undergrounds | A Little Bit of Faith, Trust, and Pixie Dust [Closed]

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A Little Bit of Faith, Trust, and Pixie Dust [Closed]

There's been a small surge in supernatural related news in the media lately. It's only because Daryl's investigating Maria on Simon's behalf that he's even paying attention to said news. But a small story in the one of the local tabloids about a missing little girl that 'flew away' from home caught his attention. It wasn't that he normally gave such things any credence, but after reading it and the very heart-felt plea for the girl's return as quoted from the parents, Daryl thought it sounded just a little too real to be ignored. Maria could wait a few days.

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While Daryl's off, Annie's paging through her book, looking for information on fae that prefer children, or home settings. When nothing seems to really stick out at her, she looks over her shoulder through the window of the little house again. There's something about that place...

"Daryl?" She calls, hoping he can hear her. "I'm going to look inside the play house." Cautiously, she pulls open the door, even at her 5 feet nothing height, crouching to get a better look inside.

While the weather outside is seasonally chilly, inside the play house it's pleasantly warm and decidedly summery. Nothing else out of the ordinary seemed to be going on just yet, however.

Odd. Very odd, given the April chill outside. There's something up in this playhouse, without a doubt. Annie looks at the tea set- there's no dust, nothing, they couldn't have been put out very long ago. Set for two- the child, and a friend. Gingerly, Annie pulled out one of the chairs and took a seat, looking around the house from that perspective.

There's a nest in the corner, she can see it from here. And if she were a child... Cautiously, she makes her way over to it, and a few steps from it, she realizes exactly what it is. "DARYL!" She calls again, over her shoulder. "I've found something!"

Unfortunately for her, it was not Daryl's voice that answered her. It was, instead, a very tiny voice from the nest, going "Shhhhhh! Not so loud! Use your inside voice!"

Annie gaps, slapping both hands over her mouth.

"Oh! Oh, goodness, I'm so sorry- hello?" She peers towards the fort. "I'm not here to hurt you. I'm looking for a friend." More or less.

The tiny voice gave a derisive snort before an equally tiny head popped out of the 'nest' looking very much like a bird, complete with beak and a spray of feathers where hair would be. But that was about all the similarities it had to one. It otherwise looked like something of a cross between a human and an insect, with spindly limbs, pointed, oddly-sectioned joints, and three sets of dragon fly wings that buzzed with annoyance.

"Well you came looking in the wrong place. I'm not your friend. I'd remember if I was."

Alright, the fae isn't exactly wrong.

"No, no, not for you." Not exactly. "for a little girl. She lives in the house that this garden belongs to. Have you seen her?" Fae, at least, can't lie.

"This garden belongs to me. I claimed it," the pixie-folk stated quite smartly, condescending to Annie in no small measure. "I only allow the humans to remain here because Lady Kayla throws the loveliest tea parties. If they've told you otherwise, I'll have to kick them out."

Annie didn't think that was how it worked, but she let it go. Same with the condesencion, as she was hardly the first fae for Annie to run into, and given how small she looked, it was hard to take her seriously at face-value.

"Well, it just so happens that I'm, ah, that I'm looking for Lady Kayla. I'm her friend, and we were supposed to play today." Hopefully the fae would tell her where she was. Or how exactly she'd flown off, though she was reasonably sure the fae was responsible for the flying child.

"Well, she's not here," the fae answered, chirping it's answer out as it stood up and shuffled around it's little fort. "She went off on an errand for me and won't be back until..." the fae stopped to think, then gave a sharp shrug, "until she's back! You'll just have to wait."

An errand. She was getting somewhere. "Did she? What sort of errand?" Annie looks at the fae with innocent eyes.

"To the other ream of course." Of course. "I couldn't possibly leave myself. Not when I'm in the middle of getting my home in order. It's just- AHH!" the tiny little fae cut itself off with an excited gasp as Daryl dipped his head through the doorway to check out what was happening. "The kitty returns!"

Daryl met the fae's excited look with wary, narrowed eyes.

"Oh, but you aren't a kitty right now. We should fix that!" and before Daryl could even get a sound of protest out, the fae flicked the air in his direction and he was quiet suddenly in his bobcat form. A yelping growl escaped him while he struggled to get himself orientated after the forced transformation.

The fae simply looked pleased with itself, "Now you can stay here and have milk and get pettings and when Lady Kayla returns she'll have a lovely new friend to invite over for tea!"

