ic A Fairy Tale (IC)

[Gizmo]

"Did somebody say 'tear' and 'force'?" Jack asked, making a show of pushing up the sleeves of his greatcoat as he stepped toward the spot where the lingering fae magics were strongest. To the metamagi's synesthesiatic senses it was a smell more than anything, a cold smoke that prickled the skin on the back of his neck as it wafted through deep shades of blue and black. Reaching out, he gathered what little was left over, a visible blade of snowflakes suspended in thick mist solidifying in his hand. Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes tightly, feeling for the tiny pinprick in the world that the unseelie energies were trickling through. His arm shot forward and the tip of his sword disappeared from view before he pulled downward, slicing a long opening in the curtain between the worlds.

[trollthumper]

Nick blinked slightly. He knew Jack had a whole bunch of talent with his sword - he'd seen the man fight off Aztec gods, entities from the depths of the Terminus, and faerie nobles with equal strength and grace. But seeing how easily the sword could pierce through reality and open a hole to elsewhere was another thing entirely. He pushed it aside. "Okay, we have our gateway," he said. "We all know the rules and customs, and we all know we're going into chilly territory. Let's get this rescue on the road."

[Aoiroo]

Changeling did not feel the need to hesitate or question Jack's methods, she had seen the process very clearly and understood that principly, Jack had just cut the Gordian knot. Giving him a smile and a nod she walked past into the portal straight to Avalon. Though it was hardly the Avalon she knew, which was probably the only reason she was allowed to return at all. No, the magic was different as was the winter side which was a frozen village set before a giant ice castle. She didn't need but a second to look around and see the village was absolutely empty, which while strange did not mean that she took her sights off the castle. She did take a quick second to shiver as she walked into the cold world though. Her clothing under the illusions of the mask were not suited for such weather, but she pressed forward looking towards the castle as a source of interest and at that moment much energy.

[Gizmo]

"I should probably mention," Jack noted conversationally as he stepped through the gaping hole after Changeling, "that I'm pretty sure I won't be able to do that to get us back out."

"Oh, well, that's fantastic, isn't it?" his sister grumbled, right behind him despite the warning, looking about the snowy landscape as she crossed over to the other side of the portal.

Her older sibling shrugged. "Eh, Bones or Grim'll think of something, probably." Planning that far in advance clearly wasn't high on the swashbuckler's list of priorities with a teammate missing.

[trollthumper]

"Well, if we need to pull a desperate escape, I know a few back doors into the safer Underworlds," he said, "like Guinee or Duat. But if we can afford something more gradual..." He took notice of the location. "Yeah, shouldn't be hard to cut back through here. I'm in good with Papa Ghede, the loa of crossroads; it might be risky invoking him here, but there should be enough goodwill to pop an already extant portal back open. All that in mind, let's go say hi to Winter."

[Aoiroo]

They trudged through the empty village, Changeling was less than chatty as she was intent on their path. There was a familiarity of the magics, yet at the same time entirely foreign. She had entered a grey area of the conditions of her bindings but this place was still very remeniscant of the Avalon she called home. These thoughts distracted her slightly as she walked to the door of the frozen palace. She gave the gates a light touch by they opened like some predetermined spell and revealed among the things where the villagers had gone.

Lining the halls in glamour and mock formal attire was the inhabitants of the villagers, the dance floor was covered while band playing music without lyrics of an unknown century played. Across the hall parallel with with the entrance was the Queen, presiding over a whatever large celebration was taking place before she met their eyes across the pathway. Changeling felt several degrees colder and had to wrap her arms around herself to not shiver as the Queen stood in her place,

"Ohh, what great fortune is it, it seems our guests have made their presense known to our grand festivities."

Smiling the queen raised a hand,

"Three great warriors who have been aiders in a previous endeavor, but who is the third. Why, it seems a child of Adam, but the girl reeks of the summer's influence."

