Siren Song

[Wyll Wyldclay]

"As you say. Much more interesting to solve our little deal dilemma, wouldn't you say? Because lacking access to a time machine, it would seem to me that you are no longer capable of meeting the original parameters.

I like to think I'm not entirely unreasonable, however..."

[Miriam Bell]

While Sam, Leo and Wyldclay are bickering and negotiating, Miriam looks down at the earplug, then narrows her eyes at Wyldclay. And finally she suppresses a laugh.

She closes her fist around the earplug and wanders over to the discussion.

"Well, we fulfilled half of the deal. Two thirds, really, since we got both of them to acquiesce, yes? We should at least get two-thirds of our Will back."

[Wyll Wyldclay]

"You buy and sell them by the pound then, do you? Choice cuts worth more, prized for their marbling and tenderness? Having been the scraps fed to the dogs just now, I must say that's not the most appetizing offer possible, and I don't see a properly certified and registered butcher in the neighborhood to provide such a delicate service.

No, I'm afraid deals are deals are deals, and a failure to perform means any and all services in kind are rendered moot and unenforceable throughout all of the Seven Fae Courts. And so we returneth to square one."

[Samantha McManus]

"Want to try your luck bargaining with the Morrigan, do you?"

"How well does that go, typically?"

[Wyll Wyldclay]

"Well, so far, they're 0-for-1 on successfully finishing their deals, but that's OK; I'm a forgiving sort."

[Toshiro Narumi]

"But are war goddesses, ancient monsters, and goddesses of vengeance? I think not," Tosh pointed out. "If you're a Will, they probably couldn't kill you if they wanted to, but are you sure you want to press your luck? I wouldn't."

"Not a threat, just food for thought."

[Samantha McManus]

"Let's make this simple. What do you want?"

It carries with it a mental nudge. Sam has been under the hood of quite a few Wills, and she's taking a gamble that she can tease this one's desires out past any newfound knack for lying.

[Erynies Adrasteia]

"We should leave. Where do you want to go?" Ryn quietly asks Katarina while the others are bickering.

[Samantha McManus]

"I would remind the Fury that she's the reason I'm being extorted by the Wyldclay."

[Wyll Wyldclay]

Sam's Will was typically a little more hesitant about outright saying what they wanted -- 'oh, it's fine, oh I'll keep' and so on and so forth. This was not a personality failing of the Wyldclay.

"What do I want, Phantom Queen?" the Wyldclay said, their eyes flashing. "I want baubles, and trinkets. I want a shoe that can predict the weather; a newspaper printed in ancient Sanskrit; a canary that knows twelve secrets that no man has ever known. I want the crown of the Prince of Atlantis, the dress Helen of Troy wore, and the coat of the Nemean lion.

I want novelty, and amusement. I want men to grow and shrink; rise and fall. I want people to dance and sing and fuck and feast and kill and live every way which and round. I want mortals to confuscate and vex.

I want to win, and I want to lose. I want to be challenged and challenger. To shake the dust off my back when shown the point of a sword; to stand triumphant after a clever stratagem. I want games where the stakes are high and permanent, and for everyone to shake hands at the end and begin anew the next day. I want to be celebrated and worshipped and pampered and praised for my cleverness; and to pay my debts when debts are fairly earned.

I want out from a desk in a basement under a rock. I want my newfound freedom and control to manifest itself in the most delectable ways. I want to look at the Agency and the courts of faerie and the management of the 4Play Cabaret and spit in their eye and have it so they can't do anything about it. I want protection and aid.

And I want a ham sandwich, on rye, handmade by the Morrigan herself, wearing a novelty apron. Extra mustard, less mayo."

[Erynies Adrasteia]

"Insufferable Fey..." Ryn mutters.

[Katarina Kane]

"We should leave. Where do you want to go?" Ryn quietly asks Katarina while the others are bickering.

"I don't know...I hadn't gotten this far in the 'rescue Ryn' stage of the plan..."

[Leo N. Eskandari]

Leo rolled his eyes at the sheer, unashamed greed of the Wyldclay but chose not to say the first angry thing that popped into his head. Instead, he asked, "Why do you work for the Society? Did they manage to get the better of you in a deal?"

[Wyll Wyldclay]

"Hardly.

If you are the Society, and you wish to collect all the world's wonders in one place and make the world a less wonderous place, and you encounter one of those wonders with an extensive collection of their own, and you have not yet set up a squad of brainless goons to go tramping around the world at your beck and call, what would you do?

There was an...agreement in place, shall we say. A pact that was, at the time, mutually beneficial."

[Erynies Adrasteia]

"I don't know...I hadn't gotten this far in the 'rescue Ryn' stage of the plan..."

"We can go anywhere at all. Do you still wish to sing?" she asks. She wouldn't have admitted or realized it at the time, but enacting her rampage in the city of angels hadn't not been about tearing out the rot in the place Katarina might want to return to one day. And really, she'd barely scratched the surface.

[Katarina Kane]

"We can go anywhere at all. Do you still wish to sing?" she asks. She wouldn't have admitted or realized it at the time, but enacting her rampage in the city of angels hadn't not been about tearing out the rot in the place Katarina might want to return to one day. And really, she'd barely scratched the surface.

"What else does a Siren do?" she smiled, abashed.

[Leo N. Eskandari]

"How much longer are you bound to the terms of the pact?" Leo asked, actually curious now. If they could free him, he'd have no reason other than spite to pin Ryn and Katarina's escape on the rookie agent.

