(1205) Terri & Nightfall

[Terri Nutkins]

"No, silly, the punch line is 'Bend Over', not 'Kneel'," he teased, returning the exuberent hug.

"Watch the hands," he added with mock sternness, dipping an eyebrow and then rolling his eyes to dismiss the apologetic look.

His empty glass and the cold wet spot on his leg being the casualties of the Beast's assault, he set it down and bobbed his head from side to side as he considered.

"A day or two? Long enough to get the lights and utilities turned back on at Glissade. This is my first 'outing', though."

He leaned closer.

"Don't look now, but we're surrounded. I mean, really, where did all of these people come from? And... where's Al?"

Terri laughed as she broke away from the hug and absently tried to sort out the Fairest's notoriously messy hair. Eventually giving up, Terri took a step back, still smiling.

"Good to hear. Glissade is a great place, it'll be good to get back in there."

As Nightfall leaned closer, Terri wondered if he was going to pinch her tail again...

"Ah! Yeah, we seemed to have grown at a rapid rate, news of the freehold must be spreading, which can only be a good thing really." Terri frowned as Nightfall mentioned Al and looked around. "That's strange, he's usually here. Nothing's happened to him, still the same old, uh, young Al," Terri chuckled. "Also, just to update you, Mrs. Rosemary has taken the title of Spring Sovereign." She left it at that and didn't want to mention the previous Vernal Sovereign. Too much pain on both sides.

[Nightfall]

At the news, Nightfall arched an eyebrow, making him look even more elfin. He'd assumed Al would be next in line for the Crown; he'd underestimated the taciturn chef of the Freehold. At the talk of Sovereigns, he glanced at the other three, a small smile when his eyes passed over Katrin.

"Well, I certainly hope Queen Rosemary doesn't take offense if I break tradition," he replied with a smile, eyebrows dancing up and down in reference to Grace and Alice. More than that, he was hoping the humor would convey that Alice wasn't a sensitive subject. Or, if she was, he wasn't letting on.

"So, how are you and Rick? And what's the local gossip?"

[Terri Nutkins]

Terri chuckled at Nightfall's joke, glad to see he was at least showing his best side, considering all that had happened. When he mentioned Rick, Terri couldn't help but glance towards her husband as he spoke nearby to Serreth. "Very well, thanks. I've started making raiment to sell at Treetop Fashions, trying to build a clientele amongst the freehold. As for gossip," Terri thought for a moment, trying to gather together what had been going on.

"We finally caught Milford and put the bastard down," she said, quite proud of that fact. "I'm not sure if you were here when Spartan opened his club? Anyway, that's going really well for him." The Beast looked around. "Well, like you said, we've gotten popular," she added with a chuckle. "I'm finding it hard to keep up. What are you planning on doing now you're back?"

[Nightfall]

"Raiment? What's that?"

Well, he'd never been the brightest bulb on the marquee. He was pretty sure she wasn't talking about little square packages of noodles. Obviously if Terri were going to make anythign edible, it'd be nutbread.

He frowned and looked disappointed at the news of Milford. He wished he'd been there for that, even if it would probably mean a new round of whispers and frowns about bloodthirstiness.

"I think I remember it," Nightfall added, referring to Spartan's club. If he were honest, he'd always given the Summer a wide berth because his little girlfriend had annoyed the hell out of him. Sanctimonious to the point of needing a slap, useless, loud, and contrary for the sake of thinking it made her cool, were all labels he'd pin on her. The only sense he'd ever made of it was that maybe Spartan hadn't been able to find anyone else to cuss him out between the sheets.

"Maybe I'll stop by. I'm not sure what I'm going to do. It just felt... like time to come back."

Nightfall paused and focused his ice blue eyes on Terri, then leaned forward until it seemed like he might kiss her.

He didn't, though.

"I killed my Fetch," he said softly.

[Terri Nutkins]

"You know, like hedgespun clothes, stuff like that," Terri explained. "I set up a workshop in our hollow intended to learn how to sew, and started to repair items. With Marcus' help, I understood the basics of hedgespinning enough to have a go myself."

It was a proud moment for the Beast. It meant she had a new challenge in life.

"Its quite cool, actually," Terri said with a chuckle as they spoke about Spartan's place. "Very loud but what would you expect? I have to say, its nice to see a stable Summer King for a change."

Nightfall would know what she meant. He'd pretty much seen most of them fall, either to death or madness. When the Fairest moved close, Terri was never concerned. Out of the many people in the freehold, Nightfall ranked in the top three of those she would trust implicitly.

Her face however, momentarily betrayed her emotion, a flicker of shock rippling across her features. She gave Nightfall a hug, her voice a whisper also. "How do you feel?" she asked, obviously concerned. It was a step she had once considered but time and a level of understanding had healed that wound.

