Log:Brigadoon, Roanoke, Punch and Pie

Brigadoon, Roanoke, Punch and Pie
"And here I am, trying to find some old pie recipe. It's like going into the Library of Congress to find a comic book."
Participants Aaron and Esther	9 October, 2017 Esther meets the Lord Scrivner--who just happened to be looking for Esther. What luck!
Location Caretakers' House -- Autumn Safe House
The first room that one enters when coming into the house is the sitting room. The sitting room of the Caretakers' House is a smallish one with a few sitting areas that have been placed around the room. The walls are lined with floor to ceiling bookcases that have been installed recently. On the shelves are a variety of books that range from all the topics anyone can imagine. If you can't find a book, someone can find you one.       Of all the books gathered in the immense and varied library of this sitting room, Esther has managed to find a cookbook. She is sitting at a table, poring over the book as if it were some ancient tome of forgotten lore, mouth moving as she reads, following the words with a gnarled finger. She's more bundled than she ought to be in this weather, perhaps in anticipation of the cooler nights and mornings of the Fall. The leaf token granted to her by the Autumn Monarch is pinned to the lapel of one of her sweaters.       The doors open and close, and Aaron is seen coming down the hall. A gaunt specter in his own right, his lithe frame looks like he'd blow away with a good gust of wind. He is silent in his steps. He holds a small book in one of his skeletal hand. A mangy cat accompanies him. The token from the Autumn Monarch used as a tie pin, holding it around his neck. When he sees someone already here, he offers a nod and friendly greeting of "Good afternoon!" His whispery voice then says, "I did not mean to interrupt your research. I was just returning a book I borrowed from our brothers and sisters." Esther did not notice Aaron's entry, so caught up in the old recipe is she. But when the Darkling makes his presence known, she notices everything. His looks, his clothing, and most of all, his ties to Autumn and the Wyrd. She takes in a quick breath, then rises to her feet awkwardly. "Oh, I'm the one who is sorry. I was just...there's a nice little shoofly pie recipe, and I was...I can go." Her head is bowed. Aaron raises an eyebrow. "I'm a bit confused..." he looks between you and his cat, who has simply shrugged and headed off someplace to be lazy. "Why are you sorry? And there is no need to go on my account. Unless I've offended you in some way?" he places a halting hand up. "If you were reading, then please--feel free to continue. After all, we are both privy to this wealth of information, are we not?" Esther coughs into a fist. "I just thought...maybe I'm wrong, but aren't you Lord Scrivener, sir? They told me, tall man, dresses like Autumn, feels strong. He's the one who watches over the books, they told me. And here I am, trying to find some old pie recipe. It's like going into the Library of Congress to find a comic book." Aaron watches you with his ghostly eyes, and when titles and descriptions come. "Feels strong? I'm flattered..." he then humbled nod of his head. "Indeed. I'm Lord Scrivner. I'm also Librarian to Fate's Harvest--so I watch over a lot of books. I don't think we've had the honor of officially meeting," he stretches a hand out to you, "I'm Aaron. Aaron Fletcher." Esther wipes her hands on her clothing and then shakes Aaron's hand with one. "I'm Esther Buckingham. Just pledged to the freehold this season, though I've been here a while. Did we ever meet at a Court gathering?" Her handshake is strong but brief. Aaron considers. "I think we've met at the gathering...but I feel like we've met at another gathering before. Did you ever reside in a town called Alesewich?" His shake is firm, and once done, his hand goes back to his side. Esther brings her hand back but pauses halfway as a certain town is mentioned. "Aleswich? In Maine? Why yes, I was there for a while." Her gaze narrows, as she looks at Aaron with greater scrutiny. "It's been a while." Her scrutiny becomes more intense. Aaron ahs. "I use to live out that way. Was born there. Maybe we knew common people? Pomona Powell? Prudence Powell? Mouse? I know that Nathania also lived out there for a time." He shakes his head. "Sorry, I'm rambling. How are you holding up here?" Esther's expression goes from questioning to wistful. "Oh! I remember the Powells. And Mouse, oh Mouse." She sighs. "Yes, I've spoken to Nathania, she seems to be doing well here. Wait. Now I remember you. Sort of." She places a hand