Topic: Jiggity Jiggity Jog and...The Rest of the Story.

Gemethyst

Date: 2014-08-09 00:52 EST
((The following has been written with an eye to finishing up the re-lifing story of Gem, begun four years back. To know where things stand, one might want to read the beginning of the tale, which can be found in the Catacombs, currently, in the folder "Den of Iniquity" and in the story starts, "Home again, home again, Jiggety Jog", parts 1 and 2. Thanks to the muns of the chars who have joined in, those being Jack Scott in black, Benjamin Piers in blue, Lirenel in brown, Necromesh in dark red, Nicholas Maddox aka Madoc Morfryn in green, Desdenova VonTombs in orange, and Erevan Illesere in olive. It is time to finish"the rest of the story (with respect to the great Paul Harvey). ))

"To market, to market, to buy a fat pig, Home again, home again, dancing a jig; To market, to market, to buy a fat hog; Home again, home again, jiggety-jog; To market, to market, to buy a plum bun, Home again, home again, market is done." by Mother Goose

After that most enlightening and marvelous experience, Gem had been reluctant to part from Jack. She walked with him now, on the way to the Red Dragon Inn, having stopped off at the market to get her some food for she had been sharp-set after that bout of loving. Bathed, fed, and feeling incredibly mellow and calm, she was laughing softly at something Jack had said. There was then a change. It was something subtle, something slight. She didn't notice it, not right away. But the air that swept past them no longer was scented of the sea, nor did it have earthly origins. It was chill, cold, and not just in temperature.

Jack sensed it right away. The change to Jack immediate as the snarl that ripped out from between his teeth. He yanked at Gem to move her behind him. The ribbons of his coat shuddered and grew darker. Their breath steamed.

Along the wall behind them, for they had entered an alley, where they almost touched with backs to the wall fine fingers of frost crawled, climbed, descended, did both, forming a line unnoticed between Gem and Jack, until it suddenly was rising up in a sheet of ice, thick and solid, some several inches thick, trying to surround them both, to separate them. Gem was caught by her feet before she could do anything much at all, the ice clamping around her sandaled feet, for she was still in a dress, gleaned from her wardrobe at the hidey hole. Struggling to break the grip of ice, she reached for twin daggers which swept into her hands from the sleeves of her dress. Eyes wide and wild looked around, trying to find the threat. "Jack..! What is it?"

And then came the one, The One who sought to rule all things, all that he could pull into his considerable reach. Madoc Morfryn, the king of the Unseelie Court, twin brother of Oberon, came walking out of a cloud of white mist that was tinged with red, and his hands were held up, ready to launch spells at Jack, should the need arise. He laughed. "Calm thyself, Knight. I but need to speak to the little - elf." His lip curled. Elf was not what he had been going to say.

That little taste of Faerie was enough to ground Jack and let him shed the cursed glamour he was forced to wear everywhere else. Feathers sprouted in his hair and along his brows. Talons grew from his fingertips and his elongated toes. The ribbons of his coat split and feathered and crawled up his arms, turning his skin dark. They blackened and threaded around him to finally form a pair of black glossy wings. The stars in his eyes merged into twin suns that blazed. Where he stood, the ice melted. "Then do it politely."

Gemethyst

Date: 2014-08-09 00:54 EST
((Color Key: Jack Scott in black, Benjamin Piers in blue, Lirenel in brown, Necromesh in dark red, Nicholas Maddox aka Madoc Morfryn in green, Desdenova VonTombs in orange, Gem in indigo, and Erevan Illesere in olive. ))

The ice had risen to the height of Gem's shoulders, though it did not touch her accept at her feet. It was seriously chilling her, however! The elf's gaze was fixed at first on Jack as he changed, her eyes widening at the splendor of him, at his sinister majesty. He stole her breath with his magnificence. Her attention was dragged away, though, by the speaking of the man who arrived.

That man was tall, as tall as Jack, if not a tiny bit more. Maybe it was just his hair. He had a lot of it, dark, black as coal, without the glints in it that Jack's had. It seemed to absorb light. His eyes were pale. He was attired in a suit; Armani, in fact. Madoc did so like to be dressed in the finest of the times he happened to be in. The words from Jack made him smile again, and he shook one long finger at the Crow. "Careful, there old man. You don't want to forget yourself, do you?" He laughed ever so softly. Then his eyes slid over to Gem. She gazed into those yellow-green eyes with defiance. Anyone who talked to her Jack like that had to go! "Now then. Let's you and me, elf, have a little chat, hmm?"

The elf didn't like the odds...and so she rubbed her thumb across the bottom of a ring on her hand, where she had once hidden a certain coin. She called to him, to that one that the coin centered on.

Jack forgot very little when it was necessary. He scraped his talons over the block of ice and it began to melt away from Gem. "Go away."

"I cannot even begin to think what we might have a need to talk about." Said the brave little nearly ice-encased elf. She was glad for Jack's melting of the stuff, though he had only started on the one side. She shivered hard, for she hated the cold. Her arms wrapped around her small body.

The cobbles and mixed bonding agents that made up the floor of this alley began to steam in front of the little Elf, until they boiled and the rocks cracked into pieces or liquified entirely. First two feet of horns, then seven of Daemon rose from the ground. Where before only blackish-grey scales covered him, now arms and torso, and some of legs, were peppered with amethyst scales. His eye took in the lord of Faerie, and a horrible low growl in his throat was cut off only by a question the little Elf would feel weigh on her, both a protective boon and a terrible responsibility. "What do you require of me?" In the cold, the heat of him steamed the air.

Jack growled at the first stirrings of the Nightmare's arrival. He, now behind Gem, with both hands on the block of ice, worked to melt the Winter off her. He hated the cold. Twin stars blazed with fury at the Unseelie king.

Gemethyst

Date: 2014-08-09 01:03 EST
((Color Key: Jack Scott in black, Benjamin Piers in blue, Lirenel in brown, Necromesh in dark red, Nicholas Maddox aka Madoc Morfryn in green, Desdenova VonTombs in orange, Gem in indigo, and Erevan Illesere in olive. ))

Gem, alas, had no idea yet who he was that threatened the peace of the alley and made slighting remarks to Jack. But he clearly was someone a mere elf was not able to tangle with very well. And that made Jack vulnerable. Without any hesitation at all, she nodded to Skid once he had made his arrival and his question known. "Keep Jack safe." The Unseelie took a step back, just out of sheer caution to see what it was that boiled up from the very depths of the city itself. Black brows rose up and nostrils flared as he breathed in the scent and origins of the Nightmare. One hand waved dismissively. "You do not belong here. This is not your business." As Jack melted ice, yet more came forming up, and so it was a race.

The elf wavered in her stance, for she could no longer feel her legs.

Madoc Morfryn curled his lip at the elf once more. "You know I have to have it. I cannot believe that little weasel gave it to you. Give it to me. Give it to me now. Do so at once, else I shall squash you like the bug you and your kind are."

Probably motivated by the threats from Madoc, the thief remembered something. "...Oh yes, Skid...and keep me safe from him, too. "

That command brought a fresh snarl from Jack, with teeth. He was his own Faerie after all and not without power. "Enough. Madoc, release her or by Manon's grace, I will end you. Here and now."

Madoc has an overweening arrogance. He just smiled at the Crow.

He continued to stand there, still, until she gave her second command. "Only protect?" His tail wound around the ice, and the scales began to bristle. "Jack, mind your feathers." The last four feet or so of the tail, wound about the block and ignited as the chemicals reacted.

Gem turned her head to gaze at Jack. Madoc" She did not know that name. Poor Elf was sadly lacking on education regarding Faerie. She was not astonished, though, to see him threatening the man, for she had learned that yes, Jack had his own power and means. That did not mean she would not seek extra protection for him, though. "I don't know what you are talking about. Madoc." She tried out the name Jack had spoken. "Truly. What do I have that you want?" Oh, she was cold. Jack's melting was helping, else she already would have frozen, she was sure. Then Skid put his tail around the ice and she pulled in a breath, not knowing what was about to happen. It ignited" She gasped and covered her face with her hands.

The flames didn't rise more than a few inches from the scales, but the heat was intense. Hopefully, Gem wore her extra-thick boots today.

He stepped back. Skid's chemistry was known to him and it allowed him to move in close to the Faerie Lord. "She is mine."

Meanwhile, Madoc thinned his lips at the threat from Jack. "You would dare to challenge me" Your king?" Yes, he was arrogant. "You will find ever bitter the seeds from this deed, Crow." Then the king's look passed from Jack, claiming Gem, to the thief herself. He looked mystified. "Why' Why, when you could have women of faerie who are far more than this little piece of dirt will ever be?" Then something struck him, and he leaned in towards Gem a little bit, sniffing, snuffling. A puzzled look wove upon his face. He ignored Skid and the chemically melting ice-for now. "So...you are not quite dirt, I see. And..." Then his brows shot up and he laughed. He looked at Jack and laughed again. "Oh, this is rich. Too funny." He was not concerned that no one else knew what he laughed about. Those green-gold eyes swept to Gem. "I will give you three days. If you do not deliver it to me by then, I will kill the one you most cherish." Then his eyes moved back to Jack. "Even if it is this one."

Still, the Daemon waited. Quiet, patient.

Gemethyst

Date: 2014-08-09 01:15 EST
((Color Key: Jack Scott in black, Benjamin Piers in blue, Lirenel in brown, Necromesh in dark red, Nicholas Maddox aka Madoc Morfryn in green, Desdenova VonTombs in orange, Gem in indigo, and Erevan Illesere in olive. ))

Gem looked suddenly stricken at the idea of her loved ones being singled out and one of them slain. Her feet, oh feet in the pretty sandals" They were burning. She gave a cry and tried to move them out of the puddle forming.

Soup's done. The scales flattened and cut off the flow of chemicals. So, y'know. No more fire.

What did that mean' Did he threaten Manon' The twin star gaze narrowed and the hand that was about cuff the Unseelie lord froze.

"Gem." He could wait for her to speak.

"Get her out of here, Skid."

She was dancing amidst the little flames when they went out, the pain surprising for such a little bit of burning. She had tender feet, though. Distressed eyes rose up to Jack and then the Nightmare. "I ...I don't know what he wants! "

The Unseelie King no longer was interested in dealing. He raised a hand and a bolt of lightning shot out of it for Skid. Wherever he happened to be. He was satisfied with Jack's hesitation.

His tail hung, arched back around the little Elf when the lightning struck him. He hadn't been told to protect himself, after all. He went rigid, and fell to one knee. "Gem.." He sounded....Upset.

Even as the Fae in Armani cast Jack attacked, not with claws or fists, but with a thought and Word. Madoc presented with one simple vision. A Dream of Oblivion.

She didn't know he needed to be told that!! This was her first coining, after all! She gave a cry as Skid fell to one knee and then she rushed towards him, putting herself between Skid and Madoc. "Skid! Oh, ...oh...protect yourself, too!! No, stay down! I will cover you!" She whipped around, to see Jack doing something...she knew not what.

