londoncallingrpg | OTA - Winter or Yves

yves posting in

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.)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

winter_wisp

"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.

From:

akatawitch

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

From:

winter_wisp

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

From:

akatawitch

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.

From:

winter_wisp

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.

From:

akatawitch

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."

From:

winter_wisp

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."

From:

akatawitch

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.

From:

winter_wisp

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.

From:

akatawitch

"I don't know how helpful that would have been," Sunny admitted. "If it were a threat I recognized maybe, but this isn't one I know. The Sidhe aren't really a concern in my part of the world." The closest thing they had were masquerades, and that was enough to keep anyone busy.

From:

winter_wisp

Winter sighed, flopping onto his side and looking uneasy.

"Should I tell Will then?" he asked quietly. "We haven't spoken in some time now."

From:

akatawitch

Sunny did her best to put aside her gut reaction of rage and disgust that happened whenever she thought of Willy these days to think about that logically. Finally she said, "That might be the right thing to do. Though if that's too hard... maybe talk to Faizel first."

Edited Date: 2016-09-25 08:34 pm (UTC)

From:

winter_wisp

Winter let out a sad coo, something he did far less often now he was grown.

"Maybe I shouldn't tell anyone. Maybe he'll just go away," he said quietly.

From:

akatawitch

"This I can tell you," Sunny said with more certainty. "They never just go away."

From:

winter_wisp

"Never?" Winter echoed, wetting his lips and curling up a bit. "I don't want to go running to Will, I don't want to run to anyone. ...Aspid's book though. He's dead, I shouldn't fear returning to that place. ...I know how to get there."

He sat up again, white curls flat on one side now where he'd crushed them against the arm of the sofa.

"You could come. You could tell me how you know so much about deadly beings while we walk."

Though more than wanting to hear Sunny's tale, Winter wasn't sure he was brave enough to go alone.

From:

akatawitch

Sunny looked at him for a long moment. "Are you sure about this?" She had only taken intro psychology, but even so, going back to the site of deep trauma seemed like a potentially terrible idea.

Plus, y'know, the Other Side and stuff.

From:

winter_wisp

"I'm sure, I can do this," Winter insisted, nodding. In a show of maturity, the pixie looked thoughtful for a long moment before saying something somewhat sensible.

"I will leave a note for Phouka, so he knows where we have gone, then I'll get changed into something more suited to traveling in the forest. ... We should see if Philip will come. He can scout ahead for us. He's small but brave, the best sort of scout."

From:

akatawitch

Sunny nodded her agreement as she pulled out her phone and tried to think of who she could text for the same purpose. She wasn't entirely sure why she landed on Felix as she wasn't sure how much she could expect from him if she ever turned to him needing help that wasn't of an intellectual nature, but maybe that was part of it, too. Bravado.

Heading to the Other Side with Winter. If you don't hear from me by tomorrow, something went wrong.

That was probably more time than she needed normally, but weird fairy time bullshit was not impossible. And it was true, even if she was totally fine, timey-wimey mess counted as something going wrong.

From:

winter_wisp

Winter, in the meantime, vanished into the bedroom, leaving Phouka a note before digging through the closet to find something less mortal looking to wear.

When he returned he looked like he'd tumbled out of a fairy tale. Everything was in deep olives and plums, the fabric fitted but draped, cut to look like leaves stitched together and paired with simple dark trousers and heavy looking leather boots that matched the belt that held a small but vicious looking dagger at his hip. He looked less like a pixie, and more like some fair haired version of peter pan, heading off to battle.

On his shoulder sat Philip- Who definitely hadn't been nesting in Winter's sock drawer. The little bird was puffed up proudly, and it chirped at Sunny before fluttering over to her and perching on her head.

"I'm ready if you are," he said.

From:

akatawitch

Sunny knew what was coming when she saw Philip flying towards her and waited for the impact in her hair before she said, "Hello, naughty little thing," she said affectionately.

She didn't have anything to change into that was more practical, but she had her knife and some powders and her innate talent. She could camouflage herself just fine.

"Ready as I'm going to be."

From:

winter_wisp

Winter nodded, heading for the floor length mirror that hung on the wall. A mirror that served no purpose but this one, a door to The Other Side.

Winter tapped on the glass, and the mirror seemed to ripple, becoming liquid right before Winter stepped through it. He had passed through a few times before, and he knew exactly where he'd be, a large clearing near the lake. Less than an hour's walk to Aspid's cottage.

Philip was clearly no stranger to it either, as the plump bird chirped a little before taking off to lead Sunny through.

From:

akatawitch

Sunny sighed. Of course she'd been outside the mortal realm before, but not in this part of the world. Still, she wasn't going to be outdone in bravery by a budgie, and she stepped through.

The air immediately smelled different, as it had in all her crossings.

From:

winter_wisp

Winter hadn't wandered far, nor had Philip, who landed on Sunny as soon as she crossed through.

"It's not far," Winter said, "If we follow the bank of the river north, we only have to go through the woods briefly. It's the safest way."