Court Gossip (Stars Only)

[keytoblivion]

WHO: Open to all members of the Court of Stars
WHAT: STAR FACTION MINGLE LOG! After the audience, it's time to compare notes! and probably complain about the lack of straight forward answers, or something
WHERE: The castle, possibly the throne room, maybe in town? Play it as you like!
WHEN: Right after the Audience!
WARNINGS: S…wearing? Will update as needed?


"Magic."

Comments

[notimefordreams]

[There's the faintest tightness that takes hold of her expression with that. A light wince? Maybe. He's not saying anything shocking but he's definitely saying things she probably needed to hear someone say. Because ultimately he's right, there's nothing they could do about it right now and maybe that's what bothers her the most about it.

It's like those woods all over again. She should be so bitter over that but she is. Not being able to protect herself, protect others and all is... somehow humiliating? Both to that cold woman she was before and the 15-going-on-28 year old dreamer who ran a Labyrinth.]

Yeah, I heard that. I thought maybe at first they intended to save this world somehow.

[That had been part of what she had heard during the audience that really made her pause. They weren't saving the world but leaving it. And while she understood why? There was one thing she wanted to ask now and for all his finality she was sure Bigby wouldn't have the answer to it. And it's not a question that really merits a lot of pondering at the moment either.

What will the wolf do when they all leave? Will it leave too? She imagines so but was it connected here somehow? If this was the birthplace of Gods then what would the Gods do once it faded? Was there really not a way to put it back together, to revitalize it much the same way the Labyrinth was? Then again the Labyrinth wasn't an entire world so--

Eventually Sarah leans back in her own seat and blows out a long, long breath. Her reading glasses get pushed up onto the top of her head.]

What a mess.

[Is that the most accurate assessment of everything happening here?]

[sweariff]

[Survey says yes by that agreeable grunt Bigby makes. One arm untangles itself, dropping down to his pocket where his pack of cigarettes and lighter are. He takes both out one-handed, the lighter clattering against the table's well-worn but polished surface with a dull thud.]

It always is when it comes to people like this.

[Emperors, Adversaries, whatever. Call them what you'd like, they're two sides of the same coin anyway.]

I've only ever met one king I liked. The rest are either assholes or tyrants. [He taps the bottom of the pack with his finger, keeps at it. It sounds a little like water rolling off a slanted surface and onto the ground — taptaptaptap.] Just because this one is harder to read doesn't make them different; just good at hiding their true colors.

[Although he'd be lying if he said he didn't connect with them on some level. It was all he could think about during the meeting, and he asked himself then what would Fabletown do if they were in the Court's position, just like he's asking himself now as he studies the dented piece of paperboard in his hand. What would King Cole do if he were in this situation, forced to take the fight against the Adversary to such a level where he'd need to pull in help from the other realms, where the only option was to make a deal with otherworldly forces or to die a slow, meandering death in a world that's falling apart at the seams? What would any of them do?

What would Snow do?]

[notimefordreams]

[Sarah gives the lighter a brief glance but says nothing about it. Somehow it wasn't shocking that out of everyone she'd met, this guy would be the first smoker she ran into. She does flick her next glance to the book-laden shelf nearby and perhaps to any of the sleepy attendants still meandering through the library. There weren't many given the deepening hours of night but she still wondered if any of them would say anything before he ever lit up, if he even did. The way he tapped the package seemed more a gesture to do with his hands while he thought more than anything.

She ends up huffing out another vaguely amused breath.]

The only king I ever met didn't even try to hide his true colors so I suppose the Emperor has a one up on him that way.

[If that had been Jareth on the throne rather than the Emperor? Oh it would be a completely different meeting. She could practically visualize it in her mind and hear the singsong taunt of his voice.

She looks back to her paper, the neatly written rows of questions and answers given. At least all the ones she could recall anyhow, from Bigby's own to Tyrion's and then questions from people she didn't know at present.

I should at least try to introduce myself to everyone on this side eventually, she muses. Not that she deeply cares about sides but it would make it vastly easier to organize themselves in the future, wouldn't it?]

[sweariff]

[Oh, he's well aware they aren't alone in here. The attendants just look like the kind of people who'd be fussy about him smoking in here, but he'd like to see them try to do anything about it. Bigby doesn't consider himself an entitled person, but if he deserves anything right now, it's a fucking cigarette.

