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Post by Samedi on Apr 30, 2021 15:34:29 GMT -8
Gathering body cues was hard enough with those who wore a human face, and Gavin found himself unable to make heads or tails of the shifting affect.
"Lessons of caution must be balanced with the choking poison of inaction. Reminding twice-lost children of their hubris prevents the dream from being finally snuffed, yes. Thank you, Weiße Frau." The mask shifted, stopping short of 90 degrees as He regarded Gavin Graves, "The Ghul reveals himself! But- that is not the mask you wish to burden your fate with. I suppose one who weaves chaos with measured halves finds the stories tired and unrelatable. And yet here we are, drowning in legends that grip our throats. Moving your hand to the board is an interesting concept. Fearless," He hissed, mostly to Himself as He numerated.
"How do you remind them, shadow-thief?" He suddenly asked Rowan, sounding confused as if the answer didn't make sense in the moment.
Teeth split through shadow in an 'ah', as the Ogre listens to Bella.
"You see, I came here, wondering. But now I understand it was you on the phone. I this the relationship you refer to? The only people I consider my family in this century are those in a motley pledge or the blood of stolen descendants." The claws tick against the mask as He drums them idly, "The thrill of discovery- you're a scholar?"
There was a thick, rolling hum that rumbled through the tourist building.
"My advice to you, psychopomp, is take your Mantle as a warning. A friendly face among the Courts should not bless them with your touch and trust. The dead that rot beneath our feet would remind you of the violence wrought in faith without proof. You are a scientist of the Wyrd and the ephemeral. Vegas is a dangerous nest for the mind to delve. No ghosts here. Not unless you throw open their invitation. Ask the Dragon."
The King of Autumn actually shuddered, ice blooming along the edges of the wood and furniture as the shadows dipped.
"A lesson is needed. Everyone can benefit."
Baron Samedi stood to His full height, bending at the waist to accommodate the roof. "My brothers built this Freehold from the ringing stone and silent history. Only I and King Nohoilpi remain from our Pledge. The death of the High Kings brought this Freehold to its knees as foundation collapsed, and the Seasons suffer still without the hand of the familiar. I have watched Spring monarchs come and go like the blossoms on a tree, and Summer is a whimper of it's former thunder. I have watched the Wild Hunt at our gates when Queen Uriel decapitated Indra, I have watched the ivy spread and choke the city through the mangled corpse of Lamassu. I have watched the new generation poke and peel and rend the secrets my brother has buried for their safety, and looks to Us to warn them."
His teeth flashes again as He spoke, "And now the Courts whisper of vultures among our ranks, looking to pick the knowledge of my flesh when time takes my heart." His chuckle shook the furniture. "A future without a plan. Like cake in a bedlam. I am concerned indeed. I ask the new generation only now grasping the finer intricacies of our purpose... Those who feel they know better in their hearts. Because they can never hope to comprehend."
"How are you going to stop the curious, relentless, ambitious, and stupid from killing us all?
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Post by Gavin Graves on Apr 30, 2021 22:41:05 GMT -8
Gavin wasn't altogether too familiar with many of the Autumn Court's functional roles, but there were two he knew well: The Ranger and its Freehold role: Hedge-guide, and the Ghûl--Autumn's assassin. The first he knew because he holds affinity with the role and was the shape of a vague aspiration when he had the time to learn the particulars. The second because it was the obvious work to be pushed onto a wild Razorhand. Gavin resented all attempts to turn him into an attack dog. It stirred up uncomfortable thoughts he knew came from There. He could only imagine what actually doing the work would dredge up.
When the inscrutable Autumn Monarch toyed with him using his sore spot it irked him. 'Here's all this work that needs doing, if only there were a handy assassin around to do it.' It was barely veiled. The King following up that swing with an accusation of "fearless," was not something to be taken lightly among the Autumn. It was a charge of short-sighted naivety or a lack of understanding of the core value of the Court. He was being goaded, pressured into taking up the Court position. It was an attempt to make the beast react, now. Either to step up into the role as desired or to step out of line and put him on the back heel within the court so he'd have no other option for advancement. Fuck you, Samedi, Gavin's thinking was probably visible in his expression, but he managed to keep it from also exiting his mouth or colouring his tone.