Oh dear. Oooh dear. Kayla was in the other realm and didn't know what she was doing. She'd probably eat something and have to stay there. Oh no. Annie looked towards the door just in time to see Daryl as a human and then, well, a bobcat.

Annie had the incredible feeling she was in over her head. Which meant it was time to tread water until she could figure out what to do.

"The kitty has to come home with me," Annie says calmly. "He's my friend, but I'm sure he would love to come to tea at some point." They just needed to get Kayla back. "Especially once Lady Kayla is back. It's been a long time, hasn't it?"

Now with is four feet under him, Daryl made his feelings on the matter known with a warning hiss. But when he attempted to back out the door, he met an invisible wall that prevented him from leaving.

"He'll be much safer inside the house. Outdoor cats have a much shorter lifespan than indoor cats," the fae said, as if reciting something it had learned very recently. It stopped to look at Annie, beak clacking as it obvious thought about the question, "Only two or three days, I think. Maybe four. That's not that long. Barely any time at all. I expect Lady Kayla should be back in a month."

"A month!" Annie gasped, and looked over at her cat-friend. Daryl was much larger than a standard cat, in bobcat form, but she could understand why the fae would be slightly confused. "Oh, no, that's not good- time moves differently for humans, and I'm afraid Lady Kayla's friends and family miss her terribly." They had to get her back.

"Is there any way you can summon her back?"

The fae drew itself up, starting to look annoyed again, "I couldn't possibly! I've already been here too long without my needle and the house is barely presentable as it is. You'll just have to wait."

Annie's jaw dropped. "What if- what if I got you a new needle?" That had to work. "Maybe then we could get her back sooner?"

The fae gasped, horrified, "A new one?! How dare you! That needle is more important that your whole stupid race! I must have it!"

It huffed, feathered head shaking and pointed to the door, "Out! You are no longer welcome here!"

"Oh-oh!" Annie gasps, and reaches for Daryl. "I was going to get you a better one- shinier- I'm sorry- please let me stay?" She looks her most innocent and adorable as she can.

The fae's feathers went stiff and flared up around it's head in a halo of rainbow as it screamed "GET OUT!" It's voice was no longer tiny, but a booming thunder that physically pushed both Annie and Daryl out of the house. The door and windows slammed shut, closing it off to further entry.

Daryl shook himself and attempted to transform back, but found he couldn't. He let out a frustrated growl that came out more like a defeated whine. Today was not going well at all.

The ground seemed to fly up to meet Annie as she was pushed out of the house, landing squarely on her butt. Looking over at the house, she closed her eyes and exhaled sharply. Shit- she was so bad at this. So so so bad. Why did anyone ever let her be a hunter, if this was how she did her field work? Sloppy, can't even reason with a fae...

She looked over at Daryl. "I'm so so sorry."

Daryl snarled at her, trying to get 'Don't be sorry! Do something!' across to her. Sitting around wallowing in apologies wasn't gonna get the girl back, nor was it going to get him back to normal. He continued to make low growls as he stalked over to her fallen books and pawed one open. See if he could find anything on the pages about the kind of fae they'd just had the misfortune of pissing off.

Regardless of whom the bobcat was, the snarl was enough to get Annie to be quiet, though she still wanted to mutter another I'm sorry</> again. Pulling at the ends of her hair, she leaned over the books, picking up one Daryl wasn't looking for.

"A month, she said- all for a needle." She should just call Finnick.

Daryl was having a much harder time than he had any right to in pawing through the book. He couldn't get just one page to turn. Four or nine all flopped over at once from the pressure unless he dared to try and use his claws. Which he hadn't yet. But he was getting to the point he might. He just didn't want to destroy the book.

If he could have talked, he would have been grumbling about why Annie didn't just offer to get the damn needle. Surely two adults could get it faster than some kid, right? He really hated that he couldn't talk right then and there.

Oh, please don't destroy Annie's books. That would be really, really bad.

Honestly, the idea didn't occur to her. What did occur to her, as she started looking up feathered fae, was that there had to be a way to get back on the fae's good side. To turn Daryl back.

"Excuse me?" Annie knocked on the door. "Can- uhm- I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend you. I was just, uhm- I'm really really sorry." Please turn her friend back.

A Little Bit of Faith, Trust, and Pixie Dust [Closed]

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