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Arrien had never been much for fairy folk, she had to admit. They were fun in small doses, certainly - but getting mixed in their affairs one time too many had ruined her taste for mingling with their kind.

Dustin, on the other hand, had not learned such lessons. And the fairies at the Fa'e HQ, it turned out, were only too eager to deal with the Arthurian child. The deal struck was simple: If the fairies would keep his Guardian away from the Fa'e HQ, where the new runaway had taken up residence, then Dusty would allow them to look at and handle his gem collection, all but for the Command and Subject gems that were of special import.

And now Arrien was left out on the curb, unable to so much as set foot on the cottage's property without having a giggling, pinching hoard of mischief and scolding descend on her. The weather was getting bad, and the Guardian was getting desperate - and angry.

"Dustin Kalien, you get you and your stubtail out here NOW!" Arrien howled, teeth bared and eyes livid. This was not good. This was not good! Dustin was supposed to be off-world hours ago. Arrien had friends that she might be able to call on, but none that Dustin would bend to - and none that she knew could get past the fairies. She needed someone that could get by without challenge - one of the Fa'e, maybe, or someone that knew this place, that could go in and drag the child out by the ear. Someone would have to come by...!

Coailainn might have been approaching with good intentions, but for some reason, Arrien didn't recognize her as an ally. It probably had something to do with the fairy wings on the girl's back - she fit in just a bit too well with the enemy right now, and the Infamous Jack-of-all-Trades was in little mood for more pranks from their kind.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" the woman whipped around with a merciless glare, chin set, expression disgusted. "No, I'm not okay. Discovering that I've raised a brat stupid enough to run away to the most obvious place I could imagine does not make me okay, any more than coming to realize that he's still smart enough to make sure I can't follow him after!" She jabbed a wild finger toward the building of the Fa'e HQ, gesturing accusingly toward the flitting fairies. "See them? Your sort. You probably can talk to them, can't you? Tell them to keep their noses in their own business!"

"Yeah. Going to the one place he spends his time is real sneaky," Arrien grumbled, staring off at the building. It might be that Coailiann made a good point, it might not - but the woman didn't seem much interested in listening either way right now. As far as she was concerned, she'd never had to deal with such a reckless, troublesome hell-child as Dustin, and there was no redeeming side to what she was seeing today.

But at least she was listening to the next part. Arrien's eyes darted over to size up the younger fairy-girl. "... He's tall for his age," she told her. "Black fur. Got gems on his face and the back of his arms. Hooves, tail that's kinked at the end. His name's Dusty. Don't," Arrien cautioned empathetically, "don't try and drag him out if he's not willing to go, got it? He's got a sword, a temper, and he's stubborn as his mother was. But try talking some sense into him, if you can. Just... all I want is for him to be safe, all right? Tell him that. I love him, I want him to be safe."

The little fairies of the land, it seemed, hadn't been bribed to harass anyone other than the unfortunate woman standing just off the property, leaving Coailiann to reach the cottage undisturbed.

Within the Fa'e HQ, Dustin was busy making a mess in the kitchen. Today was his day of triumph!... however bitter that was. But he intended to celebrate in style. That meant, among many things, that he was going to eat like a king today - with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich that was so amazing, it would melt the teeth of any lesser soul that attempted to eat it. Peanut butter, jalapeño jelly, cookie dough ice cream, toffee, cinnamon bread, marshmallow whip; more and more dangerously sugary substances were added between slices, creating a mountain of a sandwich. It didn't even matter that Dusty didn't like sweets - that wasn't the point of this exercise! It was to prove his mastery of his life, his freedom!

The abomination wasn't even half completed when Dusty's keen ears picked up the sound of someone entering the HQ. It wasn't much matter to him, though. He knew his Guardian was somewhere out there, but he also know that the fairies would keep her at bay. As long as he was here, after all, so was his collection of gemstones that they loved to look at. They wouldn't give up for him easily!

The deerkitten glanced back toward the newcomer, then reoriented his attention on his work. "This," Dustin informed her, incredibly self-satisfied, "is the almighty and everlasting K.O. Sandwich. Or it will be, when it's finished." The child was back at the refrigerator now, rifling around for new inspiration in the way of ingredients. What else could he put on this sandwich that would have made his Guardian go green in the face....

Two clinks signaled a jar each of hot fudge and butterscotch, meant to be used for ice cream sundaes, being pulled out onto the counter. A few seconds search through the cupboard produced a bag of potato chips as well, and Dustin began to add these liberally to the tower of bread and junk. It took him a few moments to realize that the fairy girl hadn't gone running from the mad experiment yet. "What, you want some?"

"You tryin' to tell me what to do?" Dusty's face appeared behind the monstrosity of a sandwich, mouth pivoted, brow bent. Coailiann, clearly, did not understand that was the deerkitten was about to taste was the taste of liberation. It was only somewhat akin to arsenic Koolaid. Dusty was more likely to survive this, after all. He expected, anyway.

One way or another, though, he felt committed now. He'd gone through the trouble of making the sandwich, so he would eat it. A layer of potato chips on a bed of hot fudge later, and he began sizing the thing up, wondering if it had reached completion yet.

"It'll take more than a super awesome sandwich to take down a Fa'e, anyway," Dustin predicted confidently, heading back to the cupboards. There was cereal in here, some sort of disgusting fruity concoction that was guaranteed to turn milk blue in ten seconds flat. Dusty sniffed at it, and his ears flattened - but out came a handful nonetheless to add to the mess he was making.

The mention of the Guardian outside the building earned a nasty, suspicious look from the child. "The sandwich because I can," he grumbled, eyes darting back to his masterpiece, "and Arri because she can't. She'll just give up and go home soon enough, I bet." It seemed to him that his Guardian was plenty good at running away from her troubles, anyway - she was lucky that he'd taken the decision out of her hands for her.

Slapping one final slice of bread on top of his creation - and final meant final, as in, there was no more bread in the kitchen unless he wanted to break into the wheat stuff (which he didn't) - Dustin smooshed it down as best he could. Potato chips crackled under the pressure and a variety of fillings oozed over the sides in a strictly unappealing fashion, but he was successful in getting the thing down to about a third its original volume. "'Sides, you shouldn't let yourself get taken in by her. She makes her work out'a manipulating people into doing what she wants. You oughta be smarter than that, right?"