When Dielle showed up at the junkyard earlier, as Dielles are wont to do from time to time, Etsy informed her that she had Stuff To Do at the Freehold's hollow, and would D join her? And thus, unicorn gets dragged along after mermaid, motleymates heading through one of the Hedge Gates that leads to Stoneheart.
The garden has been mostly cleaned out, and the pond is definitely so. Etsy's loose clothes have her Courier sash slung over them and a cross-body bag, too, her metal mirror hanging from her belt as per usual. On the way in, she explains, "Did a going to the Hedge yesterdays, with a swearbird and a Baroness Miranda and a Glitch. I wanted a cheeroots, and had an asking of them to go with. Now am having a planting of a few cheeroots, here, in waters. And maybe eating one, because is a nice, cheeroots."
"I know it's a personal failing," comments Dielle. "But I spent so much time watching guys come into the bar and ingest every damn thing known to man to get high that I kinda ended up with a slight aversion to it. I dunno, maybe it's the whole "being stuck as a unicorn" in my last change. I've had more people offer me joints and I just...can't deal with not bein' in control of my own body!" She sighs. "Sometimes wish that weren't the case. Anyway, glad you're out of the hedge all safe...Glitch. That sounds familiar, for some reason." Dielle has exercised a bit of a Contract, so her hair is all galaxy-colored and in interesting braids that keep the hair out of her faice. She's not wearing her usual hat, today. But she IS wearing a lace camisole with a long denim skirt. And the cowboy boots. There's also silver chains that go around her neck and disappear under the camisole.
In comes Miranda Desrosiers, Baroness of the Lesser Ones, and the Sage Escort of the freehold. She's shed her armor and other similar battle accoutremonts upon arriving at the Hold, and she has made her way the gardens, her gaze settling on the gardening Etsy, "This garden is looking much nicer then last time I visited." She says, a nod of her head offered towards Dielle as well, "Hello." she greets.
"You had a sticking as a unicorn?" Etsy asks, catching on that last bit. She wanders toward the water, drifting absently as she often does, and shucks off the silk slippers she always wears at the shoreline. This is followed by bag and sash and the whole kit and kaboodle, rather absently so. Etsy digs out two hedgefruits and pops one in her mouth before the mermaid sinks into the water with a contented sigh. Naked, in the water, planting hedgefruit: the Flowering is good, thanks. "A Glitch is a partner of Nattyboo. Or was, maybe is. Am not knowing. But Nattydoll was all gasp gasp my love to know a Glitch was here." She raises one webbed hand out of the water and waves to Miranda. "Helloandgoodevening. Is knowing a unicorn podmate name of Dielle?"
Dielle says, dryly, "I've had many stickings as a unicorn." Ok, she's twelve, there's a REASON she's with Jon. "Dammit, I can't remember. I might know it. Might not. I guess I'll find out eventually. Hey, there, ma'am. I have know clue if we know each other or not. I've met so many people once or twice that I can't keep people straight, anymore. But like Etsy said, I'm Dielle. Hi."
"Baroness of the Lesser Ones Miranda Desrosiers, Sage Escort of Fate's Harvest, a pleasure to meet you Dielle. I don't know that we've ever formally met one another before." Miranda adds to the woman, offering a quick smile her way as she starts over towards the pond Etsy is working in and nods her head, "Do you need any help with that?"
Dielle looks relieved. "I don't think we have, either. I keep forgetting to introduce myself with all the titles. Sister in the Family of Silent Nights." She sounds terribly proud of that fact. "Fairly new one, too. Dawn Court. Less new. Have you been here long and I'm just oblivious?"
"Oh, a while now yes, but I spend a lot of time out in the deeper hedge, at the Wild Roses, and I've a hollow out there I do a little business out of, as well as spending time working with the Hobs." Miranda says with a soft little laugh, "It wouldn't be all that strange if you'd overlooked me much."
Dielle says, truthfully, "I go in and out of being involved in Freehold stuff. And I've only been to the Wild Roses once. I...was less than impressed." She has a look on her face that indicates that her experience wasn't all that it should have been. "What's the deal with that hob who's sellin' stuff who ain't supposed to that I heard about on the radio?"
"I must not have heard that radio broadcast." Miranda says with a little shrug of her shoulders to Dielle, "I could look into it though, but if the Market lets him sell it, then it's fine I imagine, if not then I could possibly try to bring it up with Lady Day. But I'm a merchant at the market, if there is anything you might need there that I can provide, I can see what I can do, there are rules to follow of course."
