May 22nd, 2015

I'm picking up on chronicling our misadventures a couple days after my birthday. Thankfully it had all gone according to plan, which was just to have a nice, relaxing dinner with mom and have Zerxes no where in sight. Mom had gotten me the Witcher 3 which I have been TOTALLY excited about and have been playing near non stop the last few days. But in between gaming session I did move some of Korey's (my? our?) stuff to the new apartment. Which is basically Solomon's that I have commandeered and which Dmitri pays for, thus "providing" me a place to stay as per the rules of the pledge we have. I get a call from mom saying she wants to have dinner again... but that Zerxes wants to join. I really don't want to but... I figure I might as well get it over with, but decide to invite Dmitri along cause hey, I ain't fucking suffering alone in this. Once I've called him to let him know of his forced invitation, we agree on him coming over here a bit early to have a pre-party.

Then what's happening with the others? Fuck man, Meridian is making some forest sculpture out of pipe cleaners of whatever. It's Meridian. I don't fucking know. While he's doing that there's some ominous glow and a hand rests on his shoulder. It's one of his Keeper's goons telling him that the "Master" needs his help. I've given Hades shit for being uncreative. I mean, making yourself out to be the Greek God Hades, but then this other asshole just goes by "the Master". Meridian hypes him up to be some godly creative force but he apparently can't call himself anything more original or spectacular than "the Master". Mediocre. 

Anyhoo, the goon also gives Meridian some letter he has to deliver to, wait for it, the Duke of Windswept Blossoms. Meridian is also given some bracelet that'll guide him to the Master's realm. He then calls the Duke saying he has a letter to give him and is given an address to meet him at. 

Moving on, Ava is downstairs acting as the receptionist for Rowan until Mi-Ok eventually gets out rehab. ...That may be wishful thinking on my part honestly. There's a visitor that turns out to be Brutus, one of our fellow Summer Courtiers. I hear Ava and him conversing from upstairs, something about combining coffee with red bull and 5-hour energy (that sounds fucking foul by the way and a great way to give yourself a nice grande of cardiac arrest). So I go on down and greet Brutus as well. He informs us that it's almost Summer's turn to rule and is gathering ideas of what to hunt this year, since that's our schtick. I recommend werewolves and fetches (since that bitch Melody is still out there and Jacob's little fuck fetch is too) and Ava recounts of the Duke getting smacked in the face by a meteor. Once Brutus goes on his way I bring down some games to play with Ava, cause she hasn't been exposed to the glory that is Mario Kart. But she was being a TOTAL FUCKING ASS. ACCUSING ME OF CHEATING. I DO NO SUCH THING. THAT SHORT CUT IS TOTALLY IN THE GAME. IT'S A LEGIT STRATEGY. AND THEN SHE TOOK MY CONTROLLER TO I TOOK HERS AND MADE HER GO OFF A CLIFF, HA HA.

Oh and I guess Beverly came on by to tell Jacob she wishes for him to prove himself as a viable member of the Winter Court by investigating some odd deaths that have been happening around the Freehold, but especially where fae congregate. All the victims were plain Jane adult mortals and all died from asphyxiation. Some just keeled over in the middle of something, others were looking through window. It is strongly suspected that magic is causing them all to die like this. Beverly hands a packet she's collected on all the murders to Rowan, and as Rowan is looking through it, asks if Orpheus is responsible. He shakes his head, err, main bloom. I can attest to Orpheus's innocence in this case as well, but granted... this all DOES look a lot like his M.O. ...I hope I don't have some like... murder lily now that's doing this. None of the victims are really connected to each other, beyond a couple being FaceBook friends or coworkers. Hmm... Rowan does ask Jacob to see if he is willing to investigate these murders and he is. Rowan tells him that they can look into the various areas of the murders while Jacob looks through the packet himself, analyzing each file. ...I shouldn't judge, and he's only a kid, but fucking shit he is creepy as fuck. 

The address Meridian was given by the Duke is all the way in Bothell. When he arrives he's come to this strip mall liquor store called Super Lucky Liquor and Wine. Seems like the Duke has fallen hard, given that meteor he took to the face. When Meridian goes inside there's a true fae, not a changeling or hobgoblin, a TRUE FAE at the register. Meridian tells him he's there to see the Duke and is guided to the back, where the Duke is sitting with a bunch of wine boxes. Meridian gives the Duke the letter and I guess he's pretty peeved by the contents but will do what the Master wants. That's when we get a text from Meridian saying he's gonna go visit his Master. What what is with our group and hanging out with the Gentry willy-nilly??

