Alg found his seat, settling in with a cross of his legs and another sip of his drink. Everyone was given a glance, from the uneasy looking Alexis to the striking form of Shiloh. He couldn't hear what the other said, because he wasn't big on eavesdropping, but he spoke up to the group because that was the entire point.
"The court was what it was because Melany made it that way.." That's what he'd been told at the ball. "Between all of us, I'm sure we can come up with a better - more communal - alternative."
The Professor sat up a bit straighter and gave them all a pointed look, "Unless kidnapping and ritual sacrifice is just fine and dandy with all of you?"
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Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2017 10:56 am
Jeremiah glanced to his husband and bit back a sigh. He knew professor mode when he saw it. "So far as I am aware, none of us are okay with the methods and the actions of the Court as it previously stood. It was abusive, manipulative, and often harmful in the name of bettering."
His fingers pressed together as he leaned forward, looking to everyone gathered one by one. "We're here today to discuss the possibility of change. With the shift in our world, our reality, there is also a shift in the Court. There is, now more than ever, a chance to change the Court. To make it something more than it is currently but to do that we," another look to everyone, "must all come to some kind of consensus that we'd like to see things change."
Though Jeremiah realized that not everyone dealt with matters of the Court, not everyone present had taken up their role and responsibility but he was ready to explain if necessary. "There's an entire world here with beings and creatures that make it up and we, as Nobles, can help them as well as our fellows. We're meant to guide, help and mentor where we can and that is something I want to see pursued."
With a single bob of his head, Rabbit took a seat across the space from Shiloh, not because the kid wasn't OkayTM, but because there seemed to be some... tension... between him and Temperance.
He theoretically had an infinite number of strong opinions on helping and guiding othercreatures, his kids and Pax being at the top of the list, but beyond throwing himself in front of danger to protect them or offering individual assistance, he didn't know where to begin. He wasn't terribly good at being a mentor.
Rabbit briefly raised his hand to chest-height in the silence after Jeremiah spoke. "I think we'd be stupid to want to go back. But how do we get to this agreement? Do you mean making up laws or something? 'I solemnly swear not to torture anyone?'"
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Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2017 3:12 pm
Lady did the thing where she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Even with her drapey top, her deep breath was obvious, that was how deep it was. She did this two more times, opened her eyes, and gave Julian a look over Shiloh's head like I take it back, this is very high school. "I dunno, seems to me like you're the ones who participated in ritual sacrifice, so you should be asking yourselves that question." Rabbit and Shiloh and, like, Julian, who hadn't been at the ball as far as she knew, exempted. Temperance too, actually; hadn't she been in the tithe room with the rest of them? "And like, were you guys even kidnapped? 'Cause I got snatched out of an airport bathroom."
Rabbit and Shiloh exempted. Julian asked. That wasn't kidnapping.
"I think we should burn it down."
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Jeremiah shifted, his posture straightening. It might have been oddly reminiscent of Ezra, in some way (if he were not on fire), and he was not so laid back anymore. This was exactly why he was not wanting to diverge into this kind of thing. No pointing, no name calling, none of that utter bullshite. It was not productive and it did not help.
"While burning it down is tempting, it's counterproductive. We're Nobles, whether some of us wanted it or not; asked for it or were forcefully given it," kidnapped or otherwise, at this point, was moot, they were already Nobles now, "and while you are free to abstain from what that means, from what you could do and responsibility, that doesn't mean you don't have a voice in deciding where we go from here.
"So," his lips twitched, "I suppose if you want to burn it down, we could but only if you can convince everyone to burn it down. I don't, quite frankly, know if it would be possible but given that we all changed the world, I'm certain it could be done. What I do know is that there needs to be a consensus about it."
Now, he finally looked towards Rabbit. "I also do not know that I agree with laws, as there are those that naturally look for loopholes. A loose guideline, perhaps? Something that we can all agree to follow? That would be what I would want to see. An agreement between those of us that remain within the Court. Something that would see us strive towards a better end - which, again, is something we all can decide upon."
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Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2017 3:38 pm
Julian was here to do two things: look pretty and pour orange juice. So he poured Lady more orange juice, content to not talk at all.
