Thorny Trouble 09-05-2011 (Lugh and Keoki, maybe others later.)

It had been a few days since term had started and while it was fresher’s Lugh did not have the luxury of free time, and was spending hours in the archive’s studying ancient texts and just as many conversing with Professor Van Aalst, head of the Theology Department and Lugh’s supervisor for his research. As such he was spending long days at the university tending to only get home after dinner and been served, though always there for the communal breakfast.

As such the sun was setting when Lugh had started back towards the Mansion, though clear skies graced the skies the road was covered in puddles of various depths from an autumn storm earlier in the day. Walking down the road Lugh hummed an upbeat tune until a car coming up the road towards him ignored his presence and drove straight through a puddle. Trying to dodge the wall of water, and failing, Lugh tripped and landed in a ditch. Getting back to his feet He felt a sharp stabbing pain in his arm. Looking about he spotted a stray Hawthorn branch in the ditch, “Shit!” he muttered checking his arm to see that a thorn had pierced his jacket and broken off. “I’m dead!” he said disbelievingly, ripping his jacket off to see the thorn growing in his arm, setting down roots as it were. Try as he might he couldn’t get it out, the pain growing as the thorn did. “Trust me to survive dragons, and die by a splinter.” He muttered starting into a brisk jog back to the Mansion, still about a mile and a half away.

Hawthorn was an odd wood while completely non magical and in this case not even controlled by the forest, it did have the quality that if it was placed in the flesh of a faerie it would grow and rapidly due to the high levels of magic in their systems. Twenty minutes later Lugh arrived at the gates staggering heavily sweating and in a lot of pain, he was pale faced and obviously in shock, close to losing consciousness. By this point it had grown through his lower arm and was working its way up, dark lines indicating the location of the twisting roots of wood below the skin. As he stumbled up the drive he tripped over his own feet. “Need fire, burn it out.” He muttered in a half delirious state.

Though Keoki wasn't quite thrilled about being stuck in school again, thinking she'd been rid of that after Anna's odd home-schooling (seeing as they moved around so much, Anna thought it was a better idea than having her constantly switch high schools). But she didn't have any classes at the time, and had taken advantage of that time to relax outside with a walk.

Close to the gates, she noticed Lugh approached in an obviously strained manner, running over to see if he'd been attacked or hurt. By the time she'd reached him, she all she heard was something about fire and burning it out, then she noticed a series of lines that looked like they were under his skin. "The hell did you get yourself into?!" She didn't own a lighter, but someone did come to mind as to who would have one. Creed.

Heading up to his room, it turned out he wasn't around, but his door happened to be unlocked, and she thanked her luck as she went in and dug through a drawer, picking up a lighter from the messy pile of things he kept around. Leave it to him to have a secret case of pyromania. But there wasn't much time, and she'd get it back to him later. Lugh hadn't made it much farther by the time she got back outside.

Getting back over, she stopped him and pulled out the lighter, hoping he was still conscious enough to say something, "What should I do?" He had said to burn it out, but seeing as this wasn't exactly something she hadn't seen before, she didn't want to just risk hurting the guy by messing up. While waiting for an answer she took his arm to try and locate the entry point.

“Here. Light it on fire. I can take the pain.” Lugh gasped pointing to the little thorn sticking out of his lower right arm, bulging at the entry point where the roots had started growing. He said he could take the pain, what he meant is that he didn’t have much time before it reached his heart.

Lugh was struggling to retain consciousness when Keo did light it; however the immense agony of the fire crawling under his skin prevented any such mercy. Within the wood was slowly turned to ash and after about thirty seconds the process Lugh lying on the ground grasping his arm, pain induced tears falling from his eyes. Blood dripped from the charred flesh, and the smell filled the air.

“Thank you. You just... saved my life.” He whispered, slowly getting to his feet still clutching his arm “You can ask whatever you like but give me a hand bandaging this, It could take a week and a half, maybe two to heal, and I’d rather it didn’t get infected.” Not that an infection would do Lugh much harm in the long run, he’d just prefer not to be ill. “Bloody hawthorn.” He muttered angrily, though the anger was directed at himself not towards Keoki, to who he was really quite grateful.

