Meeting Over Dinner (Attn: Betony Rue, Al-Adin, Kevin, Grrface)

Having taken care of some other business, dropped by home and changed into more leisurly clothes than he wears for work - black jeans, teal knit shirt, black leather jacket, nice Italian boots - Derek Noble arrives a few minutes early at the appointed spot to meet Betony Rue. He has all his fencing gear, including his very functional rapier, in the trunk. He drives a recent-model silver Toyota sedan.

Betony Rue steps off the bus, which was about five minutes late. Though hard to read, Mr. Noble might almost say she seems more content somehow. Her matted hair has a dark glisten to it and a glamour of red blood covers the mien of her hands. She spies Mr. Noble and walks to the passenger side door. As she comes over her face takes on its normal distant coldness.
"Good to see you. Let's go."

"It's good to see you, too. Al-Adin said he'd meet us there and would probably be a little early. This Summer Beast is supposed to meet us there, too. I've not yet heard back from Kevin as to whether or not he is going to come. I also offered him a ride if he decides to come. We've still got time to pick him up and not be late."

Once Betony is in the car and buckled in, Derek starts on his way.

Noticing her mien's bloody hands, Derek asks Betony, "If it's just not something you want to talk about, I completely understand, but I'm sort of curious... were you a medical professional of some sort before you were taken?"

Betony Rue felt the urge pierce Mr. Noble's neck, tear out his voice, and shred his tongue. He did like to talk didn't he. Betony Rue of course didn't do this but the thoughts still came to her easily as ever.
"No, I was taken sometime between the age of eight to thirteen and taught the trade by my Keeper. I was no more a doctor before, than you were a near sexless man whose eyes spark green. Unless of course you were." You can't be exactly sure but that might have been a joke. Or an insult. But your pretty sure it was one of those options.

"I'm sorry if my question offended," Derek replies, both softly and sincerely. 'I simply wondered. All of our durances are so different... some are taken very, very young, even younger than you, others are taken as adults, as I was. All they have in common is that they were unspeakably horrible, but they affect us in so many different ways. In my case, professionally I still do what I did before I was taken. I was taken in part because of what I do, in fact, but I've refused to let that, or the horror of my time there, turn me away from my true calling. If anything, what I went through made me more dedicated to my students, and to kids in general, than ever before, and in different ways." After a short pause, he continues. "We all have our reasons for what we do, and that's my reason why I'm so concerned about these missing children. None of them are my students, but they just as well could be."

Derek takes a deep breath and focuses on the road for a bit before saying "But again, I apologize if my question offended." He continues looking forward, focusing on his driving.

Kevin straightened his clothing abit as he stepped off the bus walking the last of the way to the Broiler checking his watch he was a bit early so he stood out front watching the normals moving around him on the streets contemplating plans for after dinner.

This was one reason Betony Rue didn't like to get to know people on any sort of personal level. She could talk with strangers in her usual way and that was that. Any sort of greater connection brought out the part of her that wanted to hurt any she even remotely cared for. While his sympathy was misplaced, showed weakness, and disgusted her, it was touching in a way. And Betony Rue didn't like the feeling for the ideas it brought up. Like wanting to seed barbed vines onto his spine and watch them grow, and blossom into crimson petals gorged on blood.
"Don't apologize. It's not needed. If you were to insult me I would not have qualms with letting you know the specifics of the matter."
Betony checked her watch, making sure they were going to be on time.

Derek doesn't say much else on the way to the restaurant. As he parks the car, he notices Kevin waiting in front of the place and points him out to Betony Rue. He waves to Kevin as they approach, and when near, he nods to Kevin. "Thanks for coming. Al-Adin might already be inside, because he said he was going to be here early. We're also supposed to be meeting a Summer here."

Kevin waved back and gave a slight nod as Derek spoke he glanced around outside once more and shrugged. "Well I have not been inside just yet. I figured I would just wait on you guys before I head in. nice steak house though."

Al-Adin shows up, scratching his head sheepishly, and a little out of breath.

"Sorry, the place was further away than *pant* I thought."

To Kevin, Derek replies, "I haven't eaten here before, but I've heard good about it and have been wanting to try it out."