It can wait a little bit longer, though. He's almost gone through the entire pack over these last several days, and honestly? It's a miracle it even lasted that long.]

Upper Nyack has a king? [That's some bone dry amusement there.] Or is it Queens?

[This is probably the last thing he should be talking about right now since there are infinitely more important things at stake, but. Well. Call him curious, call him intrigued, call him a glutton for fucking punishment. He heard as much as he could from the rest of the audience, the ones who went up to the throne anyhow, and Sarah's questions were among them. Through them, he's learned a bit more about her than small talk over street food had provided him. She mentioned seeing magic before coming here. She has a willingness to learn it herself, probably because she's already familiar and comfortable around it. She said she's met a king before coming here.

Bigby doesn't want to get too ahead of himself, but he's beginning to think she's no more an ordinary teacher than he's a simple sheriff from the Upper West Side.]

They already let a little bit slip. [taptaptaptap he goes.] They don't give a shit about their world. Why would they care about ours enough to want to go to war over them? It doesn't make sense unless they're getting more than just soldiers out of it.

[No one's that altruistic. Even King Cole was willing to rob nearby farms to feed his subjects.]

[notimefordreams]

[Maybe the attendants just sense that vibe rolling off of him because none of them stray too close. Then again they also hadn't been bugging Sarah either so she imagined it was half vibes and half "it's late and I can't be bothered". She wondered briefly if this place was even supposed to be accessible in the evening but there too she'd never gotten kicked out so...

His amusement is so dry she could almost cut herself with it. She laughs a little, dry as well but softer and maybe a little more sardonic in nature.]

Queens. Upper Nyack isn't dramatic enough for a king.

[Not that one needs drama to have one but in her experience? Being dramatic seems to help. Not that the Emperor seemed dramatic or she imagined the Priestess but this was all for the sake of a joke.]

Mm, that didn't make much sense either. Claiming the Priestess just wanted to destroy our worlds was far too easy to do and yet not caring about this one but caring about ours doesn't make much sense either. They said this was a place of Gods as well, connected to our worlds through that. And I can believe that because those woods... there was something about them.

[Her voice trails off a little. They felt dark, deep and old, as if something stalked through it's trees and over it's ground and held domain there. It was the feeling that she really shouldn't be there and yet she couldn't help but be in awe of it too.]

They mentioned our worlds drew power from this one. If they simply leave this world to die... wouldn't our worlds follow eventually too?

[It's not that she cares deeply about this world. No, she wouldn't want to see it destroyed if she could help it but that's just the kind of person she is. In the grand scheme of things it's her world she wants to save and if it's connected to this one, well, it stands to reason it could be harmed too in just abandoning this place.

She muses a moment, turns her pen over in her hands as she studies it and says near the same thing she admitted to Lightning days ago. It's odd to say it out loud but hell, people here were from so many different places that she was pretty sure the danger in being looked at like she was crazy was minimal.]

I was fifteen the first time I ended up in another world. Or realm, whichever you want to call it. So that's where I met my first King.

[sweariff]

[If she's looking for drama, she just needs to head farther upstate where the Farm is. After this, it'll probably look like a sweet dream, a Mother Goose story with a chance to meet the real Mother Goose. Bigby's heard she's as friendly as her stories say she is, which is more rare than someone like Sarah would ever know or could ever understand. Maybe.

At the mention of the woods, Bigby's face darkens. That definitely has his attention, but he stays silent, almost as if drawn in on himself. If she's talking about the woods he thinks she is, he can imagine why that would be the case. There isn't merely something about them; there's something in them. Something darker and older than her, most likely him, probably everyone and thing in this world. If it really is the home of gods, there's only one place a Great Power that models itself after a wolf would want to live in. Predictably (comfortingly?) enough, it matches up with his own personal pick.

Bigby stays silent throughout the rest of Sarah's spiel, turning her question over in his head, and his lack of a reply should be one in itself. Logically, yes; that's exactly what would happen. You can see that acknowledgment in his eyes when they drift up to meet Sarah's, the subject changing once more to something a little less dire, a little more comfortable.]