over her heart. "I remember there being Fletchers there. I guess I'm getting old." She chuckles a little. "I'm holding up rather well, to be honest. You seem to be doing well, I hope?" Aaron nods. "Fletchers were there, yes. The family was born there. It will probably die there with my extended line of cousins and their children," he smiles almost bittersweetly. Children being something Changelings cannot exactly have on their own. Not really. "I've been doing well. Good thing I came to town knowing some familiar faces. Didn't feel as completely strange and new as I've imagined..." his eyes widen, remembering something, "in fact--it's very fortunate that you and I are in the same place! I was referred to you by her Autumn Majesty. She said that you'd be a good person to seek help in with some business she's asked me to look into." Esther blinks a few times with surprise. "Me? I'm so very unexpectedly flattered that she'd have me in mind, of all people. How may I help you?" There is an excitement in her body language, as well as anticipation. Aaron nods. "She named you specifically as someone I should go to. It's with regards to our mysterious neighboring Freehold, The Soundless; and the vanishing freehold that was once here the Silver Tree. She thought that you and I should work together to find out as much as we can about these two. Uncover as many ghosts as we can with these two--so as to not make them even more enigmatic than they are." Esther frowns up thoughtfully. "They do seem to be putting up quite the paranoid and mysterious front, aren't they? Not that I blame them, but if we're going to co-exist, we do so need to learn to get along. The alternative is war, and that would be so horrible." She looks at Aaron. "So, do you think we should be sneaky, or just walk on over with some cookies?" Aaron considers. "On the one hand--sneaky and obfuscatory is part of the Autumn tradition, no? I think if we didn't some would be concerned. Course if we were sneaky, people might take that as offensive and then go on the defensive-offensive." He shrugs. "I feel like, what's that saying? One's more likely to get more flies with honey than vinegar? Perhaps for the Soundless--we simply come as scholars and researchers. We want to know more about them. Nothing more. Nothing less. The Silver Tree, on the other hand, I feel like that's where we might have to be a bit sneaky." Esther starts idly counting on her fingers. "The Winters are better at the sneaking than us, but this *is* our season." She pauses, then says, "I do wonder if they've been spying on us. It would make perfect sense." Another pause, with more finger counting. "I agree with you that we come to the Soundless face to face, but sneak around to get information on that Silver Tree freehold. My goodness, it's like that old movie about the disappearing Scottish town." Aaron chuckles. "I was thinking of the story of the lost colony, Roanoke. Just not as much singing and dancing like Brigadoon." "Aha! That was the name of the movie," Esther says, pleased that Aaron understood her. "Though, you're probably closer to the Roanoke reference. I suppose, if we come to them for cultural exchange, what do we offer them? And what do we do if they already have what we offer?" Aaron shrugs. "I suppose we may have to come to that crossroad when we come to it. If they have a lot more information on us than them, then it's more about what do they know--and how *much* do they know, and *how* did they know it. If it's less, then perhaps simple cultural exchange might be an option. But no telling what that looks like. Will it simply be a tit-for-tat, or will it be like some high school foreign exchange program where one of us stay at their home for a semester and visa-verse." Esther sighs and shakes her head. "It can be done, but that would require some lawyer level pledgesmithing to work properly. So. I bring my carrot cake, with no walnuts just in case people are allergic. Or two, one with and one without. And we also bring...one of our books? Maybe some healing hedge fruit? Maybe some token? I don't know." Aaron smiles and gestures to the cookbook. "Perhaps bring a freshly baked shoofly pie, and let's see where things go from there? Don't want to give a whole lot--if they don't ask for a whole lot. If it's a token they want, then I will offer up my skills to fashion one for them." Esther tilts her head in consideration. "That seems fair enough. I just want to make sure we deal with them fairly, but still, make sure to protect our people. Feh, I'm no Black Apple, making deals with the others. But that shoofly pie will be good, I bet."