⇨ THE SUMMER COURT

[ringleaders]

Who: Everyone in the Summer Maiden's entourage.
When: Day 129 - Day 131 (Subjectively experienced as only one day.)
Where: The Summer Court
What: The Summer Maiden returns to the Summer Court for the first time in eons, leading a posse of carnival workers and Summer Fae. The Summer Queen has initiated a peaceful Elysium for discussions to take place, with dozens of the Court in attendance, but the true tone of the negotiations has yet to be unearthed.
Warnings: Fae being bitches.

SUNSET OF AN ERA↴ The phase shift takes few minutes to complete, when it's time. The Summer Maiden gathers everyone together - her guard of Summerland Fae, and her carnival wards - and activates the spell to bring them to the Summer Court. It's been planned with the Summer Queen, she says, and they should have her cooperation. Nothing has been settled in terms of negotiations, but at the very least, the Queen was not willing to shut down the opportunity to see her daughter for the first time eons, along with her lesser children, Ignatius and Gild. The Summer Maiden has recommended that everyone dress formally and conduct themselves with respect, but she is not forcing anyone to do so. It simply seems like the best way to make an impression. When they arrive in the Summer Court, they are in a courtyard. The Maiden's light magic fades and they will see themselves in a garden of alien trees, with golden towers rising up around them in all directions. Two Summer Court fae are waiting for them at an ornate gate, but it isn't until the Summer Maiden has claimed her role as an adjudicator or the present Elysium that she breaks the barrier surrounding her party. She tells everyone that it is safe to go forth but to be cautious. There is no way of knowing what direction negotiations will take. The guard leads them in, and they will find themselves in a spacious and life-filled throne room, with massive trees that function and supporting pillars and the throne itself. A variety of True Fae that the carnival has never seen before are scattered around the room, waiting with a thick air of tension. As the Summer Maiden leads them in, she will announce herself to the Queen, and claim all those present as under her protection. The introductions are brief, and after the Maiden is done, the Queen will ask to speak with her privately. There is a clear nervousness beneath the Queen's veneer of control. As the Maiden joins her at the throne to speak about personal matters, everyone else is free to explore the throne room and mingle - if they dare. ► STICKING OUT: There are some notable reactions going on as the Maiden's entourage arrives. In general, the Court Fae respond strongly to Ignatius's presence - both the fact that he's turned up as an ally to the Maiden, and his curious magical transformation. Ignatius, for his part, holds back and tries to keep to himself, looking like he's trying to hide a significant amount of stress. To the Gilded Mark, there is a particular note of resentment, which she mostly seems to ignore and focuses on staying close to the carnival folk. The Starlight, the Whirling Rainbow, and a few other Summerland Fae have come along, and they all hold back as the Summer Maiden discusses things with the Queen privately. In general, the Court Fae eye the carnival with a mixture of curiousity and disgust. ► TOUGH CROWD: There are dozens of Summer Court Fae here that no one will have seen before. They mill about the room as if this is an uncomfortable formal engagement, eyeing up the Maiden's entourage an gossiping with one another. The opinions they hold of the situation vary wildly - some seem more of the attitude that the Court would be better off if the Summer Maiden were to die and be replaced, where others are openly optimistic and excited about the potential of reparations being made. You are free to make up/NPC any of these fae as long as they aren't doing anything radical, like trying to break the Elysium. Some of them will treat the visitors as threats, while others may even attempt to ask them questions about the situation. ► ACCOMMODATIONS: There is food and drink provided while negotiations endure. Normally you may want to be cautious about accepting this kind of thing, but given that it's part of Elysium, they are obligated to not harm any of those present. So, if you want, you will be able to enjoy faerie ales and other luxury foods that have the capability of being distractingly tantalizing to mortals with low self control. If you need some space, you are free to go back out to the courtyard where you arrived. There are few fae out there, but it is still covered by the Elysium. Take some time to settle in - this could take a while, and there's sure to be drama before it's over. Later on, there will be public discussion.

Comments

[drrdrrdrr]

"Ugh," says Amethyst. "They don't even quit it if you stare back at them, you noticed that?"

[periphrasing]

"...No," she admits, sweating a little. "But that's... Prrrrrobably because I haven't managed to maintain eye contact with any of them for longer than a few seconds?"

[drrdrrdrr]

"I've been tryin' to make 'em uncomfortable but it doesn't work." Amethyst sighs. "Plus I mean... y'know." She pulls a face, as if it is shameful to admit to not dedicating herself fully to making the Summer Court fae as uncomfortable as possible regardless of potential consequences. "I don't wanna make them so uncomfortable we get in worse shit than we already are, right..."

[periphrasing]

"Right," she groans miserably. She knows exactly where Amethyst is coming from; if Peridot isn't allowed to bluster and swagger about throwing around hollow threats to cover for how terrified she is, then she isn't really sure what to do. Act confident on her own merits? Yeah right.

"You weren't at the last Elysium, but... The person holding it can REALLY do some damage if you break the truce," Peridot adds. "I watched it happen to Jasper. Supposedly this one is a little bit different, but I sure don't want to be taking any chances."

[drrdrrdrr]

"Uuuughhhh," says Amethyst, slouching miserably. One of the hors-d'oeuvres falls out of the side of her stomach mouth. "... Ugh," she says again. "Well, I hope dropping food on the floor doesn't break any of their dumb rules."

[periphrasing]

Peridot just watches the food item splat on the floor. She's spitefully amused for about two seconds thinking that at least the fae are going to have to clean up after any messes they make, before she realizes that they'll probably just get their changeling slaves to do it or something.

"I'm pretty sure you'd have to physically attack someone to really get into trouble," she snorts, picking the thing up and surreptitiously putting it back on the platter. Maybe one of them will eat it by accident.

