5 ☭ VIDEO + TEXT | OPEN TO BOTH COURTS + SEELIE LOCK

[marred]

[ on january 11, the humming of the macarena comes to a sudden and abrupt halt. it's with a hiss of a snake and the sight of a tongue in the very corner of the camera, it's clear luke isn't holding his locket. it's martha who is, but she doesn't make a sound as a little red fox curls into luke's neck and licks his jaw. she's rowdy and restless, but luke tries to smooth her hackles a little with his fingers stroking her fur. as for the man himself, he looks a little tired. ]

[ his voice is quiet, ] Uh, hey guys. [ the fox in his arms nudges him hard on the jaw. ] Woah, hey, calm down.

Look, I need to make this quick. It's getting colder. I'm not really great at knitting, but — Can anyone help me out here? She needs something to keep her from shivering.

I promised someone I'd take care of her. And — [ he meant it when he'd vowed to the black shuck he'd honour his deceased friend. and that even means doing this. ] Yeah, I'm going to need more than one pair of socks and a scarf. We can work out a trade, if you're not willing to knit for free.

[ the fox settles against him, closing her eyes. there's a quiet hiss of ask from martha. ] And if you can knit two long stockings — [ the camera shakes and luke rolls his eyes. ] And maybe four or so ear muffs — I'd be grateful.

[ and though it appears as though luke's wanting to get off his locket as soon as possible with the fox resting against him, it's all an act. encrypting a text for seelie only, he dictates his own audition advertisement for the seers of the court. please note: this advertisement lacks the extravagance of his cow advert from a few days prior. it doesn't help he has a fox that won't leave him alone in his hands. ]

( SEELIE )

THE DRABWURLD'S NEXT TOP SUPER SEER!

Are you a Seer looking for work? Want to see the Drabwurld through the eyes of High-King Ridire? Think you're strong enough for mind-numbing pain and bright, vibrant colours?

Well, maybe this is the job you've been waiting for!

The Drabwurld's Seer Agency is currently looking for a Seer strong enough to be able to handle the sight of High-King Ridire. It's a glimpse into the future anyone would die for.

ONLY SERIOUS CANDIDATES APPLY WITHIN!

Just drop your name and your qualifications, and we'll see if Tyra chooses you.

Comments

[prophesied]

[ Luke you're speaking to medieval children they're going to think you're weird no matter what you're saying. At least Jojen's baseline is weird simply by virtue of being himself, so he doesn't bat an eye. Either his response is a joke or he's actually agreeing: ]

That is good to hear.

[ But then he has to consider the answer to this question, and how to phrase it, how much he wants to actually divulge, because it is not so odd for him to actually die in his greendreams - though, typically, through another's eyes. ]

Some, yes. Even to the point that my body will seize during particular, intense dreams. Though they are typically experiences of another person's death, I have also witnessed and experienced my own multiple times, though the method has never changed.

[marred]

[ sometimes luke is glad he's not the oracle. perhaps the conversations he's going to endure with any of the seers will ensure he never, ever wants to possess the sight ever. he's always been so greedy for the future, just a glimpse, that he never really wondered if perhaps that greed would've been his true and premature downfall. ]

[ what would it have been like to see himself die? watching it replay over and over in his own dreams has been unnerving enough. ]

And when you died — is it because you took on a High-King's Sight?

[prophesied]

[ Was Jojen embittered, towards the end, about his death and the fact he knew it so intimately? Yes. But he does not feel an ounce of hatred towards his greensight itself, not when he can use it to help Meera, Bran, the rest of the Starks.

So his answer is immediate, not an ounce of hesitation for the truth. ]

No, it was a death particular to my home, before this place. I've had no vision that would be its Drabwurld counterpart since my arrival here.

[marred]

[ is he talking to a fellow dead man? it's not a question he likes to ask, nor a fact that he likes to think about. if he had dreamed of his death, could he have stopped it? though he has questions about destinies and whether or not they're fixed, he's never had the confidence to ask, too fearful of the answer as he had merely believed, blindly and consumingly, that he could change his fate. ]

But you've HAD visions while here? Correct dreams, regardless if it's what time you woke up or if you happened to find a green shirt at the Station?

[prophesied]

[ A man slated for death, at the very least. Jojen is prepared for it, will be even while he holds court with the Seelie, even with the darkness it casts on him, but he's certainly bound to enjoy the brief reprieve. Death has yet to come for him in this place, or at least make its presence known in his greendreams. ]

Yes. Upon arrival to Caer Glaem I had my first, and I knew that my sister and our charge were here without question. During the hunt of the White Hart I learned much about it and the Black Shuck alike, and though I did not immediately know the victors of the hunt I still saw them before it ended.

I have also had visions of battles, past and future alike, though the ones of the future have not made themselves wholly clear yet. This is the peculiar thing, new to the magic of this place, as I've had little difficulty in the past deciphering them.

[marred]

[ while his résumé is very impressive — and one he thinks hal green may even like to talk to him about, if hal wasn't one of the many demigods who would become forgotten the moment they stopped breathing — jojen never should've admitted having seen anything pertaining to the black shuck. considering luke's spoken to him, and, he thinks, is on par with being friends with him, what with the deal they've struck with one another, he finds his interest piqued in an entirely different direction. ]

You saw something about the Black Shuck?