His wings flexed and his eyes blazed. It was too soon to challenge the Fae. Too soon. What could he do"

Madoc truly was not terribly impressed by Jack, and he figured tales he had been told had been exaggerated, really. Sure, he knew he had been involved in that little matter of the White Dragon and Mab, but he hadn't been a big player in it, after all, not like that bitch of a kindred. Artsblood, yes, that was her name. So he wasn't giving Jack the proper amount of attention. That, however, was a one-time good deal. It would not happen again. The king blinked - his eyes literally fluttered. His head shook in confusion, and then he uttered a name. "Titania!" The Faerie King's head turned, and he simply walked away - into that white and red tinged mist. Gone. With him went the chill, and the ice.

Gemethyst

Date: 2014-08-09 01:21 EST
((Color Key: Jack Scott in black, Benjamin Piers in blue, Lirenel in brown, Necromesh in dark red, Nicholas Maddox aka Madoc Morfryn in green, Desdenova VonTombs in orange, Gem in indigo, and Erevan Illesere in olive. ))

He rose, the stun of the hit gone, and placed a hand on Gem's shoulder as the Faerie wandered into nothingness. His words were for Jack, when the man had seemingly vanished. "Who was that...Madoc?" The name tasted coppery and foul.

Talons raked the air where the Faerie King stood. Too soon! Too soon! How was he going to fix this. He spun on the Nightmare and his Solace, a snarl and a sneer curled on his lip. "What did you take from him?" That to Gem.

Once Madoc was gone, and she was satisfied that Jack and Skid were okay, she promptly fell on her ass and scrabbled fingers around, looking for a chunk of ice. Finding one, she smoothed it over her blistered feet, the pain easing only where the ice touched. It was horrible. Burn pain was HORRIBLE. A little keen left her as she rocked on the ground. She looked up, shaking her head, her eyes frantic. "I didn't! I haven't! Never have I known of that one! " Truth was in her eyes. She had no idea why he was snarling or sneering, or if it was at her or not. But it was upsetting, that is sure.

Somewhere else, far away, Someone else became...annoyed. Irritated. Worried. Oh, there. A flicker. Something. A bit of light had blazed for a tiny moment in front of Gem. Or was it on Gem' So quick, though, very likely missed.

Unless you were looming over her. But not being missed didn't mean it wasn't dismissed. Skid's patience began to wear thin. He'd been struck by lightning, after all. "Who was that?"

She looked up at Skid and shook her head. She didn't have a clue.

He wasn't looking at her when he hissed it.

Madoc took that bit of Faerie with him and so, Jack's wings did not remain past the snarl. He felt the glamour drop over him like a heavy coat of ribbons. He was looking at Skid and so missed the anomaly. "Madoc. Calls himself the Unseelie King...has thousand titles. He's a dick." It took longest for his eyes to settle. The single star in each eye seemed to fracture and divide and split into individual points of light against a dark background.

"Thank you." That's all he wanted. Then, he promptly lifted Gem up like one would a child, and set her atop a dumpster. With a strong, closed lid. "Don't touch them." The lower half of the mask began to unravel and pull back into itself, exposing the lower half of his jaw to her. "Don't make this weird." More of a disclaimer, he opened his jaw up and, well, let any kind of fluid within drool upon her feet. The saliva, you see, is almost like a balm. He's still in protect mode, and now the only thing to protect are the lower layers of Gem's feet.

She'd been gazing at Jack, watching him change, watching his eyes. And still his magnificence awed her, even as a Ribboned Man. Then she was lifted and put on the...oh, lovely, a trash bin. And then" Skid was drooling on her feet. She blinked, gave a squeal of some sort, stifled in her throat, consternation on her face. "...by the nine levels of Hell, Skid...!"

That wasn't weird at all. Not compared to some of the stuff that happened in Faerie. Jack looked back to where Madoc had come and gone, idly running fingers through the ribbons to straighten them out.

Skid started to carefully rub the saliva in.

Then the feeling hit and it was as if warm aloe was flowing over her feet. Pain eased, and she could relax. A breath puffed out of her, and she gazed at his face. Revelations. "Thank you, Skid." Then her eyes moved back to Jack. Moth to flame. Metal to magnet.

"The next time you summon me, try to give broader commands. My head gets fuzzy upon arrival." He wouldn't take thanks for anything regarding a coin. It was a right of the holder.

She was thinking hard. Very hard. Trying to recall any instance of Unseelie episodes in her life. Skid's words called her back. "Ohhh...oh, I see. I thought...it was like a call button. Something that shouted your name and you came and just...did what you always do. Assess and agress. I didn't know I had to tell you what to do. It's been a long time since you gave me the coin."

Jack rubbed his mouth with the back of his hand, also thinking. He supposed he would have to go to Faerie to ask Madoc what it was he wanted.

"You do now, don't you?" Gem caught a terribly rare thing in the little smile he afforded her. The mask began to close up as he finished applying the 'balm'.

Gemethyst

Date: 2014-08-09 15:29 EST
Deleted.

Nicholas Maddox

Date: 2014-08-09 15:32 EST
Deleted.

Gemethyst

Date: 2014-08-09 15:40 EST
((Color Key: Jack Scott in black, Benjamin Piers in blue, Lirenel in brown, Necromesh in dark red, Nicholas Maddox aka Madoc Morfryn in green, Desdenova VonTombs in orange, Gem in indigo, and Erevan Illesere in olive. ))

"Are you well?" Jack spun around, ribbons snapped out, and looked at Skid. Now he could note the changes in the Nightmare.

Skid stood up, and straightened out. "Oh, yes. That wasn't as bad as being struck by lightning from the sky."He may have forgotten about the new look in all the ruckus.

The thief smiled back at that little smile from the Nightmare, and then she looked over at the Crow. "How is he related to you, Jack" I mean....who is he to you? He called you "Knight?".

He gave the Nightmare careful study, even stepped closer while answering Gem. "I am the Knight of Ghosts and Shadows. Madoc wishes me to bend the knee and be part of his regime."

She nodded slowly. "But you aren't. Good. I don't like him." Her eyes moved to the other. "Skid, you are okay' Really and truly?"

]He leaned in and took a big whiff of Skid. Just to taste his scent.

"Is he someone that will need to be taken care of?" He ripped the bottom rung of fabric from his shirt, then ripped that in half. He began to wrap Gem's feet. "Because I'd like to eat his spine." He paused when he was questioned. "What' Yes. I was made to take a much worse beating than that and walk away." Nonchalantly. He smells of burnt ash and oak, and something else. Ozone and greed. Faint, but there. It hangs to the amethyst like a desperate ghost, trying not to fade away. Dragons are powerful things, even in death; even in pieces.

Gem was studying Skid even as Jack whiffed him. "You are beautiful, Skid. Did you know this" I love the amethyst addition. It smells of dragon, I think?" She knew dragon.

Jack's wide grin had teeth. He dared to touch a piece of amethyst. "When I unmake him, I will leave it behind for you."

Gem looked sharply at Jack, but she didn't say anything. Yet.

He grinned, and had the mask been more than vague with its reproduction, it would've looked sheepish and prideful. "A friend had just the pieces I was looking for to....Freshen up." His eye found Jack, and he spoke frankly. "If you desire my assistance with him again, open up by telling me to restrain him. He won't like it."

"Why shackle you at all with commands?" His grin remained, manic.

"Because the results you'll get with them will surprise you." His own grin twisted into something terrible. "And I love surprises."

She watched them both now, silent and aware that ...well. Aware.

"They do not." Stars danced in Jack's eyes.

Her feet were feeling much, much better, the horrible pain gone, the frozen feeling gone, and nothing loomed or threatened. Gem wasn't terribly happy with the garbage dumpster being her seat, as it stunk, but it was better than before, so she was fine with it. She took note of that information dropped by Jack.

"And you," he eyed Gem. "Should always wear boots."

She raised her brows at Jack. "Even with a dress?" The man had no fashion conscience!

"Especially with a dress." This from the Nightmare.

Jack nodded, agreeing with Skid, and besides, Jack was a man who wore ribbons all the time. Not the height of fashion, he.

Neither did Skid, apparently. She gave them both a very feminine scowl and crossed her arms, which nicely covered that little gleam of light coming from the region of her left breast again.

Gemethyst

Date: 2014-08-09 15:44 EST
((Color Key: Jack Scott in black, Benjamin Piers in blue, Lirenel in brown, Necromesh in dark red, Nicholas Maddox aka Madoc Morfryn in green, Desdenova VonTombs in orange, Gem in indigo, and Erevan Illesere in olive. ))

"Really, I don't know how I allow you to drag me into all your little messes, Gem." The voice was languid, the tone gently chiding, though one might could tell there was a faintly sinister capability to it. The Jack of the Seelie Court, the Trickster, the Changeling, etc., etc., ad nauseum, stepped out of -somewhere - and approached them. He was looking at Jack.

Jack narrowed his eyes. Was there something" Oh, there was something. He was growling again.

One long finger pointed lazily at Jack. "Don't I know you?" Amusement laced the tenor tones.

Skid's eye narrowed, and he stared at the new arrival. "You're popular today." To Gem.

"Hello, son." Jack eyed the man in green and brown leathers. A smirk chased the words that chased the growl.

The thief gasped and slipped off the garbage can to stand. She didn't go so far as to bow or kneel or prostrate herself. They didn't have the kind of relationship. Still, her voice was awed and respectful. "Erevan!"

Jack shed no glamour. This one didn't bring Faerie with him. Just trouble.

The blonde male laughed, and it seemed to echo in the alley, a merry sound indeed. He looked to be an elf, dressed as a huntsman, in green and brown leather armor with a bow at his back and arrows in a quiver behind him. One hand settled on the curve of his hip, and the other turned that pointing finger into a shaking one, back and forth, a gentle waggle. "Son, is it' Ahahahaa, that won't fly well with others of our get, but it works fine by me." He walked closer, eyeing the Nightmare as he did. He snuffled at the thing. "And whose creature might you be?"

Skid drew in a long breath when the man came closer, taking in everything he could about him, and smirked. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

Gem was clenching her hands together, worried, astonished, shocked. What a day for shocks! It wasn't often one saw one's God at all in one's life, and here she was...how many times was this now" She couldn't even remember, that's how many. "Erevan. He is Skid, and this is Jack and...and...what did you want?" Hesitantly asked. The last time he had wanted something she had been relifed and spat up through mud and ice, to naked awareness in a glen of bones. Faye's glen.

"I'd say it has to do with Madoc." Jack could add. A little.

Erevan began to answer Skid. "Well, yes, actually I wou..." He stopped to look over at Gem, quite as if he had forgotten why he was here. It was entirely possible he had. "Oh yes. You can't give it to him. If you do, all Hell will break loose in Faerie." Did that get Jack's attention"

"And here I thought that was going to be me." Jack stared at the godling.

Erevan smelled of honey mead, and cigarettes, and women and somehow of song. He smelled of chaos and laughter, and he reeked of self-will.

He smelled delicious. Skid listened to him.

