That My Chemical Romance Spirit
A year after the Spirit’s return to Graceland, the Changelings of Memphis gathered for a rather auspicious event. At this court, it had been announced, Duchess Roisin ap Aiil and Duke Artemis Gladstone ap Daireann would be tying the knot, and joining their forces through matrimony. Whatever the reaction the individual kithain of the Grace Lands might have to the decision, it was at least met with the expected Boggan effort at match-ing décor in green, black, and gold, in the colors of Gladstone and Roisin’s houses.
The Spirit, for its part, showed itself in another new form, this time the pleasant, reserved character of Gerard Way, the lead singer of My Chemical Romance. The Spirit’s temperament seemed to have calmed and relaxed since the previous incarnation, much to the relief of the Kith who were too busy planning the wedding and arranging the festivities to pander to the mercurial chimera.
In preparation for the wedding, the “happy couple” was seated before the assembly and accepted a series of wedding gifts, objet’ d’arte (a pair fat golden horses) from Siri, stuffies from relative newcomer Taytet, and a tribute of song from Mother Ethel – “Hot Cross Buns,” reproduced on a small violin.
Among the new arrivals to the city was a rather excitable Hummingbird Pooka. She had a letter that Herald Nim was given to read aloud, a wordy letter from High Lord Dice ap Dannan and to the hummingbird’s dismay, it sounded rather like she had to *stay* in Memphis, not just visit to attend the wedding. Seeing members of House Dannan in the Autumn World was rare enough to make some question the existence of that Dreaming-blessed House, and for its leader to send one their own Childings to “offer counsel” to those outside their House, unheard of.
The presentation of gifts rounded off with Zima and Thalia offered up a live performance of The Mountain Goats song “No Children,” about a divorce, and including the possibly inappropriate lyrics, “I hope you die.” Or, perhaps, they were merely foreshadowing events to come.
Early in the evening, Artemis approached the Spirit, and tried to make amends for slights that the Spirit may have perceived at the last meeting. The Spirit, moved by his apology, decided to forgive him for any past transgressions, but considering Artemis’s sincerity, the Spirit was concerned that those transgressions might have been quite serious, or that the Spirit might have been particularly enraged over them. The Spirit deduced that he might have taken steps to kill Artemis, and decided to tell everyone he met not to kill Artemis, just in case they were the person he’d asked to do so. Unfortunately, this started the rumor that there was a “sleeper agent” among the gathered kith planning to kill Artemis.
The other changelings rushed to find out who might be plotting against Artemis, and when their Soothsay led them to Tomdolo, they told the Spirit. The Spirit reassured them he had already told Tomdolo not to kill Artemis, and that was apparently accepted as good enough. Meanwhile, Marnie performed tarot reading after tarot reading for Kithain who were concerned about the scheduled wedding- and each reading brought forth more and more concerns, as multiple Swords were pulled and placed upon the table. Still, the Kithain dismissed these portents and worries, confident that they had put in sufficient effort to avoid dire fates.
Narrator Voice Over: It was not, unfortunately, sufficient effort.
Meanwhile the Seelie met in relative privacy, as Lord Ezekiel Blackwood worked to create some order and develop a Seelie court in anticipation of the Spirit choosing a new Guardian from the Seelie. The Spirit chose Mother Ethel to hold the guitar almost from the beginning of the night, although Master Yana immediately talked her out of it with some excellent manipulation. The Spirit was dismayed and demanded that Yana return the Heart, and Mother Ethel continued to carry it even into the meeting. After the rebellion against Ezekiel at the previous court, Andi Lazuli appeared to have a change of heart towards the noble Seelie, and was at his side doing her very best impersonation of the indispensable Kipp, the faithful companion of Duchess Roisin. Siri announced to the other Seelie that she had been subject to a murder attempt by her father, another Seelie Selkie, riverboat gambling mogul Thomas O’Reilly. She asked for revenge/justice to be carried out on him, and Ezekiel is in discussions to learn more about him and how that can be carried out. Later, Andi met with a very flirtatious Mother Ethel to gather information, and discovered that she and Siri are in possession of O’Reilly’s selkie skin. At the end of their meeting, the Seelie had put together a court, hopeful that Mother Ethel would continue as Guardian.
The wedding got under way on the upstairs level overlooking the main area, with Mother Ethel presiding. Duchess Roisin came out with Kipp as her maid of honor. Artemis joined them with Tomdolo as his best man. When Mother Ethel asked if anyone had an objection, Tomdolo shocked everyone (who didn’t already know he was planning to kill Artemis), drawing his sword, declaring Artemis unworthy of the Duchess Roisin, and stabbing Artemis. The room erupted in a flurry of outrage and attacks, and multiple people attempted to mount the stairs, to assist Tomdolo or Artemis was unclear. Stuff happened, but none of it mattered, because Mock made the most important move, rewinding time back to the seconds before Tomdolo stabbed Artemis, and in doing so wiped the mind of everyone else in the room, except Mock himself, and Artemis. (Staff note: IC’ly, no one actually remembers anything that happened from the rewound moment, other than Artemis and Mock, though it may have been talked about afterwards)
After a moment of confusion, the wedding resumed, and this time, Artemis didn’t give Tom the chance – he pulled out a gun and shot Tom in the knee. The Duchess reacted in expected fashion by calling for Artemis’s head- but in the split seconds that the Duke turned to look at his bride, Tomdolo seized advantage and used almost the last of his strength to stab Artemis through the kidneys, bringing the number of nearly incapacitated on the balcony to two. Chaos ensued as swords were literally tossed upwards, rubberbands stung cheeks from unknown locations, and Locke and Aiki seemingly appeared from nowhere behind Tomdolo, keeping him knelt upon the floor. The troll declared with passion and fervor that Artemis would be the death of Roisin, and that Tomdolo sought only, as always, to protect his liege. The Duchess would hear none of this, however, and offered boon of favor to whomever might take the onus of killing her former favored. Artemis, healed by some magical treasure, struggled back to his feet, and claimed the killing blow. Tomdolo, however, vanished just as the sword’s point entered his chest. His current whereabouts, or state of life, are unknown.
The wedding was put on indefinite hold, to the obvious annoyance and embarrassment of the Duchess
In the aftermath, there was more chaos, a palate-cleanser after the main course of the abandoned wedding. Master Yana stabbed Artemis unexpectedly. Mother Ethel subsequently turned Yana to a mouse. Thalia vine-bound the mouse, then Bitez tried to eat the mouse, and, finally, Thalia vine-bound Bitez. Someone managed to call forth a manifestation of deepest banality in the middle of the altercation, which sent the combatants fleeing in all directions- and Danni spirit away Mouse!Yana in the confusion.
The Duchess called a closing court, again united, and at court Nim had to announce that the Spirt had chosen a new Guardian, Mother Ethel. The announcement was lackluster, and the Seelie never properly took control, however, as Nim, taking a page from the Spirit’s book, told everyone to “Get the Fuck Out.”
