Chapter IV - Earthly Delights

Completed chapters of the serial storyline are stored here after completion.
Locked
User avatar
TennyoCeres84
Site Admin
 

Posts: 2929
Joined: Tue Jan 08, 2013 4:59 am

Re: Chapter IV - Earthly Delights

Post by TennyoCeres84 »

Tom's anger over dooming his father left Aislinn feeling somewhat guilty. Because of the ritual, she imagined that opening his heart to love left him vulnerable to the very thing Asmodeus had mocked earlier. Love hurts... As much as she knew he loved her, she mused that he was now susceptible of the same things every person with an abusive family member probably had to go through. It was easy to say that removing them from your life was for the best, but for some people, they still wanted to a familial bond with their relative. Not only that, but she imagined that he currently regretted Asmodeus' banishment.

Aislinn thought back to the trial they had infiltrated to fetch Rhadamantus and the idea that anybody could be redeemed, even someone like the Prince of Lust. Now, there was an extremely slim to none chance of that happening. It essentially equated to saying something you didn't entirely mean. What would have Asmodeus done if they had treated him with more kindness? Would have done like Volker suggested? Or would he have been on the path to mending himself and potentially others? All of these and a million other questions flooded her mind.

Still, since the wolf had gone to contact Abdiel, the warthog had remained quiet. The seal woman ventured over to him and embraced him tightly, resting her now scabbed over forehead on his shoulder. "I'm sorry you had to go through that..."

*~*~*

"I'm at least familiar with the latter," Meris responded with an amazed smile. "I remember seeing the ol' Blackdog soaring in the sky from the deck of the ship I lived on as a girl and as a young woman." Her smile grew wider. "The other man behind the inspiration for Odin is King Oberon himself."
User avatar
IamLEAM1983
Site Admin
 

Posts: 3707
Joined: Tue Jan 08, 2013 4:54 am
Location: Quebec, Canada

Re: Chapter IV - Earthly Delights

Post by IamLEAM1983 »

Tom seemed to bristle under her touch, that sudden burst of hostility immediately followed by a puzzled look and him dropping his staff to embrace her. For a while, the only sound in the room consisted of the blackened shaft of wood gently rocking from side to side before eventually settling.

A shiver overtook him a good minute and a half later. "And I'm sorry I'm not as strong as I thought I'd be," he said, his voice wavering. "I thought I'd keep my distance, that the research suggested our being free wouldn't be so traumatic, but..."

The shiver turned to a strangled sob. "I was ready for love - but empathy? Empathy with my father, moreover? With my people's abuser?!"

He lightly parted from Aislinn, just enough to look her in the eye. His whites were visible again, the kind of tremor associated with inner turmoil having taken them. They shook slightly, looking unable to fully focus on the roane.

"Is this what it felt like, when you broke the Goat, yesterday? When his pride had been cracked open like a walnut and he'd rambled on about being Akoman's patsy?"

He grimaced. "I should've known, damn it. Love always comes with some amount of vulnerability - of willful weakness. Amduscias wrote entire treaties on the need to surrender, and I thought he was just being lyrical."

* * *

A voice sounded from behind the group. Warm and congenial, a bit in the tenor range, but without something like Nybbas' garrulous poise. A voice a bit like young whiskey. Earnest, for now - but also a bit reserved. Reserved, and uncharacteristically American.

"Well - not so much myself now as one of my precursors," he said. "The Mantle's choosy karma says I'm mostly guaranteed to lose an eye at some point, but I've had stereo vision for as long as I can remember."

The man that greeted them looked like he'd been built sometime during the last Ice Age, with the kind of muscle tone bodybuilders would've killed for. A conservative layer of fat and obvious hydration covered it all in a lean and solid package that wouldn't have looked out of place anywhere between a factory floor, a logging camp or the NFL's gridiron. He had a square jaw and even more angular features, stormy green eyes and hair that verged between hazel and light rust, flecks of more insolent red flashing through his carelessly groomed mane and in his more carefully sculpted beard and facial hair. Naberius looked like he'd expected the old court uniforms, only to find himself staring at an impeccably-cut indoors green blazer worn over a rust-colored tartan shirt. Charcoal straight-fit chinos completed the ensemble, along with dark brown loafers and an odd absence of socks. Keeping one hand in his pants' pockets, he extended the other.

