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The Freehold maintains a Stable Trod which runs from Bethlehem in the Lehigh Valley down through Philadelphia to Cape May on the Jersey Shore. Each Court maintains a Hollow as well as a single old Hollow right off Independence Mall. There's a door that looks like it leads to the electric for a parking garage, and does, but if the correct knock is given - changed weekly by Winter - it opens to a homey little village in the Hedge. Small cottages, a small garden of extremely generic and tasteless Goblin Fruit which only restore glamour in their native state, and currently, a certain sketchy animation of a changeling. He's sprawled out on the grass on his stomach, frowning in concentration and fiddling with some small thing in front of him. He's in dark jeans an a t shirt, his hair hanging unstyled in front of his face (every few seconds he shakes his head to get it out of his eyes), and a leather jacket is crumpled on the ground next to him.
The Freehold Hollow is quiet. Until it isn't. From the thorns past the Hollow glides a massive beast with wide inky black feathered wings and four wickedly clawed legs. Griffin-like, with a crow-shaped head and long sharp beak. But the beast isn't alone--it has a saddle strapped around it's torso and sitting on it is a... scarecrow? Their skin is made from rough burlap, dried grass and straw poking out here and there and dressed like some old western cowpoke in faded, worn leathers and sturdy cloth--complete with boots and cowboy hat.
The crow-beast lets out a loud CAW and nearly collides with a rooftop of a cottage, but manages to hook it's claws in to gain it's balance, scrambling up to perch on top of it instead, wings beating hard enough to kick up wind all around.
"Watch where you're landing ya damn buzzard!" the scarecrow chides to the beast with a scowl, nearly thrown off out of the saddle from the rough landing.
Jack starts with a strangled yell of surprise, dropping what he'd been holding and scrambling to his feet. Charcoal lines explode away from him and his mantle flares, the scent of blood hanging in the air, as he takes a few steps backwards, braced to run.
Where? Who even knows.
But the details of the thing - including the rider - seem to hit him a second later, and he very very slowly walks forward to pick up his jacket, eyeing the beast and the scarecrow very suspiciously.
The crow-beast's beak clacks, cawing out, "DAMN BUZZARD!" gleefully, then turns it's head to start preening at it's feathers along one wing.
"...You're supposed to land on the ground" Bailey grumbles, tugging on some feathers. The request is ignored as the Mount continues preening. They sigh, then lean over to eye how far off the ground the roof is. It's then that they notice Jack watching nearby, their head tilting to regard him, though there's no eyes to really focus on him--just stitched slits in their burlap face. "Howdy. Didn' mean to startle ya. Don't mind Buck here, he ain't gonna hurt ya."
"BUCKAROO!" The crow suddenly shrieks out when it hears it's name, giving a full body shake, feather's puffing--which, with Bailey already leaning half way out of the saddle, causes the scarecrow to go toppling head first off the side of the roof to flumph onto the ground with a grunt.
Jack jumps at both of the crow-beast's outbursts, his animation jerking and fluttering as he takes a few steps away again. And then the scarecrow falls and he rushes forward.
"You okay?"
Bailey sits up with a groan, their hat knocked off--showing long hair made of dry grass and wheat that is tied back into a loose braid. Their Mantle isn't very overpowering, but notably Summer--hot sunshine through green leaves and the smell of burning grass and wood. They wave a hand towards Jack, brushing some stray bits of straw off of their chest that got knocked loose from their body. "Yeah, yeah. Ain't the first time I've been knocked off of a saddle, ain't gonna be last. Especially with that idiot."
The crow-beast lets out a cackling caw-caw-caw that sounds almost like a laugh, before going back to preening it's feathers.
With the majority of the threat proving to be...well, not a threat, Jack's mantle subsides into the faint smell of an oncoming spring rainstorm. He still flickers as he moves, the gesture sketches of his mien quick and nervous.
"He...hard to control, then?" Jack looks quickly up at the beastie and back to Bailey.
"Sometimes. He's got a mind of his own, damn stubborn and easily distracted. Wild animals are like that, though." Bailey rolls up to their feet, grabbing their hat from the ground before straightening. They move in a sort of floppy rag doll way, which isn't exactly the most graceful thing to look at. The hat is placed back onto their head before they turn to regard Jack, looking him up and down briefly. "...You're a skittish fella, aren't ya?"
"I...don't spend a lotta time in here," he admits with a shrug. "So I'm not used to...everything." He gestures vaguely, before holding out his hand. "'M Jack." As he talks his animations slow a hair. Getting used to the situation, it seems like.
Bailey steps forward, smacking their hand against Jack's and giving it a firm squeeze and shake. "Bailey Straw. Nice meetin' ya, Jack. Just stumbled into town."
