Solstice War - Gathering

[willysilver]

The Solstice was upon them. When the sun went down the magic began to swell, the veil between this world and the Other Side thin as vapor. Mortals could sense it, even, though they may not have a name for it. They gathered together, not realizing the animal instinct of safety in numbers.

But all around the city, from the dark parts, fae began to come together as well. Unseelie filled the city- boggarts and Red Caps and things unseen for many a year with bright eyes and sharp teeth. But they were tricksy, dangerous and malicious but no worse than they ever were. The real threat, the ever present danger this year, were the Milesian that crawled out of the sewers and tube tunnels to prowl they city. They were hunting tonight. They had eyes black and soulless, eyes too wide for their white, gaunt faces. Larger than their eyes were their mouth. The smile of needle fangs glinted in the street lights. Long arms ending with spidery, spindly fingers reached and clawed at passers by from the shadows.

There was a war in the city tonight and the nature of the foe, the Milesian, meant no bound mortal needed to be near any battle. Death would come to one or the other if a killing blow came down.

But there was hope. Seelie fae prowled the city as well, fighting for Light and Air. Even the Queen had seen fit to step through with her sword and shield. Such was the threat to the Fae way of life that the Milesian presented.

The longest day of the year dawned but the sunlight did nothing to frighten off the dark forces. The longest day of the year simply meant the things that went bump in the night were attacking in the light.




(Tag in, tag around! Open all week so check back. Have fun with your adventures. If you don't want any Milesian, there are plenty of Unseelie, too. Day or night, whichever works for you.)

Comments

[akatawitch]

Sunny was for anything that killed Hemingway, though she just made her interest known by saying she'd have the same. It wasn't a good night to talk overmuch about death.

When the woman had gone, Sunny asked, "So... how long has this been part of your world?"

[utterly_mysterious]

Angelique had to think about that. "A year or so, I think. Yes, it was summer. That must have been just last year. There was something awful going on, and I think he was trying to say good-bye, in case... it came to that."

She frowned, focusing on Sunny's face to keep herself from constantly scanning for Kersen. "I suppose 'a part of my world' is correct. Just a small part, which is the size of my part in his life, too, I'm afraid."

[akatawitch]

Longer than she would have thought; Sunny was surprised. She blinked slowly as she considered that response. "My experience of both vampires and relationships is a bit lacking but, um... you wanna talk about it?"

[utterly_mysterious]

She quite passionately wanted to talk about it; she had no one else she could talk to. For a moment, Angelique looked desperately relieved.

She collected herself, and arranged herself in less of an exhausted sprawl in her chair, leaning on the table. Perhaps she trusted Kersen and trusted Jazzmin overall, but she kept her handbag within sight on the table as well. "I want to preface all of this by saying that I don't claim Kersen is the tragic love of my life, or anything so sentimental. He's gorgeous and kind, and I'm terribly fond of him, but this isn't... it's not some soap opera. Or some terrible teenager love triangle film, for that matter."

[akatawitch]

Sunny had offered less because of that, and more because she knew what it was like having no one to talk to about certain kinds of weirdness. She couldn't tell her mother or her brothers so much about her life, and it was a lonely way to be in the world.

It was a not insignificant part of why she didn't date more. Her grandmother had gone so far as to marry a Lamb, and it had doomed not only her, but Sunny to a life of secrecy and a special kind of isolation. Sunny didn't know if she'd survive having to keep the witchy parts of herself from a romantic partner, and she didn't want to try. Just thinking about it was exhausting.

She laughed. "Gotcha."

[offthebeatenpath]

Following along with Jag, Em did wait until they were in the bathroom with the door shut behind them before she started to undress, something she would've done even if she didn't live with all guys. In the meantime, she kept an eye on Jag.

She knew herself well enough to know her falling apart would happen later – not being able to sleep, nor to focus on art or reading, lack of appetite emphasized because 'chop vegetables, boil water' was a good way to settle her mind. But she'd also been in the castle when the Brotherhood attacked, and lived in a place where those sort of attacks were expected and prepared for. London, here, wasn't ready for an invasion by dark, twisted fairies.

