eachdraidh | 2. ☾ Video

[Nine times out of ten, Waver would be using text, but the movement suggests that that's a bad idea.]

Typically the monarchs will sit on their thrones and speak to the people that seek them out. The specifics are usually up to the individual, although it isn't uncommon for the monarchs to ask individual to carry out certain missions.

[Just a little pause as the locket owner stops to - not exactly check, perhaps, but remind himself he ought to be good to respond!]

Yeah? [It's not uncommon, but it's not about missions...]

What do people seek them out for? Is it -- like... their way of getting to meet us?

[Not that he'd know better, but on one hand, it'd make sense that a noble would want to thoroughly know the inhabitants of their keep, and it does intrigue him to realize he hasn't even caught a look at the Seelie King or Queen so far - on the other, is "getting to know people" something they'd set aside land-ruling time for?]

Edited 2014-09-20 02:44 (UTC)

Mmm. [Waver's voice is pleasant, although he has to wonder how much his explanation needs to be broken down.]

It can be for anything, honestly. Asking for clarification about recent decisions, wanting to be known to the monarchs for future reasons, or else just meeting and getting a read on them. They're usually impossible to get a hold of as well, so it's a rare opportunity to get a word in.

[He "Oh"s acknowledgement. Simply all-purpose meetings for those who are otherwise just about untouchable.]

Are they the ones who pick us? [Still softly and earnestly inquiring, in his own turn. He does appreciate picking up on enough willingness to explain.] For their sides in the war, I mean.

[It'd make sense to assume! But if so, seems odd that the implied knowing wouldn't necessarily be made mutual until the taking of said rare opportunity - then again, the first one was held not that long after he and the other last so-many newcomers had come in, wasn't it.]

Essentially, yes, although the mechanics of how that's done isn't something I know the specifics of.

So they know us! Kind of...

And the audiences are pretty much for us. [He mentioned missions, but surely they'd need to be able to seek out people for purposes like those more often than that...]

Essentially, they have an idea of who you are. The audiences are voluntary ways to establish a firmer rapport between yourself and the monarchs.

Of course if you wish to remain under the radar and not used by them in this war, an audience is the opposite of where you want to be.

Why can't you tell them you don't want to fight? [Assuming you can't - or rather if it reflects badly on you!] Like, I mean me, I wanna help people, but if the only way we can do that [As far as they concerned.] is to fight a war, then I don't know why they picked me.

I'm tired of fighting, and war, and -- pain, and people not trusting and struggling against each other, and I wasn't even the one who was most used to fighting out of my pack... I bet I'm not the only one like that, too. [Slightly-wandering string of remarks.

He might be returning from a mission as we speak, but heck, he was there as a protector, a helper - not a soldier for the Seelie!]

[They're interesting remarks, one that Waver puts away from later. He always likes knowing who's unsure against participating in a nonsense conflict.]

You certainly aren't, and your doubts aren't uncommon. The monarchs, old as they are and old as this war is, are used to such hesitations and as a result, do you think that they don't know how to combat them and turn reservations into enthusiasm?

By not telling them that, or approaching them at all, you go unnoticed and are freer to act in a way that can work against this war. Does that make sense?

[He processes that, and on his end his ears pull back a little. He nods, unseen. No fear of manipulation - but it's still not exactly heartening to think of.]

Yeah, it makes sense... [And his tone matches his offscreen pose.]

They haven't tried to trick us, have they?

Trick may be a strong word, but you seem to have the general idea.

[He does. And consider him dampened.

Not shut down, no, and he believes other bits he's getting - assurance that the monarchs are nice. It still doesn't make any sense not to so much as see them...]

...What if I just - don't let them?

[It's not argumentative at all - merely discussing, as it were.]

They can tell us anything they want - but we don't have to take any... I dunno - "offer" they give us. Do we?

