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!
Everest is having a sleepover at Mateo's. This, Finn has carefully engineered via the very sneaky act of asking if that's okay, and voila, it is happening. And so when October returns home that evening, it will be to the scent of frankincense and bergamot permeating the air of their apartment. It will be to the low light of candles and closed curtains, even if the windows are open to ensure appropriate ventilation. (Finn is not a monster).
On a clothes hanger on one of the doorframes is a light robe with a note pinned to it in unmistakeably neat handwriting: Please put me on.
As for where to go after that? Rose petals cause far too much stress for the ex-Spygass, and so it's a row of tealights that will direct Tobi towards their bedroom, the door ajar to welcome her inside.
i know it'll break me—so go slow, i wanna daydream
It's good that the windows have been opened because the rush of scents that Tobi's delicate nose is assaulted by as she walks in might otherwise have had her gagging. As it is, Finn has managed to keep things just on the inside of unbearable, not that it's his fault that his girlfriend literally has the nose of a hound.
'Finn..?' She calls out, frowning down at the tealights burning a trail down the hall. With a crooked smile weighed down only by the strangeness of whatever this was, the doctor pauses in front of the robe, running her finger first along the card and then the soft material. Please. Only Finn would ensure he was polite in his mysterious instructions.
Not wanting to be too presumptuous (there were nice smells and tealights yes, but with Finn you never knew), Tobi pauses in front of the bathroom to softly call out, "Just the robe, or...?" Whatever instructions followed, the doctor would comply before gently edging open their door with a sunny if not uncertain smile.
The sound of the door has let Finn know that October is home, at least, and as her voice trills out, he wonders whether he ought to reply given that this is supposed to be a surprise. Should he have been more prescriptive with his note? "If you wouldn't mind," he calls out in the end, because ignoring her is worse than ruining any of the rOmANtIC aNTiCIpAtiOn.
Either way, when Tobi does finally move into the bedroom, it will be to see their bed arranged with the covers drawn back and the pillows stacked just so. Finn is there too, of course, having been warming what looks like massage oil in a bowl of hot water (hence the myriad of scents). Glancing up, he offers a lopsided smile to the doctor that doesn't mean to be charming but is, and nods towards the dresser.
On the list she's written, he's carefully drawn a line through massage. "Welcome home," he murmurs, drying his hands and closing the distance between them to kiss her cheek.
i know it'll break me—so go slow, i wanna daydream
No, Tobi absolutely wouldn't mind. With anyone else you'd absolutely know what to expect with tealights and just the robe if you wouldn't mind, but with Finn (and let's be honest, with her as well), this might just be an anatomy lesson.
With her fingers playing a touch nervously with the hem of the robe, her eyelashes flutter a few times as she takes in the muted lights, the bed, the bowl, and most importantly, Finn. "Oh." Tobi chuckles before biting down on the sound as if the romantic atmosphere of the room was something not to be disturbed by loud noises. "Thanks." She murmurs before glancing around the room as if only just noticing all the little touches suggesting what he has up his sleeve.
08-03-2022, 08:54 PM (This post was last modified: 08-03-2022, 08:54 PM by Finn.)
finn
it always feels more quiet in the dark
It isn't very often at all that Finn is the one who thinks that his intentions ought to be obvious by the everything in the room, and so it takes a moment after Tobi's question hits the air where he's glancing between the bed, the list and back to her, trying to decide if it's rhetorical. Or did she mean something else by massage? Oh gods, what if he's gotten this all wrong?
"Well," he says slowly, fussing with the sleeves he's rolled up his forearms, "it has been some time since I have done this, but I think I remember how." Because of course his services as part of one of the boys at Mother Molly's included sensual, intimate massage. The difference now, of course, being that he's doing it willingly, and for someone he loves and is attracted to.
"If you take off the robe and lay down on the bed, I can start. If - if that's what you want to do?" Who doesn't love a bit of uncertainty to ruin the mood?
