justprompts: It's six am. What are you doing?
Following this. Thomas is raith_wraith, used with permission; Maeve is midwinterslady. Somewhat disturbing content behind the cut.
Thomas had been out for days now, and he'd said that there was something to take care of, but that didn't stop Justine from worrying. (Not as though he hadn't been away for days before. Before. And after. It still made her uneasy, all things considered.) She went about her ... mostly usual ways during the day, and at night she curled up and drowsed, starting at every sound - except that in Thomas's wonderful, ultra-luxurious apartment, there weren't all that many noises to startle at. Not that many causes for her to develop false hope or anything.
And then there was something happening; her eyes registered the time - six a.m., still dark outside with the DST biting an hour off - and for a moment before she was fully awake, she thought that - the hole to NeverNever, yes - was Thomas returning, her heart swelling with joy. Before she knew she couldn't feel him as being close, which meant it wasn't him, which meant...
Justine wrapped the cover around herself and rose to investigate, pausing at the door and looking carefully in the next room, shivering a little (a part of her knew that staying in bed would not keep her safe from the visitor, from the means of arrival; a part of her knew that the heating of the apartment was working perfectly, so she didn't know why she was cold). The young woman... creature, there could be no way she was human, turned her face, the light-and-darkness-on-ice dreadlocks shifting around the beautiful, odd features, and the canted eyes fixed her unerringly. As though Justine weren't just peering into the room; as though she was standing framed into the door opening, in full plain sight.
"Where is he?"
"Excuse me?" Supernatural creatures didn't tend to like cowering. Oh sure, some liked to reduce people to cowering; but not many liked mortals to start that way. It was a dangerous line that Justine was treading, stepping around the corner, chin high, the confidence implied by 'I'm at my home' consciously schooled around her tension.
"Where is Thomas and why hadn't he done as he was bid?"
"He left to complete some business of his, he said." Under the cool gaze, the rest of the words spilled out of her lips even though she hadn't meant to give that information. "Three days ago."
The motion of the other's head was just a little too fast for Justine's eye to follow. "Three days ago. And why... why did my Knight tarry until then to do my bidding?"
Justine frowned slightly. "Your... Knight?" Dark eyes looked carefully on the slightly shorter figure, then she straightened again, still feeling not warm enough, even wrapped up as she was. "And he does as he chooses to do, when he chooses to do."
"He does... doesn't he." The alien eyes narrowed slightly. "Justine, isn't it?" Small nod in return. "Let me look at you."
Justine lifted her chin, and stood still.
"Oh no, not like that... drop the bedding."
For somebody who tended to have very little in terms of physical modesty, the demand made Justine oddly reluctant. Almost defiant. Which got her a slight hiss-like sound (a little softer, a little stranger than a hiss), and a touch on her arm which sent a chill through to her bones, making her hands fall to the sides, the fabric covering her up dropping to the floor.
Justine strained to keep her eyes on her as the other woman... thing started going around her, looking her over; but she couldn't make herself turn, so her head just rolled and tried to catch sight from behind her back as soon as possible. "Pretty. I can see why and how you can be distracting. Completely ordinary and yet... not quite."
Then she became aware that he was coming near. Through the cold which was making her bones feel strange, her skin cover in goosebumps, through the presence that was too close for her comfort, she could feel him coming near and her eyes widened even before the soft sound of the key being turned. She tried to speak up a warning, but it came out as barely a whimper between suddenly chattering teeth.
"Shhh. Can you hear him, coming in quietly so as not to wake you up yet? Or is it carefully for another reason?"
Justine's eyes closed, then opened again, fixed on the entrance as she could feel the way he was moving. The latter of the guesses, but she didn't bother to inform the visitor of that.
Then Thomas was in sight of them, and his breath came out harshly as he moved forward, as if to pull the 'guest' away from her. "What do you think you're doing--"
He didn't make it that far. The shorter female waved her hand and he was flung to the wall, his palm seeming to be stuck to it in a covering of ice. Justine gasped, her breath coming out visible as the temperature definitely dropped further.
"Still as... wasteful as... Harry... said."
And now the pieces slid into place, and Justine mouthed quietly, "Maeve." That got the Fae's attention back to her, and the Winter Lady smiled, though there was nothing friendly in that.
"Yes. You know who I am?" Justine nodded. "Now pay mind, it will probably turn out to be important for you. Both of you. Bidding from the Queen must be obeyed promptly and well. No distractions and no side trips. The Knight will comply."
