The Cereal Box:Log/Session 15

Session 15

The Goblin Market was a shadow of the mall itself, and looked like what the mall would look like overgrown after centuries of human non-habitation, with post-apocalyptic-esque wagons and merchants peddling strange wares. A booth called Tokens GALORE had a SOLD OUT sign prominently displayed.

Ernie got seperated and a pickpocket pulled a hangnail from him before making a break for it. Hestia and Alana looked through a cart of "things that should have been, but never were," finding incredible albums and films on impossible or rare formats (Nirvana's 4th studio album "Rebirth" on scintasand; James Cameron's Avatar on Betamax; Boris Karloff's off-broadway debut that never happened; Half-Life 3 "but be warned there's a mandatory update that requires a connection to the company's dedicated server") as well as personal effects such as divorce papers, engagement rings and sealed letters.

While they were there, a wormlike Goblin named Tibble pulled Sephie aside and told her that he had a box containing "feels" that would give them power over the monarchs. The feels were from the "Queens" of the courts (which he explained only meant the reigning monarch of the Court in Lyrissa's case). He further explained that he had a feel that how power over both Kingman and Billy, since both sort of believed themselves to be Kings, and one over Lyrissa and Jeremiah, but nothing for Smith, whom he claimed "has no feels in him" and thus, could not be controlled in this way. They argued over price until Alana (who along with Hestia had overheard the dickering) offered an experience for it, which the creature solidified into a "feel".

The box contained several items that, when touched, gave the one who touches them an overwhelming and intensely specific emotion. A wedding ring gave nauseating head-swimming betrayal and abhorrent despair. A crochet needle gave an overwhelming dread, with a distant spark of hope like a single star in a black sky blanket of endless night (and a distant echoing voice saying, "I've changed my mind. I don't want to. No..."). A torn segment from a spiral notebook that appeared to be a journal, blank on one said, on the other said, "I told my young lover that surely HE could still enjoy this. HE could have fun. This isn't fun anymore. I do not feel I will set foot in the place again." that filled with a sensation of nihilistic numbness. Finally, a light blue glass dangly earring, perpetually cold, that filled with a sensation of haunting grief and fierce mercy for someone hated.

Evie purchased a hedgespun dress that was comprised of stormclouds with lightning coursing through it, with a hem makes the sound of spring rain as it trails. The ensemble smelled faintly of ozone and petrichor, and came with a pair of shoes that can step in the deepest puddle without making your stockings the slightest bit damp.

While Billy stepped away in search of something appropriately hedonistic and blasphemous for the shindig he had planned that night, Dahlia approached Evie and asked if she would surrender the crown of Spring to her. She argued that it should be clear to them by now that Billy puts grandstanding over the lives and safety of changelings, and that if Johnny, Roper and/or other very well experienced changelings had been there when the newcomers were kidnapped, less or no casualties would have occurred (and made it clear that she meant no offense to the motley, but was merely stating that two of the most powerful changelings in the freehold WOULD have been there without Billy's meddling). She insisted that this was the motley's opportunity to set things right and make a real, positive difference. Evie refused and April called Dahlia a bitch and stated she would now ship her with the Woodsman in retaliation. There would be kissing.

Evie stepped aside with Dahlia and told her that as a concession, she would like to hear what Dahlia thought would be a good edict for her to pass in her brief time as Queen. Dahlia said that she had been considering an edict akin to "Our greatest desire is always to have our needs met," meaning that changelings SHOULD desire (in Spring, the season of desires) to meet the basic needs of other changelings before trying to fulfill their own whims and fancies. This would renew the focus of the Freehold on trying to ensure that the weakest among them are protected. Evie said she would consider this, and everyone agreed that they WANTED to like Dahlia.

Billy said they needed to part so he could set up for his main event, and that they must be there by 8 (and would appreciate Evie being there a little early). They returned home to prepare, and Craig Weston showed up, telling them (in his own special way) that they would need to see Kingman at the Catholic Church.

Kingman explained that Billy had confined him to the church for the day, and that he could only leave at 8 to go to the party (and be unfashionably late). He expalined that Billy had constructed a wicker man at the church, and that he believed that Billy suspected Evie of being a loyalist and intended to burn her in the wicker man. He explained that this mirrored the first anniversary of the Paris Freehold's own strengthening, where a lowly loyalist had been made king for the day and then sacrificed in this manner to increase the power (something that would, eventually, be necessary with the Cereal Box). He told Evie that the surest way to protect her would be for her to concede the crown of Spring to him.

