[OPEN] Bromley & Bexley Claims + Afterparty

[entitles]

[Catch all post for these three events! Please reply to the appropriate header below.]

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Party at Lesnes Abbey Woods

[detectiveofthewest]

After the fae had secured their territory, the celebration could begin. There were strange lights about in Lesnes Abbey Woods in Bexley, starting from the Abbey ruins and proceeding onward into the trees and the Wildflower Enclosures. Should a visitor make their way into the center of the woods, they would no doubt find a very peculiar-looking celebration. Men and women in extravagant flowing clothes, each more beautiful (and slightly unnerving) than the next. Food and drink were freely available, as were song and dance.

Clearly someone was having a party here...

[entitles]

Balem wasn't used to throwing parties in the mortal realm, least of all during Summer, but given the recent victory (not one but two territories claimed in the span of two days) it seemed apt to do so.

They faced surprisingly little resistance, so the ordeal may not have qualified as a massive triumph, but it may have caught potential enemies off-guard and certainly sent a message that the fae would not stand by and ignore everything that was going on. That, he felt, was something to be proud of, and aside from that he felt like quite the trendsetter given that his fellow fae hadn't bothered to stake their claim here before. A hundred years ago, even, he would have felt the same way: taking territory here was beneath him, it legitimized human conflicts too much. But that was before he knew that some of them were powerful enough to seal off the Other Realm.

He could be found out and about, drinking wine and eating snacks (which visitors may want to be careful about; it is Faery food after all) and generally being in a pleasant mood. The stars were definitely in his favor tonight.

[detectiveofthewest]

[Doesn't have to take place at the party if Balem's promotion comes later!]

Upon hearing of Balem's recent change in title, Heiji made a point of showing up with a nice bottle of autumn-appropriate wine wrapped neatly in leaves that glistened as though moistened by the dew.

"Congratulations on the new appointment," he said, presenting the bottle to Balem with a smile. He wasn't the only one who was moving up lately...

[entitles]

“Thank you,” he said, accepting the gift.

The appointment was not something he expected, but he was quite pleased with it. He didn’t quite know what the reaction would be from the court as a whole to his claim, but he was glad to see they seemed to support his more aggressive stance towards meddling humans even if it contradicted the usual apathy.

Although he didn’t abandon his usual space-like attire, he had adorned his cloak with hand-crafted leaves in gold and bronze that fell in lines and appeared to collect at the bottom.

“I’m certain your work will be rewarded as well, in whatever way that may be,” he said, although he didn’t know how exactly the Seelie court would react.

[detectiveofthewest]

"Likely after all these years, this is actually a bit of excitement," said Heiji. At least if Balem's new position was any indication.

"So. Any plans for celebration? Or maybe after all this moving around, it'd be better to have a quiet night under the stars." That was a pretty nice cloak, Balem. Not really Heiji's style, of course, but he also didn't wear space-themed clothes as a general rule.

[entitles]

"Some quiet will do me good for now, I think," he said, and although he was in a good mood he did look somewhat drained. He'd have to gather up some extra energy soon. Find a human who owes him something, perhaps.

"Besides, the height of summer may not be the proper time to celebrate autumn. My time will come soon enough."

[detectiveofthewest]

He laughed. "True enough. But there's always the Perseids to look forward to." He rather enjoyed those himself.

"So, they tell you what responsibilities you'll need to take on?" Not that he'd really know all that much about those; who knew what London's customs were?

[entitles]

"Goodness, no. We Unseelie tend to find out about responsibility when we're needed and not a second sooner. But I am prepared, and it keeps life exciting," he said.

[detectiveofthewest]

Heiji laughed. "Funny, I never hear that from people older than me. Then again, I guess I don't usually spend quite as much time with the Unseelie."

Respectable Seelie fae, after all, had responsibilities. And Heiji did come from a family of good repute.

[entitles]

"We like to remain spontaneous, I suppose," he said, "And I may be old here but in father's terms I'm practically a child. And he won't let me forget it, either."

Fifty-thousand was young in comparison to billions, but Balem sure wished he could be taken more seriously by the celestial community. As it was he had to use up most of his energy just to get them to do anything.

[detectiveofthewest]

Heiji laughed. "Yeah, I guess that's true. How many billions of years old is your old man?" Well, that was more of a rhetorical question, perhaps, unless Balem actually knew. Most fae he knew got a little iffy on the specifics after a while.

"I kinda thought the spontaneity might be nice when I came out here. Y'know, out of the influence of everyone back home. But now that I'm here, I kind of miss 'em. Just a little bit."

[entitles]

"He's stopped keeping track. He cares more about size than age. Older than our sun, though, probably by a good deal of time," he said.

"I've never stopped missing my old homes, although I don't think about them often anymore. It's difficult to get over them."

[detectiveofthewest]

Heiji managed, but only just, to keep himself from breaking into a rather immature snort of laughter at Balem's comment about size and age; he nodded solemnly instead. Sorry, buddy. You were talking to a 200-year-old, after all. "Maybe some humans might be able to date him a little better. But I figure anyone that old'd do the same."

This conversation did, however, bring up an interesting question: "So where was your favorite home? You've had a bunch by now, yeah?"

[detectiveofthewest]

Heiji could be found here and there during the party as a large black fox easily as tall as an adult human. He was something of a pecular sight as he directed his fellow fae as to where to set up the refreshments and how best to arrange the lights, which vaguely resembled will-o-the-wisps. All in all, planning the party turned out to be more intensive than the conquest itself.

