Litha Feast (Open to all court members and human guests, dated for the 21st)

[detectiveofthewest]

The grounds were brightly lit and festooned with decoration: trees covered in sweet-smelling dew, leaves of gold and red, vividly-colored streamers woven with thread finer than spider's silk. All around, the tables were piled high with all the food and wine one might expect of a grand feast. (Apparently, the fae had spared no expense.)

The Seelie King and Queen were present, though distanced from the rest of the revellers -- and quite a few revellers there were. Men and women with petals in their hair, clothes of vibrant silk and satin, and a rainbow of rare feathers and gems. Some looked human, some looked animal. Some, such as in the case of a well-dressed gentleman with skin like birch bark, looked like none of the above.

Comments

[stauncherhearted]

"Oh!" She's visibly relieved to find that Stiles is not going to be harmed. The contest was harmless, as made evident by the necklace she wore, her prize from all those years ago.

"Well, good for him!" She smiles, bringing a hand up to push her hair behind her ear. Which reminds her... "You're Fae?"

[detectiveofthewest]

"Well, yeah." Was it possible to look slightly sheepish through a mask? Apparently Heiji was giving it his best shot.

"I don't tell a lot of people, though. Ain't crazy about bein' shot at with silver bullets or crossbow bolts or whatever else. Actually, I'd appreciate it if you didn't spread it around..."

[stauncherhearted]

This thought gives her pause, and it takes a moment before, furrowing her brow slightly, she nods just once.

"Of course, your secret's safe with me." She didn't even know what mutual friends they had in common. Besides Stiles, anyway.

Which, well, now this puts everything in a new perspective, doesn't it. Nancy smirks at him, now toying absentmindedly with the same strand of hair she'd previously tucked behind her ear. "So d'you mind answering a question for me, then?" She doesn't give him any time to respond before continuing. "The take-out. Is that safe for human consumption? As in: is it poisoned, or will eating it allow me to return back to the London as I know it? Any negative affects other than calories?" She had to be sure, obviously, if she was going to snack. She wanted to go home after this, after all. The last thing she wanted was Fagin to have every excuse to hang on to her at all times.

[detectiveofthewest]

He made a face. "I wish people'd quit askin' me that -- it's not like they believe my answer, anyway. But it's perfectly fine. Got it from a nice little hole in the wall joint in Ensfield. There's no pomegranate seeds, it's not gonna make anyone turn into a frog. Probably got gluten in it, though, if you're allergic to that."

Humans, so suspicious. Gosh. Fairy food wasn't the real worry, anyway; it was mostly letting slip your name and making the mistake of returning a fae's gaze when they stared soulfully into your eyes.

[stauncherhearted]

"You're Fae," she points out. "You can't lie." And, no offense, but she doesn't trust anyone, especially the Fae.

[detectiveofthewest]

"Sure, but they still ain't satisfied. You say somethin's safe, they go, 'Safe for who? Safe from what? How d'you define safe?' And then it turns into twenty, thirty minutes of defining what the definition of 'is' is."

It was kind of annoying because humans could and did lie, cheat, and steal on a regular basis -- sometimes right to your face. But of course it was the fae that were untrustworthy.

[stauncherhearted]

"Some of the Fae are extremely good at dancing around subjects and finding loopholes, I've found." At least, Fagin was.

"For what it's worth, then, I'm sorry."

[detectiveofthewest]

He shook his head. "Yeah, I know. ...Sorry. I didn't mean to go off on ya or anything, it's just been a long week. And most of these guys have no idea about how humans get tired or why they wanna go back home. It's not like the old days, when there wasn't much to do outside Faery but stare at cows."

Heiji had... personally lived through some of those days in Japan. It was bleak. Although there were a lot more wild areas to enjoy.

"I hope you're enjoyin' yourself, at least. ...Is that a winner's necklace?"

[stauncherhearted]

"No, it's alright. I understand." She'd feel the same way if someone had done something like that to her about witches or prostitutes or even blood workers.

Nancy looks down, dropping her hand to the necklace as if to double-check. "Oh, yes- Some time ago. That's one of the reasons Fagin can get in so easy." He may have been Unseelie, but he liked to play both sides of the court.

[detectiveofthewest]

Heiji smiled. "Well, you are pretty cute, so I can see why ya won." Not flirting, exactly, but certainly a compliment. Nancy was pretty cute.

"I been here a little bit, but I haven't met this Fagin fella yet. You think I could meet him? Or would that be weird?"

[stauncherhearted]

Nancy blushes just a bit. "Thank you. The King and Queen apparently thought so, too."

At the idea of Heiji meeting him, Nancy nearly chokes. "No- it'd be terribly weird. I don't want him involved with any of my friends, if I can help it." He was No Good.

