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Post by demikara on Jan 16, 2021 21:15:01 GMT -6
"Let's be prepared in case we aren't. I've not heard good things about the unseelie. What can I expect?" He doubted he was the most magical being in a world of fae after all. There was every chance that he was outgunned. Given he hadn't thought to grab any weapons before leaving, just in case, he was certainly out armed. And given Catherine was tired from the serious working she had just done, that made him their main point of defense. Fighting against unknown forces of unknown power didn't sound like an ideal sort of day.
Hopefully they weren't actually all that far from Catherine's home here. Idlely, he wondered what her home would be like. She had said it was an estate, so certainly bigger than the last place he had stayed at in the fae realm. He started out walking. "Should I glamour us somehow?" That would be interesting. He had never glamoured himself to look fae before.
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Post by Circe on Jan 16, 2021 21:24:17 GMT -6
"Nothing good." Catherine answered hesitantly. "I know that the seelie are.. not exactly easy to understand... but the unseelie are capable of being cruel in ways that your parents would have wished they knew." Granted, Catherine knew she was capable of being so herself, but she tried hard to follow a different path. "They get enjoyment from torturing lost and unsuspecting souls." That much she knew and was certain of, given her last encounter with Aisling and her sisters. A minor noblewoman, but still with power that much of the general population lacked.
"Glamour? What good is a glamour going to do us?" She laughed suddenly, jolted out of her thoughts about the dark court.
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Post by demikara on Jan 16, 2021 21:29:15 GMT -6
"Make us look less human if we run across any unseelie. I suspect humans would be seen as easy prey after all." It may give them a second or two of hesitation. He could do a lot with a second or two. Assuming he noticed them of course, and given they were in the middle of a forest, there was not guarantee that would happen. Unfortunately, they were the lost and unsuspecting souls in this situation. He wasn't overly thrilled with being in that position either. It was close to the solstice though, so he should have suspected something would go wrong. Something always went wrong with the solstice lately.
That wasn't something he was overly pleased about either. Hopefully they were close enough to the village that it wouldn't be too long of a walk. And hopefully that village was one close enough that they could get a ride to Catherine's estate and be there in time.
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Post by Circe on Jan 16, 2021 21:43:17 GMT -6
Catherine gave Tyrus a sidelong glance before responding, "Yourself maybe, but anyone is going to have a hard time believing me human here." The white hair and height combined with instinctively elegant movements wouldn't ever read as human. Human's were often shorter, and moved without an elegance that the fae had. "Besides, language is not exactly a barrier for me." She pointed out and then sighed. There were so many things to explain yet again. "The seelie like humans, the unseelie do not. Is that easier?" Once any fae seelie or unseelie figured out she knew the language, there would be even more trouble.
"Humans are easy prey, but maybe... that could be to our advantage. Human's aren't supposed to have power."
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Post by demikara on Jan 16, 2021 21:47:54 GMT -6
"And I do have power." That he could provide. That he was comfortable providing as well. "And I do speak some fae. Very poorly, but that's what translation spells are for." He had learned it on his last foray into the fae realm. And he suspected, given who his sire was, that he would need to actually work on becoming fluent. Especially if they were going to end up in the fae realm twice a year for the next forever. Or at least until her managed to figure out a spell that could stand up to the solstice. If he even could manage to figure out a spell that could stand up to the solstice at all. It may be an impossible task without invoking the gods and he sure as hell wasn't going to invoke the gods to limit his magic.
That was asking for something to go terribly wrong. And he did try to make sure his magic went correctly.
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Post by Circe on Jan 16, 2021 22:00:25 GMT -6
"Yes, very poorly I agree." Catherine commented in agreement. But that seemed to be part of learning another language, she could even begin to think what she had sounded like learning it herself. She hadn't been terribly old when she was brought to the realm, but old enough to remember having a difficult time understanding anyone at all.