[Wyll Wyldclay]

"A lady never kisses and tells," the Wyldclay scoffed. "A pact is between the pactor and the pactee."

[Leo N. Eskandari]

"Oh? I thought you wanted to be free of it?" Leo smirked. "Surely you made yourself a loophole to wriggle out through. Maybe they can open the way for you. Would that be a good trade for their friend?"

[Wyll Wyldclay]

"The whys and wherefores of my dealings are none of your concern and, frankly, are far beyond your ability to comprehend, Leo. Meddle not with the ways of the fae, lest they take a special interest in you."

[Leo N. Eskandari]

"I have it in me to kill gods, little Fae. Do not continue to test my newfound restraint," Leo responded with a sneer, his other self getting restless.

[Wyll Wyldclay]

"Add 'smite Agent Eskandari' to that list of things I want," the Wyldclay said, unphased by Leo's growling.

[Miriam Bell]

"Riveting. Glad we made sure even the growling brute is following along."

[Samantha McManus]

"Eskandari, I was putting it gently before, but can you please stop bloody 'helping' while I'm trying to negotiate for the return of my friend?"

[Leo N. Eskandari]

Leo mimed zipping his lips. It was crystal clear that his approach wasn't working. Besides, he wasn't looking to antagonize a goddess that had done nothing to provoke him.

[Wyll Wyldclay]

The Wyldclay grinned, and gestured for Sam to continue, taking the opportunity to shift their tattered suit back into shape.

[Samantha McManus]

"The Wyldclay may have learned to lie quite recently, and I'm sure that revelation was liberating. Still, becoming an oathbreaker has consequences for supernatural beings, so I'm willing to wager they're far less inclined to test those waters without assurances."

"So it's safe to say they're not about to discuss their bindings to the fae courts, or their deal with the Society. Ryn doesn't give a shit because she's survived worse. Katarina almost broke the world to get out of hers."

She turns to the Wyldclay.

"But you've got skin in the game. Even if you're getting restless you've got comforts afforded to you and you've seen what happened to others that went off the reservation without thinking it through."

"You need someone with standing to loosen things, aye?"

[Wyll Wyldclay]

They did not explicitly confirm Sam's suggestion -- no, that would be far too forward. Instead, they brushed some more dirt off their shoulder and examined a loose thread on their blazer.

"We all have our various skills to trade. You go to a fletcher if you need arrows. You find a blacksmith if you need your horse shod. You seek out a courtesan if your bed is too cold. We use what we've been given to pay our ways through life," the Wyldclay said, stretching and flexing their shoulders some as they spoke.

"The Phantom Queen has many gifts to give; at least, if you believe Lebor Gabála Érenn," they said, rolling their Rs in a not-quite-historically accurate way. "Some perhaps even more potent than a ham sandwich."

[Samantha McManus]

"...such as a world where men grow and shrink and fly, where the Grey Council has slunk off with its collective tail between its legs, and all manner of absurdities walk in the light of day."

[Wyll Wyldclay]

"I would doubt that even the Great Queen has an entire world to offer, or would be willing to release it to someone for such a trifle as a friend," Wyll responded. "But I do not find the sound of her voice inherently displeasing, if she were to continue talking along these lines."

[Samantha McManus]

"You didn't ask for ownership, you asked for experience."

"That I can certainly offer."

[Wyll Wyldclay]

"I have not asked for anything at all. I've merely listed things I've been interested in," Wyll countered, enjoying the very act of haggling itself.

"Tell me your terms, Samantha. And I'll sign them in blood if they are pleasing to me."

[Samantha McManus]

"I offer you a place where those who fled to the hidden hills do not know your name. I offer you a place the Ghost Roads can't reach. I offer you brothers and sisters in infinite variety. I offer you a cauldron by my hearth, by which you can be born anew each sunrise."

[Erynies Adrasteia]

"What else does a Siren do?" she smiled, abashed.

"Then sing you shall, wherever we go. And I shall make it a place free of rot." she nods.

[Wyll Wyldclay]

"I offer you a place where those who fled to the hidden hills do not know your name. I offer you a place the Ghost Roads can't reach. I offer you brothers and sisters in infinite variety. I offer you a cauldron by my hearth, by which you can be born anew each sunrise."

"And your might and your will, should those roads extend further than your ken? Your arms, should a sea of troubles rise to your door?"

[Samantha McManus]

"I think you know that for me that's Tuesday."

[Katarina Kane]

"Then sing you shall, wherever we go. And I shall make it a place free of rot." she nods.

Katarina nodded, looking at Ryn's eyes for the first time.

[Wyll Wyldclay]

"I think you know that for me that's Tuesday."

"Then I find your offer acceptable, Morrigan. We have a pact in word and deed," the Wyldclay nodded, with a surprising amount of solemnity for them. Deals, after all, are a big, uh, deal.

[Erynies Adrasteia]

Katarina nodded, looking at Ryn's eyes for the first time.

They're, well, eyes. They're the same brilliant blue as the flames that used to dance in their place but there's no overwhelming dread spilling from them. And it's Ryn who breaks eye-contact first, not used to being this seen, instead opting to stare at the ground and fight down the blush threatening to color her cheeks. "Not used to it." she mumbles, uncertain herself what 'it' is.

[Samantha McManus]

"Suppose what remains is to retrieve him, aye?"