[Waver has been in the Drabwurld for enough time to understand that the nuances of the court means that people take away so many different impressions. But he has been in the camp of walk away from the bullshit and work for a third option since arrival, and is always inclined to offer that path to others as another way.]

You always have the option to refuse what they offer. You also always have the option to leave the court and find somewhere else to settle, away from the politics and the fighting.

It isn't easy to do, not when they draw you here and try to make you dependent on them for things like food, shelter, clothing, and safety, but it can be done.

I lived in the wild with my friends for ages; I could figure all of that out if I had to. [Partly a reassurance to himself. Even if he couldn't off the bat, he'd accept and not slack off on obligation to.

This next is directed more properly at Waver.]

Is that -- what you've been doing?

Mm.

Every time I try and think about what happens if either side wins the war, it becomes upsettingly clear that the losers will get annihilated. I refuse to contribute to that end.

[Reasonable considering the way he'd been speaking - but an affirmative. He trots slower to a stop. His ear twitches. Focuses on listening a bit more closely.

And his head sinks.]

-- Yeah. [A little swollen-throated. Certainly somber. Comprehending.]

( mean -- even if they won't, even if it's not that bad, for one side to win a war, uhh...

[One side's got to be brought to submission. The most obvious way to force that is to rid the other of anyone to defend it. People've already died, for a full committed war to run its course many need to die...]

But - but what d'you wanna do? I mean -- I bet you don't just want the fighting to go on without the rest of us, either...

True enough, but I can't force the matter either. Makes me no better than the courts. But there are ways to gently nudge people towards thinking twice, and re-considering their positions.

[It is something Waver has done time and again in his role as a professor, successfully.]

I can only provide information that both courts leave out, and hope people come to their own conclusions.

-- And what do they do once they do that?

Are they supposed to figure out for themselves how to get the courts to stop fighting and go home, if they want to? If they could, uh - why wouldn't you help 'em?

[Not to say the man wouldn't, mind! It is indeed a hypothetical roundabout "would anything stop you", not a "why won't".]

I have very limited capabilities here. Back home, I'm just a professor, with no ability to partake in a fight. I can provide information, and input when people have plans, but to go beyond that would be a risk.

[One he'll take in the right circumstances, but the plan must be solid first.]

Well, yeah, you couldn't fight, maybe, but -- you could plan a fight. Tell people what to do...

[He really is trying not to sound insistent rather than scoping, as it were - as for planning fights, he knows virtually not a thing about organized warfare.]

That'd require a proper general I'm afraid, not a professor.

Think it's possible to stop the fighting...?

I like to think there's a plausibility, but centuries of conflict is very against me. If I'm wrong, then at least I'll have maybe made things bearable for a few other people.

But that's not good enough... [He isn't being confrontational, mind, at least not in tone. Merely attempting somber discussion.] If out of all these people, one side has gotta die...

If it is the best that can be done in the circumstances, then it has to be that way. I like to think realistically fist, lest I be set up for disappointment.

But -- realistically, people don't wanna get hurt! Right? There's gotta be some way... Even if it's hard to find, some way to get people to find a way that works best for everyone.

Some people here are all for fighting though. I've spoken with them and understand their perspective, unfortunately.

[He's shaking his head to himself on his end - and he's being dead earnest, still not challenging.] What's there to understand? I still don't get it; I know why people have to fight - I don' get why anyone deep down would want to...

For some people, it seems fighting is a way of life, enjoyable, and what they're comfortable with. This war suits them, and suits their goals.

They think that...

[Why wouldn't sparring, or hunting, or the times a person needs to fight, or something else be enough for someone with some innate need? Actual desire to fight's got to be the result of - poor experience, poor teaching...]

Like it's just - what they know.

Edited 2014-10-08 19:54 (UTC)

Exactly so. [Waver shrugs, he knows that on some microlevel, fighting and being more clever than the next guy is all he knows too.]

Why do you ask? [He frowns, concerned. His experience with monarchs has been positive, but not all leaders are so trustworthy or kind.]