After what seemed like hours bushwhacking through the thick underbrush, they came to a small clearing at the edge of a village. Motioning to Tyrus to wait for a moment, Catherine watched as others came and went, trying to ascertain whether or not they had the potential to be friendly. "Now would be a good time to glamour us to blend in. Clothes probably, unless you want to try the laundry line trick." She had seen it in a few bits of human entertainment, but past that had never really heard of anyone using it.
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Post by demikara on Jan 16, 2021 22:06:20 GMT -6
"The laundry line trick relies on somehow finding ones that fit." Which was no guarantee. A quick spell cast on both altered their appearances enough that they could blend in more. He based the clothes on what he had seen and carefully changed the tips of his ears to be a bit more pointed. He'd look half human still, but it was better than nothing at all. Not that he was human anymore at all, but vampires did still look human superficially at least and that meant their first impression would be human and not vampire.
"And I will have to work on my fae. For now, a translation spell and my staying mostly silent will work." It would be interesting, but doable. The mage cast a translation spell and anchored it to one of his necklaces so he would sound like he was speaking fae when he did speak. It wasn't 100% effective. But it was a more complex one at least that would make it look like his lips matched the movement of the words and he'd take that.
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Post by Circe on Jan 16, 2021 22:17:37 GMT -6
Catherine nodded her approval and started off again towards the village. If they could play what few cards they had right, then they could at least know where they were. But if they were wrong, then they were in for a world of trouble. "Good news, looks like it's market day. They won't be as suspicious of new faces." Catherine said quietly to Tyrus as they walked through the village gates. She would just have to keep her own words few and far between as well, she still wasn't sure if it was safe.
"Find out where we are, and then we'll make a plan."
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Post by demikara on Jan 16, 2021 22:28:48 GMT -6
How exactly was he supposed to find out where they were? The mage glanced around, reluctant to leave Catherine's side for this. At least they could both still speak mentally if needed. He considered his options then decided to try out some of the stalls. He wouldn't receive shit for jut looking if it came down to it there, like he would in a pub which was probably the better of the two choices for finding out information on where they were.
As it was, they were going to have a hell of a time. No one actually declared themselves in a certain town. That wasn't a normal thing to do. He wondered how exactly he was supposed to manage this task. For now, he'd look at the wares on display and try to figure out where they were. Given the possibilities were unseelie or seelie, he wanted to be careful. The seelie may have a little bit of fun at his expense for being lost. The unseelie would take advantage of him entirely.
The mage examined some vegetables in one of the stalls and tried to look like her belonged.
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Post by Circe on Jan 16, 2021 22:43:20 GMT -6
Catherine moved easily and freely through the crowded market place. Like any other market, merchants had their wares out on display for sale. Looking was one thing, but asking was another. For now though, she was content to listen and watch. Surely someone would be dumb enough to mention a skirmish at the border or something about a particular thing that would clue them into where they where.
Sighing in annoyance, she couldn't just outright ask where exactly where they.
'Gods above and below... where the hell am I?' She thought to herself, squinting for a moment at livery of the village constable. Their black and silver regalia didn't match anything close to home. It seemed like they were further off course than she had originally thought. 'Who has black and silver? Come on.. you should know this.' If she didn't, then her current position as heir of the McBride title and lands was worth nothing without knowledge of the realm.
It was then that she came to a sinking realization, and went to find Tyrus.
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Post by demikara on Jan 16, 2021 22:47:20 GMT -6
Tyrus had moved on to examine the food in a different stall together when Catherine found him, still trying to figure out how the hell they were going to find out where they were. It wasn't like it was an easy question. Hopefully Catherine had come up with something. He looked her over. She was unharmed, but he recognized the look on her face. That didn't mean good things. Tentatively, he reached out to her mentally. 'Catherine?'
What was wrong? That was the question and he had the feeling he didn't want to know what exactly she had seen that had made her upset at all. Nothing good, given they were meant to be in safety in three days time. Surely the gate hadn't set them too far away to manage that?
