View Flat HTML
View Metadata
Search Post
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.
+ Show First Post
bitterchill
"Of course." The fairy gets some kind of nuts in assorted colors out of a cupboard. "Open wide."
Hand-feeding is the order of the day. Earlier orders may have made it sufficiently clear that this is for magical reasons.
Hand-feeding is the order of the day. Earlier orders may have made it sufficiently clear that this is for magical reasons.
bitterchill
Fair enough. Ari wonders briefly if the activity would be noticeably different if said reasons did not exist, Fairy Creep being, rather tautologically, a creep. But reasons do exist, so it's irrelevant, and at any rate Ari's hungry, so he opens wide as instructed. He's pleased to continue exploring the world of weird fairy foods, especially since his experience so far appears to indicate that they're delicious.
The nuts are pretty tasty. "More?" inquires the fairy after they're all gone.
"You're welcome. So polite." Ruffle ruffle.
bitterchill
Always, with the ruffling, and the creepiness. Ari ignores the creepiness and enjoys the ruffling. He then hops up and goes to pick out a book. Anything interesting hereabouts?
Assorted histories and some fiction and some art books. The fairy has not had a chance to expand his selection in favor of more fiction.
bitterchill
That's alright. Ari picks something that looks vaguely exciting from the limited fiction section and settles in. Reading isn't his fondest hobby, but in the absence of demons to punch or magic to do or people who aren't creepy fairies to have sex with, it'll do.
The creepy fairy is not currently trying to have sex with him! Though for obvious reasons he wouldn't need a lot of leadup. And he does keep looking at Ari while going about his fey business in various parts of the house.
bitterchill
Shocking; Ari'd expected him to be completely asexual. That'll teach him to make assumptions about hair-ruffling fairy creeps who keep purring at him.
Ari just keeps reading. He'll cross that bridge when he comes to it; until then, he is reading of the marvelous adventures of whoever the hell this is.
Ari just keeps reading. He'll cross that bridge when he comes to it; until then, he is reading of the marvelous adventures of whoever the hell this is.
Fairy fiction is pretty weird, apparently; the whole master/vassal business appears to stand in for every other possible social relationship. Some sorts of fairies apparently have parents and children, but this just provides an easy source of vassals for the parents in question. Other sorts of fairies just "start". This is the backdrop against which some cunning "breeder" fairy escapes her court via loophole and manages to assemble her own court with her in charge until her grandmother catches up with her and takes the whole shebang back home and punishes the granddaughter in inventive ways. None of the characters are supplied with real names, even when breeders are born and expressly named by their parents then and there; everyone is referred to by chosen nicknames or epithets.
bitterchill
How intensely creepy.
Well, it's an interesting look at fairy culture at any rate. And he doesn't mind creepy if it's a good story, which it is. Though he's not thrilled that the implicit moral appears to be "escape from vassalhood is inevitably doomed." Is there any universe in which the fair folk aren't assholes? Evidence points to no.
Well, it's an interesting look at fairy culture at any rate. And he doesn't mind creepy if it's a good story, which it is. Though he's not thrilled that the implicit moral appears to be "escape from vassalhood is inevitably doomed." Is there any universe in which the fair folk aren't assholes? Evidence points to no.
There is also occasional reference to the Queen, in the story, but she doesn't feature as a character and is not explained in this book.
bitterchill
Hm. Interesting. He wonders if she's got Mab's whole elegant-but-predatory thing going. Except, no, these guys are weird, she probably wears leaves and has pink hair. And a crown made out of sticks.
He wonders if thinking uncharitable things about the Queen is as unwise as it is in his world. He thinks a quick apology to her undoubtedly radiant majesty and industriously forgets he said anything.
He wonders if thinking uncharitable things about the Queen is as unwise as it is in his world. He thinks a quick apology to her undoubtedly radiant majesty and industriously forgets he said anything.
Nothing of note happens in reaction to the thought or its retraction.
There are no clocks in this house; apparently the fairy's imposition of a two-hour limit on Ari's reading break will be enforced by Ari's internal time sense.