Edited 2014-09-20 07:45 (UTC)

Oh -- I was just wondering, mostly...! [Sheepishly-light and looking upward, a little more! He did make that sound a little - more worried beyond thoughtful, didn't he?]

Uh - I'm not at the castle right now, and when the fairies caught up to me in the woods and said that there's gonna be one soon, I was thinking I hope I'll get back in time so I can go; the first one they had after I got here, I stayed out of, since I didn't know what you're supposed to do talking to a king and queen.

I still don't, though -- I just wanna meet them. I dunno if you're really supposed to do just that at a royal audience...

Oh, it's nice! I mean, I guess everything is pretty much what it sounds like. You walk in and there's all the thrones and flags and stuff and you say hello, and then ask the King and Queen whatever you're... there to ask about. Or talk about. They're pretty great! Nothing to be super nervous about.

Oh, I'm not nervous! [He is nervous, a wee bit. But a shift into emphatic cruisin' should it improve his case!] I mean, they're in charge of everything, right? Not even just the castles, but the whole territories - [And with his traveling on foot the past month, he can't not appreciate the scope of said territories!] - and they don't have the audiences often, isn't that right too? So, I dunno, if all I don't have anything important to talk about - I just wanted to see them - I wasn't sure I should go.

They're "great", though, huh...?

[He lifts that in a heartened sense of tone. Will happily take that as further encouragement!]

Oh, sure, they're super great! They helped my friend out when she was in some pretty serious trouble and everything. I've only met the ones on the Seelie side, so I can't say anything about the other ones, though. I do think they'd be glad to meet you! They really don't do the audience thing much, but I've never seen them turn someone down for just wanting to talk. You'd probably be fine.

[Ha - he might've been spared talking to the Unseelie monarchs in a context it certainly wouldn't do to meet them.]

Yeah, you think? I'm glad to hear it! [Light and hearty. Even if he's being warned against it by another, surely it is indeed possible to just talk, then...

Thinning and trailing a bit, with some more emphatic bounce on the important words - these are somewhat more absent questions!]

Uh -- how do you talk to a king and queen, anyway? I mean, like - should you try to bring something, or is there a right way to say hi - or what special manners to you have to use? -- There are special things you've got to do and say, right?

[It wouldn't be a bad way to further ease the passing of the time on his trip back to Caer Glaem, putting together a game plan...]

Uhh. I think it helps if you bow? And if you wanna say it's an honor to meet them or something, you can. I would've done that if I'd remembered it last time. As long as you're like. Respectful and everything, you're pretty good to go.

Respectful! [Repeated decisively - of course!] Right.

[And say it's an honor, and bow - he's got to make it clear he's bowing! They'll be able to see what he's actually doing, will they not? ...Or he figures he's safe assuming so.]

Uhh - what are they, by the way? -- Out of curiosity. You know... the king and queen.

Are they fairies?

-- huh. That's a good question. I guess so? [ It seems like it's more accurate than calling them human, at least. ] Nobody's ever told me one way or the other.

But they're not human -- right...

[It's paced like a question but toned and inflected like affirmation.]

Heh -- gotta practice bowing, then!

Uh, thanks by the way! [With heart to it!]

Hey, no problem. You know, court shardbearer... folks... have to stick together. Or it would at least be nice for them to do that.

[He wants to ask if anyone's terrible to each other, if any of them really wouldn't look out for the others, when push comes to shove.

But he gets it. Differences in thinking; this starting off scattered, no less.]

That can change, though, can't it... [Offering that tentatively; not really asking, at least not for anything more than validation or lack thereof.] I mean, there are a lot of us for each of us to get to know -- but it's not impossible for them to figure things out. Right?

... yeah, sure. I wouldn't say impossible. Well, it could be impossible for specific people in the groups. Like. You know, sometimes they just don't wanna get along. But big picture, sure! I'd believe that.

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