Once it gets to be around 5 Dmitri comes by. He brought some Pom and pomegranate vodka (my fave~) and we make up some cocktails with them. I asked if he wanted to game with Ava and I but he declined. Boo. While we're having a bit of the booze, Ways is wandering around, a bit agitated and confused, commenting that there's something... weird coming, or happening. Ava tries to spidey sense what's going on, and what she gets are two forces around ways. One that's like Leo, but the other smells like blood. Ava tells ways to go back to Leo to stay safe for a while, which he does. Then the time has come for Dmitri and I to get going to dinner. Welp.

Meridian is making his way through the Hedge, with the help of the bracelet guiding him through the thorns. As he's walking along, there's other... things going the same way he is. Goblins, hedge beasts, that kinda shit. Some stop at this invisible boundary but Meridian keeps on chugging along eventually reaching the Master. He's lying in a bed, looking frail. It's all very touching, I guess. The Master gives Meridian a "tool", which he quite literally pulls out of his chest to give to him. It's this short sword and he wishes Meridian to "fix the wrongs against my art". As he's leaving the Duke arrives looking hella pissed, and Meridian stops long enough to take some pictures on his phone of the Duke screaming profanities at the Master. Meridian gets back to the Hollow and makes an altar for the blade, then when he goes on out to his house, sees Diego with Greg in the kitchen. Meridian being who he is, freaks out Greg a bit. And... ehh, some other shit happens that really isn't all that important.

Alright. Dmitri and I get to mom's place for dinner and head on inside. Mom's in the kitchen with Zerxes and... jesus fuck help me she's acting FLIRTY towards him and it's all smiles and gah. I don't know what the fuck she saw in him and still does! Why? He's a fucking asshole that left us by the wayside! Zerxes says he's glad that we can finally have dinner together and is trying to make all kinds of small talk. Mom is even trying to give me little tidbits and facts about Zerxes like it'll endear me more to him. He had his fucking chance to endear himself to me twenty years ago and he fucking blew it. There's a sudden knock at the door and I go to check it out. Something tells me that there's trouble so instead of opening it and answering I look through the peephole. It's a bunch of those redneck fucking werewolves, all with baseball bats and axes and yes, Melody is there with them. I get back to the kitchen to let everyone know we have trouble and should leave. Well, apparently 'we should leave' means 'no let's stay and ruin my mom's house in a fucking brawl' in werewolf lingo cause Zerxes goes and pulls out this fuckoff huge claymore from a duffelbag and Dmitri hulks out a bit. As much as I would LIKE to claw out those fuckers faces, my mom is still here in the line of fire, and my first priority is to get her safe. ...Unfortunately, the only way I can do that is to take her through the Hedge and get out someplace that's away from all this. It all goes as well as one can expect. She does freak out when I open a gateway through the Hedge and even more so when I pull her along and she sees how I really look. Thankfully we're able to get through without much incident, but I do see a clearing in the Hedge, like someone had done some logging and I hear the sound of a gasoline engine. ...A problem that can be looked into later. We get out at the Northgate Transit Center and catch a bus heading towards the Clinic. During the whole ride I try to explain... supernatural bullshit to mom. From the fact Zerxes and Dmitri are werewolves, to that I am a changeling and Korey... I don't give her the details on HOW I became a changeling. That's something that mom really doesn't need to hear.