He's only a demi-god, after all, probably on the same order as Jack himself. The Trickster grinned at Jack. "Well, you might, and in fact, I rather hope you do, because Madoc Morfryn has been making rather a pest of himself for some time now. Constantly sending missives, -love- missives to Titania." He scoffed and shook his head, the pointing hand going to his other hip, now akimbo arms jutted out and he looked faintly annoyed.

Jack chuffed.

Gem looked from one to the other of them, rather wildly. Gods and godlings, kings and deamons and she was....she was...oh, she needed a drink! And a cigarette or ten. "I don't..understand. I can't give him what?" Her voice plaintive. She was just a simple elf, after all. Mostly. Sort of.

The Changeling, as he was called by some, had the grace, amazingly, to look a tiny bit guilty. "Why, the teacup, of course." As if that should make all plain.

This sounded juicy. Skid took the seat on the dumpster that Gem had vacated.

Gemethyst

Date: 2014-08-09 15:47 EST
((Color Key: Jack Scott in black, Benjamin Piers in blue, Lirenel in brown, Necromesh in dark red, Nicholas Maddox aka Madoc Morfryn in green, Desdenova VonTombs in orange, Gem in indigo, and Erevan Illesere in olive. ))

He lit up a cigarette because he'd touched Faerie only moments ago, so there was afterglow. "Speak plain, son."

"The teacup." She looked lost for several long moments as her memory coiled and spiraled and ran backwards. Back. Back. Four long years back. And then she blinked. "But...I gave that to you, sir." Yes, he got a sir because he was her God, after all.

Jack was his own god.

A shake of Erevan's head was given and he again looked a trifle guilty. "No. No, well, yes, you did. But then I gave it back to you, only you don't remember. Yet. I needed it for Madoc to give me back my EFG, of course, but I couldn't really give it to that bastich. Just think what he would do with it!" His hands were thrown up into the air.

"EFG?" Jack watched the smoke rise while he listened.

Erevan looked over to Jack absently, his focus having been all on Gem. Stepping closer to the elfess, he answered Jack, but his gaze was back on the thief. "EFG. My Ever Full Goblet." His head tilted the side, as he studied Gem's face. "It is always full of the best Mead ever made." One hand reached out and slid down the side of her face. "I see the glamour still holds after all these years." This was whispered, though not so low that those paying attention wouldn't hear. He sounded proud of himself, rather than her. Naturally.

The thief let him do as he wanted, her gaze steady on his own. "You are saying you had me relifed so you could get your bloody drinking cup back???" Okay, remember Gem, not good to vent one's temper at one's God.

"Careful, son. She's mine now," he growled at that touch on Gem's cheek.

Skid was like a fourteen year-old girl listening to the latest gossip. Except a horrible monster.

Oh, so Skid's like Jack's daughter, only a nightmare.

And prettier, if you ask Skid. Nightmare aesthetics, and all.

So not prettier, if you ask Jack. But Skid has appeal.

That much is certain.

Instead of reacting with anger at her cursing and her question of him, Erevan looked rather delighted. "Ah, always a chaos magnet, aren't you, my dear?" His green green eyes moved over to Jack. "Is she" Is she really?" He laughed in genuine amusement. "Careful, son, not to reach for more than you can hold." Or remember. But he didn't say that. He had no interest in being cruel to Jack. At this particular moment anyway.

Gem stepped back a little, removing herself from the slide of that hand. She was very, very annoyed. "What is so damned important about a bloody teacup?"

He grit his teeth. These guys were trying hard to push his buttons. Woe be to them if he ever needed to Remember. "Son" was quite appropriate of Jack to call the cheeky elf godling.

The wind shifted, suddenly running back up the alley. A sea wind blew now, and it brought Gem's scent to the Godling. And yes, he is so very cheeky. His stock in trade, of course. He stepped close to Gem, very close. Intimately close, and he breathed her in. His eyes went wide and then he kissed her, quick as sin, as rough as chaos could be. Then he released her, and he dissipated into thin air, just as her hand came around to slap the snot out of him. His laugh hung on the air. And then words hung there instead. "Do not give Madoc the teacup."

Gemethyst

Date: 2014-08-09 15:49 EST
((Color Key: Jack Scott in black, Benjamin Piers in blue, Lirenel in brown, Necromesh in dark red, Nicholas Maddox aka Madoc Morfryn in green, Desdenova VonTombs in orange, Gem in indigo, and Erevan Illesere in olive. ))

Gem did indeed flail and struggle in that seconds long kiss, a fist aimed to box his ears for him missing its mark because he wasn't there, and so she went stumbling towards Jack, off balance. "Bloody...shite..!"

Jack caught her, spun her and wiped that kiss right off her lips with one of his own.

"I need to find Alain." Her voice was strained. However, this was cut off as Jack kissed Erevan off of her.

"Mine." He rumbled, when he finally let her breathe.

He was kicking his legs back and forth. Oh. Em. Gee. "I haven't seen Alain in years."

She gazed up at Jack, entranced all over again. Clinging to ribbons. "Hmm' " This was to Skid. Dazzled elf.

"Neither have I. What has he to do with this?" Jack wanted to know.

"Alain. You said you needed to find him' Get your mind off the inside of Jack's pants and get in the game, Gem. Serious stuff here." Clap, clap. Like a coach. He was snickering.

Jack grinned sly at Skid.

She blinked and then straightened, but her hands still stroked and smoothed ribbons. Impossible to resist, those ribbons. "Oh...right." She flushed a bit and focused. A look up to Jack. "Do you know him, then" Baron DeMuer" He is a friend...and he is the one that Erevan had me steal the teacup from him." She frowned in thought. "This means he may know something of it. I mean, he had it kept in a very well trapped area of his main business building, and that means he knew it had value. Right?"

"The Detective knows more than Men should." So, probably.

"Or he really liked it?" Jack had no idea.

She had to nod at Skid. "His information network beats my information network." Then laughed a little at Jack's comment. "No. No, Alain is not that kind of guy. To keep a thing like that guarded just because he liked it. A man with his eye on the main chance, is Alain."

"He absorbed most of my resources here after I left, last time." Skid offered. "He's sly."

"Mhm hmm." He had no idea. His network in Rhydin was no where as vast as it was in Faerie.

Gemethyst

Date: 2014-08-09 15:55 EST
((Color Key: Jack Scott in black, Benjamin Piers in blue, Lirenel in brown, Necromesh in dark red, Nicholas Maddox aka Madoc Morfryn in green, Desdenova VonTombs in orange, Gem in indigo, and Erevan Illesere in olive. ))

"Hey, Gem?" It was Skid's turn to get off track.

Gem's tended to be about commerce and what was going on in the city with slaves and such, that being a main part of her activities. The thief looked up from her abstracted thinking. "Yes, Skid?"

Jack's cigarette hadn't burned down. Amazing. He was kind of paying attention now. Much had happened. Plans had to be adjusted.

"Why did your boobs light up a couple of times earlier?", Skid asked.

Cue the jawdrop. "Wha........" Then a long silence. "Oh."

Jack glanced sideway at Skid, thoughts interrupted.

Oh, sure, naturally Jack would pay attention then.

Skid looked very curious, interested. And not pervy. So there was that.

He was pervy. And interested.

Yeah, but he didn't look pervy. Oh, wait, you meant Jack.

It applied to Skid too.

"Well. Ahem. See...a long time ago...I made a deal with Him. With Erevan. He...did something for me. I...did something for him. And then because he liked what I did so very much....he gave me a couple of other things. And one of those is this." She pulled aside the neckline of her dress to show the sigil that was inlaid gold within the flesh of the upper curve of her left breast. About four inches in diameter. Very pretty. 24 k gold. "It's...sort of a ..a nearness indicator and call button ...combined." There, simple explanation, her expression said. All done.

"Ah." He looked pervy after she said Erevan what she did so very much, but then he looked normal again in the end because she brought it around full-circle. So he forgot to make a joke. "So it's not a brand." Skid said akin to the relieved sort of 'phew' a person would release after finding out they were NOT in fact on fire.

She looked puzzled at the distinction. "No..no, it's not a brand."

"It is very much a brand." Jack's input. He blew smoke from what seemed an endlessly burning cigarette.

She looked over at Jack. "Oh. Well. In a way, I suppose, yes. But not the kind where you hold someone down and press a bar to their flesh and singe it away." She was staring at the cig now.

"It marks you as his."

"It's not a brand, Jack." She changed her mind. "It's a promise of future aid. It's..it's a coin." Nod at Skid.

"So you may command him?" Jack was persistent.

Gem went very still. Then her lips pursed a little. "Only if I did something for him first." Erevan was like that.

Jack noted that through the smoke. "So it's not a gift." Meaning it's not a coin.

"It's a contract."

"He's my deity." Gem had never questioned any of this before. She was starting to feel upset.

His starry gaze ticked to Skid and back to Gem. "Gods mark their followers in many ways."

The thief looked at the both of them, and her temper flared in her eyes. Who at was entirely uncertain. "He saved me from horrors you cannot know. He pulled the egg sacks of the spiders out from under my skin. He took me away from Lolth! He..he pissed on her altar for me." Desecration perfection! Then she slumped and leaned against the alley wall. "I know he did all that because he was very bored at the time and he nothing more fun to do." A little sigh. "I would like a cigarette like that one." Eyeing Jack's.

He handed it to her.

She took it, but then frowned. "I don't want to take yours from you."

Jack shrugged, ribbons sighed. "It's a cigarette."

"It's a gift." Skid qualified.

And so she just smoked it.

He grinned at Skid. Jack liked his Nightmare more and more.

Gemethyst

Date: 2014-08-09 15:58 EST
((Color Key: Jack Scott in black, Benjamin Piers in blue, Lirenel in brown, Necromesh in dark red, Nicholas Maddox aka Madoc Morfryn in green, Desdenova VonTombs in orange, Gem in indigo, and Erevan Illesere in olive. ))

Her lips quirked into a smile at Skid. He has a value few ever even guessed at. She whispered something to Skid.

He looked as though he'd been struck, then slid from the dumpster, walked right up to Gem, and kissed her right on the forehead. Then he sat on the ground and leaned against the Inn's wall.

Jack watched the exchange through a flare of flame set to cigarette.

A few other things were said that somehow were not captured by the universe.

And then Jack dipped her. Ribbons surrounding her.

Gem gasped and fell in love all over again. What woman did not loooove being dipped" Especially with ribbons. Cig hand kept well away from the ribbons, and the other clinging to them.

If you combined those things, you got dipped ribbons, or dibbed rippons, or ribbed....Anywho.

More things said that the universe missed. And so Gem smiled at both men and turned for the end of the alley. "I am going to change back into something more deadly. See you later Jack, Skid." Blew kisses to them.

Jack nodded, already back to thinking DEEP thoughts.

He could share them with her later"

But as Gem went, kisses blown all over him....he looked to Skid. "You are well?" He could share them with Gem but then he'd have to kill her.

"I am." Skid grinned faintly up at him. "I have a dueling tournament this evening."

