oneman_onevote: (Eyeing you quietly)
Havelock still has no idea what this place is, why he keeps opening doors and finding it there waiting, and why he doesn't do the sensible thing and turn around again every time.

It is definitely real, proved by a brief experiment involving a slight cut on the back of his hand that did not disappear on returning to Ankh-Morpork. Following on from that conclusion - it is not safe, however many rules it has in place. He knows all too little about so many patrons - and all too much about some others, though from the research he has done since on the Fair Folk, perhaps he did well to even come out of the conversation alive.

Still, he will never find out why it appears so often if he avoids the place entirely.

And the extra time to read unmolested - theoretically - is most appreciated.

(Student assassin, armchair, textbook.)

Date: 2011-05-16 06:44 pm (UTC)From: [identity profile] puckishly.livejournal.com
If anything, Puck finds the book more threatening than the knife had been.

The fae aren't really what you'd call big readers.

Still, when all is done, this fellow is only a mortal man, and surely no great taxation as a foe. Puck sidles invisibly and curiously closer.

Date: 2011-05-16 07:19 pm (UTC)From: [identity profile] puckishly.livejournal.com
Watching mortals has long been a hobby of his-- at work, at play, traveling through the woods-- and is, at this point, something he does nearly without thought. It's a pleasant distraction from thoughts of what's to come.

(Oberon has never been to Milliways, but he does know of its existence. Puck told him himself, in happier times.

He wonders how far the king will seek him out, and who of the court shall be sent to do the job.

Or if he'll simply wait.)

In the meantime, he creeps a little nearer to the mortal's chair, approaching it from the side. Strange-- though perhaps to be expected: at this distance, he does not seem carved from stone at all.

Date: 2011-05-16 08:21 pm (UTC)From: [identity profile] puckishly.livejournal.com
Puck could really bide here all the afternoon-- he is a strange one-- but the trouble of being invisible in a bar staffed by rats is that even when they can't see you, they can frequently smell you.

A creature with a tray pauses to sniff at him. Puck glowers.

Date: 2011-05-16 10:20 pm (UTC)From: [identity profile] puckishly.livejournal.com
Well, ha! This mortal is clearly not as with it as Puck had supposed. They are all terrible fools.

As the mortal eyes the rat and then returns to his study, Puck lets out a sniggering giggle that sets the waitrat scurrying off.




.... Hold on.
Edited Date: 2011-05-16 10:22 pm (UTC)

Date: 2011-05-16 10:35 pm (UTC)From: [identity profile] puckishly.livejournal.com
That puts Puck out of his good humor.

You'd think he'd have the grace to jump in his seat.

"Good day, goodly cypher," he mutters, slipping grudgingly into view.

Date: 2011-05-16 10:53 pm (UTC)From: [identity profile] puckishly.livejournal.com
He smiles.

"Had I wished a trick, you should not have seen me at all."

Date: 2011-05-16 11:22 pm (UTC)From: [identity profile] puckishly.livejournal.com
That irritates Puck, actually. He's seen the mortal now when he thought himself alone; any tricks are clearly on his part. If one is going to dissemble, one ought to do it well.

"I see you are a scholar," he observes, with an arch of his eyebrows. He hasn't yet deigned to move from his spot on the floor, and is therefore sprawled by Havelock's chair so that everybody else has to go round him.

Date: 2011-05-17 07:56 pm (UTC)From: [identity profile] puckishly.livejournal.com
The fairy's smile sharpens, though it is not directed at Havelock exactly but slides off to the side.

"Do you not find that strange?"

Date: 2011-05-17 11:32 pm (UTC)From: [identity profile] puckishly.livejournal.com
"Quite." Puck wrinkles his nose.

"I was not given to understand that a mortal man may possess brain as well as brawn. In fact, a great many of them are altogether wanting of either."

Date: 2011-05-18 08:33 pm (UTC)From: [identity profile] puckishly.livejournal.com
Puck's eyebrows arch.

"Does not time pass thee by with swiftness enough?"

Date: 2011-05-18 09:26 pm (UTC)From: [identity profile] puckishly.livejournal.com
Puck laughs. The sound is bright and silvery, and seems to catch at the ears with a sharp insistence.

"Ay me, Sir Cypher. Are you trapped?"

Date: 2011-05-18 10:02 pm (UTC)From: [identity profile] puckishly.livejournal.com
"I shall bear it in mind," Puck replies, rather dry himself.

That wasn't quite what he was getting at, but whatever. Mortals.

Puck is not quite sure how to proceed-- in Faerie, most enmities are settled quickly, decisively, or both, and among mortals he has not lingered long. But he is not entirely sure what to do now.

At the very least, he can likely make a pest of himself. He stays put, watching.

Date: 2011-05-18 10:16 pm (UTC)From: [identity profile] puckishly.livejournal.com
Puck snorts.

And, after a pause, tilts his head slightly and makes the very mild effort required to turn the book into a large, hairy spider.



Except that nothing happens.

Date: 2011-05-18 10:23 pm (UTC)From: [identity profile] puckishly.livejournal.com
Puck, meanwhile, has gone quite a bit paler than even his usual pale, and tries terribly hard to keep his breathing from speeding.

He focuses a little harder. Like before, nothing changes.



This will be decidedly ungood, he thinks distantly, if the king really does send an emissary to seek him out.

Date: 2011-05-18 10:44 pm (UTC)From: [identity profile] puckishly.livejournal.com
That should not frighten him. Off-putting and odd he may be, but this man is only a mortal. Puck resents bitterly that his expression should betray anything at all, and resents it more that he does not know what that is, or what power this mortal may glean from it.

Well. There is more left to him than shifting shape, or at least there ought to be.

Voice pitched low, and eyes locked on Havelock's face, he murmurs, "Have I distracted you from your scholarship?"

It's intended to compel, and Puck notes with sharp relief that it's working the way it always has: with a sweetening of the air, a lilting quality to light and sound. "You ought to see to it. You seem a great one for taking no notice."

Date: 2011-05-18 10:56 pm (UTC)From: [identity profile] puckishly.livejournal.com
"I'm certain I shall see you again," Puck says, soft.

"But if I am clever enough, my dear sir cypher ... you shan't see me."

He vanishes.

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