There are no clocks in this house; apparently the fairy's imposition of a two-hour limit on Ari's reading break will be enforced by Ari's internal time sense.
bitterchill
After something approaching two hours has been and gone, Ari begins to wonder about his assumption that the Creep will interrupt him at the appropriate time. Rather than testing it, he sets his book aside and takes out a sketchpad and pencil. (He carries a couple of each around for just this purpose.)
He begins sketching out runes and numbers, both fairly arcane. He's got to figure out how to set up the power sources and ensure structural integrity and the nested rune-circles and he's got to do it without any materials beyond pure will and graphite and whatever he can get out of the ground and his own body. This is going to be a bitch and a half.
Ari is so excited, because he is an enormous nerd.
He begins sketching out runes and numbers, both fairly arcane. He's got to figure out how to set up the power sources and ensure structural integrity and the nested rune-circles and he's got to do it without any materials beyond pure will and graphite and whatever he can get out of the ground and his own body. This is going to be a bitch and a half.
Ari is so excited, because he is an enormous nerd.
The fairy flutters over and lands on his back - he weighs about forty-five pounds, much less than it looks like he should - and perches there, reading over Ari's shoulder.
bitterchill
Ari turns to him cheerfully. "Did you want me to help you follow along? I'm not great at explaining this kind of stuff, but it can't be less helpful than just watching me chicken-scratch random numbers onto the paper."
His excitement about this project has made it easier to be happy at the Creep! How fortunate! Or at least fortuitous.
His excitement about this project has made it easier to be happy at the Creep! How fortunate! Or at least fortuitous.
"Yes, explain," nods the fairy.
This one, if Ari's paying attention, is not enforced, for whatever inscrutable fairy reason.
This one, if Ari's paying attention, is not enforced, for whatever inscrutable fairy reason.
bitterchill
Oh, you can bet he's paying attention. He's still trying to get a grip on those inscrutable fairy reasons. He'd especially like to figure out if they bear any resemblance to inscrutable faerie reasons, which he's had some experience with and can handle pretty reliably.
He makes a concerted effort to explain what he's doing. Given the fairy's lack of magical background, it's probably only marginally less confusing than watching him pick out strange symbols and mutter to himself in dead languages. Recognizable phrases include "if you have animals of any kind, I'd like to kill one and draw up these particular symbols in its blood, but failing that I'll just bleed myself for it," "here's where I make sure your house doesn't collapse into a bottomless pit, sir, I'm sure you'll be pleased," and "I'm very happy with this overlay, these runes aren't supposed to go together at all but I wrestled them into place and it's so worth it, clears out half a circle for extra power capacity."
He makes a concerted effort to explain what he's doing. Given the fairy's lack of magical background, it's probably only marginally less confusing than watching him pick out strange symbols and mutter to himself in dead languages. Recognizable phrases include "if you have animals of any kind, I'd like to kill one and draw up these particular symbols in its blood, but failing that I'll just bleed myself for it," "here's where I make sure your house doesn't collapse into a bottomless pit, sir, I'm sure you'll be pleased," and "I'm very happy with this overlay, these runes aren't supposed to go together at all but I wrestled them into place and it's so worth it, clears out half a circle for extra power capacity."
"No animals available, alas," says the fairy.
bitterchill
"Damn. Well, I can use a dash of the vervain to help myself recover from the loss- actually, sir, I might want to get the blood now, so I'm more stable by the time I get to the ritual itself. Wouldn't want to get dizzy in the middle of funneling power into a major working. Do you have a knife and a bowl I can use, or should I make them out of the wall, or..."
The fairy hops off of his perch on Ari's back and finds a knife and a bowl. "If you assume you aren't going to be able to get more vervain, is using it now wise?" he wonders.
bitterchill
"Oh, no worries, sir, I've got a ton of it. Seriously, almost a quarter of my bag is vervain, it's really handy, and the heal is just a pinch of it. I'd hesitate to do a luck charm or a purging, and a serious healing would be a very different story, but for a bit of blood loss it's fine." He expertly cuts into the nook of his elbow and holds it over the bowl.
The fairy doesn't resume sitting on Ari, possibly out of concern for the possibility that he'll spill. "I'm not sure it grows here at all. Do you have a way to determine the magical uses of plants you haven't encountered before?"