Following his instructions, she hoped he was right about that as she lit the thorn. She backed away after that, seeing as she couldn't really do much about the pain. And that smell was hardly any better, though she was more curious as to how in the hell he survived that and still had use of his arm. After the burning stopped and he calmed down, she stuffed the lighter into her pocket and held out a hand to help him up.

"What? You expected me to just leave you there?" she asked with a grin once she realized he'd be alright after that, though that didn't mean she wasn't still a little surprised over the ordeal. It wasn't every day you saw roots growing in someone's arm. Then she paused to hear him mention how long it would take to heal... He certainly had the specifics down, if he could make that call.

"Alright, let's get you inside, then," she saved her questions for later, like he'd asked, and lead him back in, sticking close just to make sure he'd be alright, "I'll assume you've still got the bandages, but you have any special disinfectant I should know about back in your room too?" She really wouldn't put it passed him to have some weird medical potion stashed away after he made up that stuff to help get rid of the possession.

Lugh let out a pained chuckle, “Now you sound like my sisters.” He said grasping his limp arm and shuffling towards the mansion letting out a yep as it knocked against the door frame. “Next you’ll tell me to take up smoking. I suppose I’m a traditionalist in every other way.” He said a mental image playing through his mind, of his sisters berating him for not having matches or a lighter on his person at all times.

“Yeah, Pandora’s Grace will kill just about most things, including any remnants of wood that the fire didn’t get. It’s the amber vile.” He said as he began climbing the stairs “Though let’s not use too much, I’d rather my arm didn’t fall off.”He joked mumbling to himself in addition “And I’ll need to drink the rest of the contents of the third flask. By Danu this happened at a bad time.” As they got to his door he turned to her, my key is in my bag, you couldn’t get it out could you?” he asked jostling the rucksack on his back.

"Heh, is that good or bad? As for smoking, nah. I wouldn't even smoke, parents would have killed me," she replied as she now followed behind him, not sure which room he was in since they were on different floors. Taking a mental note to look for the amber vial, she wondered just how many vials and strange substances would be sitting about. She rose an eyebrow when he mentioned the side effect for using too much though, "Wait... your arm could fall off? Shit, what kinda stuff is that then?"

When he mentioned the key, she nodded, getting the bag open and picking it out. Unlocking the door with a click, she pushed it open and handed the key back to him, stepping out of Lugh's way so he could go in first before she took a look around from the doorway. Following him in, she asked, "Where's that vial you mentioned?"

“Pandora’s Grace, the nectar of the Triú flower, grows in low light temperate conditions. Highly toxic to more or less every mortal being and dangerous to the majority of Immortals too. Unless combined with Calcium Carbonate when ingested.” He explained “Don’t worry I’ll apply it can’t be putting you in danger, but I’ll need help with the bandages all the same.”
“I don’t know, depends which one.” Lugh chuckled leading her into the room. It was a mess, papers, scrolls and stone tablets strewn about his room, the only clean patch was the small area by the window where the violin case sat on a chair. “Excuse the mess if you would, I’m not much good at being organised. It in the box under the bed with the rest of the medical supplies.” He said clearing space on the bed with his good arm. “So now that we’re in private feel free to ask away, you know unless I faint he said still quite pale in the face.

"Right then..." she mumbled as she closed the door behind herself, not exactly liking the words 'highly toxic', certainly aiming to be precautious with this stuff now. Hearing that he'd handle that himself put her at ease though, and she just nodded before glancing down to avoid stepping on something. She got a laugh out of it when he called himself disorganized, "Oh, really? I would have never guessed. Don't worry about it though. I had an old friend who was hardly any better. 'Cept she moved often and had to keep some semblance of order thanks to that."

