"It Is A Pleasure To Be Graced By Your Presence, Ruler Of The Nine Bows," Robin Says With An Inclination

"Exactly as in William Shakespeare," Robin says in delight at Lain's reaction. It is a true pleasure to be able to lord this bit of information over the head of someone who does not know about it. Assan is well aware of her outings, and most within the courts at least suspect of her mischief regarding that particular British copy. "You have heard of the most charming Puck, also known as Robin Goodfellow, have you not?" She asks with a smirk as she returns the kiss with an equal enthusiasm, delighted by Lain's initiative. "Me, indeed, in whatever way you desire. Your performance was rather wondrous, after all, and you surely deserve to be rewarded as you please."

He was still coming down from the high that came with live performances, red wine still dripping down his body from where Lucas had forced him to down a whole glass on stage, resulting in the death of Claudius. Lain had a huge smile on his face as Robin took him by necklace he was wearing and led him away from view.  Her kiss grounded him, the feeling that he was currently floating outside his own body fading away. “William?  As in the William Shakespeare?” Lain asked incredulously before chuckling, “I always assumed he was actually a bunch of people all writing under the same pen name.”  He leaned in to kiss her again, full of enthusiasm and lacking the self-doubting hesitation that usually proceeded his touches. “So what’s my reward? Is it you?” 

floratitus​:

The security that surrounded Mercuralia was only the beginning of the police state they were about to become submerged in, Flora desired public safety for those innocents to not fear that they would be plucked off the streets and hauled away into a van. She remembered her time serving as a Marshal on the Senate and somewhere along the lines, it had been determined that it was the Eye who had been kidnapping supernaturals only to have it brushed underneath the rug again. She wouldn’t forget the body that she found floating down the Tiber river with bites from its own vampiric kind littering its body, it had been killed by the Leech but the Leech had been under the control of the Eye at the time. “I will do what I can to help you, he’s chosen his side and I won’t allow any more Lycans to suffer at the hands of the Eye.”

...

“Splendid. I will work on this misdirection on my part too, but please do be subtle. Wade might not be the sharpest tool in the box but he is not an idiot either.” At least not most of the time, and she cannot risk such a fruitful connection into the Eye to be alerted that he is being used. The hunter had made his bed and then believed a mere apology would be enough to brush it all aside when he would never forgive the creature that had destroyed his family. “He has to believe that he has been forgiven, so that he doesn’t suspect anything we do. For that, if you currently have a good relationship with him, you might need to maintain it. Can you do that? Can you lie to him?”

Elodie Yung for Mixed Asian Media

i’m a simple bisexual. i see a pretty person, i [aggrieved noise]

wadecalhoun​:

          Wade would love nothing more than to diffuse the situation with some ill-mannered joke but her life had lain within the balance and it was with such a precarious situation he was grimly, strangely, quiet. The Archer always would rather have some rebuttal as ammunition when all odds were pointed against him, it wasn’t typical that he was ever reticent and his jaw clenches at the reminder of Robin’s pain and how he was some willing passerby as the violence endured. “I… didn’t stab you,” it falls forward gauchely in protest at her venomous vitriol, a pathetic defense in lieu of all Robin had overcome since the hunter’s reckless accompaniment to the other hunters. “You told me to go!” It was the cowards way out, but it had been a path she’d offered to him in what Wade had, sickeningly, believed to be her final moment. His head bowed, scowling at how everything snowballed so out of proportion, “I didn’t plan for any of that to happen. M’not their leader, they got out of control.” He’s fairly shit at this whole apology thing and a hand rakes through his hair as he tries to regain control of his word vomit, “I wouldn’t leave you to die, Robin. You were in the hands of your own people, your home. You told me to go, I believed you’d had the situation under control,” bleeding out on the grassy floor of the woods; unlikely, but she’d given him the grace to escape and now up heaved the guilt onto him.

....

