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<Crion> December's a lot calmer once Something Worse has dun-dun-dun-dun dun'd his way out of your collective lives.
<Crion> The weather in Baltimore is mild; no snow to speak of, occasional shorts weather, and it'll probably be a warm Christmas. Speaking of -- Christmas is the next item on the Freehold social calendar, coming a few days after the winter solstice when Autumn turns power over to Winter in a private ceremony. That this will conflict with the more family-oriented lives of a number of the Freehold's
<Crion> changelings is by design; Winter prefers smaller, more intimate affairs, and for their one to-do during their three months in power, they want something that caters towards courtiers who don't like the big crowds and loud noise of Halloween and Prom.
<Crion> When Stewart's had an acceptable amount of time to deal with the fallout from the Huntsman -- namely, the new, more permanent living conditions, with Lauren fully moving in -- he'll get another message from Ravens in their inimicable style, inviting him to drop by and see Santander at the office.
<Crion> *inimitable
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart's life owns. Lauren moved in, the new league's started and fucked EVERYTHING up, no one's being threatened with death or kidnapping. Everything's going great, and he shows it by turning in 12, 14, 16 hour days on the stream. Not as heinous as the teams of people who put together schedules where they're on for 30 hours and off for 6... but the Wherehouse doesn't see much of him for
<VoxPVoxD> a while. In fact the meeting with Santander's his first non-Lauren-enforced venture outside the apartment in almost a week.
<VoxPVoxD> So he heads downtown to see Santander - shirt and slacks, no suit - looking sunken and frazzled in a way that belies his emotional state.
<trenchfoot> Nels, for her part, has been spending more time at the Wherehouse, rather than less. She still returns to her apartment, and she'll still be keeping it, but it's nice having a communal space to just be around other people while she reads, or plays, or watches some old movie. (Not as old as her, but you don't want to watch those.) Still, she's been putting it off - unless someone needs backup for something, Nels will finally be looking
<trenchfoot> into UMBC. They've got to have studying help, even setting aside the relative she knows is there and hasn't met.
<Crion> Melanie will have new mail:
<Crion> From: listl@losf.org
<Crion> To: paperbark@summer.ctl
<Crion> Subject: Re: Thank You
<Crion> Hello Melanie,
<Crion> That is excellent to hear about the Huntsman. Resolving that issue increases Freehold security, and resolving it in that fashion increases Freehold integrity. Some have complained about leaving 'loose threads' before, but a Huntsman who has regained his heart has been compromised to a permanent end. Without directly involving Arcadia.
<Crion> Furthermore it is good to hear about the growth of your motley. While a proponent of this plan I was skeptical perhaps of some of the other stakeholders involved. It is good to see my trust in them, through my trust in you, was well-placed.
<Crion> Summer operations are drawn down again that Street has returned to Swordhome. However if you want continuing education in weapons training or simply a sparring partner, a number of bored courtiers stand ready. Speak with Smote and Nissa.
<Crion> Looking forward to seeing you at the next gathering.
<Crion> -- L.
<banana> Melanie works... but she tries not to only work. On some level it's just trading one kind of isolation for another, isn't it? The Wherehouse is more comfortable than her campus apartment of two months and has people in it, real friends who she can be around and not just become a mess of thoughts behind hardening bark; that's not the same as engaging with the real world, particularly as it
<banana> isn't in the real world.
<banana> There's an absurdity to re-engaging by training to fight fairy-tale monsters. But her latest thesis chapter is Absurdity and the Alienee, so- she'll call up David Smote.
<dammitwho> Maggie's going to work on tending and caring for the various plants she's brought in to grow in the Wherehouse's small garden. Also, she's going to send an 'e-mail' to Smitten about the Huntsman events, which is a little nervous-making. She checks the address six times before hitting send.
<Crion> Smote picks up on the third ring. There's a low hum of bass in the background, though no melody is coming through; he must be upstairs at Oberon's. "What's good, paper?"
<CBN> Tony's been spending his Wherehouse time puttering about, and gosh. There has been a lot of Wherehouse time. His hovel has drywall now! Maybe it'll get painted someday! Goals for 2020 include: a door.
<dammitwho> <Dear Smitten: Maggie here! We've wrapped up the business with the robot Huntsman that was chasing poor Lauren about, by getting its heart back from the dream of some poor little girl. Most of the work was done by Nels, who 'dreamspun' us right from the door to the heart without us having to do much work! Very good!!! Does the Freehold have some kind of dream graduate school? They should make
<dammitwho> her a professor. Everything else is going well. Best regards, Maggie Bakehead>
<banana> Melanie: "Hello David or Davids. I'd like to put my name down for some sparring and training stuff if you're keeping a list?"