Jack's hand is callused, his shake firm and confident despite his flickery and jumpy appearance. "Oh yeah? It's a pretty okay place, if you're planning on sticking around."
"Dunno how long I'll be stayin'," Bailey admits with a shrug, their hands hooking onto their belt--which shows a very fancy pistol hanging on a holster to the side, poking out from underneath their long leather jacket. "But seems like an a'ight place, yeah. You been here long?"
"Been in the Freehold a couple years." His eyes widen slightly at the pistol and he drags his gaze away from it. "Lived in Philly my whole life, though. You come from another Freehold, or...?"
"Came here from Miami," Bailey says, not seeming to notice Jack's reaction to the gun. "Wasn't there too long, though. Wandered the thorns for a bit before then, after escaping." Their hand lifts to scratch at their burlap cheek, nose wrinkling. "Reckon I'm kinda the opposite--don't like leavin' the Hedge too often. Eeeh... workin' on that."
"Miami." He nods. "I was down there a few years ago - Before. Traveled a lot more, then. For work. I think we've got both kinds, here - people who don't like being in the Hedge and people who don't like leaving it." He offers them a smile.
"Makes sense." Their hands drop from their belt, which thankfully for Jack makes their coat fall back over the pistol. "What's it ya do? Workin', I mean."
This is when a tiny woman dressed in a scarlet red suit of plate mail armor comes wandering into the Freehold hollow. Itsy bitsy lady in heavy plate armor might be weird enough all on its own without the red, but this particular suit of armor's helmet has little round perforated ear domes and a covering for a tail, which makes it all extra ridiculous. The armor is surprisingly quiet, and it doesn't seem to slow her down much as she comes waddling in, pops her visor up, and looks around.
She's not wearing any weapons, but her gauntlets do stop at the base of her fingers, which are covered by leather gloves up to the last knuckles, and then some sharp looking claws.
"I'm a stagehand, I did a lotta touring, Before. Been all over the country for shit, though most cities I've only ever seen the loading dock of their theater, the theater itself, and the hotel. Maybe a few cheap restaurants." He shrugs. "Not the way I'd suggest seeing the country, if I'm honest."
"Stagehand. Huh." Bailey squints for a moment, then nods slowly, settling on an appreciative expression. "Sounds like a lotta hard work. Can get with that." The arrival of the tiny armored woman draws Bailey's attention, stopping to just... stare for a long moment, at first bemused by the tiny deadly package, but when the visor comes up the scarecrow stares more thoughtfully. "Evenin'," they say in their deep, rough drawl.
The crow-griffin is still perched on the rooftop of a cottage nearby, but has now curled up into a ball to snore loudly.
For the longest time June just kind of stares at Bailey, head tilting slightly one way or the other, eyes squinting just slightly and then returning to neutral. Then she puts her visor down and puts it back up again like she's expecting something to change. Nope. "Weird," she says. "I mean, not you, me. I'm weird. For some reason I'm really hungry all of a sudden." She shrugs, metal shoulders rising and falling, and then she ambles over with her slightly wobbly walk and says, "evenin'! How's it going?"
Jack blinks in surprise at the newcomer, and then watches the exchange, looking a little confused himself. "It's goin'," he responds to June with a small smile when she asks, and shrugs. "Can't complain too much. You?"
Bailey also stares, squinting as well like they're developing a migraine. Then their hand rubs over their face, puffing out a breath. "Hungry? Huh..." The scarecrow rolls their shoulders, suddenly a bit tenser, lips pursed. "Goin' aight. Just takin' in the scenery. Just moseyed into town."
"Sorry, didn't mean to interrupt," the tiny red panda lady inside the helmet visor says, as she starts deftly working helmet straps then pops the helmet off and tucks it under an arm. Definitely a red panda. Definitely with helmet hair, which looks totally absurd. She beams at Jack, a friendly smile with surprisingly sharp teeth. "Can't complain too much either, except apparently Cap'n Crunch wasn't the most filling dinner idea. I'm June." She looks around at the Hollow then asks Bailey, "how's the scenery doing for you so far? No trouble, I hope?"
"Cap'n Crunch has definitely been my dinner before." Jack huffs out a laugh, charcoal lines dancing around his animated face and hands. "I'm Jack - June." He squints. "...Tegan's June, June?"
"Scenery's a'ight. Cooler here than what I'm used to, but ain't so bad. No trouble so far." Bailey keeps their eyes on June, brows knitting together when the helmet comes off. They frown, looking grumpy and uncertain as their straw-filled brain slowly churns. "...What's Cap'n Crunch?" A beat pause. "You know Teagan?"