"Moving my hand to the board," he paused and held it for a time along with the King's eye contact, "is a philosophical end goal," he said as evenly as he could muster when his heart-pounding rage permitted him to continue. "That is a ways off though on the map, but it helps point the compass. I have to survive long enough for that to be a relevant concern, though. Slow and steady."
Gavin was making it clear his thoughts were for the longer term, not a deluded dream that he was going to upend the plans of one of Them as a thing he had scheduled for Friday after his morning jog. He would live, learn the rules of the board, learn their machinations from afar, and place well timed stumbling blocks in the path. At least that was how he envisioned it from his admittedly limited understanding of how things worked. It was ambitious. He was ambitious.
"Don't you worry, sir, if a legend were to put hand to my throat or that of my friends' they'd quickly find themselves doing their best Jaime Lannister impressions, right." Sweeping a single claw slowly across the tops of pens and pencils sticking out of a cup on the nearby desk. Not so much a show of strength as a show of how little of his formidable strength it required for materials to part themselves in contact with the razor's edge. The heads popped from their bodies with barely a touch, clattering to the desk. He had thought better of demonstrating on the flagpole.
Having flexed slightly, he settled down. "I get that you're more experienced, yeah, and you're probably right about whomever needs whatever done to them, but I'm not going to do weighty things when I don't understand the whos and whys and how it all fits together. I don't do attack dog," he rounded out his point.
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Eis
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Post by Eis on May 1, 2021 7:30:47 GMT -8
Eis is taken back, a bit by Gavin's revelation. All of their kind shared his fate - being remade by an inscrutable, unfeeling master - but apparently it troubles him... She remembers him making lighthearted comments about his 'burden' at Ostara, yet his admission that it isn't all 'sunshine and rainbows' puts the idea in a new light. It seems not everyone embraces the change as readily as she has. With so little of her previous life intact before being taken, moving past the obvious alien nature of her new form and her scarcely remembered torment feels easy. By comparison.
Rowan's perspective mirrors some of her own thoughts, and not for the first time, she's impressed with him. Fear to keep others safe. He's got a good head on his shoulders. Eis can't help but judge people by their usefulness. All the more easily to keep them distant.
Out of any apparent, immediate danger, Bella seems to crumble. No longer a spritely oddity on skates; now she's the humble and repentant acolyte. It's a little disappointing, if the Fairest is honest with herself. She should brush herself off - well, Samedi had done that for her, literally - and hold her head high. She's an Autumn courtier, and Eis would hope for a little more inner strength in an ally.
Eis hadn't known, however, that her interests surrounded death and the dying. And this tidbit could be very useful indeed. Eis silently resolves to push the younger woman to become a worthy ally. She'd all but volunteered for it to Samedi's face.
With all of their answers done, Samedi addresses Eis again. With the German title. She knows a few words, though she can hardly be called a native speaker. She has to wonder if the monarch knows the language or, perhaps, assumes she does. Either way, she rather likes it. She accepts the minor praise with poise and confidence, offering a simple nod of her head.
What Samedi reveals next itches a spot on her desires that she'd been too cautious to scratch... she, herself, could be counted among the curious who would love to pick the Autumn King's mind. Though, preferably, while he's alive. The fact that Samedi had chosen to ask for help deflecting such curiosity though... she'd be a fool not to do what she can to prevent the catastrophe Samedi so fears.
"I, for one, would see these vultures learn valuable 'lessons'." She doesn't say it, but the wicked smile suggests the lessons to be learned would be in Fear. "To the greatest extent that civility among the Courts would allow."
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Post by Rowan on May 1, 2021 10:22:06 GMT -8
While Rowan's friendship with Dani had been short-lived, it had taught him a lot about himself. Among other things, the Darkling now understood that he deeply disliked hypocrisy. So, when the King spoke of hubris, while his motley mates, former and living ones, were fully using the names of gods and divine beasts, it didn't land well.
By all accounts, Samedi should have bit the dust several times over, even as a Changeling. Yet there he was, resisting Entropy with everything he had. The Ogre had Wyrd so far up his own ass that he couldn't form a cohesive thought without broaching some Arcadian Rule or other. And yet. And yet he persisted, stuck and oblivious to change. If it had concerned only Samedi, Rowan would have left it well enough alone, but the King threatened to stagnate the entire Court. The Seasonal Courts existed as a symbol of the cycle and the importance of the Turning of the Wheel. Honestly, the entire speech reeked of 'the Bible says' that sounded a little too much like Boomer rhetoric to leave Rowan unphased. The way he fought fear, the way most Darklings fought fear, was by understanding that which would scare them. What he was asked to do was to go against his nature, and for what? Because something that forgot to die told him to?
