(2209) Autumn Coronation

[Gerrit]

By Gerrit would be more surprised if he didn't run late. The silver lining? What differentiated the curse from the scars of his Durance was that he got used to it in some weird way. It was still bothersome - even dangerous sometimes - but the Ogre was pretty good at expecting the worst from years of experience.
Plus, it wasn't too long until their broken Motley Pledge would have ended naturally. He could bear this a little longer.

He entered Edna's wearing clean jeans, sensible dress shoes and a black button-up shirt just as Rhodes was about to finish his speech. He suspected that he hadn't missed much.

His eyes wandered around the room and for a moment he felt painfully sick to his stomach. Cassandra? No, someone new. But the red hair and the pale skin made the newcomer look like the child of his lost Motley-mates. Funny, how the Wyrd sometimes worked.
There were other new faces: a giant Beast and - by the looks of it - a fellow Ogre. Scarred and bruised, just like him. Huh.

There was another surprise when the Onyx finally recognized R'lyeh with her changed Mien and different get-up. So she chose something other than Winter after all. Not that he was surprised by her decision, but he was a bit disappointed. The Elemental would have made a good Winter.
But he stood by what he told her: at the end of the day, it was important for her to feel comfortable with her choice.

Once again, expecting the worst came in handy.

The Stonebones made his way over to the gathered Freehold and addressed Rhodes first. "Good evening, Rhodes. May your season be bountiful and successful for you and the Freehold." The words were nice, but the delivery was a bit stilted and awkward. But he paid his dues for now.
Then he turned toward the other Lost. "Hello Seraphina. You look wonderful tonight." Of course she did. "Hello Circe, Anatole, Sonnie. R'lyeh, congratulations for finding your place." He tried to put a bit of warmth in the usually neutral voice and gave her a small, approving nod.
Finally, he turned towards the three new people. "Hello, I am Gerrit. I represent Sacramento's Winter Court in its entirety." Yes, maybe Cassandra claimed to be back - but it's been a while since he saw her last. Gerrit's Mantle snapped with the sound of cracking ice for a brief moment. "And who are you?"

[Circe]

A weapon binkie this noob had? Okay, she got batter names than that. "Ah, an emotional support beanie for beaning baddies," she nods in approval before laughing, "Oh ho ho ho! Good. Just don't swing Baby around, security would give you problems. Like the square root of 47 divided by 5X, solve fer X? Oh, and his eyes will spin too much, he won't see a thing, and the puppy might fetch, oh ho ho ho!" After the laugh she turns upon Sonja next with a scoff, "Of course it isn't," she waves towards the bat, "Clearly its a swatter, not a winged mammal. Tut tut Sonja, tut tut."


Unlike fantasy, the elf and dwarf here got along and the rejection of her offer didn't irk Circe. "Cool bro, fashionista gonna give style of ta match yer coolness," she nods at that. "And totes, I'll go fer the safe stuff and R'lyeh got hot with my court, yes she did." Circe is beaming with pride.


Leave it to Rhodes to make an entrance, Circe's own shadow of a crown finally destroyed as Wrathful Lady passed off to Dread Lord. Despite lack of need, Circe still brushes her hair to try to remove non-existent fragments. The speech wasn't new new to Circe. She knew his views, not in great depth, but was familiar with Rhodes. When his speech hits the word wrath, she tries her damnedest to stand as tall as she can, smile full of teeth. A friendly smile, but still teeth shining.


"Leaf it ta ya, Dread Lord Rhodes, ta make a classy entrance," she cheerfully adds after he has kissed Sera's hand. "The leaves riding thing was cool too. Oh, right, right right." White locks move as she shakes her head and then gives Rhodes a salute. "May ya guide and protect the Freehold through Autumn as I did through Summer. Or even better, I would praise ya if ya do." As respectful as could be expected of Circe.


"Gerrit! When did ya get here my friend? I ain't go names yet either, wait? Did you do that sneaking in thing like I did with the ghillie?" She was honestly curious if he did or didn't. And had fallen asleep in it like she had, er, had not. And more pride puffs her chest as R'lyeh's court is brought up.


Her smile fades as Anatole shatters his drink, "Huh?" That caused concern, "Ya okay bro?" If Anatole doesn't ward off Circe, she is will void the solo safety of the tables by following him to check on her friend.

[Liam Gelt]

Late though he is, Liam would hardly be a Spring if he missed a grand social event.

The Giant ducks through the doorframe, carrying with him the scent of pine needles as it lifts off his deep green dress jacket and navy Big & Tall dress pants. He even sports a tie with fall leaf designs. He shudders a bit as he catches the tail end of Rhodes' familiar and imposing voice. Glad he's on our side. And as he looks around immediately catches some familiar faces.

