(Mirror Maze) Meet and Greet!

It seemed that their Freehold was becoming quite busy as of late. The Fairest didn't mind at all. Their numbers had been so small for so long, that she was glad some people were coming to check them out. The only difficulty was explaining how their freehold worked. Although, there were other Freeholds in the world that were quite different from the norm, a well traveled Changeling would adapt quickly.

The Dancer had the front door opened and had told the two people the location for the next day when she spoke to them on the phone. She really thought about getting a secondary phone, but, she for now, it really wasn't a big deal. Not yet anyway.

Sasha wore thin leggings, and a flowing grey blouse with simple shoes, a more summery outfit, if one knew her well enough. Even though the summer heat would cause normal people issues, even the Winter had problems though she supplied her own personal air conditioning. The only problem she ever faced was keeping the temperature just right so as not to crack any mirrors in the Maze.

With some cold coffee in the Fridge and the Keurig turned on, the Onyx waited for the arrival of two individuals with a grin on her face.

Sorry guys, I need to make sure I am not going over my limits with scenes

Barnabas understood and didn't like the pull these places had on him. So many Freeholds built their societies around these border-spots that weren't quite the real world nor the madlands.

Crisp new Birckenstocks crunched loose asphalt underfoot as the Beast came to stand just in front of the door. He wore khaki cargo pants and a long-sleeved black shirt. His long-fingered claws peeked out of the sleeves.

A thin coat of sweat had formed on his brow. He wiped it away with a sleeve and grinned an uncannily huge, toothy smile. "Ho! I'm Barnabas. We spoke on the phone." He seemed relaxed in the heat and stayed outside as he asked, "May I come in?"

Mixers were one thing; this was about making sure he could stay. He wore a orange button-up shirt with a playful tie, nothing too drastic and yet nothing too plain (his personal mantra). He followed the address that Sasha had given him and found an open door and two Changelings.

One he had seen before. He had introduced himself as Barnabas but the man quickly joined a separate conversation from Peter. The Beast seemed playful, with Birkenstocks and cargo pants, and Peter found himself drawn in to the man's Presence, which stood in such strong contrast to his own.

The other one got his attention in a different way. Everything about Sasha screamed 'look at me'. How very opposite of Peter. Where Peter had no mantle at all, Sasha's felt like winter had come far too early. Where Peter did his best not to draw attention to himself, this one looked lively, with a striking appearance.

Two strong personalities and a shadow of one. How would this meeting go?

As he approached the door he stuck his head around Barnabas and said, "Hello," offering a friendly wave of his hand. "I'm Peter. Peter Wright. Ooooh look at that, a Keurig. Oh yeah, I'm excited for some coffee. Can I please come in too?" he added with a friendly smile. He didn't think he needed to ask, but it would be rude to not follow the Beast's lead. Currently Peter had no reason to undermine the man.

The Fairest wondered if the temperature in the Maze was too cold for the new Summer that entered. If she didn’t care, it wouldn’t have crossed her mind. “Oh, please come in Barnabas. There is some hot coffee, cold coffee, and frosted cookies if you’d like.” To the Dancer, cut-out cookies weren’t just a holiday time of year treat, they should be available all the time. So picking some cute ones from the bakery counter seemed like a perfect fit for today.

Even though the new Beast may have been off-putting with his larger black mouth, it didn’t stop Sasha from being friendly. She believed that some people needed a chance before judgment was made, and some people were swift at making that decision for themselves.

Then, another male on the door and his voice was also slightly familiar. “Come in Peter.” The Dancer motioned. “Have a cookie too if you’d like.” She smiled, and his face seemed to take on the appearance of being happy to be there. His voice at least matched. She hadn’t met a Darkling like him yet, but there was no reason to be skeptical for now.

“I’m glad the both of you contacted me.” She said as she poured herself a cup of coffee and added some Butter Pecan ice cream flavored creamer to the coffee. Nodding toward the small seating area by the coffee table with cookies. “Please have a seat when you’ve grabbed what you’d like.”