Derek greets Al-Adin upon his arrival and suggests to all present "Why don't we go on in and get a table, and keep an eye out for this Summer Beast. He goes by the name Grrface."

The restaurant is crowded, but you don't have any trouble picking out the bear-man, with his coarse black fur, and fuzzy round ears on the top of his head, sitting by himself at a round table in the corner of the dining room. In one huge paw he's clutching a menu, while the other is squeezing lemon into a glass of iced tea.

Derek points out the Beast at the table by himself. "I'm guessing that's him. Let's go introduce ourselves."

Derek catches a hostess' attention and points to the table with the bear-man. "He's expecting us," he explains.

Approaching the table, Derek says "Thomas? I'm Derek." He points out his companions. "This is Betony Rue, Al-Adin and Kevin."

Betony Rue nods and takes a seat, trusting she doesn't have to reintroduce herself since Mr. Noble did it all ready. She barely glances at the menu, choosing the first good looking thing in the pictures provided and getting its number to tell the waiter later. It was some grilled steak sprinkled with spices and sause and a serving of thick potatoe slabs. Betony didn't really care about the food though. She hadn't come here with the prupose to eat, that was just a benefit. She puts her menu aside and watches Mr. Thomas.

Grrface notices the changelings making their way towards him. Two pretty boys, a monkey, and a monster. His eyes linger particularly on Betony, she looked like she'd be good in a tussle.

Good thing I got a big table

Grrface puts his menu down and looks up at Derek. "Pleasure to meet you, Derek. Call me Grrface." His words are punctuated by a soft, neutral growl. He looks to the rest of them. "All of you. Have a seat. I'm guessing we're all here because we want to get to the bottom of the local disappearances, am I right?"

When the server comes around to him he orders the porterhouse steak, rare, with mashed potatoes and french fries.

Derek nods. "Yes, you're right about that. We've been looking into that, and when I saw your note on the bulletin board, I figured we might as well compare notes and see about working together. I was also wondering if you knew if any others among the Summer Court been looking into this. "

Derek orders a sirloin, medium rare, a baked potato with chives and sour cream, a side of vegetables and a dinner salad.

Al-adin perks up. "The kids on the street say to check the mirrors."

He orders a plain hamburger with ketchup and fries.

Derek freezes for a moment at Al-Adin's words, his blood running cold. Although his knowledge of the Hedge itself was far from expert, Derek knew more than a bit about the ways in and out of the Hedge, and he knew that mirrors and other reflective surfaces often served as routes of exit and entranct.

He then turns to Al-Adin. "It sounds like your investigations payed off, which is more than I can say about mine so far. Good job. Did the kids happen to mention anything in particular about the mirrors?"

Kevin takes a seat flipping through the menu for a moment he orders a T-bone steak medium with a baked potatoe and a side salad. "Well that statement poses some interesting questions all it's own, like how do these kids know to check the mirror and where did they learn this information. If they of course are not simply lieing, and if they are telling the truth are they somehow involved in this mess."

"Children probably know a lot about the tales of Fey than you give them credit for. They may be inaccurate about certain details, or lack detailed information but with knowledge of how these things can work, truth can be seen within such stories. They can come from old well told stories, dreams, or one of the Gentry may see fit to give a correct account for thier own purposes." She she scarfs nearly a third of the meat in one go.
"It seems unlikely that this would be a lie. Lies are meant to make sense, while this smells of Wyrd logic. Which means we need answered, where they got the information and what is everything they were told."
Betony Rue swallows another mouthful of food.
"Al-adin, were there any large mirrors in the house you checked?" while asking the question those watching very closely may notice a Betony stiffen in pain for a moment.

Al-Adin thinks for a moment. And then another. Internally the thoughts of "stupid beast" echo in some of you, before Al- Adin finally answers. "Yup! A big mirror in the room." (he holds his hands out to give approximate dimensions.

Kevin listened to Bethany's words and they had merit he had to admit he remained silent for the most part as he listened to her finish speaking and looked to Al-Addin hearing his description of the mirror his eyes opened alittle wider and nodded his head softly. "Yeah that screams of something from the hedge or beyond dragging the kids off given the size. Then again most mirrors mounted in a house are big enough to fit through if you try."

