Developing Responsibilities

[Smudge]

Walking to the door of Treasured, Smudge was feeling quite nervous. He always felt out of place, which wasn't exactly hard. The store catered for some truly unique antique items, furniture mainly. The Ogre was eternally worried that he'd stain something, which is why he tended to keep his hands in his pockets and not move much.

It was late, and he knew the door would be locked seeing as it was past closing. Smudge pressed the doorbell before sighing and trying to clean it with his sleeve of his coat, which no doubt rung it a couple more times.

[Malcolm Green]

The giant strolled laconically through the late night streets as if he owned them. It was not hard, considering his height, girth and brooding eyes. It still sent a spurt of surprise through him when he saw other people cross the street to avoid passing him. He had trouble, however, deciding if it was the fact that they got out of his way that disturbed him, or that he had begun to realise how little he was disturbed by their actions, as if he were nothing more than a great stone, carved to look like a man, and that moved like a man, but was still in essence, immovable granite. He was at a loss to explain why that sudden revelation left him breathless.

Maybe I should talk to someone about that...nah! I am not some looser!

He strolled, his mantle manifesting silently around him, calming the wind, accentuating the crispness in the air. His boots crunched loudly on concrete and slab.

The mountain found his goal soon enough: the shop would be closed at this hour and that made it ideal for his needs. The Winter Queen had indicated that it was best for him to do his business outside of normal hours, and so he had. He understood the need for discretion. He had not anticipated that another Lost could also be thinking along similar lines as himself. Green caught sight of the smoking, ruddy hued changeling as he came down the street. For a moment the giant considered turning back, but thought better of it: he had walked all the way and it was not like he could just melt away like a shadow. The other Lost had probably spied him already - you can't hide mountains after all.

So Green approached, giving a taciturn nod and a grunt by way of greeting. If the other changeling wanted to talk while they waited, he would. Green could respect silence.

[Katrin Byeli]

After a couple of minutes, the Winter Queen manifested by the front door, looking through the glass at Smudge and Green. She carefully unlocked the door from the inside, opening it after she had finished unlocking the several locks to allow for the pair to enter. "Good evening, please come inside, no?" she said to both of them, gesturing for them to step inside the store. If Katrin was annoyed by the fact that the Cyclopean had rung the bell more than once, she did not show her displeasure at all.

Once they had come inside the shop, she shut the door and locked it behind them. The Sun Banisher was nowhere to be found within the walls of the store, which may have seemed like a curious detail to those who were used to seeing Harvey as the Queen's shadow. Clearly, this meant one of two things; either he was hiding somewhere and choosing to remain unseen for the time being, or Katrin did not expect to be attacked by two of her Courtiers in her own shop, thus making the Shadowsoul's presence unnecessary for this particular meeting.

The Queen gestured for them to follow her, guiding them to a set of antique couches towards the back of the store. On a table nearby, there was an old vase that held a few sculpted black roses. Katrin gestured for Smudge and Green to take a seat on one of the couches, before choosing a seat across from them. "Well gentlemen, I figure this is more than just a house call, yes?" she said to them, her voice its usual cold and calculating self. "What can I do for the two of you?"

[Smudge]

As he waited outside the store, Smudge removed the hip flask that had been left for him at the Four Seasons, and took a hearty swig, no doubt to ease his nerves. However, when a shadow came over him, blotting out the street light nearby, the one-eyed Ogre glanced around and looked up at the mountain that stood there.

"Shit a brick, ya a big fugger, ain't ya?" Smudge said, taking a second swig before placing the flask back in one of the pockets of his dirty coat. "New t' the city? I'm Smudge."

As the door opened, Smudge looked back and as per usual, was taken aback by Katrin's powerful personality and such untouched beauty. Merely being in her presence made Smudge feel instantly bad because how could someone as stained as he ever be considered to possess a soul.

Perhaps that was why she sent him to meet with the Entitlement.

"Evenin', Ma'am," Smudge said after he had entered the store, being extra careful not to touch anything. Once the door was locked, he averted his eyes and bowed to his Queen. When she asked about their visit, Smudge looked back up but glanced to the other changeling. "Actually, Ma'am, we ain't together, just'a coincidence," he explained, although he wasn't entirely sure why. "I was wantin' t' speak with ya 'bout me place in the Silent Arrow." After speaking, Smudge went quiet, not wishing to run away too fast.

