The War of Lilacs

[Theo Collins]

"Ah! Avery! Or should I say Envoy?" Theo chided with a smile and a bow to show his respect. "It may have been uneventful, but the scenery is gorgeous. I haven't really been over here in Europe much. It's a nice change from the U.S."

It felt so good to see Avery again. It seems like it was so long ago since he first met her. So much as changed from back then. And now, looking at her, the Fae that she turned into, both made Theo feel happy and a little sad. She was beautiful, but he understood that she was immensely powerful. 'What would have happened if you never took that deal...?' Theo thought.

"Good," Theo replied. "It will be nice to formally meet Lady Bresee. Hopefully, I will not disappoint."

As Theo entered, he saw the hulking figure of a man, or a... werewolf? He tensed, ever so slightly at first, but once he heard his voice, Theo relaxed. "Wait, is that... Stray? Hey man! How have you been? Nice to finally meet you, too." Theo commented. Now that Theo knew who it was, he didn't feel too threatened. He felt that Stray was good man. Trustworthy.

"Right, it would be improper of me to make such an important Lady wait," he confirmed. "It would be terrible of me as the Knight to be rude to her. But we should fine the time to catch up. Chat a little bit."

Theo turned to face Lady Bresee. She may have been the same height as Stray, but she gave off a much more intense Aura. Theo could feel it, deep in his gut. He swallowed, hard. He did a deep bow, much deeper than the one he gave to Avery. "My Lady, your Knight has arrived." He kept his head bowed until she allowed him otherwise.

 

[SpringNixie]

Lady Bresee looked down upon the comparatively feeble-looking man but did not say a word to him until he had risen from his bow. Her stance was regal and confident, her expression stern and decisive, the aura of power which radiated from her proving her worth as commander as she regarded her newest asset. She grinned a little.

"Knight Collins!" She announced in a gruff tone. "I must admit, I was indeed surprised when Lady Nimue chose you of all people to be the newest Knight of our fair court. There was a time when I thought she despised you for that trick you pulled upon her so many moons ago but now I realize she came to respect you because of it." The centaur turned her back to the Knight of Spring as she made her way around the table to stand over a collection of documents Avery had been sorting through moments before. "Then again, perhaps sending you here was to be her way of punishing you for crossing her. You can never truly tell with Nimue. She is quite the devilish sort."

The Lady of Spring fell silent for a few moments and then looked up to Theodore as if she was uncertain why he still stood where he was. "Go settle in, Knight of Spring. We shall test your mettle and blade soon enough." She then went back to working over those papers, Avery standing close-by so as to explain the significance of each report.

 

[Pattern-Weld]

The hound gave him a turn of the head. "Could have gone a lot worse." He extended his long arm towards him in a friendly gesture, his clawed hand ready to shake. "It's been alright. Can't complain too bad." He rolled his shoulder. "Getting plenty of exercise out in the woods. How about you? Have a nice trip?" He looked to his cloth wrapped blade. "That pixie try to take your sword too?" The mechanical voice sounded, a wolfish grin in its cadence.

 

[SpringNixie]

Lady Bresee would nod to Avery and the nixie would bow in gracious reply before making her way over to Stray and Theodore with short, seemingly calm strides. She looked tired, worn out, as if all of this was getting to her on a deeper level than either of them could see. Despite this, the petite woman still wore a look of warm determination and continued marching ever-forward.

"Sorry about all of the formalities earlier," she states in her sing-song tone of voice as she supplied the pair with worn-out smiles. "As you might imagine, I've been told to be on my very best behavior when dealing with new arrivals. I hope you both will forgive me if I drop the formalities for the time being, gave you both hugs, and then went on to tell you just how fucked up everything has gotten in the past couple of hours." With this warning, the nixie pulls Theodore and Stray into a warm hug and holds it for a couple seconds before she releases them.

"There we go..." She sighs with a little more confidence in her tone. "I feel a little better now. Not great, mind you, but certainly better than I was before. You see, we recently learned that Queen Karaliene has given into her strain of the Filth entirely. Peace is no longer an option and war is now a certainty."