She knelt down and pulled the box he mentioned out from under the bed, getting it open and looking for the amber vial. Carefully plucking the one she found from the box, she held it up to Lugh and asked, "This the right one?" After she handed it off, she stood back up to help get his arm bandaged once he finished with the Pandora's Grace stuff. As for questions, though she certainly hoped he didn't pass out, she started with, "I'm going to assume you aren't human if you survived that while staying conscious and claim it'll take less then a month to heal. So, what're ya, then?"

“That’s the one,” he said taking it out of her hands applying some to a cloth and began cleaning his arm with it. “No I’m not a human, and truly I’m not sure what I am any more, although for the purpose of his conversation I’m a faerie. At least I was once.” He explained flinching with each application of Pandora’s Grace, the areas that had been treated turning black as the cells died.

“As such I’m Immortal to an extent; I heal quickly and won’t die of old age. Rather than immortality I suppose you’d say I have advanced regenerative capabilities. If I was human I’d just have gotten a splinter, as I am the magic in my body causes Hawthorn wood to grow out of control until it consumes my body. There’s been numerous cases over the centuries of faeries turning into Fairy Thorns.” He said considering a few things before continuing “I’d say the fact that I’m not entirely a faerie anymore has something to do with me not being a tree right now, normally the process takes under then minutes.”

“As for the pain not knocking me out, I was throwing my soul about the other day, this is nothing. My magic levels have stabilized now anyway so I’m not at much risk.” He paused for a second “I’d be grateful if the fact I’m not human didn’t leave this room, Creed and Jack already know but I’ve known them since I was here last. I’d rather leave it at I can do magic than I’m not human.”

She waited patiently until he finished before speaking, interested in listening to his predicament and starting to work on the bandaging after he finished with the odd 'disinfection' method, "So... a Faerie who's not exactly a Faerie anymore... gotta say, Lugh, that's a new one. The immortality bit sounds like a sweet bonus though." Werewolves didn't age any faster than humans. Sure, they had some bonuses as well, but the idea of living for far more years than she was supposed to always seemed fascinating, "Though death by splinter is certainly a lame way to go out, no offense."

"And don't worry, your secret's safe," she added as she tied the bandages and placed the leftover roll aside, "You're the first Faerie I've met though. Or partial Faerie, however it works. I guess maybe you guys just don't visit the states much?" Considering this was her first time out of the US, she didn't find it too surprising that she'd find some different kinds of inhumans as well. But she could easily stick to his magic human story, seeing as she already hid the fact that she wasn't human either.

“Technically the courts are still trying to decide if I’m a faerie or not, and I hope I am.” He said it had been three years since the debate had started and still the jury was out. “Immortality isn’t the best thing in the world it’s easy to get tired, and easy to become lonely. Not that it doesn’t have it’s benefits.”
He laughed as she made the splinter comment “Hey no race is infallible hawthorn can kill me, silver gets were-‘creatures’ and a boot gets spiders. Though any wound that’s fatal for a human could kill me just as easily, anything less and I’ll recover without even a scar.” He said before adding sarcastically “Pity some women find scars sexy.”

“I’m a rare case I’m a Leanan Sídhe, I can’t or rather couldn’t survive without a lover, we live of their life. I no longer need that, but other than Leanan Sídhe the majority of Faeries don’t get permits to leave the Otherworlds. I’m technically in exile though.” Lugh said a tone of regret as he mentioned the exile. “And thanks, I’d rather not get dissected in some lab for not being human.”

((sorry I've got to go, I've an interview early tomorrow morning, and I need to look awake to get the job.))

((Don't apologize, lol. Best of luck with your interview. ^^))

"That sucks," Keo didn't particularly know much about these faerie courts, or how long it'd been going on for, but it still had to be a pain. She nodded at the loneliness note, knowing how that was even without the immortality. But she did flinch a little at the mention of silver... and were-creatures. Of all the examples to use, that had to be one of them. "Anything that's fatal for a human... other than having a tree grow in your arm then set aflame?" she may have come off a little sarcastic though, but mostly because she was still surprised how he was still awake.