He approaches Rhodes and Sera first, of course, and offers a low bow and a friendly smile to both. ​"Rhodes, glad to see you in your element. Here's to an Autumn that flourishes under your insight." And he means it; he's known Rhodes to be a man of both intellect and discernment. After all, he married Sera. "Diana wishes you well, also. She says she hopes your fall colors bedazzle the Freehold." He looks over to his Monarch for an especially warm grin. "Sera, a pleasure as always. Got any seasonal specials running at Commons Grounds I should be trying out?" The Giant is always looking for an excuse to visit the cozy Lost hangout in the city.

Several new faces and forms scattered throughout the cramped space. Or at least, cramped to Liam; but not in a bad way. He's happy to see friendly faces filling up the room. He stalks over to Gerrit, briefly noticing Circe apparently tending to Anatole. What's that about? And is that R'lyeh He remembers the elusive Elemental from previous gatherings, but she's rocking a look that makes him think of Talia. "That's quite the new look, Rl'yeh!" He gives Gerrit a friendly pat on the shoulder as he stands next to his fellow Ogre looking out on three new faces, several of whom were close to matching him in size. "You guys look new here. Welcome to Sacramento! I'm Liam, and I'm sure you've met Gerrit here." Liam's voice is boisterous and low, but warm as Spring sunshine.

[Mara]

Mara cares a bit more for the food than the crowd and has a mouthful when the 7 feet tall Ogre walks in. Her jaw drops a bit as she gawks. When he introduces himself, she grins a deadly grin and loudly says "I'm Mara!! You can call me... anytime!" She starts laughing at her own joke. "Big one with the pup is Jasper. Quiet one is Flickerwhisp. They're both single... Ladiiiies." She cackles and gets out of dodge before she gets slapped by her motley mates, with a plate full of food.

[Flickerwhisp]

Flick tried his best to stay afloat in the drift of conversation, but quickly got lost and fell back into the background. Which was fine... he needed food anyway. So the darkling busied himself with eating until the Dread Lord stepped in. He watched with dark eyes as the man introduced himself, and commenced with the Coronation. His words held the little shadowling captive, and Flick watched every move with awestruck curiosity... The very shadows around him danced and seemed to reach out towards the Dread Lord but never got too close.

Feeling himself staring a bit too hard Flickerwhisp turns away and continues eating, only drawn out of his own thoughts by the Winter Courtier, and then the very large Ogre coming up to his Motley. The small man waved, too distracted by everything to remember that he'd been trying to stand out... this was of course made worse when Mara very loudly proclaimed for the freehold that both he AND Jasper were single. Pale skin flushed bright red, and took everything in him not to crawl into the nearest shadow "Mara... oh my gods."


After a moment the darkling looks between the two men and tries again "Hi, Flickerwhisp of the Strays... Nice to meet you both

[Jasper]

The giant Beast had spent a bit of time at the tables of food, collecting a plate of food and slipping a few morsels down to the pup in his pocket.

He grins over at Sonnie, "No invasion, just a few Strays showing up."

He watches the interactions with Circe and Mara with a bit of a wary eye but seems to like how his motley mate handles it. He had been worried how folks might react to Baby, after all, but it seems to be a somewhat okay result.

The breaking of the glass perks up his ears and he turns towards Anatole. "You okay there?"

The ruffle of leaves sets his hackles on edge, but then that probably was the intent as the Dread Lord appears. Nice entrance. He listens to the words of the Autumn sovereign and wonders what sort of interlopers we need defending against. When Rhodes is done at the Wyrdstone and has moved off towards Sera again, the big Beast moves over to the stone and lays his large hand over it and pays his seasonal tithe to the stone, feeling it warm beneath his touch. He lifts his hand afterwards and gives a shake at the strange sensation.

When Gerrit comes in, he nods over to the Onyx courtier, "I'm Jasper, a pleasure."

His ears perk up as he sees the other giant coming into the room and he smiles at someone who looks like he's about the same height and build as Jasper, which he finds intriguing in its rarity, even amongst our kind. Mara's comment gets a soft groan and a roll of his eyes but then he gives a bit of a shrug. It's not wrong to say that he's single.

[Saber Sloth]

As the Dread Lord, rides into the Coronation upon Autumn leaves, splendor and grace. Speech made, an impressive showing to be sure, but the Wyrdstone cares not for speeches and kings. It needs Glamour, and when it has some the rhythm of the pulsing thrumm changes. Matching to that which lay under the Ashen King's breast.

Carrying outward, towards all who are connected to the Wyrdstone feel an enhanced sense of safety and trust and belonging. The wyrdstone isn't mind control, those bound are not forced to like each other, it just offers a safety net, the knowledge and trust that those bound are not Agents of the Others.

