Broken Freehold Common Ground

[Daniel Leto]

Daniel walked the dark streets of Sacramento at night. After the stress of traveling, taking care of business, and then more traveling; it would have been nice to just walk now that he was home. However, he had a destination in mind. The Four Seasons. The burnt heart of the Freehold. Daniel intended to raise it from the dead. Because he wasn't home. Not really. It was close. Very close. There had always felt like there was something missing though. Everything was always a Summer event or a Winter event simply by virtue of it taking place at their stronghold.

He understood the reason why none had done it before. He had been raised as part of the Winter Court after all. The Dragon still lurked in the shadows. A central location was dangerous. The Four Seasons basically proved that in its fiery destruction. However, that didn't dissuade Daniel. The Four Seasons was simply the first and easiest course to find a potentially salvageable place to set up in the Hedge. From there doors could be added anywhere in the city. If it couldn't be salvaged then he'd just look elsewhere. If it could though it would be a one up on one of the True Fae. And recovery of so much that had been lost. Build back up on the bones who had given their lives to protect the Freehold. That had to be worth something.

The Darkling arrived at the Four Seasons. Plywood walls had been erected around the destroyed site. The graffiti had to be assumed to have come later. Some construction vehicles could be seen over the wall. Whether it was to clear debris or make something new, Daniel couldn't be sure. It had been a couple years after all and mortals moved on a lot more easily than Changelings. Daniel glanced around to make sure he was alone.

For anyone interested in starting a new Freehold Commons, feel free to join the thread.

[Evelynn East]

Evelynn wasn't sure what she felt about a Freehold Commons, to be honest. It seemed like a romantic idea, but the thought of making such an obvious target of the Freehold... well, she wasn't sure if it was worth it. But her curiosity got the best of her, nonetheless, because it always did, and she peered around the corner towards the man standing on the sidewalk, his skin almost glowing under the pale moonlight. She pushed her glasses up her nose, nervous about being the only one here, beyond this stranger. She took solace in the fact that he probably wouldn't have been allowed to run around posting flyers all over the Freehold if he wasn't someone trusted by people who knew better than she.

Her footsteps were quiet as she approached, but she wasn't trying to be stealthy - she was sure he could hear her before she actually came to a stop next to him. She had her purse with her - a bag that had more in common with a small backpack than a normal purse, and she was clutching it to her chest as she stared up at the graffitied wooden walls around the construction site. Ah, she hated small talk with strangers. Blushing, she cleared her throat, her gaze fixed firmly on the torn flyer posted on the wall instead of on him. It might have come across as standoffish had she not seemed so awkward. "Um. Hi. I'm Evelynn." She peered at him out of the corner of her eye, uncertain about what to say next.

[Malcolm Green]

A hulking shadow moved in the darkness, a great mass moving with slow determination from one pool of yellowed light to the next. Green was dresses in denim with scuffed steal capped boots whose size seemed ominous. He had his hands tucked into his pockets.

"You are back," he uttered as he drew near the Gravewright. The words tumbled from his lips with all the authority of the pulpit and were left hanging in the space between them, shorn of further elaboration or embellishment.

Boots scraped on the buckled pavement as he came to rest - a passive man-sized menhir. He was looking at Evelynn.

"And you are welcome too, I guess," he said to the Wizened. "Barely here at all and already pitching in."

[Daniel Leto]

The gravewight smiled calmly as the large eyed woman approached. While her Seeming was hard to place, he could sense the connection that bound them both to the Freehold Pledge. General build, appearance, and attitude said Wizened. The occasional glimpse of turning gear beneath skin reminded him of some Elementals he'd met before though. Avoiding eye contact could also be a trait of some Beasts too. That could just be his own eyes though. He was a black eyed Darkling hanging around the streets at night. That was more than enough creepy for most people to be nervous.

"Hi Evelynn," he said kindly. She didn't offer her hand, so he didn't give his to prevent awkwardness. He also did his best to look over her left shoulder instead of directly eye to eye.

"I'm Daniel Leto." The name came easily, even after a couple months. It was nice to be him again. "I'm the one who put up the flyers," he clarified.

Green remained unnoticed longer than a monument of that bulk had any right but Daniel's smile widened slightly upon hearing Green's greeting (despite lack of inflection).

"Good to be back," he replied simply. For a brief second, the gravewight worried the Mountain had been sent here to stop things. It took a quick mental shake to dissuade that thought. The time in Minnesota had left him a little paranoid. The Winter Court there wasn't nearly as friendly as Sacramento's.

"I figured once I got back I'd try find the old club house. Maybe get it up and running again."

