Nova: [anxiously clutches at the magic around them, watching the bustling faerie town of Kilrey from far away]

[Kilrey was full of fae subjugated under the will of a single other faerie… of course, by the name of Kilrey.]

[Like many other fae towns, most of Kilrey's residents spent a majority of their time working toward expanding their master's dominion. The town was absolutely suffused with power emanating from the fae population within its walls, but most prominently? It was full of Kilrey's power. Even with all the other faeries there, the archfae's always came out on top.]

Nova: [takes several slow, shaky deep breaths as they try to steel their nerves]

Nova: (thinking to themself) I'm not taking much power with me… he shouldn't notice me. I should be fine to enter…

Nova: [fidgets with the magic in the air, warping it around herself to cool the area and set a feeling of calmness over her] Nova: [simultaneously plagued by the dual senses of terror and hunger.]

Nova: (still trying to reassure herself) It's okay. If I just teleport in there… few fae will even be able to notice me, with all that power there!

Nova: [flexes her jaw, struggling not to cry despite her magic]

Nova: … except Kilrey. And what if he notices me? What then?

Nova: [shakes his head quickly, letting out his breath and smacking his cheeks to recollect himself]

Nova: (sternly) No. Can't think that way. If he comes… we can fight him. Or escape. Lead him away if we must… and he won't be able to do much by himself.

Nova: [glances far over his shoulder, eyeing the unclaimed plane far behind him… despite it being far out of sight]

Nova: … and if he tries to bring his thralls, he'll still lose access to his power if I take him far enough. I can overpower him, then.

Nova: [nods curtly, looking back toward the town of Kilrey]

[His stomach rumbled again]

Nova: [face determined, but lets out a slow, heavy sigh]

Nova: (still trying to reassure himself) Alright. We can do this, Casey.

Nova:

Nova: (annoyedly) I don't much like that name, either.

Nova: [but just sighs heavily before warping themself into town]

Nova: [now toward the end of a mostly-empty street, head lowered and her hood pulled over her head]

Nova: [hurries forward, quickly opening the door to the tavern and stepping inside]

[The room was absolutely brimming with faeries of many different domains. Fire, air, and even a few storm faeries. With a conspicuous lack of earth, water, and forest faeries]

[Not that Nova was surprised]

[Those were Kilrey's domains, after all.]

[Most of the fae were sitting around tables, chatting amongst themselves and helping themselves to food and drink rations. Like most fae towns, the residents of Kilrey were given rations based on their productivity every day… and, being as Nova wasn't a resident, he technically had no reason to receive any]

Nova: [awkwardly fidgets with one of his Silina Emblems—a token containing a bit of essence from another Archfae, Silina, and declaring she'd owe whomever it was traded to—as he heads to the bar]

[Emblems were essentially the archfaeries' version of currency. They'd hand them to faeries who'd earned their favor, who'd then exchange them for goods and services within other archfaeries' dominions.]

[Technically, emblems were supposed to be handed straight to other archfae, so they could barter over what exactly they would get in exchange. But archfaeries often kept their thralls absolutely overwhelmed with work, and Kilrey was no exception.]

[This tavernkeeper—the surprising exception to the 'no faeries of Kilrey's domain' rule—was swamped. They had grown several extra arms to help them carry and distribute rations amongst the residents who'd oh-so recently returned.]

[Just like planned, the tavernkeep should be far too exhausted to further direct Nova to Kilrey when they had the time]

Nova: [satisfied things were working as he'd hoped, moves on to scan the bar]

[A single faerie sat there; they were air-aligned, with a flowy, layered dress; semi-transparent sky-blue skin peppered with splotches of white; and a white afro. The further their afro traveled from their head, the more the hair seemed to transform into clouds]

Nova: (to himself, reflexively) cloud domain. Weak.

Nova: [eyeing them awkwardly, hesitantly steps up to the seat beside them]

Nova: [all while rocking back and forth on his feet, raises his voice to ask] "is this seat taken?"

