(1611) Eternal Seasons Luncheon

[Mhairi Ankaa]

Introductions and smiles were exchanged. Lunch progressing, and there was even a late arrival. Mhairi didn't know if Alex would make an appearance. Mhairi would have jumped at the chance to mingle with the 'hold if she was the only Autumn, like Alex was the only Summer. "That's fine Alex. I'm glad you could make it."

Agreeing with her Paladin, Mhairi couldn't help but nodding, "Edna's is a Boarding House. We can easily find you a room if you have no where else to go."

Blinking at the strange turn the conversation took, "Please don't eat a fox in front of me. I like them. I think their beautiful, and clever."

Once again, Mhairi was reminded of Goblin Fruits. And that she should probably try her hand at a garden in the Autumn Commons...if she could get the Sprite to agree not to eat them. Or mess them up. Or set them on fire. Or use them as beds. Or as weaponry for their catapults.

fell-flames blink as she watches Morgause eat the mouse. Her nose scrunches up. "I don't think I want to eat a mouse."

Green brings up the Dragon, and Mhairi's fell-flames dart over to Morgan. They needed to talk to the 'hold about Fairweather. They needed to know about Rick. But most importantly, they needed to know they found the Dragon's weakness.

"A chef? Do you think she'd work for us?" it would be nice to have a reliable chef that wouldn't balk at some strange and 'ling specific requests. "Good job, Green, Nathan, Alex." Mhairi gives the three a smile.

The Look or whatever it was that Green shot her and her fellow Sovereign gets a nod in return. "...there's something that I need to talk to you two about. Too." Fell-flames move to Morgan, Green and L'aire. They might want to include Nathan and Alex. But they certainly couldn't talk about it with the unworn 'lings about.

"We've been trying to patch up the 'hold ever since the old Sovereigns left and it's...not working anymore. There's not enough of us." Mhairi looks about Edna's garden and realizes that this was everyone. "I don't feel..." safe "we need to do something else. Something that can work with limited numbers, and resources."

Sweet Dreams wrapped too. And Morgan and Mhairi do need to get this info out there. Selena Yumyumcrow Origins want to have a 'War Council'?

[Seraphina]

Morgan seemed pretty harmless, but she knew better than anyone that looks could be deceiving. Take herself for example, no one would expect her to be able to kick some serious ass, but she could. “I certainly will! We’ll have to exchange numbers then.” She might talk weird, but she seemed nice. Which was welcome.

She looks to Mhairi, “Sounds like you are the woman to speak to then, I do need a place to stay. And I don’t have much money, but I’d be willing to help keep the place clean or whatever else you might need done.” She offers, not expecting anything for free.

Smirking, “Giant monster?” a long slender finger comes to rest on her lips as she thinks before grinning, “Nope, no giant monsters.” Her blue eyes sparkled as she chuckles.

“Can’t say I care for them either, I prefer my meat mooing and cooked.” She says with a wink to Morgause, clearly just trying to have fun. “Foxes, huh? Can’t say I’ve ever had a fox.” Which was true but she wasn’t one to judge what someone ate. “Oh, all kinds. I can’t say I favor one over the other, it all depends on my mood and what the situation calls for. Though I’ve been told I suck at things like rock and roll and the such.” She says with a laugh. It was true, her voice wasn’t suited for such genres.

She shifts her attention to Green, seemed rude not to. And with his size, it was hard not to either.

“Oh, jazz! Such beautiful and soulful music!” she’d done a few jazz numbers in her time. “Well, long enough to get myself far away from where I came out and far enough from my twin.” The twin part was spoken with a scowl. Stupid bitch, she’d love to take her out someday. “Tons of interests!” she exclaims brightly, “I enjoy the gym, it’s a great way to work off stress. Thinking of taking up boxing once I get settled. But I adore movies and reading. Goblin Fruit? Haven’t heard that talked about in some time, what interests you about it?” genuine curiosity in her tone.

Attention then movies to L’aire, “Thank you, most generous, though I don’t expect you to just allow me to sing. I’d be more than happy to perform for you whenever you have time. And I don’t mind a little chill in the air, and makes for some fun outfits.” She adds with a grin. Sera had to admit she wasn’t expecting such kindness and generosity.

Her head turns at the sound of a new voice, a warm smile on her face,

“Hello Alex Rivers, I’m Seraphina, but Sera works just fine.” Greets the Treasured.

Looking to Morgause, “Well, what did you have in mind Morgause?” she asks playfully as she watches the mouse disappear. Well, that was…well…gross?

“Dragon? I seem to remember hearing mention of a dragon in my travels.” Now that’d be cool to see. To fight? Not so much. “Oh, well I am the only Spring?” there was a look of shock on her face, surely there were more Spring then her. The shock turned into concern as Mhairi talked, wow, things seemed more dire then she first thought. “And count me in to help. I might be new and all, but I’m more than happy to jump right in and help where it’s needed.” She then brings the soup spoon to her lips, trying to enjoy it while it remained warm. Cause cold soup was ok, but this just looked like it would be better warm.

