RP:Hedge Your Bets

Part of the Larketian Fault Lines Arc

Summary Macon, with an assist from Josleen, convince Alvina to participate in the Academy of Magic's new project; Witch Detection. Alvina agrees to help build this machine to separate good witches from bad to allegedly protect Larket (and all children everywhere).

King and Queen's Chambers

Josleen invited Alvina to the private, royal suite (where few aside from family members are allowed entry) to talk weddings, babies and flip through her favorite magazine as of late: Well-heeled, a magazine for ultra wealthy parents that is hand-painted abroad by elves and possibly printed on gold, judging by the subscription price. It’s hot out again, though not unseasonably. The ladies make their way out onto the patio where Josleen spends more and more of her time these days on a queen-bed-sized, cushioned lounger beneath a giant parasol, rubbing cocoa butter on her belly even though she hasn’t even started to show yet. You would think that with Alvina here Josleen would not rub cocoa butter on her as of yet non-existent belly, but you would be wrong. Joleen wears a silk robe over a bikini and opens the robe in the front as she slathers the lotion on. Servants served chilled water and extra-sugary lemonade on a nearby stand. Gigi pants in his dog pool, eyes closed, smiling. The conversation started with babies then meandered towards Alvina’s upcoming nuptials. “Did I ever give you the contact of the illusionist I hired for my wedding? He made it so I never looked sweaty or tired.”

Alvina moves with Josleen through this foreign space with a relaxed smile. When she's first started these visits, she felt tense towards the servants. As Hudson's own empire expanded and they hired more and more people to do basic things around their own home, it felt more natural and she slipped into a mindset of 'this is normal'. It feels just like being home, though obviously the fort is more lavish as it's a fort and not an estate. "No you didn't but I'd love to know about it." Never mind that Hudson thought those things were phony and wouldn't agree to it. He'd say something about any portrait artists wouldn't capture that stuff anyway, that's what they were paying them to do basically. Alvina asks for a lemonade because gosh darn it, she is crazy craving sweets right now and watches Josleen rub cocoa butter on her stomach with a gleeful smile. It's no secret that Jos will absolutely be the maid of honor at the wedding, because she was supposed to be the last time before things went south with Hudson's whole...tripping and falling into cute witches syndrome. Very exclusive, he's doing well in recovery. "Can you also recommend someone for the dress? I haven't had any luck getting a hold of Kree and I'm just -dying- to pick something out. Speaking of...The colors for the bridesmaid dresses will be navy." It's a basic beach wedding, why would it be any other color? "Gigi looks so happy, can you imagine how thrilled he'll be to have a little brother or sister?" Pets are furry kids, that's how this works. "You are radiating, I could see you shining from Cenril." She teases. "How does it feel Jos?" Her pitch arcs a little higher, with excitement.

Macon comes marching into the royal residence area of Fort Freedom well after Alvina and Josleen have begun girl time, entering at the tail end of the talk about the wedding illusionist, which is somehow a profession thanks only to the exorbitant price charged per hour of real time photoshop. He does not carry the Rage Axe with him and he is outside of his usual armor, in more casual wear today. Thank goodness, because it is hot out, and a sweaty Rage Knight would ruin such a relaxing afternoon. Maybe. He is aware, thanks to the fort staff probably, that Alvina is here with Josleen, but he is not aware that his wife is doing this cocoa butter thing in front of guests. Eventually he peeks outside onto the balcony and Gigi looks upward towards The King of Larket without moving and huffs, unwilling to get out of the luxurious dog pool to greet him, though the tail does wag wildly so that Macon’s feelings won't be too harmed from being snubbed. He greets the queen and the bride to be, before hijacking their hangout session, “Alvina, I ‘ad meant t’speak with you before your weddin’. There is somethin’ The Academy of Magic would like you t’build.” It is no coincidence that he has wandered up here right this moment, and Josleen should know what it is he is alluding to.