"What is that?"

"The Duel of Fists." He elaborated, sliding on up. "It's martial combat judged for accuracy or form or something. I don't really know. I just hit people and get hit and it's terrible fun. Not the kind of combat I'm used to, but eh."

"Bloodsport. Hmm. Maybe I will watch."

"You should."

"I should? Hmm. Call me when the time is right and I will." He grinned and disappeared from sight.

"And so I shall." Skid snickered, and strolled on out of the alley, headed North.

Nicholas Maddox

Date: 2014-08-09 15:59 EST
In the Unseelie Court: Madoc Morfryn had made his plans, the three days before he would again confront the elf bitch going slowly for him. His threat to slay the one she loved most he fully meant to carry out, no matter if she gave him the sword or not. There were so many beings he could choose from for she was one who gave her heart freely. Though she was more than she at first appeared, still, she was nothing to One who would rule over Faerie. All his spies told him she had the Sword. She would give it to him, and then she would die for her perfidy. Madoc's thoughts slipped back, back to the day he had thought he'd won the Sword for himself, for the Unseelie, for Mab. And for Titania, who should be his. His plan to slay Oberon would release her to him, Madoc Morfryn, and when that day came, she would rue her petty affections for his brother. Once he had tamed her, she would make him a fit Queen, though in name only, for Mab would never relinquish her own power and position. His hands curled into fists as he remembered that day of unpleasant discovery, for it had meant the ruin of his plans, at least for the present.

In his sure arrogance that the God of Thieves would never dare to play a ruse upon him, Madoc had left the teacup he had been given by the Godling in its little box. He had felt the supposed power of the sword within, and so he'd left it alone, the illusion cast by the Trickster having worked its charm upon the Unseelie King.

Eventually, though, the day had come when he'd wanted to hold Al-Kanon, to taste its power, though he must wait to wield it. When he had held the cup in his hand he felt the tingle, the thrill of the great sword once again, as he expected. But - there was something wrong! His chagrin was huge when the teacup would not become the sword it really was, as the Fey willed it to do. It was only then that he knew he had been duped. It was only then, four years later, that the truth had been discovered. The teacup was an ordinary vessel with a glamour, an illusion set upon it. Erevan had played him for a fool. That slight would also be avenged, when he personally used the sword to bring Erevan Illesere to his knees.

A horn sounded, and the King looked up, his scowl flattened and then curved into a nasty grin. It was time for a Wild Hunt. This would nicely fill his time until he could wrest the real teacup from the hands of one not worthy to hold it. He stalked off, calling for his mount.

Gemethyst

Date: 2014-08-10 10:54 EST
((Color Key: Jack Scott in black, Benjamin Piers in blue, Lirenel in brown, Necromesh in dark red, Nicholas Maddox aka Madoc Morfryn in green, Desdenova VonTombs in orange, Gem in indigo, and Erevan Illesere in olive. ))

Having been heavily distracted all day long, having borne the feeling of waiting for the other shoe to drop since the encounter with Madoc, the elfess was not her usual self. She wasn't even laughing as she ran along the last rooftop one over from the inn. She came to a halt at the edge of the roof, and stared down into the alley. It wasn't the alley where Madoc had first appeared, but the one where Erevan had graced them with his presence. With a little sigh, she slithered down the drainpipe to land on her booted feet at the bottom. She hadn't seen Jack in some time, and she was starting to feel sorry for herself, something she viewed with impatience. She was giving herself a little pep talk as she walked with slow feet for the inn's back door. In her head.

Ever since the confrontation with Madoc, Gem had been dogged by crows. Not quite a murder. Just a couple who seemed to keep up with her wherever she went. Who would question a crow or two' Especially in RhyDin where blackbirds were a dime a dozen. The pair stayed on the roof and watched the tiny elfess work herself up. For what?

"What are you thinking, darling?" Came the Crow's voice, from over there. He leaned against the bricks, one knee up with his boot braced against the alley wall. He blew smoke in her direction.

Gem gave a little start, looking up, and yes, she had seen the crows. They gave her a ridiculously ....safe...feeling. As if Jack himself were there. As indeed, she felt he could be, if he were moved to aid her. Her gaze moved around, till she found him leaning against the bricks, the cloud of smoke disguising some of his features, the dimness of the twilit alley making it more effective. She smiled at him, and turned her steps there. "I was thinking...that Madoc would have a very hard time choosing."

"Who you care for the most?" He didn't move but the ribbons fixed to his coat did. Swaying to an unseen breeze. "I would think that would be one of your children."

"Yes. And yes. But I can't say that I love one over the other." She neared him, and with only a slim hesitation, she moved into him, her hands sliding about his waist, and her face tipping up to see him more clearly. Her fingers began to stroke those breeze-driven ribbons.

He took a hit from the cigarette and held the smoke while Gem settled in. He looked his usual self - sharp features and starry starry eyes.

One could fall into those eyes for a long time. She seemed disposed to, her smile bemused and her own half-lidded. 'How are you, Jack?"

He let the smoke free to the heavens before answering. His fingers cold against Gem's cheek. "Smashing."

"Are you guys gonna make out or what?" A lilting little question from a Nightmare, sat between two crows on a fire escape. "I can't clap until someone's down someone else's throat."

The crows took a look at Skid and then at the pair below, expectant. Jack grinned. It split his face and was full of teeth.

The thief felt that cold of his fingers, and she thought it might mean he had been to Faerie recently. The eyes had her, as did so many other things about Jack. Her sigh was soft and content, and she whispered to him, though not so quietly that only he might hear it. It was just a soft voice, really. "Starry starry night...." She heard Skid and chuckled, though her eyes remained on Jack for the moment. "...Paint your palette blue and gray...look out on a summer's day, with eyes that know the darkness in my soul..." She looked up, then. "Hello, Skid." Warm smile for him.

He clamped the cigarette in between his teeth. Still grinning, he swept Gem up into a silent polka in honor of the poetry. Ribbons all bouncy bouncy.

She gasped in delight as he danced her about, her laugh light and happy. The alley had never seen such doings! She bounced, the ribbons bounced...her laugh lit up the night.

"Good evening, good evening." He swung his feet and tail in time to the dancing, quiet as you please.

It was all quiet except for the stomp of feet. The Crow was a good leader and was light on his feet. He turned them around Skid and never came near that splendid tail.

She grinned at Skid under one of Jack's arms, as they whirled and spun, the tail seeming like a whip to her, dangerous, pretty, and sinuous.

Skid's tail was that and more, but for the moment it served as a pretty little pendulum, keeping time for the music that wasn't.

Dancing and spinning, Jack spun them faster and faster, kicking up a breeze, bringing out the barrell of fun.

Thankfully it wasn't a barrel of monkeys. Those never ended well. Skid would know!

Long as there were no monkeys with that barrel, it was all good! The elf could dance. She moved like silk on the wind in his hands, light and airy.

Skid and Gem are sympatico!

Jack liked monkeys. Monkeys were fun. Monkeys were chaos. The breeze was cold.

Was it' Skid didn't notice. He had problems realizing when it got cold.

It got colder suddenly.

Gemethyst

Date: 2014-08-10 10:59 EST
((Color Key: Jack Scott in black, Benjamin Piers in blue, Lirenel in brown, Necromesh in dark red, Nicholas Maddox aka Madoc Morfryn in green, Desdenova VonTombs in orange, Gem in indigo, and Erevan Illesere in olive. ))

"Shit," he said around the cigarette that still burned, bright and cherry, between his teeth.

In fact, it no longer smelled like a faintly stinking alley with maybe a drunk laying unconscious somewhere in it. It began to smell of autumn, drying leaves, endless death, and a cold, harsh wind swept over them.

"Sorry, darling. Piper's changing the tune."

"This song sucks." Skid dropped to the ground, light as a feather and quieter than the grave.

The crows cawed and cawed and flapped their wings, but did not fly away.

Gem felt the wind as it hit them, and having experienced it before, she pulled in a breath and her fingers curled into Jack's.

"He never could sing." So flippant. He spun Gem around once more and ended with her more or less behind him. Ribbons flapped in the Autumn wind.

The Daemon turned, and hunched his back a little. "I really hope he brought his spine this time."

She wanted to see, but she DIDN'T want to see Madoc, that was for sure. The thief huddled there where Jack had put her, her hands in her belt, seeking things.

He grinned. Had he stopped" The stars shined with mad light. He cawed. "Let's rip him apart and see." Because, his plans had gone to hell in a handbasket the moment Madoc had shown his ugly Faerie mug. May as well shut them down with violence.

And lo, there he was, a black pinpoint of darkness that grew suddenly and firmly, cold and chill. He was not stupid, though the Crow might think him so. He had not come alone. Jackals ripped and snorted at his feel, thigh high tall jackals, hungry, frothing at the mouth and fangs glistening with blood and saliva, drooling. He, oh, he was in his guise of the urbane man, Armani suit exquisitely fitted and shoes shining. Nails manicured. Dark hair and light eyes. His mug is not ugly, thank you. He's actually kinda cute. "Hello, children, hello. I have come to get my teacup. Or the life of one bairn." HIs smile was pure chaos.

Maybe to his dogs. Did he like dogs"

Gem hissed something very naughty in Drow behind Jack's back.

He had no idea what she was saying.

She should teach him.

"You don't drink tea, Madoc."

"I do, though. I can appreciate your situation." Neutrally. "But you threw lightning at me." His fists closed almost all the way, claws twitching against his palm every now and again.

Madoc, or in his unFaerie-guise, Nicholas Maddox, waved negligent fingers at Skid. He didn't even look at him. The jackals poured around him, making it seem there were at least 20 of the beasts, but a discerning eye might make it 10. Who knows, with the King of the Unseelie"

Unlike the last encounter with this Faerie Lord, Jack still wore his ribbons. Even this tiny touch of Faerie in an Alley didn't seem to trigger the loss of wretched glamour.

A sundering in reality, and splintering stepped from it, elegantly tall, clad in a dark and old fashioned suit. Black hair nearly as long as he caught in the run of winds like a shabby cloak. Pale, thin, a wisp of smile on his face, he stepped from shadow in silence. A shine of silver in deft, long fingers, there and gone. Not the cheerful little boy, no no. Adult and cold as the grave, though on his shoulder the very sun rode: a phoenix the size of a hawk. Desdenova stepped up behind this congress of jackals, a dark brow lifting at this ....really not that usual sight, was Jessica about' He stopped, however, head tilting, and with a touch to the claw of the phoenix, she flared out wings and light. A halo around his head.

Since the new arrival on the scene was down that way, towards Maddox and his hounds, and Gem was very definitely peeking from under Jack's arm, she saw Des, and surprise lit her features. "...Des? Is that....but you are not a boy now.." She was confused.

"Hey, look at that." He almost completely forgot what was going on when the firebird lit up.

Jack sniffed at the air laced with Winter but Autumn still. The new arrival a blur of light and shadow, mostly light. He squinted, pulling on the dreamscape. "Shiny."