"Call me Langdon," he said. "I still haven't taken to Shakespeare after all this time; Your Majesty is good enough for the diplomats and clipboard-holders; Oberon works for the occasional Unseelie mystic or weird Aleister Crowley type - or anyone who puts it in their fool mind to make a proper Englishman out of me. Take my wife, for starters."
User avatar
TennyoCeres84
Site Admin
 

Posts: 2929
Joined: Tue Jan 08, 2013 4:59 am

Re: Chapter IV - Earthly Delights

Post by TennyoCeres84 »

Aislinn gently squeezed her beau's hand and eyed him sympathetically. "Tom, I hate to put this so bluntly, but this is normal. Our emotions aren't neatly compartmentalized, and they're messy as can be. The empathy you're experiencing toward your father, the painfulness of it? It's similar to many abuse victims' out there, but you're just feeling it all of once. The ritual opened the floodgates, and his actions added to it faster than your awakened mind could handle."

Her brown eyes looked into his burgundy ones. "You don't have to apologize for not knowing what you can handle right after the enormous transition you went through. It'd be completely callous of me to assume that. The surrendering part Amduscias wrote about? That ties into that notion of relying on others to help you. Acting strong may sometimes be the best default mode you can have, but you're no longer cut off from your heart. Unexplained emotions emerging out of nowhere for the next little while is going to happen, and it's okay for them to."

*~*~*

The Heiress shook his hand. It was firm, but congenial. The fingertips in particular were lightly callused from the various type of arcane work and fighting that she did, her hand's webbing shifting in response to the contact. She smiled and responded, "I'm Meris, Langdon. It's nice to meet you. Truth be told, I'd even feel awkward speaking Old English anymore. It sounds almost quaint to my ears, a bit musty since it's been ages since I actually spoke it."
User avatar
IamLEAM1983
Site Admin
 

Posts: 3707
Joined: Tue Jan 08, 2013 4:54 am
Location: Quebec, Canada

Re: Chapter IV - Earthly Delights

Post by IamLEAM1983 »

Tom looked deeply into Aislinn's eyes, considered her words and then embraced her again. Silence stretched out for a while, then followed by a strangled sob and a sniff. He kept his cries quiet, his chest only rarely heaving against Aislinn's. He didn't seem too desperate, and wasn't exactly clutching Aislinn, arms looped around her waist using the absolute minimal level of firmness he could manage. He was letting her support him without emphasizing that need for support.

In short, he was surrendering as best he could. He cried for what he could've made out of his and Asmodeus' relationship, he cried for what his own father so foolishly wanted that relationship to be. He cried his regrets, along with his thanks for his lover's support. His warthog's muzzle rendered the occasional halting breath or heaving motions as quiet snorts, until he found it in him to carefully, gently slide the side of his right tusk against Aislinn's cheek. His now shimmering eyes met the roane's, his anthro features making his perceived emotional pain look even more disarming than on a human.

The Warlock slowly brought his lips to meet the roane's. No lust could be found in there, no desperate newborn love - but rather, its more quiet relative: love that was starting to root itself in deeper, more meaningful things than sheer infatuation or romantic bliss. Love does indeed hurt, but as Tom now found out, that very pain only served to make love stronger, in some cases.

He mouthed obvious words as he parted from her, a glimmer of hope having taken root in his eyes. The glow from his incubus' heart couldn't quiet penetrate his shirt and tie's dark fabrics, but the roane would certainly feel the fist-sized lump of warmth that radiated into her own chest, as close as they were.

* * *

"Rupert still receives orders to take me to the local Gruffs' outpost, on occasion," confided Langdon with a smirk. "Their old grammar's a pain, and even they know it. They're just stuck to it the way they're also stuck to ideals of chivalry that make me look like a hopeless chump."

Chuckling, he nodded. "it's nice to meet you too, Meris. I guess we'll see how amenable Jane actually feels today..."

From the right side of the room came a light voice, in the lower alto ranges. "I heard that, husband," said what had to be Titania, snark marking the words.

