Royesland [Full]

[CelticSol]

Lockette Kenway​

"Thank you," Lockette says gratefully, and means it, because Riley is much better at making tea. Lockette's was always effective, but oft tasted like medicinal tea regardless of what she did, but Riley's actually tasted like something meant to be enjoyed. "Definitely some information to think over for tonight before acting on it, right?"

 

[TrashRabbit]

Riley​

"For sure- I mean if I'm going to go harass a bard I'm going to do it as surprise and not at night," She says with a laugh. She starts tidying up their tools and supplies for the day. "I do have one more question though. Does it matter if my ears are pointy- do I need to invest in a hat?"

 

[CelticSol]

Lockette Kenway​

Chuckling to herself, Lockette shakes her head, “Any other town in the world, I might say ‘maybe’ but Royesland is good for not asking too many questions about the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of the ears. I only asked because it helped confirm something for me, that’s all.”

 

[TrashRabbit]

Riley​

"and what exactly did ear touch confirm? Did I pass the test?" she teases.

 

[CelticSol]

Lockette Kenway​

Every moment that she spends speaking with Riley so often leads to all the blood flooding into her face, and Lockette is sure she'll never look normal again. Lockette flexes the hand that touched Riley's ear, trying to measure her words, and says, "It's a tell. There are plenty of people with magic, but there are far fewer with the capacity for wild magic... Among those that can are people with fairy blood or affiliation. People that are fae-touched have pointed ears. Where I come from, people like that - like us - were called elvish. I wanted to confirm my suspicion, and the ears happened to be the best way to do so."

Lockette smiles wryly, "So, yes, you passed. I only hope that it didn't make you uncomfortable."

 

[TrashRabbit]

Watching Lockette fluster fills Riley with a gleeful sort of smugness that she doesn't recognize right away as attraction, because she is dumb.

"No I mean, you'd have touch more than jsut my ears to make me uncomfortable-" She says and realizes in horror what a terrible innuendo that is.

 

[CelticSol]

Lockette Kenway​

Lockette slows, and then stops walking. Then she hopes that the earth would swallow her up because of how fast that sentence set her heart to race.

"Um."

She clears her throat, catching up to Riley, scarlet from her forehead to the tips of her pointed ears and all the way down to her sternum, "Ah. Noted."

Which also wasn't the right thing to say. Lockette is going to drown herself in the fjord.

 

[TrashRabbit]

Riley decides to quit while shes ahead and really bussies herself with carying too many things at once and taking off towards the cabin. Wow. Shit. Fuck. Really put her foot in her mouth. now she's the one making Lockette uncomfortable. Damn.

 

[TrashRabbit]

The forest is a sun-dapled place and the new growth along the path is bushy and full of boisterous birds and small animals- early on their walk the pair catch site of of an out of season white fox that darts across the path. It a pleasant wood full of birches and ashes and the occasional pine. And at first it seems a normal forest until the path winds a a little farther, maybe a mile or so into the wood and the trees are decidedly larger and the under brush gives way to moss and ferns and the path itself becomes fainter and fainter, more a game trail than the wide road it began as. There is a stillness to the forest despite the birdsong and leaf rustle of the canopy- the roots of the massive trees twist up and around like great walls the deeper you venture forming something like a Labyrinth.
A little white fox- the same one the sister saw before appears above them, standing on one of those monumental roots, smiles a toothy canine smile and vanishes.
Quill said the moss orchid is supposed to grow in the branches of the forest's trees, and while there is plenty of moss hanging from the bows above, they are awfully high up.

 

[theunearthlyfool]

Molly wouldn’t exactly have said Nicola was like a different person in the forest; if nothing else, she didn’t know her sister quite well enough yet to say with certainty what she was like. But she was definitely more animated, excitedly pointing out plants and animals she recognized as they walked, explaining their magical properties and telling funny stories of childhood experiments or mishaps with the Irregulars they reminded her of. She responded with her own stories, of her travels and the things about magic she remembered from Godmother. Thus they wound their way deeper into the labyrinthine forest.