Gemethyst

Date: 2014-08-10 11:05 EST
((Color Key: Jack Scott in black, Benjamin Piers in blue, Lirenel in brown, Necromesh in dark red, Nicholas Maddox aka Madoc Morfryn in green, Desdenova VonTombs in orange, Gem in indigo, and Erevan Illesere in olive. ))

Nicholas Maddox was growing annoyed. Another arrival behind him had part of his focus shifting, naturally enough, and a...a phoenix. Who under the suns had a phoenix ride their shoulder but a God" He stalked closer to Jack and his quarry, hiding there in ribbons. "I. Want. The teacup. Now. I don't plan to drink from it, Dreamer Lost, I intend to use it to slay Oberon. If you would but bend the knee to me, Jack, you would benefit, as well."

"Gemethyst, charmed, I'm sure," Des bowed, a sweep of body and black hair, though Charley remained lit and flapping a few times for her balance. "I was looking for you. I seem to have found you, yes. The little one is visiting Uncle Emrys, so, I am here." His voice was as she recalled, a depth of tone that he seemed too thin for. His grin, when it flashed, was acid and cobwebs, swift, stung with the ivory of his teeth. "Is there a problem?" He could become the problem, but he did have his manners.

"No one slays the Oberon but me." Jack reached out his hand, fingers splayed to ward off the Fae lord's advance.

Gem was enchanted by the phoenix, of course. It reminded her of one that she had seen with Sinjin Fai, and had watched it die, in fact. A sadness that was dual edged smote her heart, but she pushed it down. "Des...this is a dangerous place just now.." Gem had not a clue what Des could do or even what he might be. Other than split in twain, a younger and an elder. "You should flee, I think." However, what Jack was saying was interesting! She turned her gaze back to his...beribboned back. The Unseelie King was a patient man. He really was. As might be evidenced by the fact that he did not do anything to Jack when the Fey put his hand out as if that could stop him. "Always so selfish, Jack." It was a croon. "Elf wench - give me the cup and this will end. Otherwise one of your bairn's will die this night, and maybe even all of them. "He seemed to study Gem then, as if he could see right through the Crow.

Skid was completely lost, here, but it seemed pretty serious. He waited, hunched.

Jack's hand remained between him and Maddoc. Silvery dream stuff spinning around his fingertips. "You will die this night."

"You threaten the wrong people, sir," Desdenova remarked, idle, it would seem but with the lifting of his hand, he set the phoenix aloft. She screeled as she flew, swift, to bank and land on Gem's shoulder. Look closely, closer. It was the same bird Sinjin had shown her. "But do go on." His smile was razor thin and scalpel sharp, there, and gone.

The elf stepped enough outside of Jack's back to be able to see the Unseelie, though not out of his ribbons. Just enough to peer. "I don't have your bloody damned teacup. What is this" Erevan told me not to give it to you. You both seem to think I have it, but I DON'T! " She was shivering with fear for her children, her limbs seemed to be made of jello. But she could not give what she did not have.

Jack wore enough Winter to flinch from the bright bird that was suddenly there.

Skid looked at Gem, and then back at the Faerie. He waged a silent war to keep from cracking a joke about jumping guns. The battle was grueling.

Jack would have liked to have heard the joke.

Something in her words caused the Unseelie to narrow his gaze, to bring arrested thought, but whatever thought was percolating was interrupted by Jack's whirley silvery stuff. Maddox knew he did not want to tangle with that. And then the phoenix was on the elf bitch's shoulder. The voice from the Unknown behind him came, and the silence of the Nightmare was not a weak force, not at all. Too many here had power, and too many an unknown quantity. His arm swept in a circle, and full on winter was splashed outward, both forward and behind. The phoenix and the Crow first targets he aimed for, with Skid and the Unknown behind a second, later wave heading for each one. Ice, a wall of it, to shatter and stab with jagged egdes. If the elf didn't back up, she would be in range, too. The Unseelie laughed, meanwhile, as one insane. "You have it. You just don't know you have it. Oh, Erevan, you will soon feel my wrath!" This bawled out and up, to fling itself into the skies and find the bane of his court.

"I'm just here to rattle a few cages, m'Lord," Smoothly pantherine, Des" voice, his tread, walking a berth around the jackals, hands fussing with his cuffs. "But I am certainly not adverse to violence....Charley!" His voice cracked like a whip: Charley screamed defiance and blazed, leaping up on a few wingbeats. Desdenova hissed a word of power, palm thrust forward with a ghostly rune writing from it, this should shatter the ice wall to cubes.

The elf saw that wall of ice and cold spinning towards them, and she could only think to protect Jack, then. She shoved at him, with all her small weight and strength, trying to move him from its path.

The Nightmare wasted no time. The mask tore along the line of his mouth, a terrible thing that went full across his face, and revealed things the universe will not easily record knowledge of. The chemical jets from his throat hit one another and the white-hot flame veritably exploded against the wall of cold.

Jack was no weather warlock. Dreamstuff could not hold back the onslaught of ice. But Jack knew words and he remembered one. He opened his mouth to speak it. "Hngghh."

Did Gem mess that up?

That was not the word. He'd gotten hipchecked by Gem and stumbled, tripping over his feet.

Yeeeep.

Such a smooth team. Work together well they do.

Good thing they'd brought Skid, or they would've worried each other to death right there.

"...Remind me to smack the pretty off of you, Gem," Desdenova noted, drolly. Charley beat her wings a few times, a hot summer day after a freak cold snap.

Gemethyst

Date: 2014-08-10 11:10 EST
((Color Key: Jack Scott in black, Benjamin Piers in blue, Lirenel in brown, Necromesh in dark red, Nicholas Maddox aka Madoc Morfryn in green, Desdenova VonTombs in orange, Gem in indigo, and Erevan Illesere in olive. ))

Jack slid on an ice cube or chemical spill. Whatever it was, he slid off into an alley wall. Thud. He skidded!

Har har. His mouth closed back up like it was supposed to, and the mask started to reweave when Jack hit the wall. "Whoops."

She heard Des, and then she realized she had muffed up what Jack had been doing, and indeed, had downed him! The thief sighed and shook her head, turning to look back at Maddox...

If the Unseelie King could have then pinched at the bridge of his nose, he would have, for such powers were not what he wanted or was equipped to deal with this night. He needed only the elf, and then only her hidden treasure. The elf, who was now standing alone and undefended. Madoc grinned an ugly grin"

Gem, staring at that grinning face, reacted without thinking..again...and flung a brace of daggers from each hand towards the King.

Madoc simply pointed, and beam of icy light shot towards her. Ruin his ice walls" Feel the teeth of his jackals, gentlemen! Five were on Des and his phoenix if they could reach her. Five more were on Skid. Five more or so made for Jack. Five more stayed to guard the King's back. He, however, was busy dealing with blades slung with unerring aim at his throat and eyes. This made his beam hit the wall behind the elf rather than her, and so instead of paralyzing her working on her as he wished, and thus keeping her helpless for him till he had questioned her to his satisfaction, it merely splattered her with the edge of the spell, the memory trap deflected but evoked, nonetheless. He bounced off the wall and came face to face with his brethren. Jackals were coyote kin after all. He snarled and with a shimmer of stars, not sparkles...stars...get that right. stars....became a coyote and leapt at the nearest throat.

The Phoenix dropped down over Gem, a fiery ball of sunshine. Desdenova, a flick of his wrist sent two scalpels flying for the open mouths of two of the jackals, he smoothly drew a small silverplated Colt revolver - because scalpels would only slow the beasts down. He fired into the creatures heads, speaking a spell with each fired bullet, increasing the mass and destruction of each bullet. One, two, three, four, five....And he sent the sixth bullet towards Maddox. Aiming for the head, of course, because what does he look like, a cop"

The Nightmare grinned, and his scales bristled just long enough before he was hit to let him ignite. The Daemon, clad in blue flame, did what he'd evolved to do. Kill things. One Jackal at least had the peeled back stinger bone in the tip of his tail leading for a jab in the throat. The rest, he was trying to eat them. This is why Jack doesn't duel. He's got no real martial skills. Just playing with his dogs. Yeah. Barkyipgrowl snap.

Possibly, just as Jack was not a regular Coyote, nor were these regular Jackals. They were awfully big for those denizens of the wilds. The one that Jack tangled with was not his match for strength or even sheer ferocity, and so he whined as Jack's teeth got him around the throat, his feet slipping and sliding on the ice-strewn pavement. The other four snapped and bit at Jack.

Meanwhile Gem, too, dragged out her guns, and began to fire at the four on Jack that he had not engaged. She was a good shot...but she could not get a good bead on two of the jackals closest to Jack, not without possibly hitting him.

The five on Des did not exist to trouble him for long, unless he counted massive exploded raw flesh and bone, with hot blood to be trouble. Skid's faire did not like his way of fighting, either, and one took off howling and yelping, one fell at his feet, dead, and the others...he ate. Nicholas was not a happy Unseelie, as he strode forward for the elf and found himself facing a Phoenix. His curses hurt the ears that heard them. He grimaced and flung his hand out again, basely taking the easy way out. There was no longer purpose in getting the elf, not when she didn't know what she had. No, he would let the spell do its work, and then find her again soon. When she was finally alone. His hands gestured and the whirl of white vapor tinged in red appeared. The King strode into it and then he was gone, casually leaving his jackals to die behind him. At least he contributed! The coyote ripped the jackal's throat with a chomp, a twist and a tear before the other two were on him.

Oh, he contributed. The other two leapt for him, jaws wide, teeth long and deadly, one aiming for his hind leg to lame him, and the other went for Jack's throat if he could get in there.

Charley was one bad fireball birdie. She screeched and keened after the escapee, but did not follow. She remained with Gem. Desdenova glanced to Skid, ever polite, and indicated the remaining brutes. "Dinner. Who is the coyote" He doesn't smell like a bruja." Speaking, he did, to Skid as a friend. Nightmares, yes yes.

An unearthly growl reverberated through the alley as he reared back from his meal when questioned by Desdenova. His prizes already cooking and dead, he dove for another from Jack's set. His scales flattened out, and the flames sputtered and died as he went for its spine. Mask torn and gaping wide, showing again those things the universe did not like to record.

She would have totally preened and adored the phoenix, but her Jack was in trouble! She weighed in, going for the jackal that was trying to lame Jack. She leapt atop him and whipped her dagger holding hand...now her guns were holstered...around the beast's throat, trying to slice deep enough to hit an artery.

There was growling and twisting and spinning and Nightmares and Solaces. And blood. So much blood. The coyote'd been knocked to the alley cobbles, covered in so much blood.

The young mage was impressed as hell with Skid's artistry in destruction.

Elf blood, Coyote blood" Certainly Jackal blood. The remaining of the Jackals were desiccated by Skid, and Gem fell back from the Jackal she fought, as it collapsed, spurting from the neck. "Jack" Jack, are you alright?" Forgetting the Coyote did not talk, she crawled forward over body parts to get to him.

Skid currently had enough gore going on to get him in trouble with some higher power for a detailed description. He would've been flattered.