“No, you just watched as your friends ignored my warnings and stabbed me when I was trying to deescalate the situation. Truly, Calhoun, do you not kill demons for being guilty by association to the demon that destroyed your family? Is it not within my rights to deem you guilty by associating with a group that hunts, captures and experiments on supernaturals?” She wonders if he is willfully blind to his own faults or if he is aware of them but has chosen the path of hypocrisy rather than honesty. “I told you to go, because despite knowing you don’t give a flying fuck about me, I still cared, but that doesn’t mean I don’t blame you for it.” Cared, as in past. Cared, as in no longer. She doubts the poor little human will realize, but the conversation is only serving to solidify her desire to destroy him in such a manner there is nothing left but scraps. “Does that make you feel better? Avoiding the blame? They could not have entered the forest without your help, they would not have stabbed me if you had interjected. The changelings might have ended them, but it was your choice that killed them, your choice that almost killed me. If my King had not answered, I would be gone, and yet you stand before me and try to excuse yourself instead of apologize?” Another bitter laugh escapes her as she shakes her head. “You called me a friend, but the more you speak the more I realize you must have been lying.”

zahryaofspring​:

✿*ﾟ ‘ﾟ･

Dislike for mortals? A hundred, even a thousand years ago, the notion might’ve made Zahrya chuckle. After all, it made no sense to harbor negative emotions for creatures so far beneath him. Pity sure, but blatant dislike? He could’ve denounced the idea completely once, but truth is fluid and the mouth of his changeling remains open unspeaking for he can tell no lies.

“Until they are reminded of their place, the denizens of this realm should not expect any love from me. Either we can wait for that, or we can remind them ourselves.” When the changeling finally vocalizes Zahrya’s words, it comes out as a gravelly hiss. The vines wrapped around its body sharpen to points unintentionally and the air around him seems to vibrate, signs of the Chancellor’s agitation. “The old ways have gotten us this far. Abandoning them purely because they conflict with the state of this realm would be foolish.”

Though he calms himself as he pilots the changeling closer to Robin’s face. “What I desire most is the safety and longevity of our people. Anything more is a distraction. Duty and desire are one for me, I would gladly give my life to fulfill both.” It may not be what she wants to hear, but it’s his truth. If Titania asked him to fall on his sword right then he would without question. “You raise excellent points, but my knowledge and wisdom can be passed on. Perhaps flesh pleasures can help bring about an heir for my court, but I worry how I’d nurture the blossom properly outside of the maze…” 

...

“Fear is likely not going to remind them of their place, simply plant the seeds of spite on their hearts,” she says slowly, words measured so that he recognizes their weight. If there is anything she has learned on her PhD program is that mortals are petty, no matter how much they deny it. Show something to fear and they will seek to destroy it. The Eye proves to be a great example of that. “Please correct me if I am wrong, but I believe the old ways meant for us to dazzle mortals with out feats not scare them?”

Robin is not sure, for she has heard her mother’s stories and she understands that at times her kind has done both, but it is worth asking, if merely to attempt to deescalate the situation. They are guests among the Pluto vampire’s, and bringing conflicts to their doors will only bring more trouble. Something the courts truly do not need.

“We are in troubling times, Chancellor. We cannot afford to lose our most powerful defenders and protectors with things as they are, and while it is noble that you would give your life to fulfill your duty, that is not what we need,” she begins, voice deliberate as she faces the Changeling with a mild expression. “We need leaders, and despite being able to pass on your knowledge and wisdom, leadership is a rather different skill, is it not?”

who? @chancellorxlaer​

where? summer’s sands

Robin is by far the least experienced of the Chancellors. Born to the stable reign of Fen’harel, having grown with the belief that the Dread Wolf would protect their court and never harm them, only to be proved wrong by the liar’s own lips. Only to be thrown into a position she had never wanted, her freedom restrained and the weight of responsibilities that grew heavier by the day settling on her shoulders. She had done the best she could, but her transition had not come in a time of peace. No matter what, it never seemed like she had done enough. Not for the courts, not for her court. Not while more than half her people suffered at the hands of their most ancient enemy, not while there was nothing she could do, for her expertise laid on subterfuge and not the full frontal attack the drow required. Her task had been solidified once she had become a Chancellor: to watch the Eye’s moves and undermine them as much as they could. And despite that, she had given one of them the entrance to their last refuge, given Wade permission to enter, and invitation. She had been lucky the only one to pay the iron price had been her, lucky that her mistake had not cost any fey life, but even in this luck, she had been unlucky. For she is weakened now, when they need the Chancellor’s strength to be at it’s fullest.