<Crion> Smote laughs. "You're on top of it. Most of our crew gets a little bit lazy in Autumn and Winter. Wax boy's team handling the muscle, and all. Nissa mentioned wanting a shot at you if wanna come on down to Swordhome, though."
<banana> Melanie: "I don't really know Nissa so that would be good. Can I ask you about the seasonal activity thing? Does that arise from lessened inclination or delegated responsibility?"
<Crion> Smitten texts back: <lol damn. that's good to hear though, i'll let amelia know. love to hear when stuff like that gets resolved without violence!!! though given what i know about dreams and robots, there was probably least a lil bit of violence. y'all planning to be around for christmas? winter doesn't ask for RSVPs as a point of ideology but we still have to fuckin cater the event lmao>
<Crion> Smote: "Well most directly, it arises from, we get the shit kicked out of us in High Summer. Colt just got a cast off his arm, for real. So, Autumn, well, maybe we take a little time off, rest up, do some self-improvement in Winter, come back to Prom with a whole new fit."
<Crion> "But I guess to be truthful the answer is both, and each feeds into the other. It's good to have a structure."
<dammitwho> Oh! A text message. Well, that's easier than e-mail anyway. <Yes! I will bully the others into coming>
<Crion> Smitten: <lol you be glad I know not to take that seriously. ltr>
<VoxPVoxD> How's the activity at the office when Stewart arrives? Is it just Lauren at the front desk again?
<banana> Melanie: "Okay, that makes sense, it does. ..I saw some goblins offering healing contracts at Notgnixel, is that a good idea?"
<banana> Melanie: "I mean it is. As in, it is good to have- ehh."
<dammitwho> Maggie's started smoking cigs since her Icon was returned, or perhaps resumed smoking them after an Arcadian hiatus. Is anyone bothered by it?
<trenchfoot> There are worse habits. Nels hasn't smoked in a hundred years, but she's not going to stop anyone who does.
<Crion> Lauren is chatting with Cormorant when Stewart arrives. This is actually the busiest he's ever seen the place -- it looks almost...fully staffed? Kingsley and Gerald are in animated conversation about something in the middle of the room, that big open workspace with all the weird gadgets and gizmos and charts, apparently disagreeing about when the first computer was secretly made or manifested
<Crion> in this world. Cider Stitch from Winter is spinning around in an office chair, half-listening to them.
<Crion> And in the back corner of that room, at the far desk, a gaunt woman in all black with short black hair sits with her back to the conversation and to the elevator, playing what appears to be some strange form of speed solitaire under a UV light. She clears the cards, expertly reshuffles, and begins dealing again as Lauren sees Stewart and smiles. "Hey!"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart's gaze lingers on the woman in the back for just a moment before he smiles at Lauren and Cormorant. "Hey! Santander in?"
<banana> There are weirder smelling drugs around the hollow than tobacco, but one thing that does worry Melanie a bit is the actual process of lighting up. A spark or flare and then a puff of smoke.. it worries her on some elemental level, so she'll tend to avoid watching.
<Crion> Gaunt Rose -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSasQyFDznQ Did you see him out there running, when the angels swooped down so sudden?
<Crion> As they do, she stiffens and looks over her shoulder, eyes narrowed. They narrow further when she sees Stewart. She's a Darkling Bright One in her Mien, less of a contradiction in terms than you might expect, and a white pinprick of light burns in the center of her jet black eyes. Then she turns away again, and finishes the deal.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart smiles weakly back when he feels her eyes on him.
<Crion> Lauren: "Yeah! He's in the back."
<Crion> "In his office."
<Crion> As for Nels, is she gonna straight-up enroll in UMBC? Registration deadlines have passed for classes over Winter break...but the Freehold's got friends, who also have friends.
<VoxPVoxD> "Cool." Stewart doesn't think he's ever been in Santander's office, unless his office is still that archmage tower that pokes into the Hedge. Either way, he heads back.
<Crion> Business Steve will keep Tony erstwhile company, but he's constantly leaving and returning, honking about making moves and then having had made moves, respectively.
<CBN> Tony, without any formal training, still falls into the natural rhythm of builder and businessman: Work is done while Business Steve is out of the room, because nothing's getting done while a Business Entity is about. He'll still be soliciting Steve's opinions on wall-hangings when the time is right, however.
