Suns Out, Guns Out

[Anatole]

Anatole's hands curl defensively around his precious supplies. With some effort, he shakes irons out his posture once more. A smile, or an approximation of it, crease his effusive beard.

"So Spring and Autumn are that close, huh?" The dwarf commented, a pensive hand now rising to run through his curls.

"I've only been in residence a few short months. I don't know much - but if we are exchanging knowledge I won't say no." He shot a glance indicating his interest at Coco - a glance which somehow managed to land on Circe as well.

And then he was having to hustle after the playful Monkey who was definitely on an adventure!

All Anatole wanted was to find a quiet spot to eat.

[Coco]

"It's probably just a result of there being hardly any fish in the bowl, if you catch my meaning," Coco said derisively as they walked towards the picnic tables. Tables where, apparently, Anatole was going to lose his lunch to a hungry monkey traceur, and where, apparently, Ms. I-know-all-the-things was going to get all confused.

"Hear me out. Do you really think Seraphina and Rhodes would be dating if they were in another Freehold? Say, one of those in New York, or Chicago, or Los Angeles? It's just that, here, they only have, like, a dozen people to choose from. People they can actually open up to, I mean. People that might understand. So it's like animals in captivity. There's no other options, so they have to figure out how to get along, even if one is like, a friendly woman with a coffee bar, and the other looks like he's plotting a jewelry heist with his cousin, you know? It's like marry, fuck, kill, real life edition."

[Circe]

"Eh? Eh?" Circe's ears waggle in confusion but she shakes her head with a loud sigh, "No it ain't new nor am I bullshitting ya. Ya heard the word mundy right? That is one of 'em and its fer the normal people."

"Ah," she nods her head at the clarification provided by the others, "Yes they are close Anatole. I fully admit," she holds up a hand as her face goes solemn, "Ta having cuteness induced stupidity from how adorable they are as a couple," she smiles.

As for Sonja's bouncy bellicose request for victuals, that made Circe scan the monkey up and down. She sighs, "If ya didn't BYOF, take out will need time."

Reaching the table she can't help but tsk in disgust at Coco's view of the romance in the Freehold. She then points ta each of them in turn, "Fanculo" for Anatole, "fanculo," for Coco, "already scopata," Sonja gets a wide grin. Then Coco is the focus of her twinkling eyes, "Though fuck is adaptive enough ta range from sex ta violence without killing ya know uh," she looks to Sonja, "Nicknames still yer domain right?" Then looks back to Coco, "Ya'll get one soon. Totally depends on each club, means Freehold," she quickly clarifies, "Some ain't assholes about it, others are damn fascists. The Bay? Courts demanded ya always fanculo over yer friends from other courts but plenty of folks told 'em vai a farti fottere and bounced ta stick together," there was some pride in her voice for that, "They'd probably have dated less openly in a bigger club."

She scoffs oddly, a habit learned from her time in Arcadia, "As Ryan Renolds said, love is a wonderful thing, so ya hold onta it. They took enough from us, They ain't gonna take that too."

[ctl]ooc For added fun, and a may be wrong, but IIRC the fluff in one of the books had a couple from the Dusk and Dawn courts.[/ct]

[Sonnie Wu]

Oh, public park seating, where for art thou?

The search continued as Sonnie looked over her shoulder at Circe, "Uh, well, yeah I heard you say that before, but I thought that's just your thing. Are we required to say mundy?" She didn't like the sound of that. Were Summers always so strict? She thought the blue elf was different.

She gestured at the Dancer, "Coco's got a point. I've seen some big ass freeholds. Members mostly sticking to their own motleys for socializing. Here, we're a lot closer because we're a small outfit." The Monkey nodded, "They are adorbs together, of course. I'm happy for them and not at all jealous."

Finally they came upon a shady spot off the jogging trail, with a couple wooden picnic tables. The kind with the benches attached to the framework. "Land ho!" Sonnie pointed to the tables, and they were thankfully empty right now. She bounced over and sat down, where she began digging in her fanny pack.

"I'll have you know, Drow, that I brought my own!" Triumphantly, she pulled a baggie holding what appeared to be a couple of power bars. She blinked at Circe in confusion, "Yeah, okay, I don't speak Italian. I got no idea what you're going on about. Anyway, yes nicknames are kind my thing." She pointed at the Wasp and the Dwarf, "This is Coco Bean and Gimli."

It was a gift, truly.

[Anatole]

Anatole nods along with Coco . The smile that crosses his face is pure cynicism.

"Well good for them, I guess. Don't know about big Freehold's myself - I've only ever passed through smaller ones. Never quite as small as this one, though. So this has to be a first."

He dropped into silence as Circe outlined her experiences in the Bay. Was the dwarf curious, yes. Did he have plans to visit? Not now.

"Ah!" He sighed contentedly when @Sonnie located a suitable spot. He muscled forward and claimed a space for himself and his lunch.

A noticeable wince burned across his features at the mention of Gimli.

"Urgh! I never want to see a forge again."

He was unpacking his lunch now.

"You think they preference each other over their Courts? Or are they the types to strike a balance? Does that even matter in a Freehold as small as this one?"

