Things are not the Same

[rivaan]

"Of course, it's getting too roudy in here already." The draconic replied, heading to the exit.
Once outside, she couldn't help herself, but to stretch her wings to their fullest. It felt so good to sense the flowing air currents of the night. The refreshing sense it gave was immense, especially after a whole day if keeping the wings at one position without moving them. She smiled at notining their sheer size. Fully stretched, they were aways a sight. Not really surprising considering they allowed her to fly, but still... They were probably the only thing that she was thankful about in this messed situation. All the nightmares she had to endure..., but her wings were enough to not be regretting it. The freedom to soar the skies...
"Sorry about that." She said after a little bit of time. Bringing her wings back to their former position.

[Keira Kelly]

As they stood outside, in the dark alley, anxiety crept over Lucy. She didn't like standing here at all. It would be easy to be ambushed here, with only two exits on the ground. She glanced around at the buildings nearest.. brick and plaster.. not exactly the most ideal to climb but she could try if she had to. She still didn't like being where they were though. She felt.. trapped. There, the building across from the freehold door! It had a fire ladder which led up to its roof. She bared her teeth out of the nervousness that she was feeling but she knew how to alleviate it. She looked over at Dante too, knowing that he liked air flow; this alley was blocking the strong wind that had picked up this evening. Without a word to the others, she stalked over to the fire escape, scaling up the brick wall and grabbing one of the rungs of the ladder. As she put all her weight on the bars, the metal ladder slide down as it had been built to until it was only a few feet off the ground and easier to access for the others. She looked back at Dante and Elleonorah. "Better up top." she said and then quickly started to climb the metal staircase upwards, only stopping when she'd reached the roof. She took a moment to close her eyes and relax, feeling safer already with a multitude of exit points and the ability to glide away if she had to. It would be just about impossible to be ambushed up here. She waited for the other two to join her.

[rivaan]

Elleonorah quickly followed Lucy up the ladder. She was smiling, since the current situation had a little bit of interresting developement on it's own. Considering it seemed all three of them liked high open spaces with good airflow. Though she doubted anyone that saw them was going to miss the irony in the appearences of her and the gargoylish looking woman. Opposites yet strangely familiar.
"This is a good place!" The draconic said once they were on top of the building. She threw a look around." What do you think, is there some plot going on with all those arrivals?"

[Keira Kelly]

Lucy narrowed her eyes. "You tell us." she replied with a hiss. She still didn't trust this Fairest. She had no reason to. Even if she wanted to, she just couldn't let down her defensive wall around herself. "You spend more time at the freehold.. You'd be more likely to see what is going on than we would." she countered. She showed her teeth. "Perhaps you know more than you are telling." she accused. She still didn't like it that the Draconic was trying to ingratiate her way into Lucy and Dante's motley. It wasn't that she was opposed to it but more that she was infinitely suspicious as to the motives to want to do so. She knew enough to know Elleonorah had escaped a fair span before they had.. why hadn't she found another motley previously? The unanswered questions about the Draconic still put Lucy ill-at-ease. Lucy and Dante had come through the hedge together; she still had scattered memories of that, of breaking through as a team so she knew... she knew how much he had wanted that freedom as she had. She could trust him as much as she could now trust. She had no such reasons to trust the word of this Fairest. She wanted to, wanted to be able to trust again but... she had been damaged too much by her time in Arcadia. She needed more than mere words to break through her wall.

[rivaan]

“Well, I do believe it’s more than coincidence.” The draconic said and sat on the edge of the building.” Well it’s true I’ve been here more than you, but not that long, about a month or so. Still I did pick some rumors floating that it may be organized, other say that it’s just a mass of escapes. People generally can’t decide what’s going on. Some are more negative, other more positive… I prefer to be more of a realist.” She said, enjoying the night wind.
“Well all I’ve heard so far are unconfirmed rumors, will tell them to you, but have of them conflict with the other half, so yeah… not the best source of information for now.” She said with a shrug of her shoulders.” Sometimes I wonder if it was going to be the best to just die, instead of living a life of being suspected all the time.” She said with a sigh.” Might as well mention this now, you are bound to find it sooner or later. I appeared alone…”

[Veli Alvar]

The fresh breeze had almost a sedative effect on Dante. It was close to freezing cold but his windbreaker did a great job of conserving heat as well as facilitate air circulation around it. The wind scratched the nylon and pushed it in all directions. As tall as he was, he was taking up a large amount of space which in turn captured more of the wind. He held his arms out from his hips and stared at the sky, in a quasi-meditative stance. The breeze wasn't turbulent; it was fairly powerful but calm tonight. It wasn't booming in your ear like a bass. It felt more like silk through the ears. The wind was content - there was nothing to worry it, no threat.

In his state he caught the dragons question. He rested his arms back at his sides and faced the other two. "You're looking too much into it. They are escapees and they deserve to depart from that hell. There could be several reasons why there is a large volume of them at once. If anything fishy is going on we will hear about it because the Freehold will be the first to know anyway. They are as we." he told them. His voice carried its own wind with the power of how he spoke. It was involuntary however as it is virtually difficult for him to speak in a lower volume. He carried tons of air. "What bothers me are the fae I've seen wandering through the streets that have never been in the Freehold. That there is weird and cause for concern."

