londoncallingrpg | OTA - Winter or Yves

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OTA - Winter or Yves

The fair haired sprite had been staring at him for nearly an hour now as Yves had made his way around the little shops. For all the creature had somehow enchanted itself to be of mortal height, there was no denying it was a pixie. Those pointy ears and sweet and spicy scent could be confused for nothing else.

Yves had ignored it at first, wandering through the early morning market and pretending not to notice the way it followed. Even allowing it to get close a few times before turning and staring directly into its pale blue eyes. Strange looking thing, all pale flesh and bone. Clearly underfed in its youth. Likely brittle boned, and unaware of it's poor immune system. Yves would have felt bad for it- If he was in the habit of feeling for lesser beings.

It had skittered off for a bit after that, but he'd spotted it once more when he'd stopped near the end of the market in a quieter area. They were practically alone, some grannies on a bench nearby so busy chatting that they hadn't even noticed they had company. The only people who might see them were those passing down the parallel street on the other side of the road- Though there view would be slightly obscured by the stalls and carts.

"The Unseelie Butcher," The pixie gasped, blue eyes going wide as they confirmed what he'd suspected all morning.

"Dreadful nickname, slanderous as well," Yves replied, sneering a little and removing the creature's charm with a wave of his hand.

Winter was so good at measuring and controlling his potion doses now that he rarely carried any with him, and the moment Yves waved his hand, the fair haired pixie knew he'd made a mistake. ...Perhaps several, if he was honest. Shrunk down to his normal size, Winter darted around in a panic, desperate not to be seen- Only to be snatched out of the air by Yves.

"Go home, pixie, and do not speak any of my names ever again," Yves warned, waiting until Winter nodded before letting him go and watching him zoom off as fast as his shimmering wings would take him.

(OTA- Tag Yves or Winter, only one or the other please! Catch Winter hiding and trying to make his way home, or Yves skulking off back home to his lab.)

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Winter heard Sunny's voice, and his panic lessened slightly, giving him a moment to think.

Zooming over, he attempted to dive right into her bag. It would be safe there, he was certain of that much.

Catching what he was doing almost before she'd fully consciously processed it, Sunny held her bag open so he could dart inside. The fact that she kept a knife in there really didn't seem that important until after she'd done it. And then she figured... well, it was still safer than a loose pixie.

"Want me to take you home?" she asked quietly.

Winter was silent for a long moment- Almost too long. However, he did eventually speak.

"Please," he said softly. "It's not safe here."

Well, that was enough to get her moving.

Sunny tucked her purse close--though not tightly--against her body and started walking toward Hyde Park. They could talk later, when he felt safe and she wouldn't look crazy.

The further they walked, the more Winter calmed, and it wasn't long before Winter was poking around in the bag he was currently hiding in.

Knife, interesting but sharp. Even winter knew that wasn't something to touch while small. Then there were some powders and potions, each of which Winter gave a curious sniff, before growing bored. He'd hoped to find makeup, or other mysterious things that were supposedly only for girls, but apparently Sunny didn't wear those. Pity. He was fairly certain he'd look good in red lipstick.

Oh, right, and she would too.

Sunny didn't wear makeup. Not because she didn't want to, but because it was next to impossible. Everything took an exaggerated geisha-like appearance on her skin.

When she felt she could do so safely, she went invisible. Though really, invisible was only part of it. Insubstantial, undetectable. A ghost. Now she could talk to her purse. "You can come out. No one can see us."

Winter hesitated, then eventually fluttered out, keeping close and eventually landing on Sunny's shoulder. Folding his shimmering wings neatly against his back, he frowned to himself.

"I didn't forget my potion," he said, assuming that would be the first assumption anyone made. "I took the correct dose, it didn't wear off early. ...It was canceled out. ...By a monster."

"It's been a while since you miscalculated," Sunny agreed. Which wasn't an acceptance of what he said, but not a denial either. "What happened?"

Winter was silent for a moment.

"I shouldn't say his name, he'll come for us both. Take our eyes and put them in jars..."

It didn't sound like one of his youthful tales either, Winter's voice was calm. Almost unseeingly serious and adult sounding coming from the small creature.

It sounded very unlike him, and that more than the actual words was probably what made Sunny shiver. "There's a ritual killer in London?"

Winter was silent for a moment, then exhaled a shuddering breath.

"The Unseelie Butcher," he whispered.

The name did not mean anything to Sunny, but to be fair, the name Black Hat meant nothing to people here, either, and wouldn't have even back when he'd been alive and active. "What's that?"

"Fae. Bad fae. ...You don't know the story?" he asked. "I remember hearing it when I was very young, though it was in one of Aspid's books as well- Just different."

"No," Sunny told him. "But believe me, you haven't heard of the unholy terrors of my part of the world, either."

"He takes mortals and fae, and stitches them together. Removes their skin, steals their eyes," Winter whispered.

"And I saw him, Sunny. I saw him. He looked just like he did in Aspid's book."

Sunny's heart went cold. "What does he do with them?" she whispered.

"Dark magics, Sunny. The darkest of them all," Winter said, looking uneasy and making a sad, almost cooing sound. "I want to go back to my tree. It's safe in the tree," he insisted, wrapping his wings around himself like a shield.

"We're almost there," Sunny assured him. And they were, they'd crossed into the park at least. "Will the tree let me in?"

"Yes," Winter said softly. "It knows you're welcome always."

That was oddly touching, and Sunny felt her face grow warm.

Refusing to draw attention to it, she was quiet until they came to the tree. Its magic allowed her to find the door, her magic allowed them to pass right through something solid.

She probably should have said something, but she figured Winter had done stranger things before.

Only when they were inside did she let go of her invisibility.

Once inside Winter took off, buzzing around the room nervously, before finally heading to the kitchen to take some of his potion.

A moment later and he was back to his full height, raking his fingers through his hair and frowning to himself. "We should tell Willy. ...No, maybe not Willy... Faizel? He might know what to do. ...Maybe."

He paced a little, looking twitchy and then making his way over to his and Phouka's book collection. He tapped a few of the spines, then chewed his bottom lip nervously before speaking.

"Or we could go to Aspid's home and fetch his books," he said quietly.

Well, that escalated quickly.

At first Sunny had no idea what to say. Then when she found words, they just sort of popped out. She knew it was possible she just didn't understand the magnitude of the situation, but she also knew Winter would win gold if panicking was an Olympic sport. "Maybe we should take a few minutes to calm down before making any decisions that big."

Winter looked unsure, but nodded a bit as he wrapped his arms around himself and moved to sit on the sofa.

"He looked right at me. He had such cold eyes, Sunny."

The flash of memory was so sudden and so vivid that Sunny nearly gasped. The moment Black Hat Otokoto looked at her and slit his own throat to summon Ekwensu.

He'd been smiling.

"I understand," she said quietly, after too long a pause.

Winter studied her for a long moment, watching her, then nodding. As though he could simply sense the truth in her words.

His wings were out still, poking through the back of his hooded jumper, and though he'd had them folded neatly against his back, they moved a bit of their own accord, stretching a little and then folding back down.

"I wish you'd seen him too. People listen to you," he said softly.

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