... I don't know what would happen. [Because as tempting as it would be to go straight to the next topic, this one's a little too important to put off, and he can't suppress this kind of opinion for very long.] Great Powers — gods, whatever you wanna call them — don't have to draw power from any specific source like a battery, especially an entire world. At least, that's what I always thought. I'm not so sure now.

[Bigby turns the pack over in his hand, mirroring what Sarah's doing with her pen. He's met gods before. He doesn't know everything about every single world that makes up the Homelands, but he knows enough about the important ones. Shouldn't Fellden be one of them? He's trying so hard to think back on everything he's read in the Business Office in his free time, all the records and tomes and books documenting their lost worlds, but nothing's coming to mind. Zilch, zero.

A sigh finally breaks the short silence that's settled over them. Tilting the pack on its side, Bigby collects the cigarette that falls out right as he says, suddenly:]

Asshole or tyrant? [Like he's offering her a choice between peanut butter and chocolate, both things he hates with a passion. It's a very sudden, abrupt question with no context, seemingly forgotten in the moment or deemed unimportant, assumed that she'll figure out what he means.]

[notimefordreams]

[It's a good moment for silence, so she thinks. The topic is heavy and it's evident both of them have their own thoughts about it even as they share some back and forth. Particularly on the Woods. His look is dark and withdrawn and while she wants to ask what's on his mind in the moment it's much like her conversation with the drunken woman whose name she still hasn't gotten somehow.
There's little reason to pry though she does tuck it all away for the future if needed.

Besides the silence is ... nice. Comfortable. She doesn't mind it in the least anyhow and she seems perfectly willing to let it hang around for a little bit until she can stumble across something else.

In the end it's his sigh that dusts away said silence, the dry rustle of that package of cigarettes punctuating it. Then he drops his question like they've been discussing sandwich choices here and for a moment her brows perk upward in question, confused for a second. And then she snorts unabashedly, smile bright for once this evening.]

A little bit of both. [She's says the next like it pretty much explains that reply.] I think he's a fae. Or at least partly.

[Maybe? Honestly she hadn't known as a teenager what he was beyond the Goblin King and as an adult after fixing his own mess she was simply done with him and didn't bother to think on him more than needed so.]

[sweariff]

[The surprise that flits across Bigby's face isn't exactly pleasant, but it does chase some of the darkness away. His expression is more fitting to someone who's just been told a particularly embarrassing work story by a friend.]

So he's half asshole. Got it.

[He puts the cigarette up to his lips, scoops his lighter up and hits the wheel with his thumb. Click. The flame that bursts to life is brighter than many of the other lights around them, the candles inside almost burned down to nubs. The library is dim and shadowy, but not gloomy. It's the kind of atmosphere one could fall asleep in, though the flickering, fierce that sparks into existence might startle anyone nearby back into consciousness, and if that doesn't, the smell of cheap, bitter smoke certainly will.

Bigby drops his lighter back on the table, sits back and appraises Sarah as he takes a steady pull off his cigarette.]

Fae are all take and no give, [is what he finally says, musing and contemplative.] They don't think and feel the same way humans do; it's a completely different perspective. And the more powerful they are — and the higher their social standing is — the worse they get.

[He pauses significantly, leaning back.]

You're lucky you made it out. [He's quiet when he says that very simple sentence, but the sincerity in his voice weighs heavy.]

[notimefordreams]

[The light of the flame is more than enough to draw her glance and appropriately the look of at least one sleepy library attendant, given the stark contrast between it and the candles burned to near nubs around them. She's something of a mousy-looking woman, appropriately at home in a library but not quite so at home with playing bouncer should the need arise, and had just rounded a bookshelf when the flame sparked to life.

For a moment she looks torn between confronting the pair or just walking off. As Sarah flicks a glance over in her direction wondering what the woman might do, she ends up just sort of... walking away very quickly? Sarah wonders if this was like the other day when the thief in the street knew instantly she was a member of the Court. Maybe the attendant was just a little wary of the Otherworlders?

In the end Sarah wrinkles her nose just a little at the smell of the smoke but that's about all she does as the man himself leans back and appraises her. Sarah's decides to bear the weight of said appraisal by momentarily meeting his gaze and then letting go of a dry little chuckle in the end as he delivers his final assessment.

