eachdraidh | [ VIDEO ] LOCKED TO EITHER COURT.

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[ VIDEO ] LOCKED TO EITHER COURT.

SEELIE
[At approximately midday on the seventh, the lockets of all Seelie characters will vibrate. When they are opened, the following message will play:

High-Queen Solais is seated in her throne. While she is radiant, while light seems to surround her, she appears diminished. Her light seems softer, like it is being filtered through a shroud. The throne of High-King Ridire at her side is empty, his spear laying across it in two shattered pieces. Beneath it rests a blood-stained golden cloak.]

It is with a heavy heart that I must share this news. High-King Ridire - His Most Glorious, The Just, Lord of Light, and First Warrior of Glaschu - has followed his Avatar Clarisse La Rue - Marchioness of the White Citadel and Goldenspear - in death, just as she followed him in life.

[Solais stands. Previously hidden in her gown, it’s clear now that she is wearing a belt and sheathed sword. The sword is drawn, and the queen sets it on a cushion born by a servant. The gold and glimmer of her dress begins to fade, changing from bright to dark, mournful black. Across Glaschu and in other Seelie-controlled areas, bells toll.]

To honour his passing, we will set our swords aside for one week save for in great need. We will not wear the gold that he so favoured. We will remember him, the blows he struck and took for us, for our cause.

[Here she pauses, her strength seeming to momentarily falter before Solais pulls herself up taller.]

Remember our fallen King. Remember that all things must end so that others may begin. And above all, Look For The Light.

UNSEELIE
[It’s in the evening that each and every Unseelie locket will open no matter where they are across the Drabwurld. It is not Morla’s face that greets them, instead it is Reul. He is a dark figure, menacing still even when but a simple projection. Tonight he exudes smugness -- from the high tilt of his chin, to the way his eyes shine from behind helmet. It’s perhaps the closest anyone in the Drabwurld has come to his face and maybe some might now be wishing to never see the sight again.

Reul is a frightening sight, especially when pleased. ]

Greetings brothers and sisters; those who are my most loyal. [His voice is a calm baritone, a teasing lilt of delight if you listen closely. ]

I come to you with glad tidings this night: High-King Ridire is dead, slain with his wretch of an Avatar. Tonight we are not victorious, but we are blessed. He who would have us slain; he who would see us slaughtered is naught but a memory.

[It will become obvious now, that Reul himself is not holding the locket. It pans out now, revealing Reul upon his throne and beside him sits Morla, dressed decidedly in gold. There is something reminiscent of a smile that lingers on the edges of her lips; it's a tight thing, but present. Her hand sits atop Reul's armoured one, a rare show of closeness. It's fitting, this evening. ]

Tonight we celebrate. Tonight we cast aside our weapons and we wear gold so that we may honour such a worthy foe. We invited you to share this glory with us; intimately and with the passion we are known for.

[Morla says nothing still; she lets Reul finish. It's after that she lifts her chin, her voice steady:]

And after we shall shed our gold and let it burn in the fires most pure; we will take arms anew and begin again.

[And it's done. ]

MOD NOTE There will be no NPC responses to this post. Solais will not be taking any visitors. Unseelie… have fun at the orgy.

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[She already wasn't sure she wanted to go, given the last feast ended up with her being harassed by imps and with more flowers than she knew what to do with. But now that there's objections she's confused and a bit curious.]

There's different kinds?

I already was probably going to.

[Do something elsewhere that is.]

Is it that bad?

[She really has no idea what's going on.]

Edited 2015-06-07 20:54 (UTC)

[It does help a bit more than the vague warnings.]

Oh. [... but what does that mean?] Um...

I guess... I'll trust you.

It is that bad, hardly a place where a good girl like you belongs. If you wanted a free meal, then I can provide.

[That's a good enough answer for Yuri.]

Good. Adults get into stupid kinds of mischief when left by themselves. Best not to stumble upon them.

Those are kind words.

[ Or, at least it sounds like it to her, even if she can't place the references, she doesn't really expect to when it comes to him. ]

They're words, but just that.

[Hercules looks down at the locket unhappily, sorry to see someone he happens to like affected by this death.]

Pluto is known to care for kings, and treats them accordingly, at least. A lover of gold will even find common ground with my uncle.

I knew the man not, did you?

[Dorian's widen, and something clicks. The High King has followed his Avatar in Death, just as she had followed him in life. For even as his mind regrets Ridire's passing, twists at the thought that they've only Solais left—for the sake of his own side's chances and for the fact that simply put, Dorian trusts Ridire more easily—his mind is settling on the puzzle.

How do you kill a king?

He knows what the word means, avatar, knows Hinduism as well as any other Earth religion. A God can't be killed, not easily, not in an immortal form, but a God descended to Earth—a soul chosen as an Earthly manifestation—

Like a portrait in an attic, when the soul is made manifest, it is made vulnerable.

The High King followed his Avatar in Death.

The Gods are going to war in this world, the elves had told him. The Gods are coming to slay one another. And in their deaths, the aspects of their magic are vanishing.

(—then the pyrii—?)

The pieces come into place. How do you kill a king? You kill a God. And how do you kill an unearthly thing? You make it manifest, able to do what Gods can't but vulnerable in its reality.

The High King followed his Avatar in Death. And Dorian understands: other Gods will, too. The Godswar has already started, and Seelie King Ridire is not even its first casualty from on high.]

I hope his Avatar was worth it while she was here.