[trollthumper]

Nick blanched a little under his makeup when he saw the Queen of Air and Darkness standing right before them. He'd thought there'd be more time for a little recon, maybe some planning... instead, the magical being with the force of a thousand blizzards was standing right in their path, asking if they needed any help. He decided to do what he usually did in these cases - peddle a solid line of bull.

"'Greetings, fair Queen," he said. "I apologize that business has brought me to your doorstep once more without warning. As for our companion, she is a child of Avalon, even if she carries the blood of man -- she offered herself as an aid and guide through the swirling chaos of the far features of the plane."

[Gizmo]

Jack regarded the approach of the fae queen with a broad grin. "See, that's what I like about immortal women," he remarked casually. "I keep getting older, and they--"

His sentence was cut short as his sister stomped forcefully down on his toes. "I am not getting frozen to death just so you can finish that joke," Jill hissed to him under her breath.

"Ow, tough crowd," he muttered in return before raising his voice to address the Queen. "Grand festivities, huh? Y'know, I'm told I'm the life of any party..."

[Aoiroo]

The queen smiled her cold smile,

"Well there is no chaos you see so I do not think how she is nessicary at this juncture. There is only celebration, please seat yourself. Such brave warriors deserve a feast for their presense."

Changeling matched the queen's gaze and gave her a smile, dazzling and forced,

"Queen of Darkness and Air, the celebration looks quite lovely but we must decline as our tastes simply do not match yours. We are actually searching for something you see, it is something dear that holds great meaning to there realm and we really cannot leave here without it."

Her eyes started scanning the area sorting through the castle but failing to pick up the trail of magic she was looking for.

"Well then of course you can expect our assistance, in return perhaps give us the name of the thing you are looking for."

Changeling met her eyes and smiled again,

"I am sorry, that knowledge is not up for negociation at this time."

[trollthumper]

Nick wandered the celebration, momentarily at a loss for what to do. He wandered from table to table, mindful not to touch any of the food or drink. If this was a true Persephone thing, I'd be a bit more useful, he thought. I've negotiated with death gods before; they can be petty sometimes, but at least they think human. Faeries are nowhere near as honest. And the Queen said she worked her way to the top, so she probably knows all the loopholes. If only I could find some trace of Grimalkin... wait...

Nick scanned the floor for a small, unoccupied, out of the way table. When he found it, he took a seat and pressed his hand to Mab's dance floor. Here's hoping she came through her, he thought, and that the Moirae broadcast all the way out to here. He opened himself to the flow of dead ages, seeking to plumb the past.

[Gizmo]

Jack wasn't sure he was catching all of the subtext floating around, but he at least noticed that neither Nick nor Changeling was going anywhere near the food laid out of the banquet tables. The hairs on the back of the swordsman's neck stood up with the growing sense of indistinct danger. Reflexively reaching out with his metamagi senses, he immediately caught an unmistakably familiar scent of three dimensional paisley as Grimalkin's mystical energies filtered into his traditional senses. He couldn't tell where exactly she was, but his captured teammate was close.

The coldness of the swashbuckler's expression suddenly matched their surroundings much better. "Right, look, the whole courtly intrigue thing is super fun and all, but I can already sense exactly where my friend is, Tall, Frigid and Royal," he exaggerated slightly, tapping a finger to the side of his forehead. "You already saw us take Lady Whatsherface apart, and now you went and made it all personal. So game over, unless you want me carving up your snow fort."

His younger sibling stepped to stand next to him, subtle flickers of power beginning to gather around her fingertips as she folded her arms. "There's this expression about snowballs and hell that applies to your chances here," she noted flatly. Jill didn't know what her brother's plan was specifically, but she didn't need to to back his play.

[Aoiroo]

The queen of ice and darkness gaze met Jacks and her smile did not drop, in fact it brightened as she rose and looked towards the other side of the, she brought up a staff and hit it on the ground and from that couridor a small army emerged. Made of trolls they were large and fully equipped for battle with axes in hand. The lined up in front of the queen while the other residents of the room started to clear out as she looked down at Jack with the same smile.