 

[Pattern-Weld]

Stray leans down on one leg a little to make the hug easier, and while his armor doesn't make for the softest of hugs, he did accept it as best he could. "Not a problem, just be yourself." Stray said warmly. Though his tone dampened a bit as he heard the news. "Oh. I see." He leaned back up slowly. "I guess that gives us free reign to give it our all. No holding back." He says, glancing at the map, trying to distract himself from the implications. Or contemplating them. "I heard she had a wee one in her belly." His Scottish accent came through a bit through the steel. "This will make things harder."

 

[Inkwell]

While whistling a low key, out of tune, little melody, Jules makes his way through the camp towards the tent where he have been asked to go. Jules is not one to dress up, or down for that matter, when going into battle. The large bruiser is wearing his favorite jeans, torn, shredded and patched together many times. A pair of heavy boots and a faded t-shirts plus a leather jacket that looks like it had been dragged behind a car, long time ago and most likely while Jules had been wearing it himself. Slung across his shoulder he carries a large war hammer.

He stops right outside the tent and with a booming voice declared, "Open up! Or I will huff. And Puff. And blow your tent away!"

 

[SpringNixie]

Lady Bresee huffs and slams a powerful hoof down upon the ground at the man's announcement, scowling at Avery as the nixie shyly makes her way outside to greet Jules with a decadent bow.

"Good afternoon, Sir Burnet. Thank you for coming on such short notice. I realize that this is not necessarily your war to fight but I for one shall be grateful to have you by my side upon the battlefield." She stands up straight once more, smiling softly, and moves forward to give her friend a close hug. "Seriously, thank you for coming. Try to be on your best behavior whilst in the presence of Lady Bresee though, okay? She knows I was the one who invited you here and thus your actions will be seen as a reflection of my own."

 

[Inkwell]

Jules makes one of his 'whoopsie' faces while offering Avery a hug in return. "Sir Burnet?" He mumbles, while still holding Avery close. "What happened to Jules? That's good enough for me, if it's not messing up any protocols."

He nods towards the tent. "Lady Bresee is in there? I shall be on my best behavior then." And then he gives Avery a second little hug with a huge smile on his face. "Besides, if there is a war to be had, you can count on me being there to have as much of the war as I can put my hands on."

 

[Theo Collins]

Theo raised his head when Lady Bresee called his name. He stood stalwart as she addressed him. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest. He knew he would have to do his best to impress her.

"To be honest my Lady, I have no idea why I'm here either. It seemed strange to me at first, especially for what happened back then, but you may be right. This might be my punishment. But even so, I will keep my word on this deal," Theo said with another bow as he was dismissed by the Lady.

As he turned around he looked at Stray again. He smiled and returned the handshake offered to him. Theo tried not to wince as the huge paw clasps his hand. "You know, it seems prettier over here than in the states. Less cities, more small towns. Very nice and quaint. But I guess the grass is always greener, as the saying goes," Theo said with a shrug. "And yeah, she did. You have the same problem?" He questioned, pointing at Stray's weapon. Theo gave a soft whistle. "That thing looks pretty slick. Very impressive. I guess she likes men with pretty swords." He gave a sly smile at the comment.

This was nice though. It was letting Theo loosen his nerves and relax. Being all tense in a dire situation won't do him any good.

Just then, Theo would notice Avery walking over. He frowned, seeing how tired she looked. He never realized how much of a toll this whole fiasco would take on Avery. He felt sorry for her.

"No, no. It's fine Avery. I'm still getting used to all of this formality stuff, anyway," Theo admitted. When they all had the group hug, Theo had felt something. Something that he hadn't felt in a long time. True friendship. Oh, how he's missed this. He wanted to cherish the moment forever. Though, when the hug ended, so did the peaceful moment. The bad news soured his mood.

"Well," Theo began, "I guess there isn't any other option now. We will need to prepare soon. Do we have word of anyone else arriving to help?"

 

[Pattern-Weld]

Stray listened to Jules big announcement outside with perked ears, not minding when Avery left them. "I suppose that's one of the new arrivals now." He mentioned to Theo with interest. "I recall Avery telling me of a few more heading down our way as well. I hope it will be enough." At the mention of his sword, the mechanical voice swelled with pride. "I can't blame her for trying to get her hands on it. It's a finely crafted weapon. Made for the specific purpose of cutting through the filth. Hygieia's tempered steel is inhospitable to the unholy taint." The beast referred to his sword by name. "From the reports it sounds like your own blade is a skillfully crafted tool as well. Filled with magical ability."