After some time Nicola stopped and was craning her neck looking into the trees, trying to figure out how two 5’2 women with no tools or magic to speak of were going to climb up to the branches where moss-orchids supposedly grew. “Damn, if I knew they were going to be like bloody redwoods I would’ve dragged Finn along,” she groused. “Oh look, there’s that little fox again.”

Across the practically nonexistent path Molly had been sitting on a tree root, resting her leg. She looked up quickly, stiffening at the fox’s smile before it vanished. Seeing a white fox in a spring wood once was maybe a coincidence, but twice felt like an omen. Pulling herself up, she hobbled to her sister’s side. “I don’t trust that fox,” Molly murmured in Nicola’s ear. “Please, let’s be careful.”

Nicola raised a brow in confusion, but caught the look in her sister’s eyes and didn’t argue. “I mean, trying to climb up to the flowers is all we can do, I think,” she said loudly. “You could stand on my shoulders but I just don’t see us getting terribly far with that.” She gave Molly a reassuring grin.

Her sister smiled back and stepped up to the base of the tree Nicola had been peering into. “I think you’re right. Hey, once you get your magic back, your friends are all very tall. I think some of them could spare an inch or two for us.”

That got a good laugh out of Nicola. “Damn, Mol, you’re right! I like the way you think!”

She hemmed and hawed for a while longer, inspecting different trees up and down the path, but none were really ideal for climbing up. Nicola sighed. “Okay. Here’s my thought process:

“The flowers wilt in like an hour, so we’re gonna need to haul ass back to the tower to get this potion going. I’m going to climb up and drop three or four of the blossoms down to you. Once you’ve got them, wrap them in your handkerchief and start back for town, all right?”

“Oh, but Nic-”

“There’s no way you’ll be able to climb with your bad leg. But! That also means once I get back down it won’t be super hard for me to catch up to you.”

“Then why don’t I just-”

Nicola was circling the base of the tree, looking for a good place to start clambering up. “I want those flowers moving towards the tower as soon as they’ve been picked; we can’t waste any time.”

“Ugh, all right.” Molly watched her, fidgeting anxiously. “But I don’t like this plan.”

“Noted.” Seeming to find a satisfactory place, Nicola stopped and pulled the bag off her shoulder, setting it at her sister’s feet. “Maybe take the bag with you, too. I know you’ve got your guitar but that way you’ve got the recipe and other ingredients as well. Just in case.”

“Just in- just in case what?” But she had already begun her climb. “Nicola!”

“Thanks for your help, Mol!” Nicola called back down, eliciting a frustrated groan from her sister.

So Molly hovered at the base of the tree, watching with bated breath as Nicola slowly picked her way up the tree. She made good progress and was very careful, but Molly still didn’t like any of this plan. Her sister had made it plain that she loved her friends fiercely and was terribly angry she hadn’t been able to protect them the way she wanted. This dumb stunt smelled to Molly like she was trying to make up for what had felt like was a small price in losing her magic (at least in comparison to the others’ curses). I swear on Godmother’s grave Nicola, if you fall out of this stupid tree and die less than a week after we find each other I’ll-

There was a sharp crack and a yelp of “fuck!” from above. Molly gasped sharply, jumping back out of the way of a falling branch. It crashed down into the roots several feet away from her, she needn’t have worried about that at least. “Nic? Nicola!” She searched frantically for her sister’s body on the ground-

“God fucking dammit,” came a voice from above. Molly looked up to see Nicola clinging to a thick branch, the one below it ending in a jagged break just under where she sat. “Hey, Molly?” Nicola called down. The next branch up was quite a ways above her head: she hadn’t been aiming for the one she now sat on until the branch below it broke suddenly. “I’m, uh. I think I’m stuck.”

 

[TrashRabbit]

However, on that branch just above her, as if to taunt her were two small moss orchids in full bloom. Their pink flowers bobbing in the breeze as if to scold her.

 

[theunearthlyfool]

Relief turned into frustration in Molly's voice. "I told you so!" she shouted.

