Council of Twelve (Winter)

## Page 1

**Songbird**

**1:53 AM - Feb 24#1**

[Continued from First Coronation and Directional Recruiting.]

The third floor "basement" of the Freehold Hollow boasts a community room off the main kitchens, which is really a big den with a couch-pit and lots of pleasantly worn cushions. Everything is new here of course, but has the feeling of being comfortably shabby; a place where you can use the furniture without feeling as though one's presence is in any way damaging.

It is here where the representatives of the twelve courts now gather, trickling down in ones and twos. Several of the members are sleepy and yawning--it is well after midnight--but many look bright eyed and awake.

Malachi speaks first, scowling around the homey room. "What idiot didn't include a boardroom in the plans? We're going to have to dig a fourth floor out for this sort of thing. Can someone make some fucking coffee?"

Mishti meanwhile drapes herself comfortably on Victor's lap--in an oddly innocent manner for such a cosmopolitan girl--and yawns prettily. "Mally, you're always in such a mood. You should try my new Korean skincare regimen. It would help those crow's feet around your eyes."

**Pisha**

**3:21 AM - Feb 24#2**

"Well yes, I bet someone could," Milada says, settling prettily into a center seat and pulling Angel in next to her (pointedly leaving the seat next to her open for whoever would like to join her.) Grinning, she gives Malachi a teasing look. "I'd certainly enjoy some."

Victor leans back against Ichiro and snorts, wrapping his arms loosely around Mishti. "Okay. So. We know a little bit about the attacks today," he says, looking around the room once everyone's gathered. "Those blueprints we found came from the crew that built this hollow. Two of the guys on the crew stole 'em an' made that hidden room with the tunnel that we found earlier." (Milada, at this point, takes pity on Malachi and all the sleepy-looking people and rises from the couch, stepping away; a few moments later the scent of brewing coffee wafts over.) "We've got their pictures," Victor continues, "we know who they are, but when we tried to track 'em down... turned out they lied. Faked their references, weren't from where they said they were from."

His mantle grows noticeably while he speaks. "The blueprints were also handled by a fetch at one point," he adds with a sigh, "who wasn't too happy to be there. Possibly a collaborator, but more likely it means they got a hostage or a prisoner or somethin'. We're runnin' on the assumption that he's alive, an' that means we gotta be careful, cuz we want him to stay that way."

He looks around the room. "Now. I got a way to track someone down; I know coffee-girl over there does too. Problem is, neither of us ever met these assholes." He nudges Mishti gently. "Directionals, y'all got a contract for that, at least the changeling ones do. Non-directionals, you might have an Ogre in your courts who can do the thing, or someone who learned the Directional contract." Grinning slightly, he adds, "An' fetches, I don't even *know* what all y'all can do. So right now our mission is to check first among ourselves, an' then the rest of our respective courts, to find someone who both met one of the guys and has some way of tracking 'em."

**Songbird**

**8:37 AM - Feb 24#3**

Feng looks troubled by this announcement and stands. "Feng Chen, Prince of the South," he offers by way of polite invitation to the room; everyone here ought to know everyone else at least by face, but it's been a long night. "Jiyoon and Yonten were our contacts who had the most interaction with the building crew."

**Pisha**

**12:34 AM - Feb 25#4**

Milada, returning with a pot of coffee and an armful of mugs, raises an eyebrow at this. "Well. That explains why they were attacked." She pours a cup and hands it to Malachi, then looks around to see who else wants one. "I've spoken to our Sin-Eater contact. We've got a trip scheduled tomorrow, so hopefully we'll have them back soon. Still might be worth seeing if anyone else can track them, though; I'd prefer to get a head start, and if I were Jiyoon and Yonten I wouldn't want to have to immediately go to work after something like this."

**fruitbat**

**9:45 AM - Feb 26#5**

*If they want to be royalty they should suck it up*, thinks Hrimveig. "You say they had the most interaction with the builders; is there anyone else who had less but might help?"