"Sounds like we may have a lead to pursue, then. Again, good job, Al-Adin. So now we need to figure a way to check out the mirrors in some of these kids' homes. If we can do that, I'm pretty good at detecting whether one of them has been used as a Hedge gate."

He turns to Grrface. "So far have you found any leads? If so, the more the better. If not... well, if we end up going through into the Hedge to look for these kids, we're going to need some more muscle."

Grrface had dug in to his steak heartily, and the blood from where he had cut the rare steak had begun soaking into his mashed potatoes and fries. "Well, I've found you, and you seem to have found some leads. I didn't know that there was this much interest in the freehold about all this. It had seemed to me that the Summer court in this city seems to have lost any balls they once had, so I put out the notice I did." He puts his fork down, grabbing a napkin to dab the blood and juices from his face. "Anyway, no. I don't have any leads myself. Just a real fuckin short temper when it comes to disappearing kids. I'm an elementary school P.E. teacher, ya see? I've been lucky so far, none of my kids have gone missing, and I'm willing to tear the hedge to pieces to keep it that way."

"I'm a teacher, too," Derek says. "And I'm sure everyone else her has their own reasons, just as good, for wanting to rescue these kids if possible, and put a stop to these disappearances."He grins, and adds "And who knows, maybe us doing that will help the Summer Court find their balls again."

He turns to look at each of the other changelings present. "So, are we all in this, and if so, what's the next step?"

Kevin sat listening to the others as the spoke nodding his head slightly as he followed their statements his eyes gazing at his stake knife for a moment as he ate his meal with alittle reservation as he mulled over his own thoughts. He never really thought of himself as much of a fighter but he knew any extra person in this could help so he gave a slight nod to Derek's statement. "I am in though I feel I should probably lay hands on a weapon of somesort preferably a knife that can actualy stand up to a real fight before we go playing with mirrors"

"These hurt if you throw them hard enough." Al-Adin smiles and lays down a baclk rod about 3 cm in length, and on in diameter. On closer inspection, you see that it is covered in black non-reflecting tape.

Betony had been finished her meal for sometime now, was now sipping a a refill of water and sractching off bits of crusted blood from her hands. The bits of caked gore dissolved to red glamour before vanishing into nothing. "If we're planning on going into the Hedge, we might want to talk to Arch. I don't know how good of a tracker she is but she's familiar with the Briars. It would likely cost us a promise of some sort, though.
Nightfall is a good fighter from what I've seen and could be usefull as well.
I think we still need more information on what we're dealing with. We don't know if this is Gentry or some gang of hobs looking for market fodder. Still, I think we should try to track through the Hedge as soon as possible. Information is good to have, but these children may be dieing.
I purpose this. We set a date to go through to the Hedge. Mr. Sydney, you would go to Arch to secure her services. Al-Adin you would approach Nightfall for the same reason. Mr. Noble, you would try to get us passage into the house. Set up an interview, alter thier work schedules so we can slip in unnoticed, whatever you feel is best. I'll ask about lore within my court. Mr. Thomas, I'm unsure of your contacts and abilities, contribute how you see fit. Finish our tasks by the deadline, and go in the mirror to find and stop whatever the thing is."
Betony pauses.
"Give opinions and suggestions."

Derek thinks for a moment before replying. "Your basic idea is sound, and I agree we need to go through as soon as possible, because every moment we wait puts these children in more danger. I've got a couple ideas to toss on the table, though.

"First off, if Arch isn't available, I do know a bit about getting into, out of and around in the Hedge. I've also heard there's a Spring girl who knows the Hedge pretty well and has contacts with the Goblin Markets that do business in this area. I've heard she travels a lot, but is usually around here this time of year, so Kevin or I can see if she's available.

"Second, I'm good with doing whatever I can to get us in, but I am also planning on going into the Hedge with you. I'm no Beast or Ogre, but I can fight. So, I don't want to just distract the parents while you all go in. I'll do that if that's the only way to make this work, but I think we should consider other ways of gaining access. I don' t have any solid suggestions to offer in that regard, but I think we should at least consider whether there are any, and what abilities we all have that might be helpful." He pauses and looks at Al-Adin. "We do have someone getting in and out of places, and we know that on at least one occasion there was nobody home at the Crandall house during the late afternoon. It would be good to figure out if that's typical."