“Did either of you have trouble finding this place?” Looking over her cup as she took a sip. The Dancer may have appeared ethereal and frosty, but her demeanor was entirely opposite and welcoming. The lithe Onyx casually crossed her long legs to the side, but remained poised and attentive to the two new Changelings.

The Beast bashfully nodded at the big welcome from the woman inside. Before he could come in, though, an old friend appeared behind him. Before he spoke, Barnabas excitedly said: "Silas! Why you're--" Barnabas turned as if to hug the man and then stopped dead. It was odd--the features weren't quite right and his height was--ah. "Sorry, Peter. Please don't let me hold you up any more than I already have."

Barnabas entered into the door and seemed a bit embarrassed to have mistaken the fae for an old friend. Now that he studied the face it was clear--there was Silas there but it wasn't as if the man was masquerading as his old friend. It was more like a memory of an old friend. There were more curious miens.

The Beast hovered over the confectionery with a curious look and picked out a cookie shaped into a green pine tree on a plate to bring to the seating area. "Coffee doesn't agree with me. Or cookies. But a gift freely given is appreciated. Thank you for the treats. And for the warm welcome." Fur-coated claws set the plate gingerly on the table between them as Barnabas sat reclined in his chair. "No trouble on my end. Your directions were great! We didn't keep you waiting too long, did we?"

Peter's eyes watched the beast as he struggled with Peter's appearance. A smile rested on Peter's face. He was used to that reaction. "It's no problem. Good to see you again Barnabas." They hadn't gotten a chance to talk at the mixer, but it was nice seeing a somewhat friendly face.

Peter offered a friendly smile as he entered and took a cookie. "Don't mind if I do." He then went about using the Keurig to make a cup of coffee, adding French Vanilla creamer, cause of course everyone always had French Vanilla.

"I found the place pretty well too, thanks. And thanks for having us." They hadn't come together, but the meeting was for both of them. "It's always good to do things the, you know, official way and all that." Sometimes the best way to hide was in plain sight. It was sometimes preferable to the shadows.

“I do have some bottled water if that would interest you Barnabas.” She waited to see if he may prefer that. “If you are willing to share, do you have any sort of food preferences, or maybe a special diet that you need to adhere to? I hold many gatherings in the Freehold and I like to be as accommodating as possible."

Every so often while she was looking at Peter, he reminded her of John. Of course that was an impossible thing to think, yet a look of yearning couldn't be contained in her violet eyes. The thoughts that ran across her mind and drifted into her eyes were much deeper than she anticipated. She quickly blinked and returned to seeing the Darkling before her. “Oh of course, I’m glad to see you both.” She was also pleased they had no problem finding the signs and sigils leading to the Freehold within Funderland.

Her demeanor was welcoming and warm despite the chill the Onyx gave off. Perhaps that made up for the cold room, but, it was something she couldn't help anyway “So I shall start off by explaining a few things that may be different in this Freehold as opposed to a lot of other ones that are familiar.”

The Fairest sat forward on her chair a little, and began to explain the inter-workings of the Sacramento Freehold. “I know that you easily put together that you needed to come to me to find out a few things about the Freehold. We have a Director which is Ingrid. Outside of the Freehold, we can refer to her as the Manager. She oversees us and keeps the Wyrd at bay so that if there is a gap in any Court without a Sovereign, that the Wyrd does suddenly become agitated with us. A few years ago, our numbers were very thin, and for a long time I was the only Winter. We were even missing a Summer Sovereign for a while too. The Notary sees to new people who seek them out and to record pledges that she is made aware of. There is a Groundskeeper position that is still open, but they are to keep an eye on security, hedge patrols and whatnot.”

She had put her free hand out to the both of them. “Please feel free to ask any questions you may have.” Waiting to see if they did and before she started asking a few about them. The Dancer realized that getting the business side of things out of the way first was best in case something suddenly came up.