**Songbird**

**10:33 AM - Feb 26#6**

"Several of us spoke with the forewoman," Feng observes, and people around the room nod in agreement. "She was understandably reticent about having a bunch of strangers trying to command her staff in different directions. Jiyoon and Yonten are hard to say no to."

"Is that really the only plan we got?" A Blightbent of malodorous ambiance lounges on one of the couches with a laughing sneer. "Bring back a couple frail little girls from the dead, give them something to sniff, and let 'em loose like bloodhound bitches?"

**fruitbat**

**1:49 PM - Feb 26#7**

Hrimveig raises an eyebrow. "If you have a problem with that plan, do please make it explicit."

**Pisha**

**8:43 PM - Feb 26#8**

"Well, no," Milada says coolly. Straightening, she looks at him over her own mug of steaming coffee. "Actually I was thinking more about bringing back two full-grown and competent women, one of whom has already proven herself able to keep her head on and think quickly in a combat situation, and asking them to use the very same contract I would be using right now if I had met the people we're looking for. If you have a better way to investigate, find, and stop the people who attacked us tonight short of sitting back and waiting for them to move again, by all means please share." Her voice is flat. "Because from where I stand, 'track them down and bring the fight to them' sounds like a solid, reliable plan."

**Songbird**

**8:52 PM - Feb 26#9**

Leod cracks his knuckles lazily, looking amused. "We have thirty-two fetches in town," he points out. "That's about thirty more fetches than most Freeholds can muster. They can sense changelings at a distance, and we're the only changelings who *ought* to be in town. Teams of three, combing the town in a search pattern: one fetch, two changelings. That leaves a windows for fetches to rest on rotation while the rest of us stay awake with hedge fruits and contracts. And it means we're not diving into the underworld and leaving the hollow under-defended the morning after a major attack."

**Pisha**

**8:59 PM - Feb 26#10**

"We're going to the underworld regardless," Milada points out. "That part isn't up for debate. I'm not leaving our people there any longer than absolutely necessary. The rest of it..." She glances at Simon and Malachi, then at the other fetches in the room. "Rough estimate: what's the range on your changeling-radar?"

## Page 2

**Songbird**

**9:12 PM - Feb 26#11**

Simon frowns and shakes his head. "Not far. When we're inside the freehold hollow together I can feel everyone, but the radius is smaller in the real world. A city this big, it wouldn't be feasible."

"Not without the special hedge berries," Valerie Stahl, fetch princess of the Sun agrees whilst slurping down black coffee.

**Pisha**

**9:14 PM - Feb 26#12**

Milada blinks. "Wait, what?"

**Songbird**

**9:34 PM - Feb 26#13**

Valerie looks up, mildly confused by her tone. "Hmm?"

**Pisha**

**9:47 PM - Feb 26#14**

"I know about hedgefruit that can muffle the radar," she says, giving Malachi a confused glance. "But it sounds like you're saying there's one that does the opposite?"

**Songbird**

**9:51 PM - Feb 26#15**

Valeria nods slowly, looking around the room for backup; slowly it dawns on her that many others don't know what she's talking about. "Yeah, uh. There's a berry that can be prep'd to amplify the fetch radar," she explains. "Shit, I just thought everyone else *knew*. My old freehold knew. I used it a lot when I was on assignment for Sun court."

**Pisha**

**9:53 PM - Feb 26#16**

Milada shakes her head, eyes widening. "That... actually sounds really useful. You don't happen to have a stockpile, do you?"

**Songbird**

**11:08 PM - Feb 26#17**

She considers this, suddenly finding herself called upon to do maths in her head at an ungodly hour of the morning. "Yes? Some. Thirty fetches would burn through the pile pretty fast and we'd need to schedule a dive, but the situation is dire enough to warrant that, I suppose. Man, I wish I'd known you guys didn't have the stuff."

**Pisha**

**11:11 PM - Feb 26#18**

Milada glances around the room. "Well? I still do need people for an underworld trip, that's still happening. But we're not meeting up for that until 4. If we all try to get some sleep now, maybe we can start combing the city tomorrow morning, and just tag out the people going to the underworld when it's time? That way Jiyoon and Yonten can take a day and recover. What do we think?"

