Wiping the floor with our faces

[HecateSkivvy]

"Game' is a term I'm choosing to attribute to this conflict. I find it appropriate, considering the flippancy of either party in regard to our, particularly my own, personal safety. It is by no means an official term... Although I do remember there -was- a game. Maybe that's where I got the term. Huh...."

Leslie stops for a moment to consider, his arms crossed.

"The timeline I know is as follows; before we were put in quarantine a while back, there was some hullabaloo about the fey playing a 'game.' This was before my friends and I got there, mind you. They tagged certain people, schoolyard-gym style, and presented them with tokens in the form of leaves that either marked them as briggtbound or gloamriddled. Something something.... I wasn't there I don't know.

Later on, at around the time I arrived, all I remember is Dusk King What's his name showing up and breaking everyone's legs. Phil, with whom I now realize I should have a long discussion, advised me not to go anywhere near him and so I did not."

"As for someone tipping the scales in favor of the brightness court, judging by your modestly insinuative tone... I'm not sure exactly whether or not I did that. I did help prevent the dusk from one-upping the dawn at the end of winter, but I think those actions on my part were in favor of the balance of seasons, whether or not I knew it at the time. If anything, I was settling a vendetta, if any of you remember the dusk incedent where I walked into the diner bleeding and dripping wet."

Finally, he adds, "Hell, if anything, my involvement was sparked by the Dusk court stirring the pot. Granted, I wasn't there at the very beginning. I'm doing some research to find out just a little bit more; I wanna know who sparked this bullshit so we can end it."

[Samantha]

Vanessa smiles at the mention of her S,more pie but before she can really say anything about it she listens and watches everything else going on.

"See, you around Hartighan, tell Nile I say hello and rest up well."

Ness looks to Liberty and Lesley, "I'm wondering if the conflict started when we were stranded on that island, when we played the game. It was almost a capture the flag sort of thing.

Also, I'm with Lesley on this, I'm not sure why the Dawn Court thinks I own them something, but I intend on finding out and helping getting everything back to what it was before."

[Owle Isohos]

Kelsey grinned at Sally, apparently bearing him no ill will. She nodded to Hartighan, acknowledging his statement as much as he'd acknowledged hers. She listened carefully to Leslie and the others who spoke.

"Sir Frostwright seemed to imply that he thought it was an outsider who was tipping the scales. Someone who'd come into town recently." She shrugged. "But it seems like everyone in this place blames anyone new in town, us included, whenever something goes wrong. I don't think what you did at the end of Winter is responsible, and I doubt that game of tag on the island did it, either. The Dawn Court won, and that was the middle of summer, and it sure seemed like the seasons changed properly last time..."

The investigator turned to regard Alex curiously. "Meaning no disrespect, if the dragons have so much power and honor, why do they work for the seasonal kings?"

[Taranis]

"Unfortunately I don't have an answer for that right now Kelsey. While Dragons may be a subject of my faith and personal interests this is my first time actually meeting one in person that I can remember. I am currently reading up on their relevance within the Fae culture, so hopefully I'll be able to shed some light on the situation. "

"If I had to venture a guess, I would say that the Great Ones were enacting favors for their respective sides. The Fae themselves largely revere them and dare not even speak their names. Not once did I ever even witness either king bark a command at them. In the battle for the throne the two Dragons preferred to fight directly with each other. Even as I stood with the Lady in the final skirmish she did not attack the town head on. In fact, I admit to felling far more people than she did in her defense. Based on what I experienced, they aren't following orders so much as tagging along for the ride."

"The Lady has recognized my service to her. I will see if I cannot learn more first hand."

[Sally]

Grinning like his usual, half-stupid self, Sally looks away from Kelsey and to Herne,

"Yeah, you's right about Daenerys Targaryen over there bein' mo' hon-or-able than even her hon-or-able folk. I talked to, uh, Her Grace, a coupla times all par-ley like without in-ci-dent. An' after Hartighan and that Knight dueled an' the Knight lost, she didn't want nuttin' to do wit him no' did she go after Hartighan in no re-venge."

As Alice gets up to leave, Sally retrieves the ice pack without breaking stride, and slides it over towards Victor.

"I remember that there game," Sally says, flicking at the orange leaf tucked into his vest, "An' I remember that shit head Dusk King not takin' kindly to me an' Brett teachin' him a thing 'er two about a Con-stit-utional Republic."

He calls over to Bob, "Dragons, Big Bad Wolves, Moths- fuck it, get us some Thermite an' that shit'll solve all sortsa trick issues... or burn thru the bottom of tha world an' unleash a hell of pro-por-tions we ain't never seen!"

He says this with great glee.

[Amelia Casselman]

After settling with Leslie, Amelia's kept around, sitting at her usual table. Just another tired and amused people-watcher, lingering around this twisted sense of community they've developed (Sally can't pick on her for not being around, this way). She's barely even twitched, save for one, quiet muttering at Nick's mention about rats, "We don't talk about the rats."