Jane Danvers walked in wearing a white printed sheath dress, the fabric looking to be light merino, with a weaved-in blue band at her waist. Stiletto heels that looked like someone had carved them out of two giant oyster pearls waited at her feet, a few sedate jewellery items waiting at her wrists and neck. She'd apparently gone for a starkly modern pageboy cut, the back of her head shorn much closer than the front's long bangs, clear blue eyes shimmering like ice chips in a face that wouldn't be too hard to imagine freeing itself from Victorian rotundness and the era's powerlessness with equal parts dieting, strength training and strong personal conviction. Portraits on the wall showed a more sere-looking Titania and Oberon in what had to be their first meeting and their coronation. Langdon looked to have gained in confidence since that event, and Jane had followed along, shedding the marks of her old life along the way. Still, she now had the kind of face that went from frosty to sunny with the mere addition of a smile, and she quickly offered one to Meris as she walked closer and also extended a hand.

"Jane," she said. "Jane Danvers. Titania as an accessory, but you've worked past all those who'd enforce it."

Naberius nodded. "I've noticed we were not taken to your more public sitting room or the throne room.
- Obvious targets," confirmed the Queen. This room's in a blindspot, and it'd be difficult for anyone to land a shot through this plate glass window," she explained, gesturing. "The Springtide Quarter is in the traditional Tudor design, and that means irregular roofs and what would normally amount to fire code hazards in the mortal plane, along with a high population density. Any sniper who would manage to land a shot would have to contend with our bulletproof panel and with the fact that half of the quarter would instantly hear them, silencers or no."

Nybbas smirked. "Fae hounds in the population?
- Some, yes. Springtide houses most of our local Gruffs; their hearing is quite keen."

She then gestured for the group to take a seat in the sofa and several couches the room. "Our old rivals are growing restless," she said. "It's a cycle the previous carriers of our Mantles have seen and anticipated every thousand years or so."

Langdon nodded. "Mab and Morgana find themselves one or more champions, train them, search for allied powers, and then ultimately make a bid for our kingdom. Time after time, we beat their plans back either through words or steel. After over a thousand iterations of that cycle, we've grown careful. There's signs we recognize, but each one brings its own flavor. Its own spin on their basic bid for power."

Titania looked out the plate-glass window. "This is only the second time in the last two thousand years that populism has played such a crucial part in the threats surrounding us. Mab and Morgana took Rome down with them the first time around, hoping to rid us of our cultural and commercial influence. Now, they're attacking the hearts and minds of everyone between North America and Europe."
User avatar
TennyoCeres84
Site Admin
 

Posts: 2929
Joined: Tue Jan 08, 2013 4:59 am

Re: Chapter IV - Earthly Delights

Post by TennyoCeres84 »

Aislinn hugged him tightly and lingered next to him for a bit. "Do you want to stay like this for a while or go help with the clean-up?" she asked him.

*~*~*

Seating herself on the sofa, Meris' blue-lined eyes narrowed slightly and thoughtfully. "That is why we came here to see you. As things stand, Hope, Rhode Island is looking to be the epicenter for much of the coming upheaval on the planes. It's not just the Morgana-aligned Dixie Fae or Mab's forces that are concerning, the fabric of Heaven, Hell, Faerie, the Shadowlands, and the Outer Reaches are beginning to merge, with Hope being the location where they will overlap in the greatest concentration. With that transition, we're going to have significant adjustments as new denizens will be required to come under the Vienna Accords, and the more immediate issues of demons both assimilating with society or outright attacking it. Hope must be unified as much as possible, including Evergloam and its stretch of Faerie."
User avatar
IamLEAM1983
Site Admin
 

Posts: 3707
Joined: Tue Jan 08, 2013 4:54 am
Location: Quebec, Canada

Re: Chapter IV - Earthly Delights

Post by IamLEAM1983 »

Tom didn't answer for a long while. He didn't cling to Aislinn while still not letting her go, his breath now steady, the ghost of his cologne faintly perceptible under the smoky and somehow reassuringly pungent aroma of Hellfire. He went so far as to stop breathing, a sign that part of him wanted to preserve this moment. Then, like all bodies controlled by skilled demons, he resumed his chest's gentle rising motions without so much as a gasp.

