Welcome to DFW (Hrimveig, ST) (Autumn 2011)

## Page 1

**Songbird**

**Nov 06, 2014#1**

[OOC: RP'd over email. Posted in parts here.]

*---Songbird*

Hrimveig is brought from the airport to the Freehold Hollow in the late end of Autumn. The Texas heat has only just begun to recede into something tolerable, and the Hollow itself is even cooler, the wyrd wrapping itself around the freehold like a crisp tangy nip in the air, shaping the cliff-sheltered world to the demands of the reigning season.

The broad-shouldered Gristlegrinder who brought her through security at the DFW airport leads her up to the second floor of the main building, where they step into a gloomy ballroom showing signs of neglect and disrepair. Dusty statues keep watch at the doors, and smudged mirrors stand like sentries along the walls. The paintings that hang at regular intervals are lovely and look expensive, but they've not been maintained and are surely worthless now. The ballroom has the feel of steady decline, but there is also something sinister underneath, like an illness or a rot.

Near the back of the room is a desk, over which is hunched a small Wizened man who peers sternly into a ball of smooth crystal, reading some portent or seeing some vision which is entirely invisible to anyone else in the room. It is to this man that the handsome Ogre leads her, and he bows his head only very slightly when they come to a stop in front of the desk. There is, Hrimveig will note, no nearby chair for her to pull up and sit down as an equal--apparently she is expected to stand.

The older man looks up at her after a pointed pause, and his eyes take in her frosty seeming, looking entirely unimpressed all the while. "Who are you and what are you doing here?" he demands garrulously. He glares at her escort. "Take her away and let her swear to Eric or something, I'm busy. He'll enjoy her, I'm sure." His voice is a cold sneer on this last part, and while the innuendo isn't openly vulgar, it's present for her to hear.

*---fruitbat*

Hrimveig looks as if she's swallowed something unpleasant. "How impressive. So great an oracle as to divine my identity and purpose before answer can be given." She leans down over him, resting her hands on his desk. "I'm told you are king here. I expect a king to do his job. My name is Hrimveig of the Autumn Court, and you will take my oath."

*---Songbird*

The Wizened man glares up at her for a moment, then his grumpy expression relaxes into a smile. Not, it will be noted, a pleasant smile--his knowing smirk is might be considered worth smacking were he not the king of a rather large Freehold, but it is a smile nonetheless. "You'll do," he says sourly, though with less acerbic tones than before. "You wouldn't believe some of the Autumns that blow through here, wouldn't scare a kitten, the half of them."

He looks thoughtful then, though no less annoyed by the interruption. "Hrim...veig? Frosty and strong, I think? I'd have to brush up. Nice for a Snowskin." He watches her as another minute ticks by. "What brings you to the area?" he asks bluntly.

*---fruitbat*

"Safety." If Hrimveig smoked, she would take a long drag at this point. "On the off-chance that anyone tracked me to my emergence point from the Hedge - which I have been assured is unlikely - moving here is an additional layer of security." *Something related to the truth now*. "And I emerged in the town I was taken from. I did not wish to live there." She invokes Witches' Intuition then, curious whether her mention of possible Fae pursuit has triggered any existing anxieties.

*---Songbird*

Liam does not, in fact, fear fae at all--or at least no more than any other Changeling and somewhat less. His most immediate fear is that she will consume more of his time than he'd like--he really wants to hand her off to someone else as quickly as possible--but he has a lingering fear underneath that: a concern that she won't respect him or his authority.

He harrumphs loudly. "Fae," he sneers. "Well, you're as safe here are you are anywhere." He glares at his desk, clearly wanting to get back to his scrying. "Well, are you gonna swear the Oath? Darryl taught you, I presume?" He glares at the Gristlegrinder next to her.

Darryl has, in fact, taught her the different laws on the way over here as well as the fact that there are two Freeholds available for consideration--she may sense that King Liam is trying to rush things along... or take advantage.

*---fruitbat*

Hrimveig raises an eyebrow. "No arguments for why I should swear to you rather than your counterpart? Nothing to say about the advantages of Dallas over Fort Worth?"

*---Songbird*

"Hmph." He glares down at his crystal ball. "Swear wherever you want, just get out of my hair, girl."

Then he blanches slightly, and looks up with a sigh--there is the tiniest expression of a shadow of an emotion passingly close to apology. He rubs his eyes with the tips of his fingers and looks, for a moment, very old and very tired. "I really don't care which one you swear to, girl," he grumbles, but his voice is slightly softer. "But I tend to encourage newbies to join Dallas first, less likelihood of accidentally breaking the oaths."

His eyes flick to Darryl and an emotion passes between them. "And especially if you're Autumn, the current Autumn Queen is a little...", he pauses for a moment. "...unstable," he finally finishes carefully.

*---fruitbat*

"Well, we wouldn't want any oath-breaking now, would we?" Hrimveig swears the Dallas oath and turns to Darryl. "Unstable?"

*---Songbird*

Darryl shifts uncomfortably and looks at King Liam. "Oh, take her out of here!" Liam grouses, and then he literally places his hands over his ears and goes back to staring into his crystal ball. Darryl makes a wry face--seeming amused in an unpleasant way--and motions for Hrimveig to follow him.

"I'll show you to the dorms," he offers, as they walk. "They're private, nice view of the lake or the cliffs up to you." He very gently stresses the word private, and indeed there are people in the ballroom staring with curiosity at the newest member.

"You'll wanna stay there, at least for the first couple nights until you get settled into town. You'll come to the nightly dinner? It's pretty decent and it's free, can't beat that, right?" He grins, and she'll notice the sharp teeth of the Gristlegrinder flashing in the autumn sunlight.

*---fruitbat*

"I suppose not."

Hrimveig walks with him in silence for a while before asking, "Is he always so apathetic?"

(Go back to Worth Hollow)