Wizened and the Fairest

[Anatole]

"Hmm. Yes. Well..."

Anatole actually paused to scratch at his mouth. His brows furrowed again, first in confusion and then in deep thought.

"I could ask Rhodes... I mean, the Dread Lord. We of the Ash have an extensive Hollow and perhaps there might be an Archive hidden away. This is certainly fascinating news. I've only ever known Funderland. A Freehold centred on a Hotel. Now that really is something. Thank you!"

He grunted again, his face growing dark, as he began to reflect on just what had happened to the previous incarnation of the Freehold.

"Rewrite... You mean you're practising Tale Crafting!? Oh do share! There are not a lot of options for Goblin Markets around here, but there are a couple of potential places worth looking into. I can share."

The wizened's eyes flashed hungry for a moment as he stared across the table.

[Cassandra Reeding]

She gives a pleased smile and nods, "Of course. And I have been meaning to speak with your monarch as well in general. So much was lost in that attack, so many resources. Surely certain things survived. I have taken on the position of Onyx Thane, so I am looking toward cataloguing." Assuming Rhodes doesn't pull a stereotypical Autumn and avoid giving any smidgen of information at all costs... But maybe that was justjust Baltimore.

"Oh, yes! We are researching the Huntsman to gather information about its story. After all, what is a Fae if not the legend it leaves behind? I've always thought belief played a major role in their power. So, we are taking that story and we are going to warp it to suit our needs. Give it weaknesses that may not have existed before.

"I'll be composing the ear worm for it. Ellie with be formulating some choreography and the like. We are then going to release it out into the mundane wilds. Make it a meme, as it were, to garner enough belief in the tale that it overshadows the original story." She seems quite pleased and excited about it.

[Anatole]

Anatole stared across the table and then slowly - carefully - laid down his cup.

"Impressive."

His voice had a kink to it, and might have been misconstrued had it not been for the earnest - and very impressed - look upon his face.

"Now what you are doing... That is how we really should deal with our problems."

He lifted his cup again and slurped some of his drink. In doing so his face turned pinched and more like a wizened once again.

"I am sure the Dread Lord will give you a hearing. What do you plan to bargain with?"

Very droll.

[Cassandra Reeding]

"Well, with the way technology is these days, we have all of this information at our fingertips. We might as well figure out how to utilize it as best we can to our advantage. And, of course, we tend to be stronger as a Freehold when we all pull in together. Well, when we can agree on a cohesive plan, at least." She takes another sip of her tea.

She grins a little bit at the mention of bargaining, "I have a few ideas. He has been rather preoccupied with his research as of late, hasn't he? Quite restless even from what I've heard. Cross court collaboration should be encouraged and it could be beneficial if he had some help collecting the data he needs along with the information I'm seeking." And, of course, whatever I find doesn't necessarily have to be shared. "If not, then I shall have to see what he might want and decide where to go from there."

She pauses, considering for a moment, "Now, it's a bit random, but it was on my mind earlier. What did you say to make John have such a gasp at the coronation?"

[Anatole]

Anatole was staring at Cassandra, cat-like, as if he a Beast and not a Wizened. The general air continued when he smiled, slyly, at her responses.

"Totally agree with you about the technology. It is a wonderful gift. So many of us are, shall we say, behind the times - and I include myself in that; sure, it mean we don't have to worry about that social media... since we're never on it... but it also leaves us vulnerable. It would be so nice to know some people who are comfortable with all the new... toys..."

The remained as he considered the Polychromatic's words further.

"Of course he buries himself in research. He's a Dread Lord! The only other archetype available to him would be a Terror - and neither the Court nor the Freehold are big enough to tolerate that sort of thing. As for Court collaboration - now that would be something interesting to see. I've seen the Freehold pull together - as you say, when it needs to - but I've never seen the Courts work together at anything. Here they're more like social clubs."

A note of bitterness entered his voice.

"Hmm? Oh I told him that you both made a wonderful couple."

Cue the dwarf slurping his tea. Now he really wanted to see Cassandra's response!

[Cassandra Reeding]

"It definitely took me a while to catch up, but with the right people, it works out. I missed all the variations of cellphones. These small things were so confusing at first. But you catch up after a few years." She smiles, "If you ever want any help, feel free to ask. I'm a relatively good teacher."

She nods, sipping her tea again before setting it down, "I've always found that to be such a shame. Courts are so much more than a social club. They are a way of life, a support group. Perhaps it was my upbringing in my last Freehold, but there is something more about it. Being a Winter is being the person who says no when everyone else wants to go blasting forward into danger needlessly. It's being the person who watches for security, secures the safehouses, are keepers of the Lore. It's so much more than a social club."