The coyote panted as it lay in the alley. Hard to tell if any of that blood was his.

Gemethyst

Date: 2014-08-10 11:39 EST
((Color Key: Jack Scott in black, Benjamin Piers in blue, Lirenel in brown, Necromesh in dark red, Nicholas Maddox aka Madoc Morfryn in green, Desdenova VonTombs in orange, Gem in indigo, and Erevan Illesere in olive. ))

Des snapped off a few destructive spells on anything jackal that was still moving as he waded through the carnage, stepping after Gem. Charley alit on a barrel and shone sunshine. "I suppose it would be silly to ask what is going on. But what is going on' Can the coyote heal himself, or be healed?"

"R's Feh." Skid's mouth was full. "Nrds feh, thnk." Crunch, crunch, crunch.

The two crows cawed at the firebird. They had been great help, rooting the fight on.

"I don't know if he is hurt but heal him if he is, Des, yes" Can you? And what?s going on is a damned confusion to me. Some Unseelie King wants my teacup. A teacup I don't think I ha....." She suddenly paused in thought. Also, she totally did not get what Skid was trying to say.

Crunch, crunch, crunch. The ridge over his eye went up at Gem. Swallow, annnnd, "Doesn't he need someone....Nature-y to do that' Also, you paused mid-sentence." Because she didn't know. The mask had rewoven itself, and he headed for the one pristine Jackal lying on the ground, perfectly still, to heft up over a shoulder.

Charley preened. She was a diva. Nodding, he knelt beside the panting coyote, offering his hand for the smelling. He smelled of graveyard dirt, of sage and roses, of ashes and life alike. He was an odd juxtiposition. "Calm, Old One. May I heal you?" he inquired, formally, as he was required.

Gem helped clear away any body parts that littered Jack, to see if he was hurt, ready to assist if possible, but her mind was ticking over a ...thought.

"Hey, I'm gonna keep this one. Is that cool?" He didn't know why he was asking, let alone why he was asking Gem. "I am nature-y, I even grow my own zombies," he retorted to Skid, humor lilting in his voice.

A tawny colored eye regarded the mage that smelled of everything. It growled as it tried to rise.

"Point taken." Skid commented.

The thief looked over at Skid, her eyes taking in the one that was just laying there, the jackal apparently unharmed. "What did you do to him' Is he dead" Or are you just too full to finish him off?" But then Jack was growling, and she looked back to him. "Oh, he is hurt...I don't think he can get up..?" "Does he know my young self or my sister or Mother?" he asked, because yes, he knew well he was a strange being, a veritable creature of the night, and coyotes were well known to be paranoid. He allowed the coyote to move, but didn't put his hands onto the creature. He must be invited in, yes yes. "Save of the teeth for me, please, my wife will adore them."

"Hm?" Skid looked at the jackal for a second, lolled over his narrow shoulder and supported by a willowy, too-long arm. "Oh, he's fine. I just stung him. He might still be alive, but it might've been too much for him. I wasn't really being careful." His tail curved around to point up, and the three two-inch long scales making up the tip opened like a flower, and the last bone in his tail was pushed up, coated in something shiny and wet and with a burning scent. Gem started to answer that question from Des, but then had a very confused, whirling sensation of memory that wasn't, of Pharl and Jack...Jack laying much as he was now, on the ground. Her mouth open and nothing coming out, she looked poleaxed.

The coyote heaved itself up onto three legs.

The tail, though, it pulled her out of that funk. Whoa. And then Jack was up! "Jack!" She smiled at him with relief. "Gemethyst - here, Now." Des spoke it as if was a spell, snapping fingers lightly before her nose, but Jack worked better.

"Oohh..wait...his leg...?" She didn't know what was best to do.

Almost as quick as it had come out, the bone retracted and the scales shut tight. He watched the coyote. "Need a lift?" "I can't do anything unless he allows it,", like the fae, Des had laws and rules he had to live by. Or die by. "I do have some healing potions." She nodded, studying the Crow who was now Coyote. It seemed awful unfair that they all were unscathed and he couldn't put weight on on leg. Coyote always takes his lumps. It yipped at them all and started limp-trotting away.

She'd had a feeling. The thief rose to her feet, looking suddenly very sad. "I don't think he can understand when he is like this," she offered.

So, of course, he did reach into his suit jacket, withdrawing a few packets that he handed over to Gem. If he couldn't use them, Gem certainly could.

Hey, he got struck by lightning last time. Madoc was just lazy this time. "Is he mad?"

"He's probably disgusted." She meant with herself. "I think he is going to do what ...coyotes do in this kind of time." She looked up at Des, smiled and took the packets."How kind of you, thank you." Her gaze moved to Skid. "I ...I rather think he is. "

Then words were said and things thought, misunderstood, offense taken, and Skid departed with no further comment. The shine of the night dimmed.

"Eat grass, poop, pee on everything that's his?"Des had a pretty good idea.

She looked back at the coyote, and then she smiled again at the others. "I am going to follow for a ways...see if he becomes Jack again. " Des made her smile again. "I think w....yes, what Skid says." Gem put the packets away as she began to trot off after Jack. "I will see you later, Skid. Des, too long it has been. Like to spend more time with you, man."

He knew more than he said, but really, hadn't a clue what the relationship dynamics were. His brow quirked. "Well, I've rather the running record of offending people here without realizing. I do apologise." It was sincere, despite his ignorance of certain matters. "I will eventually fullfil my geis here for you, Gemethyst. Try not to die, yes." She nodded quietly at Des, her eyes returning to the lookout for Jack. "I will try. Yes. I don't know what your geis is, but I think it myself that offended, and not you." One shoulder lifted in a little shrug, entirely pathetic, and she set off to track a coyote. "You stay safe, too, Des." "A cup is not always a cup, Gem," he added as he turned to walk back into the rift. Reality shivered and he was gone. "Heh. How true." Now alone. Alone again. The night swallowed her up.

Gemethyst

Date: 2014-08-10 11:52 EST
(( The following scenes occur at Benjamin Piers house. Color Key: Jack Scott in black, Benjamin Piers in blue, Lirenel in brown, Necromesh in dark red, Nicholas Maddox aka Madoc Morfryn in green, Desdenova VonTombs in orange, Gem in indigo, and Erevan Illesere in olive. ))

The coyote led Gem on a merry blood trail. The back right leg dragged more and more as it three-legged it to Benjamin's little homestead.

She was getting closer...closer...and the both of them smelled like Faerie. Jack Coyote had missed that. But Gem did smell of Faerie.

Star and Lirenel's horse were guarding the property with a crow or ....twenty. Benjamin was wrapped in a sheet, finishing whatever Lirenel had made for him. Jack was announced by horse and crow.

There were so many crows right now. The coyote was covered in blood. Gore too.

Jackals from Faerie gore. And blood. And maybe some ice cubes in his fur. Ice cubes do that.

The blood that had been Bens was cleaned up. It would only be Jack tracking in yuck. Benjamin looked up as he heard the chorus, and then to Lirenel. "...Jack, I think." And then he went to take a shower....he'd be back in a few moments.

Ah, so tempting....but no, Lirenel carried the dishes to the kitchen and went to the door to meet the arrival.

Those probably melted but by the time the coyote dragged its sorry carcass past the horses and the crows, he was shivering.

On his way, Lirenel grabbed up a blanket. Then he went out the front door to meet the coyote. Without a word, he wrapped the blanket around him and swept him up into his arms.

The coyote whined and got sticky blood all over Lir. Gem was somewhere behind him. The coyote looked back to see if she was there.

Lirenel stood, waiting, his eyes ruby red where usually they were golden-brown. Rimmed in red as well, though his tears had ended.

She was there. Emerging from shadows as if spawned by them.

Lir's lips quirked up at the corners and he lent her his elbow if she needed it.

The coyote licked Lir's cheek.

Gem was faintly glowing. Rather as if faerie fire lit her up, though it was not the Drow spell. She took Lir's elbow and smiled tiredly at him. "I think....I might know where I ...where I have a teacup." Which likely made no sense at all.

His eyes closed for the lick and then opened again and he carried JackCoyote inside. "Teacups are hard to come by." It sounded like spy code!

Gem looked at him as if he might be crazy.

"Just making conversation. Are you hurt, Gem?" Through the house right into Benji's bedroom. He deposited the Coyote, blanket and all.

"Do you think you can heal Jack, Lir" Do you heal?" An anxious Gem was bouncing around Lir like a terrier.

"Why didn't you call for me," Lirenel he scolded Jack and blinked at Gem. "I do. I can. I hope."

Upon examination, one might find the coyote had been hamstrung neatly. Professionally. By a dog of some sort. So glad he was in the shower. Benjamin emerged, drying dark hair with a towel, wearing soft light blue yoga-pants. He followed them into the bedroom and winced as he saw the mess of coyote. "Jack" Gem' Oh, ....peanuts." "Me" No. Well. I think I got hit with a spell, at least a little reflected off me." She was gazing at Jack as she felt around in one of her pouches. "Oh, good." Her gaze lifted to Lir's, brilliant and sparkling."Ben!"

One of the problems of having no true god-gods was a lack of religious invective. Ben felt the loss in that moment. Lirenel looked at Ben over Gem's head (not too hard!) and bafflement loitered on his brow.

The coyote gave Lir serious puppy dog eyes at being scolded. "What happened?" Benjamin turned to give Gem a warm hug, and a bit rudely moved her a few moments later to get into the closet. "...I ran out of bad words," he explained to Lir, green eyes wide.

Fingers probed the Coyote's leg. "Don't look at me like that," he murmured. "I already love you."

"Oh, he's so adorable when he does that." She had clasped her hands together at her chest, gazing at Jack's puppydog eyes.

Aye, the coyote was adorable. Fur thick with gore and turned rust with blood (thank you Skid). Voila. He pulled down an electric blanket, a lovely heavy flannel one. He spread that over the coyote, and leaned over to plug it in.

"What kind of spell hit you?" He asked Gem as he poked and prodded, looking for the damage. Purple and gold light came to life in his hands as he murmured soft Erassi words. The elf didn't mind being moved. She was moved far too easily, alas! Ben's questioned was the signal for guilt to slide over her face. "It was my fault. Again."

And oh, that was warm. The coyote yipped and lay its head on its front paws. "I am not sure what Madoc used. Something...something that ...it seems to clear my thoughts." Not that they could tell, considering how she was babbling from one thing to another.

Gemethyst

Date: 2014-08-10 12:13 EST
((Color Key: Jack Scott in black, Benjamin Piers in blue, Lirenel in brown, Necromesh in dark red, Nicholas Maddox aka Madoc Morfryn in green, Desdenova VonTombs in orange, Gem in indigo, and Erevan Illesere in olive. ))

"Oh." Ben climbed onto the bed and curled alongside Jack, watching Lirenel's hands, listening to his speak the elvish words and nearly swooning. Nice and toasty for Jack!