"So, is it something similar to an Incubus or Succubus? Just less evil. Or I'd hope as much," she asked, recalling some of those demons who lived off of their lovers as Lugh mentioned. But this exile deal caught her attention, though she debated about asking about it, "If I might ask... what happened for them to go that far?" She tried to avoid actually saying exile, but it was easy to see what she meant.

“Well humans don’t normally grow trees in their arms. I case you didn’t notice. So let’s disregard that comment.” Lugh said crossing his legs and leaning back until he was leaning on the bed “Talking about silver one of my sisters has a leg made of silver, she lost the original in the second world war. It makes for a very stylish replacement, though she does stand out. Every race reacts to things differently. “

“No we evolved along different lines, though I suppose you meant the living of others lives. It’s similar, though Succubus and Incubus are more predatory while we are more symbiotic. They use pheromones and magic to seduce typically choosing more vice characters, while our personality can change to make us seem more attractive in addition to magic and choose people we wouldn’t mind spending a lifetime with. Also we don’t drain a human in one go and it’s more like entering into a contract.” Lugh explained wondering if she understood him at all, he had a habit of explaining large amounts with haste, often in one breath.

“Our society is strict, caste structured, laws made by the courts rather than the High King and while we consider the High King no more important than the sprites that grow the crops, there’s a lot of pomp. As such when I spoke out of turn in the presence of his highness, opposing my father’s comment I might add, the courts decided to punish me. And being of noble birth, while my rights are higher, my punishments are harsher. So I was sent into exile for ten years.” Lugh explained, his mind wandering to Dannan a small smile gracing his face “I can’t wait to go home.”

Keoki couldn't help but get a little annoyed when he brought the subject of silver back up, though she kept in mind to avoid his sister if that was the case. "Sorry to hear that," was all she said on that, waiting to move on. Hearing more about his kind worked was more interesting, especially to hear that it could end up lasting so long. It almost sounded romantic, outside of the fact that they had to drain their lovers to survive.

The caste stuff seemed a lot stranger, especially down to how it worked. "Ten years?" she repeated, knowing that even if he was sort of immortal, that would be a long time to wait, "Suppose that's rather harsh, indeed. Don't know if it'll make you feel any better, but I can relate to that. In a way..." Keoki hadn't been exiled, as much as leaving out of her own will. Of course, not leaving meant putting her parents in extreme danger every full moon, so she hadn't felt like there was much of a choice. And while she hardly wanted to admit it, considering how much Lugh had just told her, she might as well say something. Even if it rose questions, "I haven't seen my parents in about four years now."

“Eh don’t be, it got her the epitaph Airgetcos, she’s quite proud of it and refuses to have it replaced with one of flesh. New limbs take a while to grow and don’t always work so it can take a while, silver is used in the meantime. Most eventually take flesh when they’re able.” Lugh said some joy taking in explaining his people and family “Anyway once we mature the drain is negligible, under a decade of our lovers lifespan is consumed while we’re together, the drain is increased when we’re younger as we grow, magically not physically. And before you get any ideas we love and care for them. Much as our existence is sinister we’re not evil.”

“You have my sympathies. It’s been just under five years for me. My little sister should be twelve this year. I bet she’s a stunner, the heartthrob of Tara Fíor.” Lugh’s sister would look around eighteen and would be physically and emotionally mature; Faeries grew faster than humans, though they only came of age when their magical growth reached a reasonable level. “And Anann, Danu she’s going to kill me when I get back. We’re due to be joined.” He grinned when they had first met Lugh and Annan hated each other, constantly insulting each other fighting and doing their best to cause serious harm to the other. Annan had even stabbed Lugh once, some of previous hostility bled into their relationship and seemed more like fierce rivals than an affianced couple.

“By Danu...” he muttered starting to choke up, “Not that I mean to pry but seeing as you asked, Why have you not seen you’re parents?” he asked trying to distract himself, though his hand unconsciously grasping at the betrothal pendant under his shirt.