"Knight." The word was soft as things were starting to mean a little more.
It was met with a brief laughter. "How else do you think I can do these things to you? He is beholden to us, and you are beholden to him. Even if we can usually not affect mortals too much... well. Let us say that if he doesn't do his duties - and they aren't that terribly much, compared to the prize, are they?" Maeve's eyes flickered to Thomas, whose face was... unreadable (except that Justine could feel the anger. The strain against the power with which held him in place. She wondered how the Sidhe couldn't see it too). "Have him do as you are told, or her hair--" one finger trailed over Justine's stomach, making a slow spiral out from her navel, the cold at the touch so intense as to feel like burning, "-- won't be the only silver-white thing about her."
"Leave her alone and let me go." Justine blinked, hearing the slightly odd note in his voice. The note of command that was White Court. And wasn't directed at her. Maeve's head tilted, moving again slightly too fast for the human eye, and now she fully turned to him. With a gasp, Justine felt herself released, and dropped to a crouch to pick up something for warmth.
"Oh?"
"Maeve. You've made your point. Do you want your trinket or not?"
"Aaah..." A flick of her wrist, and Thomas almost stumbled forward, catching himself on time with his usual fluid grace.
Then he took a pouch out of his pocket, spilled something glittery out of it, and tossed it at Maeve's feet. Justine wondered if he wasn't trying to break it, just to spite her.
"So you did have it."
"Obviously."
"Overdue. But finally." She seemed to dismiss both Thomas and Justine out of her attention then, and spread her hands, making the little thing - looked like some sort of crystal to Justine - rise, and then she took it in her palms. She smiled, looking almost like she could coo at it, and blew on it softly. Her face was lit by a pale, purple-blue glow.
She turned, opened a passage into the Nevernever, and vanished through it without another word.
Justine blinked, then slowly, carefully walked to where Thomas was staring into the empty space where the portal had been, and looked up at him. She was still shivering, even though the apartment's heating was beginning to reassert itself. "Is this..." No, she knew it was the price. "I'm sorry you had to."
The gray eyes turned down to her, too pale and too deep, holding too much. "Don't be. I'll make sure that you won't have to be."
Sadness flashed through her, because she was sorry for what it cost him, not her... and then his arm was around the fabric she was holding against her, and she was pressed against his shirted chest, and things were less wrong again.
"You're cold..."
"I know."
Thomas had been out for days now, and he'd said that there was something to take care of, but that didn't stop Justine from worrying. (Not as though he hadn't been away for days before. Before. And after. It still made her uneasy, all things considered.) She went about her ... mostly usual ways during the day, and at night she curled up and drowsed, starting at every sound - except that in Thomas's wonderful, ultra-luxurious apartment, there weren't all that many noises to startle at. Not that many causes for her to develop false hope or anything.
And then there was something happening; her eyes registered the time - six a.m., still dark outside with the DST biting an hour off - and for a moment before she was fully awake, she thought that - the hole to NeverNever, yes - was Thomas returning, her heart swelling with joy. Before she knew she couldn't feel him as being close, which meant it wasn't him, which meant...
Justine wrapped the cover around herself and rose to investigate, pausing at the door and looking carefully in the next room, shivering a little (a part of her knew that staying in bed would not keep her safe from the visitor, from the means of arrival; a part of her knew that the heating of the apartment was working perfectly, so she didn't know why she was cold). The young woman... creature, there could be no way she was human, turned her face, the light-and-darkness-on-ice dreadlocks shifting around the beautiful, odd features, and the canted eyes fixed her unerringly. As though Justine weren't just peering into the room; as though she was standing framed into the door opening, in full plain sight.
"Where is he?"
"Excuse me?" Supernatural creatures didn't tend to like cowering. Oh sure, some liked to reduce people to cowering; but not many liked mortals to start that way. It was a dangerous line that Justine was treading, stepping around the corner, chin high, the confidence implied by 'I'm at my home' consciously schooled around her tension.
"Where is Thomas and why hadn't he done as he was bid?"
"He left to complete some business of his, he said." Under the cool gaze, the rest of the words spilled out of her lips even though she hadn't meant to give that information. "Three days ago."
The motion of the other's head was just a little too fast for Justine's eye to follow. "Three days ago. And why... why did my Knight tarry until then to do my bidding?"
Justine frowned slightly. "Your... Knight?" Dark eyes looked carefully on the slightly shorter figure, then she straightened again, still feeling not warm enough, even wrapped up as she was. "And he does as he chooses to do, when he chooses to do."
