londoncallingrpg

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OTA

It had been a strange week. It was his season, and so it should have been full of joy- But this year it was different. The winds that sang his name were too cold, too sharp. The trees seemed dead rather than naked, and the chill that usually lit up his magic was heavy and without spark. Everything was slightly wrong, and the longer it lingered, the more uneasy the pixie became.

An awakening was approaching, something powerful and dark. Winter could feel it in his bones, tainting the world around him- Something was approaching this realm, though the pixie couldn't sense who or what. He was sensitive to the change though, maybe more sensitive than most, and it was slowly altering him, as things so often could.

Walking down the high street he kept one eye on his reflection in the shop windows, noting the way his wings showed occasionally, even though they were hidden- And freezing in place when he saw a familiar figure behind him.

Aspid's eyes were dark, and though Winter knew he wasn't in this world with him, he still tensed as the reflection of the dead wizard rested his hand on his shoulder, and leaned in to speak in his ear. The words he whispered were like a low hum, but Winter heard each one, his shoulders shaking as he closed his eyes.

"You're lying," the pixie said quietly. "You're a liar!" he shouted, turning his head and opening his eyes- Only to find the shadow of Aspid gone, and a small group of people staring at him as though he'd lost his mind.

Looking back in the shop window, Winter saw himself alone again- But changed. Taller still than his new height, with a sunken gaze and painfully thin body. He looked warped and dark, and though he wanted to believe it was an illusion, he couldn't help but fear it was a vision of the future Aspid's warning had painted for him.

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"Everyone changes," Sunny pointed out gently. "How is what happens to you different from what happens to me?"

Winter was silent until they had their coffee and cake, not speaking until they were seated away from the crowd.

"It's hard to explain. It's just different. I feel my magic change, my energy. ...Do you remember after Finlay left Will? I was so angry then, so- Wrong. A dark pixie. ...Pixies should never be dark. It does things to us. Bad things."

Sunny crossed her legs under the table, dangling her purse from her ankle. "I remember that, yes," she said as neutrally as possible. If she thought too much about it, it would just start her blood at a slow boil.

"There's a quote from Peter Pan. 'Fairies have to be one thing or the other, because being so small they unfortunately have room for one feeling only at a time.' I doubt the author ever encountered anything magical in his life, but is it like that?"

"You know Peter Pan?" Winter asked seriously. "You must take me to him. I've heard so many tales. He'll know what to do! He knows how to remain young and unchanged. ...Though he's not terribly nice to pixies, from what other pixies have told me. I might have to lie and tell him I'm a lost boy. ...Not that he's very nice to them either."

The pixie paused then, cocking his head to one side as his brow creased.

"Is Peter Pan a bit of a cock?"

Sunny had had enough conversation twists like this with Winter that she only paused for a beat and blinked before she answered. "I don't know if he's real. I've never heard that. There's a book and I've read it. And if the book is accurate, he's really rather... awful."

Winter sighed at that news, slumping lower in his chair.

"Pity. ...Though I suppose I'm not too terribly surprised to hear it. My time among mortals has taught me that most people are twats. ...Total twats. ...Utter twats. Twats."

The last word was spoken with pure glee, his trouble briefly forgotten as he happily swore up a storm.

"What were we talking about? Oh, right, my shadows."

Sunny snorted. "Most people are okay. We'd have self-destructed by now otherwise." Her eyes were bright. "Though yes, the twats are many."

She sobered, too, taking a bite of her cake. "You should tell Willy. If something big enough to do that to you is going to happen, it's not something to keep under wraps."

"He'll worry. ...He'll tell Finlay. Finlay will worry more. He worries a lot. He's at least thirty percent worry- The rest is water and magic and bones, but there is a lot of worry there," Winter said seriously.

"I could tell Phouka, but I don't think Phouka would know what to do. He is clever, but not worldly. Not like you."

The pixie paused then, stabbing his cake with his fork.

"Would you tell Willy, if you were me?"

"Much as I desperately want to say that I wouldn't confide anything in Willy regardless of circumstances," Sunny said, her tone almost too measured, "I think not telling him could be dangerous. Even if it's not a portent of great disaster in the future, something came for you. Something malicious."

Winter nodded a little, then sighed. Sunny was right, it couldn't be a secret.

"I will tell him then," he said quietly.

Sunny considered him a moment, biting her lip idly in thought. "Faizel might want to know, too." And not just because he was clearly still haunted by his time with his old teacher. Sunny couldn't help but think this was possibly connected to what had happened on Halloween, only there hadn't been enough puzzle pieces at the time to really learn anything.

"He will nag me about university," Winter moaned. "I do not want to go. They will make me learn boring things, Sunny. Things like numbers. Who needs numbers? No one. At least not the very large ones."

Sunny smiled, somewhere between fond and wry. Yes, she could picture that. "He believes in education, and he believes you're intelligent and have a lot of potential. In his mind, those things just go together."

Winter stuck out his tongue and offered a farting sound in return.

Sunny tapped the end of his nose. "He cares for you, and that's how he expresses it. That's all. But if you don't want to go to university, he can't make you."

"I know, I just don't want to be lectured. I'm a free pixie, I will do as I please," Winter replied with a shrug.

"It wouldn't kill him to learn other ways to show that he cares," Sunny admitted with a wry little quirk of her mouth.

"Like rabbits?" Winter whispered, assuming they were back on that topic.

Sunny quietly turned red as she sipped her coffee and didn't answer that.

Winter watched her, waiting for her to speak, then sighed and returned to his coffee.

"Fine, not rabbits. Cats."

She was not having this conversation, it was too ridiculous. But... "I think rabbits is a bit ambitious right now," she said quietly.

"Oh," Winter said gently, hesitating a little, then wetting his lips nervously. "I was afraid to be a rabbit. ...For a long time it felt like."

"I'm sorry," Sunny murmured, not sure what else one said to that. Because she could imagine why, and she was sorry for it. Because fear was never good.

"One day I stopped being afraid though. Something changed, and I was ready," Winter explained, not sure how to say what he meant to say.

"There's nothing for it but time," Sunny supposed he meant. Which she'd heard before, and she understood, and she did know that it was terrible to be frustrated. It was still hard, though.

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