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[winter_wisp]

Pixies, Winter's sort anyway, were very effected by their environment. Seasons could effect their magic, the colours of the woods they made their homes in could effect their looks, and feelings, emotions, and temperament of those around them could alter their mood. In fact, their very being could be altered if it was severe enough.

Winter was looking less white today, and more... Grey. Tinted slightly violet in some light. Everything about him was ever so slightly off, but the strangest thing about him was his height. He hadn't altered his potion at all, and yet today he'd taken his usual dose and found himself taller than usual. Five foot ten, to be exact. A whole inch taller than Finlay. Usually he'd have been delighted by such a strange and exciting occurrence, but not today. Not tonight.

Tonight he simply wandered the streets, looking less like whimsy and trouble, and more like a vicious creature from dark woods where mortals shouldn't wander. His clothes were no longer bright and cheerful, but were instead replaced with simple muted shades of grey and blue. Street lights flickered as he passed beneath them, and as he dragged his fingers along the brick wall of an abandoned shop, black vines seemed to creep out of the shadows, slinking along the wall and filling the cracks. It was dark enough that many might not notice them. Which was just as well, really.

As he reached the curb, the vines stopped, and Winter went still. A group of people passed him, laughing and smiling, and Winter felt a pang of something bitter and dark in his chest. A sharp stab of pain that perfectly aligned with a sudden crack of thunder and an unexpected mist of rain that began to trickle down, the drops growing fatter and then falling harder and harder.

The laughter faded as the group began to rush for cover, and Winter watched them, wanting to be pleased. Though it wasn't nearly as amusing as it should have been. As he wanted it to be. It felt so childish, so dull. All the things that had been fun to him, things that he'd enjoyed. Lately they meant nothing to him. His toys, his games, his wardrobe. They once had brought him joy, and now they offered nothing it seemed.

Comments

[thenorthman]

Eric had been on his way back towards his club from a meeting, and his steps slowed as he spotted the pixie, although there was something different about him. His colors were different, as was his scent, if only faintly. There was something more metallic, sharper, to him as a whole. Never mind that he was taller.

Hands in his pockets, Eric looked as harmless as he could, tall and broad as he was. He wasn't looking to impress, or intimidate. "You're different," he stated, in lieu of a hello.

[winter_wisp]

"I am," Winter agreed, looking down at himself, then at Eric.

His head tilted slightly to the left, and though Winter was always thin and mostly bone, there was something different tonight. He looked less like a frail child, and more like an underfed beast. Sharp, malnourished... Vicious.

"You're the same," the pixie replied, offering a smile that was all teeth.

[thenorthman]

"I tend to be," Eric replied, meeting the pixie's gaze without showing any reaction to the change in him, and the potential danger there.

[winter_wisp]

"Pixies rarely remain the same forever and always," Winter said, the smile lingering, then fading to something more muted and calm. "Pixies change. Like the wind, like the seasons, like fruit. A pixie is like a plumb, in different conditions we are different things. Sweet ripe fruit, withered prunes, or... Sweet, plumb wine," he whispered, as though sharing a secret.

[thenorthman]

"Your smell has changed," Eric confirmed, a small, amused smile on his lips from the pixie's description.

So different from vampires, who only ever became more themselves, it seemed.

[winter_wisp]

"Has it?" Winter asked, deliberately leaning in just a bit closer. "Is it better now? Is it wine, or is it vinegar?"

[thenorthman]

"It's spicier," Eric answered, smile growing slightly. "With a bite."

[akatawitch]

Sunny had not been looking for Winter so much as following the trail of magic that something or someone had been leaving in its wake.

She was never terribly thrilled to get rained on, but it was only water and it was summer, so it wasn't all that bad.

But when she finally traced the source of the magic, she didn't recognize it. At least not at first. He was too tall, too plainly dressed, his features too sharp. But there was no denying that that was... "Winter?"

[winter_wisp]

Winter turned his head slightly at the sound of his name, offering a smile that was too sharp to be friendly.

Hands in his pockets, he approached Sunny at a slow pace. How odd it was to not look up at her, but instead meet her eyes so easily. ...He liked it. It made him feel something new. Something he didn't have a word for yet.

"Hello Sunny," he said, tilting his head as he studied her. "You look different from here. Inches are so small until you stack them up. From below you were a woman, from here though, I think you're more like a girl."

[akatawitch]

"You look different, too," Sunny said, rather than let herself feel insulted. It wouldn't have been the first time Winter had said something that was kind of dickish, but she never felt before that it was cruel.

At least, not intentionally.

[winter_wisp]

"Do I look better?" Winter asked, tilting his head to the right. "Or do I look worse?"

A smile played on his lips, not the usual cheeky smirk, but something more... Calculated. A strange new look for the usually impulsive creature.

[akatawitch]

That smile was so unlike him that it got a hint of a puzzled, almost concerned, frown out of her. "I don't know yet. Just different."

[winter_wisp]

"I think better," Winter said, standing up straighter, then shrugging one shoulder. "I feel better. I feel- Focused. That's new."

[willysilver]

Willy knew just where Fin was because Stanley had called him many times to berate him and to tell him to do whatever it took to get Fin back. He had tried to explain that Fin needed his space. He neglected to say he had his own reflection to do.

