video | open to both courts

[desperate_times]

[Chloe is being filmed by another. She’s aboard the Black Pearl, sailing high in Unseelie skies.]

Well! It looks like we’re being called to do a little work. Since I don’t like to be on the bad side of uber-powerful beings, I’m going to have to be good and scout the southern border of the Unseelie territory.

So! Here’s what that means to you.

If you cross the border and you are not Unseelie, I may just have to drop something unpleasant on you from above. The Black Pearl will be sailing to-and-fro, and despite not having actual eyes, the skeleton crew is somehow pretty good at spotting things. Let’s try to avoid that nastiness, alright?

[A bright smile.]

This job is, well, it’s not exactly entertaining, so here’s how we’re spicing it up.

[She steps aside and lifts her arms out ala Vanna White to show off three mystery boxes. They’re so mysterious they even have big ? marks painted on them!]

Ladies and gentleman, inside of these boxes are three super fun surprises. Or, fun for me, anyway. I’ve asked my crew to place inside one of these boxes a load of confetti, in another box a load of dish water, and in a third box, a load of cow dung.

When you’re spotted, I’ll randomly choose a box! I’ll have no idea what’s in it until my crew drops it on top of you. Won’t that be exciting?

Now, if you continue to persist in your venture into Unseelie territory, the next thing that falls on you will be a cannonball.

See? We can make patrols less boring if we try really hard.

Comments

[wipedclean]

[Well that's a little ridiculous.]

Why not start with the cannonball?

[Warning shots don't exist in his world, sorry.]

[athousandcurses]

I certainly hope you do not make good on that if it comes to the evacuation efforts around the Station...

[It saddens her to see people she knew being torn apart like this, but Grainne must keep on.]

There are people of both courts that need to get out of harm's way, not put back into it.

video;

[extramural]

You do keep things interesting, Chloe.

[ He approves. ]

The dish water may be worse in this weather, if they do not react correctly.

[desperate_times]

And why would the Station area need to be evacuated?

Are you planning on attacking it?

[She's not worried by the concern. Obviously, the Station isn't in danger. It's always been a neutral area.]

But rest assured, I won't be dropping anything on anyone using the main roads, unless it's the one going north.

[desperate_times]

We need to work on your understanding of fun.

[And she would like to give a person the chance to turn around and go home, first.]

[athousandcurses]

No, but there is concern that the fighting may spread from Nimh Gleanne and encompass the Station.

[And Grainne sighs at that. One of the main routes does use part of the main roads going north to make it to the river... for the Unseelie aligned of the Station. Being in politics is already starting to weary her.]

video;

[desperate_times]

I try, darling. I try.

[She wouldn't want to die of boredom.]

Well, I figure it's still a medium between confetti and cow dung, even if it is cold out.

[desperate_times]

Only if it's permitted to.

I don't think any on this side have an interest in making the Station a battleground. I can't speak for your side, but I imagine the same is true.

And the ring is close enough to the Station to get anyone out.

Course, as long as Seelie don't cross the border, you have no reason to worry at all. At least, not from me.

[athousandcurses]

The ring only transports shardbearers, so I have heard, that does not help the families already evacuating Nimh Gleanne.

[There's a pause before Grainne closes her eyes.]

And can you guarantee the Unseelie army will not come near the Station?

[She kind of doesn't want to let it out that she asked Queen Solais to decree the Station off limits to the Seelie troops already. That would only encourage the exact results she doesn't want...]

[desperate_times]

No, only a monarch can do that.

But we're not unreasonable monsters just because we're unseelie.

[The idea that they would go around attacking innocent people to get leverage is insulting at best. And in the same breath, she doesn't think their army would bring a war to innocents, which is the same thing in her view.]

[athousandcurses]

I never said you were unreasonable monsters. I am only concerned.

[In fact, Grainne looks both alarmed and sad, opening her eyes again.]

In the world from which I come there are fae of both courts, and no courts at all. We know well one is as good as the other and the other no less wicked. To trust fae at all is a risk if one does not know the nature of whom they are trusting.

[wipedclean]

[He frowns, scowling a little.]

No, we don't.

[muscovy]

[All that can be seen on the feed is fabric, but the child's voice on the other end is clearly audible, giggling helplessly at the warning. It was really worth to try and figure out these lockets, you are very funny, lady.

...though he has no clue what Confetti is.]