Plus, she realized, she wasn't sure how much of Jag's fire he'd spent, but most of the energy projectors she knew needed to refuel after a big fight. That's why she and Sarah could usually be found in the kitchens when Excalibur came back from a mission.

[offthebeatenpath]

Em nodded, her gaze distant and unfocused until it looked like Sunny had herself under control. She couldn't connect now to anything she'd already Seen, but she wasn't sure she wanted to throw the cards again just yet.

"Keep going or home?" She could feel the faintest start of a throb in her head promising a psi headache later, but she'd had worse training with Dani or Nate, and a pretty good idea how much she had in reserves. She was okay for now.

[jageskro]

Jag was pretty much on autopilot, getting the shower going before he finished undressing, so it would be warm by the time they stepped into the stall. When he did, he simply stood under the spray for a few seconds, then pushed his hair back from his face, stepping back to make room for Em to join him.

[utterly_mysterious]

Their cocktails arrived shortly: two champagne glasses full of an opalescent, murky beverage almost but not quite the color of champagne. Angelique murmured thanks to the waitress, and explained to Sunny, "It's a bit of absinthe in the champagne. Drink it slowly."

She followed her own advice, taking a careful sip followed by a long inhale. The drink was incredibly strong, and so decadent that it was by necessity a rare indulgence. "So. Not only is the man I'm interested in a vampire, but he also does absolutely stunning drag, and prefers his men to look like men. On top of that, I'm fairly certain he's in love with someone else who won't commit to him."

Angelique paused, and sighed, "I promised you it wasn't a soap opera, but I didn't swear it wasn't dramatic."

[offthebeatenpath]

Em pressed a soft kiss to Jag's shoulder as she slid into the space he'd left for her, then curled a hand along his jaw. "How are you doing?" she asked, looking for the answer in eyes which would be true, regardless of what he did or didn't say.

[jageskro]

"'m all right," Jag replied, instinctively. But he had grown used to thinking past his instincts and giving her honest answers, so he took a moment before he added, "It was the first time I killed with it."

[offthebeatenpath]

Had she not known, or just not thought about that, she was so used to mutants who'd had to kill at one time or another? Em couldn't remember. And when had she gotten so comfortable with killing things – or people – that needed it, it didn't hit her the same way any more? That made her feel even worse, but she made herself set those thoughts aside for now. It wasn't about her.

"I'm sorry you had to." She remembered what that had been like, the first time she killed. She would've kept Jag from having to feel that if she could. But she couldn't, so all she could do was be there for him, with him, now, and she wrapped her arm around him. "But I'm glad you could when you needed to."

[akatawitch]

Oh, absinthe. Oh, Hemingway. Of course. Sunny wasn't sure if she liked the taste of it, but she was going to drink it, because damned if she didn't need it, too.

And also damned if she didn't know 'I have feelings for someone who's into someone else,' and even though in her case she'd known then and knew even more firmly now that Phouka was not right for her, it had hurt like barbs being pulled out. She winced. "Does he know?"

[jageskro]

"Yeah," Jag confirmed, and wrapped her arm around her shoulders, taking comfort from her warm presence against him. "It's just weird."

[offthebeatenpath]

"Yeah." Being able to focus on Jag, giving and taking comfort through touch and closeness, meant Em wasn't as focused on how physically off she'd felt after killing so many of those things. With the warm water falling over them, she eventually picked up the soap so they could wash off more of the day.

[akatawitch]

Sunny thought about that, finally getting her nerves back under control. "I can keep going," she said. She wanted to go curl up in bed, but she knew that was more because she wanted to pretend this wasn't happening than because she couldn't go anymore.

[utterly_mysterious]

Angelique lifted one shoulder. "I've been clear about my feelings, so I should hope so. It's not the same as knowing, though, is it?" She glanced down into her drink. For all that she made very clear that this wasn't a tragic love story, it still hurt. Just not the soul-rending sort of hurt one read about in terrible novels.