"I might need you again tonight," he started, softly, "to hold on to. I'm scared I'd feel alone, otherwise."

That said, he smiled and nodded. It was a slight nod and there still was pain in his eyes, but he was soldiering on as best he could. "I'll be fine for now, though," he said. "Thank you. We have to assist Abdiel in any way we can, now - prevent a structural collapse while she patches things up somehow."

He then drew in a breath. "I was right to be paranoid about this - we'll need more insurance; more assurances that another Prince can't just waltz in here and give us another catastrophic lesson in morality."

That left the warthog to briefly look away, then back at Aislinn. "If Volker hasn't been fibbing, Abdiel shouldn't be long. I'll be in the mezzanine's office until then - I need to give Melmoth a call."

* * *

Titania's gaze was wry, sympathetic - but also a bit circumspect. Her legs crossed at the knees and hands folded in her lap, she didn't seem to be missing the irony of Hope's own Lord and Lady being present.

"And as it turns out," she said, "you've brought rather auspicious plus-ones and twos...
- Kramp always did tell me we made a mistake by focusing on Europe so much over the past few years," noted Oberon. "The heart of the world isn't London or Paris or Saint Petersburg anymore - it's in places like Hope or New York."

Vernon lightly smirked at that. "If Eir and I had known what would have arisen a few centuries ahead of time, perhaps we would've made different choices. Not that I regret our current predicament, however."

The King chuckled gamely. "I wouldn't expect any less from House Christmas, Milord.

Titania smiled as well. "Ap Beltane wasn't chosen to spread through Colonial America idly, either. The Lady McHale can be proud of having survived such an attack."

That left the normally solid-looking supernatural to blush like a schoolgirl, a fact that didn't escape the Queen. Titania's pearly whites showed, along with the tip of her tongue. Still, she sobered quickly.

"While Oberon and I have set a precedent throughout the ages, the balance between the Clans is seen as our child - our issue. The one true Child of Spring and Fall is seen by our mystics as being the way we twirl and cavort around one another in occasionally deadly games - albeit games that never directly impact mortal lives. Our covenant is very clear: our love cannot bring harm to mortals through our action or inaction."

Oberon sighed. "Several rungs down, however, that distinction ebbs away. Children of Spring and Fall turn into either wonder packed with a Diaper Genie or disaster incarnate headed for preschool. There isn't a single one of our courtly rituals that isn't designed to call back to the truth of our union, but only our chamberlains are fully aware of it. As soon as we try to suggest a more widespread cross-pollination of the Clans, the conservatives on either side raise their shields and slow down our entire governmental apparatus. The same goes whenever I try and suggest we focus more intently on the New World - you don't want to know how many courtiers I deal with that still think the Roanoke colony is still standing!"

Vernon raised a hand in moderation. "Be that as it may, progressivism still finds its way outside of North America, my Lieges. Many of our Japanese fief-holders have managed to marry the ways of old with those of modern Tokyo or Hokkaido - if they haven't relocated to California outright."

That again made the Winter King smirk. "Eiji Katsumoto isn't the norm, Lord Haskill. He's a stubborn old coot that would've found a way to put down roots and thrive virtually anywhere. He just so happened to follow along with the immigrants and to help with relief efforts during the internment years after Pearl Harbor."
User avatar
TennyoCeres84
Site Admin
 

Posts: 2929
Joined: Tue Jan 08, 2013 4:59 am

Re: Chapter IV - Earthly Delights

Post by TennyoCeres84 »

Aislinn nodded. "We'll need to up our A-game when it comes to the warding; make it specific to who we actually want here, like what their intentions are. I'll go see what's going on with Volker." She gave the warthog a peck on the lips and headed for the main area.

Down near the bar, Abdiel was surveying the damage and using her abilities to call the fragmented pieces of glass out of the corner Tom had blown them off to. The shattered bits of compressed sand drifted toward her like water droplets. "I should be able to reconstruct the mirror and help with reinforcing the structure. The couches might be goners, unless you have someone with amazing upholstery skills."