[desperate_times]

You thought perhaps we'd go near the Station, or you wouldn't have asked. And you thought perhaps the fighting would spread to the Station. Since you're not accusing your own forces of spreading the fighting, I can only guess that means you think we would do it, intentional or not

[She crosses her arms, looking displeased.]

And do you know your own forces, girl? Do you know them all? Do you trust them all? Or do you assume they'd do the right thing just because it's the side you're on?

[desperate_times]

Yes, we do.

Ask your friend if you don't think so. I bet he'd agree.

[wipedclean]

[He rolls his eyes, but mostly because he knows Steve would probably agree with her.

No response other than that.]

[athousandcurses]

[Chloe's response may have just sparked off a revolution in the usually gentle toned Grainne. She squares her shoulders, lifting her head in only a manner someone born of noble houses could, and stares at Chloe through the locket with as much regal ire as she could.

When she speaks, her voice is soft but determined, with just that note of anger in it to give an impact; something she practiced often when her children had driven her to distraction.]

You think this is about sides; it is not. You think it is about trust; it is not. We are talking about war, something I have lived through time and time again both in my youth and as a parent. Something I have learned about at the feet of the best warmongers in my land.

The very best of laid plans never work after the first encounter, war by it's very nature abhors order. War is angry, and alive. It makes the best of people into the worst of monsters. It devours lands and villages without abandon. It leaves destruction and death on all sides in its wake. A void where something once stood.

My concern is not whose side is more right or whose side is trustworthy. It is about the people at the Station and their safety. I have already spoken to the Seelie about the Station, just as I am now speaking to you.

You are trying to make it about the Courts when you should be making about those who will lose homes, lives, limbs, brothers and sisters all because of our willingness to partake in a war for which we were kidnapped from our worlds to fight in and whose nature we do not truly know. Those who rally behind the Foxes banner because he was the only one that appeared to care.

Do not mistake my neutrality in this matter as pro-court sentiment. If I had been born to this world, I would be amongst their number with five children of my own, as would be true before I was brought here. I think of that every day. So yes, I will talk of impossibilities. I will question orders. I will distrust the future.

I will do everything in my power to clear the innocents from a battlefield for which they have no choice in and much sorrow.

[desperate_times]

[A well spoken speech. She would be fit to stand before an army of soldiers and give it or before a country of people hinged upon her every word. Certainly, she makes a breath-taking figure.

Chloe, however, is not impressed by most, though she probably should be in this moment. Grainne is the one who brought up trust to begin with, and for Chloe, trust doesn't exist, except in a few rare instances.

She's a woman who has always lived by her own rules, shrugging off all manners of authority in her rough life. She's a woman who makes light of most things; one has to when her life is in danger more often than most.]

... Sorry, are you done? Long speeches bore me.

Dove, look at me. Do I look like a bloody general to you? If you want to talk Unseelie battle plans and your darling Station, shouldn't you talk to a commander? That would make the most sense, wouldn't it?

[desperate_times]

Glad you like it.

[At least someone around here has a sense of humor.]

[athousandcurses]

[Grainne closes her eyes a moment before responding.]

I am talking to you because you just made a foolish public announcement you would be patrolling the border and dropping things on people's heads like a small child.

[desperate_times]

And because I'm patrolling the border dropping things on people's heads, you somehow came to the conclusion that I could tell you the battle plans of the Unseelie army?

With that kind of logic, I hope you don't march your Station refugees into a swamp.

[athousandcurses]

If you might remember, I did nothing of the sort. I asked if you could guarantee the Unseelie would not move near the Station as a counter to your declaration if the Seelie did not come near I would have nothing to worry about, to which you could not, as was my point.

[desperate_times]

And... asking me if I could guarantee what the Unseelie would do is... not part of whatever the plans are?

[Though Chloe did say she couldn't guarantee it. After all, she's not a general.]

You say you're not asking, but you indirectly are. Either you don't realize it, or you're playing at subtlety. Or idiocy. In any case, you would make a great politician with those pretty speeches of yours.

Like I said, ask someone who can give you the answers you want. The only thing you're giving me is a headache.

[athousandcurses]

[A delicate snort follows Chloe's words.]

Then I have at least accomplished something today. Fare well.

[desperate_times]

[When she's gone, Chloe can't help but laugh. Poor girl. Her heart was in the right place, at least.]