"Oooh, yup!" June answers. Her ears perk up, her tail lifts, and her whole face lights up at that question. "That would be me. Well, maybe Teagan's my Teagan? I guess it's pretty much mutual. We'll go with mutual." She pauses at Bailey's question, the second one more than the first. The first gets unanswered for now. "Yup, I know Teagan. They're my boo. Do yoooou know Teagan? You're not a jealous ex, are you? Am I about to get shanked?" The summer mantle radiating from her, and possibly the heavy plate armor, might explain why she doesn't actually look like that's a worrying thought.
"I'm a hundred percent certain June knows Tegan better'n me, but I've spent a little time with 'em." A shrug. "Please give me a little advanced warning if shanking's gonna happen, so I can gtfo." He spells the letters out. And doesn't really look like he's joking, despite his conversational tone.
"...Huh? Naw." Their nose wrinkles. "Met them in Miami, a couple'a times. Heard they came up this way. Ain't here for them, though." Their head shakes at Jack. "Ain't no one shakin' no body. Not me, anyway. More likely to shoot someone than shank 'em anyway."
"Oooh, that's a relief. I washed my fur today and I'd rather not have to take another shower. It takes like 5 hours to get dry," June says, like that is genuinely the part of getting shanked that would bother them the most. "Speaking of showering, I'm so glad we're not in Miami any more. It was so fucking hot. In January! It shouldn't be 80 in January! I felt like I was basically just a pile of fur and sweat all the time." She realizes she's rambling and asks, "what are you here for, then? Aside from the scenery?" She flashes a smile at Jack. Not ignoring him, just momentarily addressing someone else.
Jack gives June a smile back - he gets it. "Miami was pretty fucking miserable when I was there," he agrees. "An' it was only for a weekend." And then he quiets, to listen to Bailey's answer to June's question.
"Followin' memories," Bailey replies with a shrug. That seems about all they're willing to say about that currently. "Yeah, was pretty hellish. My grass don' dry out so much up here." They grip the edge of their hat to adjust it, still eyeing June. "...You come from that sick fuck of a zoo keeper, by chance?"
Speak of the devil, and the devil appears. Also, Teagan. Oh no, they're interrupting a serious discussion! They do it by appearing next to June and wrapping their long arms around the armored red panda, picking her up off the ground and spinning her around.
Someday, someone's going to stab them for that.
"What kind of meeeeehehehe," June gets lifted off the ground and spun around mid sentence. This is nothing new at this point, judging by the delighted giggle that comes out of the tiny woman. "Teagaaaaan. My dignityyyy~~!" she mock complains.
Jack, true to form, flinches in surprise when Tegan appears, bits of charcoal flickering away from him as he jerks back. He lets out a swear under his breath as he tries to pull himself together.
Bailey blinks as Teagan appears out of thin air, tensing some but they calm relatively quickly, head tilting as they watch the sickeningly adorable couple.
"What dignity?" Teagan asks, laughing as they set June back down and kiss her right in her ruffly red helmet hair. The helmet hair on a red panda is something else, after all. "I think you dropped it in the Hedge. We'll have to go on an epic quest to find it." They pat her armored behind, and tip their chin up at the other two. "Jack. Bailey, good to see you again. What brings you to Philly?"
"Oooh," June asks Teagan, eyes wide but tone not serious. "Do you think that might be one of my icons?" She flashes a grin, leans in to put an arm around Teagan and give them a hug, and then lets her attention return to the other two. "Uhhhh, where were we." Her face falls a little when she remembers. "Oh yeah, that fuckhead. Oh shit! That's where I know you from! You brought the bamboo!"
"Tegan." Jack upnods back at them, a smile crossing his face at the continued cuteness happening in their direction.
They shrug at Teagan. "Remembered some shit that pointed me up this way. Figured I'd come check things out." They scratch at some of their long braided straw hair, gaze settling back on June with a conflicted expression. "...Yeah. Brought the bamboo. Good to see you're still alive and well. Didn't think I'd run into any folk from back there. Heh." Bailey looks over towards Jack. "Are people always that sickin' 'round here?" they grumble, but don't really seem that bothered.
"Yeah, no shit? Memories seem to be a ... thing, around here, of late. If we can help you, let us know." And then they snort at June in amusement. "Yeah, I think your dignity is one of your icons, boo." They fall quiet when there's talk of the bamboo, and June's Keeper, and their face goes mirror-quiet and briefly dark.
"Huh," June says. It takes them a little bit to process things before they can speak again. "I guess that explains why I'm hungry." A few more seconds and then they just move on like that topic hadn't come up. Maybe not the healthiest response. "Oh, right, you asked about Cap'n Crunch! It's a sweet breakfast cereal, with crunchberries. They're not actually berries. I mean, neither are strawberries, but crunchberries aren't even fruit."
