{"submission_id":"775952","keywords":[{"keyword_id":"60","keyword_name":"cat","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"110716"},{"keyword_id":"6701","keyword_name":"changeling","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"3032"},{"keyword_id":"44319","keyword_name":"contemporary","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"101"},{"keyword_id":"10159","keyword_name":"cyclops","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"379"},{"keyword_id":"1843","keyword_name":"dreams","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"377"},{"keyword_id":"2602","keyword_name":"fairy","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"2015"},{"keyword_id":"2193","keyword_name":"fantasy","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"11600"},{"keyword_id":"123","keyword_name":"female","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"519903"},{"keyword_id":"112296","keyword_name":"garuda","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"51"},{"keyword_id":"1440","keyword_name":"human","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"46904"},{"keyword_id":"191","keyword_name":"magic","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"11599"},{"keyword_id":"165","keyword_name":"male","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"639887"},{"keyword_id":"3313","keyword_name":"monkey","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"4907"},{"keyword_id":"10129","keyword_name":"supernatural","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"375"},{"keyword_id":"11790","keyword_name":"tales","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"286"},{"keyword_id":"597","keyword_name":"werewolf","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"5589"},{"keyword_id":"164","keyword_name":"wolf","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"111560"}],"hidden":"f","scraps":"f","favorite":"f","favorites_count":"0","create_datetime":"2015-01-22 11:30:42.484592+01","create_datetime_usertime":"22 Jan 2015 11:30 CET","last_file_update_datetime":"2015-01-22 11:14:01.246535+01","last_file_update_datetime_usertime":"22 Jan 2015 11:14 CET","username":"Simoni","user_id":"279733","user_icon_file_name":"75728_Simoni_simoni_barjar.gif","user_icon_url_large":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/usericons/large/75/75728_Simoni_simoni_barjar.gif","user_icon_url_medium":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/usericons/medium/75/75728_Simoni_simoni_barjar.gif","user_icon_url_small":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/usericons/small/75/75728_Simoni_simoni_barjar.gif","file_name":"1048907_Simoni_side_story_6_off_with_the_fairies.doc","file_url_full":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/files/full/1048/1048907_Simoni_side_story_6_off_with_the_fairies.doc","file_url_screen":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/files/screen/1048/1048907_Simoni_side_story_6_off_with_the_fairies.doc","file_url_preview":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/files/preview/1048/1048907_Simoni_side_story_6_off_with_the_fairies.doc","files":[{"file_id":"1048907","file_name":"1048907_Simoni_side_story_6_off_with_the_fairies.doc","file_url_full":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/files/full/1048/1048907_Simoni_side_story_6_off_with_the_fairies.doc","file_url_screen":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/files/screen/1048/1048907_Simoni_side_story_6_off_with_the_fairies.doc","file_url_preview":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/files/preview/1048/1048907_Simoni_side_story_6_off_with_the_fairies.doc","mimetype":"application/msword","submission_id":"775952","user_id":"279733","submission_file_order":"0","full_size_x":null,"full_size_y":null,"screen_size_x":null,"screen_size_y":null,"preview_size_x":null,"preview_size_y":null,"initial_file_md5":"6ae5e3ae3bd18ed34ba9a1c5a7128375","full_file_md5":"6ae5e3ae3bd18ed34ba9a1c5a7128375","large_file_md5":"","small_file_md5":"","thumbnail_md5":"","deleted":"f","create_datetime":"2015-01-22 11:14:01.246535+01","create_datetime_usertime":"22 Jan 2015 11:14 CET"}],"pools":[],"description":"This one was FUN. :3\n\nSeriously, I love stories where I get to do some balls out goofy stuff like the dreamscapes of the different characters. Lupe's crayon-drawn subconscious was especially enjoyable I might add, especially doing Dawn's reaction to how the werewolf sees her.\n\nBut yeah, after having Simoni and Arja lose their magic to Franklin's sword I wanted to do something more fun to lighten the tone. I let Arja's player handle the antagonist, as much as she was for this one at least, and we each did our own character's dreams (though I did Arja's dad, but I had an idea for that one).\n\nIts also fun to show that Dawn not only can travel through dreams, but apparently [i]has[/i] done so before as she recognized what was going on in Nelen's dreamscape. (\"Best just leave them to it, this can go on for a while.\") I'm gonna try to work this into a future story if I can...\n\nBut yeah, Sammi was introduced in a side story RP that Arja and I did which I was going to title 'The Fabulous Ice Mage' but I never got around to posting. The ending wound up being more heavy on the sexual parts and, as I've said before, I don't like posting those on here as it feels a bit too cheap to do so. I may clean it up a bit and rewrite it to focus on the story more, but I'll have to wait anyways as I need to get it off my old computer. I just upgraded to a Dell box recently and most of my RP logs are on my old HP Pavilion which is currently sitting behind my chair unplugged.","description_bbcode_parsed":"This one was FUN. :3
Seriously, I love stories where I get to do some balls out goofy stuff like the dreamscapes of the different characters. Lupe's crayon-drawn subconscious was especially enjoyable I might add, especially doing Dawn's reaction to how the werewolf sees her.
But yeah, after having Simoni and Arja lose their magic to Franklin's sword I wanted to do something more fun to lighten the tone. I let Arja's player handle the antagonist, as much as she was for this one at least, and we each did our own character's dreams (though I did Arja's dad, but I had an idea for that one).
Its also fun to show that Dawn not only can travel through dreams, but apparently has done so before as she recognized what was going on in Nelen's dreamscape. ("Best just leave them to it, this can go on for a while.") I'm gonna try to work this into a future story if I can...
But yeah, Sammi was introduced in a side story RP that Arja and I did which I was going to title 'The Fabulous Ice Mage' but I never got around to posting. The ending wound up being more heavy on the sexual parts and, as I've said before, I don't like posting those on here as it feels a bit too cheap to do so. I may clean it up a bit and rewrite it to focus on the story more, but I'll have to wait anyways as I need to get it off my old computer. I just upgraded to a Dell box recently and most of my RP logs are on my old HP Pavilion which is currently sitting behind my chair unplugged.","writing":"[b]This side story takes place approximately three weeks after the battle with Franklin Fullmoon at Hanuman's Temple in Part 16: The Mundane Blade.[/b]\n\nOur story starts out a few weeks after Franklin’s attack on Hanuman’s Temple. Simoni and Arja still have yet to regain their magic and are dealing with their current mundane status as best as they can…\n\nIts been three weeks since Franklin's siege on the temple and yet Arja and Simoni still haven't regained their magic. They can feel it, in a sense, but it's like a faint breeze (for Simoni) or a smoldering ember (for Arja), it's there... but they can't do anything with it. Lupe, on the other hand, is back to normal already. Nelen considered that it may be because she didn't actually attack Franklin head on, but rather just got close enough to the sword for it to drain her powers until Natasha pointed out that she was able to transform again the first night of the full moon. Lycanthropy for the win and all that.\n\nSimoni is leaning against the window in the room she and Arja share, gazing up at the stars with clear longing in her eyes. She wants to fly again, she [i]needs[/i] to... but she can't fly any more than any other twelve year old girl now...\n\nArja sighs a bit as she walks to Simoni, wrapping her arms around her from behind. She knew she was hurt badly by this in an entirely different way. Arja lost strength and fire, but Simoni lost her ability to fly through the air, that had to hurt in its own unique ways... \"Come on back to bed, sweetie.\" she whispers softly, kissing the girl's cheek as she guides her away from the window.\n\nSimoni nods to her, giving her hand a squeeze as she climbs back into bed with Arja, trying to will herself to sleep in the hopes that she'll somehow wake up with her powers restored...\n\nMeanwhile, in the adjoining room, Stephy would be experience some very odd dreams in his own sound sleep... Dreams about Sammi... and not the normal 'questioning whether or not he likes boys' ones... his eyes darting around under their lids as he dreams about the young fae mage, Trixie in bed next to him but seeming to not notice how troubled his sleep is.\n\nThis dream was a good bit different than usual, Stephy was in what looked like a huge hedge maze, the green walls of plants covered in wicked thorn vines to keep him away from them. The maze was empty, but he would still have a very strong feeling of being watched regardless. This dream felt real, too, more real than even lucid dreaming. He could feel the cold wind around him, smell the damp soil...\n\nIn his dream he walks forward, the young raven witch-boy still in his pink silk pajamas as he stumbles through the brush, eyes darting around. He felt exposed out here, and scared too. Trixie, Nelen, Arja, Simoni... nobody else was around that he knew, but he [i]knew[/i] someone was, he could practically hear them breathing. He'd considered transforming, trying to get airborne, but the canopy overhead was all thorns, some as long as his arm, and he couldn't hope to fly through it. He considered using some wind to try to flush out his stalker too... but he wasn't anywhere near as good at combat as Simoni is (or was, before her encounter with Franklin) and once his mysterious pursuer found him he couldn't be certain that he'd even be able to do more than frantically flee.\n\nStephy soon heard footsteps. Rapid, small, footsteps as someone runs around a nearby path. He wouldn't have much time to prep himself, sadly, as the sounds get louder and louder until someone comes running around the corner! Short, blond, girlish, dressed in flashy blue and white clothes... it was Sammi! The boy skidded to a stop he saw him, eyes going wide, \"Stephy? Oh shit...\"\n\nStephen ‘Stephy’ Fullmoon is having an odd dream indeed tonight. For those of you just joining us, Stephy is Simoni and Nelen’s cousin on their Mother’s side. He and his ‘girl’friend Trixie had joined up with Arja’s group of supernatural beings after Stephy’s father had died due to a sudden case of ‘tried to tackle Drusilla during an ambush’. Drusilla had rather messily dealt with her attacker, but the outcome had left him without either parent, his own mother having died from pneumonia when he was about five. \n\nStephy hadn’t been extremely broken up about losing his dad (suffice to say, the man was not the type to win ‘father of the year’ anytime soon), and the effeminate young boy was glad to have a chance to live somewhere that he could express his more feminine side.\n\nStephy almost looks relieved to see a familiar face, right up until he realizes that Sammi was running, and that if he was running in here it was almost certainly because he was running [i]away[/i]. \"Sammi? Whats going on?! Where are we?\" he asks.\n\nSammi Montebank shakes his head, \"Shit, I must have messed things up... this place messes with my magic so much...\" he frowns, \"I meant to send you a message, not yank you in here!\" he whines in a scared tone before more footsteps are heard, this time multiple sets of feet, marching along the the path with the sound of heavy jangling armor like some kind of old military unit. \"Crap, come on!\" he gasps, grabbing Stephy's wrist and yanking him away.\n\nStephy eeps and stumbles, but manages to keep up as he and Sammi dart down through the thorny maze. \"Message? Place? Sammi what's going on?!\" he gasps out as he rushes after the boy. As he stays closer to Sammi however he begins to notice things, like why is he in a thorny maze in the first place? Why is he in his pajamas? How is he running barefoot without feeling any pain from the rocks and roots littering the path? \"Wait... what... is this even real?\" he asks in a confused way.\n\nSammi sighs as the sound passes into silence after a moment, \"You're in the hedge, it's... man this is way too complicated to talk about now. It's real and it's not real, ok? This is like... the front gate of the fairie world, the barrier that keeps folks out... I tried to send you a message, to get you to get your friends working on how to open a door here and get me out but... well I guess the magic got twisted up...\"\n\nStephy blinks, then looks around with wide panicked eyes, \"Wait... I'm in the [i]hedge[/i]?!\" he yelps. Unlike his cousin he knew quite a bit about fae legends... he'd always liked fairy tales when he was little, but growing up a child of Clan Fullmoon he'd gotten a real education on the fair folk. He found out that the happy endings were always added later... and in the originals there was very very rarely such a thing as 'happily ever after'. \"Why are we in the hedge? We gotta get out of here!\" he whines, glancing back fearfully over his shoulder.\n\nStephy has good reason to panic. The fae, the True Fae Lords and Ladies of Arcadia (deserving of every capital letter I assure you) are known among the supernatural world as soulless (literally, its been tested) and incredibly powerful beings who see humans and their half-fae cousins like Sammi as little more than exotic pets, playthings, servants, and potential slaves. They have no empathy, no morals beyond their own ideas of right and wrong, and no feelings of guilt if one of their mortal captives gets ‘broken’. They’re powerful too, in their realm they’re practically gods in their own right, but they still follow some rules that can allow a clever or very very [i]very[/i] lucky mortal to escape.\n\nNever eat or drink anything they offer you, it will make you indebted to the fae. Never tell them your true name, it will give the fae power over you. Never insult the fae, they’re quick to offend and their wrath is, literally, the stuff of nightmares. A fae’s word is binding, a promise of safety will guarantee that… but the fae are more skilled at loopholes than even the most experienced of mundane lawyers and any contract with them will most certainly be twisted to their benefit.\n\nSammi frowns, \"Oh, really, we have to go? Because I was gonna pull a tea set out of my ass and have a little nap. Yeah no shit we have to get out! Not to be selfish but I ESPECIALLY can't be here. The hedge... it's huge, like, it's a plane of reality all to itself, and just like every big area, it has some REALLY BAD neighborhoods. If I knew the way out I wouldn't have tried to send you a message saying 'get me out of here', would I? I've been in here for like...\" he frowns, doing some mental math, time flowed very differently in the hedge, it required a little conversion for the real world, \"A... week I wanna say? Give or take a day or so…\" he nods in a slightly unsure tone of voice.