"I asked," Alexis mumbled, quiet, and didn't make eye contact with anyone. They moved to put their hands in their pockets before remembering their pockets were merely for show, clasped their fingers together at their waist, and tried to stand still. It was a lost cause, really -- but they were silent as they did it.
"'m not real good at decisions, but I did this 'cause I wanted to protect people who're important to me. What kind of 'a better end' are you talking about? Long-term?" Alexis frowned, but. "...if the other options are just -- more cycles n' making more fetches when people fail, 'cause they will - I'd be okay with burning it down. Well. Sink it beneath the waves, for a better metaphor, here."
(Their lips quirked in a smile, maybe.)
"Our own little Atlantis. How much of the rituals can we really destroy, anyways? Seems pretty sunk-in by this point."
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Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2017 4:13 pm
"Every twenty-two years," she said finally. "They used a sacrifice, much like you all saw previously. For this version of the world, I think we need to find out if a murder is 'needed'-" Yes, Temperance made the air quotes. "-and if so, a way to circumvent that." Alg was given a look, but she bit her tongue. It was all very well for him, of all people, to speak out against the ritual. Plus, Lady had taken some of the words right out of her mouth.
She looked at Lady. "I was not kidnapped." And Alexis had asked, even though they were more dangerous than ever. I was all very odd.
"I'm all for some sort of communal order, but I'm sure if anyone has anything more concrete than, um, 'be excellent to each other'."
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Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2017 5:09 pm
Well, Lady's opinions still seemed pretty strong about the kidnapped thing; he threw another curious glance to Julian—who was much more quiet and not divulging his life story at any given time—with something a little more... easy. He still wanted to know why anyone would ask for this.
Beel, ever present behind him as he watched the squabbling, chuckled.
Right. Shiloh might have pursued it with the notion of getting stronger too, had he not been thrown into it the absolute hard way.
"I think Court could still be a good thing." He offered tentatively, "But there's a lot of power in it. It's easily abused." He didn't say it—he didn't point fingers or say names—because it was directed at everybody. "We can all decide on good intentions, but who's sayin' we're all gonna be thinkin' the same way hundreds of years down the line, cycle after cycle? As far as I'm aware, Court before had a lot less ********' nobility strutting around too." And Melany had a death grip on it. He hated her and he hated how she ran this place, but maybe it did make some semblance of sense. He didn't want to see another leader made, but how long could a group hold together?
"If we remake it, we need fail safes." He was adamant about this, "A way to police each other in case someone goes off the deep end, and a way to make sure we're not the ones off the deep end for goin' after them." He huffed. "And that's even if we find a way around all the ******** rituals."
He had the geas—he'd use it if he had to—but it wouldn't be a long term fix. His arms folded across his chest uncomfortable.
"Pax said the Moonwalkers used to enforce things a long time ago. Said they stepped in when Noble's went to war too." He looked around the room, but it was obscured by the veil. "But now we've gone from eight people involved to multiple groups." Plus Shiloh was biased because, well, he was dating a moonwalker. "If they'd even want a part in it, which I wouldn't think so. Not like that, but I'm not them so who the ******** knows. Anyone got better ideas? Because I'm not sold on 'we make a truce'."
He went back to regarding Rabbit cautiously, and Temperance even more so.
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Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2017 5:58 pm
"We are looking at a chance to re-do things, I believe, so that would mean potentially stripping that entirely from the Court. No sacrifices made to the red moon - the blood moon - to strengthen the cage." Jeremiah looked to Temperance at that, acutely aware of her stance on it (and her opinion on Algie for that matter).
His gaze moved to Shiloh then, a small nod made. He shifted, though it was still the relaxed poise of someone at the ready. "The other thing to consider here is that what we, as a group, want to work towards. As I stated, the previous Court strengthened the cage. Who's to say we cannot do something to eventually free all of us - to see these cycles end.
"The fact of the matter is that we are outside the cycle of rebirth now. It has no say on us and we will, should things reset - and that time will come sooner rather than later - some of us will face the lives of lonely immortals, forced to watch loved ones again and again after countless centuries." The words he spoke were definitely inspired from Liam, from the look on the man's face as he had found out Jeremiah was a Noble and his response.