As they discussed, Billy texted her about how wonderful the gathering was going to be, and even sent a picture of all the liquor he had procured, with the blurry wicker man in the background. Hestia ASKED THE BURNING QUESTION "Is Billy going to burn Evie at the ceremony?", to which she received the response, "No. That was never the plan." at unknown cost. After urging Evie to keep the crown, Evie declined Kingman, who said he would pray for her, and he hoped God would have mercy on her soul.

At the party, the motley mingled.

Smith confided to Hestia that he HATED the day because he was pranked constantly by Billy and, while the pranks were harmless, they drove him nuts, but that the day had been entirely devoid of pranks and he was now very on edge. The finger sandwiches were, he concluded, not tainted.

Ernie spoke with Jeremiah who explained of Roper, who was wearing a gimp suit, that Billy had traded him "something he REALLY wanted" for his loyalty in performing a task that day. "Isn't that INTRIGUING?" the King of Autumn had asked.

Jack Strong was wear a latex fetish suit (freeballed, as everyone could tell) with a gray suit jacket over it. Johnny Starlight in a leather daddy outfit. All admitted that they had made a deal with Billy.

Billy pulled Evie aside and explained that he needed her to give the crown of Spring to Matthew Kingman as close to 10 PM as reasonably possible, but before 10 PM. He further stated that he was sure Kingman would ask for or demand it, but that if he did not, she should force it on him. "It will be great!" he explained, "I have the greatest thing planned! We'll all look back on it and laugh!" Evie hesitantly agreed.

Around 9:30 PM, Roper, Strong and Starlight unloaded several canisters marked "Kerosine" from the back of a truck and put them next to the wicker man. They then formed a line in front of it and waited. Immediately before 10, Kingman approached Evie and begged her to listen to reason and surrender the crown to him, which she did. Johnny, Roper and Strong grabbed him and shackled his hands and feet with fuzzy handcuffs, which Kingman exclaimed were iron, and threw him into the wicker man, padlocking him inside. They then began pouring kerosine on and around the base of it.

Billy, dressed as a sacriligeous pontiff and carrying a dildo cross staff, accused Kingman of "vile, unnatural" crimes, and demanded he confess to "save your soul, if not your life!" Kingman cried out for Billy to stop as Billy prepared to throw a road flare in. Lyrissa watched, intrigued, Jeremiah laughed, Smith ate finger sandwiches casually, Dahlia cried out in protest and several courtiers started to step forward. Elissa almost confronted Billy, but Johnny, Roper and Strong all reluctantly admitted that they would have to prevent her from interfereing, per the deals they had made.

Eventually, Billy offered Kingman a deal - he could confess his deepest shame in return for his life. They struck the deal, and Kingman confessed that he had traded his wife to a Vampire of the Lancae Et Sanctum in return for power to protect the Freehold. Stunned silence followed, with Billy explaning that this was all a joke, that the wicker man was a breakaway that, when lit, would drop him into a kiddie pool of green and blue Jell-O and, finally, that he had expected Kingman to confess to some puritanical garbage "like fucking a dude in a locker room or something."

Billy threw the flare and, as he promised, the wicker man broke apart and dropped him into the pool. Billy pulled out his iron dagger, and Alana told him to stop. "Why? What should be done with him then? Evie! You were Queen of Spring! What should we do with him!" Evie said she didn't know. Lyrissa gave a slow clap and shouted, "Bravo!" to Billy for his masterful play.

Billy regained his composure and told Strong, Starlight and Roper to "take care of Kingman, as we discussed, then restrain him somewhere to be dealt with later." They carried him off into the church. Billy then gave a brief extemporaneous speech. "It just goes to show," he said, "that no one is always as they appear. Sometimes, the ones who claim to be most morally upright are the most corrupt. Sometimes, the secrets they hide are truly horrific. You can never know someone. Imagine if, for example, a sado-masochistic drug-addled pervert who ambled his way back into power turned out to be a political mastermind who could expose and dispose of his greatest political rival in what looked like a lighthearted prank gone terribly wrong," he nodded, wiped a few tears of anger from his eyes and added, "That would be horrifying, wouldn't it?"

"By the way, Smith, I had my girls fill your car with shaving cream."

He then encouraged everyone to try to lighten up the mood, have a few drinks. With a bow, he excused himself.