"I don't think he's with the Market, I think that's the problem. And no, really, I'd rather you didn't bring my curiosity over a single line I heard on the radio up to any of the Market people. I don't want his death on my conscience." Dielle takes a breath, and then shakes her head. "If there is anything I need, I'll let you know. After the last time I went there, I'm less than trusting. One of my fellow Courtiers basically got cheated and I wasn't ok with it, but he didn't do anything about it."
"You have to be very particular about what you ask for, and what you offer, but so long as the deal was honored, is it actually cheating? And I'm still interessted in this radio news you heard, it's part of my duty to the Barony as well to follow up on these sort of things." Miranda adds to the Unicorn.
Dielle says, half-apologetically and half-defiantly, "I'd tell you if I could remember, but it was three weeks ago and my memory ain't always the best. The deal in question was that Sal? Sally? The Seer agreed to give Logan some information in return for a memory. He gave her the memory and she then claimed that the memory was payment for sitting down and if he wanted the information, he'd have to be her indentured servant for a month. Probably legal. But it wasn't honest."
"Suzy Two-Eye?" Miranda ask curiously, nodding her head at Dielle, "Servitude is a bit unusual for her, but it probably had some actual purpose if she asked for it. I know that some of the marketeers do charge a fee for their time.. a lot of folk who come to bargain spend a lot of time dickering then not coming to an agreement, it helps weed out those with serious needs and those just fishing. I'm not saying there wasn't any subterfuge involved, but like one of our pledges, the words you agree to have meaning. You understand?"
"I do understand. But it doesn't change my opinion: probably legal, but it wasn't honest. She changed the terms because he sat down on her cushion and agreed to her price. It was shitty." There's no more apology. Dielle is very firm in her stance. "And as such, better I stay away from that place. I don't trust dishonest assholes. And she was one."
"I understand." Miranda says with a little nod of her head, "But if it's truly dishonest then that's against the rules of the market, I suspect perhaps your friend felt mislead, or taken advantage of, which is understandable.. that is the game of the goblin markets afterall. But often they are infact too honest. A Dream to ask some questions, doesn't mean you get the answers, for example."
Dielle says, quietly, "I was there. Watching. I know what I saw. I'm not stupid and I've been to a lot of other markets. I used to live in New York City, they got...a fair amount of goblin markets there. Some things ain't on the level. Ain't asking you to agree. It's /your/ market, you work there, you're gonna feel obliged to stick up for it. I'm saying that the only so-called deal I saw was such that it's best if I don't go there again because I am less than interested in someone who plays that kind of game. Do you play those kinds of games?"
The mermaid hasn't any idea what Dielle is talking about, and is quite contentedly blissed out on cheeroot, wallowing in the water. Don't mind the rolling mermaid. Etsy's eyes turn a light, seafoam green, and she sinks down into the water until only her eyes are visible over the waterline. CrocoEtsy.
"Not particularly, but then I'm hot a Hobgoblin." Miranda replies to Dielle, "So I don't have the same urges, or outlooks as they do. And it's not my market, I'm just a merchant at it, for all that that entails. Every Merchant conducts their own business their own way, just so long as the basic rules are followed."
Dielle looks relieved. "Thanks," she says to Miranda, and her tone is totally different, like she's suddenly relaxing. She shrugs a bit and says, "What do you sell? I'd much rather buy from someone I think is trustworthy. Not that I need anything just now, but y'never know."
The mermaid beaches herself at the edge of the pool; she's interested in this, at the very least. Etsy's hair spreads out over her shoulders, little flowers popping up on the shore as her Mantle spreads toward Dielle and Miranda. She leans her chin on her arms casually.
Miranda nods her head towards Etsy as she returns, "Do you think your plants took?" she asks her gaze turning back towards Dielle at the question, "I sell vices, or fulfill them, depending on the particulars, primarily." She says, "I've a hollow not far that I sell access too as well, for those who wish to come and indulge in more base vices as well, the Silken Garter."
Dielle says, truthfully, "Got a guy who I indulge my base vices with, on a very regular basis. But hey, I find I'm a bit...underemployed, so if you need a bartender, I used to bartend pretty exclusively at strip bars and I don't judge on carnal base vices. Only on a part-time basis, though."
"Will in a little bit ask them if is a growing times, and will know then," Etsy answers easily, adding, "but is not for a nows. Used a lot of juice on the yesterdays." Dielle's commentary about indulging her baser vices has the mermaid smiling, close-lipped, as a blue flush climbs her neck and into her cheeks. "Is a cuteness, you two. Sillies, sometimes."
