Nathania is settled in the living room, knitting away. She is wearing a pale yellow tee shirt and a pair of denim walking shorts, with tennis shoes beside her on the floor. Her feet are tucked up under her.
The slow, specific steps of the golem carry her into the Wayhouse. Gisa always looks like she's moving with purpose, but right now? She's Super Purpose Golem. A purpose and an agenda. Spotting Nathania, she angles toward her and pauses in front of the couch. "Waykeeper Winters, shalom. A moment of your time, if it is not an imposition?"
While it's certainly true that Pilar is wonderfully content to fly under the radar and be overlooked there are, in every unremarkable worker's life, times that call for standing out. When you're showing up in a new Freehold, unfamiliar and unknown, and making your way into one of that Freehold's holdings, is perhaps one of those times. Nobody tends to like strangers sneaking in, and Changelings tend to like that kind of thing less than most. Thus it is that Pilar knocks firmly on the door, with the sound of wood against wood, before cracking it open and peeking inside. "Hello?" calls a clear, feminine voice with a spanish accent. "I hope I've found the right place. Is this the Wayhouse?" The face peeking in is carved in detail from reddish wood, edges lined with brass and straps of well-tended leather that hold it all together, all as perfectly unchipped, pitted, scarred, or tarnished as if she were newly constructed.
Nathania glances to Gisa, about to respond, when the newcomer enters. "Hello. Yes. Welcome. I am... Nathania Winters, Waykeeper." She gestures. "Please, have... a seat." She then looks up to the golem. "Hello, friend... Cohen. It isn't an... imposition. If you don't mind speaking... in front of our... new potential friend, here."
The Spanish accent turns her head, quite literally, and then Gisa's fiery eyes look Pilar up and down with open curiosity. Elementals, man. "I do not mind. In fact, I may wish to introduce her to Alonso. By accent alone, they will likely have a great deal in common." There's a flare of the fiery sigil on her forehead when she mentions the other Spaniard. "Welcome," she greets Pilar. "Not to speak about you in front of you, but your accent matches almost precisely that of my motleymate and motek." You'd have to know Hebrew to know that means 'sweetheart,' but the context is possibly there. "You may wish to meet him. I am Pilgrim Gisa Cohen, and this is Bishop Nathania Winters." Gisa does have that almost offputting perfection about her these days. The human face isn't supposed to be that symmetrical. Luckily, she's a golem.
"It is perhaps fortunate timing," she admits to Nathania. "I came to speak to you about becoming a Waykeeper. Everyone assumes that I am one."
Liam comes in through the front door.
Liam steps out through the mudroom door, then the front door some few feet beyond it, leaving the building.
With confirmation that she's now in the right place, Pilar slips the rest of the way inside, accompanied by the faint whirring and clicking of the clockwork mechanisms that power her. The rest of her matches the face that had peeked through the door, polished wood and brass and leather. Her shirt is a bright red with a yellow emblem on it, a combination of the hammer and sickle and the all-genders mixture of the symbols for male, female, and the two combined. She's wearing a flannel shirt with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows over that, and a pair of jeans, and she turns faintly glowing camera-shutter eyes on Gisa as she asks, "Alonso Triste, do you mean? I heard that he was here from a friend of mine, Iris Drake." There's not much inflection to her voice, though it's not quite monotone either, just difficult to read emotion from, and she turns her attention back to Nathania after dropping names. Making sure to address both of them when she speaks. "I'm Pilgrim Pilar Ferrero y Yarleque de Paz, and I just arrived in the Freehold. I thought I'd make myself known before anyone worried about the stranger."
Nathania nods at Pilar. "Appreciated," she says. "are you... interested in... joining the Freehold, or just... wanting someone to see your face?" Then she looks to Gisa once more. "Ah. You would... be an asset. I can tell you... you should probably talk to... November, but I can at least... get in touch with her." She pulls her phone out and starts texting the Waylady.
The symbol on the shirt and the invocation of Alonso's full name pull Gisa up short, and not in a bad way. Her lips pull into a wide smile, flashing diamond teeth. "Iris Drake has been selected by the central committee of the Fully Automated Luxury Queer Space Communist motley to become one of us, and yes, Alonso Triste, that is who I mean." The golem is delighted, in her subdued way. She, too, is nearly monotone, just... subdued, and her accent is just as thick as Pilar's though it's different -- she sounds like an Amazon from Wonder Woman. Or, you know. An Israeli, since the Amazons all just copied Gal Gadot's accent. "You should come to my bookstore for dinner, and visit with everyone." Beat. "Yes, I thought I should talk with November, but I was not sure on protocol, so I thought I would begin with you, Bishop. Thank you."