“Oh you don’t yet have a dress?” And somehow she’s calm and hasn’t broken out in stress hives?! “I know someone. Her name is Iintahquohae and she is fabulous.” She finishes her thought just as Macon joins them on the balcony. “She’s making my dress, and Macon’s suit, for your wedding.” News to him! She smiles kindly at him and waves for him to sit with them, on the edge of the lounger by her side. She sits up a bit and pours him a glass of lemonade. Also, neither here nor there, but Josleen isn’t rubbing cocoa butter in front of some ‘guest.’ It’s Alvina. Totally different. As the King addresses Alvina, Josleen rests a hand on his back and listens, aware of what this is.

Alvina nods graciously towards Josleen for the suggestion. "I think I have heard of her?" There's no way to explain that the second wedding prep is less stressful. Maybe Hudson witch affairs were helpful? Unclear. After this, Alvina turns to Macon, trying to mask her surprise at seeing him in casual dress. It feels a bit like peeping so she flushes and turns back to Josleen for direction. Sure, her opinion of him fluctuated but seeing anyone in a state of 'imaginary' undress would cause this reaction. Asking her to build a machine is a rough way to say ' Congratulations on your engagement' but Alvina and Macon have little exposure to each other. Plus, the king seemed the stiff type. Very private and to the point. Not a flowery nonsense to deal with. Part of that is respectable, Alvina isn't one to beat around any bushes either or hold her tongue for the good of anyone's feelings. If she tries hard enough, she can force a kinship somewhere. After all, this man was going to be in Josleen's life forever now, might as well play nice! Alvina's wearing a white embroidered sundress with a sweetheart neckline, the multi-colored flower hem cut off just below her knees. It picked up colors from her strappy sandals and her crimson curls, which are pulled up in a high ponytail away from her neck. "O-of course, I'd love to be of assistance to the... Academy." She had little dealing with them, so it must be something that Macon and Jos were invested in and therefore terribly important. "What can I do to help?" Her emerald eyes blink nervously at Macon while she waits for him to elaborate on this 'something' she's to build.

Macon will likely not find out until after the wedding that his suit was made by a non-Larketian vampire. Not that there is anything wrong with that. (Future internal growl). The Rage Knight sits and mirrors his wife, with his hand reflexively moving to her back as well while he takes a gulp of lemonade and stifles a growl at how too sweet it is. Don’t worry Alvina, sometimes the king himself feels naked when outside of his armor as well. Straight to the point, he goes right into the details of the request. “We ‘ave a means t’detect witchcraf’ being performed within Larket…” He leaves out the fact that this ‘means’ is actually a person. “‘Owever, the academy believes tha’ this process can be improved.” He doesn’t know the technical caveats of this thing he wants built, only that he has been told that the witch detector can work better when the duties are transferred to the device Alvina is being asked to build. “We would like you t’aid the academy in the engineering and construction of the improved detection system.” He sets his glass down and glances towards Josleen before leaning forward a bit and setting his slate stare squarely on Alvina, “I am told tha’ ‘ad We such a system in place, the earthquake and the attack on the queen may ‘ave been prevented. Now tha’ she is with child…” The king pauses and rethinks his words with a frown, but the gist of what he was going to say likely gets across; this device explicitly protects Josleen and their baby. “Larket would owe you a great debt were you to do this for Us.”

Josleen doesn’t interrupt or add anything. Her husband, the King, has got this. When he frowns, her fingers trace small circles on his back unthinkingly. She doesn’t even realize she does so.