"You're lucky you made it out." A part of me never did. She doesn't venture down that road just yet though. He had accepted the briefest bit of the story without issue (unsurprisingly, given what bits she had heard of his talk with the Emperor) and even commiserated in a way. It figured that here in a world of magic and people from all kinds of worlds, she wouldn't have to be so tight-lipped about herself.

She leans forward to scratch a few more lines of writing on her paper as her lips curve into a faint smile. She doesn't need her reading glasses for writing thankfully and needs something to occupy her hands as much as ever while she speaks.]

Yeah, I really was. I wouldn't have if I hadn't had help. Or if I hadn't known the right words.

[sweariff]

[Bigby notices Sarah's eyes sliding over to the attendant before he sees her himself. His reaction is, all considered, pretty muted and polite — if you could call not making faces or glaring the height of good manners. It takes him all of three seconds to realize what the problem is, and when he does, his eyes flick down to his cigarette... before he takes another drag from it.

The way he exhales, though? Taking deliberate care to blow smoke away from the books? That actually is him being polite.

Sadly, it either doesn't count or make a big enough difference to change the woman's mind. She hurries away like someone's lit a fire under her feet, the same as every attendant Bigby has met in this castle. He's not going to pretend he doesn't understand why, but he won't pretend it's not getting discouraging either. At first, it had been convenient. Now, it just reminds him how disassociated he really is from everyone and everything here, natives and Otherworlders alike.

The silence Sarah and him fall into doesn't seem quite as comfortable anymore. Just heavy and long. It's broken by the sound of Sarah's pen scratching into her paper, drawing Bigby's attention back down to it where it holds, even as she finally speaks up.]

What were they? "Fuck you"? [His chair creaks softly as he shifts in it, the noise louder than the snorting sound he makes.] You can't get more right than that.

[Not even being sarcastic here.]

What's that?

["That" being her paper, and you know what, he's not even going to wait for a response — or maybe he doesn't know how to. Either way, he reaches for the paper to pull it over to his end of the table.]

[notimefordreams]

[She doesn't look up at the question. Instead her smile sort of grows.]

In a way. "You have no power over me." That really does sound like a fancy 'fuck you' if you think about it.

[There she stops a moment, musing a little both to him and herself:]

Then again that might have been more formality than anything. I beat his game so maybe that was all I needed to do. Huh.

[She hadn't thought on it really, given how she had pretty much forgotten the whole thing for a decade. And these last few months had been a mishmash of getting her life semi-together.

During that momentary pause of thought is when Bigby doesn't even wait for a reply to his question. He reaches for the paper, she sees movement out of the periphery of her vision and she does what she would do to anyone out of sheer base instinct -- she drops one of her hands on top of his unless he's quick about moving it of course.

It's a thoughtless gesture and once she flicks her eyes up to him with all the "what do you think you're doing?" teacher sternness, she then blinks a time or two as she rouses herself from a moment of sheer reaction. She pulls her hand away from wherever it landed, over his or on the table or just wherever and the little laugh that rises out of her is entirely, desperately sheepish.]

Sorry about that. You have a toddler around you once, you get pretty used warding off attacks.

[That's not a complete lie either, Toby loved snitching her books when she was a teenager. Either way she passes off the paper completely willingly and he'll find it's probably nothing that shocking. It's a recount of all the questions asked and all the Emperor's answers -- all paraphrased, of course. She is writing them down from memory and she's doesn't have a photographic one.]

[sweariff]

[Bigby's reflexes are fast, but that doesn't mean they're perfect — especially when he underestimates who he's up against. He's not thinking at all when he reaches out to grab the paper, it's instinct and impulse rolled into one, which pretty much makes it a perfect match for Sarah's own thoughtless gesture. Her hand drops over his, surprisingly heavy for being so petite, and it startles Bigby into stillness. His wrist tenses as his hand freezes, laid prone against the paper, and his eyes dart up to Sarah's, looking more than a little dumbfounded as he stares down a woman who, in this light, looks a little like an angry barn owl.

And then it's over, just as quickly as it started. Sarah blinks away her displeasure and offers the most uncomfortable laugh Bigby's heard in a long time, and he's left sitting there with his lips pressed together and his ears heating up, the lines in his forehead creasing as he wonders what the hell just happened.