 

[Theo Collins]

"Oh joy," Theo chided at the new arrival. "Well hopefully he will a good addition to the team. But that's good news that we're getting more. I was a little worried that we would be short handed. Even though I feel we will still be out numbered out there."

When Stray called his sword by name, Theo was caught a little off guard. "Oh?" he questioned. "You're sword has a name? That's... interesting. It's like in old mythology, huh." Though, his interest was quickly replaced by worry once Stray mentioned his own sword. "Whoa, hold on. There's reports on my own sword? Who wrote reports? How much do you know?"

 

[Pattern-Weld]

Stray turned to him a little bit, not meaning to alarm him. "Oh you know. I just asked around. Figure of speech. I think Charles told me a bit about it. I wanted to know what my possible allies are capable of. Just in case I need to help organize something like that rescue again. Got to know where to put who for maximum effectiveness." Stray waved it off. "Your secrets safe with me though."

 

[Theo Collins]

Theo gave a sigh of relief and put his hand over his chest. "No, it's ok. I probably shouldn't have over-reacted. Truth is, I'm so used to keeping my sword a secret, I'm not used to people openly knowing about it. And if we are to work together out on the war grounds, you should know about it's abilities." Theo gave Stray a reassuring smile. "It's fine, but I am surprised that Charles remembered. Dude is craftier than I thought."

Theo furrowed his brow in deep thought. "But you do bring up a fair point. Who knows how long or how intense this war can be. Hopefully we won't need another rescue mission like that again, but there is no telling what could happen out there."

 

[SpringNixie]

Avery chuckles, returning the hug and nodding to Jules as she led him inside of the tent. Standing in its center was a large centaur woman with harsh eyes and a commanding stare. She stared down upon Jules for a moment before acknowledging him properly.

"Welcome to the Court of Spring, Sir Burnet. I shall forgive you your rather crude announcement for the moment but I would like to remind you that respect is key within situations such as these." She looks to the other pair of men who stood by the edge of the tent with a grim expression before turning back to Jules once more. "Avery has already told me that you will be coming and going each day but that you are indeed a reliable ally in situations such as these. I hope that you and I may fight alongside one-another soon. You are dismissed until the others arrive."

The Lady of Spring then turned to Avery, who bowed in response. "I shall be going out to check upon the troops so as to ensure they will be ready to march as soon as possible. I will return when more of our allies have arrived. You are in command of the tent until I come back." With this, the centaur trotted regally out of the tent to tend to her forces.

Avery let out a worn-out sigh and quickly moved to sit upon on of the many chairs which stood around the table at the tent's center. "Thank you all for coming. You have no idea how much this means to me." She looks up at them all with a slight smile. "We'll make it through this. I know we will."

She rests there for a couple moments before sitting up with a grunt and unfurling a large map of the area, spreading out a collection of reports from the troops. She waves the three men over to her to look over the map with her. "While we are waiting, I might as well talk all of you through the situation at hand. As you all know, we are located here [2] and have a single contingent of each unit ready to march at by dawn tomorrow. My Lady plans to send one force to take the plains to the west [1], another force to take the forest to the south [5], and send one final force into the nearby city [3] to occupy the area as a secondary base should this one ever fall. The final force at our disposal shall stand its ground here and ready itself to march once the surrounding area has been secured." She looks up at this point and smiles. "We already know from Stray's earlier scouting mission that the Court of Lilacs is holed-up within a fortress on the far-eastern plains of Thuringia [18]. This means that they can only take this location [16] whilst we begin our own movement."

((Numbers in brackets refer to locations listed within the document located here.))

 

[Inkwell]

Jules points after the centaur woman as she stomps of and he looks at the two other men with one wide open eye. "Did I just get told off by a pony girl? Holy fu- I mean. Holy smokes." He still looks a bit disappointed and mumbles to himself, "And I was just getting ready to do the whole Champion of Pelagios, Slayer of False Gods and all those other fancy ass titles I got myself over the years."