Alvina didn't understand the complex motivations behind this request. It's not like she can picture them holding a person for any kind of tests. She's trying not to think about what the imaginary Hudson in her mind would be saying right now (which is thanks but no thanks, Alvina these people are crazy and are hunting witches literally). So when Macon leans down to level his gaze at her, she flinches slightly. There goes all her efforts to pretend Macon was not intimating. Plain clothes or not, nope that guy would take some getting use to. It's the part about protecting Josleen that sways her. Josleen is her best friend, the light of her life and being a mother Alvina knows that children are the most precious thing in the whole damn universe. "I-I um..." She wrings her hands anxiously, averting her gaze to look at Gigi, Josleen, and then the glass of Lemonade just set down by the king. Maybe this was her chance to do something right. If she's involved, she can make sure the witches get fair treatment. The bias would be broken, she could help Larket and prove Hudson wrong. He'd be so proud of her and they could go on couples dates with Macon and Josleen and have play dates, it would be THE BEST. Alvina clears her throat and constructs a believable smile. "That sounds like it's right up my alley, I'd love to commit myself to the cause." She looks at Josleen, did she say that right? Ah well, it's too late now. Here she goes, getting herself involved with something she doesn't completely understand. Sven help her.

Macon slaps a hand loudly onto his thigh when Alvina agrees, “Excellen’!” He had a whole part two to this pitch in which he would have claimed that this Witchcraft Detection Net would help determine the wicked witches and spare the good ones the fear and ire of the Larketian masses. However, a good politician knows not to make any promises that you do not have to, and The Rage Knight has come to be known as one of those. Gigi looks up at the clapping and exclaiming king and imagines if someone is this excited, it must mean sausage is near. More tail wagging that swishes water about the tiny pool. Macon stands, and so does the dog, the latter immediately shaking off wildly and spraying those present with luke-warm dog water. The former sheriff ignores the sprinkling and informs Alvina that someone at the fort will get her means to contact the Mages’ Academy before she leaves today, and that they are eager and ready to work with her as soon as possible.

Josleen beams at both Alvina and Macon. Great! Josleen wasn’t too worried that Alvina would turn down this opportunity, but a recent meeting with Hildegarde in which the Silver expressed her distaste with Macon’s law enforcement (anti-witch?) methods did have her a little worried that Alvina may be of a mind with the northern queen. Josleen flinches when Gigi sprays them with bath water. Macon rises, presumably to leave, and Josleen squeezes his hand to say ‘see you later.’ Gigi will follow Macon who is most definitely (based on his deductive reasoning) getting sausage. Once Macon has gone, Josleen slips back into the ladies’ previous conversation without missing a beat. As she had told Hildegarde, in so many words, Macon does the ruling, Josleen does the smiling. “You should hire my illusionist for the wedding. You don’t want anyone to say you looked less than perfect on your wedding day!”

Had Alvina agreed prematurely because of her innate need to please the people closest to her? Did her unconscious need for approval and to prove herself overwrite her basic human instinct to see how the deck was stacked before placing her cards on the table? Macon's excitement is the most human thing she's seen from him, besides the whole kids tethered to him on the soccer field incident of Josleen's birthday. Her smile holds, because clearly it's a good thing so we can be excited about it. If he's happy, she can rest assured that things will be all right. Maybe this Macon guy is okay and all those slanderous witch articles are wrong. Alvina so wants to believe the good intentions of this project, the idea of separating the good witches from the bad. The idea of justice, it swells in her chest and makes her feel more important than before. Didn't she want a good life for her children too? A world free of fear from dangerous things? The urgency of his request dulls the joy of her agreement. Did he only come speak to her because of her occupation or because she was Josleen's friend? How strange how those questions arise now, like her conscious is trying to alert her to a mismatch of information that she's blatantly ignoring for her own selfish reasons. But Macon is gone, and so is Gigi. It's only Alvina and Josleen, and the Queen is grinning at her like nothing ominous had happened so...she guessed it hadn't. Josleen wouldn't steer her wrong. They were too close for that, right? Hudson and everyone else just had it all wrong. They didn't understand Macon and Josleen like Alvina did. "Of course! I wouldn't dream of looking anything less than perfect." She laughs, the sinking feeling retreating while she fills up another glass of lemonade to rinse the bitter taste that was rising up the back of her throat. It's just sweet enough.