\n\nStephy gapes at him, \"A week? How... how are you...\" he stammers, but then hears the footsteps behind them and decides to save his breath for running. Whatever is back there doesn't sound good. He can practically feel their pursuers now, as if they've started going faster themselves now that they realize their quarry has doubled.\n\nSammi sighs as he looks around, \"Gotta just find a weak point…\" he nods, looking at the hedge’s walls, \"The hedge is porous and if you can find the... THERE!\" he points to a small gap in the thorns, big enough for the two to crawl through if the plant matter of the hedge proper wasn't in the way, \"Keep watch, it'll take a second…\" he says as he holds his hand out, sending a stream of ice into the exposed greenery, causing it to wilt and shrivel away slowly.\n\nSammi is an ice mage, though his magic has fae origins as we’ll soon see. He himself is partially fae, though he doesn’t seem too happy about that aspect of himself at the moment as it’s quite possibly what allowed him to be drawn into the Hedge in the first place.\n\nHe and Stephy met when the young transvestite and Trixie had gone to one of Sammi’s magic shows, the young mage posing as a stage magician in the mundane world. Sammi had taken a liking to Trixie, mistaking her for a young man and Stephy’s boyfriend, and had offered them backstage passes to his show so he could flirt with ‘Tex’ (Trixie had lied to him about her name), causing Stephy to get jealous and lash out with his wind magic at Sammi.\n\nThe two had practically started a real magical brawl, Sammi’s ice against Stephy’s winds, if not for Nelen’s intervention. He and Drusilla had been nearby at a bookstore and he’d sensed the sudden buildup of magical energy, recognized Stephy’s, and managed to force his way in and separate the two before their magic wound up tearing the theater apart.\n\nDespite their antagonistic start they had wound up becoming friends afterwards, Stephy and Sammi settling their little pissing contest by borrowing a gay bar to have a sort of drag show competition for Trixie, Arja, Simoni, and Dawn to see who could out-do the other. Nelen having stayed outside with the club’s owner during this for reasons of protecting his own sanity. The owner of the club is a supernatural in his own right, a fire-user who poses as a superhero calling himself ‘Captain Fabulous’ and fights against a psychic supervillain of an old man who’s dubbed himself the ‘Fundie-mentalist’.\n\n… Texas is weird sometimes. Seriously, backwards politics can be the least of it.\n\nStephy glances back down the path as Sammi withers the thorns, seeing shapes in the distance but unable to make them out as he suddenly realizes he didn't fall asleep with his glasses on... which means he isn't wearing them... and by dream logic he suddenly remembers he's nearsighted as their assailants become blobbish shapes to his vision. He's not sure if he's upset about that however, from what he can make out he wishes he couldn't see them at all. \"Sammi... hurry...\" he whines, stumbling backwards towards the fae boy.\n\nSammi nods, focusing on his work until, finally, the hedge fully withers away, revealing a small dark hole \"Come on, and careful with the thorns, they hurt like hell.\" he says urgently as he crawls through the hole carefully, trying to avoid the razor sharp spikes \"This'll be safe for a bit until the maze shifts.\" he nods.\n\nStephy nods and quickly scrambles in next to the boy as the sound of feet thunders past, their pursuers heading up the path as they miss them vanishing into the thorns... He crouches down, being as careful as he can to not touch them... as a voice whispers behind the pair, \"So, who're we hiding from?\"\n\nStephy almost jumps up into the thorns from shock as two yellow eyes and a wide grin appear, followed by the familiar orange hair and brown fur of Dawn, \"So whats the deal here sissyboy? You're dreaming so damn loud I could hear you all the way across the house.\" she smirks, making a small gesture with her hand as she conjures a pair of glasses for him out of the dreamstuff of the realm, handing them to Stephy as she glances over at Sammi, \"Oh hey, isn't this that really fruity mage from Texas?\" she blinks, then grins, \"Ohhhh, I get it... its one of [i]those[/i] dreams, so sorry to interrupt...\" she snickers.\n\nDawn is a dream-being in her own right, being a Cheshire Cat. Wonderland and Arcadia (the realm of the Fae) are akin to how, say, Europe and Asia are in the mundane world. Close to each other but two separate places, though Arcadia was born out of the collective dream of humanity’s fears and wonder of magic and the unknown, while Wonderland was born of the dreams of people under the influence of things like opium, hashish, and (presently) LSD and other hallucinogenic drugs. Explains a lot really.\n\nStill, given Dawn’s own ties to the dream-worlds she’s able to travel them at will and, as she said, Stephy was dreaming loudly, whatever that means, either way it let her lock onto his dreams and follow him here on the off-chance he was having one that was fun to watch.\n\nSammi frowns as he looks at Dawn, \"Oh, great, Wonderland kitty…\" he grumbles, huffing a bit. Despite being basically cousins a lot of fae and wonderland types considered themselves to be in rivalry of some sort, \"Can you claw us open a door out? We're not exactly on vacation here in the Hedge...\"\n\nDawn blinks, then glances out into the thorns, \"Oh, we're actually in the hedge huh? Thought this one seemed pretty solid...\" she comments, tilting her head. \"Weeell... I could... but all I can really do is drop us into someone else's dreamscape. Can't promise it'll be any better.\" she nods, reaching out a hand and extending her claws... which keep growing well past their usual length as they take on a strange iridescent sheen that's reflected in the cat's eyes. \"Hang on... hang on... just gotta find a gap...\" she mrowls... then her claws seem to hook something in the air infront of them, pulling downwards, \"Alright, I got someone... can't tell who though.\" she nods, the air splitting in half like a seam torn in cloth, showing a deep blackness ahead of them.\n\nSammi shakes his head, \"Right now near anything is better, trust me.\" he nods firmly, waiting for the seam to get ripped before taking Stephy's hand, \"Stay close, ok? This magic is very dangerous and stupid in most cases.\" he warns, shooting a look at Dawn before hopping in.\n\nDawn just grins, then follows the two boys... The world shifts and warps around them, twisting in on itself in impossible ways until they finally touch down. Stephy lands with an off on his rump, getting up and dusting himself off as Dawn lands nimbly on all fours in a very cat-like manner.\n\nSammi blinks as he looks around slowly, \"So where are we?\" he asks, looking around a large dark room. Soon enough, light comes in as things come into focus. Franklin Fullmoon suddenly came wheeling past, knocked through the group as if he'd been hit by a runaway truck. There was a low laugh from the distance as Drusilla comes into focus as well, cracking her knuckles angrily. \"Not so tough now, are you?\" she sneers, punching him again and sending him flying backwards. Meanwhile, in her bed, the young cyclops was grinning happily as she snuggled into the sheets.\n\nDawn sniffs a bit, \"Old leather, greek wine... and the cyclops is a bit of a hint. We're in Drusilla's dreams.\" she nods sagely, grinning as she watches the girl's dream-self give a disarmed Franklin a sound thrashing. \"Wooo! Go for the teeth!\" she cheers, egging her on as Stephy nods, \"Well... at least its safer here.\" he giggles, not taking the same level of schaudenfreude that Dawn is out of seeing the old man getting the snot kicked out of him, but still finding it enjoyable to watch the super-strong cyclops doing what she loves.\n\nFranklin gets to his feet and tries to fight her, but no matter what he does he seems almost helpless without the Mundane Blade, unable to dodge Drusilla's fists and moving less like the confident warrior they encountered before and more like a geriatric old man as Drusilla dreams of giving him a sound thrashing, the cyclops apparently reveling in the recent discovery of her immunity to the magic-eating powers of Franklin's sword. She’s close enough to being a mundane in that she only has superhuman strength (which isn’t magic enough for the sword to steal) that, at least to her, it’s just a normal sword. Despite Arja’s divine heritage, Nelen’s infernal magic, and all the other outlandish abilities her companions have she is the only one in the group who can actually fight Franklin Fullmoon head on so long as he wields the sword.\n\nSammi chuckles a bit, having no clue who the old man was, or the cyclops even.\"Well then...\" he smirks, \"Friend of yours?\" he laughs again as Drusilla hurls the dream Franklin into the wall harshly. \"I like her, not sure why she's beating an old man up, but hey, we all gotta have hobbies. Come on, every dream world is connected to Arcadia, if we can find the gate to the fae realms proper I can have some breathing room and get us all home nice and easy peasy.\" he nods, looking around the room, now fully in focus. It was a massive Greek style temple, the statue at the center was some huge cyclops covered in animal hides wielding an axe, obviously one of their gods.\n\nStephy nods, \"Well... it's a long story, but yeah. Drusilla is kinda Nelen's girlfriend and a super-strong cyclops.\" he explains as Dawn feels around for another tear, \"As for the old man... that's my grandfather Franklin Fullmoon and... I'm guessing this dream is what Drusilla wants to do to him after what he did when we got back from Texas.\" he nods, his voice getting a bit distant as he remembers that night. The group returning from Hanuman's Temple with Simoni and Arja practically clinging to each other, and not in their usual 'lets go downstairs and have [i]fun[/i]' way, Lupe stumbling in after them as she still tried to walk on all fours despite being human. The girls locking themselves in their room as Nelen told Natasha, Trixie, and himself about what had happened...\n\n\"Yeah, he deserves that.\" he nods firmly as Franklin's head is smashed into the ground over and over until his teeth start coming out, the old man making cartoonishly sterotypical 'old man' noises as she does. \"Agh! You whippersnapper! When I get mah cane I'll... I'll... ack mah hip!\" he gasps out in a very un-Franklin voice.\n\n\"Hey, faerie and fairy, I found one.\" calls Dawn, pulling on the walls of Drusilla's dream until another gap opens up.\n\nSammi nods, \"Well then, rock on one eye.\" he giggles, making his way to Dawn, \"Good job kitty. Now I'm not exactly one-hundred-per-cent if this'll go to another dream or right to Arcadia or whatever, it's kinda... a cloud more than a web, ya know? Fae magic is kinda chaotic. If we can find a changeling dream then I know for sure we can get there, but with the more mundane things... or mundane as a Cyclops can be... the path gets hazy. Regardless, unless you wanna be figments of your friend's dream forever, through we go!\" he says, hopping through the gap.\n\nThe world inverts itself as they pass through the haze of the collective subconscious, this time landing with a thump on what feels like a hardwood floor. As the dream sharpens around them they find themselves in what appears to be some kind of bar like you might see in a small town, well out of the way of any major roads. The bar is empty save for two stools at the bar itself. Seated in one is Nelen, in his usual jeans, teeshirt, and hat... Seated in the other is a man made entirely of bloody liquid, fangs jutting out of his head to make a crown-like shape. Nelen is drinking straight from a bottle as the other creature dips it's finger into a glass of whiskey, the liquid being absorbed right into it's body.\n\n\"I'm just saying if leperechauns want to keep people from finding their gold they need to stop hiding it in rainbows.\" says Nelen, his companion hissing out a response. \"Yeah yeah, traditional I know, but that doesn't mean it's smart! I mean when they're using it in cereal commercials it's pretty common knowledge.\" he retorts.\n\nTheir next stop is apparently Nelen’s dreamscape, the warlock/blood mage having what appears to be some sort of debate about supernatural beings with Merihim, the demonic being who lives inside his bloodstream and grants him his powers. Apparently the two are sharing a drink in what appears to be an empty bar while they go back and forth on the merits of various aspects of the supernatural world.\n\nSammi blinks a bit as he looks around the bar area, looking at Nelen and his bloody friend, \"Well then...\" he says simply, shaking his head, \"Wish I could say that's the weirdest thing I've seen this week but hey, fae magic is fun.\" he grins, looking around some more before his eyes are drawn to the jukebox, \"Score!\" he giggles, walking over and pushing the large machine to the side like a swinging door to reveal a large doorway of shimmering silver liquid like mercury... \"See kitty, this is how actual fae do things, we blend INTO dreams, we don't just rip things out.\" he grins.\n\nDawn shrugs, \"Thats why I had to save your ass from those hobgoblins?\" she smirks, following him through the doorway he created as Stephy glances at Merihim, the pair seeming to not even notice the group. Merihim hisses at Nelen, who replies, \"Oh don't even start! Every time we get going about wendigo you go on and on and on... its not like I knew they were immune to you! They don't look undead!\" he shouts as Dawn glances at them, \"Best just leave them to it, this can go on for a while.\" she sighs, rolling her eyes, “He is such a geek sometimes…”\n\nSammi chuckles, \"They're cute together.\" he teases, hip bumping Stephy through the door before hopping through, the jukebox swinging shut silently behind them, leaving no trace of fae intrusion. The group would walk out of the shimmering metal liquid quick enough, nothing staying on them of course, standing in the middle of a huge open air bazaar. \"Ah crap, Goblin Market...\" he huffs, looking around, \"Where are we exactly?\" he says, climbing on Stephy to get leverage to look over the crowd. It was a huge crowd, too, fae of all kinds walking around the market area, carts and wagons and tents set up all around them with hawkers selling everything from genuine magic items to more... fae... things such as one man's booth with bottles of assorted colored vapor, each labeled things like 'a child's laughter' 'the memory of loss' and 'true love's first spark'. \"It's a traveling market, dream gates tend to latch onto touchstones like this, gotta figure out who's domain we're in before we can keep going...” explains the fae boy.\n\nDawn nods, sniffing around, \"Yeah, I may not have the kind of soul they'd be interested in, but I sure as hell don't want to wind up on the market as some exotic pet.\" she replies as Stephy protests Sammi climbing up onto his shoulders, wincing under his weight.\n\nSammi frowns at Stephy, \"Hey I'm not fat…\" he pouts a bit vainly before looking around. \"Let's see, roses, shit like deer and rabbits walking around freely, obviously a nature fae...\" the domains of Arcadia were, arguably, much more dangerous than the Hedge proper. Sure the Hedge had roving monsters and goblins and thorns that literally tore your soul apart, but those were overt threats. Once you got in you were in a viper's nest of constant conflicting agendas and viewpoints. In some domains slavery was legal, in others picking fruit was a capital offense. \"I think I see a castle over there…\" Sammi points in the direction of one of the walls, \"Get me closer, if I can see the banners I can probably identify it.