[Keira Kelly]

Lucy made a quiet, harsh sound. The Draconic had told the final statement as if it was some big, massive secret that weighed heavily on her shoulders. The truth of it was, Lucy didn't care. It had only been just her and Dante who had exited the hedge during their escape and she had no idea if there had been others that hadn't made it. But in the end, one or two, what was the big difference? Why make it sound like all the difference in the world? She made a derisive laugh. "You? Suspected? Hah! You're Fairest.." she replied coldly, almost jealously. "Have you seen how Darklings are treated? How many Darklings do you see around the Freehold?" she asked but didn't wait for a reply. "Not many, not for long at least. You've been here longer then us; you should well know how the rest of the occupants of the Freehold feel about Darklings. They shun us whenever possible, suspect us because of whom we are..." she rasped. "No, because of what we were turned into against our wills!" Her wings splayed out as she rose to her full height, not something she did often. Like this, she was as tall as Dante though far, far leaner, almost to the point of emancipation. Her tail flicked sharply behind her. "You make friends, talk to the others. Come and go as you please within the Freehold! One such as me is always watched out of corners of eyes." She sank back down to her hunched form, eyes glowering. She was angry, she was jealous of the Fairest and the Draconic's self-pity had brought her to a breaking point. "Fairest, you know nothing of suspicion." she said, more quietly this time. She turned her back to Elleonorah, closing her eyes, hurting at the words she'd just spoken because she knew right at that moment the intense truth of them. She'd always noticed that but it was only after speaking such that she could feel the truth of it.

She was calming herself when she caught Dante's words. She turned round with a curious look, guarded but curious. "There are lost.. Lost roaming?" she asked him. This was news to her. It was cause for concern, as the Elemental said, and more. "Are you sure they have not been to the Freehold? Do you know where they came from? There are only a few trods in the city... perhaps we can determine which one they are from..." she suggested. "Does the Freehold know of this yet? Do the courts?" she asked. She knew her court would want to know such a thing; such a thing could mean danger on its way and the Winter Court would want to make preparations if necessary.

[rivaan]

“While you aren’t exactly wrong, you aren’t exactly right either.” The draconic said with a shrug of her shoulders.” Sure I walk around and talk to people, but that’s about it. I can go around as long as I want and all I get is basically the same treatment you’ve been giving me since we met.” She said.” Always suspecting me of what I might be up to, why am I talking to them… It’s not that I cannot talk with the others that is the problem… Sure I know lot’s of people now, but I cannot say I have a single person I could call a friend among the rest of the Freehold.”
“Well I would say the way your kind if shunned is subjective too. I personally have nothing against darklings. In fact, until now it’s mostly some lowly beasts that get on my nerves, not your kind.”
“Well not really a surprise there.” Elleonorah said at the elemental’s statement.” World doesn’t end with our freehold. And they most likely do know, if he noticed, there is no way others haven’t. People at high places, have eyes everywhere.”

[Veli Alvar]

"My friend Alistair, a Beast, has confirmed that he has never seen them at the Freehold and I've described them pretty well. Nobody knows except I, Alistair and the locals. When the constables arrive, the Lost are nowhere to be found. People are a bit fearful to come out at night now because they may think the Lost are just a couple of mentally disabled freaks or something. There's two of them and I've been just a bit eager to investigate but I fear it's a trap."

Dante turned to the dragon.

"You're right, it shouldn't be a surprise. Except other than ours, the nearest Freehold is halfway across the entire city. It's extremely unlikely that they would be near ours. They don't appear to even be looking for anything. They wander around for a bit looking, excuse the pun, lost. I am so adamant it's a trap that I'm reluctant to check them out. Sooner or later though.. somebody needs to find out the story behind them. That may have to be me."

[Keira Kelly]

Lucy hunched her shoulders. "You may say you do not have a problem with us.. and perhaps that's true... perhaps." she said doubtfully. "Even if it is, you are one of the very few who do not." She made a sound deep in her throat. She had talked to one or two other Darklings that she'd found around the city, having met them through the court they shared. They had told her a bit about other Seemings, about how Fairest could ingratiate themselves among anyone, twist others' perception of them into something more desirable with ease not to mention the inborn charisma they all possessed. She doubted that this Draconic could not do so too and if she didn't, she likely had some ulterior motive for not doing so. Elleonorah's situation would garner no sympathy from the Lurkglide. Everyone liked Fairest... until they ended up on the bad side of one or were just unfortunate enough to end up as the Lost's new toy. To Lucy's mind, Fairest were only one step away from being as bad as True Fae.

She focused her attention back to Dante and the real problem at hand. Even having just been here a matter of weeks, Lucy well knew the size of the population of those who had escaped for Arcadia barely numbered about fifty or sixty within the city at most. Generally, news of who arrived through a trod travelled quickly to all three freeholds. Their own particular freehold had been the most active within Gloucester as of late, having disgorged a group of Lost three times now in the past three months which was a rare occurrence. If there were indeed unknown Lost, well it would be nigh impossible for them to have gone unnoticed by one freehold or another. There were of course a few possible explanations for such a thing but Lucy, being what she now was, as she now was, could think of nothing but it being an insidious plot of the True Fae. Her form, crouching on the roof was now still, posed as if she was merely a stone gargoyle in the night. Fear at what the revelation could mean kept her frozen for the moment, almost as if she was trying to hide.

"I wouldn't doubt it's a trap." she said finally. She frowned. "Not good to investigate. Leave that to the higher ups. Best to hide, be ready to run if what we fear us true...." she added. "If it's a trap, which it likely is, they are just waiting for someone to come sniffing around and bam! they've got you in their grasp, pulling you back to..." she trailed off, a shudder running through her. She began to glance around them at the empty roof top and neighbouring rooftops for any sign of.. anything out of the ordinary.