Waiting For Rain IC: Spring Slowly Comes

[Thanqol]

Charlene recalled Hans giving the impression of not liking the Winter prince. Perhaps it was the lawyer thing. Charlene didn't mind lawyers per se. She had known many who aspired to become just that while she was studying.

She nodded and considered her food. "A varied group, no doubt." If Cludge and Felix were any indication. "I am curious about the court itself. Talmage described it for us, of course, but I understand it is not a trivial decision and hearing about it from one on the inside, so to speak, might be valuable."

"The way I see it, Winter's about realism," said Felix bleakly. "Spring spends all it's time trying to blot out the past with the present, Summer is kind of pathetic in how totally it's thirst for revenge rules it, and Autumn spends so much time stressing the possibility of the Gentry coming back that they might as well just to put them out of their misery. As far as Winter goes, well, terrible things happen for no reason and there's no point pretending they don't."

"And how many times have you had to go in there?" Isabelle asked, wondering if there was a story to be told.

"Dozens," Vorel said. "Honestly, so long as you stay on the paths, have an escape route and don't stay long it's not that dangerous. Unless you're Amy Acre, in which case you go in for months at a time and come back with maps."

[Deadly]

"The way I see it, Winter's about realism," said Felix bleakly. "Spring spends all it's time trying to blot out the past with the present, Summer is kind of pathetic in how totally it's thirst for revenge rules it, and Autumn spends so much time stressing the possibility of the Gentry coming back that they might as well just to put them out of their misery. As far as Winter goes, well, terrible things happen for no reason and there's no point pretending they don't."

Charlene considered this. After a while she just nodded. It didn't seem to warrant words. "So once you have accepted the reality of this, what do you do? Supposing you don't succumb to utter hopelessness, of course." Cold reality was... attractive, she realized, but so was hope. She feared hopelessness more than reality.

[BlasTech]

"Dozens," Vorel said. "Honestly, so long as you stay on the paths, have an escape route and don't stay long it's not that dangerous. Unless you're Amy Acre, in which case you go in for months at a time and come back with maps."

"Do many people go back into the hedge like that? Or is that one of your duties as the sherrif?"

[Thanqol]

Charlene considered this. After a while she just nodded. It didn't seem to warrant words. "So once you have accepted the reality of this, what do you do? Supposing you don't succumb to utter hopelessness, of course." Cold reality was... attractive, she realized, but so was hope. She feared hopelessness more than reality.

"Succumbing to utter hopelessness is a fine and noble Winter Court tradition, I have observed," Felix said, lip curling, "the trick is in being able to act despite that."

"Do many people go back into the hedge like that? Or is that one of your duties as the sherrif?"

"My duties. Involves a lot more fighting goblins and stray Hedge Beasts than other Changelings. Only Amy, Grammy Snaps and myself really go in with any degree of regularity."

[the_druid_droid]

“Fixing people is good. We... need all the help we can get, I think...” Jon went quiet for a bit as he considered Talmage’s words and managed to finish off the remainder of his breakfast while the others chatted. He kept half an ear on what was being said as he ate, but his sense of frustration lingered - he still felt lost in the middle of this new world they’d stumbled on, and it felt like there were a hundred things that needed an answer.

What about his family? What about the... fetch? What about other Changelings, or a job, or all of the other things that had happened since they’d returned to the mortal world? The thoughts struggled for attention in his mind and he frowned; it felt like he needed to go for a run, or even a walk, but the rain outside was getting heavy.

[Thanqol]

The rain actually hadn't started yet; it was brooding overhead, low and dark and grim. Dark and misty stormclouds and stiff winds, rattling against windows - but not raining, not quite yet.

[Sorry to contradict your post like this, but when it rains is a theme I'm actually planning around ]

[BlasTech]

"Grammy Snaps, that's the head of the Autumn Court" Isabelle recalled, the words of Hans drifting back to her from the previous morning. "What's her story? With a name like that I wouldn't have expected her to head into the hedge that often."

Then again, with how things seem to go around here, she's probably six feet tall with fangs ... as well. She added mentally, reminding herself that she was conversing with a dragon lady.

[Thanqol]

"Grammy Snaps, that's the head of the Autumn Court" Isabelle recalled, the words of Hans drifting back to her from the previous morning. "What's her story? With a name like that I wouldn't have expected her to head into the hedge that often."

Then again, with how things seem to go around here, she's probably six feet tall with fangs ... as well. She added mentally, reminding herself that she was conversing with a dragon lady.

Vorel bit her lip. "Grammy Snaps is undoubtedly the most interesting Princess to serve under," she said non-committally.

"She's crazier than a sack of raccoons strung out on meth," said Talmage. Vorel kept her expression terse but didn't contradict him, so Talmage went on.

"See, Mrs. Snaps is a genius, a powerful magician, iron in her soul - and a mind that is outright gone. She only knows twelve people, all long dead. If you meet her you're randomly and permanently assigned one of those twelve names and she will henceforth address you as if you are that person. She will also hold you accountable for the actions of other people she has assigned your name to."