Now he really understands why kids hate school.

» That was weird.
» I'm not a toddler, damnit.
» Strong grip.
» ...]

Do I look like a toddler to you? [Huffy as hell with a frown to match.] It's a good thing you didn't pick up the pen, shit.

[It's okay, he's working it out of his system like a dog shakes out water from their fur. Bigby takes the paper when it's finally offered to him, more curious than ever to see what's on it, discovering that the truth isn't nearly as interesting as he thought — but still, worth looking over regardless.

When he comes to the paraphrased version of the woman named Ryne's question, he scoffs, a sharp little exhale of air that nonetheless manages to sound derisive.]

This one was such a load of shit. [He taps the sentence Sarah has written with his thumb to show her what he means: "Bring your friends to our side — I'll guarantee their safety. It's the Emperor's answer.] They're telling us everything we want to hear, anything to get us on their side, and people are falling for it.

[There's an edge creeping back into his voice, unheard since the mugging in the marketplace. He looks and sounds disgusted.]

[notimefordreams]

[One would think once Sarah has let go of an uncomfortable laugh she might like any rational or normal person and be even more uncomfortable thanks to Bigby's huffy reaction, complimented by his frown. That would make sense, yes?

Naturally that's not Sarah though. She seems momentarily surprised all over again by his question, brows rising a bit -- and then she snorts. She looks off to one side quickly, bringing her formerly offending hand up to her mouth to cover the entertained grin that rises up. And maybe to stifle back the response she really does want to give to that question. Oh Sarah, that would not be a good idea right now. Goddamn it's tempting though.

Once he taps on the paper though Sarah looks back and directs her gaze down to the paper, hand still up to her mouth for a moment more. She does lower it after a moment though, having drank in those words when she heard them and now doing so again. Her expression mulls and her own tone is matter of fact.]

They are, unfortunately. You can't blame a lot of them though. If they came here like a lot of us did, thinking it was all to help their world.

[There's a touch of sadness on that last part. She can really feel for those people because... well, even she felt somewhat sad for the Emperor during their talk. Even if she equally felt hoodwinked by her well-meaning intentions delivered to a wolf and not royalty.]

Then again, there is that saying about the path to hell being paved with good intentions.

[sweariff]

[Rarely does anyone ever seem to speak with their foot out of their mouth around Bigby. At this point, he's used to it — the weird looks, the snide comments, the I'm-totally-going-to-do-this-thing-you-hate-even-though-you're-right-there gestures, everything. Still doesn't mean he likes it, though. He sneaks another blunt look at Sarah, that frown pressed so hard you'd think he was trying to will her mouth to do the same, but it passes pretty quickly when they move on to the matter at hand.

That's another thing about Bigby: his anger burns bright and simmers low, but it's pretty quick to pass unless it's really warranted.]

And then there's the one about wishing in one hand, shitting in the other, and seeing which one fills up first. [Which is just... gross, the light grimace on his face states, but that doesn't make it any less true.] Even if the Emperor isn't lying, they're going to have a hard time making good on all their promises.

[Hell, he'd be surprised if they even fulfilled one. Despite appearances, they're not all-powerful. That revelation about the wolves (if you could even call it that) proved that much.

Speaking of—

Bigby's eyes go up the list, and when they find the small paragraph designating his own questions, they stop and pensively settle for a moment. His thumb skims along the paper, over the words "war" — "What makes yours so important?" — and "home" — "So why don't you find them a different home? That's what my people did when our worlds fell." — smudging the ink as it goes.]

You heard all that, huh?

[Rhetorical question, but still.]

[notimefordreams]

[Pff. Sarah herself doesn't exactly grimace as much as the corner of her lips twitches again. That's a particularly colorful turn of words, one she's somehow never heard before, and she tucks it away for some future situation here. Because she's got a feeling before her stays over, she's going to need to curse out loud a few good times just to make herself feel better.

The poor ink though. She says nothing about it since it's still legible but really, does he have to smudge it around? These aren't the quick drying ink sort of pens and she really feels that deficit right in this moment.