THEN MEANWHILE AT THE CLINIC. Ava has made the discovery of Pandora and other internet music stations and has discovered Rickrolling and What Does The Fox Say, much to the detriment of Rowan. There's a knock at the door and it's a woman in a pantsuit. Liz's assistant, Karen. Ava sends her on up to meet with Rowan, and tells them that she will provide a ride to Liz's. Mom and I eventually get to the Clinic and she meets Ava along with Meridian (and I guess they gossip about me while I had taken mom upstairs to the apartment. Sigh.) I provide mom with some Persephone Cocktail's cause boy, does she need it. Back downstairs Ways asks Meridian about the short sword he got, and that apparently the sword and Ways are a lot alike. Both are aspects of a True Fae distilled down. In the sword's case, it is rage, Righteous Fury. And then with that Ava, Meridian and Jacob go to get Dicks with Ways coming along. They cut through Meridian's house and find the Duke there in some of Meridian's wrecked art. Ava and Meridian shoot at him. Ava, unfortunately misses while Meridian scores a hit. They question why the Duke is here and... wrecking shop at Meridian's place. Apparently the Duke is butthurt about the Master over some shit. Something about saving some other True Fae and that this parasite of the God Machine is in the Hedge ruining things. ...So that explains the clearing, the chainsaw noises and gasoline engine. Guess Fern Gully is a reality now in the Hedge. Oops. The Duke is trying to find a way to destroy it but apparently neither he nor other True Fae can directly confront it due to some faerie laws or whatever. The Duke asks Meridian to contact him when he has some information, but Meridian is all 'meh, fuck you my Master is more important.' and the Duke fucks off with his tail in between his legs. That's pretty good, I guess.

Rowan and Liz are heading out to the vampire party that's at the Sorrento Hotel and boy is the fancy party fancy. Or well, it is by Seattle standards, the liberal, casual, hippie city that we are. But there are some that are SUPER dressed and pimped up. I wasn't there but those would be the Lestat types I am sure. Liz introduces Rowan to the vampire Mayor of Seattle, who is a south Asian woman named... I am gonna botch the spelling on this. Sarastati??? I don't fucking know. Liz introduces Rowan mainly to the other Seattle vampires and advises Rowan to not talk to those high and mighty snooty vampires. Which sounds like prime advice honestly. Hilariously when Liz says that, she is then asked to talk to the head of the snooty people, which she reluctantly does. When Liz comes back to Rowan, who asks her what that all was about. Apparently some big name vampire from London is visiting and that's who she was talking to. Apparently this big name vampire had a vision that brought her to Seattle and that Rowan was in it. True to the ideals of the group and foregoing all sense of self preservation, Rowan goes to talk to her about it. The vampire lady is like, uncanny valley to the ninth degree. Really looks like a walking corpse. Clearly she hasn't humaned in a long time. Eee, creepy. She's introduced as Georgina Webb, Priestess of the London Coven. Fancy. So her schtick is that she has some personal vengeance she's been pursuing for a long time and she had a vision that showed he the Clinic, and Rowan was there (and I will go ahead and take a guess that the rest of us were too). The lady is looking for her husband, whom she and him ruled some land a long time ago, but that he was taken away. Taken huh? ...Welp. We all know what that means. By we I mean us changelings. Rowan asks her if she had been a Duchess at some point, and the vampire lady makes... a weird face when she's asked that. Rowan tries to ask more questions but she refuses to give any answers cause 'oh it's personal business'. Okay, I get it, but if you saw Rowan in a vision of yours wouldn't that, ya know, make you inclined that maybe we know something that could help? Help us help you or whatever? I guess some sense had gone away with her ability to human properly too. I dunno. Anyhoo, Rowan gives the lady their card and sets up a meeting to have at the Clinic tomorrow night and Rowan tries their best to enjoy the rest of the party with Liz. The Mayor does send Rowan off with a really nice bottle of wine so, I guess the party wasn't a total bust.

I got a text from Dmitri letting me know that he (and sadly) Zerxes are fine which... is a relief. Well, I am relieved that Dmitri is fine. Wouldn't have minded if Zerxes got his ass handed to him by those werewolves but eh. Really what's ideal is that Zerxes and those bitch werewolves kill each other. Be a win/win. Ava texts me too asking if mom and I want burgers and fuck yes we do. Turn down Dicks burgers? Hell naw. I try to explain to mom more about... werewolves and faeries and that no, a human and a werewolf doesn't make a faerie it's... different. I guess maybe a bit luckily for both of us she does pass out from the cocktails, so I bring her back to my bed and make sure she's comfortable there. This was the last way I wanted to tell mom about... supernatural shit but, this is what it is now, I guess. I suppose it's good too that Korey is in Greece. Mom didn't sound happy about hearing the idea of there being a ""fake"" me who was around her for a while...