"What he really doesn't understand is that, when he's trying to protect me, I just feel like he's keeping me at a distance. That I'm not strong enough, or smart enough, or good enough, to really share his world with him."

[akatawitch]

Sunny thought about that for a long moment, tracing a finger around the rim of her glass. "Are you sure that that's not what he intends?"

It wasn't a pleasant thing to consider, but it needed asking.

[jageskro]

That helped; touch always helped. So cleaning up, cleaning each other, that helped even more, smooth glide of hands over skin. Jag was briefly tempted to ask her if he could go down on her, but the urge passed, and he simply rinsed off, pushing his hair back again.

[utterly_mysterious]

It wasn't pleasant, not at all. "I'm not sure, honestly," Angelique confessed, after another slow sip. "He's always honest with me, which I'm glad for, because a lie would feel even worse. I'm not asking for his heart forever and ever... I just don't think I know what's reasonable to expect, when the person you want is four centuries old and will continue to live on for centuries after you're gone."

[akatawitch]

Sunny nodded and considered that, remembering back when she'd first found out about Fin and Willy and how doomed she'd thought they were when they were just a human and a fairy prince.

This was also among many reasons why she'd tried to resist her crush on the Phouka.

"One of the reasons dealing with the inhuman is as... interesting as it is is because after a while we're just babies to them. And like any other small children, to them we're squishy, untried, and ignorant. And like we would do with small children, sometimes that results in nurturing, sometimes in impatience, sometimes in taking advantage, and sometimes in just messing with us." She shrugged. "Individuals vary, of course, saying that they never care, that they're never impressed with what we do, that they're never proud of us, is wrong. True equality, though, is very, very rare."

[utterly_mysterious]

Angelique listened, and after just a few words, she knew it was truer than most anything Kersen or Fin had told her. She loved them both dearly, but they were concerned with their own situations primarily. (Very human of them, really.) Sunny had another view, both higher and broader, that Angelique had thought about but never quite put in to words.

"I can't imagine. I'm not asking for that, I don't think, but viewed in that light perhaps I am wishing for too much. You don't share the realities of your life with a child. They aren't equipped to understand it."

[akatawitch]

"Well, like you said, it's not easy for us to get it, either. What does being alive for centuries even mean?" Sunny pulled a face. "Four hundred years, that's... Shakespeare and early colonialism. And that's a time scale we can still understand. Then you get to goddamn Sidhe princes that are eons old. It's more time than you can fit into your head. And even that's young by some measures. There are creatures that have been walking the Earth since there was an Earth to walk." And some that had been even before that, but zooming out further wasn't necessary.

Shaking her head, Sunny tried to come back to the point. "And sometimes there's just that whole 'other' thing, too. Can't be too ethnic for the white people. Can't be too inhuman for the human. Being too much what you are around people who just aren't ready, well... The one thing that I think we've all got in common is we want to connect. We don't want to be alone. And sometimes you learn that the way to do that is to keep certain doors closed. If you know where you're looking, you can find all kinds of strangeness in London, and almost all of them are trying to pass for vanilla mortal as a matter of survival."

Something that she thought Angelique would understand very well, if meeting her siblings as a boy was anything to go by.

[utterly_mysterious]

Angelique understood perfectly, thinking of her brother and sister. She kept her real life hidden from them, not because it was easier for her, but because it was easier for them while they still relied on their parents.

For the length of a long sigh, Angelique studied her drink. "We fought our way through murderous impossible creatures to get here, and I'm still stuck on whether or not Kersen thinks I'm special. It's more than a little ridiculous, isn't it?"

[akatawitch]

Sunny snorted. "I spent weeks looking at and crying over every facet of my choice to have my first non-solo sexual experience with a fairy I was really into but knew I couldn't get serious with." She had no love or even use for the phrase 'losing her virginity' because it sounded too much like she was damaged goods and she kind of hated that. "You can't stop it just by reasoning it away. Especially if there's no outlet."