"Now, please answer me so that I am not to misunderstand. Your friend, you wish to take her? Why is that, I did not take her from the world, she came here by choice."

Changeling looked at Jack for a second before looking at the Queen,

"If that is indeed the case, where is she, should we not ask her directly if she wishes to stay, if that is indeed her will?"

She kept her stance defensive as she eyed the guard and then the Queen,

"Or does she not actually know where she is right now."

The Queen looked from Jack to Changeling her gaze cold,

"Irrealivant, she belongs here, you however, have over stayed her welcome."

With a wave of her hand large iceciles appeared in front of her and shot off at the group.

[Gizmo]

As the air filled with razor edged shard of ice, Jack and Jill bounded out of the way in opposite directions. While his sister took up a defensive stance, the swordsman flicked the lighter that had appeared in his gloved palm and turned his momentum with a downward kick that sent him soaring toward the Queen as a rapier of glimmering heat flashed into being. "Admittedly, that coulda been more diplomatic," he shouted to the other mortals, "but I betcha this'll be a lot faster!"

With that the swashbuckler launched a furious assault of lightning quick jabs, only to find the fae monarch to be even more inhumanly fast than he'd been expecting. Only by bringing his full skill to bear was he able to land any hits at all, and even so he found himself doing more damage to her clothes than anything else. "Got a little quickness in you," he observed with a broad smirk. "That's be hot if it weren't for the duplicitous kidnapper thing."

[trollthumper]

Nick jumped up from the table the second the Queen's tone had turned harsh, which meant that he was first in line for the blinding blast of ice crystals. He tried to shake off the overwhelming frost, wiping the rime from his eyes. "Y'know, I realize that we're probably doing a whole lot of damage to the guest rite," he said, "but the fact that you led someone into your manse through illusion and deception lets me think that you were the first to break that little precept. Which gives me full authority to do this."

He opened his mouth, and out poured the roar of fire and the scrape of metal on stone. If Nick was to guess, he'd assume that fire was the wrath of the Seelie Court, and the scraping the sound of iron knives. Let's hope this does the trick.

[Gizmo]

Jill sighed as she rolled acrobatically out of the path of the Queen's assault. "And mi hermano breaks the landspeed record for zero to interdimensional incident," the medic noted, crouching behind a banquet table that had been overturned in the chaos. "I'm so proud." With a wave of her glowing hand, she willed walls of thrumming blue energy into being across the room's exits, barring the doors shut to prevent any further reinforcements from arriving.

[Aoiroo]

The guards were unshaken by the wail, but started to swarm at the source. However, Nick was too quick for them to grasp and they were greatly unsucessful in there attempt.

"The incident had begun the moment they had stolen Lynn from our realm."

Changeling narrowed her eyes at the guards as a large axe formed in her hands. Weilding it with ease dispite it's size she swept and hacked through the queens guard with great ease and swiftness. There was no where for them to run with the exits blocked off and they could hardly land a hit on Changeling for a counter attack. It was hardly a few moments later that they all laid crumpled at the girls feet as she turned towards the Queen,

"One would think you would have provided better."

The queen glared at the incident, her stare icy cold to all who stood. Her crumpled guards laid down on the ground. In such a short time she was outnumbered, but no way she was outclassed,

"Insolent interlopers of the world of Adam, this will not hold."

She took a hand and with an freezing cold gust knocked right into Jack, forming frost on all his extremities and threatening to cause frostbite with the blistering cold.

[trollthumper]

"Y'know, I understand that Avalon draws on mortal stories." Nick dodged another blast of frost, closing the distance with the Queen. "I understand you're probably not even aware you're doing it, given everything you told Grim last time we met. But still..." He took a swing at the Queen with his barbarous talons. "Think you could quit it with the Narnia stuff? 'Sons of Adam, Daughters of Eve' and all that? Or if you're gonna do it, at least have the dignity to look like Tilda Swinton."