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Post by Circe on Jan 16, 2021 23:02:50 GMT -6
Catherine said little and instead grabbed Tyrus with a vice like grip by the arm, leading him off away to another part of the market. The merchant of the stall meanwhile just shrugged and went back to hawking their wares. 'Good news and bad news.' She answered, her words tinged with mild concern. Her initial estimations had been way off, and there was a chance that they wouldn't make the estate with time enough to spare.
'I'll understand if you're angry with me after this, however we need to stay together long enough to get through the next 48 hours.' She said, trying to at least appeal to his sense of rationality. It seemed like anything and everything that involved her went pear shaped lately, from the solstice, to the court, and now this. 'I recognized the village constable's livery. Black and silver, with a cockatrice.'
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Post by demikara on Jan 17, 2021 8:55:24 GMT -6
Judging by the grip on his arms, they were in trouble. At least she recognized where they were at. That was a good thing. 'What's the bad news? Are we too far off to make it?' That would definitely be bad news. Unless Catherine had fae money on her when they arrived, then they had no money on them for supplies to travel with. They'd have a hell of a time setting up a defended location for the solstice as well. He could ward them, but there was no telling if the wards would hold under the onslaught of both of them that close together. Plus, if the wards broke, they'd be shit out of luck if someone came upon them. And he didn't trust his luck enough to hope that no one would come upon them.
The fact that she was trying to reassure him though, and had opened with essentially a plea to not be mad was not soothing at all.
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Post by Circe on Jan 17, 2021 12:01:12 GMT -6
'My estimations on our course were off by a margin.' She explained, never saying how far off course they were. That had explained the difference in terrain and forest composition. They wouldn't have to travel that much further north, but would at some point have to travel back toward the east. It all depended on if they could manage it without encountering more trouble on the way. Catherine wasn't betting on it, given both their current streaks of rotten luck as of late. But they could at least prepare for possibilities and control the damage. 'Good news is no one knows we're here yet.' For that she was thankful alone. The possibility of capture, held, and possibly tortured by the unseelie was something that for many was unthinkable.
'Bad news is we're on the unseelie side of the line, about two days travel from where we need to be given my estimate.'She continued. That she had miscalculated things by that bad a margin felt shameful, and only served as a unnecessary reminder that magic should be left up to the experts. Not some hack who was better served doing other things.
'We're not too far to make it, unless you're above borrowing a thing, or two, or maybe three from the locals.' Catherine added, peering at Tyrus for a moment, her expression unreadable. She knew she had the skills necessary to get out of trouble without drawing too much attention to herself, but she wondered about Tyrus. A mage who was more of an ivory tower academic, and whose experience was limited to what amounted to book smarts. 'You can ride, can you not?'
A pair of fast horses was what they needed, it would be easier to make time without the unnecessary bulk of a wagon to slow them down. Along with a means of protecting themselves that didn't necessary rely on magic, because as they drew closer to the solstice theirs would become increasingly unpredictable and unstable.
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Post by demikara on Jan 17, 2021 12:56:18 GMT -6
'I've never ridden for an entire day before, but I had ridden a horse in the past.' He wasn't an expert, but he knew the basics at least. 'And I'm not above borrowing a horse.' Assuming it was a horse they were borrowing. Horse-like enough that she had wanted to know if he could ride at least. The were on the unseelie side of the border though and that meant they needed to be fast. 'Though I don't think I've ever 'borrowed' anything quite like that before.' He supposed that needs must. And a horse would be better than walking, which would undoubtedly take more than the two days they needed to travel in. Never let it be said that time spent with Catherine was boring at least.
Maybe next time it would be worth it to owe Molly, to see that they ended up in the right place without having to steal a horse to manage getting to safety. 'Let's hurry then. We don't have time to waste if we're going to get to safety.' And well away from the unseelie who would enjoy having him there much more than he would enjoy being in their clutches.
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