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Ari is... so, so lost. He didn't know this amount of lost was physically possible. One minute he's in a briar maze deep in Winter picking frostberries for a pie, then he takes four left turns and he exits the briar and he's in a temperate forest. Not even any snow on the ground. He turns around and there's no thicket to be seen.
He puts the frostberry pouch in his backpack and mutters the incantation to open a Way back to the mortal realm; he might land somewhere dangerous, but better endangered in the mortal realm than completely lost in the Nevernever. And... nothing. Literally nothing happens, no backlash or fizzling or anything that would indicate that he fucked up a spell, but the kind of nothing that happens when you don't have a spell to cast.
In something of a panic, he tests that he still has magic by punching a nearby tree, which splinters and crashes to the ground. "So that's still working, I guess," he mutters. "Punching systems: still online."
So, recap: magic works, he just got snatched out of deep Winter territory and put into something that kind of looks like the Wyld, and the Ways are on the fritz. Either something big is screwing with him or he's very much not in Kansas anymore. Either way, he'd better figure out what the hell is going on.
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bitterchill
imeanforever
"...The breeders might be willing to send someone. We might need to supply the plan ourselves to be reasonably assured of him arriving in a condition incapable of issuing orders, though."
bitterchill
"I mean, I'm pretty sure I can make a ball gag out of clay. Seems like a pretty straightforward mechanism."
imeanforever
"I don't know if I'd want to trust that all by itself. If something goes wrong he'll know where we live. I don't believe he can get in, but he could besiege us."
bitterchill
"...Blindfold? I can give them some very effective blinding powder, actually, it basically burns the soft tissues right out of the skull. Nasty stuff. Wouldn't use it on a human, but when there are immortals around, go nasty or go home."
imeanforever
"That's not the only stage at which something could go wrong, though. If the breeders send someone and Yellow manages to not only escape capture but to pin down the attacker... I'm not totally sure I wouldn't rather just lie low until he and Thorn have probably forgotten my name."
bitterchill
Ari pouts slightly. Immortals. Always so damn patient.
"I'm going to work on finding a way to do that memory shredder thing. If psychomancy works on fairies, it's better to have under my belt than not, and it'd be nice to only have to worry about one bastard."
"I'm going to work on finding a way to do that memory shredder thing. If psychomancy works on fairies, it's better to have under my belt than not, and it'd be nice to only have to worry about one bastard."
imeanforever
"And Yellow's not nearly as smart as Thorn, which helps too. I could have gotten away from Yellow if it weren't for Thorn's previous orders."
bitterchill
Ari giggles and kisses back! He's so glad he has a Promise.
Then he gets to work on that memory-shredder. He's not totally sure how he's going to target it at the relevant bastard without any piece of him to work with, but he'll worry about that later.
imeanforever
Promise attempts to cultivate slightly closer relationships with the breeder colony members, slowly and carefully, so that it will be relatively easier to talk them into running potentially hazardous errands. And she writes and she studies and she paints and she sings and she enjoys the affection of her mortal.
bitterchill
Ari hits a natural roadblock with his studies of mind magic, namely that this shit is dangerous, and without targeting someone whose brain he doesn't mind screwing with he can't test how it works. After three months he has a large chunk of a spell that might either shred Thorn's malefic little brain into a trillion pieces or give him some very odd sexual fetishes, and he eventually just gives up.
He's got other stuff to do, after all. He augments the coldspot on the glacier with a series of increasingly intricate temperature wards until even he starts to feel the chill, accumulates a tidy little arsenal of enchanted items, keeps up with his combat evocation practice, and - in his copious free time - tries to figure out his tattoos. He's worked out the mechanism by which the cold resistance tattoo does its job (apparently it's written in a solution of pixie dust, which irritates him) and has moved on to the mysterious cultural tattoo on his chest. He checked with the Sight and he's sure it glowed Belinda's blue, but the glow of his own magic obscures its purpose.
One day, he has a breakthrough. In the dense thorny designs, he finds the runes for "blood" and "health" and-
"sacrifice".
He goes out to sit in the snow.
He's got other stuff to do, after all. He augments the coldspot on the glacier with a series of increasingly intricate temperature wards until even he starts to feel the chill, accumulates a tidy little arsenal of enchanted items, keeps up with his combat evocation practice, and - in his copious free time - tries to figure out his tattoos. He's worked out the mechanism by which the cold resistance tattoo does its job (apparently it's written in a solution of pixie dust, which irritates him) and has moved on to the mysterious cultural tattoo on his chest. He checked with the Sight and he's sure it glowed Belinda's blue, but the glow of his own magic obscures its purpose.
One day, he has a breakthrough. In the dense thorny designs, he finds the runes for "blood" and "health" and-
"sacrifice".
He goes out to sit in the snow.
imeanforever
Promise goes looking for him when it's been a few hours since last he ate. She has some dried fruit of the type she calls "sugarblue" and a few candied dewdrops. She has been experimenting with making bread out of powdered nuts since he explained the concept of bread to her but apparently her latest attempt didn't result in something she's willing to try to feed Ari. "Winter?"
bitterchill
There's no response, but quiet sniffling may be heard over thataway. It's on the far end of the property from the glacier.
imeanforever
Promise takes to the air and flutters over there and lands near him. "Winter? Lunch?"
bitterchill
"I don't-" Ari swallows. "I don't want any right now."
"I found out what the tattoo on my chest does."
"I found out what the tattoo on my chest does."
bitterchill
"In the first place, it gives me - blood. Lots of it, and it comes back. In theory, if I was fed properly, you could get- about half of the blood in my body out of me per day, without killing me."
He inhales deeply. "The rest of it was- preparation for a sacrifice. When I turned seventeen."
He inhales deeply. "The rest of it was- preparation for a sacrifice. When I turned seventeen."
bitterchill
"Yeah. She was going to- she had my baby teeth, and that gave her power, and to keep it she was going to- kill me. Probably hung upside down and, and bled into a cauldron, that's the best way."
He drops his head into his hands. "It makes sense. It makes... it makes so much sense."
imeanforever
Promise puts her hand on his shoulder. "Well - she didn't get to do it," she murmurs, unsure how to parse the situation in much detail but definitely getting that he is distressed.
bitterchill
Ari feels another hand on his shoulder, a woman with snow-white hair and the gentlest smile he'd ever seen or would ever see. Sweet and kind and spreading love through him like poison.
He jerks away with a stifled sob, falls facedown into a snowbank. He pulls himself up and runs back towards the house.
He jerks away with a stifled sob, falls facedown into a snowbank. He pulls himself up and runs back towards the house.
imeanforever
"Wint-?"
She doesn't chase him.
She goes up to fly into her current room through a window and sit on her bed and eat the food he refused.
She doesn't chase him.
She goes up to fly into her current room through a window and sit on her bed and eat the food he refused.