The Fire Throne had taken the time after the attack on Hell to discreetly wander the town and fully familiarize herself with every corner of it. Hope had been considered as a location watched over predominantly by Matriel, but things were going to be changing. Other angels would be joining them, and it paid to know the metropolis deeply.

*~*~*

Meris nodded. "I'm sure he would. Every person adjusts as needed in their own time. Hanako Urakawa has adjusted to living and working in Hope for a few decades now," she noted, then looking at Vernon. "I believe Mr. Haskill here has already started aligning with the feeling of Hope and its citizens."
User avatar
IamLEAM1983
Site Admin
 

Posts: 3707
Joined: Tue Jan 08, 2013 4:54 am
Location: Quebec, Canada

Re: Chapter IV - Earthly Delights

Post by IamLEAM1983 »

A few minutes passed, Tom then leaving his office with a light huff and a short-lived if dismayed glance at what remained of his pricey dancefloor. "'I asked Melmoth if I could curry a few favors; he said he'd be over in a few minutes. He's still in the flesh at the stock exchange, so he'll be taking the standard route up here."

Rounding the counter, he stepped past Abdiel and carefully avoided the mess of ruined and shattered bottles, then kneeling down to recover a soda can and a rum sampler that had been lucky enough to survive the carnage. "I'd offer you something to drink," he said to the Throne, "but I'd need a straw or a turkey baster to recover all that booze."

The bar counter's shelving had survived and kept its glasses intact, so the warthog added a bit of cynical devil-may-care finesse to his gestures as he poured himself the fizzy third of a tumbler's worth of rum. Dejectedly leaning on the bar, he side-eyed the Fire Throne.

"Family. Wretched, lovely, passionate, aggravating, inspiring and homicidal family... You'd think things would be different for us supernaturals, but we're stuck with the same problems as mortals. Your dad's absent because physics and whatnot, mine took a somewhat respectable mandate from the so-called Prince of Darkness and fucked it up within one or two mortal generations. Oh, I have to redeem the lustful? Gee, I guess if I have tons of casual sex I'll somehow get around to scaring one or two mortals to the point where they enter a nunnery or monastery and virtually stop living!"

He shook his head and chuckled bitterly. "Why didn't I follow my own advice, Abdiel? Why didn't I close the portal right after our ritual? I couldn't have stopped Asmodeus from traipsing over to our threshold in the Pit, but I could've made it so he would've met a brick wall."

* * *

"Somewhat, yes," agreed Haskill with a good-natured chuckle. "I doubt you'll find me adopting the more recent generational quirks, but Hope is an easy place to fall in love with. It's vibrant enough to sate my inner cosmopolitan, and old enough to reassure the old aristocrat in me."

Titania quirked an eyebrow. "The question is, is it sufficiently open-minded to carry the both of you, together," she said, referring to both the Lord and Lady. "More to the point, can it carry so many deciders and influencers without the populace falling prey to easy attempts at protectionism?"

Haskill seemed noncommittal. "Well, this is America, after all - any metropolis has its Luddites slaking their thirst for attention at the favor of an uninformed public's fears..."
User avatar
TennyoCeres84
Site Admin
 

Posts: 2929
Joined: Tue Jan 08, 2013 4:59 am

Re: Chapter IV - Earthly Delights

Post by TennyoCeres84 »

Abdiel had started on the process of melding the numerous shards of glass into a whole, which emanated warm amber light as they stitched together. While the process was happening, she looked to the side at him and then shrugged. "I can't say for sure, Tom, as only you truly know. Advice is one of those things that's easy to say we'll heed, but then we ignore it and bumble into our mistakes. As you mentioned, it's another of those things that doesn't separate us from the mortals."

She was quiet for a moment as she considered her words and still focused on her mirror project, making sure the glass wouldn't overheat. "I can only speculate on your motives, but I have to wonder if you were subconsciously trying to show your father your accomplishments and potentially show him an example that he could follow to his own redemption. Each of the Princes was given their burden first by Heaven and then by Lucifer, then left to foster it alone. It's easy to fall prey to the notion that you're stuck, that there's no use trying to change anything after a while and then give up. This might be what Asmodeus was thinking, so it was easier to attack you and Aislinn and follow the Goat's orders. For Asmodeus, it'd tackle three objectives at once: make the Goat happy, possibly protect his loyal children from the coming storm, and thwart your endeavors before they get off the ground and succeed. It's an incredibly misguided thought process, but this could've been his approach. It was only until you, Volker, and Aislinn beat him that he became desperate for your help, but by that time, he had already burnt that bridge."