"Yes I know, thank you!" Nicola glared at the flowers above her head, trying to think of some way to retrieve them without breaking her neck. "If you have any more astonishing wisdom, like maybe how to get down, I'd love to hear it."

"..."

"I wasn't actually expecting you to have any suggestions, Mol."

"Oh, ok. Good." She paused. "But actually…"

It wasn't a suggestion for how to get Nicola down, but rather a solution to the original problem they'd come out here for. With excitement Molly slung her guitar case to the ground, retrieving her lovingly well-worn instrument from it.

"I don't think serenading me is gonna help much, though I appreciate the thought."

"Nicola, I love you, but please be quiet." There was one thing the twins had 100% in common, which was that every action they took was either meticulously over-thought or jumped into without paying any mind to the outcome. This was one of those latter kinds of actions, as Molly tuned her guitar to the right key, then started in on a merry little song.

The flower said "I wish I was a tree"
The tree said "I wish I could be a different kind of tree"
The cat wished that it was a bee
The turtle wished that it could fly
Really high into the sky
Over rooftops and then dive deep into the sea…

Charmed by her sister's performance, Nicola didn't notice at first what the spell was actually doing until there came a soft, leafy sound above her head. She glanced up just in time for something green and pink to drop out of the tree, narrowly missing her as it fell. She leaned out to see what it was, but started to slip off the branch and regained her balance with a panicked squawk.

"Oh!" Molly's voice floated up to her. Securely positioned once again, Nicola was surprised to see the entire moss-orchid plant clutched in Molly's right hand, roots and all.

Astonished, Molly caught her sister's eye. "I was only trying to get the flowers down to where you could reach them!" she cried apologetically. "I didn't mean to pull the whole thing down! I'm so sorry!"

"What? Molly, no, that was-" Nicola grinned. "That was amazing! Is that really the first time you've cast a spell on purpose? You're a natural at it!"

"Oh. Uh. Gosh." With one hand she clumsily swung her guitar around on its strap so it was on her back, then cradled the orchid in both hands. "You really mean it? You're not- you're not just saying that 'cause-"

"Of course I mean it! I'm a jerk, Mol, I don't give false praise." Nicola laughed. "Especially not about magic. I'm proud of you!"

Even from several feet up she could see her sister's face turn pink at so much praise. "Aw. Th-thank you, Nic." Her concern returned quickly, though. "But wait! The- the flowers! They're gonna wilt!"

"Well…" she thought about other magical flowering plants, ones she had heard of before today. "You got the whole thing down in one piece? Even the roots?"

Molly examined the plant. "Yeah, and a little bit of moss, too."

"That's good, then! I'm pretty sure if the blossoms are still attached to the whole plant, they won't wilt. At least, nowhere near as quickly. You've bought us some time there!"

The look on Molly's face clearly showed how confused she was that she hadn't done something terribly wrong.

"I'd still rather not be in this tree after sundown, though," Nicola continued. "You should take the ingredients back to the tower and bring someone back with you to help." She groaned. "Stars above, they're never gonna let me live this one down."

"No, I can't leave you alone in the Fairy Woods! Are you nuts? That's like sticking a sign around your neck that says 'please kidnap me'," Molly exclaimed.

"Molly, please-"

"Nicola, please!" There was that stubborn frown again. "I'm not leaving you by yourself, forget it."

She bristled at being treated like she was defenseless, but Nicola shamefully had to admit that she was, in fact, defenseless to whatever the woods may hold. Crossing her arms, she frowned back down at Molly. "All right. What do we do now, then?"

