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 Posted: Sun Apr 10, 2016 1:51 pm
Having semi-successfully navigated Ashdown with Pax in tow, Autumn had made it back to her apartment with very few looks from her neighbors or citizens. In her opinion, it was a total score. It took her a minute, fiddling with her purse and keys, but eventually Autumn got the door unlocked and thrown open.
"Welcome to my humbl-- aw s**t, I forgot to clean up before you came," Autumn deflated, looking around. Inside, the once-carpet was replaced with a bed of flowers, pansies and all sorts of soft and pretty things. One cushion of the formerly black sofa was similarly overgrown, with a suspiciously cat-sized indention laid amongst the flowers. Rosalinde leapt from Pax's grasp, trod across the room, and returned to her now-established nest of flowers.
"Anyway! Feel free to make yourself comfortable. I can take the sofa so you can have the bed if you need to stay, and... I guess I can get started cooking us something up?"
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Posted: Sun Apr 10, 2016 2:23 pm
"Your home is. Beautiful." Pax was enraptured with the human domicile, even after it clocked its antlers on the door on its first few tries to figure out how it worked. Hmm... Humans laid down on the ground and put large fluffy mosses under their heads when it got dark, that was right. Pax fluffed out its skirts before sitting on the floor with a hmph, its hooved tucked neatly beneath its dress. "I do not. Require rest, Kindly One." It gave Rosalinde a look, to ensure that it was behaving properly in this human domicile. "But you are kind. To offer." It fidgeted, as if it wanted to touch everything in the room.
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Posted: Sun Apr 10, 2016 2:39 pm
"Thanks! It's not much to look at, but it keeps me warm at night." She blinked a bit at the fact that Pax didn't sleep- perhaps all Otherfolk didn't need rest? Something she'd have to make a note of. For now, she made her way into the kitchen, and fished around in the fridge for something servicable. She could definitely make a big 'ol salad- had all the good, fresh fixings for that. And... maybe some fish? There was that salmon she needed to use already...
"So, while I cook... can I ask you a few questions? You don't have to answer anything if you can't, or don't want to, I'm just. Trying to get a handle on everything, I guess." And she went to busy herself with de-scaling the salmon, as well as removing the bones.
"Oh! And please, feel free to look around!"
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Posted: Mon Apr 11, 2016 3:27 am
"Yes, of course. Kindly One, I enjoy your. Questions." Pax definitely needed to work on this breathing thing, but maybe that was really just part of its species? It certainly spoke the same way in its deer form. Or... deer-ier form. However that worked. Pax rose and wandered the living room, picking up items as they caught its interest. As it held a lamp, turning it to attempt to find the source of its light, it said, "Humans have. Many surprising adaptations. How is it your magic? Powers these things?"
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Posted: Mon Apr 11, 2016 10:15 am
Well, that was kind of a convenient segue. Not looking up from her chopping, Autumn shook her head- then, realizing Pax might not've been looking at her, audibly replied.
"So the human world... our world, I guess... doesn't have magic. We can't really make ice, or fire, or anything like that appear. We have to make machines to do it for us. So like. There's places where the wind turns giant fans, and that generates what we call electricity, which powers everything in our homes. Water can do it too, I guess. It's kind of one of our biggest laws- we can't just make things. We have to take it from somewhere else."
Oh, s**t. If she was making fish, she was gonna have to cook the stuff. Quickly, Autumn went over and turned on the oven, preheating it so the salmon would actually have time to bake.
"But that's actually kinda what I wanted to ask you about. How does magic work?" She asked, returning to her chopping and prepping.
"Cause Jeremiah... the guy you went all crazy fire on... was saying the best way to protect ourselves is magic. And I wanna keep you, and Heliodora, and everyone I can safe."
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Posted: Mon Apr 11, 2016 11:12 pm
Pax nodded. "It is magic," it said, a solemn surety in its voice. It frowned at the mention of Jeremiah. "He lies," said Pax. "Told us a false-name." But the human male was correct about one thing. "I will teach you. A little spell." It trotted towards the kitchen, banging its antlers on the doorway again. Pax whimpered, putting its hands to the base of its antlers with a pitiful little shake. But it didn't attempt to shrink itself, which... for a shapeshifter... was quite odd.
