice post-hangover and pre-surgery. 'Will you share something with me?' She wonders, eyeing a sponge cake with fruit and whipped cream. (I'll share more than that with you, with men at the table one over cackle).
"Hardly," Finn protests as expected, though he is smiling at being called someone's hero. Unsurprisingly, it's not a title that gets passed to the Spyglass all that often. Stacking their plates and cups at the end of the table where they can be picked up, he tilts his head as she ponders over the menu. "No, I don't think the Taliesins were going to be involved," he murmurs, not sounding as though he particularly wants to talk about it, but that is often what the Lullaby brings out in him.
"I met with Remi and told him I didn't expect him to go. So it's strange that all of a sudden..." He shakes his head. "They must have changed their minds, I suppose."
His lips part to suggest the fruit cake she's been eyeing when the men pipe up again, and Finn's jaw feathers to stop himself from responding. "Sure," he murmurs. "Do you want to get this?"
"Well it's a good thing I'm a better judge of heroes than you are." Tobi says before flashing Finn a bright smile.
"Taliesins?" Frowning and easily ignoring the commentary of the table one over, Tobi shakes her head. "Or just one of them?" Ronin surely was going to be involved, and for all the surliness she'd heard about Remi, with a war on the horizon and his husband taking part, Tobi was actually surprised to hear that Remi was trying to distance himself from what she judged to be a fairly clear obligation as a demigod. 'So Remi went with them, then? I thought you said it was just Ronin and Noah who left?'
Tobi is already putting in her order when the two men rise to leave. It's unclear if they've bothered paying their tab or not. "See you around, ey?" The mouthier one says, and whether he's talking to Tobi or Finn isn't quite clear.
"I was only told about Ronin and Noah, probably because they are members of the Order," Finn says, carefully and without emotion. "But I feel as though Remi will be there, even if he said he didn't want to be involved. It isn't like them to do things separately, and I..." Sighing, and completely blanking the men as they leave by now (though the frustration in the set of his jaw says it all), he offers Tobi an awkward smile. "I'm sorry, could we change the subject...?"
Glancing over his shoulder to watch as the men make their departure (and Finn is definitely just making sure they are leaving and not noting down any details about their appearances and the direction they're going), he captures the attention of the waitress and orders the cake Tobi has been looking at. "I wonder if the dessert will be similarly themed," he murmurs, tapping at the menu.
"Of course." Tobi replies breezily, beaming at Finn. There wasn't a way which wouldn't come across as patronizing to tell him how proud she was of his ability to set boundaries—even with her—and so she merely smiled down into her menu while her foot tapped musically against his shoe.
Would the dessert be similarly themed? Oh Finn, you already know the answer.
The yellow sponge cake has been decorated to look like two penises forming a circle. The penis which is uncircumcised has a banana over it, while the circumcised penis as a strawberry at the top. Whipped cream and other berries make up the pubic hair, and though you wouldn't think so, the entire thing looks whimsical and delicious. "Guess that answers that." Tobi says with a laugh.
Whether intentionally or not, she adjusts the plate so that the penis that most resembles Finn's faces her, and begins to dig in.
