OTA

[phouka]

The first day of Spring had come and gone. The prince had left to the Seelie lands, but only for battle preparations. He was back with the full moon. Phouka had remained behind to see after Winter and Fin, though for them the days were much the same. In truth, Phouka was a bit bored. He longed for court intrigues and gossip. As a guard he'd never been a part of things, always on the outside, but he'd heard and he'd seen. Now he got his entertainment from the telly. He found it to be so contrived. It lacked fire. Passion.

And so with the prince back he had been given leave for the day. He immediately set out to find intrigues. He wandered the park, found a market, sat outside in the chilly air to sip a coffee and watch. Watch and see. Everywhere he looked he saw people with lovers, with friends. He didn't know their lives so some of the drama was lost. But at the cafe he found hope. On one side of him sat two women chatting incessantly about the one's disasterous love life. The friend concurred with the righteous anger over many, many men. On the other side sat a couple who, at first, were the picture of romance. But then he checked a text and the woman...well, she became a bit mad. Angry, yes, but Phouka thought she was absolutely nutters as she questioned him on who he was talking to, grilling him with such jealous fury the Phouka kept waiting for the man to leave. Watching them he saw what others might not see. The man was positively eating up her jealous outburst. It stroked his ego, clearly.

"Hmm." Just that. One small sound. And he sipped his coffee.

[Find him at the cafe or in the park, market, or on the street, wherever works best!]

Comments

[phouka]

He thought on that for a moment.

"As I am the only one here I am the Phouka. But my kind are all called Phouka. We have no need for names as others have them," he said. He was really quite happy to answer her questions. No one took any interest in him like this.

[miss_ives]

"Is that because you don't feel the same individuality we do?" Vanessa asked, wanting to understand how that might be. The Phouka seemed to be his own person, and she did not know how to reconcile that with the lack of desire for one's own name, especially given the importance of names in the Fae world, from the lore she had looked into.

[phouka]

"I feel quite individual. Now. When I was at home we were, hmm, how should I say? We were as bees. All together, all as one. Whe know ourselves by the inflections of our names. I am Phouka. My bedmate was Phouka. Though the Queen never bothered with inflection. She compelled us and in that way we knew our place," he said, leaning forward eagerly for the next question.

[miss_ives]

"Compelled you?" Vanessa echoed with a slight frown.

[phouka]

He nodded, his eyes soft and bright, no trace of pain or conflict.

"Yes. That is the way of things. Was. Now that I am here I find myself floundering. I have far too much freedom."

[miss_ives]

Something about his easy acceptance of the overriding of his free will put her ill at ease, but she pushed past her discomfort. "This freedom you say you have too much of - without it, you might never have had leave to befriend Winter?"

[phouka]

"I would have never met him if it were not for the prince," he replied. "Winter was the captive slave of a terrible wizard. The prince rescued him and then called upon me to guard both the pixie and his evermore. My duty is to them and my loyalty to the prince."

[miss_ives]

"What about your heart?" Vanessa asked, watching him closely. She wasn't sure what sort of questions would be crossing a line, but she was ready to back off if needed.

[phouka]

The Phouka tilted his head, a curious shadow passing over his face. He watched her, barely blinking, and looked for all the world like a dog that had heard a strange sound.

"What about my heart?" he repeated.

[miss_ives]

"You have called Winter your favourite," Vanessa stated. "Does he not have some hold over your heart?"

[phouka]

Phouka understood then and he smiled and nodded.

"Yes. I love him very much. He is my favourite," he nodded enthusiastically. "But he is not bound to me, nor I to him. We are not as the prince and Finlay. We are not evermore."

[miss_ives]

"Evermores are bound to each other," Vanessa sussed out. "Rather like a marriage, or simply by virtue of their love?"

[phouka]

"It is...like marriage. Fae have no souls. It is a joining between a fae and a mortal where they share a soul. And when the mortal dies, so dies the fae," he replied.

[miss_ives]

"So when Finlay dies..." Vanessa stated with a frown.

[phouka]

"...The prince will die as well," he finished with a nod.

[miss_ives]

"I wonder whether many would be capable of this level of commitment," Vanessa remarked softly.

[phouka]

"Such is the way with love, or the sort they share, as I understand," the
Phouka said. He had no real investment in it. The prince could be killed in
battle as easily as he could wither. Even immortality was not certain for
the fae.

[miss_ives]

"Does it not work the other way around?" Vanessa asked with raised eyebrows.

[phouka]

"How do you mean?" he asked, tilting his head to look at her with dark, inquisitive eyes.

[miss_ives]

"What if Willy Silver dies?" Vanessa clarified.

[phouka]

"Oh...I do not know. Finlay is no longer alive so I am nt sure where that leaves him," the simple creature replied.

[miss_ives]

"Finlay is..." Vanessa began to repeat, but trailed off, brow knitted.

[phouka]

"As I said," Phouka nodded. "Something has happened to him. He traded his life for his eyesight."

[miss_ives]

"Not alive, and yet not dead," Vanessa worked out for herself.

[phouka]

"Yes, and it is troubling because he is not like any of the undead creatures we know of. He is something entirely new," Phouka replied.