The Laden Mirror, if not the entire Freehold, was still weathering the consequences of decisions made for them and not by them. Was it really so bad for the newer generation to make its own choices? If recent events were anything to go by, then the old system was starting to come apart at the seams, held by nothing more than the stubbornness of the Autumn and Winter Kings.
Of course, Rowan knew better than to voice his opinions openly. Instead, he opted to answer the first question he had been asked.
"Urban legends, mostly, Your Highness. Reminding mortals that there are still some things that stalk the nights. Created haunting, faked encounters. When needed, I step in personally."
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Post by Bella on May 2, 2021 18:54:42 GMT -8
Bella looks over to Rowan, a small smile briefly appearing on her face before it drops and she looks back to Papa Saturday to respond to his question. " My lord....I wish to answer your question honestly and frankly so I am going to do so. I think that our Court is fractured, I think that sometimes you forget that we aren't JUST supernatural beings but people too...including yourself. I see that each of us is a separate but somehow unified group that tries to work together but with their own personal philosophies sometimes butting heads with their Court based ideologies. I want to try and be the odd ball that works to re-unify the court as a whole so that everyone from the bottom up understands that in our world your court IS your family, because The Keepers took our originals away from us. I see Fear not just as a Sword but as a Shield, a Castle, a Book. Something that can guide, attack and defend in its amorphous nature. Fear doesn't posses one true face, so why shouldn't our interpretations and roles reflect that fact? Sir, I have worked in our Court's library trying to study our history and culture so that I can better understand mine and others fears and WHY they are afraid of, not just to understand the enemies at the gates but to better my understanding of the world around us." Bella says trying her hardest to say her mind but do so without bringing the Dread Lord's ire further down upon her. After she finishes, she lets out a shuddering breath before waiting for the other shoe to drop and see how the Autumn Ki- no...the patriarch of her chosen family decides to react. She is pleading to her Gods and Goddesses that she is not annihilated by Papa Saturday but she also is erring on the side of realism and begins to say her goodbye's internally to all of those she has had the pleasure to work with and befriend over the years.
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Post by Samedi on May 2, 2021 19:46:59 GMT -8
Eis has enough esoteric knowledge to recall the Germanic legend of the White Lady. They are described as beautiful and enchanted creatures who appear at noon and can be seen sitting in the sunshine. They may be guarding treasure or haunting castles, and entreat mortals to break their spell, but this is always unsuccessful. However, the British Isles were fond of legends of tragedy, in which the White Lady is connected to accidental death, murder, or suicide, and the theme of loss and betrayal; often evoked to warn children about bad behaviour.
The Ogre's extension for a head swiveled as He tracked the Razorhand's sweeping gesture, mindful for the talons even at His age. The woodsman lost his thumb the moment he became too familiar with the swinging axe. Papa Saturday liked His thumbs. The accomplished all sorts of things, like signaling approval, or grasping the thread of Fate to silence a keening voice.
He rumbled a chuckle. "I see we coalesce into the concept of overcoming. But like all the Courts, purging is different from management..." The shadow splits as teeth flash, mouth hanging open momentarily as the monster is lost in thought.
The mask then ticked toward Rowan.
"It is a tradition, but keep in mind, shadow-thief, that our world is small indeed. The stories we weave take root in the Skein and the Hedge if not pruned properly. The Scarecrow Ministry cycles its practice with the harvest after the Lake Mead Suicides of 1910, but not 1947. But We are sure you are aware of such seeds to take the task upon yourself." As He spoke, a talon started rapidly etching marks in the ceiling: a practiced series to ward something. "Drink rosemary in your tea and burn the dregs on the fire tonight, and do not evoke the memory." He hissed, smoke trailing from the intelligible etching.
A series of nods bobbed along to Bella's proclamation. "The Mask and mien exist because you believe they do. To exist in reality is to accept you are real. This is a popular philosophy, yes-"
His head swung, "The Keepers did not take my family, Code Noir and the p̪̮̼e͉͎̺t͕̜̣̱͖̻it̬̲̗̱̼e̤͓̜̩̮ b͉̙̦ou͖r̗̫ͅg̭̹̝̰̦e̘͚̰͚̙̟̪o̺͓̻i͈si̼̹̱̪͇̲e̥̜͇̥̝͖ ͕̤̻did."
