Under The Sea...

radiofreefae @ 2008-08-25T18:10:00

2008-08-25T22:10:23Z

Reckon Emma done always confuses me. Just when I start to think maybe I've figured something out, an' I understand her, something changes an' sends me back to not knowing what the hell's going on. Ain't exactly made easier by not knowin' what it is I feel for her, since any description as has come to mind also happens to fit the description of "Teenage First Crush" according to Google... an' I'm more'n certain I'm past the teenage years, seems my head might be trailing behind my body a good long while or maybe it's just that I need to figure out what emotions mean what instead of vaguely describing my "condition" as something somebody might cure.

Life ain't exactly easy. No one expects it to be. On a whim we'll go to Athens, get away together an' visit a friend or two made along the way, an' for fun Emma an' I each won a wreathed crown for "athletic prowess" at their Summer Games... me for swordfighting in a small little melee, her for marksmanship because she's learned how to defend herself from privateers with a pistol in her hand. In between times, there's the season of war: Denver, besieged by a Keeper's army, reduced to an athletic contest of combat prowess... and New York, inching closer an' closer to the brink with Sam Ready's loyal followers, looking as if it might end Summer's season with a wildfire if'n things can't be settled afore we come to blows. Denver at least has been won - I'd manhandled my opponent in the boxing ring, we'd fought to a draw in the archery competition, an' we managed to win the "Holmgang" ritual combat despite losing: while we'd shed first blood, our combatant in that fight caught his blood afore it hit the sand, offering him the technical opportunity to land another blow, taking victory from the jaws of defeat as happens in only the most dramatical of stories. New York... home sweet home, an' the place where my responsibilities lie... well, let's just say there's getting to be a few itchy trigger fingers, waiting to see if our diplomatic efforts can bear fruit or if we'll be sending our ragtag collection of Vietnam veterans into the fray. They might even like that - brings back memories - but that don't make it the smartest of plans to hang our hopes on.

Things with Cain remain difficult... now he's "taking back" his threats, though he's a known liar an' Oathbreaker, offering peace with Emma that's as like as not to be a trap asking her to walk right into it. Emma won't exactly sleep well at night with Cain's blood on her hands, an' for my part I ain't aiming to take matters into my own hands lest I prove to be the "monster" Emma fears people around her turn into... having been a monster, an' a happy one at that in my first few years out of the Hedge, reckon I know better'n to take the fight to Cain, especially since intelligence gathered from his compatriot in the Autumn Court, Ras, was kindly proffered to suggest that he's able to walk away from most any fight we aim to take him into, an' through walls besides. Kicking a beehive ain't a good way to accomplish anything 'sides getting your damn fool self stung... so the court of Autumn's been asked to take care of their own afore he mis-steps himself into Summer's problems, an' his brother Abel especially's been asked to mind their little family difficulties afore Emma getting hurt precludes my better judgment of not punching his brother's block off.

But Emma... even safe an' sound at home, with a newfound peace in Denver, there's trouble stirring. Seems a figure from her past's turned up, talking much the same way as Ruby does, claiming it don't much matter which side of the Thorns a body lies on when the Empress takes her interest. "Rose" is the new problem's name, an' the problem defies Emma's ability to explain... she's all pointed silences an' "Don't worry Nemo"'s, while even the dumbest of the dumb can tell she's mighty spooked. Reckon I aim to disappear the moment I could, with one last patrol of the Bronx tonight and an early-morning flight to Denver to lend some much-needed strength an' security to calm her worries, stay a few days an' meet this "Rose", explain to her which side of the Thorns she's landed on an' as how she has a choice between freedom on this side an' servitude on that, but we don't much take too kindly as to those who try an' cross that line in the sand: a body can't be free, on that side of the 'real', an' those who still consider themselves servants an' slaves on this side put everyone as calls themselves a free man in danger on this side. If'n she ain't willing to make the choice to live for herself on this side, might be as we escort her kindly to that side an' tell her if she loves her Empress so much why don't she go back to her... without Emma, regardless of what her intentions might be. Those as won't choose life choose death... an' death might just be a mercy for Rose an' Emma alike, if Rose sharing a part of Emma's soul has been what's given Emma those feelings of connectedness to the Empress' domain ever since she got free of there. Death's a kindness compared to slavery, even a slavery you choose for yourself, an' if Rose can't choose for just herself... if she's choosing for Emma, too, because they're intertwined... well, a slavery you choose for yourself an' force on another ain't right.