<Crion> Smote: "I mean, you always gotta pay, right? But as far as we know they're not long-term dangerous or anything. Not anymore so than normal goblin contracts. Still, some of us stay cautious on that. Nissa won't touch 'em."
<trenchfoot> She still doesn't have her GED, but UMBC might have people who can help her get through the last few bits. History's still sketchy, but she's reasonably confident about the rest - reading, writing, the sciences, and math. So if they have any kind of program for aspiring education majors to tutor people like her - uh, not exactly like her, that would be overly specific - but sort of like her, she'd be taking advantage of such a program.
<trenchfoot> If not, well, call in a few favors and use their library. Try and get acclimated around groups that aren't the motley.
<trenchfoot> After she passes... maybe. Nels never would've had the chance before.
<Crion> Santander's office is, indeed, Always Like That. You activate Kingsley's office door as a portal to his Hollow, and he lets you in or he doesn't. Kingsley and Santander have gotten in shouting matches about this before, with Santander telling Kingsley if he doesn't like having to share a door they can change buildings, because Santander's not about to let the door to the janitor's closet or
<Crion> men's restroom serve instead.
<banana> Melanie: "Noted. I totally get the impulse to stay away from the master's tools, it's just.. gonna be hard to dismantle the master's house otherwise."
<trenchfoot> Shit, she could go to college. She could actually do that.
<banana> "I'll visit Swordhome soon, it's something I haven't been doing enough anyway."
<Crion> Spring's got people who can help with the GED; the North Avenue Community Center can easily help take care of that, and indeed could have been in the process of doing so for quite awhile already. And Amelia Bantham is a very persuasive guidance counselor.
<VoxPVoxD> Well, Santander's expecting him, so hopefully the invocation isn't rejected...
<Crion> It is not! Santander's office is radiant in the afternoon sun coming in from...everywhere...but it's still kind of hard to see down into the Hedge below through the fog outside and the steamed-up windows. Apparently the Hedge is shy about anyone getting this much of a bird's-eye view of it. Also, like the moon before it, the sun is here (or a facsimile of it?) and it's too damn close.
<Crion> The Leering Christ is slightly less...like that...in the daylight.
<Crion> But only slightly.
<VoxPVoxD> "Good--" Stewart's suddenly forgotten what time of day it is in the glaring light. "--hello, Lord Sage."
<Crion> Santander, from behind his desk: "STEWART READER! ''CRITICALMASS!!'' WELCOME TO MY---"
<trenchfoot> ...who all works at the NACC? Anyone Nels recognizes, past Amelia Bantham? She does still want a study partner before scheduling her actual test...
<Crion> He turns away from the window and frowns. "...Quite dirty office. Furniture! Attend!"
<banana> Melanie's going to emerge from her rooms and ask whoever's around, "Should I go and fight Nissa of Fives for training? She's got at least five ways to cut people."
<Crion> The chair from before lopes up, this time accompanied by a taller, thinner end table, and Santander quickly loads some books from his desk onto each before sending them off to other parts of the room.
<Crion> David Smitten basically runs the NACC as the general manager, and both Harlan Jape and, a bit surprisingly, DJ Fuck You also spend a lot of time there. The latter just goes by DJ; he does art instruction and helps Harlan with his music classes. There are also a bunch of mortals and a couple fae-touched on staff.
<trenchfoot> ...I don't believe that Nels has met "DJ Fuck You."
<Crion> He's the house DJ at The Sidereal, and also one of Spring's chief (and only) enforcers. Stewart and Maggie met him the night they met The Mainer and The Girl, in the sense that they went there while he was DJing, but he's Jape's assistant on any night when Jape's in the club.
<Crion> Business Steve responds to Melanie: "honk"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart reflexively moves to help the magically animated furniture tidy itself up.
<Crion> Santander: "LEEEEEEEEAVE IT!!!"
<Crion> "The furniture becomes upset when not permitted to do its work!"
<banana> Melanie: "I'm not going to cut anything- what do you mean, no margin in that?
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart puts his hands up like Santander drew down.
<Crion> The chair actually somehow communicates a nod with the bending chair-back as it trundles over to a shelf and semi-barfs the books at it. Decorative wooden hands in-laid into the shelf become non-decoratively entirely, catching the tomes and sorting them properly.
<trenchfoot> Well. She never did manage to sit in on one of their music classes. Maybe a night off from trying to figure out the particulars of World War II will do Nels some good? And, as a bonus, it puts off making a decision.
