OTA

[willysilver]

Beltane was fast approaching. Beltane heralded the season of war. But of late Will's skin had begun to crawl. Magic he was familiar with, magic he had not felt for many years, magic strong and dark haunted him. It was not the strange magic of the Trooping fae that Fin possessed. No, this was familiar.

An old foe.

It wasn't simply a matter of the Unseelie whom Will and his brothers would battle and defeat, as was tradition. This was something he'd defeated with great cost long ago.

The Milesian.

He was keen and watchful as he knew they prowled the Earth. Somehow they had come back from banishment. And the strength of them had grown. Will knew the battle this year would be so much more weighty. There would be no need for a mortal on the field against the Milesian. They came from the Land of the Dead and would take as many lives as they could, fae and mortal alike. Today Will had heard tell of several people dead in the tube. Of course the authorities had their theories and suspicions, but Will knew. He just knew and so tonight with the initial investigation wrapped up he gathered his strength and descended into the tube stop. Magic crackled in the air. Dark magic. Dark as could be.

He reached for the neck of his guitar on his back and to those who could see such things his hand closed around the hilt of a broadsword. A few people waited for the train and Willy wasn't about to let them meet the same fate as the earlier travelers. Those hadn't been killed so much as claimed.

The Daoine Sidhe prince wasnt about to let his city fall to the enemy. Not even if he had to defend it all by himself.

Comments

[willysilver]

"They keep the balance, as do the Seelie. For part of the year the world basks in the light of the sun, and then the sun abbs and the season wears people thin. That is less to do with the weather and more to do with the magical forces that blanket the world," he explained.

[akatawitch]

"My part of the world doesn't do that," Sunny couldn't help observing. "Winter isn't really a concept there."

[willysilver]

"Ah, but you have times of plenty and times of strife, do you not?" he asked.

[akatawitch]

Sunny resolved that she was going to treat that as a rhetorical question, or else she'd have to start laughing and never stop. "Well, yes, but if you mean in any cyclical and predictable way that doesn't have to do with shit post-colonial governments, I guess there is a dry season and a rainy season."

[willysilver]

"Ah, colonials. I have seen many. The Romans. The Normans. And I know of travels and subjugation of people all over the world. It was the Iberians that brought the Milesian to our gates," Will replied thoughtfully, sipping his drink again. "I think mortals like to infest all the places they can. It is one reason the fae guard their realm so much."

[akatawitch]

"People in power, definitely. Most of Africa only got its independence from European powers sixty years ago," Sunny said with a shrug. "And by that I mean white people threw together countries based on their boundaries and not anything to do with us and then they get confused by all the upheaval and civil wars when the basic concepts of shared identity that form modern nation-states just weren't there."

She shook her head. "Anyway. How do Fin and Pippa's kind factor into all of this?"

[willysilver]

"That is a very good question," Willy said. "I fear the Trooping fae are being pulled to London to their new royalty. I know Fin has felt them. But they have never been part of the wars. They're role is an uncertainty I am not comfortable with."

[akatawitch]

Sunny took a moment to turn that over in her mind. "So Pippa is inadvertently gathering forces for a fight she doesn't understand and has no stake in besides."

[willysilver]

"It would seem so," he said softly. "And she will not listen to me if I were to try to warn her. She would rather have my head on a pike."

[akatawitch]

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure if she actually gets an army, its sole purpose is going to be ending you." She didn't say this either with regret or relish, it was just a fact. Pippa was pissed, and focused on how pissed she was to the point that Sunny didn't want to see very much of her, either.

[willysilver]

"That is such a small issue for an army," Willy replied with a sardonic, small laugh. He turned to look at Sunny and shrugged. "But if she does, then she does. Though with the Milesian she may not get the chance. Which I am certain would much displease her, robbing her of the satisfaction."

[akatawitch]

"I didn't say it made sense, I'd just put good money I don't have on that being the chosen course of action. She doesn't know her own power yet and she wants your head on a pike right now."

And since they were on the topic of killing him (since she'd literally had to watch Pippa remind herself that that was a thing), she had to ask, "Any progress on breaking that bond yet?"

[willysilver]

Willy was quiet for a long moment, taking a sip to fill the space of it.

"Yes," he finally answered.

[akatawitch]

Having quite honestly expected a no, Sunny's breath caught. The words "thank God" came out on a sigh when she released it.

[willysilver]

"I am torn. He says he does not want me to try to undo our binding. And I must abide by his choice. But I know how to do it now. I will continue to ask," Willy said.

[akatawitch]

Sunny opened her mouth to say something blistering about how incredibly stupid that was, but she snapped it shut and drank her cider instead. "No, I don't want to know." She was almost entirely sure that the answer would just piss her off.

[willysilver]

"What do you not wish to know?" he asked, looking at her with a steady, direct gaze.

[akatawitch]

"Why he'd say no. I don't want to know." Even in a perfect relationship, if there was such a thing, Sunny couldn't imagine willingly existing inside a bond like that.

[willysilver]

"Fin fears many things," he replied simply. "And I will do whatever makes him happiest. When he wishes to end our bond, I will do it. I assume he is simply not ready."

[akatawitch]

Fin had abandonment issues a mile wide was more like it, but Sunny wasn't sinking any more energy into worrying about that. "Is there anything else I need to know about what's happening?"

[willysilver]

"I do not think so. But be vigilant. And do not hesitate to call me if you have need, Sunny. I will give you my sword. This I swear," he replied quietly.

[akatawitch]

Sunny flushed red at that and for the life of her she couldn't have said why other than that it made her angry. "And what would that cost me?"

[willysilver]

"Nothing. In a time of war there are no need for deals. Only alliances," he replied.

[akatawitch]

Pragmatism. She could work with that. "Should I find myself in need, I'll remember you offered," Sunny answered carefully, trying to rein in her temper and avoid making any promises.

[willysilver]

"I will await your call. Speak my name thrice and I will be there to fight at your side. It is my greatest hope that you will be at peace and have no need to call," Willy replied.