08-03-2022, 09:00 PM (This post was last modified: 08-03-2022, 09:07 PM by October.)
i know it'll break me—so go slow, i wanna daydream
It's all rather adorable, and honestly, Tobi isn't actively trying to scramble Finn's brain, but you have to admit that clarifying things with him is usually the safest bet. With a stare that's as patient as it is amused, Tobi leans forward to briefly halt Finn's fussing that she might press a kiss to the side of his mouth. "Thank you." She whispers, and though being explicit might ruin the mood, such is the man she's dating. "For trying. For this."
Not quite ready to have to backtrack in case a joke of, Take the robe off? I just put it on was poorly received, Tobi merely nods. Turning, and finding herself suddenly unsure if any part of this was going to be appealing to Finn or if he was merely going through the motions, Tobi lets the robe slip first from her shoulders to her lower back, before stripping it off slowly. Shooting him a look over her shoulder, Tobi reaches up to adjust her ponytail that it might stay out of their way. If she's inadvertently tilted her hips and tensed her stomach muscles to make her silhouette look even better, what of it?
Sliding onto the bed face down, Tobi casts a rather doe-eyed stare up at Finn. "Like this?" She wonders with a small smile. "You're the one in charge."
Her kiss does a lot and then some to prevent the inevitable implosion of his thoughts, Finn releasing a long, soft sigh and letting his shoulders relax. Smiling back at her, he nods and steps back to give her room to undress. "Do not thank me yet," he says, a rogue dimple appearing on one of his cheeks with his smirk. "It might still be terrible."
Still, even if his hands aren't as mAgICaL as they used to be on the massage front, he's sure they can salvage the situation if the way Tobi chooses to slip out of her robe is anything to go by. Feeling his cheeks heat up and his collar feel a little tighter than it ought to, he almost averts his eyes before reminding himself he doesn't need to, watching as she sidles onto the bed.
"Like that," he confirms with a gentle nod. "If you need to move anything to be more comfortable, go ahead. But if not, you just need to close your eyes." Granted, a lot of his previous clients didn't do that, and they were also a lot more gropy and he was wearing silks instead of a shirt, but hey, that's why this is good and that was not.
Regardless, once Tobi is settled, she'll hear Finn pottering about for a few moments, before hands made hot and slick by citrus scented oil come gliding over her upper back in firm, sensual strokes; his thumbs press and roll along her shoulder blades, seeking out knots and teasing them into submission. "Is this alright? I'm not hurting you?"
i know it'll break me—so go slow, i wanna daydream
"Well," Tobi murmurs with an equally roguish smile. "You'll notice the list doesn't say that it has to be a good massage."
Murmuring her understanding, Tobi allows herself a last lingering look up at Finn before closing her eyes. For a moment it's hard not to laugh if only because Finn was being so Finn about the whole thing, and yet this was world's away from the man she'd slept with on her office floor when they'd accidentally gotten pregnant.
Regardless, any and all laughter disappears at the touch of his hands. Moaning indulgently, Tobi gives her head a small shake. "No, that feels amazing." She answers as parts of her body begin to relax that she hadn't even realized were tight.
Although she's absolutely correct and she hasn't clarified what kind of massage she'd like, Finn still gets the impression that she'd likely not be pleased if it did turn out to be a bad one. Luckily, it turns out that it isn't going to go that way, and although Tobi won't see it, a smile does curl across the ex-Spyglass's lips to hear her praise. "Good," he murmurs. "If that changes or if you want to stop, let me know."
But if that isn't the case, Finn's ministrations (and they are thorough) will travel along the doctor's shoulders and up against the back of her neck, sneaking into her hairline before plunging down the length of her spine. His fingers press heart shaped patterns against her lower back, sweeping over her hips and further still to the backs of her thighs.