<Crion> "So!" says Santander, rummaging around in his desk and finally locating a pipe. "The Knight-Errant Stewart returns, victorious in the field of DREAM WAR!"
<Crion> *on the field
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Everyone really stepped up. Nels opened a direct route to the heart with a song. Lauren didn't even flinch when she was making her case to the Huntsman. We'd never have gotten that far without Tony's navigation, or Maggie and Melanie protecting us."
<Crion> Nels can if she likes. When she does she'll find the classes are geared for...beginning students. Specifically, DJ's doing after-school piano lessons for elementary and middle school public students. He's actually got like 12 Casios in here from somewhere; it's kind of a cacophony, but he's preternaturally able to tune out everything but the specific student's dissonant key-clonking and
<Crion> correct their form.
<Crion> Business Steve waggles a wing mischeviously. Honk honk! Then he waddles off.
<Crion> The philosophy of Business Steve, explicated: https://i.imgur.com/KU9tg78.jpg
<banana> Melanie: "You forgot to budget for getting too fucked up and falling down the open manhole." Goblins. Sometimes they're too human.
<banana> Time to head out? But what should she wear...
<trenchfoot> He need a hand? She used to be one of these students, after all. Uh, not piano, but still. If he doesn't want Nels helping, she'll stick around for a few minutes, make a polite excuse, and head off to find someone who can help her keep the various wars straight. But. Maybe she could do this. Not at this level, not regularly, but.
<Crion> Santander taps the desk with the pipe and some...weed?...trundles over on little weed legs like some strain of tiny Pillsbury Doughboy and leaps into the pipe. "Hoo hoo!" it chirps as he lights it up. "A TRUE TEAM EFFORT!" he exclaims after a meditative puff.
<Crion> He's got another class coming right after when the high school lets out, so yeah, if she's willing to put up with maybe some gangly 17 year old asking her what she's doing later.
<dammitwho> Maggie: "Is that why they call her Nissa of Fives?"
<banana> Ah! How do people move so fast. Appearing out of nowhere when you're standing in the middle of the room thinking. "Yeah, it actually is. Like... Summer, you know? We're meant to bristle."
<trenchfoot> Lovely. She'll figure something out, if that happens - Nels hasn't survived this long to get stopped by awkward teens.
<dammitwho> Maggie: "Hooorm. Are you going to get a fightin' name like that?"
<banana> Melanie: "Everyone's got cool aliases so they don't have to deal with being human, right? I've made one up too but I don't really use it."
<banana> Cool names. "Do you want to visit Swordhome?"
<Crion> DJ, between classes: "I've only seen you on guitar before. Show me something on piano? Just so I know which students to put you with and which to put with me?"
<Crion> Santander: "You have been quite impressive, I must admit. You saw Rose outside."
<Crion> "She was the one dressed nothing like a rose, or any sort of flower."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Playing solitaire?"
<Crion> "Hearts in Atlantis."
<dammitwho> Maggie: "Oh, sure. If you don't mind me watching you spar and such."
<Crion> "A special kind of tarot, played against oneself, with the pauper's, or trickster's, deck. That's what we call the 52 out from Vegas."
<Crion> He puffs again. "She is my other student, and your rival!"
<VoxPVoxD> Eyebrows up. "Rival?"
<trenchfoot> Nels: "I'm, um, still pretty good, but..." Exhale. "I prefer the guitar. Still. Okay. The kids like this stuff, right?" And then she starts playing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egZXmG4eyiQ
<banana> Melanie: "I don't, but they'll wanna challenge you anyway, you look like a miniboss. Let me just get changed and I can drive us?"
<Crion> He waves the pipe. "The Lord Sages are insistent only one apprentice be chosen. I have no interest in this. I would prefer to see the wages of healthy competition! But the work is vast and deep! If two pass, then two new Sages shall there be. If none, THEN NONE!"
<Crion> DJ is impressed. "Billie Eilish. I mean, probably a LITTLE whiter than the crowd we'll have in here, but not by much. She slaps with the zoomers."
<dammitwho> Maggie: "Now what the Hell, Michigan is a miniboss?"
<banana> Melanie's putting on.. she should wear jeans for this but it's not like she can really kick. Something short-sleeved and a jacket that's easy to take off because it is cold, flesh or no flesh.
<trenchfoot> Nels: "Any suggestions? I mostly play by ear so I can try and pick something up before the kids come in."
<banana> "Have you seen Stewart streaming some other games before the new, um, season? Fights against guys who are like, bigger and tougher than normal enemies with a more flashy look, but which aren't some kind of ultimate battle."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "So then we aren't rivals."