Pilar isn't quite as deliberate in the way she speaks as Nathania is, but she does give her answer some consideration before she replies, and once she answers she doesn't waste words. "I don't know the Freehold well yet, so I think a pledge of loyalty would be in none of our best interest. It's my hope that will change." Her wooden mask of a face shifts with just the barest hint of a smile, an attempt to show she doesn't mean anything ill by her words. With a faint whir of spinning gears and a muffled hiss she turns her steady gaze back to the golem, and after a moment she gives a nod. "I'm a vegan," she notes, acceptance of the invitation, warning about her dietary needs, and perhaps apology mixed together in the words. "But my schedule is quite open. Can either of you tell me more about the local Freehold's structure and policy?"
Nathania watches the beginnings of a potential friendship with a warm, soft smile, knitting needles still clacking away. She listens; she watches; she then looks to Gisa. "That is absolutely... fair. I am the second in... command, but I don't know... if others know that... outside of the organization. You talk to November, and I... will try to do the same; we will... definitely get you... joined up. You will... definitely be a help." She smiles wider, warmer. Then she looks to Pilar. "That's... absolutely fair," the blonde says. Then she considers. "I can, but... it'd be taking forever... to recite the rules." She watches Pilar for a moment before looking to Gisa. "Can you... help? My voice is so... slow. Stupid... speech impediment." She sounds a little frustrated with herself.
"Consectatio Scientiae. Consectatio Prudentiae." Gisa recites, and then she tilts her head toward Nathania. The golem is content to be useful. More than content, it would seem. She folds her hands in her lap, ceramic fingers clicking against one another. Click-click-click, like plates being stacked. And then she recites, as if she's reading from some sort of, you know, internal writing or something. "These are the responsibilities of the members of Fate's Harvest:"
"Intelligence: Members are required to give freely of any intelligence they may possess relating to potential enemies of the Freehold. This can include Loyalist groups, Privateers, Hobgoblins, True Fae, mundane anti-fae Hunters, rival Freeholds and more. This information will be the responsibility of the Custodians to study and archive.
Talents and Skills: Members must use their skills and any particular talents, be they from simple experience or the fruit of membership in noble orders, for the benefit of the Freehold and the continued well-being of its collective membership.
Secrecy: Summary: give out as little information about the Freehold and its members as possible. If at any point un-pledged revelation is required to impress or cow others, members may reveal themselves, but never other members, always bearing in mind that doing so may result in being hunted more directly by the True Fae or mortal Hunters.
Ensorcelled: All members are free to ensorcell others. Pledges must include a secrecy clause to protect Changelings from discovery. The newly ensorcelled must be presented to the Freehold at the next monthly gathering held by the Crown, and will be expected to pledge separately to the Freehold. Members are expected to protect and guard all ensorcelled against the Fae and fae threats.
Crown-granted Positions: The Crown has power to grant members of the Freehold special authority on a temporary basis. This authority does not continue past that Monarch's rule. Members are expected to respect and oblige the authority granted to these temporary positions.
Court Positions: Members of the Freehold must respect the authority of Court positions recognized by Crown and Council. Any new positions must be announced and explained at the next monthly gathering held by the Crown.
Treatment of Outsiders
Humans: Members are never to aid the True Fae in the capture or acquisition of human kind. Do nothing to inspire witch hunts. We rely upon the humans here for cover, aid, and mutual protection.
Changelings: All Changelings are accepted under the laws of Hospitality. Members are expected to direct newcomers to the nearest Waykeeper, as Waykeepers are trained for diplomacy and in handling potential external threats.
Loyalists & Privateers: Known Loyalists/Privateers are treated under the laws of Hospitality, given as little useful information as possible, and escorted off of Fate's Harvest territory as soon as possible. Should someone be proven an unknowing Loyalist, they must be contained until a method of separating them from their Fae patron is discerned."
"There are further responsibilities should you choose to become a member of an internal group such as the Waykeepers or Custodians. These are the responsibilities of all members."
Pilar seems to have no limit to the patients she's willing go grant Nathania and the delays in her speech, instead listening in stillness that she silences all the quiet noises that accompany her movements. The tiny construct only suggests, when Nathania complains about her own slowness, "would it be of help to you if I made up pamphlets? I would have no complaint with reading the rules, especially if it made things easier for you." Then she gives Gisa the same attentive listening, with her only movements to do so being the slight turn of her head and a shift in the aperture of her eyes as they refocus. "That isn't so many rules," she comments at the end. "I'll take time to meet more members of the Freehold, and get a sense of things, and make a decision."
Nathania considers Pilar. "It's not... that I can't," she explains. "I'm just not remembering.. to be patient with.... myself first today." A gentle shrug. The rag dolly smiles, though. "I might ask... November if... general pamphlets might not... be a good idea, though." She knits as quietly as she can while Gisa recites, nodding her agreement. It's all correct.
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