\" Really it was a pretty nice place, bright sun but a cool breeze, the smell of flowers in the air, birds singing, very much the view of 'fairy realm' many would hold...\n\nThe group has come out in a potentially dangerous place this time. Goblin markets are where the fae, hobgoblins, and other dream-creatures buy, sell, and trade various things. From fruits that grow in the hedge to magical trinkets and knick knacks, to things that couldn’t even begin to make sense to a non-fae mind like a book containing the smell of the first day of spring, or a bottle full of the memories of a dying man, or the pinfeathers from a human being’s wing, or a perfume bottle filled with the compassion of a Conservative Republican.\n\nMore distressingly, the markets are where human captives are bought and sold, the marketers often rounding up the odd mundane who stumbles into the hedge through chance or accident (like walking through the gates of an old graveyard just as the moon turns full on the solstice or whistling a certain rhyme they heard from their grandmother as they head downstairs into her basement). The oddest things can result in some hapless mortal accidentally doing just the right thing in just the right place and winding up trapped in a world of magic, dreams, and madness.\n\nIt happened a lot more often than you’d think really.\n\nStephy grumbles, then starts to shift under the boy as he changes his arms and legs into black raven wings and talons, lifting off into the air as Dawn shouts, \"Hey! Wait for me!\" and teleports above them, landing in Sammi's lap in her fully animal form. Stephy glides over the crowds, getting as close as he dares to the castle until Sammi can identify their location.\n\nSammi nods, peering over the walls as he looks at the flag near the castle. \"Let's see, who are you... pale blue background, golden border... white... FUCK! GO GO GO GO!\" he says, squeezing Stephy's shoulders tightly with his legs like he was a horse, \"Get us away NOW!\"\n\nStephy yelps, then quickly banks away from it, putting the castle to his back as he whistles up enough wind to propel them quickly forward, \"What?! What is it?!\" he yelps as Dawn moves to stand up in Sammi's lap, putting her forepaws on his shoulder as she looks behind them, \"Um... guys? I think something saw us...\" she says, her ears folding and her tail fluffing out. As she says this Stephy suddenly finds it harder and harder to gain altitude, the raven-boy swooping lower and lower until he’s practically touching the ground.\n\nSammi blinks as he looks back, closing his eyes tight as he sees a large golden carriage being pulled by a small group of massive white horses with ice blue manes and hooves, making its way rather calmly over to the group as Sammi sighs loudly, \"Craaaaaaaaaap I hate this week!\" he whines, rubbing his head, \"Ok, just stay behind me...\" he sighs, sliding off Stephy's shoulders and putting Dawn on the other boy's head. Despite the boy's obvious blend of fear and anger at this, this really hardly looked like some looming doom.\n\nStephy banks downwards, landing in a clearing as Sammi dismounts him, Dawn hopping down and changing back into her half human form. Stephy stays transformed out of fear and a desire for some form of self-defense, even if it would be useless against one of the true fae. \"So, um... on a scale of one to ten, how screwed are we?\" he whispers to Dawn. \"... about eighty seven.\" she replies.\n\nSammi sighs loudly as the cart comes to a stop in front of them, the driver was a tall, scrawny figure with white skin and long, shiny, hair made of pure ice it seems. He's dressed in a blue and gold suit looking like it was from the late sixteenth century. He simply nods to the group as he hops off the front, opening the side door of the cart. \n\nIn a moment a tall, pale young woman steps out, looking to be in her early twenties, her body covered by shiny white and silver robes that sparkle in the bright sun as she walks over. Her hair is long and white behind her in a braid that reached down to her lower back, and her eyes were jet black... With a rather glum sigh, Sammi bends at the waist as she walks out, mumbling a clearly upset, \"Bonjour grand-mere…\" as the woman smiles to them.\n\nStephy blinks, relaxing a bit as he tries to work out what he just said. His french isn't very good. but he mouths out 'grandmother?' as Dawn just raises her eyebrow, though still idly feeling around behind her with her claw as she tries to wiggle a way through the dreamscape just incase.\n\nThe trio has landed themselves in what is possibly one of the worst situations to be in when one is in the Hedge. Very very close to Arcadia and in the presence of one of the True Fae. Despite her seemingly normal appearance this is a woman of incredible magical power and skill, in a land that conforms to her wishes. Should she want to she could blanket the entire area in a blizzard that would prevent the group from going anywhere she didn’t specifically want them to. The only possible way out for them is that Sammi knows her. Shes his grandmother.\n\nSammi huffs loudly as the woman motions for him to stand back up, smiling as she looks to the group slowly, eyes moving on each of them slowly before she looks back to him. \"You should have written if you were coming.\" she scolds playfully in a soft, rather pleasant, voice. \"I would have sent a cart for you and your friends at the hedge...\" \n\nSammi frowns at that, crossing his arms, \"Your hobgolbins weren't a warm enough welcome huh?\" he replies angrily as she just smiles, motioning for the cart, \"A grandmother has to take measures to be sure her family comes home sometimes...\"\n\nStephy blushes, stepping back a bit. She seems friendly enough, but he can feel the magic crystalizing like frost around her. This woman is practically a demigod here, powerful enough to freeze the entire kingdom at a whim. Dawn seems to notice it too, smiling nervously as her claw works frantically behind her, unable to feel any seams or places it can catch. It doesn’t seem to matter though, the moment she gestures to the cart they find themselves practically pulled towards it, even as Dawn’s claws wiggle frantically behind her trying to catch at even the smallest tear in the ‘reality’ of the place.\n\nSammi rolls his eyes as he walks in after them, \"Forgive my grandmother, a few centuries of being worshiped and she forgets what proper ways to greet people are.\" he says as the woman smiles still, patting Dawn's head lightly, her hand as cold as ice as she pets the girl, \"No no, naughty kitty, no clawing.\" she coos softly, it was clear in her presence she was the only one who could control the reality of her realm. \"So, just who are you two dears?\" she asks as the cart makes its way back to the castle, \"You must be starving.\"\n\nDawn winces, frost forming on her fur as she reluctantly sinks her claw back down. She should've known it wouldn't work around her. Stephy blinks and almost says that he is a bit hungry before Dawn pokes him in the rear with her claw and says, \"Oh I'm Dusk and he's Suzie.\" she replies, \"And thank you but we both ate before we got here. Big meal, huge meal, couldn't possibly fit any more in.\" she nods, glancing at Stephy as the boy blushes. Her motherly tone seems to work its way past his common sense into his hindbrain and make him lower his guard. He'd almost forgot two of the biggest rules about dealing with the fae. No true names and NEVER eat or drink anything they offer you.\n\nSammi nods, \"Yes, ever since your little 'invite' I've been more focused on trying to get out of here, and Suzie especially needs to go as soon as possible.\" he insists, the woman just smiling still \"Well fine I suppose, you can use my gate out... Suzie was it? How do you know my boy?\" she smiles as she reaches into a small drawer attached to the front wall of the carriage, pulling out a small bag of what smells like mint candy. \"Are you sure?\" she asks, offering the sweet looking candy to the pair of guests as Sammi rolls his eyes, reaching in to grab one. Fae magic was, ironically, pretty non-incestuous, direct relations couldn't put the dangerous spells they could put on strangers on each other. \"Stop, seriously, they're under my protection, alright?\"\n\nStephy squirms, the smell wafting to his nose and making his mouth water. He blushes, he doesn't even like mint, but it'd be so rude, and then he jumps and eeps as Dawn pokes him in the backside with her claw again, \"No, thank you, we're fine.\" she nods. Her race is from Wonderland, a land of insanity where logic spends it's time curled up in the corner crying, and it makes her very resistant to any form of mind control or similar abilities. Even a true fae can't wrap their glamour around her squirming brain.\n\nSammi nods to Dawn, giving her a little look that says 'watch him carefully' just before his grandmother sets the candy down, only to scoop Stephy up and place him in her lap! \"Look at this one!\" she coos happily. To her 'credit' she wasn't using overt mind control, Sammi and Dawn would be able to sense that, but just her presence would be enough to lower people's guard (the non-fae and wonderland types at least. Thankfully two out of three of the group was smart enough for her to have the exact opposite effect on them). \"This is just adorable! I just knew you'd find a cute little thing to bring home one day...\"\n\nStephy blushes, wanting to push away or squirm free, but finding he just can't quite convince himself to. He tries to talk, but his throat feels suddenly dry, the boy feeling like a helpless toddler next to the older woman. \"I... ah...\" he stammers, Dawn's fur arching on her back as he gets grabbed. She tries to teleport to him, tries to snatch him away but the air around her remains stubbornly solid, the fae's presence cancelling out that power at least.\n\nSammi sighs angrily, \"He's not 'being brought home' grandmother.\" though he doesn't really correct the 'found a cute thing' part. The cart would arrive at the castle after a moment, the massive gate opening up to reveal the lavish interior area. \"Can you go fetch the gate keeper then, grandmother?\" he asks as he walks in, rather protectively grabbing Stephy and yanking him by the arm away from his grandmother's reach. The woman just nods, ruffling Sammi's hair like a doting parent, \"I'll be right back, feel free to make yourself at home.\"\n\nStephy blinks a few times as she walks off, then shakes his head as if coming out of a daze, \"Wuh... what happened?\" he mutters as Dawn huffs and rolls her eyes, the boy sounding punch-drunk. \"You let yourself get hit by her glamour, thats what happened.\" she grumbles, \"And now we're in the lair of one of the true fae with no way out until she decides to let us out.\" she frowns, \"Stupid freaking fairies... can't teleport, can't turn invisible, can't claw my way out...\" she grumbles, scratching at the brickwork on the castle out of frustration.\n\nSammi huffs as he shakes his head, \"Cool, welcome to every Changeling's world ever, we get dicked around by the true fae until they get bored.\" he says, rolling his shoulders a bit \"Or until we wiggle out, come on.\" he says, throwing a look to Stephy, \"You gonna be ok?\" he asks in a concerned tone.\n\nStephy blinks, then nods slowly, \"Um... yeah, yeah I think so...\" he replies in a small voice, blushing as he looks away. As scary as it was being enchanted by her he can't pretend it didn't feel very good at the same time. Dawn blinks, then winces, \"Oh crap in my box I forgot...\" she grumbles, inching over to Sammi as Stephy is distracted and whispering, \"Yeah, listen Mr. Fairy Princess, we may have a problem...\" she says into his ear, \"Stephy kinda... lost his real mother when he was still about five and he's got a real weakness for maternal types... your granny definitely fits that bill.\"\n\nSammi sighs, rubbing his head, \"Awesome, grandma's great at exploiting weakness...\" he sighs, \"Ok, Dawn, gonna need you to do a huge favor then. Me and Steph are gonna distract grandma, you go down the stairs there,\" he points to a stairwell leading into the castle’s basement, \"…take the left door, and knock on the right wall five times, we'll keep her far enough away for you to work your wonder junk on the gate and you SHOULD be able to get out home. Just get us a little help out of here when you do, kay? I'll hang back here and make sure he doesn't do anything dumb, him being all cute and easy to play with should keep her busy for a bit.\"\n\nDawn raises her eyebrow, \"Make sure he doesn't do anything dumb...\" she mutters, glancing at Stephy who's blushing and staring at the wall, remembering how it felt to be in her lap. \"... right, well it was nice knowing you two, I'll be sure to tell the gang that you're in a better place.\" she grins, then changes back into her cat form and darts away, moving like a streak down the stairs. A few long moments pass and Sammi can feel an odd tickle in the back of his mind as Dawn starts picking at the gate, managing to tweak it with her own fantastical nature into forgetting who the real lord (or lady rather) of the land was long enough for her to slip back through into the shared subconscious.\n\nSammi huffs, \"I swear if that cat doesn't get us out fast I'm gonna totally go all vengeful fae lord on her...\" he grumbles as he walks over to Stephy, putting his hands on the boy's shoulders, \"Hey, c’mon wake up.\" he smiles, then winces as the sound of the woman's high heels clacking on the stone floor comes from nearby. She was coming back!\n\nAs Sammi tries to keep Stephy from winding up bound to be his grandmother’s newest plaything Dawn frantically races through the collective subconscious of their home back in India, which is easier said than done. Between their group, Arja’s parents, and all the staff at the mansion there’s a lot of people dreaming right now. She can try to aim for what seem to be the bigger and brighter dreams, which would most likely be her companions, but it’s like hunting for a specific candle in a pea-soup fog.\n\nAfter some rushing around Dawn claws her way through to one of the dreamscapes, peeking her head out and seeing what looks like a bunch of crayon drawings of the rest of their group clustered around Lupe.\n\n\"Lupe! You so smart!\" cheers Nelen's doodle, his beard a bunch of straight lines drawn outwards from his face. \"Lupe best hunter! Lupe best alpha!\" adds Arja's drawing, her fangs a bunch of pointy things colored in with a gray crayon. Dawn winces, \"Ugh... yeah, not gonna recruit Special Fred today I thi-\" she pauses, her eyes bulging as she sees a rather fat doodle with a big orange blob for hair and a catlike tail waddling about, \"Dur, me so stupid. Lupe lots smarter than me!\" it babbles, the creature seeming incredibly clumsy as it keeps walking into and tripping over things.\n\nDawn's eye twitches as bears her teeth in a very wicked and evil grin, \"... I am going to mind-rape puppers into insanity...\" she hisses, then vanishes back into the hole and scampers down the pathway between minds.\n\nSammi smiles a bit as his grandmother walks to the pair, \"Hello boys.\" she says with a smile, \"So sorry, it seems I've having trouble finding the gatekeeper, you know goblins, so hard to find when work needs to be done.\" she smirks, laughing lightly as she pets Stephy's head softly, \"How about you two join me for supper and we can get to know each other, I assume Sammi doesn't talk much about me does he?