Sleep Tight, Jack

Scalpel perked up "Autumn?"

Jack nods "As ready as I will ever be."

"Alright," Finn nods at Jack.

"Yes, my queen asked me to arrange a meeting for him." He looks at Scalpel thoughtfully. "Do you... Want to come?"

Scalpel thought before starting to shake his head " I wasn't summoned, so I cannot within conscience go with you now."

"I wouldn't call it a "summons." I'm not taking him to meet the queen or anything, just one of the courtiers. If your interest is in possibly joining them, I would recommend coming. They don't exactly make themselves easy to find."

"I see... i'd much rather meet the monarch.. i intend to join them..."

"You are very unlikely to meet her unless one of her courtiers recommends you. Or unless you do something to get her attention by making a problem of yourself. Though I doubt you'd live though that meeting."

Jack speaks up at this point "If you did wish to meet her wouldn't it be wiser to start with one member and work your way up?It gets you one foot in the door at least."

"One doesn't earn fealty through proxies, and from all of the prattle I have heard so far, this is a matter of trust, binding ourselves to these courts, and I will not trust a lower courtier until I meet the monarch, I'm sorry but I am not foolish enough to just suddenly and happily absorb whatever you tell me without any questions. You may not like it, but if I am to join a Court that specializes in knowledge, I would want to gain it from the greatest of Fear mongers..." he said in a very unamused tone "It's a Fae tactic to hide behind others, and I do not find much faith in these courts so far..." he muttered under his breath.

Finn's eyes narrow like he totally heard the last part. But his face returns to normal and he shrugs. "Suit yourself. Jack," he gives Jack a look and turns to leave. He catches himself in the doorway. "Have a nice day your majesty," he calls back to Cecelia, smiling. Cecelia has now climbed onto he wolf's back and is looking grumpy but she waves back to him.

Scalpel rolled his eyes and gave a curt wave to them " See you around Scratch, hopefully you're wise enough to ask questions! I may have lost all interest in joining them, but maybe they are for you." he said as he then looked at the young girl, and then did the unexpected thing: he bowed. " You must be the monarch of... Spring?" he asked in a more 'friendly' tone.

"Yes. I am," she replies in an incredibly curt tone for someone who doesn't look to be older than 6 or 7.

It is a pleasure to meet you. I met.... changelings resembling children before, so I know that you are most likely an adult." he said with the faintest of smiles. "My name is Scalpel, oh, M.D." he added the last part of his name with a quickness indicating that he was very unused to referring to himself as that.

"I'm not an adult..." Cecelia scowls poutily. She looks slightly confused about something.

"You're not? My apologies your majesty. How old are you? I am.... 26? no, no that's not right.. 30... 34 I think." he said as he knelled before the large wolf dog and it's rider. "And this little cutie," he said as he picked Chisel off his neck and held her up "Is Chisel. Don't ask her age though, she gets huffy." he said as he pet her head soothingly. "Would you like to hold her?" he asked

"I'm.... I was five before I was taken. I've been back for two years." She looks at chisel then back at Scalpel. "Okay," and holds out her hands to take her. She still seems to be regarding Scalpel like she's trying to work something out in her mind.

Scalpel hands Chisel to her "be good okay, no being punky!" he said in a teasing way as he noticed her facial expression. "Is something wrong?"

She pets Chisel absentmindedly, still looking at Scalpel.

"You were mean to Finn, but you're being nice to me. I don't understand why. All he did was give you advise. Unless you met him earlier and he kicked your rat or something."

Scalpel sighed " Let's just say that when it comes to other adults, I have little patience for jumping through hoops. I spent years being lied to, manipulated, cut apart, and sown back together by people like mr. Finn and Scratch and while they surely are good people, they have convoluted agendas that I find distasteful. Well, Scratch may be an exception, but I still am wary just the same. With younger people they are more honest with you and it's easier to be at ease around them." he said as he reached over and pet Chisel. " And interacting with children is one thing I remember doing quite often before I was taken. My wife was a pediatrician.. wait was she? Maybe she was a podiatrist? A chiropractor? Wait, no! she was a pediatrician. That means she was a children's doctor, so I often was around kids when I visited her. I sometimes treated children as well.. so i was used to being friendly and at ease around them.."

Cecelia keeps scowling. "No. Finn is nice. You don't know him, you shouldn't say things like that about people you don't know. People have a reason for why they do things. You can't expect them to do the things you want if you don't respect how they do things in the first place."

Scalpel was both impressed and amused by her reasoning an actually smiled a genuine smile at that "Nothing is wiser than the mind of a child," he mused to himself "That is true, but the sad fact is that the world doesn't work like that, and never has. As adults we all want respect, but if it isn't given to us, we don't give it to others. It's sad, but it's the truth about our world..."

"Then you should act how you want the world to be. If you want to be respected, you should respect others first. You weren't being respectful to Finn." Scowly, scowly fae child.

Her attendant fidgets a little uncomfortably as they talk.

Scalpel thought for a moment, her words striking a agreeable chord with him. "Alright, how about I make you a deal then?" he asked her as he took a breath "I will promise to be more respectful to the, courtiers was it, provided that you allow me to join your court of Spring. That sounds reasonable doesn't it? And if I am disrespectful to one of them, my membership to your court is null and void and I can't ask to join yours or anyone Else's for let's say... an entire year. That's ample punishment for someone being disrespectful isn't it?"

Cecelia looks like she is considering it. "Mmmmmmm.... No. A year would be too long for you to be courtless. It's too dangerous. And anyway, Spring is about helping others fulfill their desires. It's about more than just being respectful. If you really want to join, you need to prove that you can do that."

Scalpel sighed at that "I have a condition then your majesty I will do so, if you can help me. If you can grant me credentials at the hospital, I will help people fulfill their desires. Your Desires Are Your Own, and my desires are to doctor people. "