<banana> "That's a 'mini' boss, 'boss' obviously being the term for someone you have to defeat."
<Crion> Santander laughs. "You should ask Rose if she sees it that way."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "I'm looking forward to meeting her. Is that why I'm here?"
<Crion> DJ: "Eilish is good, white pop girls are good. We can get into John Legend and Alicia Keys, but a lot of that stuff doesn't bang as hard. Don't be afraid to work in non-contemporary stuff, though. These kids have an appreciation for old masters stuff, even if it is stuffy and dead -- it's good to learn on. And they'll notice if you only give them modern stuff because you think they won't
<Crion> appreciate old classical work. Like, they're not here to learn to do covers, or just fuck around like the younger kids are. These students are invested."
<Crion> The wizard puffs again. "Not...particularly. Though it was inevitable. No, I think what I would like to know is what project you are most interested in right now. The projects you have been given, you've completed admirably. It's time for independent study of a sort. Where do your interests lie?"
<trenchfoot> Nels plays the first few bars of Crossroads without looking up, but she's thinking.
<banana> In the car on the way to North Avenue: "It's been a while since I've been to Oberon's. The last time there I was.. kind of a mess. Sorry if it seems I'm using you like armor - that's not consciously the case."
<trenchfoot> Nels: "...classical as in, classical? Give me a sample, I'll try and make it work. But I can do more modern." Classical wasn't exactly part of her 'what if you just started playing and we all sang along' education.
<dammitwho> Maggie, agreeably: "Not at all. I've never seen the Summer Court anyhow. Is it rude if I cheer? Like if you get a good hit in?"
<banana> Melanie: "..................More like nostalgic."
<dammitwho> "Eh?"
<banana> "I might not get any though. Who knows how good they all are, but we can be darn dangerous."
<banana> "Um, I just mean - I was used to it. Cheer routines and the crowd..."
<Crion> DJ Fuck You: "Well, there's obviously, like Für Elise or Moonlight Sonata or Blue Danube, but also--" He plays a bit of Piano Concerto in A Minor by Grieg. "But that's only if they're really looking for something. Most of these kids are at the point where they're coming in with music they know they want to play, that I've gotten them sheet music for, and they have enough of a foundation that
<Crion> the basic stuff is done and we're looking to correct bad habits and help technique. Provide guidance."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart folds his arms. He'd never really considered this in such a direct way. He's got the best working relationship with the Belvedere, but their struggles are abstruse and their enemies brutal. The Court fights a more political battle, of resources more than ideology, and it holds its enemies as close as it can bear.
<trenchfoot> Nels: "Okay, piano is gonna be a weak point there. But I can help with timing. And maybe hand placement. Shoot, I dunno if I'd even be good at teaching guitar."
<Crion> Santander: "Another way to phrase this question...to what degree to you, Stewart Reader, value insitutional power? To what degree to you value building strong bonds with the vampire, the willworker, the werewolf -- over learning their secrets? To what degree is the opposite true?"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Is building bonds in tension with learning their secrets?"
<trenchfoot> "Self taught. But. I'll try not to make anyone cry and we'll see how this goes?" She's nervous.
<Crion> Santander: "Oh, indeed."
<Crion> DJ grins. "That's fine. It's not like with last class where you could have instilled bad habits. Here, all these kids have been playing for a long time -- except a couple, I'll handle them. You should focus maybe on helping them work from technical proficiency into the emotion of it."
<trenchfoot> Nels: "Y'know, you're real nice for a guy named 'DJ Fuck You.
<trenchfoot> '"
<Crion> The Oberon is actually closed right now between the lunch and dinner rushes, so they're not harassed by anyone when they step in. Nigh, a.k.a. Capra, a.k.a. the goatman who was Melanie's driver for a little bit when she was new to town and occasional bartender up at The Sidereal, lets Melanie and Maggie in.
<Crion> *Oberon's.
<banana> Being closed for 'business' is an upside. There are reasons Melanie doesn't come here very often. "Hello again. We're heading down if that's ok?"
<Crion> Nigh: "Yup. SMOTE!"
<Crion> David Smote wanders down from above, wearing a tanktop, basketball shorts, and Jordans. "What's up, girl." He nods at Maggie. "Don't know that we've met. Maggie from Spring?"
<Crion> DJ Fuck You: "It's just the marketing."
<trenchfoot> She shakes her head. "Never wouuld've played. I mean, even aside from the cuss."