She props an elbow on the table, settling her chin in head hand. She's slightly leaned forward over the table so she can look at the paper as he references - and mangles - it. At the rhetorical question she nods slowly. She had a feeling the statement had a deeper turn than her own experiences with collapsing worlds but still.]

Yeah, couldn't help it exactly. To be honest I was listening mostly for mentions of magic and the wolf.

[A momentary pause, then:]

I've watched a place nearly collapse before thanks to lack of magic and weakness of will.

[sweariff]

[He nods.] It started to fade away, right? That's what I heard you tell the Emperor.

[And boy, hearing that had been a surprise. Here Bigby thought Sarah was as mundane as they came, but the more he thinks about it, is it really that shocking? All of them saw the wolf, all of them accepted its offer. If you made it this far, you can't be ordinary. Appearances mean even less now than they have before.]

What did you hear? About the wolf, I mean. Besides the fact that it's a god. [Mainly because he's trying to figure out where he should begin with his explanation of things. In the middle of his conversation with the Emperor, he had tried to keep his voice as low as possible, not wanting to implicate Fabletown anymore than he already had, but he doesn't know how successful he was. You never know how well people might be listening, especially Miss Toddler Attacker here.]

[notimefordreams]

Something like that. Fade might have been the wrong term, honestly it broke apart more than anything. That was thanks to the will holding it together fading though so...

[It was still a somewhat accurate description. The magic had certainly faded away.

She takes a moment though to remember everything she heard. His voice had been low enough she hadn't caught portions of the middle but she had caught the end.]

And besides the fact that the Emperor made a contract with them to bring us over?

[She tilts her head some into her hand now, cheek instead of chin cradled there and lets her eyes settle on the paper he still holds. Her expression is thoughtful, mulled into calmness with lines of her sleepless nights new and old settled there.]

Honestly besides you and another woman, I don't think many people asked about the wolf. [Which sort of surprised her really, given how everyone seemingly saw it.] I personally didn't ask because I was more focused on what this war had to do with saving our worlds.

[She flicks her gaze back up to him now, obviously curious.]

I know the Emperor told you to go seek someone out about them. They seemed to be handing out a lot of tasks to people.

[And here all Sarah had asked for was directions to who to begin magic training with. She had been more concerned though with hitting the ground running as fast as she could when it came to protecting herself.]

[sweariff]

[Fading, breaking, all words that mean the same thing: dying. Honestly, hearing that makes him wonder if that world is in as much need of help as this one. One thing that's interesting is that Sarah keeps using the same word — will — and acting like it has some power to it. Which it does, on a symbolic and emotional level Bigby is more familiar with, but the context she's using it in definitely seems like it falls on the magical end of things.

Faerie magic is... strange. There's a reason why it drives people to madness. He makes a mental note to ask her more about that later. For now—]

Yeah. And promises, too. [He props his arm up on his table, leaning his chin against his fist. The cigarette is rapidly shrinking, but damn if he's not going to make the best he can out of what he has left.] I'm glad they didn't exchange that info for one.

[And he means that too. If Sarah is really that familiar with fae and magic, she should know about two of the most important things connected to them: promises and names. Tricking humans into giving either is one of the oldest fae tricks in the book.

Assuming that's what the Emperor is. It's a little hard to tell.]

Whoever it is lives near the God Wood, in something called the Forsvar encampment. [He thinks? It's a good thing one of them is writing this down.] The Emperor said it's going to be impossible to talk to the wolves unless I prove myself to them first, but this person can help me with that. Apparently.

[He sounds tired when he huffs that final bit of punctuation out. Looks tired, too.]

[notimefordreams]

That too.

[There's some misgivings laden in those two words. She had heard more than one person make a promise with the Emperor, things as binding as contracts or even more so, and that had soured her mood more than a little. It was one reason she has simply left the Throne Room after, unwilling to hang around and discuss things. She needed to walk and think, collect her thoughts and her options.

Her brows rise a little at that final bit of punctuation. And then she hums a little under her breath, turning the information over in her mind.]

Sounds rough. Not that surprising though.

[What mystical, magical being out there didn't expect some price to be paid for information? Whether it was through proving oneself or maybe paying in a pound of flesh so to speak, information wasn't free whether the creature was a dwarf with a penchant for shiny bobbles or a God.]