"That in itself is a reason for failsafes and an ability to police ourselves. While in the past both the Moonwalkers and the Wargs were capable of that, they are not now." Jeremiah leaned forward, finally going to take a drink (though it was water, strangely enough). "There's also the chance that much like there are those of us that would rather not have anything to do with the Court, they may want nothing to do with policing Nobility.
"This is far, far more than making a truce. We would need to create ways to self-police, to keep us from going too far, and I believe that we can do that by laying out what we want to see and building from there. If we need an outside force, then we seek that." Jeremiah had ideas but he wanted to work with everyone, to see what they could accomplish together. "As it stands, there are already some of these things built into the Court - the Lord's Prerogative or the compulsion to act against someone who has harmed another Noble - but we need to do more and have full knowledge of these things."
Alg adjusted slightly in his seat when his drink was empty and Adze had, with some preternatural sense, come and taken his glass away.
"The fact of the matter is that this place is full of dangerous things," His eyes rolled to the surroundings with the obvious implication that he meant all of other ashdown, "Which have already, with no regulation, slipped through to Ashdown.."
He wasn't sure how many knew about the monster with the many eyes, about what had happened to Shun, and that it had happened at a farmer's market.
"We as a group are already organized, considering that you've all come. You didn't have to," Several nobles hadn't been heard from in a while, "If you were all interested enough to gather together then hopefully you care, at the very least, about keeping your life back in Ashdown safe as well."
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Posted: Sun Feb 19, 2017 2:20 pm
"So what do you want to do?" Lady crossed her arms, crossed one leg over the other. "You've obviously got ideas. Stop trying to pull it out of us and say what you two want already. Since you weren't kind enough to give all of us warning as to what this was about, giving us some jumping off points is the least you can do."
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Posted: Sun Feb 19, 2017 3:06 pm
"Maybe magic up a fancy whiteboard," Julian offhandedly suggested.
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Posted: Sun Feb 19, 2017 3:11 pm
As soon as the others started adding their opinions, Rabbit was suddenly glad that he'd spoken up early. Between the talk of immortality and Shiloh's suspicious glares, he was feeling even dumber than usual.
"Yeah, I agree," he said. "With less..." Rabbit gestured loosely, indicating Lady's high sodium content. "A foundation would be good. An initial suggestion. On a whiteboard if you have to." He looked at Algernon. "What's... slipping through?" Something otherworldly had been in the sirens' room a month ago, and he was certainly still concerned even if they were not.
Jeremiah was carefully poised, the picture of not being flustered or annoyed (though somewhere in there he had a desire to pinch his nose that was resisted). Instead he flicked his fingers and a whiteboard appeared, though he had briefly been tempted to deal with a chalkboard for aesthetic but no.
He shifted, glass set down and moved to the whiteboard and was prepared to start writing. "With magic being more fruitful this time around, it seems to be a bit easier for things from this side to get over to Ashdown. There was an incident at the farmer's market at the beginning of January. A being named All-Seeing had apparently made some kind of deal with a visitor and used her as a way to bring itself over. Two people died, several more were injured, and eyes were stolen before it was put down."
It sounded completely ridiculous to say but it was the truth and it had been in the news. Jeremiah had spent a fair amount of time dealing with inquiries and the fact that Chel was still wanted.
"To begin with, I do not believe we benefit from the Court being under the thumb of one person." As while it was The Court of the Sorrowful One, it was essentially Melany's. "... and what the Court was it isn't now. It's been running on fear and abuse and-" Jeremiah stopped, shook his head and continued. "The point is to put a stop to that which does include potentially no unwilling tithes going forward. No kidnapping, no forcing this upon someone, no spiriting someone away so that they can be a sacrifice. Choice - consent - is something owed to everyone." These things were written down on the board: consent, no fear/abuse.
"The reason I called you all here is because I want to hear your thoughts. It isn't just about me, it's about all of us. I want to see us create a list of ideals, guidelines, whathaveyou that we can all agree upon to be put forth as part of the Court. Reshape it around those things and give it structure once more."