The Autumn King's voice dropped deep and guttural, as the teeth rattled in their skulls before trickling back to the soft, dry murmuring.
"-that is a heartfelt sentiment. Our Court is fractured, psychopomp?"
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Post by Bella on May 2, 2021 20:30:46 GMT -8
Slightly paler than before, Bella nods at Papa Saturday's question. " Yes fractured, I don't know how best to explain it other than the Court feels like we are all office workers and not a team...a family." She says before taking a deep breath and continuing. " I didn't mean to bring up potentially painful memories i apologize for that, i do not however falter from my words. I think we can come together and not only show that our fears help make us who we are without controlling us but also show that Fear is truly the strongest and oldest of all emotion and the others courts should be envious of us and how connected to each other we are." She finishes with. " YOU sir are our Autumn King, Our Lord of Fear, Our Dread Father. Let us be your children and work towards making this Court no family a united force to be reckoned with, not just because of our Strength or our Cunning but our Camaraderie. It might be from a mundane show but I live by a Latin phrase 'Sic Gorgiamus Allos Subjectatos Nunc' or 'We Gladly Feast on Those Who Would Subdue Us', let us feast on those who seek to see us fall." Bella winces at the unintentional pun, internally slamming her head into the nearest hard surface.
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Eis
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Post by Eis on May 7, 2021 18:30:19 GMT -8
Given enough time, Eis could look part the grotesquery of the Autumn Monarch and appreciate his undoubted fathomless depth of arcane knowledge. Even as he makes conversation, his hands are ever tracing secret symbols. He references things that, frankly, make Eis feel out of her depth. Events and oaths and long lost memories that she can only gawk at. So, for the moment, that is all she does. As he weighs and tries each of her would-be companions.
It isn't until Bella speaks again that she stirs from her reverence. What was all this nonsense about fractured courts and family? One doesn't need to force familial bonds between those of shared loyalty. And she goes on... and on... making her case in earnest with her passionate decree. This is what she wants? To tie them all together in chains so they can all drown together?
What do you need a new family for? You couldn't protect your last one...
The familiar, doubting voice creeps into her thoughts. Her breath catches in her throat.
She's harmless. Her wishing for something won't make it so...
The rational, collected voice comes forward again. She breathes normally. But she cannot keep the stern look off her face as she looks to Bella again.
"Yes. Of course. We're all on the same side. 'Safety in numbers' and all that sort of thing." Her tone is much more impassive than her look, and she doesn't hold it on Bella for long. The poor young thing might regress into tears again.
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Post by Gavin Graves on May 10, 2021 0:12:26 GMT -8
Gavin raised an eyebrow at Bella's characterization of the dread court and her passionate desires for how it ought to be. He knew what he was looking for. It was that subtle ribbon of remembering friendships long forgotten that had drawn him back to the vague collection of memories and holes shaped like a person he was operating as now. He needed those connections too. They'd ground him in reality. Perhaps this was the semblance of what she was after, or maybe everything had to be just so for the young wizened; it was hard to tell. He also knew this was going to bother Eis. He'd got a little sense of who she was at Ostara. She was tentative at the mention of 'maybe friends' when there was no pressure and it was merely a concept. He could only imagine what an open call to make everyone close would do with her. He didn't imagine it was going to be good. He was pretty sure he had a good read on the situation though.
It was time to turn some tables a bit or at least redirect toward productive for Gavin.
"Right, I'm not quite so experienced with the state of the Court as Bella here, but I have a fair bit of ambition myself. I'm not about to sign up for another family just yet. I don't even remember the one I might have had before. It's a bit of a thing where the thorns has left some holes. I am interested in being more involved, more connected, and perhaps more productive. I could do with knowing which Knight might have appropriate work I might be of some actual help with--and maybe some digits. Assuming any of them work with twitchy and green, yeah." He was hoping it was already clear from his previous demonstration we wasn't looking to lose himself in the violence again.
"Perhaps doing something that might show why things have been done as the way they are now, before my mind is left idle to come up with new ways to do things in the void. Or perhaps something to help understand the parts that aren't being tended to now that your contemporaries among the high seasons are no longer maintaining the foundation." Gavin thought he might learn something of the shape of things as they are and perhaps were. Best not to assume things and decide things based on flawed assumptions. There's a lot of moving parts here. If nothing else it said 'I'm listening.'