Epitaph Airgetcos...? Yeah, that lost her, and the use of silver as temporary limbs, until they grew back, hardly made much more sense, but perhaps Lugh was accurate in comparing immortality to extreme regeneration. But it was a little comforting to hear that they didn't end up killing their lovers, or at least not as much as the demonic examples she'd used earlier. Not that she was anymore open to the idea of having any ounce of her soul drained out, and made a note to avoid Lugh's kind they're hungry.

She just nodded at the sympathies part, but rose an eyebrow at the idea of a twelve year old being a 'stunner', until she recalled how immortals tended to age differently. Dismissing that as something normal, Lugh went on to mention a joining with Anann, "Is that like some faerie-marriage?"

Before she could get an answer, he asked about her parents, and she thought for a second about just how much to say, "Well... We're a human family," or at least her parents are still human, but that had to count for something, "I ended up meeting a woman named Anna one day. This was before I left. She's a... um... mercenary, of sorts. Except she only works on jobs involving the supernatural and inhuman. And... she was in town because of such things, and, something happened. Circumstances arose from that which left it unsafe for me to stay with my parents. So, Anna convinced me that I should leave, and I stayed with her until I was 18."

When Keo raised an eyebrow he explained a bit further, “Ah while most Faeries age as humans do, Leanan Sídhe age rapidly to physical and emotional maturity, normally by the time we’re ten. That’s the age our ‘hunger’ kicks in; it’s hard to get a human adult to take you seriously if you look like a child.”

He chuckled when she ask if a Joining was akin to faerie-marriage, “Yeah that’s about the closest think I can think of. It’s a bit more complicated, involving magic to some degree but that’s the gist of it.” He explained, though not really as up to date on the whole process as he probably should be, “Male Leanan Sídhe are rare, so we tend to get joined the same day we come of age, much as we’re immortal we can die and we’re fairly few in numbers. There’s only about one hundred and thirty two of us to be exact and only around three million faeries in total.” He said adding after wards “Low fertility rates, and humans did a number on us when they first reached Ireland.”

As Keoki explained her past he listened quietly and with an intense curiosity, “Mind me asking what these circumstances where?” he really wanted to know what was going on in her town, especially if it forced her from home.

"Oh, that makes more sense," though the thought of a soul-sucking child was a hell of a lot creepier anyway. As he went on about the joinings, and the rarity of males, she nodded, "Well, I suppose humans are good like that, wiping things out. Animals or inhumans alike," she noted. Keoki might have had a bit of a thing for animals, considering she turned into a 'big bad wolf' monster every so often. Perhaps it was just some of the instincts that came with it.

But of course, he had to ask more about what happened. With a bit of a sigh, she went back to the subject, "There was a werewolf problem, you might say. Someone was bitten and turned, and was then on the loose after the one who bit them ran off without teaching them a thing." That was surprisingly close to the truth, aside from Keo telling it in the third person. But the rest was a bit less accurate, "Infectious bites in a small town don't bode well. Small police force, off away from other places that could have helped. If they even took the stories seriously, mind you."

She paused for a second, then glanced back to him, "Anna took me in after that, taught me some nice tricks, how to protect myself from monsters, how to throw down with humans who might get in the way. Although she refused to let me get too far into her trade."

Lugh suspected that there might have been more to the story, considering she left just after a werewolf attack. And the way she spoke about humans hinted she wasn't one herself, but he let it slide seeing as she wasn't forth coming. "I see, ever think of taking a trip home, to see you're parents, and friends? I mean travelling is grand and all but doing it on your own, not exactly good for your sanity." Lugh wasn't one for long trips away from home, family ties were of great importance in faerie culture.

"As for humans, well the majority of non humans live in parallel worlds these days, it's easier than dealing with them. Hell humans are constantly at war with each other, it doesn't do much for incentivising contact." Lugh explained, obviously not all races did, but those that could tended to, vampires for example needed a constant source of blood, and Leanan Sídhe needed lovers, preferably non magical ones.