[prophesied]

[ Though he's skilled in this craft, Jojen knows nothing of the deal struck between the Black Shuck and Luke, so he only thinks it's mere interest in the creature itself - himself, perhaps, would be more accurate and more proper. Perhaps if he set out in his greendreams for the information it would arise, but he has no knowledge of it nor a budding interest or suspicion. Not as of the moment, at least, so he merely gives the facts as he knows them. ]

I couldn't tell you the history of it, not at present anyways. Merely what it can do, how it mirrors the White Hart as it does. How he rose his dead when they were not honored, so that they may seek their justice, though I was not here to witness it personally.

[marred]

White Hart. Black Shuck. Guess there's a relationship there with the whole black/white thing.

[ the black shuck simply sounds like his kind of guy. if he could raise the dead like nico, would he do so in honour for them to seek justice? where others would paint him in history as a boy who sought vengeance — which is true, as he wished to strike hard and hotly against the gods — he'd sought justice, too. ]

While that's actually really interesting ... Did you get anything about the Drabkeeper and Black Shuck? Foxes?

[prophesied]

And that they are representations of a cycle, of beginning and end. Life and death.

[ It would probably be easier to explain if he could do so in person, or at least with a voice at his disposal. But Jojen's not quite sure how he feels about this just yet - Meera taught him that it's good to trust people, sometimes, but caution was still just as important. ]

No, but I believe I could learn something of them if I were to go looking deep enough in my dreams. I know there is a "fox" here, though I have seen very little of him in the visions I have had, likely another effect of this Drabwurld considering his notoriety.

[marred]

[ it'd been ironic when death had taken to him. but he finds it even more humourous to know he had no intentions of hunting the white hart if it hadn't been for thalia and her huntress instincts pulling him along for the ride. she makes him want to live. ]

Reynard. Pretty sure that guy's toast, if the birds are chirping right.

[ or george and martha speak to the right animals. either way, that's not the fox he wants to know about. ]

You can dig deeper into your dreams? Past what you were given to see?

[prophesied]

[ Hunting the Hart had been fairly interesting, though he knew they would never catch it. It had been... normal. Something that he and Meera and Bran would do back home, tracking after an animal. But the knowledge that it was something greater than a mere stag had been exciting, in itself. That they were encouraging a cycle to continue. ]

And yet he's done well to spread himself throughout the courts, ensuring that he will never truly be gone.

[ The anti-shardbearer sentiment is only one of many things, he's sure. ]

Just because we are given something does not mean we cannot look beyond it. It can be difficult, at times, depending on what it is that I am shown first. But it isn't impossible.

[marred]

Sounds like someone I know.

[ kronos. only, luke hopes, this time, he'll be kept in a cage and trapped in tartarus until the very end of time. the gods sure as hell love repeating their dramas, but he thinks the soap could forgo a villain of his calibre. ]

I always thought you could only see what you were given. Like a book without any design on its cover and blank pages. You can look and look and look, but nothing really appears. Guess that's when you write in it, but, the entire idea still stands.

Then again, I'm not a seer. What do I know?

[ that futures are fixed points in time and are inescapable, even to the strongest and most reckless and determined of heroes. ]

[prophesied]

Sounds like someone many of us must know. Hopefully it will only stay a passing resemblance.

[ Because Jojen is not keen to the idea of a great revival of someone that can stir the masses the way Reynard has. It's dangerous enough that he's used as a rallying cry, a symbol. As a leader? ]

That isn't wrong. But sometimes it's like... [ He rarely has to explain, and when he does there is typically a level of mystery he can enjoy in his explanations. It infuriates Meera and Bran, but it's always been his way. Now, he tries for something clear. ] There is a book, and you have been given it. You may read it, though you do not know what it contains, and you may learn something you did not know before. But if you look up from the book, and you know there is another like it, you may find that there is a library rather than that single book.

It then becomes a matter of finding the right book, and asking whether you are willing to look for it.

[marred]

I don't know; the dead never really do stay dead.

[ considering he should be dead, he has very little faith this reynard guy's going to stay six feet under. but here's to hoping! ]

[ he finds jojen's explanation to be deeper than he had expected. it makes perfect sense to him in the way that most people's advice always does — he never heeds it, though. a part of him feels like he's speaking to hal green again, wanting to tell him of his fate in clear details while wanting to dance around it. had it been the same for him? finding one single book to glance up and see an entire library? ]

… Huh. So, kind of like the varying versions of Greek myths. One book says Hercules slew Ladon, the other says he sat on his ass and let other Greeks do the work. Definitely expanded my view of his story.

But do you ever find the ending varies? One book says you're going to die, the other one shows you you're not if you pick B instead of A.

[prophesied]

In a place like this, it seems a rare thing for death to be a permanent state. Where I come from, it feels a little more guaranteed.

[ Though not always. The religion born of flames, for example, has brought many back from their deaths. Or so it seemed. ]

Perhaps on another day, I'll ask to hear the two stories. My home does not have Greek myths, nor the Greeks, but I would be interested in learning more. Especially to know the different versions.

Not for my own death, but others. Some people may change their fate with a single choice, because they stand at a crossroads, not a lone path. But they may not know that they can, because they have learned that destiny is a fixed point for all.