"The crunchberries are too much for me - I'm more of an original guy, myself." Jack flashes a grin at June. "There's some pretty sickly sweet shit around here, yeah," he says to Bailey. "An' I can't even say that I don't do it ever, either."
"I will," Bailey replies to Teagan with a lift of their chin. "Right now just figurin' shit out on my own." They listen to June's explanation with a squint. "...Why the fuck are they called berries then?" The scarecrow huffs at Jack when he admits he's a part of it. "Disgustin'." Their head tips back, looking up at the crow griffin sprawled on the rooftop above them.
The Mirrorskin slowly looks up at the crow griffin, their broken-mirror eyes glittering, and then their gaze slides back to the conversation at hand. "Yeah." Their arm loops lazily around June. "I don't even eat cereal."
June's mouth hangs opens and she gasps at Jack. "Perfect!" she says. "You can eat the original part and I'll eat the crunchberries." It's a match made in heaven. Or one of them could just buy original, and the other could buy the just-crunchberries. Then she exclaims at Bailey, "I know! If it's not a berry, don't call it that!" Then a pause. "Are we talking about the crunchberries or the strawberries?" She leans back against Teagan, tilts her head back so she can look up at them, and says, "nope. Never. No cereal at all for you."
"I'll keep some around if I accidentally buy the wrong box."Jack's smile comes more easily now that nothing's made him skittish in the last few minutes. "Romance isn't for you, Bailey?"
Bailey shrugs. "Both, though more offended by these crunchberries..." They wave a stitched together hand at Jack. "Eeeh. Not really. More power to ya'll loverbirds, though." They look between the three. "Anythin' goin' on 'round here? Any threats? Things in the Hedge to look out for?"
"Sorry, we're all full up on romance here," Teagan drawls lazily, arm wrapped around June still. They kiss the top of her head again. "Nope, no cereal for me at all, ever." As if this was the absolute truth. Unmitigated. Yep. And then they roll their shoulders. "Ianthe mentioned finding a lone briarwolf up the trod toward Quakertown. They almost never travel single, which makes me wonder if maybe there's -- some reason why."
"Is there ever not things in the Hedge to look out for?" June adds to those thoughts, though. "I don't always go this armored, but I always assume danger's right around the corner when I'm in the Hedge. As for briarwolves, maybe there was more than one, but the others got killed somehow? Or maybe it was single because it just got dumped?"
There's a visible shudder at the mention of briarwolves. "See this's why I keep Ironside most of the time. I know the shit that's coming for me out there. Well," he grimaces, "mostly. It's easier to talk your way out of shit, instead'a fight your way out, at least."
"Huh." Bailey's brows crease together. "Worth lookin' out for, at least. Well--yeah, always somethin'. But sometimes there's known somethin's." Their head tilts towards Jack. "Plenty of things in the Hedge talk like normal people."
"If you're not looking out for the Hedge, it's about to make a snack of you." That's Teagan's wisdom for the day. "I dunno. Maybe the pack had ditched it. So I wonder about it being sick or something. Maybe Ianthe just got lucky in her hunt, though."
"I mean, I am a snack," June says with a grin up at Teagan. "But not that kind, no. Main reason I go into the hedge is to look for trouble, so that it can be me that the trouble finds and not someone like, for instance, Jack, who doesn't want to deal with it."
"I appreciate that." Jack nods. "Not built for that shit - and I haven't ventured into it enough to find the things that do talk like normal people. Maybe someday. If I'm with one of you who can deal with the other kinds of trouble."
A flicker of annoyance passes over their face before they shrug. "Sounds good," they reply to Jack. "Pretty good at gettin' around." They look back up at the snoring beast and let out a sharp whistle. The crow's beak yawns widely, clacking a few times, but after some resistance it stands and hops down onto the ground beside Bailey. "Nice meetin' ya, Jack. And... you, June." Then a nod to Teagan. "Should get together sometime, catch up." Then they hop on, and the crow-beast hops-glides off.
- Spider (they/them)Today at 11:09 PM
"You could be," June says to Jack, but not with any kind of accusation. More like she's trying to boost his confidence. "I mean, do I look like I was built for that shit?" She steps forward and does a little spin. "I'm 4'10" and weighed about 85lbs when I got back. If I could make a warrior of myself, I'm sure it's not beyond you." Then she stops, allows a short pause, and says, "but it's also not required. It's totally valid not to want it, or not to have the temperament. I'm just saying it's achievable." She reaches out to take Teagan's hand. "Speaking of patrols, want to go make sure nothing's lurking around, boo?"
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