And it was!

[Swami M]

Alex shivers just a tiny bit as he watches the mouse go down the hatch. It's not all unease... something about then sight stirs the predator inside him. He happily pushes that thought aside as the discussion turns to business...

"Yes, our numbers are getting critical. I'm not just a Summer. I'm the Summer at the moment. Can you even have a King without subjects? We need recruits, and we can't just wait for random traffic. Maybe we have an opening with San Francisco now. Anybody know what their numbers are like? How many of them are getting sick of writing their rent checks in scientific notation? Sacramento might be slightly dull, but in many ways it's a less forbidding place than the Bay. On the mundane side at least. Of course if we look to them for recruits we risk getting their rejects dumped on us..."

[Malcolm Green]

The mountain shifts his attention between Mhairi and Alex.

"Well... I think she - the chef, yeah - is sworn already. To the 'Hold in San Francisco. I get the idea she was passing through town on the way to a fruit grove when she got taken by privateers. She had a clockwork buddy who was making threats about what would happen if we didn't intervene directly. So we did."

He turned to the Woodblood.

"Well. Its an idea. But be careful with it - they might get it into their heads to cobble us up, or some power hungry shit like that. Not saying we don't make the offer - some might prefer it, you know. Fresh start, chance for glory and all that. You know what I mean, right?"

He looked over at Sera.

"Yeah. You, like, the only Spring in the 'Hold now. Same with Summer, I guess. Maybe the Wyrd passes you the Crown and maybe it don't. Thing is, if it don't, we kinda got trouble. See, things used to be that when the season changed, the Crown changed and a whole new Court would take over. You right, we don't have the numbers for that."

He looked over the group.

"But we do have Options. There are... precedents... Yeah. We can use."

War Council could be a thing. Just note I'm still spotty all of next week.

[Nathan Griffin]

Nathan grimaced upon being reminded of their recent... adventure. He should not have, as it brought to the fore the pain of his newly acquired burn marks. San Francisco cunts. He could handle cute little critters fine, but another 'ling's blood made him restless.

"Haven't seen a lot of foxes around Sacramento lately," he forced himself into adopting a light, reassuring tone towards his Sovereign. "I think my Thai neighbors have got to them first. They've already made all the cats disappear."

Underpopulation problem, huh? The world was laughing.

"Summer in Sacramento has never had a bright day in the sun, that I remember. I guess we are all too chill here," he looked at Alex and shared a grin set ambiguously between apology and sarcasm. "How exactly are we supposed to market this place to outlanders, anyway? I can already picture our tagline: Sacramento: There Be Dragons."

He found a fine-looking pork chop and bit into it voraciously. He remembered to finish chewing before talking just in time.

"What about locals? Don't tell me They haven't been active around these parts. We are in a big city in a big state. Some poor sod's bound to come out of the woodwork every now and then — maybe we just haven't looked hard enough."

[Morgan Bellanar]

"...well, ye did go for the neck first yes?" The question was directed at Morgause, "Tis best to be efficient, nary play heh with prey like They would," she was a survivor of the Screaming Jungle. Fruit wasn't the only thing they'd eaten to survive. But never anything with a human face. The raccoon also quipped in, "I'd also, heh, prefer ye nary eat a raccoon. Lil' bandits, heh, art a lil' close to home...also rabies."

"Oh, heh, much hath happened that tis not for norman ears." She looked at Mhairi, thinking on the development only they knew, "or for unsworn, heh, for security reasons...Yeah, think Imma head of security right now, heh-heh." Well she was Paladin.

She winced at the idea Green was proposing. It did have some merit however. "Green? The main, heh, goal of the courts tis sharing of power. Sharing it tis beyond the ken of THEM. The very concept is anethema to those wreteches. But..." she sighed loudly, "we art lacking in numbers heh in the courts tis truth. Tis a problem. Aught must be done, heh, in place of sovereign swap."

"Heh, understood ma'am," Morgan's veins glowed brightly as she gave a little bow to Mhairi, "There, uh," her eyes darted to the shed. She gave a nervous smile, "heh, tis nary a thing to delay me, heh. And yay, Green and L'Aire shalt be most interested in such a, heh, thing. Why, it could be apply to Four Seasons, ye ken?" That was all the hint she was dropping to her fellow veterans.

Seraphina had a twi-oh wait, that kind of twin. "Sorry she made ye hath to depart so far, heh. I also enjoy excercise, heh, though mine tis more locomotion then gym based. Pretty certain, heh, rooftops don't count as a gym. I do ken a place called Pipeworks tis good if ye wanna learn aught about climbing, heh."

When Alex said his part Morgan's brain and mouth moved together: "Give me, heh, your tired, poor, batshit crazy 'lings yearning for freedom?" And got distracted from that by Green, "Precedents? Like elections are aught else?" And by Nathan toog: "Yes Nathan. Mayhaps, heh, I need to run around some more? Patrolling the mundane side, heh, could reveal folks in need. And heh here there be dragons tis a terrible idea Nathan. If we wanna advertise, heh, outta town step one: kill the dragon. Step two, advertise: Sacramento, we fuck up dragons."