This place was unique, Vegas. Nowhere else was this safe. The Autumn King was dancing around displaying his age and experience, recounting history, and some context Gavin couldn't place. Samedi implied age may be coming for him. What would THAT mean for the foundation?--whatever that was. It sounded important. Foundations were usually critical. Gavin thought he might rather pick the Ogre's mind now than his corpse later. He wasn't sure what he'd do with the knowledge, but it was probably for the best if it wasn't lost. He doubted the Autumnal side would go forgotten. Whatever the King was, he seemed prepared and deliberate, but who could know, and nothing should be assumed.
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Post by Rowan on May 11, 2021 15:41:47 GMT -8
The Darkling watched as the King further displayed his knowledge. It felt like hoarding, really. Samedi could whip up spells on the go, all the while telling others to stay in the shallows.
What was it that he was scared of? Of others finding out what exactly his motley did for the Wards? While Rowan understood to sharing with the other Courts (those fools wouldn't know an occult secret if it spat in their face), he saw no reason to keep others for Autumn out of the loop.
He spared a glance around the room. Eis was quit to jump on the bandwagon. Some teacher she was, selecting for others what they should or shouldn't know. Bella was on wavelength of her own - a family? They all had lost their first ones and there she was jumping the gun with a new one. What if Rowan didn't want a new one? What if the wounds of the previous one were too fresh for a new unit to be grafted one top?
His eyes lingered on Gavin. There was kinship there, both in experience and in ideas.
"Thank you for your advice, Wise One. I agree with Gavin; on both accounts."
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Post by Bella on May 12, 2021 17:46:10 GMT -8
Bella's dark eyes flit between Rowan, Gavin and Eis as they talk, her smile becoming slightly more pained as their words struck her ears. 'Am I so repulsive and annoying that the idea of being my chosen family bothers them that much? ... Maybe....maybe I was wrong in taking Papa Saturday's invitation to join Autumn all those years ago...its been 5 years and I feel like an outsider even here.' Bella's darken as her Mask slips once more, magnifying the look of despair that her face and body portray. Not trusting her voice that much, Bella gives Papa Saturday a deep curtsy before sniffing and before anyone can stop her runs from the meeting heading to the funeral home she works at, desperate to find solace and comfort from the tempest of emotions boiling in her brain among the only people she can seemingly count on at the moment...... The Dead.
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Post by Eis on May 13, 2021 17:44:30 GMT -8
Gavin's sensible, businesslike response is a balm for her frazzled psyche. This she can respect. Because it doesn't derail her modus operandum; keep everyone at arm's length. She takes a moment to let her inner turmoil diminish. Long enough to feel back in control.
Rowan seems to echo her sentiment. Or, at the very least, his words do. She doesn't know how he really feels, nor does she intend to find out. She's too wrapped up in keeping her own demons at bay to wonder what triggers the fellow Snowskin. But it does seem that the three could come to an accord. Which she voices.
"I believe that is a sentiment we can all get behind. Collaboration and cooperation would make a fine foundation to strengthen our Court. As a whole. And, Lord Samedi," she says, turning to regard the cthonian Monarch ""any knowledge you are willing to share can only make us stronger still. In the spirit of preserving what has been erected in the past, of course." Which she means. Wholeheartedly.
Bella seems to have taken the hint - perhaps a bit too strongly. The Wizened's emotional fulfillment isn't high on Eis' list of importance, but she does feel pity for her. She would need guidance. Someone to temper all that enthusiasm with wisdom. If for no reason other than to get her to give up on these foolish notions of family. Her eyes linger on Bella and her final courtesies before returning to the rest. Only when it's clear that Bella is out of earshot does she speak again.
"She'll be alright. I'll speak with her in private, at some point." Which, of course, likely sounds ludicrous. The entire reason the poor girl broke down is almost certainly due, in part, to Eis' coldheartedness.
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Post by Krakenbox on May 18, 2021 13:34:21 GMT -8
The monarch is still, impassively soaking in the chatter of conversations long repeated. "Well Ms. Knott, I will gladly present your concerns to the knighthood. It does not bode well that a starting vassal of the Leaden Mirror feels they have not done their job in communication and community. I will also speak with the Page."