Yes, hearing Lir do that was....well. Disturbing. On so many levels for the elfess. She was staring at Mr. Deadly Handsome. "I wonder if it didn't all start with Omnisu..."She looked away, as one in a dream, then. "Who's Maddog" An Englisman?"

The coyote was so cold and the blanket and Benji were warm. If only...it tried to sit up and twist so it could lick at the savage tears that ruined its leg. Jack's movements pulled her back. Amethyst laid a good look on that poor leg and she gave a little cry, her hands going to her mouth to stifle it. "Omni Sue?" He locked an arm around the coyote's neck and pulled him from the licking. "I've got a collar in the shed, Jack!" He didn't mean the sort he used on Star, either. The giant dog head funnel sort.

Coyote takes his lumps. And it struggled a little. Canine saliva was antiseptic! But it was too tired, too cold to really put up a fight.

"Lay down, Lirenel's going to fix it, I promise," Ben's voice was soothing, and petting, wrapping the blanket the chilled animal, "Then I'll bring you some liniment to warm up your insides."

The fight. The fight. The alley. Yes. She struggled to give them information that was important. "They were Jackals, Lir. From Faerie." And how did she know that' "They bit him and there were a hundred of them." Okay, maybe 20. "He got one by the throat...and Madoc was using ice walls again. "

The coyote whined some more. Woe is me. This is warm. It hurts and eventually closed its eyes and lay against Benji.

He listened as he worked. His lip curled at the thought of the Jackals. The magical lightshow should help with the pain. He bent closer and purple and gold surrounded his face and Jack's leg. Gem fell silent as she watched the kindred work on Jack, watched the lights and she wondered if this would hurt Lir. Benjamin watched, intent, every movement Lirenel made, though he knew already, the power that moved through him would have its own outlet and call. Still the discipline to manage the spells was well worth learning. It was nice of Gem to leave out how he was saved by Gem and Skid. And some guy shooting bullets. Who was that guy' The coyote whimpered and shivered and tried to get up because the rapid healing felt WEIRD. Jack got his Badass on the other night. "Shhh, it's okay, it's okay," Ben whispered, petting over the coyote face delicately. "Toss you in a nice hot bath next."

Gem saved him' Noooo, Gem put him at greater risk! As it seemed she kept doing and doing and doing! Her hands wrung before her, knuckles showing white as she recalled the scene.

The rapid healing would feel weird, but at least he didn't lick his fingers and slap everything all at once!

Hey, don't dis the Faerie heals.

Gem actually wouldn't mind if Lir DID lick his fingers. They were damned sexy fingers.

Red blended with purple and gold as Lir straightened up. Threaded through, bound skin and drew muscle back together. They were, actually. They played the magic like a harp, though not nearly as annoying.

"Wow," he whispered, almost half-laying on the coyote to hold him still for Lir.

Gem was with Ben on this. Wow. She was watching Lir and Jack, Lir and Jack. Getting dizzy.

The coyote snapped and struggled still, but couldn't make it free of the Benji blanket.

A faint sheen stood out on Lirenel's forehead giving him a blush.

"~I saw a werewolf with a Chinese menu in his hand, walking through the streets of Soho in the rain..~" Ben sang softly into a furry ear. It was the best he could come up with, he'd had a rough few days!

That gave the coyote pause. Amethysts flicked to Ben as he sang, and she slowly sank down at the side of the bed. Small and quiet, and pretty easy to overlook. She meant it to be so.

Gemethyst

Date: 2014-08-10 12:23 EST
((Color Key: Jack Scott in black, Benjamin Piers in blue, Lirenel in brown, Necromesh in dark red, Nicholas Maddox aka Madoc Morfryn in green, Desdenova VonTombs in orange, Gem in indigo, and Erevan Illesere in olive. ))

The coyote pricked its ear.

"~He was lookin' for the place called Lee Ho Fooks. Gonna get a big dish of beef chow mein. Aroooo, werewolves of London. Aroooo.....Aroooo....werewolves of London. Aroooo...~"

The coyote actually snorted.

He started to laugh, pressing his head to Jack's. "Sorry, it was all I could think of."

"These are deep, damn jackals," Lirenel he soothed skin over the wounds and bent down again as if to kiss them. Or so it seemed.

Yipyipyip. It panted. The "kisses" prompting a shimmering around the coyote's body...stars! Not sparkles. Stars shimmered and left behind the scarecrow. "Yipyipyip." He spoke.

Warren Zevon has interesting effects on some people. He peered at Jack but didn't notice the light show. "What's that Jack" Gem fell into the well?" A crooked grin.

From fur and blood to flesh and blood. Lirenel looked up tongue to leg and *zip* away went the tongue and "ahem" he said. She smiled when she noted the stars. Their Jack would not sparkle, not ever. Pardon the elf. She gave a soft laugh.

"Gods teeth. What tha...," he stammered. He felt like he'd gotten stampeded by a herd of elephants. "Gem...where...where is she?" Last the scarecrow saw Madoc had shot some sort of magic bolt from his fingers. Red vanished, Purple and gold drifted away.

"She's right here," Ben soothed, shifting to let Jack up and at Gem.

They were Jackals! And a hundred of them! Gem would swear it. "I'm here." She was sparkling, though only faintly. She had no great claim to be beyond sparkles.

Lirenel pulled a lace edged burgundy handkerchief from a pocket and blotted his forehead.

Gem crawled up the side of the bed and looked with huge, worried eyes at Jack. "I'm so sorry. I will try really, really, really hard to never push you out of the way again."

"What...how.....what is wrong with my leg?" It was healed, but it felt weird and his denims were ruined. He shuddered. "Why are you sparkling?"

"Otherwise Des will slap the pretty off me. He said so." She gave a soft laugh, for Jack would be alright. Yes" She looked at Lir, the question on her face.

Benjamin smiled to Lirenel, holding a hand out to the elf. "Thank you," he murmured. Slipping from the bed to wrap his arms around the elf. And once she knew he was alright she could get to thinking. She needed to think. She really needed to..."Thank you, Lir." Following Ben's example. Easy, so easy to hold Ben. He cupped the back of his head. "No need, no need," Lir murmured. "This is our Jack."

Jack flopped back on the bed. Why was he so tired" He never got tired. Ever.

Gem saw Lir was busy with Ben, and Jack was flopping. She moved next to him and curled up beside him, careful not to jostle his leg. One hand slid to find his chest. "Am I?" That was to Jack.

"Who is this Murdoc, Maddoc....Marmoset' Again?"

"Maddog."

"Madoc. He is King of the Unseelie Court. I looked him up." As she nuzzled close to Jack.

"Are you what, darling?" Marmoset' He cawed out, tired laughter. "You know him Lirenel. *The* Unseelie king. The asshole. Wants Gem's teacups." Euphemism"

Ben kissed Lir's cheek and slipped away, turning to walk to the kitchen. He fetched a jar of the liniment - now with a snazzy lable reading 'Star's Old Fashioned Sippin' Liniment', and brought it back to his bedroom. "Those aren't tea cups, those are like....F cups."

Gem lay there and just smiled. What lovely company she was in. She didn't even care about the mention of her mammary matter. In fact it sort of made her feel good. How unusual!

"Oh, him." Lir scoffed. How did he catch the Crow so off guard and why was Jack so tired"

"Am I sparkling." Answering Jack. She was, but only a tiny bit. If one looked a little to the side. It seemed to be mostly around her head. A nimbus. The mention of the teacup subject, though, that had her frowning and her eyes locked on the ceiling as finally, finally, she felt her mind move off,at speed.

Ben opened the jar and took a drink. He offered it to Lirenel. Herbal moonshine, it smelled of mint and thyme.

"You are...glowing." Jack frowned, squinting at her.

But Gem wasn't hearing any of them. The years rolled back. She was...she was.....dead. The elf stopped breathing. Her eyes fluttered closed. She was utterly still.

Lirenel frowned. He took away the icky blanket and got towels and clean stuff from the bath to clean off any residuals before he dug up another blanket suuuuumwhere.

"Oh shit." He sat up. Wide awake now.

Gemethyst

Date: 2014-08-10 12:47 EST
((Color Key: Jack Scott in black, Benjamin Piers in blue, Lirenel in brown, Necromesh in dark red, Nicholas Maddox aka Madoc Morfryn in green, Desdenova VonTombs in orange, Gem in indigo, and Erevan Illesere in olive. ))

Limbo. She knew it again.

Laying the blanket at that moment, he heard Jack and —yeah he did—looked at Gem's chest. No heaving bosom. Limbo: Erevan's demesne for his dead worshippers. The elf finally asked herself, "Why the hell did I pick a God who is so damned fickle and who has stupid limbo as a reward for his worshippers?" But she was dead so how was she thinking this"

He shook her with cold fingers because damn, he couldn't bring the dead to life. "Gemethyst." Her name spoken harsh.

Just after Jack shook her, the sparkling suddenly burst into clear sight, a kalaidescope of color. The thief's eyes opened. And time then moved forward for her. She was alive again. Still staring at the ceiling. "......" Lirenel just stared. Ben took a lot deeper drink of that 'shine. His hand shook, but he didn't notice or care. His eyes were like saucers.

Several minutes passed.

"....." Jack's eyes were full of very confused stars.

"I remember." She turned her head to look at Jack. "I stabbed you in the thigh. And you saved Sid. Artsblood...she slew the White dragon."

Ben offered Lirenel the moonshine again.

Gem frowned."I seem...to have gotten stabbed by a fork in the ass."

He narrowed those starry eyes. "The White Dragon was a dream."

"I was about to ask Benji to zap you," Lirenel gestured weakly to the wide-eyed actor, taking the 'shine as Ben put it in his hand. And he drank deep. She looked back at Jack, and fear lurked in her eyes. She couldn't remember why. "Yes. Yes, it was just a dream." Then she looked over at Lir and Ben. "Thank you. I remember now."

Welcome to Ben's house of confusion.

Gem sat up. Just that fast.

Benjamin's name means "always confused" in ancient RhyDinese.

He pulled back. Not as fast.

Her hand reached into her Bag of Holding"and came out with a teacup. It was a pretty thing, fragile and frail looking. Gem squinted at it as it lay in the palm of her hand.

Lirenel blinked. "That's ....good."

He got that feeling he got when Sid went to the loo during one of her shifts. Dread.

Well, there ARE evil gnomes in the men's bathroom. Gem knows it. Tara told her.

Ben took the jar and handed it to Jack once Lir had his drink.

"Maddoc wanted a teacup our darling here was certain she didn't have." He took the jar and drank deep. VERY deep.

"What is so special about this teacup?"

"...He must be English." muttering. Ben turned and went to fetch another jar of the liniment. Lir climbed up onto the bed —it's big, right"—to get a better look. Jack would make room."Tell us, darling." He ordered Gem. "What is so special about this cup."

Gem looked at each one of them, and then slowly back to the teacup. When Lir drew close, there was a tiny moment of wavering in the edges of the thing. Perhaps because its owner was not thinking "teacup".

