Working as a distraction from thinking
Jinx pulled the magnifying lens over on its arm, squinting to make out the delicate wiring that had fizzled and died on the device Paolo had brought in for her. Paolo ran a ranch on the outskirts of town and was one of her closest neighbors; her shop on the edge of Phoenix with her living quarters above it. She also had a large, sprawling garden in the back that most clients and guests to her place were surprised she could keep so green and alive in the arid desert climate. The fact that one of her sisters and her family also lived in her backyard was a well-kept secret; likely due to the fact that her sister and husband - along with their children - were pixies. They were quite happy to do the upkeep on her garden, keeping it green and living in return for being allowed to live in it. The pixie in her loved that landscape covered in green life; the smell of growth and nectar easing her. That it was her family that kept close and happy was just an added bonus. And she always had gotten alone better with her younger sister than the eldest. Her other older sister was currently living on this side of the curtain as well, with a young sidhe female in New Orleans - another half-sidhe like herself, though her other half was human. The two had met a few times and seemed to get along well and Jinx felt it was a good thing for the two of them to keep in touch; both being fae on this side of the curtain, you never know when you'd need the help or company of another.
Sighing, she pushed all of the jumbled thoughts in her head to the side and concentrated on the broken device. Giving up on being able to work on it as is, she shifted on her seat and concentrated. Between one breath and the next she had shrunk down to seven inches and fluttered out of the discarded clothes and up onto the work desk. Now she could see things better. Folding her wings down on her back, she stepped onto the device and set about untangling the mess of wires and glyph-marking what needed to be melded with magic and what she could use a soldering iron for. Humming as she worked, she tugged on a wire until it snapped off, unfolding her wings and flying up to drop it in the discarded pile before dropping beside a row of fresh and undamaged ones, picking out an appropriate one to lift and take back to join where it was needed.
And this was why she'd never be able to live in Underhill anymore. Her gifts seemed to have been made for modern technology and the world she currently lived in. She had very little in the ways of abilities compared to other fae when she was deprived of her gadgets - but here, in among the humans and their toys, she was a techmage; able to combine the magic of the fae with the science and technology of the humans to create a harmonious melding of the two. Her father understood her need to be able to use her abilities, but her mother couldn't fathom why she'd leave Underhill. Why she'd strike out on her own. She chalked it up to her mother being too set in pixie ways and they agreed not to try to convince the other that they were right. Pixie fights could be legendary.
When she'd finished, she flew down beside her stool, shifting back to full sized and bending down to pick up her clothes. She could glamour something on and not worry about nudity when shifting, but as a fae, she wasn't concerned with nudity in the first place. And there were not humans around to worry about 'preserving her modesty' - so she didn't need to waste the mental energy to work one up. Fates bless the modern era and their attempt to be 'open minded and free-spirited', something she could claim if she ever was caught nude by anyone, especially on her own property. Smiling, she wriggled back into her clothes and put the casing back on the chip-reader Paolo had dropped of for her. One of the things she took pride in was that nothing she worked on was ever brought back a second time for fixing - not unless someone damaged it on purpose, and even that wasn't always successful. Setting it in the 'fixed' section of her desk, she brushed off the bits of discarded material and cleaned up before heading to her loft over the shop for some tea and maybe a movie. She left the window open so her nieces and nephew could join if they wanted - the trio always up for something with explosions and martial arts. Pixies could also be very bloodthirsty, a fact that amused her as she picked out a movie and put it on, hearing the tell-tale buzzing of wings coming to join her. Pressing play, she snuggled into her couch and watched a violent movie with her family, smiling at the vociferous cheers during explosions and fight scenes and thinking that right now, life was pretty good.
Sighing, she pushed all of the jumbled thoughts in her head to the side and concentrated on the broken device. Giving up on being able to work on it as is, she shifted on her seat and concentrated. Between one breath and the next she had shrunk down to seven inches and fluttered out of the discarded clothes and up onto the work desk. Now she could see things better. Folding her wings down on her back, she stepped onto the device and set about untangling the mess of wires and glyph-marking what needed to be melded with magic and what she could use a soldering iron for. Humming as she worked, she tugged on a wire until it snapped off, unfolding her wings and flying up to drop it in the discarded pile before dropping beside a row of fresh and undamaged ones, picking out an appropriate one to lift and take back to join where it was needed.
And this was why she'd never be able to live in Underhill anymore. Her gifts seemed to have been made for modern technology and the world she currently lived in. She had very little in the ways of abilities compared to other fae when she was deprived of her gadgets - but here, in among the humans and their toys, she was a techmage; able to combine the magic of the fae with the science and technology of the humans to create a harmonious melding of the two. Her father understood her need to be able to use her abilities, but her mother couldn't fathom why she'd leave Underhill. Why she'd strike out on her own. She chalked it up to her mother being too set in pixie ways and they agreed not to try to convince the other that they were right. Pixie fights could be legendary.
When she'd finished, she flew down beside her stool, shifting back to full sized and bending down to pick up her clothes. She could glamour something on and not worry about nudity when shifting, but as a fae, she wasn't concerned with nudity in the first place. And there were not humans around to worry about 'preserving her modesty' - so she didn't need to waste the mental energy to work one up. Fates bless the modern era and their attempt to be 'open minded and free-spirited', something she could claim if she ever was caught nude by anyone, especially on her own property. Smiling, she wriggled back into her clothes and put the casing back on the chip-reader Paolo had dropped of for her. One of the things she took pride in was that nothing she worked on was ever brought back a second time for fixing - not unless someone damaged it on purpose, and even that wasn't always successful. Setting it in the 'fixed' section of her desk, she brushed off the bits of discarded material and cleaned up before heading to her loft over the shop for some tea and maybe a movie. She left the window open so her nieces and nephew could join if they wanted - the trio always up for something with explosions and martial arts. Pixies could also be very bloodthirsty, a fact that amused her as she picked out a movie and put it on, hearing the tell-tale buzzing of wings coming to join her. Pressing play, she snuggled into her couch and watched a violent movie with her family, smiling at the vociferous cheers during explosions and fight scenes and thinking that right now, life was pretty good.