At least, she hoped it had.

[Nightfall]

"Huh, really? Cool."

The words were delivered with a smile and an undercurrent of support for Terri's accomplishment and obvious enthusiasm. Being a Polychromatic, it was easy to hide the inward distaste. He'd never found any comfort level with fey things: Hedge stuffs, be they edible or wearable, Pledges, the like. He could see how they could be useful, but that didn't mean he had to like them. On the other hand, he wasn't a fanatic, and didn't condemn those that did.

The reference to past Summer Kings dovetailed into that thought; Sam, laid low by the weight of a Crown, and Crunk, victim of his own Pledge. It was hard not to think of apples, shiny and tempting to eat, rotted and poisoned within.

"I feel... free?" he answered, pausing to consider the question, searching for a word.

"For the longest time I thought it was 'my' life, my 'what if'... but now it's not. It's over. I was having a hard time letting go."

It had helped him let go of Alice, too.

He bit the inside of his lip for a moment, and added, "I'm sorry I didn't stay for your reception."

[Terri Nutkins]

Terri nodded, trying to understand. It was a tough decision for some and either side of the coin brought a degree of danger. Terri had instead decided to face her fetch and upon seeing the confusion on its face, had known there and then that it had no clue about what it was.

The Beast had known, there and then, they would never cross paths again.

"No need to apologise, Neil, you know that right? I was just happy that you gave me away. It was a special day and you were a big part of it. Although," she smirked, "I guess I never did get a dance with my dad....." she joked, leaving the question unasked.

[Nightfall]

If he'd seen her at The Asylum, he might have made a deviant role-play crack; as it was, his eyebrows lifted and he laughed.

"OK, I'll confess, I ducked out because I suck at dancing and didn't want to step on your toes or embarrass myself," he replied with a wink and a grin.

"I found a couple of youtube videos to teach me, though, and I'll make it up to you. Promise. As long as it's The Macarena or Cupid Shuffle, because that's all I learned."

Nightfall rolled his hips and took a few steps of the Cupid Shuffle to demonstrate.

"Seriously, though, it was an honor. I'm glad to see things have worked out well for you and Rick."

That, he was sincere about. Now, even, wistful instead of jealous. For a second he looked past Terri to Gianna; there were still questions there, but they didn't need answering. It wasn't about closure.

"So, give me the low-down on who's who?" he continued, stepping sideways beside Terri and gesturing to all the new faces.

[Terri Nutkins]

Terri smiled, glad of Nightfall's sincerity, and as he moved up beside her, she happily pointed people out.

"Well, currently speaking with @Queen Byeli is Danny Tongs , a very talented sculptor and weaponsmith, who Rick named the Provisioner of Bounties. I've been showing him some parkour and he plans to teach me some fencing, which will be nice. Over there," Terri gestured towards a Fairest woman and Darkling gent, "is L'aire and Aldamoth ( Cameron ), who was here several years ago apparently, but didn't stay long. I wasn't sure if you remembered him or not, I couldn't recall myself but that's what you get for having a Beastly brain; an awful memory." Her eyes widened. "Oh, guess who else has turned up recently," she said, pausing for dramatic effect. " Dorian ! Remember him? Although I haven't seen him tonight. He and L'aire have been Vegas as part of the Cirque d'Soleil."

She continued to point out several people, including Rook and @Anya Wormblood conversing with a new face Terri didn't know, Rick ( Lesingnon ) speaking with Serreth ( Tyladhras ), another unknown apart from his name, and Spartan speaking with his employee, Magnus Wight , who works at the bar in the Forge.

"I'll have to apologise though, there are quite a few people who I still don't know," Terri said with a small sigh. She had always prided herself on being the smiling, friendly face of the Freehold but these days, it seemed time was a constant battle against her.

[Nightfall]

"Fencing?"

Nightfall raised an eyebrow, studying the Wizened with a semi-professional appraisal. It didn't last long, as he tried to keep up with Terri's descriptions. The one she called L'aire reminded him of Alice, in the same way that Abigail Blake did... a not entirely comfortable way.

"Hmmmm... no... I don't remember him, either," he answered the unspoken question about Aldamoth, then turned in surprise as she mentioned Dorian.

"Huh."

Which was really all he could manage, because, honestly, it'd been creepy as fuck when Dorian had pretended to be Katrin. He'd known her well enough that even the breathing and movement had been slightly off, despite the appearance. All he had to say about that was that it was a damn good thing that some secrets had never been found out.

"Don't sweat it, if you knew everyone, I'd forget what you told me anyway," he said with self-deprecating grin.

"Hmmmm."

"So... do you know that Danny guy? If I got someone to handle some of the fencing at Glissade, I could focus on the dancing."

It went without saying that he was missing his former business partner.