He gave a sideways glance and half smile to the... he'd go with Wizened. She was apparently new, so "You know about the Four Seasons Hotel?" If she wanted to get involved she should know what she was possibly getting herself into.

[Evelynn East]

Daniel introduced himself, and Evelynn finally looked over, meeting his gaze. She normally tried to be friendlier, but approaching a stranger at the site of something terrible at night - and for that stranger to look like a ghost - was more than a little unnerving. Still, he seemed kindly, and his greeting was friendlier than hers, so she smiled shyly and dipped her head in acknowledgement. She was going to say something more, but she noticed the approach of the mountain and relaxed a little. They didn't know each other, almost at all, but it was a remarkable relief to see a familiar face, even if it was only familiar because she'd met him in passing at the Coronation.

She smiled at Green, chuckling softly at his observation that she was already helping out, despite not having been here long. True, she realized, but it seemed odd that he was speaking as if that were unusual. She'd made a promise to support the Freehold as best she could, after all. If she was going to make a home here, this seemed the way to do it.

Once the greetings between Daniel and Malcolm were finished, she smiled at the Darkling, a little more comfortable now. "Pleased to meet you, Daniel. And, um, I suppose welcome back!"

He asked her about the Four Seasons, and she shook her head. "Only that there was a fire, and it was bad. I haven't really asked for details. It was one of those things people didn't seem to want to talk about." She was glad they were getting this out of the way now. She had planned to ask, certainly, because she wasn't keen on getting involved without knowing the whole story, but it was good of him to bring it up so quickly.

[Malcolm Green]

"This here was the Four Seasons Hotel, yeah?" Green began, stopped, quickly surveyed the area before continuing in a strained tone as he tried to modulate his voice.

"Heart of the Freehold. You got room and board. Places to meet - like, there was a restaurant down on the ground floor... good craft beer and all. Back then we had common ground on the other side that we could all share in. All the big feasts happened there and nearly everyone knew some of the secret ways in."

"Then the Dragon came. Fairweather? Heard of him? Burned the place down in one hit. Burned a chunk of the green too. I know - I was over there when his firestorm swept through. We lost more than the hotel that day: we lost the key people who ran the 'hold and a bunch of the Summer Court besides. King Spartan went down fighting with his champions I guess. Everyone who could, scattered."

Pause for effect.

"It took a long time for the pieces to get put back together. But they haven't worked the same since."

He stared at Evelynn - the others knew the tale, but the newcomer did not.

[Daniel Leto]

With the slamming of a truck dorr, the temperature dropped even further as L'aire approached. If Daniel were to have closed his eyes he would have sworn they were meeting on some mountain above the tree line.

"Hi Sasha. Thank you," he responded with a smile.

It turned grim with Green's explanation, though. Daniel had read the names. It hadn't just been the Freehold that suffered. Plenty of mortals had died as well in the blaze. That wasn't the worst part though.

"Fairweather is still around," he said with a calm that belayed the deadly implications "We've got people looking for a way to take him down but he's still very much a threat." The less said on the better though. As Lynn often had to remind him, the walls could speak if asked and despite the abandoned street this was still a public area. Best not to let Fairweather they had the Book.

"It makes this little project somewhat dangerous," and possibly ill-advised "but it's my thought that if we do want to the defeat the Dragon the Club needs to begin recovering from its wounds and get stronger."

The Gravwight glanced around the empty street not wanting to go into too much detail here "I'm open to suggestions but right now my plan was to find the Four Season's backyard and start trying to retake it from the weeds. It doesn't have to be the Four Seasons but I think it'd be good morale boost."

[Evelynn East]

Evelynn smiled at L'aire's greeting and dipped her head in response as the others greeted each other as well. She listened, wide-eyed, to Green's explanation of what had happened here. It sounded horrifying. She twitched uncomfortably under the mountain's gaze, uncertain of what to say. She wanted to express sorrow for their loss, but "sorry" felt like it wasn't sufficient in sentiment.

In part, she understood why some in the Freehold might be against the idea of re-taking the Freehold Commons. Especially considering that Fairweather was still around, apparently. Her gaze flickered to Daniel as he explained, going impossibly wider at the news. She wanted to ask if they were certain it was a good idea to start building up something so fragile when the destroyer was so likely to return to reopen the wound, but he continued, admitted the project was dangerous, and she realized they had to know that, and they still thought it was a worthy goal. The Commons meant something to them. Something that made it worth the danger.

She squared her shoulders - a somewhat amusing reaction, given that there was no physical danger, and given that she was small enough that it looked like any one of the other three changelings could still bowl her over with a look - and gave a resolute nod. "I don't.... I don't know how much help I could be," she admitted, frowning slightly, "But I'd like to help."