The Element(al)s of Coffee

[Mhairi Ankaa]

"I was thinking about working out of Edna's at first. I don't know If I'd want to have a shop in the Quicksilver Gate. I might, eventually but that's a long ways off. I need to buy a sewing machine first."

The laugh makes Mhairi grin in return.

"Yeah. I get it. It might be Winter's way, but it sounds good to me. Not abandoning the city, facing the Fear of discovery...I can understand that the Summers and maybe the Springs would have a harder time of it, but..." she shrugs, grabbing another doughnut and started tearing it apart like she had the fritter.

"I'd say used Edna's. But the lizard's been here as Rick. Been in the Autumn Commons....we - Autumn - might need to pick up and carve out a new place anyway. But a communal Hollow, for the whole 'hold...yeah. That sounds good. We could get a place to act as a front, it doesn't even matter if it's pretty or not. If we have a communal Hollow, we can make that as magnificent as we want. Then we don't have to spend any time in the front yeah?"

Mhairi's mind had already started drifting, imagining a glorious library, shelves laden with books, scroll and other things dripping with knowledge and fairy lore.

"Well, for those that came to the War Council we can just tell them that ignoring the lizard and his grubby talons is part of the plan....those that didn't come to the Council...I think they are already ignoring him. You could talk to L'aire about it, and then the two of you could talk to the new Winters...I could do the same with the Autumns. Sera for the Springs. I don't think any of them would care about anything they haven't had a personal experience with anyway...the only problem I can see is the Summers." pausing to nibble on her doughnut and take a sip of coffee, "I don't know if Alex'll be able to get the Summers to listen, but telling them not to bother with the Four Seasons, or the Theme Park or whatever else....might just get them to do something about it. Telling Alex, and then not telling the new Summers anything, while still having Alex keeping an eye on them at least until we've dealt with the Dragon ourselves....that might be the only way to get them to ignore the Dragon. By not telling them there is one."

The Elementals around the table might have issues with emotion, but they both knew that telling a Summer there was a Dragon claiming territory around town was a sure fire way to get them to march on the enemy. Damning the consequences.

[Malcolm Green]

Green grunted.

"Maybe they already know. But it would be good to find out, one way or another. Also, be good to know how the newcomer stand on things. Actually - yeah! You should check out those new Autumn guys that turned up, yeah? You're still Queen of the Court, right? Find out about them, settle them in. Or something?"

He paused.

"I should probably do the same in L'aire's stead. Yeah..."

He attempted to look into his cup.

"But going back to the idea of a Commons. If we have a front: a real front that is, like the hotel was, I think it should be a business. Something that gives us cover - at least why we'd all pass in the same building. And, heres the big thing. It should be low key. A hotel... A club... A boarding house, even. That wyrm knows to look for those. He not going to look for something boring and mundane now, is he? Like I said, he can't take everything. And we're like water; or frost; or whathaveyou - we flow into the cracks. I mean, as I said, yeah - even a house will do. But a house might look strange with all the pals turning up every few months for parties. Muggle folk talk, you know. Especially when they don't get invited."

Pausing again.

"If you want another boarding house I think that old hotel L'aire tracked own is still on the market. It got a different vibe to the old hotel and is away from our usual spots, yeah? If you were thinking of something like it? I think my Queen is still toying with the idea. But yeah, she invested in the Note. And I don't think I could stump up the cash to get the banks to take me seriously."

He snorted in derision.

[Mhairi Ankaa]

"I've been meaning too... Admitting that she hasn't made time to settle in new Autumn Courtiers brought some redness to her moonlit flesh. "Life's just been...complicated." she finishes lamely bringing another bit of torn doughnut to her lips.

Nodding, "Someone should speak with Sera and Alex to get them to do the same with the new Springs and Summers."

A humming sound of agreement, "Yeah. Something innocuous, something we've never done before. Nothing to tie us to it...but. Like you've said, something that won't seem weird to see people coming and going..." fell-flames slip to her mug and she sighs, gets back up for a refill. "Need a top off?" if Green gives her a positive she'll happily refill the mug, and if not, she'll return the pot to the hotplate.

Returning to her seat, "What about an apartment? We could rent out units to muggles while also keeping a floor or two for us, for homes, and a place to open a door to a shared commons..." a shrug, "Most people in apartments don't know their neighbors, so seeing a few new faces, wouldn't be out of the ordinary. But at the same time seeing familiar faces around the building would be weird either. And, with muggles around we might have a supply of glamour..." she fixes her coffee as she had before, "But, I don't know how we could afford something like that initially either...and if there's any way to secure that hotel L'aire's looked into...I can try. Managing Edna's has taught me more then I thought it would."

She meets his snort with a sigh, "I haven't been properly employed since the end of Summer, early Autumn. So...I can't say if the banks will take me seriously either. Can I tell them I've inherited a Boarding House and have been excepting chores instead of cash from my Boarders?"

ooc

I just managed to sit down and watch all of American Horror Story Hotel, and now I want my own :P

[Malcolm Green]

"I know what thats like. For years I've been working in construction - when the projects dry up I moonlight with whatever I can find. Always find my way back to making houses. Or bringing 'em down."

