(FOS 2015) Blazing Hearth

[Malcolm Green]

Green juggles a plate piled with food and a can of beer. Stepping carefully away from the laden table he moves with ponderous determination to where the fire pit crackles and pops. The mountain had heard the offer of stories, and the goings-on of the Freehold interested him. Grunting something wordless, yet approaching a sound of recognition, the big Elemental found himself a place and sank to his haunches. For the moment, his beer sat on the ground at his knee.

"Uh. I heard mention of stories?" He added, stuffing something hot and meaty and juicy into his maw.

This close to the fire, his Mantle had started to steam again, lending him a curious and strange halo that hissed quietly about his head and shoulders.

Parable

Invites to Nathan Griffin Trickster

[Nathan Griffin]

He sat at a reasonable distance next to Green, eyeing the Elemental to make sure he didn't mind. Right before coming by he had managed to get his hands on some ribs he was just tearing apart with his sharp teeth. It felt like a sweet preview to the feast's entree. He didn't pay any mind to the juicy, fatty liquid falling down his chin.

"Stories. Huh," he bites maybe a bit too hard and the sound of bones cracking is heard. "I got a few. Don't know what kind you like though. I'm guessing in Winter you like the ones about the good old days? Dunno, maybe I'm wrong there. Maybe you lean more towards dreary Arcadian surrealism or something themed around the 'ling's everyday business," he frowned. "Though truth be told, I don't remember that other place all that well. And my stay here has proven more, uh, exciting than I expected. The more you know..."

He took a look back, wondering whether Daniel or anyone else would join them.

[Parable]

Daniel smiled. It was understandable that Nathan would such assumptions.

"You might be suprised that I actually have a preference for ghost stories," he said with a wink to the Autumn courtier "though I guess that could fall into 'the good old days' category. In any case, you don't have to feel obligated to tell what you think we want to hear. This is Summer after all. If you're looking for suggestions though... how about a fight or battle you won? Doesn't even have to real." The Lost had enough memories of lost battles. Even made up victories could count for something.

[Trickster]

Lynn leaned back and grinned. "I think that story time would be a wonderful idea. And I'd say that it doesn't even need to be a fight in the traditional sense. Something entertaining for the group, before the evenings entertainment starts."

[Mykel]

Stopping just long enough to grab a beer, the Spring Fairest makes his way over to the small grouping of Freeholders. He takes a quick swig for a bit of liquid encouragement, then offers the four his most disarming smile. "Good evening Lynn; long time no see. And to you gents as well; I don't think I've had the pleasure of meeting all of you before. The name's Finn.

I hope I'm not interrupting anything too conspiratorial?"

[Malcolm Green]

Green grunted as he listened.

"I got into a few scrapes," he rumbled between mouthfuls of juicy meat and salad. He slurped loudly as he guzzled the beer - between bites. "But the worst fight I got into happened just after the old hotel got toasted, yeah. Nearly got my ass burned off when the Hedge all went up in smoke and stumbled out into a right battle. Whoa..."

He grimaced and shook his head slightly for emphasis.

"But if you want ghosts stories..." the mountain continued with special emphasis and a sidelong look to the Gravewright Parable , "I s'pose I could tell you about the House on the Hill..." Green slowed to a stop, staring into the flames for one long moment. Then another. And the one after that. "Never did get to resolve the story. Haven't been back neither. Sometimes I still wonder if... nah. Wrong time of year for that shit."

He hid behind a particularly large slice of meat.

[Morgan Bellanar]

"Heh-hiya folks! N-nice to see ye all again: Green, Finn, Nathan-long-time-no-seen," Morgan would have waved in greeting to the men, but her hands were kind of full, so she just smiled and nodded her head.

Arriving to take a seat beside Lynn, she offered her friend the extra beer she'd acquired, "Heh-heh did nay ken-know if ye heh-had one yets," Once Lynn moved her feet, Morgan will take the saved seat.

Morgan made an appreciative noise as she wolfed down some of the roast. She quirked an eyebrow as talk was made of sharing stories. Morgan washed down the meat with beer before shaking her head. She shook it again before chuckling. When she spoke, her tone was amused, "I t-think we all heh-have many-many s-s-s-tales to tell. Personage-personoif-perno-erm, myself I will need-require increased alcoh-mah-hall afore t-the telling fr-r-rom me would be easy to comprehend."

After a pause she shrugged with a laugh, "Gestalt-drunk p-point: loose speech-issue ano-and lack slurring." she turned to Lynn, who had experienced drinking with the raccoon a few times, "T-tis true Lynn, yes? Imma ssspeak better drunk."

[Nathan Griffin]

"So war stories, huh?" he chuckled as he threw the chewed out rib into the fire.

He was about to comment on that when Green began telling his. Or tried to, anyway. He didn't seem to like talking about it. I wonder what it was like, being there. Who knows, maybe it could even hold a candle to the Afghanistan he had never see.

"Hey. Yeah, we've met briefly," he greeted Finn only to begin chewing down another rib.

Juicy. House on the Hill? Yet another seemingly interesting tale Green was reluctant to tell. And he said he hadn't had a chance to see it through? But he was right, it wasn't the best time. He should probably try to ask him about it some other day.

"Morgan, right?" he smiled. She's just adorable, isn't she? "Yeah, long time. Too long, really. Great to see you again. And I'm all for getting you drunk if that's what you want, but people might get the wrong idea. I'm cut off myself. Drinking makes me dangerous."