Then there's the hyper-focus on Sally's little experiment with the teenager. Maybe she should have paid more attention to the kid. She never got the kid's story. Never cared to. She doesn't do well with kids, but now it almost makes sense why such a young girl made it to Whisper Hill, with how this town seems to draw in all sorts of what-the-fuckery, and it seems like she's not human. Amelia's really got to go back to picking Leo's mind about all this changeling and fetch stuff.

Dammit. It's hard enough handling Leslie. How're they supposed to manage such a young girl? Raised in a town where the human population is probably dwarfed by the supernatural? Well, maybe in Victor's case, that's a good thing, but a bit of humanity in her "upbringing" would be nice, before she becomes too much like Leslie. Amelia's pretty sure that Phil has more of a grip on humanity than Leslie does.

That girl's got some good points, though. As much as Amelia is upset at the fae, well, they keep their word. Humans are a terrible species to put trust in. She can trust fae to keep their promises, and she can trust demons to eventually, probably, destroy her, but what the hell is she supposed to trust in humans? It always seems like a losing battle, but when trusting in monsters feels safer...

Victor's slowly growing on Amelia, finally. When a small little wisp like that makes Hartighan look like a big softy? Well, ain't that adorable (not that she'll likely tell Hartighan that).

Amelia doesn't stop dozing until some of Liberty's words about elements and alchemy trip around in her noggin and her head almost jerks up in surprise, certainly more awake than she was since she sat down. She almost makes a remark in reply, but pillows her head on her backpack, and adds her two cents on the overall topic.

"This can't have all started just because we all showed up on that island. Sure we're 'the new shiny', but really? There had to have been a catalyst before us. If one outsider was enough to screw with their balance, then they need a whole lot more help than we could give them, if we wanted."

She toys with a strap of her bag. "My question is: why Whisper Hill?" Why is so much in Whisper Hill, as it is. "I get that the throne's here, but I doubt that's coincidence. I think we waved goodbye to 'coincidence' months ago. Why's there so much trouble in this damn town?" the last part is spoken more to herself, bitter grumblings.

[vVv]

victor grins widely at leslie's acknowledgement, "YUP!! i know."

she looks pleased when bob grey instructs sally to give her the icepack, and takes it solemnly, pressing it against her right hand with another dark look at sally. to be truthful, it doesn't really hurt all that much anymore, though she suspects if it'd been anything more than a touch she'd be feeling mighty different about now. (but wow, a real mercenary intern now. and that badass soldier dude lookin' out for me, too. and ok, that dusk king IS kinda a jerko, but he is SO BADASS AND DREAMY TOO, and i'm kinda, like, one of them, and one of these guys, AT THE SAME TIME. so does that make me DOUBLE awesome? probably. most everyone, 'cept the REALLY dumb ones, wants to be my friend, and thinks i'm even pretty useful! moving here is totally the best thing that ever happened to me, i can't believe how pissed i was about it a couple months ago.. life could seriously NOT get any cooler.. i think this is, like, karma, for all those boring times i had to go through before. speaking of, i wonder what jamie's been up to? haven't seen him all weekend. really hope he doesn't get weird about all this and like try to make me leave or like stay home or anything. i ain't givin' all this up, i don't care, no way.)

alongside all these thoughts tumbling 'round in her head like rocks gettin' polished, vic listens with wide-eyed interest to all the information being presented. sally's mention of his clash with the dusk king makes her giggle. she sorta hopes she gets to see THAT someday. long as nobody actually gets hurt, that is. that's a point of fun she just really doesn't agree with slicewick on.. what's the point of havin' buddies for trickin' and messin' with if you gotta feel GUILTY after? she's kinda glad in that moment to be only "half-fey", as the scout had put it.

[Eden Jones]

Eden's face is neutral as Hartighan leaves, hiding her bemusement at his easy assumption of the 'unappreciated victim' role. Mentally shrugging, she turns back to the conversation at hand.

"If you don't think the game on the island caused the imbalance, than I'd recommend you look into who besides the Dawn Court would benefit from their staying in power. It's possible they could have been tricked, but even then they would have thought they had something to gain."

She shrugs, visibly this time. "Moggie said that the transfer of power used to be peaceful. Maybe someone could look into when and how that changed. If there's an old grievance, maybe it could be resolved. Of course, at this point things have gone on for so long that they might not be willing to change tactics.:

Turning to Amelia she shifts topics, "I'd recommend talking to Billy about why Whisper Hill is a nexus of strange. From what he told me, this places is something of a metaphysical palimpsest, although whether it was scraped down deliberately or started out with a thin boundary between here and" she waves her hand, "the wherevers, I don't know."

[Nick Sleet]

Nick chimes in with Eden "And if I had to guess, Burning Sky was the stylus that broke through the parchment."

[Samantha]

"I heard a rumor that McGregor did something that made the Dawn court stronger, and that's how they were able to hold onto power longer. I don't know if its true or not, but that's what I heard." Ness clasps her hands in front of her.

"If it is true, it raises a bunch of questions." she shrugs "I don't know if that would help anyone in finding out more or just distract."