Partner

Short, thought it would be longer.

Anywho. The Forum is up, over at ayatostales.net. Yes, you have to log in/register but it was really the only way to keep people from going nuts and trolling and such. So. Go over, register etc, and then you can put your reviews over there if you're getting up there with AFF's reviews as I've heard from a few people, or start any kind of discussion you like.

There is a minor issue with the forums, just give it a bit of patience. I am trying to fix it as I write this but being distracted three ways makes for less fixing, more mucking about.

A bit tired but I might update both stories again tonight. Depends really on which computers are being used, if anything explodes and such.

Sidhe law and punishment won't really be that interesting, but it might just be me because I've known it for quite a while. Most of it ends in very painful death.

Read, Review and Enjoy.




As Lillow dressed, Mik caught a glance of her right side in the mirror. Just below and to the right of Lillow’s breast -all he saw was the side, nothing nasty, just the side- was a black, stylized butterfly. Only a flash and then it was gone and Mik was looking away, realising what he had just almost seen.

She dressed in warm clothing and shuffled to the living room, curling up on the couch with a blanket draped over her.

Paw was on his hands and knees in the dining room, scrubbing the floor. Beside Paw was a bloody bucket of water. Most of the mess was cleaned up.

Mari sat on Mik’s kitchen counter, phone in hand as she tapped away on it. Her hair was bound back and her clothing looked like she had hastily dressed. She glanced up at Mik as he entered and then looked down at the phone pointedly. She was obviously dealing with the fall out from the handless man.

Paw slapped his cloth into the bucket and glared up at Mik, as if it were his fault.

“What?” He said, in the calmest tone he could manage “I seem to be entering territory that I don’t quite understand, so I have to ask, what? You said to go look after Lillow so I went and now I come back and you’re upset with me.”

“I don’t like the blood that I have to clean up. It shouldn’t be my job to clean up the blood of a bad person,” Paw snapped in annoyance.

“But there’s not much I can do about that except talk to Souse. Lillow informs me that the others seem to ignore the calls of the tribe. Stupidity if you ask me, I go running if I hear loud noises and they don’t return the favour. Now here you are, Whisper, on your hands and knees, scrubbing up blood from. A. Criminal. And no one here to offer you help, not even Hohi.”

“Hohi went to fetch his sister but found himself in an awkward predicament when he realised she was busy with Souse. So he’s standing outside the door like a beaten dog, waiting for them to finish,” Paw murmured, “Violet and the others haven’t come home yet so they couldn’t help and the others are being fuckers because Souse hasn’t brought them under control yet.”

“Is it out of place for me to say that Souse had best bring them in line or I will?” Mik asked Paw.

“Not really. Complaints such as that are usual. However, saying it in a tone like Souse isn’t doing any kind of work whatsoever is something something,” Paw responded.

“Damned bad thing, that something, something,” Mik muttered quietly.

“I’d help, but he snarled at me,” Mari responded, clicking her phone off and setting it on the counter beside herself, “alright, he was known for touching underage girls but for some reason was stupid enough to push it. He’s been pretty smart about hiding his indiscretions. I’m thinking the Sidhe have an effect on guilty men, brings it boiling up in the end until the guilty one acts on it and thus can be… destroyed. There are numerous references to Sidhe joining a village and suddenly the crime rate goes up. The ones who do the crime are expelled and the village prospers for several generations.”

“Like a fever that expels the sickness,” Mik murmured.

“Seems like. Now, it got out pretty quick, he contacted his wife who apparently contacted the news media, all weepy weepy, crying and omigosh, my husband is maimed,” Mari dropped into a tone that the wife had likely used and Mik tried not to laugh at it, “In stepped Koln, explaining that you had to deal with the poor young female who had been abused. And then several explanations about what happened and how, according to Sidhe law he got off easy. Thus we’re waiting for Souse and Essuan to finish as they want a full explanation of Sidhe law and punishment but Paw won’t give it, you can’t give it and… well Souse is the next option.”

“He won’t be available until sometime tomorrow,” Mik murmured, “first time they’ve been together in months and could be the last time for a while, unless Essuan has a plant for … uhm. You know. I can’t remember what it’s called.”

“Birth control. Right.” Mari muttered, “well then. Perhaps someone should fetch Hohi so he’s not standing there all night. Then… Well I’d have to say we should all go to bed and sleep. Deal with this all in the morning, perhaps? Koln can do damage control until then. All we can really do is beat around a bush and piss on each others’ puddles.”

“Whatever that means,” Mik muttered.

Paw sighed and looked at the reddened area of the floor, “that will never come out, will it?”

“We can strip the floor tomorrow and re-stain it a darker colour, might not notice it after that,” Mari offered, “it’s the best we can do, really.”


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