He accepted the refill and snatched up a doughnut while he was at it.

"Dunno about an apartment. I have this crazy idea for a laundromat sometimes. Maybe buy the building, you know. Get some crash space into the bargain. Anyway, laundromat - Gate out the back or something. Plenty of excuse for people to go to a laundromat. And if a Wyrm wanted to pull it out from under you, well, they'd have to put something in its place. And you know how mundy's can get if their neighbourhoods get too disrupted, right? Good all round I say."

He grunted in appreciation. It was the first time he had articulated his idea; and now he had he liked the sound of it.

[Mhairi Ankaa]

Mhairi gives the Mountain a nod, picking at her doughnut, and taking another sip, "Every one of us has been there at some point. just another trial of the Lost.

"...A laundromat...?" she echos before letting the idea roll around in her mind. "That's...different. But, different's what we're after isn't it?"

Mhairi knew that some wouldn't want to go to a laundromat, or that the front to the Commons would be one, since it wasn't majestic or glamorous, but either of those things is a sure fire way to get noticed. Which is exactly what we don't want.

"A laundromat." she says more firmly, nodding, "Sounds good to me. My other idea involved a fish market. We just need to get everyone else on board, and you know. Get one." a beat, "A laundromat that is."

[Malcolm Green]

Green barks a laugh.

"Fish market? Now... That has to be unique, yeah? What, we going to roll a Goblin trade outpost in there, too? Challenge Sal's Flesh Market while we at it? Ah. Don't get me wrong, its low key and definitely not glamourous. A good place to hide. Funny though, yeah, the setup would take some doing. It not jus the market. Gotta have trader or something to pass it off. Lot of work."

He paused while he drank thick dark coffee.

"But laundromat. The buy-in involves one person who owns the place. We can add the door later. I guess I can start looking for places, talk to people, you know? Never know, I might just be able to pull it off. As for the Freehold Commons - heck, we might as well put out the word. Get people involved. Yeah. We'd need some extra... hands... to cut back a big enough Hollow anyway. Otherwise we'd be at it for years."

He lapsed into silence again and filled it by raising his cup to his lips.

[Mhairi Ankaa]

There a wry twist to her lips, "Yeah. Eventually. I haven't been to Sal's...but I've heard things. It's horrible. I want something better. You know." a shrug. "Fish market could always be a back up plan in case the laundromat doesn't work. Or stops working after a while."

Talking with Green like this, planning, hiding. It reminded her why she almost gave herself to Winter instead of giving into the slow seduction of Autumn's Arcane Secrets.

"Yeah. First thing's first. Make sure we're all good before we invest in a door, or start carving out a place in the hedge." she sips at the coffee, "For a commons, we'd need...well. If everyone pitched in a little, it'll half the work."

After a long moment of eating and drinking, feeling free to not fill the moment with chatter, she hum. Giving voice to a thought that had need itching at the back of her mind.

"Rick. Or he Dragon with is face. Swore to Lynn, during the last Spring Equinox. Made the Freehold Pledge....you think we can nail him that way?" if they could, they would have to do it quickly. Spring was just around the corner.

[Malcolm Green]

Now it is Green's turn to show some surprise.

"He swore? Well fuck! Um, like, yeah? I thought the Wyrd would have acted on its own. You know, thought, word, deed. Anything that harms the Freehold, right? You shall never bring danger to our society... That is what we say. So... It should have kicked in by now? I'm no Pledge Smith, but."

Quick check. No coffee in the cup.

"You sure it was Fairweather at the point? Maybe the switch happened later when no one was looking."

Now that was a terrifying thought. Could no one be relied on with being bound in an Oath? Green grimaced and put his cup down again.

"What boon did he take? You remember?"

There was an edge to Green's voice that he himself did not notice.

[Mhairi Ankaa]

Pledge Smith. Right. She needed to see if one of the new Autumns knew the intricacies of pledge crafting, maybe she should look into it herself. Or maybe she should just appoint an Ashen Notary, and make them take up Pledge Smithing.

"I don't know." Mhairi admits, "I really don't know when the switch happened. It could have been before he even came back, or it could be after Ava's accident. I just don't know."

Mimicking Green she stares down into her mug, trying to turn her mind back. She'd sworn her quick and clever fingers. And Rick...."His skills in navigating the Thorns."

Looking up at the Mountain. "We all swore to protect our home, and not to knowingly aid it's enemies....if. If the Wyrm think of the 'hold as his...home. His. Just his. He'll have been eliminating his companion right? Protecting his. His. Then he's keeping his Oath. And...we've never named him Enemy. If we want the Pledge to falter, to nail him. We should invoke the Wyrd and name him. All the names we know of his, and officially, ceremonially, name him our enemy."

  1 success

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2017-02-13 11:32:48		Mhairi Ankaa rolls 4 to Remembering! (10 Again)		5, 9, 5, 4		1 success

[Malcolm Green]

Green sat silently.

"That would do it," he said at last and more quietly than he normally managed. "That would be our all-in moment. Yeah."

His eyes were heavy with meaning when he raised them to the Telluric.

"You know what that would mean, right? War. Thats a nuclear option there. Almost as bad as that old Contract the 'Hold has safely hidden away."

Did he need to say more?