Posts from the 2018 Rollback!
The Dancer closed the calendars that were in front of her, and her full attention was on the new person who paid her a visit. "Yes, this is the place. My name is Sasha Collins, some called me L'aire in the past." She moved from her seat to standing and then around the desk in an ethereal motion, graceful, elegant and all too like a song was playing in her spirit as she moved to an unheard rhythm.
Sasha slowly moved closer to the Summer, as she did, a faint whisper tickled her ears. She met his hand. "It's good to meet you Tiphon." Her hands were nimble and chilly to the touch. The faint heat she felt from him didn't particularly effect her at the moment, releasing his hand at an appropriate time.
"Can I get you anything? I have coffee, both hot and iced and bottled water." Her other hand waved behind her. "Have a seat if you wish." Nodding to the small lobby with chairs and a small coffee table.
"Where are you from Tiphon? Why did the winds bring you to Sacramento?" She smiled sweetly. Everything about the Fairest was genuine and friendly while she stood, wondering what her guest may need.
"Sasha Collins."
Like he was trying it on for size, then he gave a nod. He shivered slightly at the Winter Queen's frozen touch, his Wyrd-touched nature nothing compared to the might of her Sorrow's Mantle. He gently waved off the offer of coffee et al. with a murmur of 'no, thank you', but he did find a seat.
"Where am I from... I am uncertain, Your Majesty. I have wandered a long time. When you are without permanent address and the life you once led is gone, it is challenging to say. Yet I can tell you that I do know I am a child of the world. Egypt. The Caucasus. Russia. Greece. Ever a traveler."
A raw chuckle.
"As for why I have come here... there is one who wears my face, who disgraces it, who keeps me from me. The Fetch is here. And I will have him. I suppose, thus, you could say that my purpose is to break particular sticks and ground away particular stones." By the end of the sentence, he was almost hissing the words, his little Mantle pulsing and pushing helplessly against her overwhelming power as anger suffused him. The Fetch. It was here. He knew it.
"Perhaps, then, I will have peace and all else will follow. Then, I can have a home."
Her violets followed him as he took a seat. She too didn't take a beverage and sat across from him. The Fairest was relaxed, yet poised while her attention was on him.
It was a little saddening that he could't pinpoint where he was from. The nomadic man tried to explain, but maybe he misunderstood her question. "Where were you before Sacramento? Were you in the states? Were you close?" Sasha didn't make it seem like a dire question, but she was interested in hearing him speak.
The Dancer knew all too well the ire that a Fetch could draw. It still made her furious that they may still be active in Russia. "It's interesting that you mention Russia, last I checked, that was where my Fetch still had been." She shrugged slightly, non-verbally saying that she wasn't doing anything about it.
"Curiously, if I may ask, what is your fetch potentially doing that is causing this disgrace. Of course, I completely understand that it keeps you from just being you, but is there something more?" As she waited for an answer, she studied the Summer's face, wondering if she'd ever seen someone like him in the area.
"I recently got off a bus from Des Moines," he clarified, idly scratching at a sandy cheek, gently peering as though that explained everything and nothing. "It has been a long, slow journey across the United States to here. But when one is transient, one is not from anywhere... for I go from town to town." There. Maybe that helped.
"You are mighty, Lady of Winter, and undoubtedly, your Fetch trembles at the notion that you may one day go to the Motherland and end it. And yet, with mine, it... well. Is that not enough? To be a shameful mockery made of Fae will and cruelty, to exist in the life of another, to take from me what is rightfully mine? No, Your Majesty. It has done nothing more than that. But though it believes itself me, it is but a construct. And that a construct lives my life waxes me wroth, and so..."
So he would end it.
So he would destroy the Fae's false machine.
So... there were so many 'so's, and yet he left it open to her to fill it in herself.
Giving a slow nod, the Onyx thought she would offer up a little of her own background. "I understand how it feels to never call a place home. For many years I traveled with the Cirquede Soleil. There was a point that I thought I would be doing that the rest of my life until I found Sacramento." The Winter remembered finding Dorian while in Las Vegas, or, she found him. It was one Changeling she'd never forget, the one who found her home yet vanished again.
The Dancer furrowed her brow. "Believe me, I am not content with what she's taken from me. Yet, she is also famous in Russian. If she were to go suddenly 'missing' or wind up dead, someone or something would come looking for me." The Fairest sighed calmly and shook her head. "It is not worth it to me to do those things."
The Dancer raised her hand gracefully to pause a moment. "However, we both have different feelings toward our Fetches and different motives to do what we do."
"I have not seen a similar face around the city before, or anything that would closely resemble you either. That's not to say they do not dwell in a part of the city that I have not ventured either. Our paths may not have crossed."
"But, should your paths meet, and they are here, I have a feeling you intend to just 'break particular sticks and ground away particular stones'..." Sasha's brow was quirked in curiosity. The man probably couldn't be talked out of killing their Fetch, but, she had to ask what would happen. She had a duty to uphold.
Red eyes burned as she spoke of her past, of her finding a better way. A breath, wistful as he considered it.
"Perhaps I shall be able to follow in your example, Your Majesty. One hopes. And I am sorry that your duplicate is unable to be reached. We all deserve to be reunited with... ourselves." That piece. That face.
"The choice of vengeance or peace is one that should be afforded to us all in time. I thank you for letting me know that you have not seen me..."
As he said it, the Glamour poured over him, hardening. Sand smoothed. Burning red turned to deep brown. His face was cragged and cracked, an older man's face with sandy brown hair and a gentle smile. An alien beneath a kindly man's face, long taken.
"...but now, you know what it is you are looking for should you ever see the me that is not me again."
Her final question brought a pause to that cragged face.
"I will gaze into his eyes, and I will know. Vengeance... or peace. For now, there is the hunt. The decision can be made in the fated moment. Worry not, ma'am. I will not bring wrath down upon this Freehold. I know what must not be done."
-1G for Hardening the Mask.
The Onyx rolled one shoulder, as if she'd let it roll off her back for a while. "It is a choice I made. And a choice I have to live with. I thank you for understanding that choice."
The Fairest understood that many killed their Fetches. Most didn't talk about it, or even reveal that's what they were about to do. "I appreciate your honesty Tiphon. Some have the same goals, but do not let on to what their motives may be." It was simple things like this that earned trust.
Sasha breathed in a long breath and slowly released calm words. "I will be honest with you, in my years in this Freehold, this is my first encounter with someone who is actively seeking out their Fetch with intentions to be rid of them. I ask you that if the time comes, I do expect you to be true to your word and not let any wrath rain down on this Freehold. By way of the Hedge or by Sacramento's emergency teams. I am sure you can find means to uphold these wishes."
"One should never quest alone, and others should never quest alongside someone who is not willing to share their reasons why," the Elemental said smoothly in reply to her point about motives, certain in his forthrightness. The burning light of Summer's truth would reveal all.
A gentle smile crossed that rough face.
"We are the Iron Spear. We are a tipped weapon built for accurate, tactical thrusts. So it shall be with respect to that which has stolen me from me, for I have learned my lessons. A direct, accurate strike, measured twice so that I must only thrust once." A nod. "I will ensure that the Freehold is not at risk. My personal objectives do not take priority over the safety of all those Free."
A gentle gesture of the hand floated toward the Queen of Sorrow as he floated his next question.
"How is it that I can help this Freehold? I am here. I will earn my keep."
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