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Post by Wayland on Dec 15, 2021 22:03:14 GMT -8
‘A sport uniquely Lost’ sounds like a bit of a stretch to Wayland. A sport uniquely Arcadian, maybe. But the Lost are not the only dwellers of Arcadia, and not the only ones to twist the Hedge. The thought sends a chill up her spine, translating to a curl of warm, familiar wrath at her center. It always helps to be reminded of a reason to fight.
She’s not eating anything, which may seem suspicious. She’s been looking at the food enough, but not really seeing it, deep in her thoughts or trying to avoid making an expression that would be suspicious. She picks up a pair of chopsticks and snags a spring roll, dipping it in the provided sauce before crunching down on it with her sharp Ogre teeth. Food is good. When she’s eating she doesn’t have to be talking.
Henley’s offer gets a nod. He’s moving on quickly to talk to Gavin, so she doesn’t interrupt to expand. But she is interested. If she can manage to untangle herself from Isla’s pledge without irrecoverably harming herself or Henley. ‘Clean lines’ as the Spring said. Clean lines are good.
When the Beast starts speaking again of their troubles in the Market, Wayland’s attention is focused, interested. She listens, and when he’s finally done having his moment, puts her spring roll down on her plate and leans towards him. “You know I’m studying under Mary? I’ve been thinking; we don’t know enough about Huntsmen. Or at least, I don’t. Do you? I’d sure as hell like to be better prepared next time I run into one.”
Which will probably be sometime next week, if she remembers her calendar right.
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Post by Henley on Dec 16, 2021 10:30:34 GMT -8
Henley stared into the Abyss as Gavin explained the details of what the Huntsman knew about them. He had no idea how it got that sort of information, but like Aldo Raine said, there was a word for that sort of activity: suspicious. "Okay. Well. I'm sure absolutely nothing inappropriate happened there and that everything is just fine with the highly suspicious motley and Senor Huntsman." He flashed a big, toothy smile, like totes!
He gave Gavin a thumbs up and shook his head to Wayland's reply. "I've got not the faintest clue. If you figure it out, feel free to let us know. It'd be particularly useful information this season, yeah?"
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Post by Gavin Graves on Dec 17, 2021 0:31:51 GMT -8
He began to wish he'd had more time to give to the debriefing upon his initial return. Sitting down and answering some basic questions really would have brought that to light a lot sooner. He had just been so busy following up on his promises--delivering Grendel to the Knight of Dying Light and rebuilding the Trod to the Goblin Market--that it must have gotten lost in the shuffle and eventually slipped through the cracks as yet more large and pressing issues had come up. He had been gone from them for barely over a minute to update Wayland; apparently that's enough time for serious doubt to creep in with the rest in context.
Gavin nodded wearily at the implication behind Henley's sarcasm. "I have to go update my report to Bastille for that venture as soon as we're done here." It was his operation that now had a hitch in it after all. "Maybe we both should," shooting a glance over to Wayland. "Ehh, how do we do this to not embarrass Spring unless it's necessary?" Second guessing his immediate course.
"I hate politics," the Beast's shoulders slouched lower with the added weight.
"As for the lore, I'm sworn to Scorpio. She's somewhat renowned for fighting the scary things, yeah. I've done nothing but be helpful, she'll likely make some time for me or point me the right way at some point if I ask nicely. If not, my next stop would be the Knight of Borders. That knowledge is high on my list of things to focus on. I had a very temporary opportunity to learn detailed things about Hobs, Hedgeghosts, Banes & Taboos, so I leaned into that while it was available. It's pretty handy, given my usual work." The Beast had somewhat picked up the pace of his eating after his impromptu realization.
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Post by Wayland on Dec 17, 2021 9:51:11 GMT -8
She doesn’t want to have to be suspicious of Riley and Hartman. Not any more suspicious than she is already, anyway. Frankly she doesn’t want to be suspicious of anybody who’s supposed to be on her side. If she wanted to live life paranoid, she’d have been called to Winter. Nonetheless, Henley and Gavin are making good points. Gavin’s right; politics sucks.
It feels like Gavin is sort of dancing around the point she’s trying to bring up. Or maybe she didn’t bring it up in a clear enough way, that happens to her sometimes. Wayland decides to be more blunt: “I could use some help. Other than asking Mary, I don’t have a lot of resources for looking into this kind of thing on my own.” She pauses, then decides that’s still not clear enough, “I could use a study-buddy. Want to partner up for this research?”
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Post by Henley on Dec 19, 2021 18:15:51 GMT -8
"If you don't want to embarrass our Court, then let me go talk to Alexandrite about it On The Record. You, off the record, go tell Bastille what happened and that a Spring Courtier is going to bring in the complaint formally via Alexandrite. Let the Knights do their thing." He gave a thumbs-up, the politics of What Needed To Get Done and the politics of optics a fairly straightforward matter. Bastille didn't need to be surprised, but the formal inquiry could come from Spring. "I appreciate the consideration in that regard. Enjoy your studies, folks. I'll look forward to hearing from you in the future."
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Post by Gavin Graves on Dec 19, 2021 18:50:22 GMT -8
"Sounds like a good approach. I'll do that, but it will be right away after we're finished here." He raised his brow to convey he wasn't going to linger on it long and allow himself to get distracted again. "Thanks, Henley."
When the Maker pressed the Huntsman topic further, it had become clear that the meaning behind his suggestions had been missed.
"I, uh, heh. Okay. Here's the thing. Neither of us are ready to just pick up the right couple of books and get there with study," it was clear he was trying to avoid straight up denying her what she was looking for. "Shit, I've tried that approach with a few topics of esoterica. It hasn't worked out so well."
"I'm pretty sure we would need an active instructor and an extensive baseline knowledge of underlaying concepts for it to stick and be useful. Now if you want to go with me to shop around for an instructor I'm down for that." A second student might make the effort more appealing to the teacher anyway.
"The only other way I can think of is gross: up close study and experimentation. I don't think we're ready for that angle, even working together." The Beast was sure they'd both be caught and skewered in very short order, and from his demeanor he wasn't entertaining the notion.
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