"Third..." he pauses a moment and looks at everyone present before continuing, "This is going to be dangerous, and we haven't worked together to form any sort of teamwork, so we're going to need every advantage we can get. I propose that before going in - maybe even before we try to get into one of the homes to check out the mirrors - we consider entering into a short-term version of a Motley Pledge. That can provide us with some security that we're all going to try our best to work together, and maybe provide us with some useful boon that will improve our chances for success."

"Sure!" Al-Adin says. To whom its not exactly certain.

Grrface finishes his meal and throws his napkin down on the plate, sitting back in his chair he begins to pick his pointed teeth with a long sharp claw.

He says simply. "Seems agreeable to me."

"A pledge seems a good idea to me as well." It gave trust without familiarity, which Betony approved of. "We need to decide whether to make it now for this group alone, or when we are about to go into the Hedge. Of course we could always add members at the prespective date, if we're all present. I think we should craft and seal it here, which means we need to know when we're going so we can set duration."

Derek nods in agreement with Betony. "Yes, since time is of the essence, we should craft the pledge here, in case fate dictates that we must take immediate action. As you said, given opportunity, we can always add others to it. As to when to go in, why don't we discuss options for getting access to the mirrors in question, use the rest of tonight and tomorrow to gather information so we can pick the best available option, and plan to go tomorrow night. Unless," he again looks at the others present "anyone has any good ideas for getting us more immediate access without us ending up behind bars. If we can come up with a way to go tonight, I would prefer that. I already have everything I need in my car, in fact."

Kevin sat and smiled as he listened to the recent turns in the conversation eating his meal a wry little smile on his lips as he thought of something for a few minutes before finaly looking at them from his plate once more* "I have no problem going out to recruit these either or both of the women, honestly if it involves spending time speaking with women I am all for it though I need to know where to find Arch and this spring girl, I am also more than willing to join a pledge though I need to go out and buy some things before I go into the hedge hiking boots, combat knife of some sort, durable clothing you know the basics of wandering through rough land."

"That's prudent," Derek replies to Kevin, nodding. "We don't have any idea how long it might take to find Arch or that other girl... I don't recall her name, something Irish, I think.. assuming either of them is around at all, of coruse. But you should be able to get the shopping in and still be able to go in tonight, if we can come up with a good plan for getting access to the mirrors at one of the missing kids' home at short notice."

He looks around the table. "So, are we all in agreement about entering a pledge? I was thinking a week duration. Hopefully the entire thing will take less than that, but it's probably better to be safe than sorry, especially if complications arise."

Spoiler:

"I can gladly swear to that," Derek says. He repeats the pledge as recited by Betony, but ending it with "I swear to apply my skill with the sword and my knowledge of the Hedge to this endeavor" before sealing it with a bit of his Will.

And right after finishing the Pledge, Derek starts to feel strangely... a bit disoriented... in a manner both familiar and frightening.

(( Ehem, this still needs ST approval folks, and since I'm on a laptop in the middle of twenty people trying to shower for a wedding, its waiting. ))

(( I didn't mean you had to stop the thread, but the pledge is alright. Please continue. ))

"I will give my speed and vision."

(Investigation and parkour 2)

Derek looks at Grrface and Kevin. "What about you two? Are you in?"

Kevin smiles slightly and nods to Derek "of course I am in" He delivers the pledge as the other only changing the last part "I pledge my agile hands with knives and skill with weapons to this task."

Spoiler:

Grrface's words come rumbling out with a deep chesty growl. "The pledge is sound. I offer my physical prowess. I also offer what money I have and my ability to dodge the enemy's attacks in a fight."

Spoiler:

Al adindrops 2 rolls of quarters to cover his meal and tip. "Let's go!" He shouts exuberantly, startling nearby patrons.

Grrface stands up and drops a twenty dollar bill on the table.

"Did you have a place in mind, Derek?"

"We might go to the Seasons, see about getting a meeting room there, or we could just go to my place, but I'm open to whatever. Probably best it not be someplace public, though." He sets down a $20 as well.

Kevin dropped $20 on the table and looked at the others shrugging to the two suggestions of where to meet again next "I am not too concerned where we meet at again but I need to go do some shopping before I wander into a possibly hostile area, besides my normal clothes are not good for a normal hike let alone one in the hedge"