It was a king sized bed, and the bedding needed changing by that point, but what?s a little blood, dirt, and coyote fur among friends? Also, a toasty warm electric blanket. "Well....Erevan wanted something that was stolen from him. I now recall...it was something Madoc arranged to have stolen. Erevan wanted his EFG...his Ever Full Goblet back. It has Mead in it, always." She added by way of explanation. Lirenel had done the best he could with the blanket removal and swapping and towel wiping and all.

He had dibs on that...oh wait....the blanket kind of sputters and smokes.

Damnit Jack!

The sparkles were still there, but fading in the faint aura around Gem's head. On her journey back through memory's time. "He ..." She paused as the blanket died.

Lirenel pulled the plug before it caught fire. Just in case.

Ben returned in time to see the demise of the electric blanket. Gah! Drink! He set the jar down and helped Lir with the bedding, cheerfully shoving Gem and Jack about to get everything nice. Then clambered onto the bed, too.

"...right. So Erevan..he needed a thief who could get where this little cup was hiding in Alain's, the Baron of DeMeur's special concealed treasure room. He couldn't go there because there was some new trade and restriction agreement between the Seelie and the Unseelie Court, a sort of no messing with Rhydin kind of rule."

Glamour did away with the left over gore and blood on Jack. He shivered while he listened.

Gemethyst

Date: 2014-08-10 13:06 EST
((Color Key: Jack Scott in black, Benjamin Piers in blue, Lirenel in brown, Necromesh in dark red, Nicholas Maddox aka Madoc Morfryn in green, Desdenova VonTombs in orange, Gem in indigo, and Erevan Illesere in olive. ))

Gem let herself be manipulated and shoved quite contentedly. Her head hurt. "And so he re-lifed me because he likes me better alive than dead, and because he needed a good thief." She looked around the circle. "Oh. Uh. I'm a thief, guys."

There was a shocking revelation. Her head hurt because there were sparkles all around it.

Gem on Jack's side was warm. Lir was not so warm, so he gestured to Ben and paused. "Did he hit your reboot button?" He asked this of Gem. "Faye, She Who Walks The Line, kept my body on ice. She had an idea I might need it again, so...There I was, buried under the dirt, encased in ice...and that is where he re-lifed me. Because it was funny to see me claw and fight my way through all that wet mud to be able to breathe. " She looked at Lir and chuckled. "Yes. Yes, he did."

"...Oh..." Was all Ben could offer, moving into Lir's arms as the elf man gestured. He was warm, quite warm after the shower and moonshine.

"So then I broke my one golden rule, which is to never steal from a friend, so that I could live." She frowned over that, still disturbed by it. "I managed to get the cup, I gave it to Erevan and he..." Here her eyes went wide. "Ohhhhh...he gave it back to me...and he made me forget." "And while all that was happening, he had some imp steal the EFG back and so he didn't need the cup after all. Or..no. No, that was his first plan. Then he"I don't know what he did. I think he made a fake." Her eyes moved to the teacup. Which seemed suddenly heavier. "Hmm. It's...strange." Deftly, Lirenel got Ben between him and Scottie to keep him warm. Then he tugged the blanket up even if it did smell like smoke a bit. He smiled. "So who's cup is That?" Jack was a heat leech, tucked neatly between Ben and Gem. "Maddoc's. Apparently it can kill The Oberon." He said it so flippantly. And yet, the greed in his starry eyes shined ever so brightly.

Ben made a good sammich filling, and snickered a bit to realize that Jack was also sammich filling with him. Otherwise, almost everything was over his head. But he listened.

A Ben-Jack sammich on GemLir bread.

Sort of a crow on white bread with mustard.

Tasty however you make it.

Gem was still sitting up. Which is, perhaps, a good thing, because the cup suddenly shimmered under the thief's gaze and her hand was holding a long, very ornate, very lovely sword of the hand and a half breed. A bastard sword. Way too heavy for a little elf. Her hand fell DOWN under the weight of the sword, which had an interesting aura all its own. It was made to terrify the Seelie on sight. It was meant for Seelie defeat. It gave Unseelie added glamor and luck, as well as an increase in willpower. (And in DnD parlance, it turned all unsuccessful hits of the enemy into 1's. Which..well. That is pretty powerful right there!) The sword landed across all their legs. THUD. With a side of sharp. Happily it landed flat side up.

There was the look of such glee on Jack's face. GLEE. Actual glee. He might have giggled.

That's..just scary.

Crow's do like shiny things.

"!!!!!!" Instead of lashing out, he clutched Lir and Jack - but a wave of energy washed over him. Static! Zap! ...Which he then he shoved into Lir when Jack giggled. Well, now it was very warm around him! Going to bed with Gem sometimes brought unsuspected gifts.

Lir grunted just a little.

Gem grunted too, but of the more feminine and delicate sort. It was a heavy sword!

Lir's arm under Ben tingled and he shifted so he could tangle his fingers in Jack's hair. His ribbons puffed out. Otherwise, he didn't feel it because there was the SWORD OF KINGS laying across his knees.

Gem's. Gem's sword of kings. But she might let him have it. If he kissed her or something. Who knows"

"...Cups and Staves..." Ben finally managed to falter out, relaxing as he realized the sword wasn't animated or anything.

Nope, it was just laying there. Waiting. Gem looked at the others. "Uh....it's a sword." Because she was intellectual like that.

"...do swords always make Jack giggle..?"

Ben was right. She looked at Jack.

Jack ran trembling fingertips over the flat of the blade.

"His fingers are trembling." She is also very good at pointing out the obvious.

Another jolt. Jack caught his breath. "Precious," he whispered.

Thank the Gods Gem had never seen certain movies! "So..."..finally connecting the dots. "This is what he wanted. This sword. But..why?"

"To kill the Oberon." He looked sideways toward Lirenel.

"Ohh." And then again. "Oh!" She stared at the sword, her hand still under it. "It has a name. Al-Kanon."

Eyes half-closed as Lirenel listened to the others opened wide. Blood red. "Oh..." Ben whispered. Practically, he said, "Can it wait until tomorrow?"

Gemethyst

Date: 2014-08-10 13:10 EST
((Color Key: Jack Scott in black, Benjamin Piers in blue, Lirenel in brown, Necromesh in dark red, Nicholas Maddox aka Madoc Morfryn in green, Desdenova VonTombs in orange, Gem in indigo, and Erevan Illesere in olive. ))

He licked his lips. He heard Lir's question. "It will have to wait some time. Everything in order, my Knight." But this sword might make things so much easier.

Gem looked at Lir. And she grinned a little. "Yes." The sword vanished! Poor Jack. And in her hand" An earring of amethyst and silver, beautifully wrought. She put it in her ear where she had not had an earring earlier. Then she snuggled into Jack and her lip sought kissable spots. See, this sword has no static appearance and alters its shape to suit the whims and mood of its owner, which Gem had just discovered.

"...It changed....Again....But...won't Maddog be back for it?"

He growled when it disappeared. She would tease him with that and then...expect kisses"

Did he think...really..." That she would keep ANYTHING from him' Hey. Ben had a point. Gem suddenly looked anxious.

He sighed. "Darling, you should check on your bairns."

Oh. Kicking her out. Hmph. "I already have." "If I don't have the cup...the sword...he won't come after me."

If he knew what she was thinking, he would face palm. "What, are you going to just tell him you havn't got it and expect him to believe you?" Doesn't sound like something a maddog would do. He wiggled his fingers in Jack's hair.

"My children have constant contact with me, thanks to certain links I have set up." Her gaze moved to Lir. "A good point. How did he know I had it in the first place, though' Perhaps he can sense it." She looked at Jack. "Can you feel it?"

"Now I can. I've touched it. It...it is a sublime weapon." "Wait. Maddog wants to kill Oberon with the sword. The sword changes itself into other things. So. Show it to him, and destroy it. But, destroy a fake." Ben offered.

The thief looked between Jack and Ben, and returned to the Crow. "He had it once, so if you had it, he would feel it on you. And he would come after you."

"Ben has a good idea."

"Well...unless he can still feel it after we destroy a fake." Suddenly confused, she snuggled back into Jack.

"But ...it wouldn't work if he could feel it. Unless you can get the sword to appear to be destroyed." Gem nodded at Ben. They were sympatico.

"Or we use it against him. I cannot say I would mourn his passing, though I had thought to kill him after Mab." He began to think. "Hmm. I will try that. Tomorrow. I will see if I can make it look like a destroyed sword." Then she heard Jack. "Kill him' The King of the Unseelie?" She was sort of shocked. That was like killing a God. Ben yawned softly, stretching between Lirenel and Jack, head lifting to gently kiss Lirenel's jaw. It was out of his understanding, but he did listen. "Aye," he grinned at Gem, a mad little grin. "Tomorrow."

Oh, that was very nice. He smiled, which shocked him and then he nuzzled his face into Ben's neck and murmured something about nothing.

She kissed his mad grin for him, fingers sinking into black locks and inadvertently caressing alongs Lir's.

He liked fingers in his hair and more in his ribbons. And he was freakin' freezing. "Tomorrow."

Gem's caress made Lirenel wriggle.

"Tomorrow." But it might have been muffled, because she was kissing face and caressing his ribbons and then caressing more of Lir's hand.

"Tomorrow," he said and murmured something in Erassi to douse the lights.

Ben snickered at the wiggling, and shifted to rest head to Lir's chest, a hand over Jack's chest.

Morpheus came to dust them with the sands of sleep, and time passed.

Nicholas Maddox

Date: 2014-10-12 12:10 EST
In the Unseelie Court:

The King was quiet. What was worse, he was quiet and still, and this naturally alarmed his court. Worse things tended to happen when these conditions coincided in their infamous leader.

Time passed, and things continued, though it seemed the chill in the place deepened and the brooding air about Madoc only worsened. At length, someone came to call. Word of this preceded the visitor, naturally, and arrived at the King's notice by some poor being who did not live long enough to even rise from his bow. Hopes that this act of cruel murder would ease their potentate were destined to be disappointed, however.

The visitor arrived, and he had about him an air of bad news. The Fae folk who lived there found other places to be. Relatives to visit, even. Anything to get them out of that place. "Well?", asked the very annoyed King as he sat on his throne wiping blood off his hands with a black cloth.

"The elf no longer has the sword. It can't be felt upon her person any longer. The consensus is that she must have given it to the Crow. We don't know for sure, because we can't feel it on him." He stepped back a little, just in case.

The very beautifully crafted glass of red wine sitting next to the Fae King's right hand was suddenly flung with terrible strength at the informer. It shattered against his chest and red wine flew everywhere. Madoc spoke in a voice cold as ice, with frost plumes spilling from his mouth as he did. " You are telling me that my advantage is no longer mine"! You are TELLING ME that mixed blood, trumped up bird has my Sword?"!" The voice thundered, and ice sculptures shattered, tumbled all about them as the king rose to his feet. A very quiet and trembling voice gave the unpleasant answer. "Yes, my King."

He did not live to make it out the doors he suddenly fled towards. While his minions cleaned up that fresh spill of blood, Madoc wiped his hands on more black cloth. "We'll see. We'll see about that."