She goes to take another sip of tea, but then stops, her eyes widening in a bit of shock at the Dwarf's response. A-a couple? He thinks...? The Polychromatic turns a deep shade of red, her shifting hues shifting between more shades of pink and red, "Oh. Um." She laughs nervously, "We're not- We're not a couple. I... um. He doesn't... No." That flush of color doesn't leave her cheeks and she goes to take a sip of her tea to try and relax. Not that that isn't possibly what she wants. She hasn't decided. Not that he'd want it. He's still too broken and... and... So many excuses. "What gave you that impression?" The same question she'd asked Gerrit. Does everyone think we are a couple? Oh God.

[Anatole]

"You certainly looked like it. The way you claimed the dance floor... Moved as one... All that that. Were you secretly trying to upstage the two lovebirds in our Freehold?"

Anatole couldn't resist adding to the Fairest's apparent discomfort. The shift in his face was truly... impish.

"I thank you for the offer but I have found my way already. I'm turning into quite the investor, so I'm finding that I live on the damned thing. At least it has a use cementing a new identity for me."

Identity, not life.

"I share you sentiments on the role of a Court. If it doesn't offer a support network, allies, resources, then what is the point. We all have our Oaths to the Season but its not really a Court unless that Oath is bound up with other Lost in an actual living structure. Otherwise its all baloney and the gifts of the Seasons might as well be elaborate Goblin cantrips. Urgh!"

He gave a mock shiver. The tone of his voice suggested he was not mocking anything.

[Cassandra Reeding]

That little flush doesn't seem to waver and she lets out a slow breath. Since when do we get this flustered? But her brain flashes back a moment to Cristina when she made those completely crude comments about Phillip when she'd first started dating him. Who could resist making sexual jokes about her relationship with a draconic? This felt like a repeat, just far, far more tame. Of course it was. How deeply was she caught in it all now?

"We certainly share a... rhythm. But I believe I'm playing a song he isn't ready to dance to." She admits quietly, looking off to the side.

"I'm glad that you're comfortable with all of it. The technology. Some of my friends couldn't have been bothered with it," She chuckles, still trying to relax her somewhat heated skin. It felt so odd to her, that mixture of heat and chill from her mantle.

"It is nice to know someone who feels the same. Courts are so much more than even our embodiment of our season. So much focus on mantle and power in that and often not enough in how your cog in the wheel works to keep our seasons spinning. It is a relief to have Winter back in balance with the other seasons. You could just feel something wrong about it all. It was distressing, even with the comfort of the Wyrdstone which... I'm very interested in that. I want to know more about how it works. So strange that the standard oath no longer holds and the stone had to be obtained."

[Anatole]

Anatole chuckled.

"Oh yes! The Wyrdstone. A true rarity. If you want to study it you'll have to contend with the Sovereigns. I'm not sure they would be willing to let anyone scrutinise it. Not yet, anyway. Its too soon."

Anomalies affecting Oaths? The wizened hadn't heard that, either.

"There wasn't that many Onyx when I first arrived. Numbers are always in flux, here. I've heard that at one time there were many Crimson and now there are... two? The Dread Lord works tirelessly to maintain the Hollow we of the Ash have claimed. It is... huge... And I often wonder how many of my Court have frittered away over the years. Perhaps the constant turnover and churning population has had an effect on the Wyrd?"

He sipped his tea for a moment.

"You play very fine. Is it something you hide from the mundane folk?"

[Cassandra Reeding]

"Hmm, it sounds like I'll have to gather some favor then," She chuckles, "My curiosity knows no bounds. One day I'll have to likely reign that in, but then again, how else do we really learn things? I suppose sometimes you stumble upon discovery." Her eyes almost seem to glitter with a sense of mischief and curiosity. "Little bits at a time." She sighs a little bit, still smiling, seeming to have calmed from the turning of conversation.

She considers his mentioning of fluctuating population for a moment, "The Wyrd couldn't be that unstable by changing numbers, could it? That's a perspective I hadn't considered. We do draw from it in that give and take fashion." More ideas seem to bubble in her head. "I've only ever seen a stable Freehold. It was a bit of a culture shock actually being somewhere small enough to be able to get to know everyone. For all we know though, something about the attack by the Dragon could have triggered something. Many did supposedly die. So much knowledge to gather, but far too few of ways to gather it safely." Her curiosity may know almost no bounds, but her sensibility always won in the end.

"Thank you," She says in response to his compliment of her playing, "No, actually. Well, once upon a time I did, but that was more my sorrow holding me back. I play for the symphony. Once I was finally able to pick up my instrument again, I didn't want to set it down." And now I'm making instruments for others... Was I made to play or to craft? Will I ever know?