⇨ 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

[kingsroads]

Strange has a terrible habit of assuming that anyone voicing a problem is asking him for advice. So he frowns a little, puts a hand to his chin in thought, then comes up with something.

"I can summon fae. I'm certain Childermass knows the basics as well." If only from helping out with Frost that one time. Still, Strange usually thinks that Childermass knows more about magic than he lets on. "I'm certain there must be some of them who don't like the Huntsman. Find those fae, mention that we can summon them directly to his base of operations, it lets them show up for the big, climactic battle where they can claim the glory without doing the hard work."

And that, more than anything, seems to be a very fae trait. If only from his experiences in Portland, Strange is pretty confident that piggybacking off the success of changelings or finding some way to boss them around is peak fae.

[anti_nonsense]

Of course Strange won't pass up an opportunity to brag about his (in Rita's opinion, dubious) experience in fae-summoning.

"I don't doubt we could make it work if they agreed. It's the agreeing part that I'm worried about," Rita clarifies, her arms still pulled in close to herself. "That, and the part where we'll have to hope they won't turn on us once the Elysium's over. If the Summer Queen decides we're still enemies at the end of this, we can expect the rest of the Court to be hostile."

[kingsroads]

Nobody else has summoned any fae, ergo he is the best at it, ergo suck it Rita. She does have a point, though, and Strange's expression shifts to more of a quizzical frown, like the sort of frown he gets when trying to piece out some tough magic.

"I doubt the Queen would go against her own Maiden. And, at least for the moment, we're under the Maiden's protection. I'm not as worried about them turning on us as I am them simply not listening or not offering any help in the first place."

[anti_nonsense]

"So at least we agree that it won't be easy to get them to agree..." Rita grumbles. "Fine. How about we go together, and you do the talking?"

Strange likes talking, right? Rita sure as hell doesn't.

[kingsroads]

Strange loves talking. He perks up a little, giving Rita a nod as he turns to look more towards the throne room.

"Any idea of who we should chat up first? Most of the fae I've talked to have just given me surface-level gossip—well, the ones who didn't give me outright disdain gave me surface-level gossip." Strange cheerfully says outright disdain, as if that's just something that happens, not something he should worry about.

[anti_nonsense]

"Hmm..." Rita squints slightly as she tries to determine what sort of role each of these fae may play in their society. "I'd expect soldiers to be more approachable than the nobles... but they aren't as likely to be free to act on their own."

At least, if Ignatius was any indication. Any soldiers present here are probably on duty, and probably won't be free to take a secret vacation in the immediate future. Which leaves...

"I hate to say it, but our best bet might be to find someone eccentric enough to be accepting of a plan that falls outside the norms of the Court. I don't know, is there someone here who just... doesn't look like they're trying to impress anyone?" As she asks, Rita's looking around herself, to see if someone might fit that bill.

[kingsroads]

Eventually, Strange will 100% use this as justification for talking to the Rose Queen. At the moment, however, he can't really think of anyone. He also looks around, as if this will somehow magically show him the most nonconformist fae they can find.

"I don't see anyone who looks like that," Strange admits, with a frown. "But that doesn't mean they don't exist. A few of these fae are actually willing to talk with us: I can gossip with them and try and sniff out the deviants."

[anti_nonsense]

"Well, gossip away, if you like," Rita says with a shrug. That certainly isn't her specialty, so she'll leave it to Strange.

"But..." she adds in a more thoughtful tone, "When it comes to our project, I've been doing some theorizing on my own. We might be able to put together a usable framework ourselves... It'd be ideal if we don't have to rely too much on any fae for assistance."

Even though a lot of their current power comes, in some way, from the influence of fae.

[kingsroads]

Is it cowardly to not tell Rita 'hey, by the way, I'm planning on ditching this place the first chance I get?' Absolutely. Does Strange really not want to fight this fight at the moment? Also absolutely. So, he pins his hopes on Rita accepting what he does when he does it and then goes back to talking shop.

"It would be ideal if we don't have to rely on too much of anything aside from pure magic. Unsurprisingly, most of my ideas revolve around the Silver Mirror, but I'm loathe to put too much stress on the thing."

And not just because the Silver Mirror is literally Strange's bones these days.

[anti_nonsense]

"Figures," Rita sighs with a half shrug. "But... that's not too far off from the angle I was considering. I specialize in magic objects, and you have an affinity for reflection-based transportation magic. So I was thinking... maybe we could try making some magic mirrors of our own."

One of her hands falls to her hip as she watches to see his response. "It'll be no Queen's Miracle, of course. But if we put our heads together, we ought to be able to come up with something functional."

[kingsroads]

Unsurprisingly, Strange is all about that idea. He grins at Rita's explanation before he starts yammering about magic on his own.

"We wouldn't need to worry about supplies for our trial runs: I can coax the mirrors from myself until we return to the carnival," he blithely says, as if that isn't super creepy. "I think I have the theory on how to link two mirrors together, but we'd want a network, tens of individual mirrors linked up so that people could speak to whomever they choose. Likewise, we'd have to find a way to make it so that people could choose to send a message to a specific mirror."