[ Asami realizes it's not the time to ask for clarification, but she takes a mental note to do so later. She assumes he's speaking of fellow gods, perhaps those that deal with the dead.

She shakes her head. ]

No, but I'm trying to learn what I can about him. I understand that this is a war, but when such an influential figure passes...

[ Well, it doesn't bode well. ]

When a figure of influence and power passes, someone always steps in to fill the vacuum.

[A changeover he's familiar with, given Zeus and Hera's recent demise.]

And we don't know who that may be, or what the Lady Queen will do. Instability.

[A problem for an already embattled kingdom.]

Well. Whoever it was, someone finally had the means and sense to do it. Maybe we'll start to be freed from this madness.

Or a new madness is bound to begin. If it isn't our monarchs, you've gotta worry about just who it could be. Depending on the party in question, that could bold ill for Morla and Reul, too.

[Though he knows she doesn't care for them as much as he does. Still, it wouldn't be good for any of them to lose them.]

A better way of looking at it is wondering why someone wouldn't claim that fame. Our monarchs are not, even when they stand to gain from it. We haven't been doing so well, and even our secret weapons were released over a year ago out of our control, if they were even meant to be released at all. We've lost Mair, and we had a very desperate bid for an attack on the White Citadel. It was exactly that: desperate, and meant to strike fear in all shardbearers.

[He pauses after stating all of that.]

Someone stands to gain from all of this, but who? The Cult? They've boldly attacked one of our own and very recently. But can they fight a monarch ... or a monarch and his Avatar? [Jason had been considering Avatars to be something else altogether. Now that the word has come up again, he's beginning to think that it's another thing altogether. But as of his conversation with Alice, Harry hasn't come to confirm that, so he's a sitting, unknowing duck.] Hurting someone of that power on both sides would certainly make the Cult seem formidable, and we're all well aware that we can't fight them. So, it wouldn't hurt their cause, would it? Besides, the Cult claims to stand against the shardbearer cause, so it'd be a great victory.

[He rolls his shoulders back.]

Food for thought.

That's right. They think they're being clever in how they're phrasing it, but they're not at all. It's not the type of thing you want to know about.

That's true.

[ A vacuum would be an accurate way to describe it. She feels as if she's working at a disadvantage here, though. ]

I don't understand the politics here well enough to make a guess, but it's a moment of vulnerability for this court, for sure.

I know what the cult is capable of.

[ This is... still, sadly, a sore subject for Alice, discussing the cult, Reynard the Fox, and his daughter. Unconsciously, Alice raises a hand to her chest, pressing it, as if that would dull the pain from her shard. ]

But I won't speak more of what they've done or their precious fox on the lockets. Then maybe it is true, what better way to pit us against each other and fan the flames of war so that they can continue what they do.

[ Alice glances away, holding a hand to her mouth. She's trying to calm herself down, to ignore what they did. But won't be possible, hearing what they did to Ariadne opened up old wounds and sent her into a psychotic episode or two already. ]

They'll destroy this world and others. They may say and think they know what's best for the natives in this world, but they don't.

[ She turns away, becoming visibly angrier discussing it. Alice gives a gesture as she sucks in a breath of air in another attempt to restrain herself. ]

Which means, in all honesty? We should be prepared for an attack.

[He grunts and shifts, eyes darkening just a bit.]

But maybe not. I don't know the way things work here either.

Hm. [ That makes sense, and Katsa frowns. She has enough sense not to say where anyone can see that she wouldn't mind so much if Reul returned to being immovable and silent, but she does like Morla. She wouldn't like to see Morla dead. ]

Then we have to ask if it's someone fighting for the Unseelie, or someone who's tired of monarchs and wars on all sides. If Morla and Reul are in danger. I see you've thought of the Cult—[ Katsa shudders, and her tone takes on the barest, uncharacteristic hint of fear or uncertainty. ] If they're involved, we may not even know whether the Seelie king is really dead or not. We can't know ourselves.

What is the Avatar-thing they kept mentioning? [He's new. And curious. And if their King is already dead then that raises a lot of questions the kid wants answers to.]

[The mention of Valhalla has him frowning at the locket- because she certainly does not look to be Aesir. The matter must wait though, as there are more important things to discuss.]

What do you mean?

No, but I have the sneaking suspicion that whatever player finds there way into that kind of game changing shift fits into it somehow. So—[ he holds up his hand, wiggling dark nailed fingers ]—where would you put your coin, Mister Jason?

[ She nods. ]

The empty seat of power is one thing, but everyone willingly laying down arms in honor of him gives the other side a tactical advantage. I can't say they'd make use of it, but it's there.

[ She needs to do some more reading. ]

We can hope for the best, I guess.

We can, and we do. Hope is nothing to scoff at.

[A pause, and he stops himself from mentioning Pandora, knowing she wouldn't get it.]

You're not traveling alone, are you? Nobody should be, not now.

Sometimes it's really what keeps people going.

[ Sometimes it feels like all you've got. That's why she's grateful for the people she does have and knows she can count on. They give her more than just hope; they give her reason and drive.

But at his question, she smiles gently and shakes her head. ]

No, I'm not. I was lucky enough to run into some friends from my world. They've been taking good care of me.

[Dorian rubs at the side of his face. Clearly, this is a bit of a headache.] No one has elucidated the terms to me directly, but if it is anything akin to what Avatars are in religions of my world, it is the Earthly manifestation of a God. The mortal being that allows the God to act where it could not.

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