"Some folk get bored with one guy, some folk want things they can't get with their partner, and some couples just want a little something else that doesn't come with baggage as well." Miranda says with a little shrug of her shoulders towards Dielle, "But, I don't judge what folks do or do not want in there lives, I just try to give them what they think they're looking for." She smiles faintly, a wisp of an expression cast towards Etsy and she nod her head towards the woman. "If you need more let me know, I've a lot of experience with the waters of the Hedge, and beyond." she turns her attention back towards Dielle, "If you wish to come and visit I can take you some time. You can see the place and decide. I don't have a bar, like you might expect, but if you wished to serve refreshments, and the like, we could come to an arrangement."
Dielle takes a moment to parse what Etsy's saying, and then flashes a smile at the mermaid. Then she stops for a moment, looking away from both of them, and then back at Miranda. "OH! We have met! Jon was offerin' to floor manage or bounce for you, after a court or something! Or maybe it was in the Wayhouse. Jon's my guy, he's that big fuckin' frost giant." She seems suddenly very excited because she remembered something! In that swiss cheese head of hers, that can be a huge event. "Yeah, I don't judge what people want. Just uncomfortable around drugs and booze, probably because I've seen it take too many people too hard. Fuckin'? Ain't no thang, so long as it's consensual. Which includes a whole host of things like role-playin'."
The mermaid hums to herself now, an absent thing, content in her own world as much as she's in the conversation right now. That gentle blue flush slowly fades from her cheeks, but she stays lit up for whatever reason. Possibly the hedgefruitdrugs. "Mmmhmm. Will be saying if a needs. Am growing heres for the Leos also," Etsy offers absently, playing absently with the mud. "Mostly, is a foods that is for me an indulgence. So many meats. Am polymeatorous. Monogamous, but polymeatorous." She probably thinks that's very funny right now.
"Oh yes, we did talk about that!" Miranda says to Dielle, nodding her head at the woman and smiling, "The both of you should come by then." She says to the woman, her attention shifting back over towards the Mermaid. "What is Polymeatorous?" she asks curiously, "Is that like Polyamorous, but only as it relates to folk made of meat?"
Dielle is beaming now, all proud because look, Ma, she remembered something! "We should come by. Hell, could be a good place to jump him whether or not other people are watching, although I think that'd be something we'd be payin' for, if that's a thing. Sounds like it should be a service, y'know? If Jon'd agree. I ain't always sure. Anyway, polymeaterous is probably Etsy talking about how much meat she eats. Cuz I ain't ever seen her voluntarily put a vegetable in her face." She looks over at the mermaid and says, "That right?"
"No, because is a robot boyfriend, not made so much of meats, and monogamouses," Etsy answers absently, still playing with the mud. She bobs her head toward Dielle, her seafoam eyes glinting as if sunlight's shining through the water. "Yes. Am eating so many meats." Her tail -- her feet? -- flips in the water. Apparently when she's not got her feet stuffed into shoes, they extend into fins. This is the relaxed form of Etsy's feet. "Not any vegetables, is making a mermaid sick."
Etsy amends, "Except a hedgefruits. Is not actual a fruit."
Miranda ahhs softly at Etsy and nods, "I see. Do you only eat raw meat, or cooked meat, or any kind of meat?" she inquires, her gaze cast toward Dielle, nodding faintly, "The place is less a business, and more a social club, I suppose is a better way to describe it. If you are there you can indulge, the price of admission is what is bartered for. I would not see a problem with the two of you enjoying yourselves in or out of view. Though, I admit, there are very few places terribly private, you'll see when you visit." She nods towards Etsy, "You and your robot friend can visit as well sometime, if you'd like. I may have a little party soon."
Dielle gets up and says, "I'll do that. But in the meantime, I'm gonna go home and see if Jon's there and take advantage of the total privacy we do have at the apartment. It's pretty awesome, knowin' that at the moment, we won't be offending anyone. Sorry I got belligerent, though, wasn't ok. Nice seein' you again, Miss Miranda. Etsy, you too. You gonna stick around here or do you want a ride?"
"Go, go," Etsy urges Dielle, that same absent, wandering tone to her voice. "I eat all meats. Polymeatorous," she asserts again, stretching lazily in the water. She leans on the bank of the pond, and a rather strange look comes across her face. "Am having a try to imagine Maddox coming to club like that. Am not sure ... " And then she starts giggling. Some people say 'musical laughter' and don't mean it, but the siren? She laughs in arpeggios.