<Crion> DJ: "...And I helped kill Mere Jacoby."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart, finally: "I guess up to now I've valued... bonding, collaboration, whatever. But that's sort of... my skillset, I guess, more than what I want. I didn't come here to make enemies, but I did come here to solve mysteries."
<Crion> "Let's call him something of an inspiration."
<Crion> DJ's face goes sour a moment.
<banana> Melanie smiles at this particular David. (She knows they're different people, but like.. they lean into the aesthetic themselves. They know what they're doing.) "This is Maggie Bakehead yeah. She's unimpeachable."
<dammitwho> Maggie nods back. "Heya."
<Crion> David Smote: "Oh. We don't do impeachment here. We just fight."
<Crion> He grins at Maggie. "You look like you fight."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart has relationships he values more than secrets. But... does he value all relationships more than secrets? The question'd never been posed to him before, but now that he thinks about it... no.
<trenchfoot> Nels is briefly silent. Then: "Only sensible."
<VoxPVoxD> The realization is startling.
<dammitwho> She rolls her shoulders, making a metallic creaking noise. "Now and again."
<Crion> He rubs his hands together. "Good, good. Nissa's already getting warmed up downstairs."
<Crion> "Let's go."
<banana> Melanie's a little worried by the degree of anticipation here. She leads the way so as not to show it.
<Crion> They step sideways through that X-offed room before the entry to Swordhome -- Melanie remembers it from her first visit, presumably -- and into the dojo in the Hedge. It's clearly a kind of Hollow, on further and more well-acquainted observation, but it's not quite clear WHOSE, or why it's permitted to be here so close to Swordhome.
<Crion> DJ: "Nothing about that time was sensible, but--"
<Crion> A couple kids walk in, chatting.
<banana> For Maggie, this involves a trip out behind the strip club's bar, through its kitchens, down a basement stair to an improbably huge iron vault - but not in. That door is shut against the Winter.
<Crion> DJ: "Brandy. Laquan. What's up?"
<Crion> He greets them, catches up briefly, then tells them to get their folders from the bins and find a piano. He'll do this to all the kids who come in, introducing Nels as well. The kids are enthusiastic, but serious about why they're here, and more interested in each other than the new teacher.
<Crion> The same kid from before is there, and he waves to Melanie when she enters, but he's watching from the corner, well off the fight floor. In the middle of the training space, Nissa is stretching in karate pants and her own tanktop, all white.
<trenchfoot> Probably for the best. She'll keep an eye on the doorway while plucking away at her guitar waiting for the class to gather. Nervous tick. She'll nod to the kids entering here but she's never felt older.
<Crion> The muscular woman pops to her feet, shaking out her bob, grinning. "Two of ya."
<Crion> To Melanie: "What's up, paperweight?"
<Crion> Smote grimaces at that.
<Crion> Fades quick though as he turns to Maggie. "We'll pair off. Bro's said you're pretty impressive. Wanna see what you've got."
<banana> Melanie nods to Bartholomew, then Nissa. "Hello. I haven't been coming around here enough and there's way more I need to learn. You're good, right? You don't just look it?"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "But I think that building relationships builds knowledge too. It's not the *same* knowledge, obviously - the things people are willing to teach us are not the things they keep hidden - but like, there's still enormous value in close ties even from a purely academic perspective."
<Crion> Nissa's eyes flash, but her grin widens. She doesn't look away from Melanie, but she's mostly speaking to Smote: "Contracts?"
<Crion> Smote looks to both Melanie and Maggie. "Do you want to make contracts legal? Be warned, you're still expected to control them."
<dammitwho> Maggie: "Pfah. Let's just go fist to fist."
<banana> Without Smote's veto, Melanie will bend down laboriously and place her palms on the mats. Rice straw rises in strands without actually reducing the volume of material, wrapping itself as new matting around her limbs.
<Crion> Smote nods to her.
<banana> Let's see what magics Nissa wields.
<Crion> Nissa, to Melanie: "But you're not scared."
<Crion> "Should be."
<Crion> Smote shakes his head. "We'll go second, then. Just in case this gets stupid."
<banana> Melanie: "That's one of the things I need to learn, right? Calibrating risks and the things we can get away with. My instinct is against.. compromise. Maybe that's wrong, sometimes." Maybe not this time.
<trenchfoot> After a bit: "Okay, class. I'm Ms. Foulke." Man, that feels weird. "DJ's mentioned that you have the technical skills, but turning that into a song that means something is the difference between -- "She gives off a basic descending set of notes, "And something like..." She plays the first few bars: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BJOoexyNco She's still on her guitar, but she'll be switching over soon.