While Ava and peeps are getting burgers, she feels a cold wind and the smell of the sea, sensing it behind her and alerts Meridian about the... weirdness too. Up on a hill is a guy that's dressed all kinds of weird, even for Capital Hill. Like, the dude's straight out of a Ren Fair kind of weird. In fact, how he's dressed is rather similar to Orpheus's fashion style... In true Meridian fashion he goes up to the guy and asks what he's doing and he says that he is looking for someone, kinfolk and smells them on Meridian. Who he is looking for is Orpheus. Of fucking course. Apparently Hades really, super duper wants Orpheus back. And Meridian said that he could have him (and me! Argh!) back for all he really cares. But thankfully he doesn't tell this douchebag exactly where we are and the guy departs by... opening his mouth and a gust of wind flies out, leaving behind the body. Well, that does answer who or what has been causing all those murders at least. ...So he's quite like Orpheus except instead of being a rose he's a literal gust of wind. Meridian then texts me the details of what happened and I asked Orpheus who this new asshole is. He states that it's one of the brothers, Zetes or Calais. Great. I text Meridian back that the next time he sees this douche, tell him to tell Hades to fuck off, sincerely from Rowan, Orpheus and me. They all do get back with burgers and Ava and I try to tell Orpheus that his idea of clothing is a bit... outlandish and it'd be better to be more inconspicuous. He doesn't really get it though. Luckily, the rest of the night is pretty casual and lowkey. I play a bit more Witcher while the others are off doing whatever.

May 23rd

The next morning I go in to check on mom, make sure she's alright. She's just... browsing FaceBook on her phone and... seems alright, but, I dunno. It's a lot to deal with when suddenly you find out the dude you had a kid with is a werewolf and oh surprise your kid is also some other kind of supernatural weirdo. I can't say I blame her if she's just trying to... ignore all of that for the time being.

So we all talk about what's happening in the Hedge with this God Machine parasite eating up everything. And as much as I and Rowan wouldn't mind it gobbling up Hades, we all do come to the consensus that we should find a way to get rid of it, since who's to say what happens to US if the Hedge gets totally destroyed? We try to get more information on this from the rest of the Freehold but we really don't get much intel. We do however give a report about that goon of Hades being the cause of the murders that's been happening around town. Ways gets close to Rowan, sniffing at them and saying they smell funny and Rowan gives us the details of the party, especially about that vampire lady that was mega creepo. 

Since the meeting isn't until after dark, Ava wishes to go see Leo to try and get some information from him, since Ways isn't able to tell us why vampire smells so weird to it. It's figured best that someone goes with Ava. I volunteer for the job and decide to bring along Orpheus for extra safe measure. We go on to the Goblin Tavern (which is the fucking coolest shit I must say. Totally like if Brian Froud designed the Cantina from Star Wars. ...I gotta come back here.) We go on upstairs to meet with Leo and he warns us we shouldn't tarry too long here, what with Orpheus serving as a beacon for Hades apparently. I ask if there is a way to stop Orpheus being a beacon and I guess not without some difficulty. Awesome. We ask Leo about this vampire lady bitch and if he happens to know anything about her missing husband cause hey, sounds a lot like a changeling story if we ever heard one. He says that what she's looking for will only bring her disappointment. We needle him about why that is. Leo then asks me if I am happy with who I am, and that I wouldn't change who I was, not for Zerxes or for anyone. Uhh... fuck yes I am happy with myself. I mean, I am fucking fabulous. Leo then drops the bomb that he believes that the missing husband of vampire lady's is... him. OH SHIT. Apparently Leo was mortal once before he became what he is now. Shit. Fuck man that's... fuck. So is that true about all the True Fae? Or is he a special case? ...Was Hades once human too? What the fuck does this meeeeean? Leo is concerned about us being a target now that we know. But I mean... we already got werewolves and other changelings and true fae and shit trying to kill us,what's one vampire added into the mix? ...Besides, it's not like we have to tell her that Leo's her husband. We can just say it's the Duke. TOTALLY the Duke. We head in back home and I do notice that contrary to what she says, Ava is definitely not fine. I take her back up to my apartment and offer her up some pom cocktails and... it turns into drunken feelings dump on the floor. It is a lot to take in, I suppose. But I mean, it's all in the past, right? CLEARLY Leo has way moved on from vampire lady. I just tell her to let it all out, and stay by her side for support. ...Technically Orpheus is there too and hey, he was my emotional support when in the Underworld, he can help here too. Kinda.