 

[TrashRabbit]

The Forest is very still after Molly's song and as she stand there orchid in hand, its soft air roots and delicate leaves resting her hands, it's in that hush that a suden pell of volpine laughter rattles the forest. Not far off the little white fox rolls on teh mossy forest floor, cackling away. It's joined by another pibald fox that winds around the base of the tree Nicola is trapped in which is also laughing in a far too human way. And then another, this one sable as night - untill it is clear a whole troop of foxes surrounds them some with many tails and eyes that are too keen. The troop twines together watching nad laugh until it coalesces into one man-shape sitting on the forest floor, laughing a fae laugh. Their face was narrow and pointed like you'd think a fox might be and his dark face had vitalgo on the right side and his eyes were keen on Molly sills. They wore a red silk coat with white lace but it was torn and wild like a feral things might be.
They ironically looked dressed for a lord's fox hunt.
"Ah. The Magpie's girl. Adorable." Said the duke of Foxes, "You look as if you could use some assistance?" But his offer was punctuated with another laugh, like this was the most amusing thing he'd ever seen.

 

[theunearthlyfool]

The fox laughter startled them both, of course, and the sisters met one another’s eyes with more or less identical expressions of “oh, fuck”. They briefly waged a silent argument over how to respond, not actually knowing the other’s thoughts but feeling like they could pretty much guess from the looks on their faces.

Petulantly thinking, I'm not anybody's girl (but not daring to contradict the duke), Molly finally spoke up. Still holding the plant in both hands, she bobbed a deep but slightly quaking curtsy. “Good day to you, sir." She glanced up at Nicola. "We're- oh, we're just, um-"

"That depends," Nicola said casually, "on if you're offering assistance and if so, what kind."

Molly stared up at her sister, her mouth an ‘O’ of surprise. She hadn’t been keeping secrets from Nicola: she’d told her about the waterfall nymph’s cheeky comments from the other day. So unless her sister was extraordinarily dense and hadn’t picked up on the utter lack of aesthetic subtlety (which Nicola was very smart, so she was pretty sure that wasn’t the issue here ), Molly couldn’t fathom what she was doing bargaining with a faerie. And not just any faerie, but an enemy of Tuesday’s (aka, someone to be extremely wary of). She mouthed a furious what the fuck, Nic?!

Nicola, for her part, had spent the past few years not dealing with faerie nonsense when she didn’t want to, and old habits die hard. Maybe the flowers wouldn’t wilt in an hour but she wasn’t a fan of being stuck in a tree, and her bum was starting to get sore: she wasn’t in the mood to tiptoe around. Her tone had been polite, what was the big deal? She shrugged and mouthed back, what??

 

[TrashRabbit]

The duke chuckled at her pendantics. "What kind of assistance?" he muttered under his breath and chuckled again, "The helpful sort girl, or are you daft. Is your sister daft?" They asked Molly. "Since neither of you are very good at negotiating, I could help you out for free- I am nothing if not a good neighbor," they said smiling with pointy teeth.

 

[CelticSol]

Jacqueline "Jackie" Sapienti​

When she had hands to cook with, Jackie was okay at it. Actually, humbleness aside, Jackie was a damned good cook - her Nonna would allow nothing else from her. She used to begrudge it, but seeing her Nonna forcing all her brothers to help out in the kitchen - practically at knife point, only once literally so - was a delight that she now cherishes as a fond memory.

But now, as she watches with no hands to speak of, she feels oddly guilty. She's not sure how she's supposed to help sans hands, but she watches Cathal move about the kitchen as she sits her ass down in a chair and can't help but feel like a dick about it. So she tries for conversation, and not of the emotional labour kind, and asks, "How long've you and Tom known each other? He's never really given me a timeline of any kind, only that he loved you very much."

 

[wickedlittlecritta]

Cathal, busy deboning the fish on the table and humming to himself, looked up at Jackie when she spoke. "It's been at least twenty years. I'd have to sit and count to get it precise. We met in the forest. He was doing wizard shit, and I was picking blackberries. I'm not sure if it was love at first sight, but it was certainly something. My ma never did forgive him." Cathal frowned at the fish, like it was the salmon's fault his mother disapproved of Tom. "She's probably smug as anything if she's heard what happened. Though I'm sure she'll be pissed I got myself uncursed, but she won't come out of the woods to do anything about it. Probably."