*~*~*

"And another thing to consider is that you won't know until you try. You can theorize how each possibility will turn out, but if you don't put plans into action, they become ennui. All we can do is try and deal with things as they come. Occasionally, they don't always work out. I learned this the hard way when we attempted to bring positive change to Dalarath, to bring some measure of equality. It didn't go the way that we wanted, unfortunately. If things had been different, it might not have occurred that way, but live and learn," Meris acknowledged sadly, giving an emphatic wave of her hand.

She shook her head and sighed. "Apologies for seguing away from the topic somewhat, but pushing for some form of unity in Hope between the Courts is going to be needed. Our collective effectiveness against the Pit's forces and the Others could be harmed or hindered by how much we'll be able stand together. By having a united front, they could persuade a number of Evergloam's populace, rather than listen to Sharpe's segregationists or Mab's chaos."
User avatar
IamLEAM1983
Site Admin
 

Posts: 3707
Joined: Tue Jan 08, 2013 4:54 am
Location: Quebec, Canada

Re: Chapter IV - Earthly Delights

Post by IamLEAM1983 »

Tom took a sip from his drink. "You know what? That's exactly it. I try and act mature, but I'm like any kid from a damaged family in the sense that Sophie, Lilian, Benedict, even Benjamin to some degree - and myself - all crave validation. It's nice to have it from friends and people who already understand where you're trying to go, but even at his lowliest, Asmodeus always found a way to make his disapproval of me sting a bit more than the other Princes."

He rolled his eyes. "I mean, the Goat, Mammon, Belial - they're all basically frumpy disapproving uncles to me; distant relatives that make rebellion easier more than anything. Even now, after being freed, I have things in common with Asmodeus: I'll always be on the sensual side of things and I'd much rather live it up than have to fight misguided Fallen angels for the foreseeable future. The difference is I've got plans, all Dad ever had were his endless orgies."

The warthog then pouted in allowance. "Well, I guess you could plan out your orgies if you care that much, but the fact is he never did. He'd lie down with the dope fiends by Sandhill's supervised injection sites, while I staked out my doses of escapism sometimes lifetimes in advance."

He then set a finger on the table, alcohol and exhaustion maybe conspiring to lower his inhibitions in a more human fashion than his old burden of lust would've managed. The finger poked the table along with his words. "If I wanted to sample beluga caviar, Abdiel, I'd stake out the best pods while riding the skin of an Inuit, and then I'd sail my little kayak all the way to the Russians' fishing zones. I'd leave the Inuit body somewhere quiet, then slip into someone called Ivan or Sergei or Boris or whatever, strike it rich, buy out the whaler and the factories, add quality control measures to the industry, grab myself a handful of crackers and some smoked salmon - and then I'd take a hit of my drug of choice. Heck, I might even slip in some ancestral Inuit hunting techniques the Russians wouldn't have thought of to minimize my impact on the biosphere and maximise output."

He shook his head. "When Belial last captured and tortured me, he asked how I managed to blend in so much, how I could tolerate not wearing my supernatural nature openly. I told him what had happened the last time someone had summoned Lust on the mortal plane: Torquemada got so pissed, so utterly revolted by my father's lack of tact, class and basic humanity that hundreds of thousands of unrelated practitioners paid the price. I'm a cad, sure, but I'm trying excessively hard to avoid becoming that kind of monster."

* * *

Jane nodded, having clearly followed along. "And seeing as no-one on the regional levels can buck our long-standing traditions, you came to us.
- That's the gist of it, yes," acknowledged Eirean. "We figured that if you both approved of this union, the rest of the populace will have to listen."

Langdon brushed his mustache with a finger. "Oh, but they won't. Not all of them. We can approve your marriage, sign and seal as many writs and vellum-encased Oaths and proclamations as you'd imagine, there's always going to be someone left, somewhere, to uncharitably toss our decisions aside."