Miranda bids Dielle farewell herself before turning back towards Etsy and nodding her head towards her, "I see, well, if I find any new meats, I'll see about putting them aside for you to try. And I don't believe I've met Maddox yet. He's your robot boyfriend? Is he actually a hedgespun golem, or just someone who has the mien of one?"
Her forehead wrinkles up slightly. "A hedgespun golems for a boyfriends? Is not a person actually. Kind of a blow-up dolls of boyfriend. No, is a Summer boyfriends, is a Maddox," answers Etsy, adding, "Is a robots, yes, of looking and miens. And electricities. And yes, if finding a new meats, would like, please!"
Miranda shrug her shoulders, "If that were the thing you wanted as a boyfriend why would I think it wrong?" she asks, "And it was worth inquiring I think. It is good to know these sort of things, isn't it? So what is Maddox like then, if he acts and think as a robot? It must be difficult at times? Can he go in the water with you?"
"Is not a healthiness. Desire is, but not all desire is a goodness. Is not for blow-up boyfriends, is not for encouraging too much of drugs, either. Am for desires, but am not... do not want a people to be unhealthies with a desires." She rests her chin on her hands. "Oh, is not to acts like a robots, is to looks like a robots. A Maddox is to make things, and is to have a cursings and drink a beers, and to accidentally hit a mermaids in a face with a beers when trying to give her a beers, and is crashing a prototypes, and is protecting a mermaids. Is not acting like a robots." Etsy smiles widely, but still doesn't show her teeth, then. "Yes, is turning into all a metals, like a solid statues."
"It is dangerous to become so much like them, or like they wanted us to be like." Miranda says offhand, "I worry that there are so many, so much like them here in this freehold sometimes. I am glad Maddox isn't too much like they wanted him to act, though it sounds like he is verymuch how they wanted him to look." She hums softly, "But I spend more time then most in the hedge. Perhaps that is why I am so concerned with such things. They find us easier when we are more like their vision of us. So what do you do besides garden? I had heard you wished to find fruits to help folk breath underwater? If you need that, I can imbue them with the water of Faerie for a time as well, it is not so convenient as having a fruit around, but is easier."
The mermaid who is very much like how she was made doesn't seem to take that sentence to mean her, though it might well. She ain't quite to the same level as some of her motleymates, though. "Is a dangers," agrees Etsy easily enough. It's true, after all. "No, is not so much like a robots. Is like a Maddox." She's quite content to talk about the robot boyfriend, after all. "Oh, is a true, if is in the Hedge much, be careful to not be founds." She rests her chin on her hands, then rolls onto her back, looking at Miranda upside down, smeared with mud and not much caring. Her hands flop onto her belly in the water. "Oh, is living mostly at junkyards or with Angelicas, is eating a meats, is being a Couriers and delivering a packages or a letters, is going for hedgespeditions, is doing a swims, is eating more meats... " Shrug. "Yes, oasis fruits. Is for making people to breathe a waters so can do a swims easy." She listens, then. "Did not know could do. Neat! Thankyou." Pause. "What is you do, other than a Markets and a clubs?"
"I am much like you." Miranda says, gesturing towards the mud smeared mermaid, "But I was made like the water itself, not like the creatures that live in the water. I can give a little of that to others as a blessing, but not for terribly long of course." She adds with a little shrug of her shoulders. "And I am a Baroness of the Lesser Ones, I scout the hedge, I engage with Hobs, try to keep relations positive, and help fix problems that might come up between the Lost and the Hob communities."
"Not so many like me. Not here. Is good to be a little like me. Used to have whole pod like me. Am having pod again. Not pod like seeds, pod like a dolphins." Etsy draws little shapes on her chest in the mud, on her stomach. She's barely paying attention, just doodling while they talk. "Is a nice to be able to give people, so they can have swim," she admits. "Is a big job, to be a Baroness. Is a dangerous? Clio, who goes with us yesterdays, is an Iron Wall Legionnaire. Is a goodness to take with for a fights, if in Hedge is a fights."
"Yes, it can be rather dangerous out there yes, very, it's important to have good friends, and keep up good relations with the denizens of the hedge sometimes to help keep yourself safe out there." Miranda nods her head, leaning just a touch to look at the drawings on the Mermaid's chest. "I'll have to talk to Clio about travelling the hedge with me when I need backup."
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