Vorel worked very hard to keep her expression neutral. Talmage grinned and started laughing. "Vorel's her husband," he said, which actually made the dragon blush. "A position she shares with Chris Caine and May Trucker."

"Just hope she doesn't decide you're Bernie," Vorel muttered, and Talmage's eyes widened and he nodded quickly.

[BlasTech]

Isabelle's wince got deeper with each word out of Talmage's mouth.

Autumn around here is going to be fun.

"And what's so bad about Bernie? Or is this one of those 'I don't want to know' things"

[Thanqol]

"She doesn't like Bernie very much." Talmage said succinctly.

[Deadly]

"Succumbing to utter hopelessness is a fine and noble Winter Court tradition, I have observed," Felix said, lip curling, "the trick is in being able to act despite that."

Charlene couldn't help but pause to listen to Vorel and Talmage talk of Grammy Snaps. Poor woman.

She looked at her scarred hands briefly, before returning to Felix, genuinely interested as she asked, "You have observed? So it is not a tradition you follow? It is not the only way through Winter, to give up hope? And how does one act in the face of hopelessness? Isn't that a contradiction? I would think if I ever lost all hope I'd either lay down and die, or simply ... well, be. Like a ... thing, not a person." This was surely where she would find her differences with the Winter Court, if those differences existed, she thought to herself. Realism attracted her greatly. She felt tired of lies and veils and fantasies, what she wanted was cold, hard reality. But she couldn't accept hopelessness. If that was what Winter was about, if that was what it meant to belong to the Winter Court, then she felt she could rule that out. Which would leave her with Autumn, or nothing.

[Thanqol]

"I personally find that the entire idea of weighing up hope, sorrow, philosophy and the universe something of a waste of time," Talmage said. "If you don't want to act then you'll find an excuse not to act no matter what Season you choose."

"Felix," Talmage started, "I think you're being a bit -"

"Don't try to tell me of Winter, master," Felix snapped, "And don't try and interject your philosophy into my Court. When Winter comes and everything is dead then hope won't warm your bones. Hope won't bring anyone back to life. Hope, instead, becomes a sadistic cruelty that draws out suffering. Accept what is and move on."

He took a deep, chill breath. The room was quiet.

"Or she could find her answer in some other season. Sir." the butler finished curtly.

[Deadly]

Charlene decided not to pursue that particular conversation further. She didn't want to cause a stir over breakfast.

But she couldn't agree with Felix, that there was no hope in Winter. Surely you needed a certain strength to get through winter, when all hope seemed lost. Tenacity, a will to get through, to continue on in the face of it all. In the winter you either gave up and died, or you fought and lived through it. Survival. She wondered quietly if Felix was simply lying to himself, if the butler did have something that saw him through the cold.

Oddly this all seemed to breed a kind of certainty in her. She had to disagree with Felix, but the cold certainty of Winter still drew her in. But perhaps Felix was not the right person to ask, or at least not the only person.

"Thank you, Felix. This has given me much to think about. I hope it will help me find my place."

[Thanqol]

"Will that be all, madame?" Felix asked, no sign of his outburst on his face.

[Deadly]

"Yes, thank you for your time," Charlene said politely. No harm done.

She returned thoughtfully to her breakfast.

[the_druid_droid]

Jon sat quietly during Felix’s outburst, although his expression turned slightly sour. Although the man’s old-fashioned mindset had a certain charm, the butler’s personal philosophy clearly sprung from a very different source than Jon’s own. The urge to move around was growing, fueled by his discomfort with the course the conversation was taking, so he excused himself from breakfast as politely as possible, and began to move around the house, searching for the sorts of interesting distractions a place this old and well-maintained might yield.

[Thanqol]

There were several major areas worth exploring.

There was the Watchtower - leading up through to the roof, with the observation balcony and the aforementioned cheap wooden door bound severely with iron chains. Keen eyes would spot that there was a locked case with several hunting rifles immediately before the rooftop. There was that same staircase, leading down into the mountain, but blocked off with an unlocked iron grate.

There were also the three other wings of the house not lived in, seemingly arranged around the seasons. Each was slightly dusty, the furniture covered with white cloth.

There was also a parking basement and an adjoining stable for the automotively curious.

[BlasTech]

Isabelle didn't respond to Felix immediately, mostly because she was nearly choking on a piece of toast. It took a few seconds, and a thump on the back from someone nearby, before she swallowed it.

Just as well, because her first instinct would have been to argue with Felix, something which probably would not have been proper for a house guest.

"So ..." Isabelle said, into the silence that followed Jon's departure. "While we're on the subject of changing subjects, are there many entrances to the hedge around here? We know there's one in the mountains along the highway that we used when we first arrived."

[Thanqol]

"A few. Most people keep them pretty secret if they have one because it's not the sort of thing you want to share around. They're relatively valuable." Talmage said.

[the_druid_droid]

Since he wanted to wander lazily enough to collect his thoughts, Jon avoided stairs for the moment, and instead began to explore the seasonal rooms in rough order. He moved slowly, dividing his time between thinking about his return to the mortal world and poking around for interesting clues to the history of the Watchtower, stopping to puzzle over knick-knacks and raising the dust covers of particularly interesting-looking silhouettes.