"I wasn't alone for the most of it though," she pointed out, though she tried to avoid sounding defensive, "Besides. It's been too long, I'm sure they already think I'm dead." And as unpleasant a thought as that was, she figured it would be easier for all of them if her parents assumed that, rather than her coming back at random one day and filling them in how she wasn't even human anymore, and how she had traveled around and met so many other inhuman things. And most of all, there was the fact that her personality had changed since her transformation, anyway.

With all of that, Keoki preferred that her parents just held on to the old memories. She realized about then that she'd ended up staring at the floor as she thought about it, and cursed Lugh in her head for reminding her of all that, though she ignored it as he started talking again. "Suppose that makes sense, I mean, other than the concept of parallel worlds. Is it weird, though? Going off to one of them."

"Well it takes a huge amount of magical power to create another world, depending on the world some require maintenance others become a site of such concentrated magic that they become self-sustaining. They're normally small compared to countries. Faeries own four based around Ireland and recently gained access to a fifth our ancestors came from." Lugh explained how the Otherworlds where created.
"You really don't notice, they, well Faeries at least connect seamlessly to earth. There are some that aren’t so clear cut, fog, darkness, water, even forests appear as you walk the boundary between worlds. It's easy to be lost to time if you don't know the path through in such a case. Avalon for example, surrounded by fog, and up a waterfall for difficulty." Avalon was not one of Lugh's favourite places to go, the inhabitants seemed a bit too full of themselves all because King Arthur lives there, this carried itself in Lugh's tone.

"Sometimes, it's to prevent humans from gaining access, but most of the time it's because whoever made that world, wasn't a master of the craft or lacked the magical ability to finish. It also pops up when a world can no longer support itself, as the size of the world decreases the obstacle gets larger until just the obstacle remains." It was part of Lugh's theory that Burglinde was one such Otherworld, he specifically thought it may have been a prison, to keep the less desirable beings away from earth, though faeries had no recorded access to an Otherworld near Penrose, if he was right it was one older than the Faeries.

"That's... uh. Complicated," she replied, mumbling a little instead of just admitting some of that might have gone over her head. The blending of the worlds part just sounded outright dangerous, but if all that happened so far was some idiots getting lost, it couldn't be too bad.

"Magic's confusing. The hell can't it do?" she added, glancing back to Lugh. She'd always been a little wary when it came to magic users or objects or whatever else, because it seemed like they were so unpredictable. Then she regretting asking that, considering how much detail he'd already been explaining things with, "Nevermind, actually."

"Magic, as far as I'm aware has no limit. People on the other hand do." Lugh chuckled "I mean my ancestors could make worlds, my eldest sister flings lightning around like snowballs and there are normal humans who can't do a thing. Typically anyone who oversteps their limit dies though." Lugh had never paid much attention to magic what it could do if it had a limit, the only time he really paid much heed of it was if it was specific to a race.

"Anyway, we should get down to business. The laws of my people declare that I can't have any outstanding debts. It's a punishable offence." he said mumbling the last part. "As such I need you to either request a service or gift that is within my capabilities, or if you'd rather make a Geis with Me." he explained quickly realizing that she probably had no knowledge of Geis. "A Geis is a magical contract of sorts; I don't have the ability to form anything complex so in this case it would simply be a pact that binds me to you for one instance. Basically it would give you time to make up your mind."

"Well, I've heard of owing someone a favor, but geez, making that into a law seems like a bit much," Keo had to admit, not exactly expecting that. Still, being owed a favor from a magic faerie could come in handy if something went wrong. She wouldn't abuse it, but favors aren't always a thing just waste it to get it over with. Having thought it over, she asked, "Alright, how does this Geis thing work?"

"Well there are several methods, but the easiest, for me to perform would be to place a drop of your blood under my skin. And yes before you ask there is a lot of blood involved in faerie magic." Lugh said rummaging around one of his bags to find a small knife and what looked like a pot of ink. "Alternatively being a Leanan I could kiss you, which is easier but I'm guessing thats a no from you. I could also try making a silver pendant with a drop of my blood for you to carry about instead. But I can't guarantee it will look pretty or anything, I'm not a smith. It's up to you." he said drawing a small piece of silver from another box.