If they live near the God Woods though, they must be pretty powerful. Or at least really in touch with nature. That place didn't exactly feel friendly.

[Her brow now furrows a touch gently.]

Are you going soon?

[She doesn't want to outright ask if he like some others needs to wait for abilities to filter back but there's a light lacing of concern to her tone and expression, much like when she had stopped near that lake to check on the girl wading out into it days earlier. Yeah she barely knows him but that didn't mean she wanted to see him (or a lot of others here) go out and get themselves hurt.]

[sweariff]

[Yeah, that's par the course for enchanted forests. If you think that's bad, you should see the Black Forest. A wry voice in the back of his head reminds him that had been the home of gods, too — or at least what the people of Hesse considered gods.]

I haven't been there yet, but I believe it. It must be under their protection. They probably like humans about as much as whatever other animals live there.

[If he says that a little too frankly like he doesn't blame them, well... it's hard not to. Ancient history is still history, and if there's one thing having a long-lived life has taught him, it's that time seems to move slower and slower the older you get. He can still remember things from a century ago as if they had happened yesterday. It gets worse the further he goes down the line, the further he gets to home.

And being here isn't doing a thing to help with that either. He's experienced more nostalgia and deja vu just by being in this castle than he has looking through old records and scrolls in the Business Office, and he hasn't even seen all of what this land has to offer yet.

Bigby shakes his head.]

I don't know. Whatever I end up doing for this guy probably isn't going to be easy or straightforward. If wolves are involved, I'm sure it'll get violent at some point down the line.

[A pause. He takes another long pull off his cigarette, this one final, and — with nothing remotely resembling an ashtray nearby — puts the end out on one of the ornate, round fixtures on the back of his chair.]

They might be more willing to talk to me if I had more of my strength back.

[notimefordreams]

I ended up there when we first arrived. I don't know about the animals really, there didn't seem to be much of anything there. No predators at least and nothing on the ground.

[It was something she and Lightning both found odd about the place. Later there was a creature of some sort but frankly when Lightning told Sarah to run, that was what she did. And that was part of why she wanted to dive into learning magic and at least some sort of self-defense. Having others fight your battles for you is humiliating after a lifetime of doing so on your own.

She watches him stub out his cigarette, somehow unsurprised he's using the furniture and not just pinching out the end of the cigarette. Does he not have any respect for public property? Sarah turns her attention back to her pen and much like a student fiddling away their hours in class, she slides the instrument through her fingers with a practiced sort of ease. An advanced fiddling gesture, if you will.]

If that's the case you may want to think about taking some people with you. You may have been given the task but I'm sure there are a few here that wouldn't mind talking to the wolf as well if they can. Or if they can't you may be able to get their questions to the wolf answered for them instead. Judging by the ones who spoke during the audience and most of the others I've met, almost everyone here has some fighting experience. So you would be doing each other a favor in a way.

[He's probably already thought of all of this so her words are casually said. It's possible he even had a group of friends here already he can call on. She hums a little, thinking on what she would ask if she had the chance.

What's on her mind first and foremost is how they could help the wolves themselves. They're gods in this place, yes, but if this place is dying and the Emperor intends to abandon it to continue to die, what becomes of the gods of this world then? It's like the Labyrinth collapsing and the hundreds of lives that would be taken with it if it did while Jareth stood and shrugged his shoulders, bastard that he was in the end. The Emperor did intend to take their subjects with them but there were more than just them here - the Gods for one and who knew what else.

They didn't deserve that sort of death anymore than those in the Labyrinth had.]

[sweariff]

[She's got a point there. Well, half of one. The corners of Bigby's mouth wrinkle as his lips press together, half in thought, half in something approximating disapproval.]

I don't really need that kind of help. I know how to take care of myself, I—

["I've been doing it for centuries," a familiar voice that makes his heart ache helpfully supplies in the back of his head, and he trails off for a moment, eyes flicking to the surface of the table as he finishes slowly,]

... I've been doing it for a long time, [he finally says, and that seems to be all he's got to say on the matter, knowing it's a futile point to argue and an even more pointless thing to try to explain. You either get it or you don't, and in a total stranger like Sarah's case, it would just be more baggage on her shoulders. He already feels like he's trickled some down over her anyway.