"He does... doesn't he." The alien eyes narrowed slightly. "Justine, isn't it?" Small nod in return. "Let me look at you."
Justine lifted her chin, and stood still.
"Oh no, not like that... drop the bedding."
For somebody who tended to have very little in terms of physical modesty, the demand made Justine oddly reluctant. Almost defiant. Which got her a slight hiss-like sound (a little softer, a little stranger than a hiss), and a touch on her arm which sent a chill through to her bones, making her hands fall to the sides, the fabric covering her up dropping to the floor.
Justine strained to keep her eyes on her as the other woman... thing started going around her, looking her over; but she couldn't make herself turn, so her head just rolled and tried to catch sight from behind her back as soon as possible. "Pretty. I can see why and how you can be distracting. Completely ordinary and yet... not quite."
Then she became aware that he was coming near. Through the cold which was making her bones feel strange, her skin cover in goosebumps, through the presence that was too close for her comfort, she could feel him coming near and her eyes widened even before the soft sound of the key being turned. She tried to speak up a warning, but it came out as barely a whimper between suddenly chattering teeth.
"Shhh. Can you hear him, coming in quietly so as not to wake you up yet? Or is it carefully for another reason?"
Justine's eyes closed, then opened again, fixed on the entrance as she could feel the way he was moving. The latter of the guesses, but she didn't bother to inform the visitor of that.
Then Thomas was in sight of them, and his breath came out harshly as he moved forward, as if to pull the 'guest' away from her. "What do you think you're doing--"
He didn't make it that far. The shorter female waved her hand and he was flung to the wall, his palm seeming to be stuck to it in a covering of ice. Justine gasped, her breath coming out visible as the temperature definitely dropped further.
"Still as... wasteful as... Harry... said."
And now the pieces slid into place, and Justine mouthed quietly, "Maeve." That got the Fae's attention back to her, and the Winter Lady smiled, though there was nothing friendly in that.
"Yes. You know who I am?" Justine nodded. "Now pay mind, it will probably turn out to be important for you. Both of you. Bidding from the Queen must be obeyed promptly and well. No distractions and no side trips. The Knight will comply."
"Knight." The word was soft as things were starting to mean a little more.
It was met with a brief laughter. "How else do you think I can do these things to you? He is beholden to us, and you are beholden to him. Even if we can usually not affect mortals too much... well. Let us say that if he doesn't do his duties - and they aren't that terribly much, compared to the prize, are they?" Maeve's eyes flickered to Thomas, whose face was... unreadable (except that Justine could feel the anger. The strain against the power with which held him in place. She wondered how the Sidhe couldn't see it too). "Have him do as you are told, or her hair--" one finger trailed over Justine's stomach, making a slow spiral out from her navel, the cold at the touch so intense as to feel like burning, "-- won't be the only silver-white thing about her."
"Leave her alone and let me go." Justine blinked, hearing the slightly odd note in his voice. The note of command that was White Court. And wasn't directed at her. Maeve's head tilted, moving again slightly too fast for the human eye, and now she fully turned to him. With a gasp, Justine felt herself released, and dropped to a crouch to pick up something for warmth.
"Oh?"
"Maeve. You've made your point. Do you want your trinket or not?"
"Aaah..." A flick of her wrist, and Thomas almost stumbled forward, catching himself on time with his usual fluid grace.
Then he took a pouch out of his pocket, spilled something glittery out of it, and tossed it at Maeve's feet. Justine wondered if he wasn't trying to break it, just to spite her.
"So you did have it."
"Obviously."
"Overdue. But finally." She seemed to dismiss both Thomas and Justine out of her attention then, and spread her hands, making the little thing - looked like some sort of crystal to Justine - rise, and then she took it in her palms. She smiled, looking almost like she could coo at it, and blew on it softly. Her face was lit by a pale, purple-blue glow.
She turned, opened a passage into the Nevernever, and vanished through it without another word.
Justine blinked, then slowly, carefully walked to where Thomas was staring into the empty space where the portal had been, and looked up at him. She was still shivering, even though the apartment's heating was beginning to reassert itself. "Is this..." No, she knew it was the price. "I'm sorry you had to."
The gray eyes turned down to her, too pale and too deep, holding too much. "Don't be. I'll make sure that you won't have to be."
Sadness flashed through her, because she was sorry for what it cost him, not her... and then his arm was around the fabric she was holding against her, and she was pressed against his shirted chest, and things were less wrong again.
"You're cold..."
"I know."