<trenchfoot> Nels: "Since this is my first time I'll be wandering, trying to figure out where y'all are at. 'Cause it's one thing to be able to play something, but you want to be able to feel it, right?" She doesn't wait for a response. Anyone specifically sticks out as sloppy or incapable, she'll head to them first.
<banana> She takes off her jacket. Entire strips of bark peel off her arms with it, turn razor-sharp, hover. "I can control it though, so.. please do show me if I'm fucking this up."
<Crion> Nissa explodes in fire as she brings up her hands. "Hope this doesn't hurt too much."
<Crion> "I hear you burn easy."
<Crion> "Ahahahah!"
<Crion> Smote: "NISSA!"
<banana> Melanie: "It's okay." The floating strips of bark.. also burst into flame. Considerably less flame.
<banana> Melanie sets her stance - not a learned fighting technique, she's just bracing herself against the ground. Her legs thicken a little, seem to merge with the mats. If possible she'll try to keep Nissa away, but the other woman is fast as well as strong..
<Crion> Nissa leaps in with a squall of flame around her and slaps a hand on Melanie's shoulder before shoving her. "First burn, if I wasn't being nice."
<Crion> Santander: "AGREED! And the question is, does the wise Lord Sage know when to privilege one, and when to privilege the other? Well! Presumably he does, or he would not hold office. But you and Rose both have to learn."
<Crion> "There is a team being put together. A task force. A committee, by the various occult constituencies. To address something (No, not the vampire in the baseball cap)." He leans forward. "My question to you is, do you join the task force to build relationships...or do you spy on it, to gain secrets?"
<Crion> "Whichever one you do not choose...Rose will do."
<Crion> "She deferred this choice to you."
<banana> Melanie can't keep Nissa off- she hunches a little and takes the hit - but burning papercraft sigils are slapping themselves onto Nissa's own flesh, and Melanie takes advantage of that to *hold* her for a moment. It's an awkward seizing motion but the sheer strength behind it is difficult to resist and she's got a matted arm into Nissa's side, quivering spikes of wood pressing uncomfortably
<banana> through the restraining mats.
<dammitwho> Maggie: "Ha! That's the way, Melanie! Give her another!"
<banana> She's behind, but what she doesn't do is catch fire. The floating papers just burn brighter.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Do I get to know what it's addressing first?"
<banana> Melanie: "Keeping this up.. will cost you.."
<Crion> Nissa grins. "Yeah. That's how fighting should be!" She smacks Melanie across the gut again, moving in close once more.
<banana> "Ug." Melanie gathers herself and backsteps rapidly, opening some distance as she flings out her limbs to the side - and branches rise from the matted floor, seizing and clawing at Nissa, holding her in place.
<dammitwho> Maggie: "Aw... next time, next time! You'll get 'er!"
<Crion> Nissa jumps in place doing a gymnast piroutte and lands, launching herself from a crouch into Melanie's midsection with a shoulder--
<Crion> Then immediately rolling off and scooting away. "Ow! Fuck!"
<Crion> Nissa actually has more than a few burns of her own on her arms and chest.
<banana> Flames lash out ironically again, but Melanie can count. She drops into something like a crouch and hugs her stomach as the floating strips flare up and crisp to ashes.
<Crion> "I THOUGHT WE WERE PULLING OUR PUNCHES!"
<Crion> Smote, annoyed: "You were. YOUR dumb ass leapt into elemental danger without properly protecting your shit."
<Crion> "Melanie didn't have that problem. Even though she lost, you ended up more hurt. What the fuck does that say, Nissa?"
<Crion> Nissa, grumbling: "Says I still won."
<banana> Melanie: "Sorry. The only trick I've got to keep myself from going up there is a shield of the same element."
<banana> "You did. You would've killed me, although maybe getting crippled in the process. I'm glad we're on the same side."
<Crion> Smote shakes his head. To Melanie: "Nah, it's a good trick. But it's clear you've been fighting something other than changelings out there. That grappling, lock-up stuff? Doesn't work for us. Not a good play. And you need to work on your defenses. Like, REALLY need to."
<Crion> Nissa: "Yeah, yeah. Ow!!!"
<banana> Melanie nods, not looking up. She's pretty sure she was actually stronger than Nissa there, could've hit her really hard.. and has absolutley no way to avoid getting taken down in return. Not in return, to start, because she's not fast enough.