But as the days passed with distance between them and the warmth of Fin's love gone, the fae prince began to wither. No amount of food or wine could help and he became weary. His skin turned grey and his hair drooped and hung in twisted rings. Not the lovely dreds that the Phouka wore- his own was lifeless and sickly as the rest of him.

Tonight he'd thought to go beg Fin's forgiveness again and had made his way to the hotel. However he hadn't seen Fin. Instead he had seen Winter creep out and walk away alone. Willy followed him for some time, noting how tall the pixie was and how feral he looked as he prowled along. But when Winter stopped to light a cigarette Willy closed the distance finally.

"You should not be out alone," he said, though if that was for Winter's safety or for Fin's he didn't say.

[winter_wisp]

Winter noticed. He noticed the grey skin, the limp locks, the strange scent of the other fae. Perhaps it was just his nose, but to him it was like rotting fruit. Overripe, nearly inedible. ...Nearly.

He had no idea still what had happened, but he knew enough to know that his brother had harmed Finlay in some way. The pixie hadn't wanted to take sides, if he was honest, but now that he found himself face to face with Willy- He wasn't sure that was going to be an option for much longer.

"Finlay is asleep, as is Keats," the pixie replied, shrugging one shoulder as he stepped closer, leaning in to sniff Will's neck.

"What an awful scent for a prince," the pixie replied, looking just a bit too sharp as he drew away again.

[willysilver]

Willy repaid the favor in kind, bending to inhale Winter's scent as well.

"You are no better," he said quietly. "You are taller and you smell like the air when the lightning flashes." The electric burn of it, not the petrichor of the warm summer rain.

[winter_wisp]

"I like my scent," Winter assured him, eyes narrowed slightly as he watched the fae prince. He seemed stoic at first, but as he began to circle the fae, his smile grew, teeth as sharp and nearly as long as his ears it seemed.

"Fae Willy, Fae Willy, prince of hearts. So tall, so strong, with his great big sword," Winter sang, spinning a bit as he danced slowly around Willy- Before abruptly coming to a halt behind him, and grabbing him by the shoulders.

Leaning in, he still had to push up slightly onto his toes to speak in the fae's ear.

"Fae Willy, Fae Willy, with your soul so dark. Once so clever and cunning, I can smell the decay in your heart."

[willysilver]

Willy knew well what Winter's kind were like, what they could become under the right circumstances. Wrong circumstances. He stood just a little taller, forcing Winter to stand on his toes even more.

"And what lies in your heart, brother?" he asked. "Fire? Soot? Your teeth are so sharp. No longer the small thing I found in a cage..."

[winter_wisp]

Winter let go, coming around to stand before the prince again.

"Hunger," he said simply. Pausing, as if that were all, then grinning. "...And fire, and anger, and fear, and want... My heart is large, it has room for many things."

[alcuin]

Alcuin had not seen Winter since the evening he'd seen him fight off a man with magic, when he'd brought him home to shockingly find Fin there, and he'd found out about the fae. Since the revelations that had followed, he'd thought more about the pixie, but hadn't seen him - though he'd once asked Fin if he was doing better.

It had been a long time, so it seemed doubtful that it was the same affliction, but seeing Winter now made Alcuin think it unlikely that he was doing better.

He couldn't quite pinpoint what it was about him - well, except the color of his skin, and his height, those were observable things. But there was something else, too. Alcuin wondered if whatever part of him was fae too could pick up on things more easily. But then, even the other people around seemed slightly unsettled by Winter. It was like he was a void where joy used to be.

Alcuin stood nearby in the rain for a moment, pushing wet hair away from his eyes (it wasn't supposed to rain today, he had no umbrella), and then finally approached. "Hello, Winter," he said, and offered him a little smile. "You remember me, right?"

[winter_wisp]

Looking over, Winter eyed the fair haired mortal. ...No, not mortal. He could smell sweetness on him. A hint of magic. A mutt, Aspid would have said.

"Yes, I remember. You were there the night I ended that man," the pixie replied, moving closer and leaning in to sniff him curiously, then leaning away again.

"Alcuin," he said, speaking the name slowly, as though he was tasting it.

[alcuin]

Ended that man. Alcuin had not been certain that the 'ending' had been entirely clear, but he certainly didn't want to clarify now.

"... yes," he said, and the way Winter said his name made him feel slightly strange in a way he couldn't describe. "Are you all right, Winter? You seem... different."

[winter_wisp]

"I am different," Winter replied. "I have grown. I'm taller, older too, I think. Not much, but older. Or maybe I'm the age I was before, and I am only now becoming it."

[alcuin]

"You do seem older," Alcuin confirmed. "But you're okay though? I, um - " He pushed his hair away from his eyes again, water dripping into his face. "Do you think we should get out of the rain?" He was actually starting to shiver a little, his tshirt soaked through.

[winter_wisp]

"You're so fragile," Winter said, and it almost sounded like an insult. "A little rain has you shivering? I like it," Winter said. "It would be even better if it was hail. Little needles of ice plummeting down to shatter against the pavement."

He tilted his head, the shadows highlighting the ever so slightly violet hue his skin had taken on. "I suppose if you're going to shake like a skinned rabbit though, we can."