 

[theunearthlyfool]

Nicola sighed and rolled her eyes dramatically. “Begging your pardon, sir. I simply didn’t want to presume to put you out of your way. Especially not for one so daft as myself, to have landed in this sorry situation. I would never dream of taking advantage of such generosity-"

"Nic!" Molly frantically gestured for her to cut it out. With a nervous grin (that was really more of a wince), she took the moss-orchid in both hands once again. "Please excuse us if we seem distracted. It… would be very…" she carefully considered what she said to the duke. "...Kind of you, sir, to help my sister safely get down from that tree. We would be... most... appreciative."

 

[TrashRabbit]

"Oh but of course," The duke in all their equestrian finery said and took a little bow. when they straightened they crossed to the looming moss filled tree and whispered something into its bark and with a great rustling of leaves and the groaning of wood as if weathering a great wind the tree bent, as supple as a reed and deposited Nicola the ground like a parent depositing a toddler from its arms.

"There, you see. A favor for free. For the girl with the kings mark- even if he's been an absent useless sod, You haven't seen him- have you?" He asked with a sly glance at them both as the tree slowly went about righting itself.

 

[theunearthlyfool]

"Oh!" The sisters gasped practically in unison. It only took a moment for the tree to carefully set Nicola down and unfurl its branches from around her. As it did she silently thanked it for being gentle with her, and for surrendering the flower to Molly.

Dusting herself off, she looked the duke up and down from her new, closer vantage point. "Okay, that was actually really cool," she admitted. Nicola paused here, seriously taking on the formal air she'd been using sarcastically just a moment ago. "I'm most fortunate such a neighborly sort as yourself happened to find us." She gave the proper, regal bow of someone who'd spent years at court, before retrieving the bag of potion supplies. "I won't forget this."

Molly had been wondering what he meant by "king's mark". To her recollection, the only time she'd actually touched Tuesday was that first day, when she'd fished him out of the fountain. How and when did he 'mark' me? she wondered, the prospect slightly thrilling but also a little creepy. When they were alone, she'd have to ask Nicola about it.

Speaking of her sister, though, Molly tuned back in as Nicola thanked the duke without explicitly thanking him. To her that still seemed like a dangerous thing to do, and she elbowed Nicola. "Not today!" she said brightly, because that was the truth, although below her smile resented the duke calling him 'useless' when he had, in fact, been through a lot.

The elbow from Molly hadn't actually hurt, but Nicola gave an offended sniff anyway. "Nope," she agreed.

 

[TrashRabbit]

The Duke of Foxes seems to have taken a fond sort of sheen in their eyes in regards to Nicola and when they smile it is not quiet with so much teeth. Her courtly airs and unimpressed aloofness have done their work well to earn their favor.

Molly not so much.

"Well if you do see that marvelous unfeathered biped do remind him the Tithe begins as soon as the serpents return and the king-games will wait for no one," the Duke tells Molly ominously.

 

[theunearthlyfool]

Her indignation over the duke's commentary fired Molly up, helping her feel less afraid (despite his eerily threatening message). "If I see the king-" she emphasized the word 'king', "I'll be certain to pass along your respects, Your Grace." She gave a smile that was by all appearances genuinely cheerful, though internally she was rather annoyed on Tuesday's behalf.

"Ooh, Tithe and serpents. Very spooky." Nicola put an arm around her sister, smirking at the duke. "Much fun as this was, though, we ought to be getting back to town now. 'Twas a pleasure to meet you, sir- we'll let you get to your business."

"Truly," Molly nodded assent but did not look at the Duke of Foxes, instead passing the orchid to her sister so she could pack her guitar back into its case.

 

[TrashRabbit]

The duke smiled back with far far too many teeth, "The pleasure was of course, entirely mine," They said with a flourish and a bow and then, like so much mist was gone.

 

[theunearthlyfool]

Oh, I'm sure it was, Nicola thought, chuckling nervously to herself. She turned to her sister. "Well? Shall we?"

"Yeah, I've been ready to get out of these woods for ages." Molly cast a nervous glance at where the Duke had just been standing.