<Crion> Smote, to Melanie: "That said, paper...coming out with fire, that's a ballsy play. I like it."
<Crion> "Turning weaknesses into strengths is how we stay alive."
<trenchfoot> Nels sets the guitar aside. This is a piano class. "First: technical skill. This is, somewhat unbelievably, the boring part. I mean, it's really hard, but you can find people who play really well that just have no sense of imagination." The entire time, she's playing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M93qXQWaBdE which... difficult. Also incredibly dull.
<trenchfoot> Then, she sighs. Nels: "You need passion for your songs. This isn't nearly as difficult, but I expect it means more to you than Flight of the Bumblebee." And here it is again: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egZXmG4eyiQ She continues, over the song: "What matters is what you put into it."
<Crion> To Maggie: "...You still wanna go? I'm not doing any contracts."
<banana> Melanie: "Nissa. I have a healing contract. I heard you might not be okay with that? But if you want to make an exception we'd both feel better."
<dammitwho> Maggie slaps a fist into her palm in response.
<Crion> Not only are the students in DJ's class rapt at attention, DJ himself is.
<Crion> There's an actual standing ovation when she's done. DJ Fuck You even joins in.
<Crion> Santander, to Stewart: "Something powerful and unprecedented has come to the City of Baltimore, and it is doing the one thing that we cannot countenance in the open without provoking a horrific backlash from the worst creatures in this world."
<Crion> "It's saving lives with magical powers. Like some sort of hero."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Huh."
<trenchfoot> She takes a basic bow. Then: "I'll be back next week, if DJ will have me?"
<Crion> DJ: "Uh. Fyyyyeah. Yeah. Yeah, definitely."
<VoxPVoxD> "So the goal of the task force is to stop that?"
<Crion> Santander nods. If there was a tone of judgment built into that question, he ignores it. "At the very least, make it go save lives somewhere else."
<dammitwho> There's no style to the battle, or at least none on Maggie's end - just trading heavy blows in a contest of raw strength. Smote's fists clang off Maggie's skin and hers thud back, but it isn't long before she winds up and thumps him a good one upside the head!
<dammitwho> "Ha!"
<Crion> Smote actually bounces off the mat and lays there a second before sitting up. Blinking: "And that's you PULLING your punches?"?
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Alright. I'll spy, then."
<trenchfoot> Nels nods, bows, and finds her way to the bathroom to contemplate exactly what just happened. Oh my god.
<dammitwho> Maggie: "Hey, you gave it back pretty good yourself."
<Crion> The wizard stands. "Excellent. I will inform the task force that you've been assigned to Hedge study, and send Rose. And you will be expected to report weekly."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Sounds good."
<Crion> Smote: "Yeah? Didn't feel like it." He stands. Nissa mutters something under her breath. Smote, to her: "You should go get all that looked at."
<banana> Melanie should be cheering for Maggie, but she's busy. Unless Nissa rejects it entirely, she removes *another* strip of bark; this one is long and leaves a small wound, oozing sap. The sap is a promise and the promise is respite, a burden shared. With the impromptu bandage's application, Nissa's burns dull and fade to clean (if tender) skin.
<Crion> Nissa does not reject it, but she is very stiff and angry the entire time. She WON dammit! Right?
<Crion> Nissa glares at Melanie once more, bites out a "Thank you for the bark," and storms off. Bartholomew, the resident punching bag child, laughs from the corner.
<banana> For what it's worth, Melanie agrees. She was there to train, not to protect herself only by hurting others. That isn't some kind of ersatz victory.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart feels good about this. He's not really sure *how* he's going to do this, but learning is the goal.
<banana> "Maggie, that looked like being hit by a truck. For the other guy."
<Crion> Santander waves a hand. "NOW! YOU ARE DISMISSED! Triumph in stealing the legacy of knowledge. Become a Lord Sage. Reach for the Unknown."
<dammitwho> Embarassed, she rubs the back of her neck.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart returns to the lobby. Is Rose still there?
<banana> "It's all good, being hit by a truck is a real risk. Right?" She includes Smote in the conversation. "There's some kind of Crown contract for it."
<Crion> Smote groans as he stretches. "I'm sure there is. Bart, clean all this up, will you? You got your payment already."
<Crion> The "child" titters again and nods.
<Crion> Rose is gone. On her desk, though, she's left three cards: Queen of Hearts, Ace of Spades...and the Joker.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart should probably learn some divination.
<Crion> Good news, though, is that when he's ready to leave, Lauren's just about done for the day.