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!
Finn doesn't know how to dance (not in the kind of dances that Tobi would be used to doing, anyway), but he is undoubtedly charmed by the way her arms slip around his neck. Keeping her snug against his chest - and that is truly a sign that he loves her and that he enjoys their closeness - he gives her question the consideration it deserves. "I would want to know that it was coming to an end, but be given enough warning to prepare," he says slowly. "So the end of the season would work for me."
Stormy eyes drop to her shirt as she calls out the obvious, Finn nodding. "It is familiar and easy," he agrees. "Not just for me, but for Everest as well. It is all we have ever known." But she is right about the dangers associated with it. "The Greatwood is another good option, though. We have been there before, and so has Ever. There is a skyport, too."
when the night falls on you & you don't know what to do
Gazing up into Finn's stormy blue eyes, his hands around her and their tea forgotten, it would be easy for someone else to forget just who and what Finn was and is. For Tobi though, no number of steps forward will make her forget the smell of his sweat during detox, or the look of crazed success in his eyes when he'd slammed a door on his own hand to keep her close. So she won't be sloppy in this moment, but nor will she love him any less.
"I can understand that." She says of Finn's proposed pacing, of needing time to prepare. As for the rest of it? "Do you think it would be too much to include Ever in these discussions?" Tobi asks as her fingers release the curl she'd been twirling and instead begin to press on the warm chords of his neck instead. "To see if he has a preference for the Greatwood over Stormbreak? Or would that feel like too much given everything else?" And, because it can't go without saying, she adds: "There are dangers in the Greatwood too. For you, I mean. Would you even be comfortable going there?" Knowing nothing of Finn's dream-dinner with Remi, it's still Tobi's understanding more or less that the more distance between the look-alikes, the better.
Finn leans into the brush of her fingers as they tease away from his curls and down to his neck, his own hands as warm and secure as when he had first welcomed Tobi into his arms. "Before I would have suggested it was too much," he admits. "But now, I think as long as we make it clear that we want to know his thoughts - not that he is the one making the decision - he might appreciate it."
There are dangers in the Greatwood, but as well as the dream-dinner, Finn is reminded of a very angry doctor telling Remi Taliesin exactly where to go, his cheeks flushing pink at the memory of the aftermath of that confrontation. "I would be comfortable anywhere, as long as I was able to go with you," he says, because that's the truth, and Finn has no concept of how romantic that might sound.
"Except Torchline," he adds. "Or... no, maybe even Torchline. But I do not want to live close to the shore."
when the night falls on you & you don't know what to do
"Maybe we can let him know what we'd like to talk to him about so he has time to compose his response." And she does literally mean that, much as it makes her want to cry out in frustration. If this was Ever's way of coping, so be it. There were worse things he could be doing after all.
Stretching up on her toes, Tobi presses her lips softly against Finn's before the smile on them makes it such that she's helpless to do anything other than beam. "You have no idea how sweet that sounded." She says in a low voice that's somehow still bright with joy. Chuckling as Finn removes Torchline from the possibilities and then adds it back with a qualification, Tobi sinks back down and nods.
"Okay. In the morning we tell Ever we would like to discuss moving somewhere else, and that our top options are Stormbreak or the Greatwood with the possibility of inland-Torchline. We explain we would like to know his thoughts on a potential timeline as well." Pausing, Tobi forgets herself in the blue of Finn's eyes, and because it's late (or early, actually), she allows herself a moment of rest to simply enjoy being in the arms of the man she loves.
Finn opens his mouth as if to ask for clarification, before realising that Ever has been communicating via letters lately. "Yes," he says slowly, furrowing his brow. "I wonder why he has decided to write to us. Perhaps we can ask as well, and he might be able to compose a separate response." And he's about to continue, only to find October's lips against his own, the ex-Spyglass smiling against the kiss and holding her a touch closer.
"You are right," he says, "I don't." But that's the beauty of being with her; she doesn't judge him for the things he will never understand, and she loves him anyway. "That sounds like showing him how much we love him," he murmurs, which is to say yes, that absolutely sounds right. "Shall we take our tea and go and sit by the fire now? It might be getting a bit cold."
when the night falls on you & you don't know what to do
"We might want to tell him that if he doesn't want to explain that he doesn't have to. I don't want to make him feel pressured, especially if this is a way he feels he's keeping himself safe or protecting something." What that could be Tobi genuinely has no idea and if (when) she learns of the reason, she'll likely give herself a good mental smack for being so slow on the uptake.
"That sounds wonderful." Tobi agrees, of the fire and the cold tea. All she said she'd wanted in the first place was to stay close to Finn and despite how she thought this would go, he'd kept her just as she'd wanted to be.
Curled onto the couch, Tobi takes one of Finn's hands between both of hers and begins to softly tease at the muscles in his palm. Their conversation tapers off fairly quickly, and yet the silence is comfortable enough that Tobi eventually falls asleep in the crook of one of Finn's arms, where she happily snores and drools away the next few hours.