He looked around at the others and stirred around for comfort.

"Ah, yeah! There's an action-packed story there. Y'see, on my way here from Cairo I ran into these Hell's Angels wannabes around Bear Valley. They seemed pretty drunk and deep into what we may call vandalism and generally shitty behavior. Thing is, I was in pretty much the same state. Got into a fight; hell, it was bound to happen. I don't know who would have won that one, cause the moment I heard the police I turned tail and didn't come anywhere near civilization until I got to Sacramento," he threw another bone into the hearth. "Couple of the jokers showed up here looking for payback. Y'see, they got arrested and everything for that little brawl in the countryside. Tried to pin me down and use my face as a punching bag. One of them is missing two fingers now."

He wasn't proud of that last part. Or any of it, really. He grimaced and the fire gave his fangs an eerily disturbing look. Through the narration his enthusiasm had quickly deflated into something resembling resignation. He shook his head to dismiss it and aimed for a smile. Boy, did I sound a bigger killjoy than Green for a second there.

"Any idea if we can have a piece of that fae pig or whatever it is?"

[Trickster]

Lynn grinned at Morgan and accepted the offered beer, thanking her quietly. Twisting back around, she straightened up in her chair, noticing over one shoulder that Coco had joined the party. Lynn gritted her teeth for a moment before turning away, emotions still raw after the harsh words she and the Wasp had shared. So long as Coco remained civil, Lynn would as well.

"I dunno Morgan, usually by the time you're talking straight, I'm hearing crooked. And yes, Marcus was handing out slices of roast last I saw and it is amazing." She looked over the crowd and settled back, balancing a half full plate on her lap. "I'm afraid that I don't have any stories of heroics to share; being rather more likely to try and talk my way out of a fight." She glanced down at slender arms and hands. "Although I can tell you," She took a sip of beer and waved the bottle a little bit. "There was this one time that a fellow busker and I got in a fight over a corner. It was a rather good spot, in the shade and had plenty of people coming by so I knew that I could get a good haul. And I needed the money as I was planning on leaving town that very night."

"So anyways, I got there first and was set up, playing sweetly enough to make angles weep," Lynn sniffed theatrically and brushed an imaginary tear from one eye. "And along comes this fellow who wanted to set up shop by beating a couple of buckets, if you can imagine!" Now came a look of clearly overacted indignation.

"So, there I stand, already in possession of this perfect spot. And there's this guy who wants to take it and is about twice my size." She glanced down at her slender form and then grinned at the audience as if to say, that wouldn't be too hard. "So I think to myself, how can I turn this around? And then it came to me. I challenged him to a duel of sorts, wits and music to be our weapons. The winner would be the one who drew the biggest crowd. So we played for at least an hour, first one of us, then the other. And we ended up drawing quite the crowd once word got around what was going on." She sighed in happy memory. "I made twice what I normally would have without a partner."

[Daniel Leto]

"Hi Finn. Daniel Leto" the gravewight leaned forward in his seat to greet the Irish Fairest. "We're just sharing war stories," he explained.

Daniel gave Green a sympathetic look as both the Mountain's stories ground to halt before they really got started. The destruction of the Four Seasons still loomed like a specter for the older Freeholders. And if the House on the Hill was what Daniel thought it was, he shared the Elemental's regret at leaving it unresolved.

He listened with some interest when Morgan spoke about speaking better drunk but he didn't comment. What he heard was what he already suspected, that the steepscrambler's speech impediment was at least partly due to lack of confidence. He wanted to go over, hug her, and tell her that she didn't need to be afraid around. Either that or yell at her that it was other people's problems if they chose to not try to understand her; that it was well worth the effort. Instead he stayed quiet for now and gave her a reassuring smile.

Nathan's diminishing enthusiasm as the story merited an understanding look as well.

"They tried to corner you." Cornering humans was a bad idea at the best of times. Cornering a Beast... "I say they got what they deserved." A practical stranger's validation of past actions might not be a lot but it was the best comfort Daniel could offer.

Following Lynn's gaze when she tensed for a second, Daniel saw the Wasp entering the Hollow. Was that the infamous Coco he'd heard about? A cold protective anger started to build before he could remind himself he hadn't even met Coco and that everything he'd been told could be hearsay. He turned his attention back to the story circle.

Daniel started going over what he might be able to talk about when it came his turn as Lynn began to wrap up her story. That Artist and the Apartment? No, not only for the reasons Green had given but Morgan was here. The Little Boy Lost? No, that would feel like betraying Owen's trust. He couldn't tell about the Burning Man or the Ghost in the Violin for the same reason, only with Tessa and Lynn. That left some of the older tales he hadn't told to anyone in Sacramento.

"A girl came to me one time, looking for a fake ID. Now most of the time, when I do forgery work it's for kids looking to get in clubs. In her case though, she was being hunted by dangerous folk and trying to set up a new life somewhere else. I agreed to help and got her out of town with a new identity."

"A couple days later those folk were knocking on my door, asking about the girl. I told them I didn't know anything and they were skeptical to say the least. Beat me up pretty good. Might have killed me, but I had a couple friends on the other side. I managed to activate a Contract. One that allows the living to touch spirits and vise versa. Facing invisible combatants turns the tables faster than you'd expect in a situation like that." He said with a smile that was perhaps just a little too calm for someone who had just described using ghostly allies to attack his attackers. "They didn't bother me after that."

It wasn't strictly speaking the truth. He'd run first rather than face the enemy. However, this was a night for success and victories.