Faerie: [tenses, fae-ears subtly bending back as they look over their shoulder to meet Nova's eyes]

Nova: [flashes them an awkward smile]

Faerie: [cautiously glances around themself… then, easing their ears and returning their eyes to Nova, offers a soft, slightly-forced smile in return]

Faerie: (voice gentle, hard to make out over the din of the tavern) "No. But my brother should be back soon…"

[A weight settles over Nova's heart]

Nova: brother…

Nova: [looks away, her ears folded back awkwardly. Still, she moves to sit down beside the faerie]

Nova: (to herself, depressedly) so they have a brother…

Nova: [at the same time, perks her ears back up, turns to grin at the faerie, and forces herself to say amusedly) "ah! Well, hopefully he won't mind me being here?"

Faerie: [smile softening, shakes their head slightly]

Faerie: (gently) "I don't think so... you seem nice. I'm Scamall, by the way… female."

Nova: [grins widely, offering his hand to shake… with as much of his essence as far from it as possible, as was considered polite]

Nova: (keeping her tone amused to hide her nervousness) "oh! Well, I'm—"

Scamall: [took her hand to shake it, but—]

Nova: [hesitates, her grin turning awkward. Finally, she looks away with pursed lips and lowered fae-ears]

Nova: (nervously) "I… haven't actually decided on a name yet…"

Scamall: [essence flutters—]

Nova: [tenses, ears folding back as she quickly looks at Scamall with wide eyes]

Scamall: [has her essence breezing out from her as she smiles brightly, bringing her other hand up to clasp Nova's in-between hers]

Scamall: (warmly) "oh, are you a new faerie?"

Nova:

Scamall: [glancing away as she rocks from side-to-side, attempts to finish) "I ca—"

Nova: (blurts, panic slipping into her voice) "no!"

Scamall: [startled, quickly looks back to Nova with wide eyes and tensed shoulders]

Scamall: [essence—and face—twisted, visibly uneasy]

Nova: [struggling to keep their panic from their face, forces an awkward grin again]

Nova: (voice shaky, but still faux-amused) "I just—I've been awake for a while, but I've just—I've had a hard time coming up with one, is all!"

Scamall: [tension slowly eases as Nova speaks, but her ears and face just droop with the saddest of smiles. Still, her ears perk up as she seems to snap to attention, her eyes going over Nova's shoulder—]

Nova: [tenses, but as they turn to see—]

Voice: (speaks from behind Nova, hard) "Scamall? Who's this?"

Faerie: [now that Nova's turned, standing to her side. Has their arms crossed as they look between Nova and Scamall suspiciously]

Faerie: [has long, voluminous white hair shaped like clouds, blue-purple skin freckled like stars in the night sky, a sharp and hook-tipped beaklike nose, and two sets of long, feathered fae-ears… all angled backwards, aggressive.]

Nova: this must be the brother! :'D

Nova: [both annoyed and anxious, to themself) but Scamall said he wouldn't be upset… of course she was wrong.

Nova: [offers a wide, awkward grin as they bring their hands up in surrender and struggle to come up with a response—]

Scamall: (from behind them, voice gentle and yet pointed) "this is a faerie I just met. Spéir, they seem nice."

Spéir: [looked at Scamall over Nova's shoulder as she spoke, but quickly returns his eyes to Nova]

Spéir: [lip curled slightly; voice tense and just as pointed) "plenty of fae seem nice, Scamall. That's how they trick you. We've been over this."

Nova: (quickly, before she can think better of it) "I really mean no harm! I'm just travelling and wanted company!"

Spéir: [leaning in closer so his and Nova's noses touch, sharply) "likely story."

Nova: [panicking, reflexively reaches for the nearest bit of unclaimed essence to take it to protect herself—]

Spéir: [except, pulls away?]

Scamall: [at his side, hand clenching his shoulder as she glares at him]

Scamall: [hair darkened into storm clouds, crackling with electricity, and fae-ears held high and back from anger]

Scamall: (sharply) "I said to be nice! They're a FAELING!"

Nova: [bites back a 'I'm not a faeling!', ears low and eyes wide with panic as he looks between the two]

Spéir: [clenches his jaw as takes deep, angry breaths, glancing between Scamall and Nova—]

Voice: "HEY! FAE!"

All three: [tense, turning to face—]