\"\n\nStephy squirms, the icy chill barely registering to him as she teases him like he was just a small child, \"N-no Ma'am, he doesn't...\" he replies, finding he can't make himself lie, or even come up with a convincing lie in her presence. Though he's certainly not dressed for a meal, still in just his pink pajamas.\n\nDawn keeps going, picking another head at random as she claws her way in, this time looking into a vast dark space as Simoni runs frantically along a narrow path. Behind her, in close pursuit are several large figures, much larger than they are in reality. \n\n\"C'mon little birdy! I just wanna petcha!\" cackles Paale, his features exaggerated to show fang-like teeth and long grasping fingers. \"Whats the matter girl? Don'tcha wanna try your luck with me? Not even a little?\" sneers Coyote, his fangs reaching down past his chin and his eyes glowing a bloody red. \"Come now young lady, consider my offer? I can grant you protection, but the price will be dear...\" grins Mammon, his whole body seeming to be made out of gleaming gold as he strolls casually along after the fleeing girl. Simoni is in a blind panic as she runs from the nightmare creatures, the dream focused on her fear of encountering them without any magic to protect herself with.\n\nDawn winces, her ears folding, \"Yeesh... we gotta find a way to get that girl her mojo back faster...\" she mrowls, then vanishes back through her tear. She does feel bad about leaving Simoni, but she’s no good against something like that.\n\nSammi Montebank huffs a bit, \"Look, grandmother, there's no need to be so... forceful with him. I'll make a deal, but you have to back your powers off a bit.\" he frowns, the woman raising a brow, but chuckling faintly, \"Alright then…\" she says, moving her hand a bit as her aura of dominance fades just a bit, not going away entirely, but allowing Stephy's mind to get a bit less foggy. \"How about this, you miss me around so much... I'll come back, every so often, and I'll bring Suzie with me.\" he says, throwing Steph a little look to see how he reacted to that, \"But, you can't be sending goons to grab me into the Hedge anymore, and I'll put him under my protection here, you can't trick him with food or drink or whatever...\"\n\nStephy blinks, but still blushes, feeling that same attraction to the idea. She doesn't seem like the fae he'd read about. She seems so nice and friendly and motherly and maybe a bit lonely, \"Um... that sounds good to me.\" he nods, blushing still as he glances shyly at her.\n\nDawn rips open another hole with a drawn-out sigh, then blinks as she finds herself inside a movie theater. The projector starts and the screen lights up, showing a handsome Indian man in a tuxedo holding a shiny black handgun. The narrator's voice saying, \"Coming this Fall in theaters everywhere. Rajesh Barjar is... Secret Agent Raj!\"\n\nDawn blinks slowly, \"Arja's dad?\" she says in a confused tone, \"The man is a friggin’ diplomat and lives in a mansion full of supernatural creatures! Why would he want to trade that to be in a Bollywood movie?!\" she yowls, then grumbles and claws her way back out, \"Wish I could map this freaking place...\" she grumbles.\n\nSammi nods \"So, fair deal right? I visit more, bring my friend, but you can't pull some bullshit 'muahahaha now you can never leave' trap and no more abductions. Seems we both get what we want, right?\" he asks, reaching to his pocket for a thorn he tore off the hedge to use as a makeshift weapon when he first got pulled in. \"Contract?\" he asks slicing along his palm to expose his silvery streaked blood, offering the thorn to her.\n\nHis grandmother seems to consider the deal, looking at the thorn and thinking before nodding, slicing her own palm and shaking Sammi's hand, \"Contract, he'll be treated as if he was blood to me in my domain, no harm shall fall him or my wrath will be invoked, and I will not abduct you without warning again.\" she agrees, shaking his hand, \"You make a good fae you know…\" she smirks lightly as Sammi rolls his eyes, taking his fully healed hand back. \"Yaaaaay…\" he says sarcastically. With a slight ripple of glamour, Stephy would feel the entire domain adjust to accommodate him. He wouldn't be affected by the woman's aura anymore even if she tried.\n\nStephy blinks and stumbles, shaking his head as the effects of her glamour fade on him. \"Gah...\" he gasps, rubbing at his temples and blinking, then blushing up at her. She still has that same motherly aura, even without the glamour backing it up, but its not as overwhelming now.\n\nDawn claws through another dreamscape and peeks her head in, and sees Nelen and Merihim watching the TV in the bar which, for some bizarre reason, is playing an episode of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. Nelen and Merihim seem to have gotten through a good chunk of the booze by now, and Nelen points at the screen, looking to his bloody companion. \"Yanno... yanno Rainbow Dash totally wants to pork Pinkie Pie right?\" he slurs.\n\nDawn earflicks, then says, \"... not even gonna try to figure that out...\" and vanishes back through the hole.\n\nSammi smiles to Stephy, \"Feeling better?\" he asks as his grandmother laughs softly, leading the two to the dining room, \"Well then, now that's settled, what's your actual name young man?\" she smirks knowingly, butlers much like the ice haired man coming out with trays of fresh fruit and veggies, setting them out on the table around the group.\n\nHe blushes, but if she made the contract with Sammi it should be alright shouldn't it? \"Um... Stephen, but I go by Stephy most of the time ma'am...\" he replies shyly, the boy fidgiting in his pajamas, his bare feet cold against the stone floor of the castle.\n\nDawn gasps as she pokes her head out through another hole in the dream realm, looking around as she finds herself in Arja's dreamscape this time. It seemed Arja was dreaming of Franklin as well, though hers was a bit more dramatic. She and an army of her kin were laying siege to castle Fullmoon, waves of iron clawed monkeys climbing the walls and clashing with the soldiers as Arja wades through the battle, dressed in full body gold and red armor swinging a flaming sword at any soldier that gets in her way. Clearly her fury at the deaths of her relatives the damage to the temple was still burning brightly even if her magic was not.\n\nDawn raises her eyebrow at the battlefield, then nods, \"Huh, wish she could share some of that rawr with Simoni, girl sure needs it right now.\" she sighs, then ducks back away, \"Can't pull her away from that, she gets way too single-minded when she's in that sort of mood...\" she nods, finding another soft spot and clawing it open... then taking a breath. Leather, cactus flowers, and... cow pies? \"Bingo...\" she grins.\n\nBack in Arcadia Sammi’s grandmother giggles lightly at Stephy, \"So cute…\" she coos, \"I always knew he liked other boys like him but you're far too precious to be expected.\" she smiles, \"Would you like some fresh clothes?\"\n\nStephy nods shyly, \"Y-yes please...\" he replies, feeling rather awkward being in just his pjs around someone like her. He blushes at Sammi, but then he's not used to the idea of a parent who'd be so calm about that sort of thing.\n\nShe smiles, \"If you'd like, you look about Sammi's size, he can get you dressed in something nicer if you like.\" she smiles as Sammi nods, hopping up, blushing just a little bit before patting Stephy's shoulder, \"Come on then…\" he sighs, leading the boy up the stairs nearby to his massive bedroom in the palace.\n\nMeanwhile in the dream Trixie was busy having fun playing wild west gunslinger, beating yet another black hat wearing crook in a quick draw as the lovely saloon girl Stephy fawns over her. Seems that Trixie dreams in John Wayne style.\n\nDawn raises her eyebrow at that, wondering how she'll get Trixie to follow her. Stephy was already in the hedge, but Trixie will still be in her own dream until she can get her to Arcadia. \"Hmm...\" she smirks, then snaps her fingers. As the black hat hits the floor Trixie hears a cackling sound as she turns to see 'Stephy' in the clutches of a rather feline looking girl in black leather pants, a tight black shirt, and her own black cowboy hat. \"Ya'll got a good trigger finger Tex, but ya don't dare shoot when I've got yer girl!\" she grins, pushing open the door and dashing across the street with 'Stephy' wailing and calling for 'Tex' to come save 'her'.\n\nTrixie huffs angrily at the fleeing catgirl, \"Dammit Dawn!\" she curses as she runs after the cat, the feline working her way into her dream to keep her from realizing what was going on until she could be guided to Arcadia. If she realized that she was in a dream it could unravel it, or even wake her up.\n\nMeanwhile, the real Stephy follows Sammi up to his bedroom, feeling a bit worried. \"So, um... she's not just gonna let us go that easy is she?\" he asks Sammi now that they're out of earshot of his grandmother.\n\nSammi sighs, \"She won't but at least she can't manipulate you... well she can, but just in the normal ways rather than in the whole 'forever giving your soul to her' way...\" he explains, opening his closet up to reveal a large wardrobe of both normal boys clothes (albet a couple hundred years out of style) but a good bit were also girl's clothes to. It seems Sammi was always fae in more than just species. \"Take your pick, my house is your house I suppose.\"\n\nStephy blinks, then a few minutes later he's wearing a rather exquisite pink satin gown with puff sleeves, a low ruffled neckline, and a long full-length skirt, along with elbow-length satin gloves and pink satin slippers. Despite the whole 'we're trapped with the fairies' deal he's having a hard time not letting out an excited squee at the outfit.\n\nDawn just laughs at Trixie, running into an inn across the way from the saloon and looking around, \"Grr... can't just claw her through, gotta find a hole...\" she looks upstairs, then grins and darts towards one of the hotel doors, pushing it open and diving through with Trixie in hot pursuit.\n\nSammi grins softly, \"You do look cute. Look, my grandmother can't keep us here for a long time. If we just insist on leaving enough she can't MAKE you stay and use that as leverage on me, so don't worry too much. She's a manipulative old bitch but even for the true fae breaking a contract, especially one with kin, is a capital issue.\"\n\nTrixie comes chasing right behind Dawn, jumping through the door as well, \"I'm gonna toss ya in the swimmin pool, cat!\"\n\nStephy blushes, \"I dunno, I mean... she just seems lonely. Is it really that bad visiting her?\" he asks. Stephy was very close to his mother though, all the way up until the pneumonia took her... it seems he really misses having a mother-figure in his life.\n\nAs soon as Trixie comes through she finds that she's not in an old timey western town, but the basement of some large castle. The minute she's through Dawn clamps her hand over the girl's mouth and whispers, \"Be quiet and listen, Stephy is in deep shit.\" she hisses, then whispers a summary of what's happened into her ear.\n\nSammi actually pauses at that, he legitimately never thought about that as a possible motivation. His grandmother was manipulative, and like all true fae she had a problem with the whole 'empathy' thing, but it was true everything she did to him always wound up as 'I want you to come home'. \"Her daughter, my mom... she passed away recently…\" he says in a softer voice, \"My father, he's a good guy but he never had any desire to be part of the fae, mom made her promise not to try to drag him in and all...\" he adds, going through the family list in his head... mortal, mortal, changeling like him who doesn't want to set foot in Arcadia, mortal, dead. \"...Huh.\"\n\nTrixie blinks a bit as she looks around, frowning as she hears the explanation, \"So... a fairy queen kidnapped my boyfriend and his... whatever his deal with Sammi is... and this is actually happenin’?\" she asks.\n\nStephy blushes, \"I dunno, I mean the fae aren't supposed to have souls and empathy and such... but... I just get this sort of feeling that she just wants to be a mother for someone.\" he shrugs, glancing down the stairs. \"Um, she's probably waiting for us.\" he nods.\n\nDawn nods in reply to Trixie, \"Yeah, frenchy sent me to bring some backup and, well, half the old stories about the fae involve 'winning' your freedom, so why not someone with supernatural gambling abilities?\" she shrugs, her tail swishing behind her now that she's naked again. The dream-Stephy and her outfit had vanished the moment she left Trixie's dreamscape.\n\nSammi nods, walking down the stairs with Stephy, looking like he was mulling some things over before, when they get down to the dining room again he walks over to his grandmother's chair, looking at her. \"Do you love me... can you... do that? Did you love mom? I really need to know if this is some fucked up game for you or like, if this is the only way your mind can get to 'I want my family around me'...\" he asks her.\n\nThere was a pretty long pause there before she reaches out to put her arms around Sammi, pulling him close to her, \"Ice is very cold, Samuel, and it can kill very easy... but it's also incredibly fragile... and when it melts, it can never be the same again. Ice must be very strong, or it will have nothing...\" she replies, Sammi just sighs softly at that and patting her back gently, \"Yea... well... you have me, ok? So... yea…\" he manages to get out, clearly awkward at this level of emotional connection, especially to someone he saw as an enemy just an hour ago.\n\n\"Uh...\" Trixie blinks in confusion as she walks in on the scene, \"So... this is the big scary fae I'm savin' people from...\" she asks, looking to Dawn like she's crazy.\n\nDawn [u]is[/u] crazy, but that’s beside the point. Her eye twitches, then she walks into the room and stares at Sammi, \"Um, hey. Frenchy Frou Frou Fairyboy?\" she grins, the kind of grin that says 'see these big sharp teeth? I have these, remember?'. \"I believe your words were 'get us a little help out of here when you do, kay?'.\" she says, perfectly mimicing Sammi's voice when she does, \"Well, I brought the cavalry, but it seems I brought them to something akin to an episode of Care Bears where the big bad villianess just needed a hug.\" she says, \"I've been tearing around the subconscious, literally, for a good half hour now and it turns out that it would've been just fine if I just woke myself up and went to raid the fridge?!\" she yowls, glaring at Sammi as Stephy blushes bright pink, seeing Trixie there with a look of confusion on her face, \"Um... Hi Trixie... Like my dress?\" he asks in a bemused tone.\n\nSammi huffs at Dawn, breaking the hug at her outburst. \"Well excuse me, like ten minutes ago I thought her whole 'I want you to stay' thing was gonna end with me as an ice statue or something! I mean... shit no offense grandmother but it's not like the True Fae usually have motivations beyond power and their own crazy schemes, I kinda didn't...\" his voice trails off at that, looking down, \"Yeah... Sorry Dawn.\"\n\nTrixie though, smirks approvingly at Stephy, \"You gonna wear that home, cutie?\" she asks, eyeing him in the pink ballgown.\n\nStephy blushes in response, \"Um, well, if she doesn't mind...\" he says, glancing to the fae queen as Dawn flails her arms around, looking furious.\n\n\"RIGHT!\" she growls, \"Right! Thats it! I'm out!