[Day 5 - EN] Hedge House (Autumn Only)

[Tiffani]

TIffani laughs, tilting her head back a bit, thinking Gray's comment was kinda cute.

"Well okay then, I'll check around and see what I can find out. You wish to keep this a secret?"

Then she glances down at Gray's hand, then holds her's out without saying a word, but she does give him a playful little wink if he looks at her.

[Gray]

"I'd be discreet, but don't beat yourself up about it. I assume that you can take care of yourself when asking questions."

Gray takes her hand and offers a wry smile in response to the wink. "So, were you serious about the "never been kissed" thing?"

[Tiffani]

"I'd be discreet, but don't beat yourself up about it. I assume that you can take care of yourself when asking questions."

Gray takes her hand and offers a wry smile in response to the wink. "So, were you serious about the "never been kissed" thing?"

Tiffani entwines her fingers with those of Gray's - the way she had often seen her friends do in her before life when her friends were dating. It felt strange to her, to actually touch someone else - and for him to touch her - and maintain it. Even if it was just simple hand-holding. She smiled to herself as she remembered the days when holding hands with one person while dating someone else was construed as actual cheating as if holding hands was an act of adultery.

"Yeah ..." she answered in a soft, tremulous voice, "I'm afraid so."

She gave Gray a furtive little glance, her large grey eyes resting on his face for a moment before casting her gaze downward.

"I was ... not exactly in demand. I put countless couples together in school but, to everyone else, I was just a friend. Maybe it's happened to you before, too, I don't know. But there are few things that can break a heart more thoroughly than being told you're just a friend."

She seems fine with the fact that the two of them are the only ones to have arrived at this shindig. In fact, she began to wonder if it was some kind of trap, an effort to silence Gray before he could spread his discovery about the professor to too many people. Then she decided she was just being melodramatic - that kind of stuff only happened in the movies. Right?

She giggled out loud - all of the sudden - as if someone told a really good joke. She reached across herself and took Gray's hand in her other hand, as well, so that his hand was sandwiched between the two of hers.

"You know ... some people would say that having only the two of us show up here tonight means something. Fate. Destiny. It was all part of some cosmic plan. Ah yes ... it was meant to be." She laughs softly, a soothing, musical sound. "May I ask how old you are?"

[Dapper Dog]

The other members of Autumn approached from the darkness including the Autumn King who had shed his costume for his usual eclectic ensemble..

They lit torches around a circle, while a large and thin limbed Lost named Skelly Joe placed down a large sack in the center.

[Gray]

"Heh, I never even got that part. I never went to high school, or even middle school. In most ways, its been a curse, but I guess I can count myself lucky on missing that one."

Gray listens to the part about fate, and his smile broadens, though he dips his head down a little, avoiding direct eye contact. "Well...it's a thing, how old I am and all. I..." Gray pauses, as if looking for the words. "I was nine or ten when I was taken, I think. I was then a cat...and I grew from a kitten into a tomcat. My body changed, and grew. My fur became thicker, my muscles larger, my body longer...and, well, other-" Gray cuts himself off "being there, my mind was an animals. Was I fed, was I entertained, were my needs met, was anything looking to smack me around...it was all that I cared about. When I got back here, mirrors tell me I'm a man in his late 30s. And I feel like that a lot of the time."

"But only maybe five years passed here, while I was gone. Which would make me a teenager." Gray looks up into Tiffani's sparkling grey eyes. "And right now I feel like that too."

A rustling, and shouts and calls alert him that the others are starting to arrive.

"Well...so much for being alone. Well...until we get another chance." Gray leans in, trying to place a kiss on Tiffani's lips.

[Tiffani]

Tiffani looks positively fascinated as Gray relates his story to her. Her eyes, already larger than normal in her true form, widened even further. She was enraptured by his words given that Gray was definitely not what she had expected.

"Holy shit," Tffani gasps, "you mean you were actually a real cat and you were changed into ... well, you know. I mean, you were given sentience by the Fae? That's like ... I don't know ... incredible!"