Hopefully Emma keeps herself safe, in the meantime... I couldn't jump just because she said frog, when I needed to figure out what the hell I aimed to do once I got there, an' plotting murder for someone as shares a part of Emma's soul ain't exactly a happy thought. But once upon a time I nearly told myself "Never Again", an' I reckon Emma's told herself she ain't going back there willingly more'n once. If Rose can't choose freedom, or give Emma back what they'd shared before, the other option ain't one she can be allowed to take, if she's takin' it for Emma too. Everyone who's met Rose so far's said it's a big stinking trap... at least I've got GB keeping an' eye on her for the day, to keep her sound till I can get my boots on the ground there. But if it's a trap, well, we'll just have to spring it an' find out, then break it afore it can do what it was designed to do. What's the old General Custer joke... "Now I've got you just where I want you, you're surrounded from the inside!" Springing a trap to see it's a trap ain't the smartest thing to do, but damned if I know what is.

Cautionary Tales

2008-02-21T06:33:31Z

"Is that all I am? A calculator that works up right an' wrong in his own little fishy brain, an' follows the pattern the Drowned God knit in there? See, I came out of that place not knowin' right from wrong. Had to teach myself the difference between good an' evil, I did, and learned that difference as by doin' both. Perhaps I should tell you where I learned the difference between right an' wrong.

The year was 2001. I was livin' as a rutting beast, more or less, barely wearing a human skin and certainly not givin' much thought to making better of myself. I'd been out of the Hedge about a year, maybe a little more, enough to pick up a name and learn a bit of a trade, working hunting men down for the thrill of the chase. First bounty I got that I was workin' by myself, I had a hunch as was worth playin', about a man as was wanted by the police for murderin' his wife an' their two children an' dumping their hacked-up bodies in a nearby lake. Reckon I knew a thing or two about the kind of person as could do something so terrible... an' figured he'd not think much of anything was wrong, just go about his life as normal as could be while he ducked off to dodge the law.

So rather than join the state-wide manhunt that was rifling through the airports and train stations, I just followed the scent north on the way to the border, chasing him on his way to Canada. Found a small town on the way up off the main road just past Albany, looked an' felt like his small town suburb out on Long Island and reckoned as he would try an' set himself up a reenactment. Feel what he felt before. So I waited for nightfall an' just listened... knowin' whatever it was playin' through his soul, it found what it wanted here an' it was hungry for more. An' in the dark, an' in the quiet, I'd be able to follow my ears an' find him by what didn't sound right. I found him all right, blade in hand, menacing the wife o' the household while standin' over her husband's bleedin', coolin' corpse.

She wanted to run for her life, you see, but... maternal instincts ride a body hard, an' he was threatening to do the same to the children if she tried to run. Let him have his play, he says, an' he'll leave them breathin'. What she had was what he wanted, he told her, an' it was that power in his voice as held her fixed in his gaze. Reckon he'd have gotten away with it if I weren't there... but that weren't why I was there. She lived. The children lived. He died. You might say I did the right thing... I killed a very bad man, guilty as sin and rotten to the core.

But you can do the right thing for the wrong reason, an' I killed the man because it pleased me to take his life. Something in me was born strong, impossibly strong, all coils of muscle an' a desire to squeeze. I cracked his neck with a noise so loud I reckoned as it'd splintered the night, shatter the darkness in two right there... but that was just the ringin' in my ears of what I wanted to hear, didn't even wake the children. I faced what I was then, an' learned from it. That was the moment when I taught myself the difference between good an' evil... because in that moment I was no different'n him, I wanted the same thing for the same reason even if I did what everyone'd say was "the right thing". The abacus of good an' evil'd even agree with that. Two lives lost, instead of four... an' one of those as was getting a needle in the arm soon's we could bring him in hale an' hearty anyway.

The policemen came and called me a hero. Even wanted to give me a medal, for the "citizen's arrest", acting in a respectable fashion an' committin' "justifiable homicide". Just seein' that poor man, neck slit ear to ear, grinnin' up at me... how could you not believe I'd done the right thing?

But I knew. After all, I knew why I did what I did. An' I know who gave me that strength, an' who put it against my fellow man as a ticking time bomb 'case I ever got loose o' him. But if everyone tells you you're a hero, an' you know you're not, are you supposed to just believe 'em?

I walked away from that. Livin' like that, that weren't life. Weren't what I came back for, why I swam free o' the boulder as was draggin' me down behind it to my death. I had a choice between worshippin' life an' worshippin' death, an' I reckon as I knew which choice was the easy one. But that weren't the one as I made. I taught myself somethin' new. Went off the rails, started re-workin' the programmin'..."

radiofreefae @ 2007-10-05T16:21:00

2007-10-05T20:22:51Z

I've been strangely silent, I know, since NERE... I haven't had the time to play catch-up with my Cam stuff until just now, so I'm finally putting details together.

One thing I'd been discussing trying to put together for utter awesomeness is a smuggler's cove between Long Island and Connecticut, to make for some awesome roleplay to do with the seedy underbelly of Lost society and its criminal elements as far as the real world is concerned. I've gotten some ties worked in already but have finally been able to make a Wiki page for it and a Google-group, and had hoped that this might be a great way to tie together disparate souls in the changeling community both in the Northeast Region and outside of it, because more roleplay equals equals more awesome.