Claws click against wood as He drummed them to the question of said knights. Turning His head towards Gavin and Rowan, He pauses as the Wizened starts sniffing and silently excuses herself. "Anxiety," He agreed. It was a common trait his subjects dealt with. "Knowledge of the nobility will assist you in your respective aims, indeed. Surely you know of our eldest, Dame Chunhua, Knight of Webs and the Ashen Notary of the Eternal. The dryad is a herald of the arcane ties that interlace the Lost with the Seasonal blessings. Our Lady is the chief archivist of our people's history, legal agreements with reality, claims of sanctuary, and divine ritual. She spins and weaves, but the pattern is too close to the young. One must stand back to appreciate the story. I would describe her ethics as utilitarian and her ambition relentless, and values respect and patience in her vassalage. The order of the Eternal Echoes is a different tier of service.
"Dame She-Wolf is our bridge to the ignorant. The Knight of Lores is our Legate, carousing among the Seasons as a reminder, and steers the expectations of our research by dispelling or mystifying. By creating traditions that affect the Lost across all allegiances, the binding rituals are satisfied without disruption of prejudice. She is instrumental in maintaining trust with the High Seasons and satisfying the Silent Arrow that our business need not be buried so deep when placed in the right hands, and expects the same of her vassalage. As for relations with the mundane, the Wolf acts as the lore mistress of the Scarecrow Ministry.
"Dame Scorpio is an experiment. My Paladin of Shadows approached me with a vision, but her relationship with the Season is untested. She thinks she can pull it off. The lesson of such hubris is important, whether she finds herself victorious of wrought with complete and devastating failure. She acts as tribune, seeing value in allowing a human face between the monoliths of Fear with those who find themselves rightly cautious, or simply too weak to present themselves. The Knight of Brambles is a Hedge Duelist of renown, and holds the reigns in terms of Autumn culture when we hold events and ritual. She believes knowledge comes from practice, and focuses on a kinesthetic and practical application to the dangers and wonders of Faerie, rather than perusing tomes in the confines of academia."
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Post by Gavin Graves on May 19, 2021 21:58:11 GMT -8
As much as the three remaining Lost had largely agreed and asked after the foundation Lord Samedi had mentioned, the King had focused solely on the opportunity to involve them in his court hierarchy.
As the eldritch being positioned each of his Knights on their respective perches, Gavin supposed the answer to his other question might be hidden within the answers to the first. He was split between his curiosity about the foundation--which appeared would be locked behind service to Dame Chunhua or perhaps direct service to the monarch himself--and the possible better alignment of temperament and approach he would have working with Dame Scorpio. He knew he would get work as a Hedge guide and learn more about the details of Fairy with her, he reasonably assumed at first blush. I'm better in the field, he thought of himself.
He'd caught himself assuming again and chastised himself. His intuition ran down one path and his interests another. It was time to do the sensible thing: talk to both of them before making a decision. It might be possible to swear to one and occasion work with the other. There are other ways to make alliances and learn secrets.
He took a second to realize he was immediately leaning away from the political side of things and that all three Knights should hold some interest to him if he were to hold high aspirations within Autumn. Even if he did not focus in that direction now he resolved to keep his mind open to such things in the future. The old monarch got to where he is by concerning himself with all of these things. Perhaps don't embrace Fairy quite as hard as he did. I don't have to be that open to his perspective.
"Thank you for bringing me up to speed with the basic court structure, sir-IRE," the beast corrected himself mid-word. He'd meant the colloquial sir, but this unfamiliar aristocratic structure might have framed it incorrectly. The King had already made a point about respect. It was best to show that point was clearly made lest he make it again. "It's given me much to think on."
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Post by Rowan on May 20, 2021 10:21:20 GMT -8
Bella stormed off in monologue of self-deprecation that smelled vaguely of Spring. The very selfishness of her desire for a family made him wonder if she wasn't in the wrong Court. "It's not about you," Rowan said under his breath as he almost rolled his eyes at the outburst. The situation had absolutely nothing to do with the Wizened, and everything to do with those she wanted to force her wants upon. But then the King spoke, ripping the Darkling from further ruminations.
Rowan mentally counted off the Knights as they were being introduced, comparing then to his conversation with Dormarch. He came up short.
"Um- Your Majesty. Has something happened to Sir Icarus? I probably just got distracted and missed it."
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