**fruitbat**

**2:05 PM - Feb 27#19**

Hrimveig nods in approval.

**beardyblue**

**9:51 PM - Feb 28#20**

"That sounds about right to me." The winter king eases off the doorjamb where he had paused to listen and wait for a good time to come in, not wanting to interrupt Milada. He leaves a wispy, shimmering trail of snow behind him as it blows off his shoulders while he walks. "Sorry I'm late, y'all. Folk needed some calming down." He snags a cup of coffee and sits down, his huge frame tense and tired.

## Page 3

**Pisha**

**10:02 PM - Feb 28#21**

Reaching over, Milada squeezes his shoulder. "Thanks for taking point on that," she says quietly. "So. We're going to need to organize the search teams. I would like at least one person on each team to have combat skills, preferably Summer, West, or Sun." Catching Ichiro's eye, she adds, "Yes, yes, I know not all fighters are in one of those courts; you're an exception, dear."

Looking back at Baer, she adds, "Do we want to come up with a method for grouping people up? Or just play 'find a buddy'?"

Victor nudges Mishti where she sits on his lap. "Wanna be on my team?"

**fruitbat**

**1:51 PM - Mar 01#22**

"Stop flirting during royal business."

**Pisha**

**6:42 PM - Mar 01#23**

"I'm not flirting!" Victor protests, sounding injured. "It's a legitimate question." Leaning back, he adds, "Look, why don't you let me put the groups together? I know a bunch of the fighty people. Your majesties, you wanna sit down with a map of town and work out some search patterns?"

"And I already volunteered my house as a meeting point for the underworld trip," Milada says with a sigh, "so it makes sense to have that as home base. Easier than going through portals all the time. Honestly, that's half the reason I got a house that big and invested in the security system I did. Meet there in the morning? Val, you'll bring the hedgefruit?"

**beardyblue**

**9:42 PM - Mar 01#24**

Baer nods. "Thank you, Victor. Maybe you can help talk me through your groupings so I can get to know who's good at what better. I know Rivah told us, but. Lot to keep track of these last few days." Then he looks to Milada. "That's sounds good as well. Thank you both." His eyes cloud with ice and he looks down, as if he doesn't think he's up to this.

**Pisha**

**10:49 PM - Mar 01#25**

"Yeah, sure," Victor says easily. "Tell you what, tell everyone else to gather at eight, but we all can get there at seven to, like, coordinate an' go over things. That work?"

Milada makes a face. "You're all going to come tromping through my house at seven AM? So help me, if you wake the kids..."

Victor waves a hand, unconcerned. "Ah, they'll be fine. An' yeah, definitely, goin' over the reasons will help," he tells Baer. "You got this." Then he grins. "Look at it this way: after all this, the rest of your reign is gonna seem easy."

**beardyblue**

**11:09 PM - Mar 01#26**

The winter king swallows hard and nods gratefully to Victor. It's clear he doesn't feel like he's got this is any way, but he tries to put on a face like he does. He looks up at Milada. "I, erm, could bring stuff to make bacon pancakes? Which are exactly what they sound like, if you've never had them."

**Pisha**

**11:33 PM - Mar 01#27**

She hesitates. "Bring bacon? We can stick it on a tray, stick it in the oven, and forget about it until it's time to pull it out. Nothing that requires someone standing at a stove and doing things. We can save that energy for..." She gestures wearily and chuckles. "Literally everything else."

**beardyblue**

**11:35 PM - Mar 01#28**

Baer shakes his head, smiling. "I mean, it's your house, and I'm happy to do as you ask. But I love to cook - it's rejuvenating and energizing for me. Especially for others. But I can just bring the bacon, if you want."

**Pisha**

**12:03 AM - Mar 02#29**

Her eyes dance. "Oh, don't tell me that, I'll wheedle you into cooking for all the freehold events with me. For tomorrow, though, we'll keep it simple."

Standing, she stretches. "Okay. I think we have a plan. Let's go tell everyone and call it a night."

(OOC: scene? And I'll set up the next one in a bit.)

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