So they began the trek back. While Nicola was excited to get her potion ingredients to the wizard’s tower so she could help her friend, Molly was fretting. She’d gathered a lot of information today, including of course the Duke’s ominous and time-sensitive message. What am I gonna do now?

“Hey.” Nicola nudged her arm. “Penny for your thoughts? You look like someone just kicked your dog.”

“Huh? Oh.” Molly smiled at that, but it quickly faded. “Well…” She hesitated. “I’m just worried about Tuesday. He's so freaking flighty, y'know?"

“I hate to break this to you Molly, but he is a literal bird.” Nicola laughed. “Sorry, I just don’t know what you expected.”

Molly blushed, groaning. “I know, I know. Like, I can tell him the Duke's message but will he even care? I just…" She made an 'I dunno' noise and shrugged. "I'm scared he’s gonna just keep sitting around waiting for Truffle to come save his sorry butt, and maybe she’ll never show up, and then what is he gonna do? He can’t just keep pissing everybody in town off every other day, they’re not gonna put up with that forever. From the faerie king maybe, they have no choice. If he’s just some guy…”

Nicola stifled a giggle. “Town fool.”

“What?”

“You said, ‘what is he gonna do’? And I thought, well he could be the town fool.”

“Ugh, you’re terrible!” Molly shoved her, eliciting another laugh from her sister. “Seriously, though.”

“Seriously though, it’s not your responsibility. Pass on the Duke’s message and let him figure it out. If he decides to keep waiting and gets stuck as a human forever because of it, that’s his own problem.” Nicola shrugged. “I’d be willing to bet that’ll kick his ass into gear, though.”

“I hope so.” Molly crossed her arms, closing herself off. “But whether it’s my responsibility or not, I’m not going to just be the messenger and then bail on him. He doesn’t have anybody in this world to back him up, and… I’ve been there.” She kicked a rock in the path as they passed Magpie House, sending it skittering across the grass and coming to a rest against the stump of the former great pine. “I don’t want anybody else to go through that if they don’t have to.”

“...Hell’s bells, Mol, you’re so chivalrous I’m going to be sick. Don’t look so down! That’s my job.” Nicola poked her sister in the ribs, provoking an involuntary giggle. “We will get this potion together for Jackie, and then the very next thing we’ll do is go hunt down your magpie and pass on some foreboding omens, okay?”

“Well, when you put it like that…” She smiled, but her eyes were dubious.

“Tuesday’s lucky he’s got you on his team, because we’re a two for one deal now. He’s got you, you’ve got me.” Nicola met Molly’s surprised look with a smile. “I’m sorry you’ve spent so long on your own, but not anymore. If you’ll have a magic-less, antisocial bookworm as your backup, anyway.”

Molly stopped, her eyes watering. “Of-of course I will!” she gasped. She hesitated, but then caught up to Nicola and threw both arms around her. “Thank you, Nicola. I couldn’t ask for a better sister.”

“Eh, you probably could.”

“Shut up.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

 

[Nimbus]

It took Quill and Apollo a little while to close up the tea shop. Once Apollo counted the money in the register - an enjoyable task, even if the proceeds weren't his - for the third time, he was quite satisfied the business of tea was sorted for the moment.

At the prospect of visiting Lockette and her mysterious Magpie House in the woods, two wolves warred within Pol. Except actually they were rather more like foxes than wolves, being that one was excited and moderately anxious, and the other, terrified and impressively anxious.

Due to the internal diametrically anxious fox slapfight, Pol chirped about anything and everything he thought to Quill as they tread the path to the western woods.

"You know, this is the first time I've ever been into the woods proper. How do we know when we're on the Tithe road? Port of Pearls really isn't taxed by both the Fae and His Majesty, is it? I don't suppose you happen to know any tax law, but that's got me wondering, is it illegal to be taxed by two kingdoms? Ah, if only I were a lawyer rather than a merchant. Oh but then I probably wouldn't have boarded the Temporalesco - may its timbers and sails rest in peace - and got shipwrecked here. And then I might not have met you, which would be downright the height of criminality!"