"You're really tense," he notes quietly, sounding surprised by it, if not carefully polite. Because tense or not, she's also gorgeous and naked and he's touching her all over, and there's no way in Caido that it isn't going to have an effect on him.
i know it'll break me—so go slow, i wanna daydream
'Mmm, never.' She says, smiling into one of the pillows. Tobi was not just a caretaker at heart, but a dog as well, and she would never get tired of touches.
As we likely all do during a massage, Tobi tries to appreciate each and every single movement of Finn's hands if only because she knows it will be over too soon. (Even were it to go on for hours, she'd still greedily want more). "Mmm, I was in surgery today." Aka I was bent over for hours unable to stretch or move, she explains. "You have no idea how good that feels." And indeed he might not. Tobi would have doubted if the men and women who pawed at him at Molly's had cared much about how their hands felt on him as much as how they cared about how having him beneath them felt.
Taking in small sips of air, inadvertently holding them only to puff them out in small moans, Tobi rolls her shoulders slightly, enjoying the way her body felt so much more capable now that her muscles weren't so tightly coiled.
"I know a doctor," Finn says softly, as he continues to work along her thighs and up once more, "who would say that you ought to look after yourself, especially if you are in that sort of job. She would probably say that regular massage can be of great physical benefit, as well as helping to relax you after a stressful day." His smile is audible in his voice even as his touches pick back up along her back.
"You should consider her advice," he continues. "She is the smartest woman I know. And very beautiful, too." It's entirely possible that the mere act of doing something so similar to his time at Molly's has unlocked some accompanying behaviours, because rarely has Finn sounded quite this confident in a conversation.
i know it'll break me—so go slow, i wanna daydream
Moaning softly and somehow sweetly as Finn's fingers and palms push into the soft (but more or less appropriately toned) muscles of her upper thighs, Tobi can feel herself wanting to tense up if only so that his hands will be forced to continue their work. "Is that so?" She muses, fighting the urge to arch her back as his ministrations move higher. She isn't a cat, after all.
"Now Finn." It's Tobi's turn to to coat her words in a smile as she peeps open one eye. "You have no conducted a single test against my IQ compared to the other women you know. I could be disappointingly below average." If the phrasing sounds awkward, it's because the words are Finn's and not hers, but gods how it fills Tobi with delight to throw his arguments back at him in this way.
Reaching out a hand, Tobi gropes in the dark for whatever bit of Finn happens to be closest so that she can give him a reassuring squeeze that he might know she was kidding.
The bit of Finn that happens to be closest is his forearm, which is probably a good thing because his hands are slick with oil. Even so, the muscles are tense with how they are working on Tobi's shoulders, and he lets out a soft laugh as she parrots his own words back at him. "Bold of you to assume that you were the doctor I was talking about," he murmurs, though of course they both know that she absolutely is that doctor.
"Regardless, I believe the most pertinent parts of what I said came before the remarks about intelligence." Hopefully she is seeing the physical and mental benefit of it, though honestly, the ex-Spyglass's mind is trying very hard to stay out of the gutter at this point. A difficult thing as his hands glide back over her curves to work on the tight muscles in her lower legs.
i know it'll break me—so go slow, i wanna daydream
Finn is strong and sweet and surprising in ways Tobi wouldn't have ever imagined he'd be when first they'd kissed in her office. Back then she'd simply been a girl with a crush on one of her patients. To think it had bloomed into this was something she doubted either of them had expected. Still, as her fingers softly squeezed the muscles of her forearm, she isn't thinking at all about the strange trajectory of their relationship. The only thing on her mind is how relaxed she feels and how gods damned attractive Finn is.
"I suppose I'm bold, then." Tobi hums in response. 'You might have to remind me of those pertinent parts after this. My mind is a bit distracted right now." Whether her hips rise slightly to encourage his hands higher or in response to the spreading warmth between her legs is not something Tobi is actively aware of. Instead her mind is stripping Finn of his clothes and he's blanketing her with his body. Perhaps that explains why her hands are suddenly clasping their sheets and her breathing has become a touch unsteady.