The Wiki page is here:

http://changeling.cam-wiki.org/index.php/Isla_del_Perdido

And the Googlegroup is here:

http://groups.google.com/group/isla-del-perdido

If you have anything approaching some sort of criminal behavior, and would have an interest in being anywhere near Long Island Sound either now or in the past, this might just be an amazing opportunity to run with. Please come play. I hope to hear from plenty of y'all soon. :)

Changeling Wiki

2007-08-30T17:11:53Z

My character is now on the big Changeling wikipedia, here.

Interested in ties...?

2007-08-29T16:02:47Z

I've been joining groups and discussing ties all over the place, and after writing up an email to fates_crow I figured I might as well post them here as well. The floating post here at the top of my page talks about what the character's personality is like and what some of his interests are, and the brief history is in the User Info... but those interests could use some expanding to knock in ties. An easy hook-in is to the occasional criminal activity, either working in the same direction or at odds to each other, because a big play point for my character is being forced to what living he can make without much of an identity and without the life experiences that others have had that allow them to readjust to the world; it was "coffee barista" or "wandering criminal" for him, and barista lost that fight by a mile.

But there's a lot of places to work with, either martial ties (both 'regular' such as the tie I'm hoping to make with Lana and her group, and 'guerilla' as the ties to Never Again will be), Court ties (membership in Summer, looking also for firm ties in Winter), or just intersecting interests as seen below.

1. Strong aquatic ties... both in shipping (legal or illegal) and patrolling the waters between New York and Boston to keep mortals from falling into the Hedge in the same way he did. Nemo tries to undermine the influence of his Keeper and those like him by robbing the Hedge of those who would sink beneath the waves to it, and has earned a bit of Fame with the local coast guard as an ally to their goals when it comes to rescuing those in trouble on the sea.

2. Ties to New Fae... sometimes just sometimes you pull them out of the drink on their way back out from Faerie, not to haul them in before their first visit.

3. Ties to the Inkeepers Guild... a group of Fae who run half-way houses for new Fae, as well as provide hospice for visitors or perhaps just the weary, at a reasonable price. Nemo's pulled more than a few fledgling Fae out of the drink, and isn't interested in playing nursemaid to one of them for any longer than he has to... he turns them over to the Innkeepers to see to getting them set straight, and occasionally does other work for them as well to keep up good relations with his potential bolt-holes should he need one.

4. Ties to the Changeling couriers... he's a well-armed man of violence, excellent for seeing a courier safely to their destination in territory that might not otherwise be navigable. Once in a while he does the courier work himself, after all he's looking for anything to help turn a living.

5. Ties to Never Again... Nemo's one angry little fish-man, and sometimes you need to get together with a bunch of your friends and beat the ever-living daylights out of something. Nemo's not the most fanatical member of Niemand's group, but he is a good one to have around in a fight and he will turn up to support the group's goals when the going starts to get tough. Nemo works in a lot of different ways to try and strike back at the Keepers, though, rather than just striking as hard as he can to destroy Faerie... anything he can do to toughen up the local Fae, after all, helps to close down the influence of the Keepers, as does snatching the wayward and lost out of the Hedge before they can be dragged into service.

6. Ties to the New Camelot group... working on military-minded tie-ins with that group, however Lana thinks it might work out. I'm thinking having fought a skirmish or two with them as allies, and having received some more formal military training at some point in the not too distant past.

7. Ties to Radio Free Fae... Nemo's personal ship is currently green-lighted to be a Radio Free Fae transmission station, wandering the sea on the coast of the NE Region spreading useful information that needs to be passed along.

8. Criminal ties... any associates from past jobs or current alliances, which will be including a large Hallow "smuggler's island" in the Long Island Sound that serves as a base of operations for all sorts of illicit activities. I'm currently tying in with Darcey (an identity broker), Mark Lewis (returned mobster taking over Boston's South Side), and Cris Fisher (something of a pirate) on the "criminal" side, and there's a lot of room to play around in here.

9. Summer Court ties... Nemo wanders, but that just means he isn't specifically tied down to just any one Freehold. Ties with the Summer Court across the region are a definite plus... I'm looking at Mantle 3 so far and figure getting together with the Summer Court pretty much anywhere to give a nice vicious beating to something that deserves it is a great way to "bond".

10. Winter Court ties... Nemo's MO is basically Summer Court anger and aggressive dispensation of wrathful "justice", but with a sensibility for what, when and how to do this without calling undue attention on yourself. Sometimes it's better to just blend in with the crowd and fade from view, and sometimes subversive action will accomplish so much more than a vigorous beating... I'm aiming to have some decent Winter Court Goodwill as well.