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

[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.]

[sweariff]

[The more Sarah goes on, the more Bigby wants to ask: Was that other world really that good to you? Because if what she said about it was true, if its king really is a fae, he has a very hard time believing that.

Fae aren't kind to humans. Magic isn't kind. That's another reason why Fabletown has to stay hidden; mundies can't be trusted with it or around it, can't be trusted not to believe it's like something out of a storybook or — worst of all — a movie where it's nice and sweet and only exists to make life easier or the world just a little less shitty to be in. The truth is, faeries don't pop into desperate teenage girls' lives and whisk them away from a life of boredom or help them get the prince; Bigby can only think of one or two who actually did that without any strings attached. Not all witches are wicked but the ones worth keeping around definitely are, and they're the only ones still alive these days, mysterious magic doors rarely lead to good places and a giant, enchanted wolf is not likely to be your friend. There's no doubt in Bigby's mind that a creature that old and powerful would think of Sarah as being only slightly more interesting than grass or a tree — a present part of the world and nothing remarkable. At best.

At worst, it would think she's completely beneath it and that she's one of two things: prey or a threat. Maybe both, maybe neither. It's a warped, alien view just as a incomprehensible to a human as a faerie perspective. Bigby knew what he was talking about there.

That's why he's very quiet through Sarah's explanation, his hands flat on the desk as he faces her and just. Listens. His expression goes well with the silence, looking contemplative and somber as she hits the right words— well, word. There's one specific one that gets the muscle in his cheek to tic.]

Well, when you put it that way, they still sound like a bastard to me.

[Heh. His eyes drift up from the table to meet hers, the light of very, very dark amusement glinting in them. Doesn't make sense, right? But that's Bigby for you.]

I agree. Actually—

[He cuts himself off for a moment, just a second, because... well.

He's about to do something very stupid. Like, compromising the entire secrecy of a town, going against the whole point of his job stupid.]

... This whole business with the Emperor hits a little too close to home. This kingdom, the war, the wolves, it's... a lot like what's going on back in my own world.

[The muscles in the fingers of his dominant hand twitch, tapping soundlessly on the table.]

I've seen what happens when a world made of magic falls, too. And I've also seen what war can do to it, especially when it's led by a ruler who doesn't give a fuck about anything but winning.

[The Adversary. The Emperor. The Priestess. Bigby runs through all the names in his head like he's reading off a list. A warlord is a warlord. They're all the same.

He shakes his head.]

I couldn't do anything about it then. But I might be able to do something now.

[Something more than hunting goblins and helping people run to a world they have to hide in to survive.]

[notimefordreams]

[She can't help but quirk a grin at the dark amusement. She agrees pretty thoroughly with him there but she feels like she doesn't really need to say it given the look. Instead she devotes herself to listening to whatever he cuts himself off from saying for that brief blip of a second, brows gently raised.

A frown slowly tugs at her lips as the soft beat of his fingers tapping goes largely unnoticed save by her elbow against the table. Eventually she turns her eyes to one side, letting her gaze darken alongside her thoughts. Was this what he talked to the Emperor about in hushed tones? No, she doubted that. She isn't about to pry and ask, choosing to simply soak in this bit of knowledge for a moment.]

It sounds like we're on something of the same page then.

[Her tone is low and thoughtful, mulled like her gaze. If they're on the same page then... well, it's obvious but then again he had protested needing help earlier. Was he the lone wolf type? Probably. And at the moment she can't really offer him much of anything for that quest of his so she would be foolish to offer. But, well...

She doesn't lean back really, instead choosing to fold her arms before her atop the table and lean a little one them. She hasn't exactly been shouting until now but this feels like she needs to say it a little quietly. Again she meets his gaze and hers isn't amused but thoroughly serious.]

Look, I'm going to level with you here. I can't really offer very much right now. I'm going to be apprenticing under the Court Mage and learning what I can. I'm going to learn how to fight from others, as much as I can anyhow. I don't know how long any of that will take and until then all I have is... well, me.

[She quirks a sardonic, dry smile here.]

An English teacher that just happened to make a few stupid wishes.

[Her smile pulls at one corner of her lips and casts a sort of hard light in her eyes. She's not much in the grand scheme of things here, at home or wherever else and she realizes that. She's likely absolutely nothing to those wolves and any feeling she has for what may happen to them probably doesn't matter a bit to them just like she was absolutely nothing against Jareth or to the Labyrinth in the grand scheme of things.

And she doesn't care. She's doing what she wants to do and what she feels is right.]

I want to find a way to do something about this too, whether it's through the wolves or someone else. So let's look for another way.

[sweariff]

Another way without feeding into their bullshit?

[Rhetoric question, but it's nice to hear the words anyway. After going through that entire audience toeing the line and watching others bow and scrape to the Emperor, it feels nice to finally say what's really on his mind without fear of retribution. For now at least.

If Sarah's smile is dry, Bigby's is downright parched. It curves a bit when he hears the way Sarah describes herself and he has to stop himself from adding, yeah, that really isn't much to go by. But what the hell, right? There are plenty of stories out there about ordinary or unlikely people forced into action, enough for him not to count out an English teacher just yet. If that fuck-up Jack could slay a giant, a teacher from Queens has a pretty good shot of doing whatever she wants.]

... Sure. [And the smile slips a notch, just enough moisture trickling back into it to show that not only is he taking this seriously but he believes what he's saying when he adds,] Or at the very least, find somewhere for everyone to go where they don't have to deal with... this.

[His eyes give a quick glance around the room and his head tilts a little in gesture, just enough to give her the impression that he's not talking about the library or the castle itself, but everything beyond it.]

I don't think the Emperor was lying when they said the world is dying. But I don't know that it's worth giving up on just yet. [Although he doesn't have all the pieces to the puzzle to make that particular judgment just yet. Still, it's something he finds himself wanting to believe in regardless until he has a reason not to. Bigby shifts in his seat, the position he takes a little like Sarah's, arms folded, body leaning into them.] These people should have the home they want, not one that's chosen for them. The kind of life the Emperor wants to force on them, it isn't— [He interrupts himself, trying to think of the best way to put it.] ... It's not the happy ending they seem to think it is.

[notimefordreams]

That's a good way of putting it.

[Succinct and to the point. She listens quietly though to the rest of his words, following the quick glance a moment and giving the library a look over. By now most of the attendants themselves have filtered off, she thinks. Or at the very least she can't quite hear any dry footsteps whisking along the rough floors of the library as they were earlier. The mousy little attendant probably booked it out of the room when she could.

His words though make her head tilt a little.]

No, happy endings don't happen in real life.

[She shakes her head gently, eyes still directed off around the library itself. Her words come in the tone of someone who holds no illusions otherwise. She might not have been through wars like he has but she's experienced enough lows in her life, from missed dreams to broken engagements (which she had fooled herself into thinking meant a happy ending at one point), that she can't quite hold up the ideal of a happy ending being a real thing anymore. She hasn't since she was a teenager anyhow.]

Particularly not in situations like these where someone is trying to make a decision for you.

[Sure that's what an Emperor or a King was supposed to do. Make decisions for their populace and lead them. However the populace should probably get a say in it too, at least somewhat.]