(Those Cast Aside) Electric Boogaloo

[Circe]

Buttercup's words get her eyes to narrow, but she covers it with a blink. Could be old guard or perhaps Anne had recognized Circe. And got pissed, huzzah! "Folks been talking about meee? Oh ho ho. Actually, THEY thought it was my name. It was an Italian insult I answered ta fer years." She starts preparing the coffee for Buttercup and getting a hot water with tea ready for Oliver. "My little way ta snub a certain hag in the Bay. Fun. More so, the hag never knew."


That made her feel quite happy. She presents the coffee on a small plate first to Buttercup, with a napkin. Her tone is joyful, "Good ta know that hag is constantly a loser." Then goes back to retrieve the tea.

The tea bag is left in with as the same setup is presented to Oliver. Uncultured as she is, Circe doesn't include a spoon for removal of the tea bag. It had a string, just yank it out, right? "Here ya go Oliver. Let me know if ya want it sweetened up, okay sweetie?"

The Summer feels she is dominating the diplomacy. Then heads over to make her own cup of coffee. "Common Ground is a great place ta be at with folks," she giggles at her own joke. "Hopefully, we can all be at such a place."

[Titania]

"You've been in the Hedge for quite some time. It's why you'll find your memory still shaky", she chips in.

[Cassandra Reeding]

It's the little things that Circe says that can get a little laugh out of Cassandra every once in a while. Of course she faked a name that was an Italian insult. Brilliant. The Fairest shakes her head a little with a smile.


Titania's suggestion brings a nod. It made sense. Changelings weren't meant to hang out in the hedge for such a long period of time. Years. "Yes, you were there for years guarding a hollow. It's okay that you don't remember, what's important is that you seem to be doing a little better now that you have had some time outside."


Cassandra is more than in agreement on finding common ground. Now how are they doing? What have they been up to? "How have you both been settling in?" She looks between the two of them.

[Gerrit]

Gerrit was fine with letting the Fairests do the talking for a moment - especially since Circe and Cassandra seemed to be pretty diplomatic. He might have preferred not to barge right in at Oliver's question with the full truth, with making him remember the reason for his trauma.. but it was what it was right now.

And with confusion and fear, not Sorrow keeping the other Ogre in its grasp there wasn't really anything they could use a Contract for. Hopefully the respectful questions and the beverages provided by the Queen of Wrath be enough to get a conversation started. At the moment he deemed it more important not to overwhelm Oliver with too many people talking at once, so he remained silent and listened.

[Saber Sloth]

Buttercup is laughing, a mechanical sound, an echoing of a phone's ring. "I knew. There. Was a. Reason. Why I. Remembered. You."


"Bay Hag? Is-is there some sort of....monster in the bay? One of....one of," Oliver swallows, "Them?" hands fluttering, Fear driving the Ogre's shoulders up. "Yes, yes. Queen Anne sent me, and a few others to guard her library and the hollows....what's...happened?" he asks, completely ignoring the 'years' comments.

"Don't. Do. It. We Do. Not Need. The tears." Buttercup breaks in before the Lost can speak. "Or. Ig. nore. Me. Try and. See if. This time. Will. Be. Diff. er. ent."

[Circe]

"Eh, kinda regret not using the bazooka in the Bay," Circe honestly admits to Buttercup, "Hindsight. Splatting the hag seems like it'd be worth running from the Feds." Inaccurate, she never got the weapon. Dynamite? Oh yeah, great for booby traps.


As for Oliver's fear of Them being in the Bay, Circe shakes her head, "No. Just the filth that we all dislike. I refuse ta call Anne a bitch because I LIKE puppies." As for the rest of it, "I can't tell ya much, I don't have details. All I know is that the answer is nothing good because Anne was involved."


Circe sips her coffee. Whilst she is diplomatic, for a Summer, she is quite ignorant of a lot that happened to Oliver and Buttercup. Though if it is going to be a waterwheel conversation, at least according to Buttercup, there was an alternative. "I can say some advice I heard Oliver. When ya can't look backward, look forward and move. Eventually, there will be something ya can look back on."

[Titania]

Except that this time was going to be different.
Answering to Buttercup was easy, an emphatic hug and few words of assurance.
Oliver however was another thing altogether. He kept a spark of sanity, even, nothing in his words suggested any form of enmity toward the Bay Area Queen, that much warranted a bit of suspicion.

She opts for the diplomatic approach, "Something must have occurred, because your mission lasted far longer than any of you anticipated", she chips in, "and with how the Hedge works, things went from one complication to another. You're out now, however, so the worst of the aftereffects will soon pass", she did wonder whether those two harbored any loyalty for Anne.
"What's the last thing you remember clearly?"

[Cassandra Reeding]

Cassandra purses her lips. Buttercup is correct here. They put Oliver back into those memories, he's going to be a blubbering mess of trauma again. She watches to see how Circe responds and nods at her advice. It's a little tone deaf, but this isn't a therapy session and they don't have time for it to be.


Then Titania speaks. She hasn't read the diary, so she has no clue, she realizes. None of them really do. She tries to recall and bring her own thoughts together. Christmas he was brought to the Hollow with others. He watched 'loyal Autumn to Anne' after loyal autumn be felled to the Bloodsuckle until he was the only one left. Anne came back on April Fools Day and told him to wait for rude guests. That was 2017. It had to have been a prank. Fae don't do coincidences with dates. He relived that day over and over and over, wondering who would be coming for four years. So, how to move forward with this? Maybe best to give Oliver a little space to listen instead of being in the direct spotlight for now?


"I think, initially, it was an evil prank that was just turned useful for her in the end." She says softly. She turns her attention to Buttercup. "If you don't mind, I know you are dealing with missing memories. Do you have anything you can recall and would be willing to share that might be relevant to Anne from December 2016 or April 2017? I know it's a crazy ask, but if there is something relevant, it could help."

[Gerrit]

As good Motley-mates so often do, Gerrit and Cassandra shared the same worry: reminding Oliver of the discrepancies between his memories and reality (or insulting Ann like Circe just did) was a sure way of losing the Ogre again. Maybe they could slowly work with him, get him to come to the right conclusions again, but it'd take some heavy lifting to deal with him properly.

Surprisingly it was Titania that offered a tactful de-escalation of the Arsonist's insults. Maybe that was enough to keep Oliver from losing it again.

He listened to Cassandra's question and watched Buttercup with what he hoped was open and friendly interest. "And if there's anything after 2017 you want to share with us, please feel free to do so." Because the Wizened maybe suffered differently than Oliver - maybe her function as.. messenger led her to learning other things that might be interesting.

[Saber Sloth]

Buttercup snorts, "It's not. My memory. You. Have to. Be warry. Of. Something. Happened in Sept. em. ber. 2020. There was pain. Burning. But no wounds. I passed out. When I. Woke up. I was. Being. Hooked up. Into the. Chair." plastic fingers tap-tap-tap away at the table. "So. I know. I am. Missing. Time. But not. Mem. mories. Or. I do. Not. Think. So. If I do. It. Is No. Obvious. To me." the tapping stops, "I would. Not know. Much of Her. Plans in that. Time frame. She - " emphasising the pronoun instead of a name " - only bought. My sisters. And. I. Mid-to-late 2017."


Through all of this, Oliver is suspiciously quiet, until;

"Anne you say? Surely not the Dread Lady? Surely you do not mean Queen Anne out of the Bay." hard and flinty, the same sort of energy that caused the Ogre to break a Pledge sending the Lost back into the wild to deal with the bloodsucckle. "Surely that is not who you mean."