\" she nods, reaching into thin air and pulling out what appears to be an alarm clock. She winds it several times, then tosses it into the air where it arcs and lands directly between her ears. There's a loud CLANG and she vanishes in a burst of confetti, the clock clattering to the ground.\n\nBack in India Dawn sits up on the couch with an irritated look on her face and stomps her way down the hall to the kitchen, her tail thrashing angrily behind her. \"Gods help 'em if there's no salmon...\" she hisses. As she storms down there Lupe yawns and peeks her head out of Natasha's doorway. \"Why cat so mad?\" she asks sleepily.\n\nDawn glares at her, her eyes flashing bright yellow, and Lupe yelps loudly and falls backwards, her hands clamped over her he temples. \"Not fat 'n stupid...\" she grumbles as she storms off.\n\nBack in Arcadia, Sammi chuckles a bit as the woman nods, \"Take it, enjoy.\" she says, smiling a bit more genuinely now as she rests a hand on Sammi's head lightly, \"Hey, I was thinking…\" he says, \"I mean what with this deal and all, may be easier if I, ya know, took a break from shows for a bit and... I dunno... stuck near you guys in India... so it's easier for us to meet up to pop in here every so often and all I mean...\"\n\nStephy nods, \"Hm... well, we could use the extra magical backup after what happened to Arja and Simoni...\" he says, then notices Sammi's blank expression, \"Um... I'll explain later.\" he adds, not wanting to bring up something like the mundane blade infront of a woman for whom just being in a mundane world can be toxic. \"Though, you might wanna give it a few days before you arrive in the mundane world, I mean... Dawn is pretty angry and she can hold a grudge...\"\n\nBack in India Dawn is chomping away on a whole raw fish, a carp rather than a salmon however, as Lupe whines and paws at her leg. Right now the 'Song That Never Ends' as sung by Alvin and the Chipmunks is playing in the werewolf's head on repeat, \"Caaaat... make stoooooop...\" she whimpers, \"What Lupe dooooo?\" she whines. \"You know damn well what you did.\" replies Dawn angrily.\n\nSammi smirks, \"Yea, I think it's ok if I stay here a day or two anyway.\" he says, the woman nodding approvingly before waving her hand, a door nearby opening up as a short, hunched, old goblin man shuffles out of it, a heavy key ring on his hip as he squints at the group, \"These who I'm lettin' go?\" he asks in a raspy voice, the woman just nodding again as he motions the group to follow.\n\nStephy gets to his feet, then hesitates, \"Um... actually, maybe just Trixie?\" he blushes, \"I mean, I don't mind staying for another day... if thats alright.\" he nods, glancing at Trixie. She knows about what happened to his mother, he told her a while back.\n\nTrixie smiles, kissing the boy's cheek, \"Take all the time you need hun,\" she says with a nod, rubbing his back \"Better come home with a suitcase fulla dresses though!\" she giggles as the goblin just lets out a grunt of annoyance, \"Just one to go, then? Lovely, what every palace needs, as many children as possible running around it...\" he grumbles as he leads Trixie back to the basement.\n\nStephy giggles and kisses back, then gives Trixie a quick hug before she goes.\n\nBack in Simoni's dreamscape she's still endlessly pursued by the distorted and enlarged monstrosities of the group's enemies, powerless and terrified. Unable to fly, unable to use magic, unable to do anything until she almost runs headlong into a monkey girl wearing shining armor standing next to what appears to be a tear in the atmosphere itself. Arja raises her weapon and lets out a battle cry in hindi as an army of her kin charge through, bearing down on the monsters that had been chasing her.\n\nNext to the bed Dawn watches as Simoni's expression relaxes, changing from panic and fear to a relaxed contentment as she scoots over in her sleep, snuggling into Arja. Dawn smirks a bit, then silently walks back out into the hall, closing the door behind her and completely ignoring Lupe who's whimpering and trying to cover her ears as the Chipmunk’s high-squeaky singing has been replaced by random episodes of Annoying Orange and Pewdiepie played across the insides of her eyeballs, over and over and over. “K-kill Lupe… just make stop…” she whines.\n\n\n","writing_bbcode_parsed":"This side story takes place approximately three weeks after the battle with Franklin Fullmoon at Hanuman's Temple in Part 16: The Mundane Blade.
Our story starts out a few weeks after Franklin’s attack on Hanuman’s Temple. Simoni and Arja still have yet to regain their magic and are dealing with their current mundane status as best as they can…
Its been three weeks since Franklin's siege on the temple and yet Arja and Simoni still haven't regained their magic. They can feel it, in a sense, but it's like a faint breeze (for Simoni) or a smoldering ember (for Arja), it's there... but they can't do anything with it. Lupe, on the other hand, is back to normal already. Nelen considered that it may be because she didn't actually attack Franklin head on, but rather just got close enough to the sword for it to drain her powers until Natasha pointed out that she was able to transform again the first night of the full moon. Lycanthropy for the win and all that.
Simoni is leaning against the window in the room she and Arja share, gazing up at the stars with clear longing in her eyes. She wants to fly again, she needs to... but she can't fly any more than any other twelve year old girl now...
Arja sighs a bit as she walks to Simoni, wrapping her arms around her from behind. She knew she was hurt badly by this in an entirely different way. Arja lost strength and fire, but Simoni lost her ability to fly through the air, that had to hurt in its own unique ways... "Come on back to bed, sweetie." she whispers softly, kissing the girl's cheek as she guides her away from the window.
Simoni nods to her, giving her hand a squeeze as she climbs back into bed with Arja, trying to will herself to sleep in the hopes that she'll somehow wake up with her powers restored...
Meanwhile, in the adjoining room, Stephy would be experience some very odd dreams in his own sound sleep... Dreams about Sammi... and not the normal 'questioning whether or not he likes boys' ones... his eyes darting around under their lids as he dreams about the young fae mage, Trixie in bed next to him but seeming to not notice how troubled his sleep is.
This dream was a good bit different than usual, Stephy was in what looked like a huge hedge maze, the green walls of plants covered in wicked thorn vines to keep him away from them. The maze was empty, but he would still have a very strong feeling of being watched regardless. This dream felt real, too, more real than even lucid dreaming. He could feel the cold wind around him, smell the damp soil...
In his dream he walks forward, the young raven witch-boy still in his pink silk pajamas as he stumbles through the brush, eyes darting around. He felt exposed out here, and scared too. Trixie, Nelen, Arja, Simoni... nobody else was around that he knew, but he knew someone was, he could practically hear them breathing. He'd considered transforming, trying to get airborne, but the canopy overhead was all thorns, some as long as his arm, and he couldn't hope to fly through it. He considered using some wind to try to flush out his stalker too... but he wasn't anywhere near as good at combat as Simoni is (or was, before her encounter with Franklin) and once his mysterious pursuer found him he couldn't be certain that he'd even be able to do more than frantically flee.
Stephy soon heard footsteps. Rapid, small, footsteps as someone runs around a nearby path. He wouldn't have much time to prep himself, sadly, as the sounds get louder and louder until someone comes running around the corner! Short, blond, girlish, dressed in flashy blue and white clothes... it was Sammi! The boy skidded to a stop he saw him, eyes going wide, "Stephy? Oh shit..."
Stephen ‘Stephy’ Fullmoon is having an odd dream indeed tonight. For those of you just joining us, Stephy is Simoni and Nelen’s cousin on their Mother’s side. He and his ‘girl’friend Trixie had joined up with Arja’s group of supernatural beings after Stephy’s father had died due to a sudden case of ‘tried to tackle Drusilla during an ambush’. Drusilla had rather messily dealt with her attacker, but the outcome had left him without either parent, his own mother having died from pneumonia when he was about five.
Stephy hadn’t been extremely broken up about losing his dad (suffice to say, the man was not the type to win ‘father of the year’ anytime soon), and the effeminate young boy was glad to have a chance to live somewhere that he could express his more feminine side.
Stephy almost looks relieved to see a familiar face, right up until he realizes that Sammi was running, and that if he was running in here it was almost certainly because he was running away. "Sammi? Whats going on?! Where are we?" he asks.
Sammi Montebank shakes his head, "Shit, I must have messed things up... this place messes with my magic so much..." he frowns, "I meant to send you a message, not yank you in here!" he whines in a scared tone before more footsteps are heard, this time multiple sets of feet, marching along the the path with the sound of heavy jangling armor like some kind of old military unit. "Crap, come on!" he gasps, grabbing Stephy's wrist and yanking him away.
Stephy eeps and stumbles, but manages to keep up as he and Sammi dart down through the thorny maze. "Message? Place? Sammi what's going on?!" he gasps out as he rushes after the boy. As he stays closer to Sammi however he begins to notice things, like why is he in a thorny maze in the first place? Why is he in his pajamas? How is he running barefoot without feeling any pain from the rocks and roots littering the path? "Wait... what... is this even real?" he asks in a confused way.
Sammi sighs as the sound passes into silence after a moment, "You're in the hedge, it's... man this is way too complicated to talk about now. It's real and it's not real, ok? This is like... the front gate of the fairie world, the barrier that keeps folks out... I tried to send you a message, to get you to get your friends working on how to open a door here and get me out but... well I guess the magic got twisted up..."
Stephy blinks, then looks around with wide panicked eyes, "Wait... I'm in the hedge?!" he yelps. Unlike his cousin he knew quite a bit about fae legends... he'd always liked fairy tales when he was little, but growing up a child of Clan Fullmoon he'd gotten a real education on the fair folk. He found out that the happy endings were always added later... and in the originals there was very very rarely such a thing as 'happily ever after'. "Why are we in the hedge? We gotta get out of here!" he whines, glancing back fearfully over his shoulder.
Stephy has good reason to panic. The fae, the True Fae Lords and Ladies of Arcadia (deserving of every capital letter I assure you) are known among the supernatural world as soulless (literally, its been tested) and incredibly powerful beings who see humans and their half-fae cousins like Sammi as little more than exotic pets, playthings, servants, and potential slaves. They have no empathy, no morals beyond their own ideas of right and wrong, and no feelings of guilt if one of their mortal captives gets ‘broken’. They’re powerful too, in their realm they’re practically gods in their own right, but they still follow some rules that can allow a clever or very very very lucky mortal to escape.
Never eat or drink anything they offer you, it will make you indebted to the fae. Never tell them your true name, it will give the fae power over you. Never insult the fae, they’re quick to offend and their wrath is, literally, the stuff of nightmares. A fae’s word is binding, a promise of safety will guarantee that… but the fae are more skilled at loopholes than even the most experienced of mundane lawyers and any contract with them will most certainly be twisted to their benefit.
Sammi frowns, "Oh, really, we have to go? Because I was gonna pull a tea set out of my ass and have a little nap. Yeah no shit we have to get out! Not to be selfish but I ESPECIALLY can't be here. The hedge... it's huge, like, it's a plane of reality all to itself, and just like every big area, it has some REALLY BAD neighborhoods. If I knew the way out I wouldn't have tried to send you a message saying 'get me out of here', would I? I've been in here for like..." he frowns, doing some mental math, time flowed very differently in the hedge, it required a little conversion for the real world, "A... week I wanna say? Give or take a day or so…" he nods in a slightly unsure tone of voice.
Stephy gapes at him, "A week? How... how are you..." he stammers, but then hears the footsteps behind them and decides to save his breath for running. Whatever is back there doesn't sound good. He can practically feel their pursuers now, as if they've started going faster themselves now that they realize their quarry has doubled.
Sammi sighs as he looks around, "Gotta just find a weak point…" he nods, looking at the hedge’s walls, "The hedge is porous and if you can find the... THERE!" he points to a small gap in the thorns, big enough for the two to crawl through if the plant matter of the hedge proper wasn't in the way, "Keep watch, it'll take a second…" he says as he holds his hand out, sending a stream of ice into the exposed greenery, causing it to wilt and shrivel away slowly.
Sammi is an ice mage, though his magic has fae origins as we’ll soon see. He himself is partially fae, though he doesn’t seem too happy about that aspect of himself at the moment as it’s quite possibly what allowed him to be drawn into the Hedge in the first place.
He and Stephy met when the young transvestite and Trixie had gone to one of Sammi’s magic shows, the young mage posing as a stage magician in the mundane world. Sammi had taken a liking to Trixie, mistaking her for a young man and Stephy’s boyfriend, and had offered them backstage passes to his show so he could flirt with ‘Tex’ (Trixie had lied to him about her name), causing Stephy to get jealous and lash out with his wind magic at Sammi.
The two had practically started a real magical brawl, Sammi’s ice against Stephy’s winds, if not for Nelen’s intervention. He and Drusilla had been nearby at a bookstore and he’d sensed the sudden buildup of magical energy, recognized Stephy’s, and managed to force his way in and separate the two before their magic wound up tearing the theater apart.
Despite their antagonistic start they had wound up becoming friends afterwards, Stephy and Sammi settling their little pissing contest by borrowing a gay bar to have a sort of drag show competition for Trixie, Arja, Simoni, and Dawn to see who could out-do the other. Nelen having stayed outside with the club’s owner during this for reasons of protecting his own sanity. The owner of the club is a supernatural in his own right, a fire-user who poses as a superhero calling himself ‘Captain Fabulous’ and fights against a psychic supervillain of an old man who’s dubbed himself the ‘Fundie-mentalist’.
… Texas is weird sometimes. Seriously, backwards politics can be the least of it.
Stephy glances back down the path as Sammi withers the thorns, seeing shapes in the distance but unable to make them out as he suddenly realizes he didn't fall asleep with his glasses on... which means he isn't wearing them... and by dream logic he suddenly remembers he's nearsighted as their assailants become blobbish shapes to his vision. He's not sure if he's upset about that however, from what he can make out he wishes he couldn't see them at all. "Sammi... hurry..." he whines, stumbling backwards towards the fae boy.