A sigh escapes her lips, as she approaches Laer’s presence. Robin is in dire need of advice, and although she wishes to go to Meryasek or Aurora instead, she cannot overburden her friends on such a crucial time. Laer, however? He has had millennia to learn how to hold the burden of his position, even in war time, and she faithfully believes that although he does not carry all the solutions, talking to him will at least help.

“I am in dire need of advice,” she comments quietly, as she comes to stand next to the other as they survey Laer’s work at shaping his new domain. “And I would prefer if it’s yours, but if you are too overburdened by current events, do let me know, I can find someone else.”

alekgray​:

-

Fey and their fucking tricks. Bound through deals and contracts, that just sounded great. Useful, maybe, but that didn’t mean Alek had to like it. “I wouldn’t be surprised, they’re all over, aren’t they?” The lycan stated simplistically, considering their tech and their guns and their equipment it stood to reason that they had to be getting their materials from elsewhere. Manufacturing probably happened elsewhere too, for all their flexing of power Alek had to wonder how much of their development was being poured into it. “I’ve smelled them in there, in the Otherworld. It’s faint, but they’re there enough.” Alek had to wonder how they were getting there, but that might as well have been another fire entirely. “What are you thinking?”

...

“Like cockroaches,” she echoes the sentiment with a scowl. Too many laboratories, too few of her spies to count them all. The entire ordeal is beyond frustrating, but she realizes she has time. Something the lycan before her is sorely lacking, or would have been were he not rumored to be a volatile. A ruthless choice, but one well suited for a man meaning to go to war with an organization almost as old as humanity. “You have?” She had been concerned, but the confirmation of it all is even worse when it comes from someone as well acquainted with the Eye as the former experiment. “I am thinking that the best case scenario is that they have found a door into the Otherworld. The worst case? They made one. It would imply that they do not only rely on technology, but that they also have an in-depth understanding of magic beyond that which they got from stealing from Theneras.”

zahryaofspring​:

✿*° ‘° ･

Benevolence is in Zahrya’s nature, but even now he can’t tell if Robin’s hesitation is something to be cherished or shot down. He can’t see beyond the bounds of his vow. “I will show them no mercy,” he declares with an intensity that’s out of place given the tone of their chat, but he softens once again. “It’s not just the season, it’s you. These fields are only possible because this bounty is what your heart reflects. Charity is wonderful, but at some point we have to turn our gaze to ourselves.” As he strums, Zahrya thinks of the old days before humans became so plentiful, the days his kind thrived while he grew in the Labyrinth. They’d been shared with him and therefore he was able to idealize the era. Perhaps Robin could benefit from such stories. “There was once a time when no mortal king could accomplish anything without the influence of an eladrin. They worshipped us and in turn, we built their civilizations. Art, music, and magic, all gifts from us, but that has been forgotten. We are no longer bound by the senate and can once again expose our divinity to the masses, but we’re beyond the point where we could do such things without purpose. Testing the denizens of the mortal realm with the intention of subjugation would be the only way such an idea could work.”

...

“It’s a lesson I am beginning to learn, yes, but despite my growing lack of compassion towards most of humanity,” Robin says slowly, spitting out the word compassion as if it had rotten in her mouth, the resentment from recent events on her shoulders weighting her down but not to fully cloud her senses. “I cannot say that showing them no mercy is the solution, not when many of them are our allies. When many of them have laid with fey, or given birth to faiman children. Do the children do not deserve our mercy?” It’s a quick inquiry, and Robin wonders. Wonders where Zahrya would have fallen on the news of her brother’s exile to be with his human and his children, wonders if he considers those children worthy. “There is no denying that we are beyond humanity’s comprehension, that without us they would never have become what they now are. However, I must warn you Zahrya, humans have long desired to kill their gods, and the Eye has made that desire a reality. If you test them too harshly, too quickly, you will turn the same people who erased Alstroemeria from existence towards us, and we cannot fight a war in two fronts with our current strength. If we want to destroy the Eye, we must do it carefully, and only after can we be bolder.”