Just a reminder for all the Courtless Changeling coming into the Freehold, if you have status 1 for the Freehold you need to spend 1 Glamour to keep Status 1 for the Season. And for those Changeling (Courtless or not) you can spend 1 Glamour to the Wyrdstone now, and gain Status 1 Freehold.


And remember folks, you can split off into side threads to keep conversation going!

[Rlyeh]

And suddenly a lot of a lot of a lot. But not too much. It's not muchly much. She's nearly bouncing on her toes, excitement and happiness and - oh Circe-queen's suit matches and it's. The grin splitting her face hurts but it's not a bad hurt, it's strange-weird-good. She waves, a lot of waving because everyone is here and loud-voice, and she doesn't want to interrupt, but she wants them to know she's good-happy-not-ignoring-them.

A fission of Fear travels her spine, toes to crown, fur-smoke bristling as the Dread Lord Ascendant a flash of glamour-wyrd-power and a part of R'lyeh, a part she wants to bury wonders if it's a bad sign that she joined Summer on the cusp of the Changing of the Seasons. Especially when her options were the ascendant Season and Winter to come.

She shakes her head, tails swish-swishing and hair drip-dropping takes a breath and focuses. She's made her choice and she. is. happy.

She waves to Gerrit, when he appears, worried-frown-concern at his admittance. Alone in the cold. She couldn't do anything about that now. She chose.

Continuing-forward. She waves and smiles and wanders around the crowd. It was a lot. A lot of a lot even, but. It was good. And - "Jasper. Flickerwhisp. Mara. Strays. Hi-hello-yes-hi. I'm R'lyeh. Here around friends-safety-freehold. Instead of Riley." she nods, drip-drip-drops

[Seraphina]

Laughing, “Well, I cannot argue with that, and I’m glad we have another guardian.” It was always good when another Lost found their Court. It was such a personal thing.

“Well, I did send you a text that I had meet up with them. A good lot and look forward to working with them.” A warm smile offered to each of the Motley. A bright smile, “Thank you! I wasn’t sure about it, but it just called to me as I made it.” She was quite proud of it, even if it was one of her more muted styles. “And there was never a competition, you’ve created some truly beautiful gowns.” They just had different styles.

Oh, now the bat was emotional support? There was a little smirk as she watched the two, it would up to Circe if the bat was ok.

Another laugh, “No, just some new faces I met with last month. Good people, no worries.” She assures the Beast.

“Money is no problem, lets go have some fun soon!” she wasn’t completely well off, but she had plenty of money. Then in a fake whisper, "Just don't tell Rhodes I'm bring home more clothes." a wink added.

The sound of the glass shattering pulled her attention from everyone else as she moves over to Anatole, a gentle hand placed on his shoulder, “You ok?” she asks in a soft voice, her eyes look at his hands, looking for any injury.

But then the night fully kicked off with the arrival of her husband, sapphires watching the leaves with a smirk. Always one for an entrance. But he keeps her attention as he speaks, his voice drawing her in. Hearing it was thanks to Anatole’s hard work they had to thank, she lowers her head at him.

As he kissed her hand, she dipped into a curtsy, “Dread Lord Rhodes, may Autumn have a bountiful Season.” The squeeze returned. Then the box was held out to him, “From Spring.” It wasn’t much so far, but she hoped to change that in the coming months. The box contained a delicate bookmark in the shape of an Autumn leaf, the metal full of the colors of fall when the light hit it just right.

Upon hearing Gerrit, she looks to him with a smile, hoping to see Cassandra with him. But she wasn’t, and that was disappointing, but the smile remained.

“Hi Gerrit, wonderful to see you, and thank you. Hope you’ve been well.” She wondered if Cassandra had reached out to him when she was in town? But didn’t think now would be the time to ask, maybe she’d pop by his shop with coffee one evening.

When Liam approaches, she couldn’t help but giggle, imagining Rhodes bedazzling the Freehold.
“Hi Liam, and I do! Plenty of autumn themed drinks and treats, stop by soon!” he was always a pleasure to be around.

Then Mara’s comment about her Motley had the Nix laughing. Poor guys, getting called out. But it was cute that she was calling them out.

An encouraging smile was offered to Rlyeh as the Blightbent seemed to come alive with life.

[Talia]

Talia hurried in muttering to herself as she made he way towards the assembled changelings. She rolled the sleeves of her leather jacket back down her arm. If it was fashionable to be late she was next years line. She gave Circe a wave, to Talia it said Hello, sorry I am late, something came up. To anyone else watching her, it was a slightly awkward wave. Still, she was hungry and made her way over to the source of the food.