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Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2016 8:58 am
"I think he was just scared of you, is all. No offense, you're kind of something crazy to take in when someone first looks at you." Her intent was fully on getting this meal in the oven when Pax offered to teach her a spell. Autumn set the knife down and looked over excitedly, only to be met with a resounding CLONK of her friend's antlers hitting the doorway. Autumn winced, and hurried to the freezer to grab frozen corn and peas, then back to pax to drape one of the frozen bags around each antler.
"I wouldn't take Jeremiah too personally. He's great, once you get to know him." She stood on her tippy-toes, trying to get a better look at the point of attachment for the antlers.
"Pax? Not to be rude here, but why don't you make yourself a little smaller? That way you don't wind up hurting yourself?" It was asked with concern, Autumn still fussing about with Pax's hair and antlers. Could Otherbeings get concussed? Was hitting your antlers enough to concuss you???
...Man her life had gotten weird.
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Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2016 9:25 am
"It is tiring," whimpered Pax, patting around the base of its antlers. It dipped its head lower so Autumn could do... whatever it was she was doing. "This world does not. Want to be changed. The Enemy's influence. Is strong. Ah... I do not. Like doors." It scooted carefully into the kitchen and took up a spot on the floor. "We need. The rosy one. For this spell, Kindly One."
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Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2016 9:28 am
"Is that why we're not supposed to be able to do magic here...?" Autumn questioned, blinking. When Pax set theirself on the floor, Autumn was contented. No concussed Otherbeings on her hands for now, then. She smiled faintly, and at the request for Rosalinde, she nodded.
"Rosalinde! Come here, please!" She called. Moments later, Rosalinde trotted in, fixing herself gently in Pax's lap.
'No need to shout. I'm here, I'm here.' Rosalinde headbutted Pax affectionately, despite her theatrics. With Rosalinde in the room, Autumn sat down as well.
"Now what?"
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Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2016 9:36 am
"You can do. Small magic. The seal. Is breaking..." Pax ran a hand over Rosalinde's head, carefully avoiding the flowers. "Rosy one. Will you give us. A stem of rose's bite. And a stem of alkanet."
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Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2016 10:27 am
'Will I? Peaceful One, my love, this is what I was born to do.' Hopping down from Pax's lap, she walked about in a circle on the tile, a gentle purr. In the center where she walked, the most pristine flowers sprouted up from the floor. Rosalinde gave both Pax and Autumn a smug look, then returned to the Peaceful One's lap. Taking her cue, Autumn took the two flowers.
"Okay. So, two flowers. Got it." Autumn looked up to Pax, half-excited, half-nervous.
"Now what?"
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Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2016 10:32 am
Pax nodded. Now that Autumn held the flowers, it was easy to see that rose's bite was rosemary, and alkanet was... alkanet. "This brings. Protection. And prosperity," it said. "Have you. A stone? You must. Crush them. Release their scent." It gave Rosalinde a scratch as thanks.
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Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2016 11:27 am
She didn't have a stone, not in the traditional sense Pax was probably imagining, but she had a mortar and pestle for spices and s**t. Taking both flowers, Autumn rummaged through the cabinets while muttering to herself. Why did she even have a spiralizer?! She never used this s**t! Eventually, she dug up the mortar and pestle, and scrambled awkwardly back to the floor.
"Right, okay, got it. We're good. Crushing the flowers. Let's do it." Following Pax's instructions, Autumn put both of them stems into the mortar, and worked at crushing them. She worked slowly, to give Pax time to interject if need-be.
Hey, she wasn't a wizard. She could very well be ******** this up.
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Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2016 3:18 pm
Pax nodded approvingly. "Very good." It closed all six of its eyes, reached out to cup Autumn's hands in its own. "Now you must focus. You wish to protect. You wish to grow. To be safe. Think of all these things." Its voice was low and meditative as it guided Autumn's hands in the grinding of the herbs into a fine, oily paste.
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Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2016 3:47 pm
Pax's hands around hers, Autumn also closed her eyes (only two, alas) and focused. She thought of the people she'd met- the people she wished to protect, and keep safe. Jeremiah, Zac, Algie... Pax, too. Even Heliodora, with her icy magic. It never hurt to reach out, to give a hand in helping themselves. And she was going to get stronger, for their sakes.
She was completely and entirely in the moment.
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