She frowns quietly, and then says: "Hey... Can I ask you something?"

[drrdrrdrr]

Amethyst eats it on purpose. Come on, Peridot, what did you expect? She chews it with her face mouth this time, frowning out at the non-Carnival company.

"Hnuh?" She swallows, and her frown turns a little more serious. "Uhh, sure, what is it?"

[periphrasing]

Okay, the look on a nearby fae's face when they 1) see Peridot put the food back on the plate after it was in Amethyst's mouth, and 2) then watch Amethyst put it back in a different mouth, weirdly gives Peridot a vague twinge of satisfaction. Worth it.

"How do you feel about this... Plan that we have? To go looking for the Ringmaster in the Wyld Lands?" she asks, drumming her claws on the table while she glances around at the crowd.

[drrdrrdrr]

Her frown turns a little more serious than that.

She lowers herself slowly to her actual feet instead of balancing on her tail.

"Mmmmhhh... I mean... what else are we gonna do?"

This totally got buried by megathread notifs whoops

[periphrasing]

"Those are essentially my feelings on the matter as well," Peridot says with a slight grimace. "But... This is going to be really dangerous. Like really, really dangerous. Like, probably more dangerous than the Cluster and all the diamonds combined."

One look at Peridot will show: She's not trying to warn Amethyst off or anything. She's scared.

[drrdrrdrr]

"... Yeah," says Amethyst, slouching closer to the floor. She rubs the back of her neck, looking off to the side for a moment, and then sighs.

"You ever feel like... there's kinda no point in you even coming along for this stuff? 'Cause I felt like that all the time, back home, with stuff like -- Homeworld, and the Diamonds, and everything, like what am I even gonna do--? And now this stuff is even worse, but... It's not like you can just... not do anything."

[periphrasing]

Peridot frowns while listening to her. This sounds like one of those questions that she's supposed to answer 'yes' to, even if the answer isn't really yes? You know for like. Emotional empathy reasons or whatever. She can't bring herself to do that, though.

"Honestly? Not really. I did used to feel like that, but. I've stabbed two different faeries at this point. The idea of staying behind and doing nothing feels much worse."

[drrdrrdrr]

"...Oh," says Amethyst, "Yeah. Right."

She stares at the floor for a few moments; her shoulders hunching up a little.

"Well, I mean, maybe it'll be OK. Maybe one of you guys will get to stab the Huntsman or somethin'."

[periphrasing]

"Or you could stab the Huntsman," Peridot suggests, nudging Amethyst's shoulder lightly. She has also just realized that she has technically assaulted three faeries by this point, but she keeps that thought to herself. "I mean, if I can do it, you definitely can do it."

[drrdrrdrr]

"Yeeaahhh, I dunno," says Amethyst, stretching her hands above her head partially so she doesn't have to meet Peridot's eyes, "I'm not very stabby, y'know? I'm more like, punch some guys, get my ass kicked, eat some cursed fruit..."

[periphrasing]

"Alright. I mean if you don't want to stab, that's acceptable," Peridot says with mild amusement. "I'm just saying that if you wanted to, you absolutely could."

[drrdrrdrr]

"Eh," Amethyst waves her off. "I think I'm a contract or two away from being able to pull that kinda stunt off, dude."

[periphrasing]

Peridot frowns a little. Did she just fuck this conversation up? It kind of feels like she just fucked this conversation up.

"I've had the same number of contracts as you," she points out, ears twisting down slightly.

[drrdrrdrr]

"Yeah, well," says Amethyst, scratching the side of her nose and eyeing some nearby fae, "I guess you picked better stuff to spend 'em on than me."

[periphrasing]

"I used one for basically the same thing that you did, and the other to send Lapis and Pumpkin home," Peridot counters, looking increasingly vexed. "Any other abilities that I've gotten since coming here have been things that I taught myself just trying to match up to the kinds of powers that the rest of you already have."

[drrdrrdrr]

It's at this point that Amethyst looks back at her, and maybe the look on Peridot's face makes her realise she's being surly, because she stops and looks guiltily at her feet.

"Yeah, Per, I know," she says. "I mean -- it's really cool, all the stuff you can do with magic now. But... you know I haven't exactly been keeping up, right?"

[periphrasing]

"But there's nothing to keep up with," Peridot says kind of sadly. For all her bragging about being superior and awesome and whatnot, she's kind of uncomfortable with the idea of Amethyst thinking that she's somehow... 'ahead of her'? In some nebulous sense?

[drrdrrdrr]

"There kinda is if you're expecting me to take down the Huntsman, dude," says Amethyst. She sighs, and then scrubs her paws over her face. "Uughhh, look, I don't actually care, okay? It's not -- that's not where I'm at any more, it's fine if I'm not that tough, it's whatever, I just... You don't gotta act like I can do all the stuff you can do."

[periphrasing]

She kind of wants to keep arguing; it's obvious she's immensely vexed that Amethyst isn't seeing the same thing that she is. It seems obvious to her? She doesn't really have any special abilities that exceed Amethyst's own natural ones, so on paper, their power levels are essentially comparable. The only thing stopping Amethyst from doing something incredible is... Herself?

"Okay," she huffs reluctantly. "But you do understand that I'm not actually expecting you to kill the Huntsman... I just think that you absolutely could, if you wanted to. Because I believe in you."

[drrdrrdrr]

It's perhaps a good thing she doesn't, because Amethyst would probably have a lot to say about the relative usefulnesses of their respective abilities in dealing with fae who want to kill them?

Amethyst sighs again; she looks uncomfortable. "I couldn't, dude, but doesn't matter? I'm sorry for making it like a whole thing."