[Thanqol]

The Summer wing was built around a central swimming pool, currently empty, and in the middle of a square courtyard surrounded on three sides with offices, the fourth opening out onto grassland. There were a lot of large windows in this wing of the building, and a lot of rooms with very large tables.

There was one room filled with archaic long-range radio gear, cables, and a curious collection of ancient movie cameras and spotlights. There was a small cinema room, seating about fifty. The bedrooms were small and spartan. In the basement were great deals of sporting equipment from a vast variety of athletic pursuits - cricket, tennis, climbing, canoeing, and so on. It was curiously modern - like the country retreat of a 1920's film director.

The maps that so plastered the Spring quarter were replaced with signed pieces of sports memorabilia and black-and-white photographs of athletes and cricketers. They were all made out to someone named "Searchlight". Had to be worth an absolute fortune to a collector.

[BlasTech]

"Relatively dangerous, I would have thought ... weren't you just talking about hedge beasts a moment ago?" Isabelle asked Vorel, as she polished off the last of her breakfast.

[Thanqol]

"By going through the Hedge you can travel astoundingly quickly over vast distances, find valuable tokens or Contracts, deal with the night market, harvest goblin fruit, and carve out a Hollow for yourself. If you have a Trod you can reliably access, you can wall it off and fortify it so not just anyone can travel through." The dragoness frowned, "I'm in a curious state of telling you that it's really dangerous and not as dangerous as it sounds. There are risks, but it's not instantly lethal, and there are rewards that justify the risks."

[Deadly]

"Seems to me walling them off would be a good way of keeping innocents from stumbling into them, too," Charlene thought aloud as she took another piece of bread.

[Thanqol]

"Maybe. It could make the wall get up and start walking around instead." Talmage said. "Trods are weird and magical and you can't really just cover them up with brick."

[Deadly]

"Of course," Charlene looked a little disappointed, but not really surprised. She hadn't thought that far herself, but it seemed obvious enough when pointed out. "I imagine if it was that easy, people would have done it a long time ago, putting up walls all over the place, and then many of us wouldn't be here."

[Thanqol]

"There are a group of people who try to do that kind of thing full time, called Bridge Burners. They go around trying to seal the Hedge off from reality forever," said Talmage, "they're predominately psychopaths, terrorists and extremists, and their success rate is atrocious at best, but I can't quite fault their motives. Unfortunately it all relies on the assumption that the Fae cannot just create them as they will."

[the_druid_droid]

The movie equipment was curious, but didn’t manage to hold Jon’s interest very long. On the other hand, the mountains of sporting goods in the basement felt like a blast from the past. As he poked around in boxes containing helmets, balls and racquets, he was reminded of the storage room in his old high school gym that smelled like old rubber and hid equipment for almost any conceivable activity. Impossible as it seemed, the Summer Court’s collection was even larger, and contained a few puzzling items Jon couldn’t match to any sport he knew.

When he finally got around to the collection of sports memorabilia however, Jon could scarcely believe his eyes. On the wall was what looked like an original photograph of Jim Thorpe in his prime, and Jon’s heart skipped a beat when the image registered in his mind. On a table beneath the photo were a basketball and baseball signed by names that he knew were worth thousands apiece.

It took a moment, but Jon finally recovered himself well enough to take a step back and make a note to ask Vorel about the collection the next time he saw her. With a deep breath, he turned away and moved slowly off to continue his exploration, but the spot was now decidedly on his list of things to revisit once his self-guided tour was over.

[Thanqol]

The Autumn Wing was next, and it was strange.

Architecturally, it was bizarre. The layout of rooms made no sense - you had to shimmy sideways at one point to reach the master bedroom, and all the corridors seemed to pass through the kitchen at multiple points. After a while of being lost it would become apparent that there were two kitchens, identically stocked and laid out, with just as many entrances and exits in the same places. It was a frustrating place.

Stranger still was the composition of materials. Some corridors were wood, others iron, or brass, or with patches of copper or lead or stranger materials. Most curious of all was the real centre of the wing - an old fashioned forge, with a hammer and anvil. In the same room was an ancient wooden table with a throne at one end, and a huge Communist flag.

The art theme for this segment of the house was Communist propaganda. Alternate, Communist versions of the flags of many major countries hung from the walls, alongside propaganda posters in Russian. It was a lot more understated and subtle than the decorations of other parts of the house; the focus was definitely on the warped architecture.

[BlasTech]

"Sounds like yet another bunch of well adjusted people." Isabelle sighed, as she morosely polished off the last of her breakfast. "We really are some of the luckier ones aren't we."

There was a brief moment of silence following her statement, at least until she dropped her fork back onto her plate with a metallic clatter.

"Vorel? If you're finished with your breakfast, I'd like to have that look at you, see if I can do anything else to help you get better faster. Unless ..." she added, with a glance towards Talmage "there are any other plans for today?"