Sammi nods, focusing on his work until, finally, the hedge fully withers away, revealing a small dark hole "Come on, and careful with the thorns, they hurt like hell." he says urgently as he crawls through the hole carefully, trying to avoid the razor sharp spikes "This'll be safe for a bit until the maze shifts." he nods.
Stephy nods and quickly scrambles in next to the boy as the sound of feet thunders past, their pursuers heading up the path as they miss them vanishing into the thorns... He crouches down, being as careful as he can to not touch them... as a voice whispers behind the pair, "So, who're we hiding from?"
Stephy almost jumps up into the thorns from shock as two yellow eyes and a wide grin appear, followed by the familiar orange hair and brown fur of Dawn, "So whats the deal here sissyboy? You're dreaming so damn loud I could hear you all the way across the house." she smirks, making a small gesture with her hand as she conjures a pair of glasses for him out of the dreamstuff of the realm, handing them to Stephy as she glances over at Sammi, "Oh hey, isn't this that really fruity mage from Texas?" she blinks, then grins, "Ohhhh, I get it... its one of those dreams, so sorry to interrupt..." she snickers.
Dawn is a dream-being in her own right, being a Cheshire Cat. Wonderland and Arcadia (the realm of the Fae) are akin to how, say, Europe and Asia are in the mundane world. Close to each other but two separate places, though Arcadia was born out of the collective dream of humanity’s fears and wonder of magic and the unknown, while Wonderland was born of the dreams of people under the influence of things like opium, hashish, and (presently) LSD and other hallucinogenic drugs. Explains a lot really.
Still, given Dawn’s own ties to the dream-worlds she’s able to travel them at will and, as she said, Stephy was dreaming loudly, whatever that means, either way it let her lock onto his dreams and follow him here on the off-chance he was having one that was fun to watch.
Sammi frowns as he looks at Dawn, "Oh, great, Wonderland kitty…" he grumbles, huffing a bit. Despite being basically cousins a lot of fae and wonderland types considered themselves to be in rivalry of some sort, "Can you claw us open a door out? We're not exactly on vacation here in the Hedge..."
Dawn blinks, then glances out into the thorns, "Oh, we're actually in the hedge huh? Thought this one seemed pretty solid..." she comments, tilting her head. "Weeell... I could... but all I can really do is drop us into someone else's dreamscape. Can't promise it'll be any better." she nods, reaching out a hand and extending her claws... which keep growing well past their usual length as they take on a strange iridescent sheen that's reflected in the cat's eyes. "Hang on... hang on... just gotta find a gap..." she mrowls... then her claws seem to hook something in the air infront of them, pulling downwards, "Alright, I got someone... can't tell who though." she nods, the air splitting in half like a seam torn in cloth, showing a deep blackness ahead of them.
Sammi shakes his head, "Right now near anything is better, trust me." he nods firmly, waiting for the seam to get ripped before taking Stephy's hand, "Stay close, ok? This magic is very dangerous and stupid in most cases." he warns, shooting a look at Dawn before hopping in.
Dawn just grins, then follows the two boys... The world shifts and warps around them, twisting in on itself in impossible ways until they finally touch down. Stephy lands with an off on his rump, getting up and dusting himself off as Dawn lands nimbly on all fours in a very cat-like manner.
Sammi blinks as he looks around slowly, "So where are we?" he asks, looking around a large dark room. Soon enough, light comes in as things come into focus. Franklin Fullmoon suddenly came wheeling past, knocked through the group as if he'd been hit by a runaway truck. There was a low laugh from the distance as Drusilla comes into focus as well, cracking her knuckles angrily. "Not so tough now, are you?" she sneers, punching him again and sending him flying backwards. Meanwhile, in her bed, the young cyclops was grinning happily as she snuggled into the sheets.
Dawn sniffs a bit, "Old leather, greek wine... and the cyclops is a bit of a hint. We're in Drusilla's dreams." she nods sagely, grinning as she watches the girl's dream-self give a disarmed Franklin a sound thrashing. "Wooo! Go for the teeth!" she cheers, egging her on as Stephy nods, "Well... at least its safer here." he giggles, not taking the same level of schaudenfreude that Dawn is out of seeing the old man getting the snot kicked out of him, but still finding it enjoyable to watch the super-strong cyclops doing what she loves.
Franklin gets to his feet and tries to fight her, but no matter what he does he seems almost helpless without the Mundane Blade, unable to dodge Drusilla's fists and moving less like the confident warrior they encountered before and more like a geriatric old man as Drusilla dreams of giving him a sound thrashing, the cyclops apparently reveling in the recent discovery of her immunity to the magic-eating powers of Franklin's sword. She’s close enough to being a mundane in that she only has superhuman strength (which isn’t magic enough for the sword to steal) that, at least to her, it’s just a normal sword. Despite Arja’s divine heritage, Nelen’s infernal magic, and all the other outlandish abilities her companions have she is the only one in the group who can actually fight Franklin Fullmoon head on so long as he wields the sword.
Sammi chuckles a bit, having no clue who the old man was, or the cyclops even."Well then..." he smirks, "Friend of yours?" he laughs again as Drusilla hurls the dream Franklin into the wall harshly. "I like her, not sure why she's beating an old man up, but hey, we all gotta have hobbies. Come on, every dream world is connected to Arcadia, if we can find the gate to the fae realms proper I can have some breathing room and get us all home nice and easy peasy." he nods, looking around the room, now fully in focus. It was a massive Greek style temple, the statue at the center was some huge cyclops covered in animal hides wielding an axe, obviously one of their gods.
Stephy nods, "Well... it's a long story, but yeah. Drusilla is kinda Nelen's girlfriend and a super-strong cyclops." he explains as Dawn feels around for another tear, "As for the old man... that's my grandfather Franklin Fullmoon and... I'm guessing this dream is what Drusilla wants to do to him after what he did when we got back from Texas." he nods, his voice getting a bit distant as he remembers that night. The group returning from Hanuman's Temple with Simoni and Arja practically clinging to each other, and not in their usual 'lets go downstairs and have fun' way, Lupe stumbling in after them as she still tried to walk on all fours despite being human. The girls locking themselves in their room as Nelen told Natasha, Trixie, and himself about what had happened...
"Yeah, he deserves that." he nods firmly as Franklin's head is smashed into the ground over and over until his teeth start coming out, the old man making cartoonishly sterotypical 'old man' noises as she does. "Agh! You whippersnapper! When I get mah cane I'll... I'll... ack mah hip!" he gasps out in a very un-Franklin voice.
"Hey, faerie and fairy, I found one." calls Dawn, pulling on the walls of Drusilla's dream until another gap opens up.
Sammi nods, "Well then, rock on one eye." he giggles, making his way to Dawn, "Good job kitty. Now I'm not exactly one-hundred-per-cent if this'll go to another dream or right to Arcadia or whatever, it's kinda... a cloud more than a web, ya know? Fae magic is kinda chaotic. If we can find a changeling dream then I know for sure we can get there, but with the more mundane things... or mundane as a Cyclops can be... the path gets hazy. Regardless, unless you wanna be figments of your friend's dream forever, through we go!" he says, hopping through the gap.
The world inverts itself as they pass through the haze of the collective subconscious, this time landing with a thump on what feels like a hardwood floor. As the dream sharpens around them they find themselves in what appears to be some kind of bar like you might see in a small town, well out of the way of any major roads. The bar is empty save for two stools at the bar itself. Seated in one is Nelen, in his usual jeans, teeshirt, and hat... Seated in the other is a man made entirely of bloody liquid, fangs jutting out of his head to make a crown-like shape. Nelen is drinking straight from a bottle as the other creature dips it's finger into a glass of whiskey, the liquid being absorbed right into it's body.
"I'm just saying if leperechauns want to keep people from finding their gold they need to stop hiding it in rainbows." says Nelen, his companion hissing out a response. "Yeah yeah, traditional I know, but that doesn't mean it's smart! I mean when they're using it in cereal commercials it's pretty common knowledge." he retorts.
Their next stop is apparently Nelen’s dreamscape, the warlock/blood mage having what appears to be some sort of debate about supernatural beings with Merihim, the demonic being who lives inside his bloodstream and grants him his powers. Apparently the two are sharing a drink in what appears to be an empty bar while they go back and forth on the merits of various aspects of the supernatural world.
Sammi blinks a bit as he looks around the bar area, looking at Nelen and his bloody friend, "Well then..." he says simply, shaking his head, "Wish I could say that's the weirdest thing I've seen this week but hey, fae magic is fun." he grins, looking around some more before his eyes are drawn to the jukebox, "Score!" he giggles, walking over and pushing the large machine to the side like a swinging door to reveal a large doorway of shimmering silver liquid like mercury... "See kitty, this is how actual fae do things, we blend INTO dreams, we don't just rip things out." he grins.
Dawn shrugs, "Thats why I had to save your ass from those hobgoblins?" she smirks, following him through the doorway he created as Stephy glances at Merihim, the pair seeming to not even notice the group. Merihim hisses at Nelen, who replies, "Oh don't even start! Every time we get going about wendigo you go on and on and on... its not like I knew they were immune to you! They don't look undead!" he shouts as Dawn glances at them, "Best just leave them to it, this can go on for a while." she sighs, rolling her eyes, “He is such a geek sometimes…”
Sammi chuckles, "They're cute together." he teases, hip bumping Stephy through the door before hopping through, the jukebox swinging shut silently behind them, leaving no trace of fae intrusion. The group would walk out of the shimmering metal liquid quick enough, nothing staying on them of course, standing in the middle of a huge open air bazaar. "Ah crap, Goblin Market..." he huffs, looking around, "Where are we exactly?" he says, climbing on Stephy to get leverage to look over the crowd. It was a huge crowd, too, fae of all kinds walking around the market area, carts and wagons and tents set up all around them with hawkers selling everything from genuine magic items to more... fae... things such as one man's booth with bottles of assorted colored vapor, each labeled things like 'a child's laughter' 'the memory of loss' and 'true love's first spark'. "It's a traveling market, dream gates tend to latch onto touchstones like this, gotta figure out who's domain we're in before we can keep going...” explains the fae boy.
Dawn nods, sniffing around, "Yeah, I may not have the kind of soul they'd be interested in, but I sure as hell don't want to wind up on the market as some exotic pet." she replies as Stephy protests Sammi climbing up onto his shoulders, wincing under his weight.
Sammi frowns at Stephy, "Hey I'm not fat…" he pouts a bit vainly before looking around. "Let's see, roses, shit like deer and rabbits walking around freely, obviously a nature fae..." the domains of Arcadia were, arguably, much more dangerous than the Hedge proper. Sure the Hedge had roving monsters and goblins and thorns that literally tore your soul apart, but those were overt threats. Once you got in you were in a viper's nest of constant conflicting agendas and viewpoints. In some domains slavery was legal, in others picking fruit was a capital offense. "I think I see a castle over there…" Sammi points in the direction of one of the walls, "Get me closer, if I can see the banners I can probably identify it." Really it was a pretty nice place, bright sun but a cool breeze, the smell of flowers in the air, birds singing, very much the view of 'fairy realm' many would hold...
The group has come out in a potentially dangerous place this time. Goblin markets are where the fae, hobgoblins, and other dream-creatures buy, sell, and trade various things. From fruits that grow in the hedge to magical trinkets and knick knacks, to things that couldn’t even begin to make sense to a non-fae mind like a book containing the smell of the first day of spring, or a bottle full of the memories of a dying man, or the pinfeathers from a human being’s wing, or a perfume bottle filled with the compassion of a Conservative Republican.
More distressingly, the markets are where human captives are bought and sold, the marketers often rounding up the odd mundane who stumbles into the hedge through chance or accident (like walking through the gates of an old graveyard just as the moon turns full on the solstice or whistling a certain rhyme they heard from their grandmother as they head downstairs into her basement). The oddest things can result in some hapless mortal accidentally doing just the right thing in just the right place and winding up trapped in a world of magic, dreams, and madness.
It happened a lot more often than you’d think really.
Stephy grumbles, then starts to shift under the boy as he changes his arms and legs into black raven wings and talons, lifting off into the air as Dawn shouts, "Hey! Wait for me!" and teleports above them, landing in Sammi's lap in her fully animal form. Stephy glides over the crowds, getting as close as he dares to the castle until Sammi can identify their location.
Sammi nods, peering over the walls as he looks at the flag near the castle. "Let's see, who are you... pale blue background, golden border... white... FUCK! GO GO GO GO!" he says, squeezing Stephy's shoulders tightly with his legs like he was a horse, "Get us away NOW!"
Stephy yelps, then quickly banks away from it, putting the castle to his back as he whistles up enough wind to propel them quickly forward, "What?! What is it?!" he yelps as Dawn moves to stand up in Sammi's lap, putting her forepaws on his shoulder as she looks behind them, "Um... guys? I think something saw us..." she says, her ears folding and her tail fluffing out. As she says this Stephy suddenly finds it harder and harder to gain altitude, the raven-boy swooping lower and lower until he’s practically touching the ground.
Sammi blinks as he looks back, closing his eyes tight as he sees a large golden carriage being pulled by a small group of massive white horses with ice blue manes and hooves, making its way rather calmly over to the group as Sammi sighs loudly, "Craaaaaaaaaap I hate this week!" he whines, rubbing his head, "Ok, just stay behind me..." he sighs, sliding off Stephy's shoulders and putting Dawn on the other boy's head. Despite the boy's obvious blend of fear and anger at this, this really hardly looked like some looming doom.
Stephy banks downwards, landing in a clearing as Sammi dismounts him, Dawn hopping down and changing back into her half human form. Stephy stays transformed out of fear and a desire for some form of self-defense, even if it would be useless against one of the true fae. "So, um... on a scale of one to ten, how screwed are we?" he whispers to Dawn. "... about eighty seven." she replies.