[detectiveofthewest]

He laughed. "Well, if they said so, then it must be true!"

Her reaction to the idea of someone meeting her foster father, though -- that was a little surprising. Sure, some kids didn't get along too well with their foster parents, but Nancy was unlikely to be saying so out of teenage embarrassment (for one thing, she wasn't a teenager). "Oh... well, if ya say so, I won't go looking for him."

Who was this Fagin guy, anyway? Was it worth looking into? For now, he cast about for a quick subject change.

"So, um. Are any of your brothers around? Foster brothers, I mean."

[stauncherhearted]

"Thank you," she breaths an audible sigh of relief. "He's just as Seelie as he is savory." That is to say: un.

"No- they don't fetch Fagin quite the attention that I do, 'round here." Plus, they were younger, harder to control, even with a slave ring on. They hadn't learned as well as she had, and she knew that any of their missteps could have ended very, very poorly.

"They're safe at home, ordering pizza, no doubt."

[detectiveofthewest]

"Then I'm awfully jealous of them. Never thought I'd say it, but I just wanna put my feet up, open a bottle of wine, and spend the night alone with a good book." Nancy had probably made a prudent decision; the Seelie were generally kinder than were their counterparts, but that didn't mean they couldn't work up a temper. And there were Unseelie here, of course.

"...Unless they order pineapple." He made a face, clearly not a fan of fruit toppings on his pie.

[stauncherhearted]

Nancy laughed, a full laugh. "Don't like pineapple?" She liked pineapple in general.

"Luckily for you, then, they tend to stick with meat lover's. And they prefer beer to wine." Fagin had no qualms about allowing them to drink.

[detectiveofthewest]

"I like it just fine in a fruit bowl. But on pizza?" His expression told it all. "Pizza's supposed to be savory, maybe a little salty. I'm fine with stuff like broccoli or anchovies. Though I ain't quite sure what the appeal of anchovies on pizza is, either." Personally, he thought they were better used in soup stock.

"I mean, I'm not sayin' I wouldn't eat it ..." After all, foxes were opportunistic eaters and sometimes you had to resort to desperate measures. "...But only if I had to. Anyhow, what about you? You got any toppings you're partial to?"

[stauncherhearted]

And now here she was, craving pizza. Well done, Heiji. "I'll take my pizza with just about anything." She'd had to dive through dumpsters before, occasionally to get food. "I've never been too picky about food, really. But you can never go wrong with extra cheese!"

[detectiveofthewest]

"You got that right!" You could never go wrong with more pizza. And cheese. Heiji brightened at the very thought.

"Speakin' of which, there's a place I heard of opened up in Harrow -- called Sal's. Supposedly, their sauce is amazing!" Man, he could use a slice like right now.

[stauncherhearted]

"Really? I'm generally a solid Pizza Express sort of girl, but I'll have to check it out. Maybe we could go together." She was, for the record, not asking him out on a date. She did not need a second person thinking they were dating. Because she didn't date.

[detectiveofthewest]

"Sure! Maybe we could invite your brothers along, too. Or Stiles. But I'm pretty sure he doesn't have any money, though, so we'd have to pay for him."

How did Stiles even survive? It was a mystery...

[stauncherhearted]

"He's got some," she said, a surge of protectiveness welling up in her chest. "And it's not expensive. I could invite the boys, though, easy. They'd love to come. Mind you, they're a handful." But it'd be good for them to get out, meet some other people. Good people.

Not like her and Fagin.

Nancy... :c

[detectiveofthewest]

"I don't think that's gonna be too much of an issue," he said. "Although that reminds me -- a bunch of my cousins are coming to visit me in a week or two. That's gonna be a headache. I don't even know what little girls like."

Shop...ping? Candy?

[stauncherhearted]

Nancy grins as wide as she can. "Well! Good thing you're talking to a former little girl. I'm something of an expert." She tosses her hair back behind her shoulders, the flower crown woven in to her hair remained unmoved.

"They're visiting you in London; they're going to want to see all of the usual hot-spots. Tower of London, the Tate, the Globe, Big Ben and Parliment. Oh! At King's Cross, platform 6 4/3 if they've read those Barry Totter novels. Of course, Harrods, if they're the shopping sort. I would say get a good afternoon tea in, too."

[detectiveofthewest]

That was a pretty neat trick, Nancy.

"Well, I guess it's a good thing I've seen most of those. What's this about King's Cross, though? There ain't any Platform 6 4/3 that I know of." He'd heard about Barry Totter in passing, but children's books (that were not also detective novels) weren't generally something he spent a lot of time reading.

[stauncherhearted]

"That's the point- it's supposed to be the barrier between platforms 6 and 7 on the 7 side. It's how you get to the train to take you to Pigfarts in the books. It's like Redbright." Only not run by idiots.