It was hard to tell if this was an actual business model being proposed or really bad sarcasm on Morgan's part.

I vote AYE for war council. Sorry for delayed response folks.

[Cayce]

"Now this," Morgause said, dabbing a few drops of blood off her lips, "is much more entertaining."

Her hand dipped into the cardboard box and produced another mouse. She stroked it thoughtfully as she listened, seemingly uncaring that the soft little creature she was enjoying petting would soon be ground up between her teeth.

"If you did save this Chef's life, and she does return to her hold, I'm sure that will act as an advertisement well enough. Of course, this Dragon does sound quite troublesome. I'm afraid I don't much about Dragon slaying, otherwise I would be quite eager to help. I'm curious, though: does this dragon per chance have a set of weakened scales over it's heart? Or do you have a poisoned arrow, perhaps, to slay the Dragon with?"

[Mhairi Ankaa]

"You don't need money to stay here." Mhairi answers, "I know it's...hard for us to find a job. So chores work. Oh. Wait chores don't work anymore..." darn, she hadn't thought of that when she brought a brownie home. "Groceries always welcome. Or cooking." Mumphert had been quite embarrassed when he admitted that he wasn't as good a cook as he was a housekeeper. "Cooking works. Alex does a mean breakfast taco." Mhairi smiles, nodding to her fellow Elemental.

Mhairi tried not to frown. All of her Courtiers were Beasts. So she knew that they'd probably eaten other animals in the past, but to find out that they sometimes still did...Mhairi tried not to frown, especially when she realized that maybe she was thinking of eating animals differently then some of the others were eating them.

Mhairi was picturing her Courtiers, and Morgaause biting into a squeaking, mewling creature all fangs, fur, feathers. Blood and bone. Something primal and reminiscent of their time spent over There...while (probably Sera) was picturing fox steaks with a garlic-butter sauce. But Mhairi didn't want to tell her Courtiers to not hunt, kill and eat their prey...not it if made them feel better, even if the thought made her ill.

Mhairi was grateful when the conversation drifted in other directions...

Sera had a beautiful voice. And she liked to sing. Jackpot. Mhairi's fell-flames flicker to Morgan. Remembering he Dragon's Bane. Truly the Wyrd works in mysterious ways.

Alex steals her attention, and this is the first time she's heard him talk like this. It made her realize that there was a Summer under all that silence.

"Having some positive press can only be good for us." nods Mhairi, "Maybe we will get their rejects. But maybe we'll get some that just aren't happy with where they are. Or that just need a change. Sometimes you have to move. You can just feel Their grasping fingers on your heels and you have to move."

Mhairi chewed on her lip as her mind began to wrestle the notion that the Seasonal Courts might die and not offer the 'hold their protection anymore...weren't there other Courts...Day and Night, or Dawn and Dusk? Or was it Sun and Moon? Something like that. To keep the 'hold safe would she forsake Autumn, while asking all of the Lost within to do the same?

"That's good." Mhairi nods at the mountain's gravely voice. Maybe she won't have too...

Mhairi tried to laugh at Nathan's jokes, but really, inside the Fear was beginning to choke her. Morgan's words however brake through that Fear and she laughs, "True. That would be a great way to advertise our 'hold." while sharing another look with Morgan, because they now knew how to 'fuck up the Dragon'.

Looking at the lost gathered in the back garden of Edna's Mhairi couldn't help but smile, "Yeah..." nodding at Morgause, "We know where his armor is weakest, and," looking at the Nix, "We just might have our poisoned arrow."

Anyone interested in the 'War Council' or whatever coming next, throw your hat in for the Death of Fairweather!

[Swami M]

Alex nods at Nathan. "I know there are a few unsworn hanging around the city. We met one when we first found out about the pet snatchers. Does anyone have some contacts or a good idea of how many might be out there?"

[Seraphina]

Sera looks at Alex, he is the only Summer? And she was the only Spring? This was a first for her, and the low numbers was troubling to say the least.

And then Green confirms it. Sapphire eyes look down, a hand absently moving her spoon in the bowl. She didn’t want the Crown, being a leader had never been her strong suit. Had it been a mistake to want to settle in Sacramento? She wasn’t sure anymore, but she couldn’t just up and leave, not when everyone had been so kind and welcoming. No, she decided, she would stay, maybe be one of the hands helping to rebuild.

Sounded like something was going to go down. But until she became Sworn, there wasn’t much they were going to share. And she didn’t blame them, it just sucked.

Morgan throws her a different subject, though temporary, “Never been climbing, but I’d love to try it sometime!” she loved working out, and had heard climbing was an amazing workout for the body.

So they were looking a taking down the Dragon! She wanted to get in on that, and when Mhairi looks at her, and mentions having their poisoned arrow. The spoon that had been bringing the soup to her mouth stopped, as the Treasured eyes look at her. “Huh?” her face showing her confusion. She didn’t have any poisoned arrows, in fact, she had never fired a bow. Did she miss something?