He cast a wary eye around their surroundings before tucking in to his meal: a roast chicken dinner concocted by a fast food outlet.

[Coco]

"Coco Bean I can live with. If you call me Coconut or Cocopuffs, though, I'll cut you," the Wasp replied, her tone mostly joking. Mostly. Although there was that look she shot to Circe, one that was full of warning, yet was also wary.

"Although I think we need to give Anatole a better nickname. If forges are off topic, then I suppose Santa is right out. Father Winter doesn't work, either, considering," she continued, gesturing at the shadows that pressed down around them.

"I guess there's always dinosaur. Or maybe grandfather? I feel like I'm doing all the work here."

Coco shrugged and opened her water bottle back up.

"Oh, and by the way, by having set code words you undermine the security of the code itself. Especially when it's so fucking obvious a four year old could understand it. So, if you expect me to use that system, you can kindly go fuck yourself."

[Circe]

Circe shakes her head in the negative at Sonja's query, "No, its just double speak. No real set code but some stuff gets reused, a lot. Only two rules ya need ta follow Coco Beans. Ya don't call them human or anything that makes 'em think yer batshit crazy. Second is if ya make it sound shady make it sound pervert shady not criminal shady." The blueberry elf smiles in approval as she looks at Coco, "But I'm such an angry arrogant bitch when I fuck alone. It's better when I found a happy wild helper," nodding towards Sonja then claps her blue hands, "So just like that, oh ho ho ho!"

The monkey got her to laugh again, "Should I make a where do ya want me ta land joke?" Then looks to Coco, "What about Coco Pebbles?"

Then she folds her arms as a look crosses her face. It is a very smug smile, "I will have ya know that the drow are a lot cooler then those hippie goody elves. Better clothes to, no risk of poison ivy lingerie." As for the lack of cunning linguistics, oh she should use that.

"Well here is a lil' wisdom as I translate the Italian respectively. Ahem. Fuck, Fuck, already fucked," Circe waggles her eyebrows at Sonja as she takes a seat at the table. Anatole's disdain for being called Gimli got a confused look from her though, "I thought Gimli was a warrior. When did Tolkien have him use a forge? Aaaand," she looks at Coco and is actually showing signs of embarrassment, "I did think of one fer him when I first saw him around Christmas. But Dwanta sounds weird," she then looks at Anatole, "Sorry dude. Ta be fair ya were with the guy that looked like Krampus at the time."

"Like everybody else there are some folks that seek the harmony of those like themselves or fer others it is like Paula Abdul sang, opposites attract."

[Sonnie Wu]

"But I like Cocoa Puffs! They make the milk all chocolatey!" Sonnie sighed. Coco Bean would have to do.

Unwrapping a power bar, she took a bite and looked to Anatole. She studied the Autumn as she chewed, thoughtfully. "Hmmmmm..." A foot tapped on the ground, moving to some unheard rhythm. "Okay... if fantasy dwarves and Santa Claus are out, that greatly limits my options. Just tie three hands behind my back, why don't you? Give me a little time."

"Not sure I can get down with the spider motif. All those cobwebs in your hair? Gross." She giggled and winked at Circe.

Her expression turned curious as she looked at the Iron Spear, "So, is half of everything you say just f-bombs, then?"

Another bite of the power bar came and went, "Bart? I haven't seen him in a while, but he feels like kind of a loner." She hoped he was okay. Bugul was the only other Beast in the freehold, until Coco showed up.

[Anatole]

Anatole was delicately raising his meal to his lips. He stopped. Paused. Laid the food down in its wrappings.

"Coco Bean? Hmm. Yes. Well."

A chortle oozed from his lips, quickly followed by a smug, satisfied smirk.

"Grandfather sounds just fine, Coco Bean."

He ate as Circe spoke, the smile remaining on face while the blue elf spoke... and clapped.

"Probably." He concurred with a side-long glance at Sonnie Wu .

"If you ask me, keeping some basic code words is a good discipline. Unless we got a major problem with human hunters or Others, I don't think there is enough of us around to worry about being overheard. Just keep your wits about you, like you wood if you were in a private business. That should do the trick."

[Coco]

"Gee, I don't know, Ms. Fanculo," Coco said, propping her chin on a hand as she stared at Circe, "considering how many people you sleep with, poison ivy is probably the least concerning rash that you have to worry about."

She'd had just about enough of that fake asshole's bullshit, and, unfortunately, that meant any hope there was for this being a pleasant conversation had disappeared.

"And you know what," she continued with an acid smile, "I think what I said about animals in captivity applies perfectly when it comes to you. You make less sense than I did in the middle of a drug binge, but at least I had something to explain my behavior. But you? What do you have, Ms. Fanculo? You have a fucking crown and yet you still bop around like some demented wet dream from a Cheeto dust covered wanker looking at a dungeon master's guide. You wouldn't know circumspect if someone fucking defined it for you, let alone if you watched a nice how-to on youtube.

"You're fucking dangerous," the Wasp finally finished, standing up from the table, hands on her hips as she glared at the Summer Queen. "Limited options is the only reason why anyone puts up with your shit."