Vernon seemed to agree. "We're willing to take that risk, My Liege."

Oberon and Titania exchanged a long and meaningful look, the man then sighing. "I have my excuses, when it comes to bucking trends. I'm the King. What I say, goes. The Hearth's fire drives me to seek out life and joy, to quite literally seed it where I can. It makes a more polite take on a womanizer out of me, but not all previous iterations of Oberon were as gentle. Neither were the past Titanias. Those who once wore my name dragged mortal families into Faerie kicking and screaming - not out of terror, but because Changelings had been introduced in previously mundane families. I've destroyed marriages, torn families apart in the name of that fire that I carry. The same thing that's turned mister Spector here into such a mild-mannered man turned a dockworker from Baltimore into the leader of the Wild Hunt. Herne's call makes me do terrible things, and it's not always clear to me as to whether or not those I hunted down deserved it. At the same time, everyone trusts the Crown to turn these dark impulses and those forced responsibilities into constructive measures."

Vernon's eyebrow arched. "Respectfully, sir, I fail to follow.
- You're not me," Miles admitted. "You have one of the most respected Lordships in Winter's history, so much so that you've taken the Bean and led your own Wild Hunts as the Yule King in the past. You struck fear in Elysium's heart, and you're not even King. That wild, icy and cruel part of you wouldn't take kindly to our old bonds being broken. All your Spring issue needs is you wearing the Mantle one Christmas, with a little too much blood and alcohol in your stomach - and you'd slaughter your own family."

Haskill looked as though he'd been slapped. "Why, I would never-!
- Of course you'd say that," added Titania, "you're currently lucid! The Bean always was a poisoned gift, however, and one that knows only one cure. Even then, it's not necessarily a cure - it only brings in that chip of black ice in your heart to the right frequency, makes it sing with the rest of you - when you succumb to the Hearth's flames."

The Lord blinked. "So why was I not submitted to it the first time around?!
- We needed you savage, cruel and motivated, Vernon," explained Oberon. "Hell, Europe needed you to be savage and cruel! London was occupied and burning for the second time since World War Two, the south of France was falling to orbital shellings - we didn't need a diplomat or a mediator, we needed a weapon of mass destruction, someone with even more fury and bloodlust than I'd ever display while wearing the old helmet and war horn."

Vernon's gaze grew troubled, leading him to look slightly away. Memories swallowed him, recollections of a fierce and dark joy that had seen him soaring in the upper reaches of the atmosphere pulled by Fae steeds and surrounded by Malks and various sentient horrors from Winter's twilit band, somewhere between Oberon and Mab's territories.

He'd torn entire troop transports apart, laughing all the way through, snarling with lust, spittle flying from his lips as he'd roared, swinging his sword seemingly at random and yet always finding new flesh to skewer, more blood to spill. He'd given no quarter and requested none. The whole ordeal was a cold, white haze of pure fury and rage in his mind, one that ended with exhaustion finally worming its way through his limbs. He remembered standing in a pile of bodies, clothes nearly fully shredded, bloodlust fading as horror grew.

He remembered blacking out and waking up several days later.

"You needed an executioner," he said, his voice thin. "I think I'm beginning to understand..."

Titania nodded. "So you see why we're reticent. Can you accept our regrets, Lord Haskill?"

Vernon knew what this meant, but he couldn't accept it. He gripped Eirean's hand and eyed the King and Queen of Faerie squarely in the eyes.

"I, Vernon Upton Haskill, do solemnly swear under geas to commit my life to the Maker by my own hands, should my sacred charge consume me. I bind myself to this covenant, should any resistance on my part prevent my carrying out this Oath. I will drive my sword through my own heart, should my Mantle claim either Milady Summer, our friends and allies - or any issue we may produce."

Titania's mouth hung agape. "W-What about Hope?!
- If I ever were to hurt Eirean as the Yule King, I will have lost the right to lead Hope's Winter contingent. By geas, I also swear to commit House Christmas' Mantle to Eirean McHale's care, until such time as a worthy wielder will come forth."

Even Nybbas looked a little gobsmacked. "By Pan's frizzy beard, the man's lost it. He's actually lost it..."
Locked