#anywhere

"I won't. You made me promise"

"Thanks." A deep breath.

"You're welcome.well not VERY welcome, but you know" A sigh "Thank you for sharing this with me, I know it was unpleasant to talk about"

"No..... thanks for being there. Again."

"It's where I find myself returning," Duff admits "You've had a hard day and a victory spoiled. What I want to do, is offer to wash your back, use the chance to seduce you, but you're exhausted andwoudl likely fall asleep on me while I tried and my ego is not always so strong. So perhaps.. the shower, and you just rest. Maybe you'll let me hold you while we sleep. " He offers a hand "As ideas go, how's that one?"

Jessica nods, taking his hand and returning the maul as they step out of the ring.

And they go. Duff is flummuxed. He can do nothing, NOTHING to attack the Baron over this. Not even indirectly. He's bound. And yet... he finds it oddly worthwyile as it means she opened up to him

"I might reserve the right to be seduced." She says quietly.

"I can live with that" He confesses, his eyes shine just a bit.. and they go to her shower

(End Scene)

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Returning back to their room from the Troubadour After party, Piper sets aside her Viking Busking hat, and falls on the bed with a HUFF of a sigh. "That was a whole thing."

Adam shuts and locks the door, and drops next to her. "Yeah. What the hell happened?"

He rolls to his side and looks at her. "I mean.... I get it. I'm not good at math but I can add two and two. But, like.... he said go and I just... I didn't want to but I went!"

"You got a taste of the power of the sidhe. First from Itosius, then from the little countess. That's what keeps them in power - and why some folk are less then fond of them - like the DeBukes."

"Woah. All Sidhe can just... like, order you and you have to do it? No wonder they are in charge...."

"Yeah." a bit of a laugh, humorless. "They say that's the Dreaming clearly stating that they are our rightful rulers, because otherwise why would they have that sort of power? And it IS linked to rank and title and only sidhe know how to use it... so maybe they're not wrong."

PIper made a damn good haul here...while yes, some of it is in Pesos and thus worth a lot less, there are plenty of American bills here including a few hundreds. There's dross of various types, enough to equal a weak in a tiny freehold, that comes in forms like upside down baseball cards of a player's worse year, a scrap of Union poster board to fight the power, and the rare and wonderful Leap Year holiday card with a poem in it.

"So... if I... change. Would I know it?"

A soft sight, into her pillow. "You might. Most folk hatch knowing some magic - or remember it when they're sained. It's like, having an inkling, and just have to be 'reminded' of it, like it's bubbling below the surface, memories from before."

"Would you want that kind of magic?"

"Wouldn't you, if you could??" He seems both wistful and excited.

"Isn't there a saying about absolute power corrupting?" She swings her hooves to the floor. "The thing that gets me is... you know that guy? He didn't do anything wrong." Her face pinched in an unhappy frown.

"Bullshit." evenly.

A huff, and she rephrases. "I mean - no, he didn't do anything ILLEGAL. If it was against the Escheat to lie, or make empty promises, or play with someone's heart? That's not even like, a misdemeanor. And what he did to you? Maybe if I was equal rank to him, I could claim insult from him messing with 'my mortal' and get some sort of recompense. But... if Ellie hadn't decided she liked a mortal guy better than she wanted to entertain another noble guest? Or to side with her sidhe nobility over a heart-sick Kinain - and a trouble-making common goat? It would have been a really different story."

"Hm." Adam thinks about this; she can almost -see- him putting what he knows and what he's been taught against each other for comparison.

"Well.... the Escheat doesn't even apply to me, does it? I mean, maybe except for where you don't mess with mortals."

"Except... has that changed too? Lots of people, I mean Fae, have said I'm ... different."

"You're different. Unique. You're YOU... but maybe I shouldn't have come." She paces softly, hooves clicking on the stonework. "Like, can't I even take a vacation without being haunted by the Ghost of Fuckbois Past?"

Adam sits up and watches her. "It was a good time up till then, right?"

She pauses her pace, and nods to him. "Yeah... it's just... maybe I thought the freehold of Jessica King would be a little more... like Rivervale? You know, formal, and all but with a warmth underneath. She's not really anything like Siv, though. I didn't get to talk to her much, but... she's chilly. She doesn't feel approachable. And I didn't expect a common-held court to have quite so many... sidhe." A sigh.

"Even the decision for the troubador. If you ask me - and I know you didn't but... I'm glad Neema got a spot, but the other one, Bevara? Her appointment smacks of politics. Having a Gwydion around is good for business, they're useful and good warriors and maybe a good choice for the court. But as a musician, it bugs me to see her chosen for reasons unrelated to the actual purpose. Phoebe has better range, and Dean is, for his flaws, probably the most skilled of us all tonight."

"Not that it's my place to say."

Adam shrugs. "Chief's pretty distant. So's the Mountain. And Siv's SO not in charge of anything, right? And -Siv- is Fiona." A sigh.

"I don't know, it's not my monkeys, you know?"

"I liked all the music, but I liked yours best of all."

THAT gets a smile out of her. "Aren't you just contractually obligated to say that?" Moving over to sit with him on the bed. "I just don't like... all these politics. I can deal with complications and patterns and switch changes in music, but dealing with people, I just don't like all the manuevering and plotting and... intrigue that goes with noble courts. It's all just manipulation of one flavor or another."

And a sudden thought. Checking her phone with a frown - any word back from Caspian?

Not the text she expected

"Everything ok?"

It's from Caspian

She relaxes a touch. "Just checking in with our new DeBuke bud. He says he's safe, but incommunicado. I wish I knew what THAT had all been about."

"Maybe he's on an adventure or something?"

"He IS Eshu. They're always on adventures."

"Lucky Bastards."

He slides his arms around her. "You really upset about this?"

Leaning into him. "Hooves, horns, heavy-duty emotions. Part of the package. But yeah... I thought it would be a little sand, sun, and tunes, not blackmail, bad memories and you getting mindfucked." A frown. "Pardon my French."

"Bad memories I get but blackmail?"

"The note in the bottle. It seems like that was ages ago... not just yesterday."

"I hope that Thane follows up on it. Then again... maybe it's just part of the area. There are scams and dangerous spots for mortal tourists, why would the fae side be really different?"

"Jeeze, yeah.... I forgot."

"In my original stranger danger lessons, I think my moms forgot the bit about "if you see a mysterious bottle on the beach, just yeet that thing out to the ocean"."