If anything, Tiffani seems to hold Gray's hand even more tightly than before as the two of them stood within the bayou, in the dark, on a warm, balmy autumn night. She falls silent then, her large eyes seeming to peer into a place in her own imagination. She squeezed Gray's hand - as if she had to check to make sure any of this was even real, that it was actually happening ... to her! Not her friends, not everyone else, but to her, for once. It was almost too good to be true.

She pivots on her feet to bring herself up directly in front of Gray, keeping her one hand held in Gray's, but the other, she rests lightly on his shoulder.

"Well, Mr. Gray," she says teasingly, "you just happen to be in luck. Because I absolutely adore cats - always have - and in your case, I don't mind if I end up a crazy cat lady."

It was then when Gray leans in for a kiss and, perhaps surprisingly, she returns it. In fact she even seems to take control of it. But, alas, torches flare to life nearby, illuminating them both in a ruddy, flickering light. Voices can be heard talking and their time alone ends all too soon.

She touches her bottom lip with her finger, enjoying the tingling sensation, reveling in the entire experience. Everything was like ... some kind of a dream from which she hoped she would never awaken. Her eyes met his for a moment and she stared, openly stared, for what seemed like an eternity before she cast a quick glance over her shoulder.

"Oh jeez, the king is here," She said a bit nervously. "I think he's a nice guy and all, but ... well ... I wonder if he saw us ... god I hope not .... well, not because I'm embarrassed of you, but ... I mean ... he's the king and stuff ... ya know?

It goes without saying that she's extremely flustered - but she calms down enough to say, "But you're right - until we get another chance." With that she gives Gray a sweet little smile then pulls Gray along with her, still holding his hand, toward where the king and his entourage are gathering.

[Jason Whitt]

Jason cleared his throat and began as another member of Autumn cut the sack open revealing a scared youth perhaps in his early twenties bound with rope. Jason said, “We are here tonight to give praise to the season of Fear, to show our enemy that we have endured their terrors and now are masters of it.”

“We also have the unique opportunity to bring another into our fold, and I am most pleased to bring her before the court of bloody leaves and dark terrors. Tiffani come forward.”

[Tiffani]

"Uh ... I'll be back," Tiffani whispers to Gray, reluctantly untwining her hand from his. As she draws closer to the king, her eyes are continuously drawn to the person in the bag. Talk about fear, she thought to herself, imagining the terror of being thrown into a bag and brought to an unknown location, your fate uncertain.

She gave Gray a last look over her shoulder before arriving in front of the king, again giving a slightly ackward but passable curtsey to the king.

[Gray]

"Knock 'em dead." Gray gives Tiffani a nudge forward and smiles as she looks back.

With her presenting himself, Gray takes a hungry whiff. He can smell the fear off the young man (not so much younger, if at all than himself), and a part of him longs to indulge already. Breaking his mask, and activating the Huntsman Clarion earlier had gobbled up some glamour, and Gray can feel a familiar instinct bubbling up.

Wait for it...

The Autumn Court could nurture and cultivate fear like marinating a Thanksgiving turkey. A delicious meal could be coming out of this.

[Jason Whitt]

"Uh ... I'll be back," Tiffani whispers to Gray, reluctantly untwining her hand from his. As she draws closer to the king, her eyes are continuously drawn to the person in the bag. Talk about fear, she thought to herself, imagining the terror of being thrown into a bag and brought to an unknown location, your fate uncertain.

She gave Gray a last look over her shoulder before arriving in front of the king, again giving a slightly ackward but passable curtsey to the king.

The Autumn King spoke, “Tiffani, welcome the Court of Autumn welcomes you and all here are children of falling leaves and the creeping darkness of long nights and shortening days. We embrace the shadows that obscure the sight of the Keepers and our understanding of fear and terror drive them from our lands.”

He produced a long curved knife and said, “Will you join us and cut the bonds of this fearful cretin so we can begin the Hunt of Shadows?”

Jason gestured to the poor bound unfortunate.