Bigby leans back against his chair. This isn't where he wanted this conversation to go, so he tries to get it back on track, steer it back to the actual point Sarah was trying to make. After a minute or so of sitting there with his hand swiped through his hair as he thinks on it, he speaks up again:]

But you're right. People deserve to have their questions answered. [There's a small pause as he puts two and two together.] What did you want to ask them?

[notimefordreams]

[She listens quietly, only flicking her gaze back to catch the slight disapproval. When he protests the need for help she doesn't make a sound but mentally she goes 'ah'. Not that she doubts him and his ability to care for himself but she knows enough about protesting help to get some of the back story without needing to ask.

There's a moment of pause when he asks his question. She does want to argue that first point and she'll come back to it in a second. Maybe. It's not exactly her place to chide a grown man.

The question though... well. He's mistaken in thinking that's her point in all of this but she's not going to say she doesn't have one.]

If this world is going to be abandoned in the end, I want to know how to help them. It sounded like the Emperor only intended to take their own people and if the wolves are gods in this place, I want to know what's going to happen to them in the end. I came because the one asked, not the Emperor, so my help belongs to them and and the people here, not this war.

[That's all, that's it. It's a simplistic question and a simplistic sentiment. Yes she's here because she was asked a question and not given a chance to ask any of her own but she came, she's here and she's going to do what was asked of her.]

[sweariff]

[With an answer like that, you'd think it might provoke a noticeable reaction — shock or light surprise at the very least.

Is he actually surprised by Sarah's answer? Yes and no. Her reply is frank, earnest and blunt, and he wasn't expecting that — or at least not with that degree of sincerity. You can see it in his face even if his expression may not overtly read as such; it's attentive and softer than it was before, sharp edges dulled into something more contemplative and somber as he listens to her. So in that regard, yeah, he's surprised.

But in another, he really isn't. Bigby has to remind himself that he is talking to someone who immediately had her mind made up about him when they first met and called him out on it. In public. To his face. Self-preservation doesn't seem like it gets in the way of brutal honesty with her. She is a teacher, after all.]

And you're not angry with them. [His observation is delivered flatly, there's a musing quality to his tone.] Even if you don't care about the war, they did bring you here to fight in it, regardless of whether or not they agree with it. Don't you hold them responsible?

[These aren't accusatory questions, and he doesn't sound judgmental in the least when he asks them. Rather, he's more interested in trying to figure her out and get her to think about the answer.

And maybe he's also trying to decide how he should proceed, too.]

[notimefordreams]

[The question makes Sarah pause for a moment. Her expression has mulled down into something serious and heavy, her thoughts turning to the Emperor and their intentions as well as memories of another bit of royalty and his intentions with his own realm.

She turns her gaze back to her paper now, expression thoughtful but more mellow than seconds before.]

I was sort of ticked off in the beginning, I'm not going to lie. I came to in those woods and the wolf was long gone by then. I couldn't even get a question out or anything.

[She sighs a breath out through her nose, brow pinching together a moment at that memory before it starts to relax out again. And then she shakes her head a little.]

Even if they are partly responsible for bringing me here, in the end I was the one who chose to come. I didn't have to answer after all. I meant what I told it though, that I would do anything to save my world. And I just don't think the Emperor or the Priestess are really the people we need to look towards to do that.

[Saying that out loud in the very library of the Emperor isn't the brightest of ideas maybe, not when she hopes to keep using the Court's services to learn magic as fast as she can. Sarah isn't one to mince words though if she can help it or if she doesn't feel it's necessary. She could keep her tongue in front of the Emperor themselves but she felt there was little reason to do so in front of this guy or any other sleepy library attendants.

Now her brow pinches again.]

I've seen someone try to leave the kingdom they created to die. The Emperor might have a leg up on that bastard for being willing to take their subjects but they had to have help from these gods to even have that option. And then just leave them? Or at least there was no mention of them. And that just --

[Mmh. Her lips tighten together a moment and she fiddles with her pen like it's personally affronted her somehow.]

I'm not going to stand by and watch that happen. Or support it either.

[Not again. If Moppet hadn't come to her yelling at her to help, she might have just blissfully sunk into that dream Labyrinth without another care, a broken and hollow woman accepting a shallow and stupid peace.]