blood sweat tear

[imeanforever]

He's moving her to a different court to see if it'll improve her attitude. She's allowed to fly. It's been a long, long time since she was allowed to -

She is only allowed to fly to her destination, not anywhere else. She notices that she is not where she should be, that she cannot progress to where she was told to go, and she careens out of control when her wings won't flap anymore, and she crashes.

---

with Miles (kappa)

with Minus (kappa)

Comments

[imeanforever]

"I'll try it. It's not like it's going to kill me." She follows him.

[thisvorlunatic]

"...yes, that is pretty unlikely..." he says, slowly, in the tone of one who perceives a deeper meaning and isn't sure how to ask after it.

[imeanforever]

"...I'm a fairy. We're immortal."

[thisvorlunatic]

"Lucky you," is the first thing that comes to mind, and he reflects on this for a moment and then adds, "probably."

[imeanforever]

"Usually. Lucky, not immortal. We're always immortal."

[thisvorlunatic]

"Yeah..."

Contemplative silence. Stairs.

[imeanforever]

She flies rather than try to walk up the stairs.

[thisvorlunatic]

The helpful mortal is at first startled by the flying, then slightly envious.

And when they reach the next floor: "Here are the guest rooms, and here," he retrieves a bottle of pills from a cabinet in the first room on the left, "are the painkillers. My wild unsubstantiated guess at what will be least dangerous and most effective."

[imeanforever]

"Thank you. ...Do you have a nickname I can use? I'm Promise."

[thisvorlunatic]

"Um, let me think," he says. "What's the error margin on names? It's surprisingly difficult to come up with something off the top of my head that bears no relation to my name whatsoever..."

[imeanforever]

"If - on purpose or by accident - I entertain the hypothesis that your name contains a syllable, I'll know if it does or not and if it does that's it. But by default when you talk I'm not paying any attention to sounds, just meanings."

[thisvorlunatic]

"...One moment while I curse the human tendency to name things after people," he says, blinking. "So no fictional characters whose name isn't mine but might be someone's, in case you run into such a person and accidentally - vassalize them. A remarkable number of towns and geographical features also out of the running for similar reasons. Um, um. How about 'Silver'."

[imeanforever]

"Didn't click into place, you're fine."

[thisvorlunatic]

"Although I probably should first have asked what specific criteria qualify a particular collection of syllables as being one's name."

[imeanforever]

"The first name you are given. I don't know very much about mortal naming customs to go into much more detail than that."

[thisvorlunatic]

"...Well that's a potentially fascinating experiment that is in no way worth the risk..." he mutters.

[imeanforever]

"I don't want to hurt anybody, but I don't blame you for not wanting to try it."

[thisvorlunatic]

"I would like to minimize the amount of irrevocable magical servtude that exists," he says.

[imeanforever]

"Names aren't irrevocable. I'd forget them eventually. It would take me a long time, though, probably longer than a mortal usually lives."

[thisvorlunatic]

"Irrevocable from the perspective of the mortal, then. Anyway." He gestures vaguely at the corridor of guest rooms.

[imeanforever]

She looks at them. She picks one. She swallows a painkiller and flops onto a bed and sighs deeply.

[thisvorlunatic]

"I'll be around if you need anything," he says, and goes back downstairs to put the pastries away and maybe question his sanity a little.

[imeanforever]

She sleeps for a few hours.

[thisvorlunatic]

By which time her host has not quite decided whether or not he should call his mother. If Promise looks for him, she will find him playing a fast-paced colourful holo game on a comconsole downstairs.

[imeanforever]

She does look for him. She blinks at the holo. It's so holographical.

She's a pretty quiet flier; he might not notice her until she accidentally flexes her hand and hisses.