Life since returning from the madlands felt like a constant dream. Here Barnabas sat at a tea party with a stranger wearing an old friend's face and enjoying the warm welcome of an Ice Queen. Just like in dreams, the Beast couldn't ever quite explain how or why he was where he was. He just played along until he woke up.

"That's kind of you to offer," Barnabas said to his host. "My time in the madlands and Keeper affected me very specifically. I can only eat meat. Rended fresh off the bone is best and fresh, but raw and butchered is fine too." Dream logic. Barnabas can't eat cookies--he can only eat raw meat. "Thank you for asking." Barnabas didn't want to assume Sasha would take this to heart. Question and answer. Pay her in kind and mind your manners.

Barnabas nodded at Sasha's explanations. The level of cooperation here was refreshing. Maybe these fae really understood that politicking to be King of the Hill was short-sighted at best and blatant endangerment at worst. Then Sasha opened up the floor to questions. "Yes, I have just the one. Any restrictions on hunting game? I mean, do you have any restrictions." It was clear Barnabas was more focused on not offending the Freehold than the laws of the city of Sacramento.

Peter listened as Sasha explained the nature of the Freehold. He found its structure interesting, though not truly worthy of comment. Every place did things differently, he knew that. Of course he committed Ingrid's name to memory. You don't forget the name of the director.

Then Peter listened to Barney lay out how his Keeper affected him. Truth and Lies, and where was the line? Peter could feel his face want to twitch as he struggled with the idea of telling the full truth. So he revealed just a little. "I don't think I can relate to the food restriction, but I think we all know what it's like to have our way of life changed deeply. Sometimes I worry that any trace of my old face, my true face, will run off like the paint it's currently comprised of and all I'll seem to everyone else is an illusion of their memory." Too real. Too much. He cracked his neck uncomfortably then took a sip of coffee to compose himself. "I guess I'm just saying the Keepers sure are fucked up," he said with an awkward chuckle. Way to kill the mood.

The question Barnabas posed was quite new to her. She’d been in the Freehold a very long time and to her knowledge, Sasha had never heard it come up. The Dancer blinked her violet eyes, she audibly was searching through her memory with a few sighs and ums. “You know, Barnabas, I don’t think that has ever been asked before. I know there are some widely wooded areas around here that should be away from the city enough to do some hunting. I guess it all depends on what you’d like to Hunt. I do not know what laws California has for restrictions on certain animals that are protected. So as long as you are staying within the law of California and are careful not to get caught, I don’t think the Freehold has any.”

The Fairest spoke about all of this matter-of-fact like. She wasn’t disgusted or shocked at anything other than the question had never come up. Dietary restrictions had to be terrible, so many people had them now days that it probably didn’t seem like much of a surprise to her, no different than lactose intolerance or celiac disease.

“But, I will make sure at any event I host that you will have something to eat, Barnabas.”

The meeting had taken a darker turn, from the Summer Beast expressing his time in the Hedge and then Peter revealing what he did. She wanted to help him, yet, didn’t know how exactly she’d be able to do that. How do you stop someone’s face from losing it’s origins? There were so many strange things that Sasha nearly felt compelled to do, like run over and put her hands on it to make it stop, although her reasoning knew that wouldn’t work. “Peter, is there anything anyone can do to help?” There may have been nothing, but the Fairest’s words were heartfelt, so much that she glowed ever so slightly until she realized it, and suddenly shifted her emotions.

The Dancer was debating on sharing herself, but the Onyx didn’t want to pull the limelight from either of them. “I understand more than you know how twisted Keepers can be.” She said the statement open-ended, not finite and her tone suggested she was open to any questions about it.

The Fairest hadn’t had a share session like this upon first meeting new Changelings. Yet, it was good for them to get it off their chest. It almost felt like some sort of substance abuse recovery group discussion, or at least what she’d seen in movie clips. “I should note that I have no background in psychology. But don't let that discourage either of you from continuing to talk about it.” She sort of chuckled a little, but it was just trying to lift the spirits of the room.