Sammi sighs loudly as the cart comes to a stop in front of them, the driver was a tall, scrawny figure with white skin and long, shiny, hair made of pure ice it seems. He's dressed in a blue and gold suit looking like it was from the late sixteenth century. He simply nods to the group as he hops off the front, opening the side door of the cart.
In a moment a tall, pale young woman steps out, looking to be in her early twenties, her body covered by shiny white and silver robes that sparkle in the bright sun as she walks over. Her hair is long and white behind her in a braid that reached down to her lower back, and her eyes were jet black... With a rather glum sigh, Sammi bends at the waist as she walks out, mumbling a clearly upset, "Bonjour grand-mere…" as the woman smiles to them.
Stephy blinks, relaxing a bit as he tries to work out what he just said. His french isn't very good. but he mouths out 'grandmother?' as Dawn just raises her eyebrow, though still idly feeling around behind her with her claw as she tries to wiggle a way through the dreamscape just incase.
The trio has landed themselves in what is possibly one of the worst situations to be in when one is in the Hedge. Very very close to Arcadia and in the presence of one of the True Fae. Despite her seemingly normal appearance this is a woman of incredible magical power and skill, in a land that conforms to her wishes. Should she want to she could blanket the entire area in a blizzard that would prevent the group from going anywhere she didn’t specifically want them to. The only possible way out for them is that Sammi knows her. Shes his grandmother.
Sammi huffs loudly as the woman motions for him to stand back up, smiling as she looks to the group slowly, eyes moving on each of them slowly before she looks back to him. "You should have written if you were coming." she scolds playfully in a soft, rather pleasant, voice. "I would have sent a cart for you and your friends at the hedge..."
Sammi frowns at that, crossing his arms, "Your hobgolbins weren't a warm enough welcome huh?" he replies angrily as she just smiles, motioning for the cart, "A grandmother has to take measures to be sure her family comes home sometimes..."
Stephy blushes, stepping back a bit. She seems friendly enough, but he can feel the magic crystalizing like frost around her. This woman is practically a demigod here, powerful enough to freeze the entire kingdom at a whim. Dawn seems to notice it too, smiling nervously as her claw works frantically behind her, unable to feel any seams or places it can catch. It doesn’t seem to matter though, the moment she gestures to the cart they find themselves practically pulled towards it, even as Dawn’s claws wiggle frantically behind her trying to catch at even the smallest tear in the ‘reality’ of the place.
Sammi rolls his eyes as he walks in after them, "Forgive my grandmother, a few centuries of being worshiped and she forgets what proper ways to greet people are." he says as the woman smiles still, patting Dawn's head lightly, her hand as cold as ice as she pets the girl, "No no, naughty kitty, no clawing." she coos softly, it was clear in her presence she was the only one who could control the reality of her realm. "So, just who are you two dears?" she asks as the cart makes its way back to the castle, "You must be starving."
Dawn winces, frost forming on her fur as she reluctantly sinks her claw back down. She should've known it wouldn't work around her. Stephy blinks and almost says that he is a bit hungry before Dawn pokes him in the rear with her claw and says, "Oh I'm Dusk and he's Suzie." she replies, "And thank you but we both ate before we got here. Big meal, huge meal, couldn't possibly fit any more in." she nods, glancing at Stephy as the boy blushes. Her motherly tone seems to work its way past his common sense into his hindbrain and make him lower his guard. He'd almost forgot two of the biggest rules about dealing with the fae. No true names and NEVER eat or drink anything they offer you.
Sammi nods, "Yes, ever since your little 'invite' I've been more focused on trying to get out of here, and Suzie especially needs to go as soon as possible." he insists, the woman just smiling still "Well fine I suppose, you can use my gate out... Suzie was it? How do you know my boy?" she smiles as she reaches into a small drawer attached to the front wall of the carriage, pulling out a small bag of what smells like mint candy. "Are you sure?" she asks, offering the sweet looking candy to the pair of guests as Sammi rolls his eyes, reaching in to grab one. Fae magic was, ironically, pretty non-incestuous, direct relations couldn't put the dangerous spells they could put on strangers on each other. "Stop, seriously, they're under my protection, alright?"
Stephy squirms, the smell wafting to his nose and making his mouth water. He blushes, he doesn't even like mint, but it'd be so rude, and then he jumps and eeps as Dawn pokes him in the backside with her claw again, "No, thank you, we're fine." she nods. Her race is from Wonderland, a land of insanity where logic spends it's time curled up in the corner crying, and it makes her very resistant to any form of mind control or similar abilities. Even a true fae can't wrap their glamour around her squirming brain.
Sammi nods to Dawn, giving her a little look that says 'watch him carefully' just before his grandmother sets the candy down, only to scoop Stephy up and place him in her lap! "Look at this one!" she coos happily. To her 'credit' she wasn't using overt mind control, Sammi and Dawn would be able to sense that, but just her presence would be enough to lower people's guard (the non-fae and wonderland types at least. Thankfully two out of three of the group was smart enough for her to have the exact opposite effect on them). "This is just adorable! I just knew you'd find a cute little thing to bring home one day..."
Stephy blushes, wanting to push away or squirm free, but finding he just can't quite convince himself to. He tries to talk, but his throat feels suddenly dry, the boy feeling like a helpless toddler next to the older woman. "I... ah..." he stammers, Dawn's fur arching on her back as he gets grabbed. She tries to teleport to him, tries to snatch him away but the air around her remains stubbornly solid, the fae's presence cancelling out that power at least.
Sammi sighs angrily, "He's not 'being brought home' grandmother." though he doesn't really correct the 'found a cute thing' part. The cart would arrive at the castle after a moment, the massive gate opening up to reveal the lavish interior area. "Can you go fetch the gate keeper then, grandmother?" he asks as he walks in, rather protectively grabbing Stephy and yanking him by the arm away from his grandmother's reach. The woman just nods, ruffling Sammi's hair like a doting parent, "I'll be right back, feel free to make yourself at home."
Stephy blinks a few times as she walks off, then shakes his head as if coming out of a daze, "Wuh... what happened?" he mutters as Dawn huffs and rolls her eyes, the boy sounding punch-drunk. "You let yourself get hit by her glamour, thats what happened." she grumbles, "And now we're in the lair of one of the true fae with no way out until she decides to let us out." she frowns, "Stupid freaking fairies... can't teleport, can't turn invisible, can't claw my way out..." she grumbles, scratching at the brickwork on the castle out of frustration.
Sammi huffs as he shakes his head, "Cool, welcome to every Changeling's world ever, we get dicked around by the true fae until they get bored." he says, rolling his shoulders a bit "Or until we wiggle out, come on." he says, throwing a look to Stephy, "You gonna be ok?" he asks in a concerned tone.
Stephy blinks, then nods slowly, "Um... yeah, yeah I think so..." he replies in a small voice, blushing as he looks away. As scary as it was being enchanted by her he can't pretend it didn't feel very good at the same time. Dawn blinks, then winces, "Oh crap in my box I forgot..." she grumbles, inching over to Sammi as Stephy is distracted and whispering, "Yeah, listen Mr. Fairy Princess, we may have a problem..." she says into his ear, "Stephy kinda... lost his real mother when he was still about five and he's got a real weakness for maternal types... your granny definitely fits that bill."
Sammi sighs, rubbing his head, "Awesome, grandma's great at exploiting weakness..." he sighs, "Ok, Dawn, gonna need you to do a huge favor then. Me and Steph are gonna distract grandma, you go down the stairs there," he points to a stairwell leading into the castle’s basement, "…take the left door, and knock on the right wall five times, we'll keep her far enough away for you to work your wonder junk on the gate and you SHOULD be able to get out home. Just get us a little help out of here when you do, kay? I'll hang back here and make sure he doesn't do anything dumb, him being all cute and easy to play with should keep her busy for a bit."
Dawn raises her eyebrow, "Make sure he doesn't do anything dumb..." she mutters, glancing at Stephy who's blushing and staring at the wall, remembering how it felt to be in her lap. "... right, well it was nice knowing you two, I'll be sure to tell the gang that you're in a better place." she grins, then changes back into her cat form and darts away, moving like a streak down the stairs. A few long moments pass and Sammi can feel an odd tickle in the back of his mind as Dawn starts picking at the gate, managing to tweak it with her own fantastical nature into forgetting who the real lord (or lady rather) of the land was long enough for her to slip back through into the shared subconscious.
Sammi huffs, "I swear if that cat doesn't get us out fast I'm gonna totally go all vengeful fae lord on her..." he grumbles as he walks over to Stephy, putting his hands on the boy's shoulders, "Hey, c’mon wake up." he smiles, then winces as the sound of the woman's high heels clacking on the stone floor comes from nearby. She was coming back!
As Sammi tries to keep Stephy from winding up bound to be his grandmother’s newest plaything Dawn frantically races through the collective subconscious of their home back in India, which is easier said than done. Between their group, Arja’s parents, and all the staff at the mansion there’s a lot of people dreaming right now. She can try to aim for what seem to be the bigger and brighter dreams, which would most likely be her companions, but it’s like hunting for a specific candle in a pea-soup fog.
After some rushing around Dawn claws her way through to one of the dreamscapes, peeking her head out and seeing what looks like a bunch of crayon drawings of the rest of their group clustered around Lupe.
"Lupe! You so smart!" cheers Nelen's doodle, his beard a bunch of straight lines drawn outwards from his face. "Lupe best hunter! Lupe best alpha!" adds Arja's drawing, her fangs a bunch of pointy things colored in with a gray crayon. Dawn winces, "Ugh... yeah, not gonna recruit Special Fred today I thi-" she pauses, her eyes bulging as she sees a rather fat doodle with a big orange blob for hair and a catlike tail waddling about, "Dur, me so stupid. Lupe lots smarter than me!" it babbles, the creature seeming incredibly clumsy as it keeps walking into and tripping over things.
Dawn's eye twitches as bears her teeth in a very wicked and evil grin, "... I am going to mind-rape puppers into insanity..." she hisses, then vanishes back into the hole and scampers down the pathway between minds.
Sammi smiles a bit as his grandmother walks to the pair, "Hello boys." she says with a smile, "So sorry, it seems I've having trouble finding the gatekeeper, you know goblins, so hard to find when work needs to be done." she smirks, laughing lightly as she pets Stephy's head softly, "How about you two join me for supper and we can get to know each other, I assume Sammi doesn't talk much about me does he?"
Stephy squirms, the icy chill barely registering to him as she teases him like he was just a small child, "N-no Ma'am, he doesn't..." he replies, finding he can't make himself lie, or even come up with a convincing lie in her presence. Though he's certainly not dressed for a meal, still in just his pink pajamas.
Dawn keeps going, picking another head at random as she claws her way in, this time looking into a vast dark space as Simoni runs frantically along a narrow path. Behind her, in close pursuit are several large figures, much larger than they are in reality.
"C'mon little birdy! I just wanna petcha!" cackles Paale, his features exaggerated to show fang-like teeth and long grasping fingers. "Whats the matter girl? Don'tcha wanna try your luck with me? Not even a little?" sneers Coyote, his fangs reaching down past his chin and his eyes glowing a bloody red. "Come now young lady, consider my offer? I can grant you protection, but the price will be dear..." grins Mammon, his whole body seeming to be made out of gleaming gold as he strolls casually along after the fleeing girl. Simoni is in a blind panic as she runs from the nightmare creatures, the dream focused on her fear of encountering them without any magic to protect herself with.
Dawn winces, her ears folding, "Yeesh... we gotta find a way to get that girl her mojo back faster..." she mrowls, then vanishes back through her tear. She does feel bad about leaving Simoni, but she’s no good against something like that.
Sammi Montebank huffs a bit, "Look, grandmother, there's no need to be so... forceful with him. I'll make a deal, but you have to back your powers off a bit." he frowns, the woman raising a brow, but chuckling faintly, "Alright then…" she says, moving her hand a bit as her aura of dominance fades just a bit, not going away entirely, but allowing Stephy's mind to get a bit less foggy. "How about this, you miss me around so much... I'll come back, every so often, and I'll bring Suzie with me." he says, throwing Steph a little look to see how he reacted to that, "But, you can't be sending goons to grab me into the Hedge anymore, and I'll put him under my protection here, you can't trick him with food or drink or whatever..."
Stephy blinks, but still blushes, feeling that same attraction to the idea. She doesn't seem like the fae he'd read about. She seems so nice and friendly and motherly and maybe a bit lonely, "Um... that sounds good to me." he nods, blushing still as he glances shyly at her.
Dawn rips open another hole with a drawn-out sigh, then blinks as she finds herself inside a movie theater. The projector starts and the screen lights up, showing a handsome Indian man in a tuxedo holding a shiny black handgun. The narrator's voice saying, "Coming this Fall in theaters everywhere. Rajesh Barjar is... Secret Agent Raj!"
Dawn blinks slowly, "Arja's dad?" she says in a confused tone, "The man is a friggin’ diplomat and lives in a mansion full of supernatural creatures! Why would he want to trade that to be in a Bollywood movie?!" she yowls, then grumbles and claws her way back out, "Wish I could map this freaking place..." she grumbles.
Sammi nods "So, fair deal right? I visit more, bring my friend, but you can't pull some bullshit 'muahahaha now you can never leave' trap and no more abductions. Seems we both get what we want, right?" he asks, reaching to his pocket for a thorn he tore off the hedge to use as a makeshift weapon when he first got pulled in. "Contract?" he asks slicing along his palm to expose his silvery streaked blood, offering the thorn to her.
His grandmother seems to consider the deal, looking at the thorn and thinking before nodding, slicing her own palm and shaking Sammi's hand, "Contract, he'll be treated as if he was blood to me in my domain, no harm shall fall him or my wrath will be invoked, and I will not abduct you without warning again." she agrees, shaking his hand, "You make a good fae you know…" she smirks lightly as Sammi rolls his eyes, taking his fully healed hand back. "Yaaaaay…" he says sarcastically. With a slight ripple of glamour, Stephy would feel the entire domain adjust to accommodate him. He wouldn't be affected by the woman's aura anymore even if she tried.