A giant skeleton as tall as a building flickered in and out of view; Heiji stopped every once in a while to converse with him. At one point, the skeleton picked up a bottle of wine and began to down it, seemingly not noticing that it was merely pouring down inside his rib cage.

"Bro," he was saying, his eye sockets welling with moisture. "I'm so proud of you, I'm sweating through my eyes!"

...Later on, Heiji could be found in a patch of wildflowers, snoozing while he listened with one ear for anything out of the ordinary. A night under the stars -- truly lovely.

[rules_winter]

Mab wandered out of the main party into the field looking specifically for Heiji. She did not believe for a moment that she could sneak up on him instead she stepped through flowers leaving crystalline frost in her wake that gleamed in the moonlight and stopped nearby. "You interfered."

It had been his territory claim but she had given her assistance and she wasn't particularly pleased to have him undermine her when a human was too stupid (and rude, that was the most irritating part) for their own good. Mab had once turned an entire village to ice for a smaller slight. "It is high time the humans learned respect."

[detectiveofthewest]

Heiji returned to human form, hands in his pockets. "Yeah, well. Looked like your associate was gonna maul someone." And he still didn't know what their exchange had been about.

"Is that what it was about? You know the courts here ain't been active for a long time. And that girl was obviously daft. She had a salt circle set up, for cryin' out loud. You coulda just let her dig her own grave and the cops would've picked her up for domestic terrorism. Probably pickin' up the shell casings right now."

[rules_winter]

That earned a blank look. Because why should that bother her in the least? "Yes."

"Stupidity is no excuse for disrespect." Mab replied, still irritated. And she certainly didn't need moral authorities to provided the needed spanking of a child who'd misbehaved. A mauling would leave a lasting impression. "You are too soft with them. Pain is an excellent teacher." The biggest problem for Mab was definitely the disrespect.

[detectiveofthewest]

Heiji sighed. "Well, if I'd known she'd set up those explosives, I mighta thought twice. What'd she do to get under your skin so bad, though? Humans have awfully short memories; you must be used to havin' them not know who you are."

Maulings: nature's remedy...

[rules_winter]

Mab puffed out a breath of amusement. "Explosives. And she was concerned about the danger the fae posed. Humans well never realize that they are just as much a danger to each other as we are to them."

There was a soft motion of her hand, almost dismissive. Her quarrel was with Ringer. And she was still annoyed that Heiji had interfered. "Some humans are well read." It was Mab who had convinced a certain duo of brother's to write a book of Fairytales. She still had a signed copy in the original German. "Instincts exist for a reason. Wise humans pay attention when their instincts tell them great danger is near."

[detectiveofthewest]

"Well, I think we can both agree that that one wasn't especially wise." But if Mab didn't want to discuss the particulars, that begged the question:

"So, you just here to chew me out or what?" Heiji was fairly used to that; he got it from his father all the time. Not that he listened very much. Or at all.

[rules_winter]

"I was here," She replied patiently, "To ask you not to interfere again." Her voice was cool, she mostly did not like her authority being undermined in front of even the silliest of humans. How was one to inspire the proper level of fear if foxes ran around stopping her every time she was punishing someone? And she did not particularly wish to make an enemy of Heiji just yet, they worked together very well as proven by the capture of his territory. It wasn't like Mab was going out and finding innocents to horrifically murder.

[detectiveofthewest]

"You know we don't do absolutes," said Heiji. "I don't know that much about you; I can't just promise ya I'll never interfere in your business for ever and ever. Or if I did, it'd come steep. You gotta be more specific."

Besides, for all he knew, she was going to find innocents to horrifically murder.

[rules_winter]

Mab made a disgusted noise. "I am asking for courtesy." She said stubbornly. "I am sometimes open to recommendations but not when they undermine my position in public." And Mab held grudges. Don't make her look weak Heiji. She'll find a way to stick it to you later.

[detectiveofthewest]

"Really? 'Cause I've been tryin' to give it to you. But you don't wanna discuss anything about yourself, you don't wanna tell me what's going on, and I kinda doubt you showed up when I was down and out purely out of the goodness of your heart. I'm sorry about your cat. I might be sorry about interfering with whatever your thing was with that girl, but I don't even know, 'cause I don't know what all happened."

That wasn't even including Mab's Thing with his personal space, which he just could not figure out unless it was some sort of weird trolling.

"And don't you think it undermines your position in public way more gettin' into a fight over some disused Door? You said yourself humans're bigger threats to themselves than we are. So why not just let them blow themselves up?"

[rules_winter]

"I do not have 'goodness' in my heart." She replied sounding a little baffled that he'd think otherwise. "Though I did come upon you by chance, I am what I am, I would think less of any fae who did not attempt to make a deal in such a situation. I accepted your decision." She left off what was clearly going to be something along the lines of, why are you even bringing it up again? "I did not press when you were uninterested in telling me the details of what happened to you." Just that it was a werewolf, after that he'd clammed up. And she'd left him to it.

She stopped and looked down at him. Was he being petulant because he actually cared to know all the details of her argument or was he simply in a terrible mood? "I think reclaiming territories that will be disputed in the future will require actual conflict. There is absolutely nothing wrong with sending a message to those who may wish to challenge us. I also think if you allow small things to go unpunished, others will pick at the weakness like a scab. Slights of even smaller things must be dealt with decisively. And I think you are being purposely obstinate about this." She can't understand why. He is fae, he should be familiar with the fact that fae do not share information freely, it had ever been this way in the Unseelie court. "Is it my dispute you wish to know about or is there something else you wish to discuss with me."