[Malcolm Green]

"Yes. I am." Green said by way of reply to both questions.

When admitted into the shop, the giant hunkered down as best he could and... shuffled through the doorway, making his best effort not to knock or crash into anything. He lumbered through the shop with the same care, and gently lowered himself into a seat. He let the curiously reeking Lost speak first.

"I was also wishing to speak with you regarding what I can do to help out," Green bobbed his head as he faced the Winter Queen.

[Katrin Byeli]

Katrin nodded as the one-eyed Ogre spoke. "A coincidence? Perhaps, or maybe it was meant for the two of you to arrive at my doorstep at the same time, yes?" she said in response, her perfectly shaped eyes shifting from Smudge to Green for a moment. "How wonderful that the two of you came to talk to me about what you can do for the Court, no?" If there was any sarcasm in her words, it was not obvious due to her cold and calculated tone.

Turning to the large Elemental, the Winter Queen decided to address him first. "If you wish to help out the Silent Arrow and the Freehold as a whole, you will make sure that the issue we discussed during Autumn's fesivities will not endanger any of us, yes?" said the Fairest, remiding Green of the discussion they had in regards to his Fetch. "Like I said before, Swilla may be able to assist you with the matter. But whether you choose to seek him out or not, that is entirely up to you, no?" She paused for a moment, letting the full weight of her words to sink in before continuing. "Other than that, the best you can do right now is to keep a low profile and stay out of trouble..."

Letting her words trail off, Katrin then turned to face Smudge, using her last words to Green as a perfect segue to answering the Cyclopean's question. "Speaking of which, I have noticed that there's been much improvement in regards to these things with you Smudge," said the Treasured as she meet the Ogre's one-eyed gaze with her own. "Green actually expressed a need of getting back to the basics of the Silent Arrow's ideals during our last conversation. Perhaps you can take him under your wing, teach him what you have learned through your own experiences, no?"

[Smudge]

And there it was.

The complete and utter fuck up that Smudge had admitted to had yet again come back to bite his stinky backside but at least Katrin seemed not to be holding it against him. In fact, it seemed she wanted him to help settle the new guy in.

Breaking eye contact with the Queen, the Cyclopean looked up to Green, and smirked. Smudge turned his eye back to Katrin. "Yeah, I can do tha'," he said with a firm nod of his head, perhaps telling himself that as well as the beautiful Winter Sovereign. "I like t' share," he chuckled, smog rolling from his mouth.

[Malcolm Green]

The mountain did not move. Only his eyes flickered between the Queen and the Blight Bent. There might have been curiosity buried deep under those brows, but you'd have to look for it. Green's craggy face remained impassive.

[Katrin Byeli]

"Good, this is good, yes?" said the Winter Queen in response, pleased by the fact that the Ogre hadn't protested what had been asked of him. "I'm sure you two will learn a great deal from each other, no?" Her flawless eyes shifted from the Cyclopean to the Earthbones for a moment.

After a long pause, Katrin spoke up again, changing the focus of the conversation from the two of them, to the Winter Court at large. "The numbers of the Silent Arrow continue to grow. It is good for us, but it may make others envious, perhaps even wary of our Court's intentions, no?" she said to the two Courtiers in front of her, her face keeping its perfect neutrality as usual. "It is at times like these that we must look out for each other, and keep a vigilant eye on those around us, yes?" Another pause, as the Fairest looked at Smudge and Green respectively.

"Keeping your ears to the ground will be important. If you hear of any interesting rumors or something of the sort, do report your findings to me, no?" said the Onyx Queen to the pair, making a slight gesture with her right hand. "Especially if you hear of anything that may jeopardize the Silent Arrow or its members, and of course, the Freehold as a whole as well, yes?" The slightest of smirks found its way to the corner of the Treasured's immaculate lips as she said those last words, her eyes still fixated on theirs.

[Smudge]

Smudge remained quiet as the idea of learning something from Green and just glanced to the man before turning his attention back to the Winter Queen.

"Yeah, of course," the Ogre replied, bowing his head but something had caught his interest in her words but kept it to himself. He was being told to do something, a task. He'd do it without question.