Stephy blinks and stumbles, shaking his head as the effects of her glamour fade on him. "Gah..." he gasps, rubbing at his temples and blinking, then blushing up at her. She still has that same motherly aura, even without the glamour backing it up, but its not as overwhelming now.
Dawn claws through another dreamscape and peeks her head in, and sees Nelen and Merihim watching the TV in the bar which, for some bizarre reason, is playing an episode of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. Nelen and Merihim seem to have gotten through a good chunk of the booze by now, and Nelen points at the screen, looking to his bloody companion. "Yanno... yanno Rainbow Dash totally wants to pork Pinkie Pie right?" he slurs.
Dawn earflicks, then says, "... not even gonna try to figure that out..." and vanishes back through the hole.
Sammi smiles to Stephy, "Feeling better?" he asks as his grandmother laughs softly, leading the two to the dining room, "Well then, now that's settled, what's your actual name young man?" she smirks knowingly, butlers much like the ice haired man coming out with trays of fresh fruit and veggies, setting them out on the table around the group.
He blushes, but if she made the contract with Sammi it should be alright shouldn't it? "Um... Stephen, but I go by Stephy most of the time ma'am..." he replies shyly, the boy fidgiting in his pajamas, his bare feet cold against the stone floor of the castle.
Dawn gasps as she pokes her head out through another hole in the dream realm, looking around as she finds herself in Arja's dreamscape this time. It seemed Arja was dreaming of Franklin as well, though hers was a bit more dramatic. She and an army of her kin were laying siege to castle Fullmoon, waves of iron clawed monkeys climbing the walls and clashing with the soldiers as Arja wades through the battle, dressed in full body gold and red armor swinging a flaming sword at any soldier that gets in her way. Clearly her fury at the deaths of her relatives the damage to the temple was still burning brightly even if her magic was not.
Dawn raises her eyebrow at the battlefield, then nods, "Huh, wish she could share some of that rawr with Simoni, girl sure needs it right now." she sighs, then ducks back away, "Can't pull her away from that, she gets way too single-minded when she's in that sort of mood..." she nods, finding another soft spot and clawing it open... then taking a breath. Leather, cactus flowers, and... cow pies? "Bingo..." she grins.
Back in Arcadia Sammi’s grandmother giggles lightly at Stephy, "So cute…" she coos, "I always knew he liked other boys like him but you're far too precious to be expected." she smiles, "Would you like some fresh clothes?"
Stephy nods shyly, "Y-yes please..." he replies, feeling rather awkward being in just his pjs around someone like her. He blushes at Sammi, but then he's not used to the idea of a parent who'd be so calm about that sort of thing.
She smiles, "If you'd like, you look about Sammi's size, he can get you dressed in something nicer if you like." she smiles as Sammi nods, hopping up, blushing just a little bit before patting Stephy's shoulder, "Come on then…" he sighs, leading the boy up the stairs nearby to his massive bedroom in the palace.
Meanwhile in the dream Trixie was busy having fun playing wild west gunslinger, beating yet another black hat wearing crook in a quick draw as the lovely saloon girl Stephy fawns over her. Seems that Trixie dreams in John Wayne style.
Dawn raises her eyebrow at that, wondering how she'll get Trixie to follow her. Stephy was already in the hedge, but Trixie will still be in her own dream until she can get her to Arcadia. "Hmm..." she smirks, then snaps her fingers. As the black hat hits the floor Trixie hears a cackling sound as she turns to see 'Stephy' in the clutches of a rather feline looking girl in black leather pants, a tight black shirt, and her own black cowboy hat. "Ya'll got a good trigger finger Tex, but ya don't dare shoot when I've got yer girl!" she grins, pushing open the door and dashing across the street with 'Stephy' wailing and calling for 'Tex' to come save 'her'.
Trixie huffs angrily at the fleeing catgirl, "Dammit Dawn!" she curses as she runs after the cat, the feline working her way into her dream to keep her from realizing what was going on until she could be guided to Arcadia. If she realized that she was in a dream it could unravel it, or even wake her up.
Meanwhile, the real Stephy follows Sammi up to his bedroom, feeling a bit worried. "So, um... she's not just gonna let us go that easy is she?" he asks Sammi now that they're out of earshot of his grandmother.
Sammi sighs, "She won't but at least she can't manipulate you... well she can, but just in the normal ways rather than in the whole 'forever giving your soul to her' way..." he explains, opening his closet up to reveal a large wardrobe of both normal boys clothes (albet a couple hundred years out of style) but a good bit were also girl's clothes to. It seems Sammi was always fae in more than just species. "Take your pick, my house is your house I suppose."
Stephy blinks, then a few minutes later he's wearing a rather exquisite pink satin gown with puff sleeves, a low ruffled neckline, and a long full-length skirt, along with elbow-length satin gloves and pink satin slippers. Despite the whole 'we're trapped with the fairies' deal he's having a hard time not letting out an excited squee at the outfit.
Dawn just laughs at Trixie, running into an inn across the way from the saloon and looking around, "Grr... can't just claw her through, gotta find a hole..." she looks upstairs, then grins and darts towards one of the hotel doors, pushing it open and diving through with Trixie in hot pursuit.
Sammi grins softly, "You do look cute. Look, my grandmother can't keep us here for a long time. If we just insist on leaving enough she can't MAKE you stay and use that as leverage on me, so don't worry too much. She's a manipulative old bitch but even for the true fae breaking a contract, especially one with kin, is a capital issue."
Trixie comes chasing right behind Dawn, jumping through the door as well, "I'm gonna toss ya in the swimmin pool, cat!"
Stephy blushes, "I dunno, I mean... she just seems lonely. Is it really that bad visiting her?" he asks. Stephy was very close to his mother though, all the way up until the pneumonia took her... it seems he really misses having a mother-figure in his life.
As soon as Trixie comes through she finds that she's not in an old timey western town, but the basement of some large castle. The minute she's through Dawn clamps her hand over the girl's mouth and whispers, "Be quiet and listen, Stephy is in deep shit." she hisses, then whispers a summary of what's happened into her ear.
Sammi actually pauses at that, he legitimately never thought about that as a possible motivation. His grandmother was manipulative, and like all true fae she had a problem with the whole 'empathy' thing, but it was true everything she did to him always wound up as 'I want you to come home'. "Her daughter, my mom... she passed away recently…" he says in a softer voice, "My father, he's a good guy but he never had any desire to be part of the fae, mom made her promise not to try to drag him in and all..." he adds, going through the family list in his head... mortal, mortal, changeling like him who doesn't want to set foot in Arcadia, mortal, dead. "...Huh."
Trixie blinks a bit as she looks around, frowning as she hears the explanation, "So... a fairy queen kidnapped my boyfriend and his... whatever his deal with Sammi is... and this is actually happenin’?" she asks.
Stephy blushes, "I dunno, I mean the fae aren't supposed to have souls and empathy and such... but... I just get this sort of feeling that she just wants to be a mother for someone." he shrugs, glancing down the stairs. "Um, she's probably waiting for us." he nods.
Dawn nods in reply to Trixie, "Yeah, frenchy sent me to bring some backup and, well, half the old stories about the fae involve 'winning' your freedom, so why not someone with supernatural gambling abilities?" she shrugs, her tail swishing behind her now that she's naked again. The dream-Stephy and her outfit had vanished the moment she left Trixie's dreamscape.
Sammi nods, walking down the stairs with Stephy, looking like he was mulling some things over before, when they get down to the dining room again he walks over to his grandmother's chair, looking at her. "Do you love me... can you... do that? Did you love mom? I really need to know if this is some fucked up game for you or like, if this is the only way your mind can get to 'I want my family around me'..." he asks her.
There was a pretty long pause there before she reaches out to put her arms around Sammi, pulling him close to her, "Ice is very cold, Samuel, and it can kill very easy... but it's also incredibly fragile... and when it melts, it can never be the same again. Ice must be very strong, or it will have nothing..." she replies, Sammi just sighs softly at that and patting her back gently, "Yea... well... you have me, ok? So... yea…" he manages to get out, clearly awkward at this level of emotional connection, especially to someone he saw as an enemy just an hour ago.
"Uh..." Trixie blinks in confusion as she walks in on the scene, "So... this is the big scary fae I'm savin' people from..." she asks, looking to Dawn like she's crazy.
Dawn is crazy, but that’s beside the point. Her eye twitches, then she walks into the room and stares at Sammi, "Um, hey. Frenchy Frou Frou Fairyboy?" she grins, the kind of grin that says 'see these big sharp teeth? I have these, remember?'. "I believe your words were 'get us a little help out of here when you do, kay?'." she says, perfectly mimicing Sammi's voice when she does, "Well, I brought the cavalry, but it seems I brought them to something akin to an episode of Care Bears where the big bad villianess just needed a hug." she says, "I've been tearing around the subconscious, literally, for a good half hour now and it turns out that it would've been just fine if I just woke myself up and went to raid the fridge?!" she yowls, glaring at Sammi as Stephy blushes bright pink, seeing Trixie there with a look of confusion on her face, "Um... Hi Trixie... Like my dress?" he asks in a bemused tone.
Sammi huffs at Dawn, breaking the hug at her outburst. "Well excuse me, like ten minutes ago I thought her whole 'I want you to stay' thing was gonna end with me as an ice statue or something! I mean... shit no offense grandmother but it's not like the True Fae usually have motivations beyond power and their own crazy schemes, I kinda didn't..." his voice trails off at that, looking down, "Yeah... Sorry Dawn."
Trixie though, smirks approvingly at Stephy, "You gonna wear that home, cutie?" she asks, eyeing him in the pink ballgown.
Stephy blushes in response, "Um, well, if she doesn't mind..." he says, glancing to the fae queen as Dawn flails her arms around, looking furious.
"RIGHT!" she growls, "Right! Thats it! I'm out!" she nods, reaching into thin air and pulling out what appears to be an alarm clock. She winds it several times, then tosses it into the air where it arcs and lands directly between her ears. There's a loud CLANG and she vanishes in a burst of confetti, the clock clattering to the ground.
Back in India Dawn sits up on the couch with an irritated look on her face and stomps her way down the hall to the kitchen, her tail thrashing angrily behind her. "Gods help 'em if there's no salmon..." she hisses. As she storms down there Lupe yawns and peeks her head out of Natasha's doorway. "Why cat so mad?" she asks sleepily.
Dawn glares at her, her eyes flashing bright yellow, and Lupe yelps loudly and falls backwards, her hands clamped over her he temples. "Not fat 'n stupid..." she grumbles as she storms off.
Back in Arcadia, Sammi chuckles a bit as the woman nods, "Take it, enjoy." she says, smiling a bit more genuinely now as she rests a hand on Sammi's head lightly, "Hey, I was thinking…" he says, "I mean what with this deal and all, may be easier if I, ya know, took a break from shows for a bit and... I dunno... stuck near you guys in India... so it's easier for us to meet up to pop in here every so often and all I mean..."
Stephy nods, "Hm... well, we could use the extra magical backup after what happened to Arja and Simoni..." he says, then notices Sammi's blank expression, "Um... I'll explain later." he adds, not wanting to bring up something like the mundane blade infront of a woman for whom just being in a mundane world can be toxic. "Though, you might wanna give it a few days before you arrive in the mundane world, I mean... Dawn is pretty angry and she can hold a grudge..."
Back in India Dawn is chomping away on a whole raw fish, a carp rather than a salmon however, as Lupe whines and paws at her leg. Right now the 'Song That Never Ends' as sung by Alvin and the Chipmunks is playing in the werewolf's head on repeat, "Caaaat... make stoooooop..." she whimpers, "What Lupe dooooo?" she whines. "You know damn well what you did." replies Dawn angrily.
Sammi smirks, "Yea, I think it's ok if I stay here a day or two anyway." he says, the woman nodding approvingly before waving her hand, a door nearby opening up as a short, hunched, old goblin man shuffles out of it, a heavy key ring on his hip as he squints at the group, "These who I'm lettin' go?" he asks in a raspy voice, the woman just nodding again as he motions the group to follow.
Stephy gets to his feet, then hesitates, "Um... actually, maybe just Trixie?" he blushes, "I mean, I don't mind staying for another day... if thats alright." he nods, glancing at Trixie. She knows about what happened to his mother, he told her a while back.
Trixie smiles, kissing the boy's cheek, "Take all the time you need hun," she says with a nod, rubbing his back "Better come home with a suitcase fulla dresses though!" she giggles as the goblin just lets out a grunt of annoyance, "Just one to go, then? Lovely, what every palace needs, as many children as possible running around it..." he grumbles as he leads Trixie back to the basement.
Stephy giggles and kisses back, then gives Trixie a quick hug before she goes.
Back in Simoni's dreamscape she's still endlessly pursued by the distorted and enlarged monstrosities of the group's enemies, powerless and terrified. Unable to fly, unable to use magic, unable to do anything until she almost runs headlong into a monkey girl wearing shining armor standing next to what appears to be a tear in the atmosphere itself. Arja raises her weapon and lets out a battle cry in hindi as an army of her kin charge through, bearing down on the monsters that had been chasing her.
Next to the bed Dawn watches as Simoni's expression relaxes, changing from panic and fear to a relaxed contentment as she scoots over in her sleep, snuggling into Arja. Dawn smirks a bit, then silently walks back out into the hall, closing the door behind her and completely ignoring Lupe who's whimpering and trying to cover her ears as the Chipmunk’s high-squeaky singing has been replaced by random episodes of Annoying Orange and Pewdiepie played across the insides of her eyeballs, over and over and over. “K-kill Lupe… just make stop…” she whines.
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