Then the large fighter rubs the back of his neck and flashes a huge grin to the other beings in the tent. "I am Jules. But I guess you heard that. I am here for Avery. I don't know much about planning, strategy or politics. Or diplomacy, for that matter. But if anyone is going to mess with Avery, I will do my very best to mess them up before they get too far with that."

The heavy war hammer is swung around in the air in front of Jules, almost as if it was as light as a marching band baton and with a deep thud the large head of it lands against the ground so Jules himself can rest his hands on top of the end of the handle.

 

[sam4books]

Just then, a Council of Venice helicopter would touch down purposefully unto the site of the Court of Spring's War Camp.

A group of eight people exiting from the inside. A whole assortment of strange and odd creatures. They all looked human enough but something was off about them. One was a giant, ogrish looking man who stood at a large height that was a bit above Roy. He was carrying a few heavy weaponry along with him. Behind him walked two armed darkly dressed people. One, had the appearance of a tightly clad woman. A tad short. A no-nonsense look on her face. The other, a thickly covered male, who's face was even hidden by the abundance of cloth. Some pieces of his skin seemed to glow with ember-like light. Especially around the eyes which held within them an ethereal light. A young cat-boy of a child rushed past them, to climb on top of the orge's shoulders. A ways more behind them walked a short disgruntled old drawf, and a tall and fit yet tired looking sidhe. They both talked amongst themselves, lamenting on past mistakes.

Even further still, was Rae and Phil, both of whom were being spoken to by a Venetian operative. Both in Venetian uniform. From the looks of things it was a pretty serious discussion.

 

[Pattern-Weld]

Stray didn't seem to pay too much mind to the Venetian hustle and bustle outside, instead making his way over to Jules. "I'm the Stray Hound. Or Wolf Hound. Whatever floats your boat." The armored lycanthrope said, extending a clawed and armored gauntlet to shake his hand, making sure not to cut into him if he accepted it. "I think we spoke on twitter once. Nice to meet you in person." He would also notice that while careful, he still managed a firm grip. "I hope you are ready to bring the party to them." The wolfish man said with a chuckle.

 

[SpringNixie]

The Courier of Spring looks between Stray and Jules, giving them both a tired look as her ears perk up at the sound of the helicopter outside. She does not move to greet the new arrivals though, not yet.

"Guys... Did you hear what I said? Any thoughts?"

 

[Pattern-Weld]

Stray turned back to her, and the map after acknowledging Jules. "Would probably be best to have one of the more human looking fellows lead the group taking the city. No offence, but a Fae occupation would be pretty startling to the average civilian. Best to have someone who can relate, at least in some small way." He turned his gaze momentarily to the plains, which were already accounted for by Lady Bresee who he could tell was a very capable warrior. "I could head into the forest. I already have some experience in there, from my filth hunt at Beltane and my scouting missions. Aye, its probably the most natural environment for me too, given my affliction." He tapped a clawed finger on space 5 to the south.

 

[Theo Collins]

Theo walked over to Avery and laid a hand on her shoulder. "Yes, sorry Avery. I apologize," The replied.

He grabbed a chair and sat at the table to get a better look at the map. He opened up his duffel bag and pulled out a notepad and pencil. He flipped to a blank page and made a quick note for himself. "So, Lady Bresee plans to set up a quick perimeter around our current location and make a secondary base, correct?" He asked, his eyes darting from the map to his notes. "And they are at the other end of the country and have a limited route of mobility. So, one of our options is to run straight at them full force through this area." Theo points and draws an invisible line from their current location to Egle's. "Or, we could take a more round-about route and head south to cover more ground, and possibly surround them." Theo traced another route. "Personally, I prefer the more scenic route because this will give us more options the longer this war goes on. Down side is that it may leave us vulnerable if they go for a more direct approach."

Theo made a couple more notes for himself and a separate note for what Stray was saying. He nodded to what he was saying, agreeing with what he was saying. "Very true Stray. A human force would be better for the city. In addition to the Fae being at a disadvantage, a human force could conduct more covert ops within the city."