World Notes: Max and Gavin

In Issue 24 of Code Name: Hunter, Gavin grabbed Prince Matti and forced Max to accept a favor. Gavin’s end of the bargain was that he’d let the young prince safely go and make sure the kid returned to the mortal world without a scratch. Max’s end of the favor was to remove his RCSI band and leave with Gavin.

Since Max’s acceptance of this favor, there’s been some insistence that there’s a loophole and that either Gavin, or myself, messed up by not spotting. My response to that is… duh!

Any contractual obligation with the Fey - and yes, favors count - contains the possibility of loopholes. Fey love to abuse the letter of the law and ignore the spirit of it. It’s part of what makes them so tricky.

Fey who observe mortals tend to be much more careful about their wording when it comes to favors. They’ve come to realize that mortals are cleverer than was previously thought. Puck learned this thanks to his dealings with Roderick, one of the few mortals who’s ever out-thought him.

Gavin, meanwhile, still thinks of mortals as weak minded and easily led fools. This has a tendency to bite him in the butt.

But Gavin has one major weakness that’s at work here, more than his tendency to underestimate mortals. Gavin, as we’ve proven multiple times in the past, is a hothead. He becomes impulsive and doesn’t stop to think when he’s angry. Max has exploited this a few times already.

 

Heck, he even used Gavin’s temper to cause a distraction in the Goblin Market.

At this point in events Gavin is not thinking clearly. All he sees is a weakened Max and a possible hostage Max is sworn to protect. Easy pickings.

Unfortunately for Gavin, while Max is also a bit of a hothead, he’s capable of remaining cool enough to quickly asses a situation and come up with a possible method for dealing with it. Admittedly, these are not always the best of plans, but he can still find a way around most situations.

The thing I don’t think most folks realize is just where Gavin actually went wrong. Being a little vague about when Max was to leave with him isn’t the real problem. No, Gavin’s main error was in threatening the Prince.

If he’d left the kid alone Max would have, eventually, surrendered. Think about it. Max has been in the Fey realm for almost a full day now without food or water. He’s been up and awake that whole time after being up all the previous day and night. He’s in a lot of pain due to his right arm being broken. This pain is compounded by possible broken ribs. The guy is exhausted. While Max wants to return home, his energy levels are nearly spent. He’s mortal, after all.  

Max going after Gavin now is a last-ditch effort. And all because Gavin made a move against the prince. Max knows the Fey like to abuse loopholes. While Gavin may promise to send the prince home without a scratch, Max knows a cunning Fey could interpret that in many ways. They could wait to send the child home too long past the twenty-four hour period, pop him through a gate which opens all the way across the country, or even send the child home unscratched… yet not breathing. All Gavin said was “I’ll let the princeling here go. Safe, and unharmed. I’ll see he gets back through the gate without a scratch.” There’s plenty of wiggle room for Gavin to safely release the prince - thereby meeting the first of the favor’s requirements - and yet harm the child once he’s released without scratching him.

One of Max’s jobs is protecting Prince Matti. Add to that Max’s general hyper-awareness of danger, and you have a fellow who’s going to plan for the worse in most situations. Heck, he even immediately went to protect the prince once he learned about Ish’s previous brush with a werewolf.

This protective streak of his is why Moraine insisted Max be there during the Treaty Night and specifically be in charge of the young prince’s welfare. She knows Max will do anything to protect the child. Even agreeing to a favor in the desperate hope he can turn the tables on Gavin.

As for whacking Gavin in the face with the RCSI band… that was one of Michael Pyrenees’ favorite moves. If all else fails, use the collar as a weapon.