OPEN POST

[serenesuccessor]

1) Call out one of my muses!
2) Post a prompt, song lyric, picture, or anything really and I'll come up with a starter~ All AUs welcome!
3) Hard mode! No Enjolras

Comments

[honey_silk_tongue]

You take that back! American chocolate is delicious, not as delicious as Swiss chocolate, of course, but still delicious!

[He's laughing, at least until Jehan pulls out the small bag and from it a piece of chocolate.

Any light-heartedness Zane had been feeling vanishes.]

Thanks but I think I'll pass.

[shylyintrepid]

It isn't cursed, you know. I don't mess with that unless you've annoyed me.

[He pops the chocolate in his mouth, only slightly hurt that Zane refused]

The last one to do that was a man who could not take no as an answer in New Orleans.

[honey_silk_tongue]

Can't be too safe.

[He got caught once by a fae, and while he knew Jehan meant him no harm, he was not risking falling for the same traps.]

What did you do to him?

[shylyintrepid]

[Jehan hums, thinking]

I believe I put him under a Sleeping Beauty curse, though he's due to wake up in twenty years. One of the nicest methods of revenge, believe it or not.

[honey_silk_tongue]

Yeah, that's certainly a nicer way to go.

[He rubs his shoulder, absentmindedly.]

I normally just kick them in the balls.

[shylyintrepid]

[He laughs, but he watches Zane closely]

I do that, too. I'm so small and petite that they think they can grab at me and not be attacked. They quickly learn otherwise, and if they don't then I curse them.

[honey_silk_tongue]

They always underestimate the tiny ones.

[He keeps a hand on his shoulder, gripping his shirt at the mention of curse but focuses on happier memories.

One brings a grin to his face.]

I mean, okay. So a guy I used to date, his little sister Naomi is tinier then you. I swear the girl is a pixie. My coworker Tai is real good friends with the two of them and told me about this time she was getting harassed by these tourists. At least we're pretty sure they were tourists because everyone in town knows if you mess with Naomi Mikano then Kou will actually break you're arm, but right. Some guys were harassing her when she was with her friends and Tai was about to cross the street to tell them to lay off when he noticed but before he could she popped them one. Broke the guys nose! [Zane can't help but laugh.] It's always you tiny guys that pack the biggest punch.

[shylyintrepid]

Naomi Mikano?

[Jehan laughs his bell-laugh, clapping delightedly]

Ma petite soeur! Of a sort, anyway. Her maman and mine are friends, and Naomi is a changeling, one of the abandoned children raised by a human. We find so many lost little things in Faerie--they stumble into a faerie ring or another doorway or are stolen and then misplaced by a crueler faerie. We try to return them but...well, they almost never remember where they belong if they're old enough to speak, and they rarely are. We find good families for the lost little ones, though, if a faerie doesn't decide to take them in. Maman found poor Naomi in our garden one day when she was really little and promptly brought her to Madame Mikano.

[Another laugh, this one slightly embarrassed]

I wanted to keep her, but Maman said that she would be happier with humans. So I just visit her whenever I can and we play and I grow things for her. I didn't know you knew her!

[honey_silk_tongue]

Wait. Hold on a second.

[Zane holds up a hand, both eyebrows shooting up.]

Naomi's a changeling... Oh dear god that explains so much. Like, no seriously, this explains everything I know about her.

[He also vaguely wonders if Kou calling her a changeling all this time was a joke or not.]

Small town. You get to know pretty much everyone after a year. [He chuckles, shaking his head.] You should see her while you're in town if you haven't already! She'll break my nose if she finds out I hogged you to myself.

[shylyintrepid]

Yeah, unfortunately I...may have fed her before Maman took her to Madame Mikano and faerie food can oftentimes give humans some very fey-like qualities. She's tiny and a little hyper because of it.

[No, no it was not a joke.]

I did. She's the one who said I should try the diner and the one who told me about your festival. [A soft smile] I'm glad she told me.

[honey_silk_tongue]

Never let Kou or her Dad find out you're to blame for her hyperactivity.

I might have to tell Tai about it though, he'll get a kick out of it.

[Though for some reason he wouldn't be surprised if Tai knew Naomi was a changeling all along.]

She does love the festival. [He shrugs one shoulder, smiling almost shyly.] Glad she told you too. A little warning would've been nice though.

[shylyintrepid]

Does she know about your...condition?

[honey_silk_tongue]

And make her cry? No thanks, hard to wait tables with a broken arm. [The jest falls flat.] Only my sister knows.

[shylyintrepid]

She might have an idea, you know, since she was in Faerie for a time.

[A pause]

Zane, will you at least tell me what happened? I want to help, I know I can/i> help, but...

[honey_silk_tongue]

Not much to tell.

[He shifts, looking down at his hands and how did the mood shift so drastically?]

Met a guy, thought he was cute, fell for the tricks and got myself cursed.

[shylyintrepid]

...Zane, you're forgetting I'm a faerie. Or, well, half one anyway, though my father's been dead since 1830. What did he say was the reason he cursed you?

[They can't lay a curse without a reason.]

[honey_silk_tongue]

I don't know.

[And he looks at Jehan, almost desperate.]

And I'm not saying that to be difficult I really don't remember. We were out and I was drunk and we argued about something and then BAM! Woke up on the bathroom floor with a tattoo on my back. It wasn't until the next year on my birthday when it started wilting and hurting that I realized it wasn't just a tattoo.

[shylyintrepid]

Wilting? It's a flower?

[He holds his hand out to Zane]

Let me see it. Does it die more every birthday?

[honey_silk_tongue]

Yeah, uh, it's a rose. Rika says it reminded her of Beauty and the Beast, y'know the Disney movie with the talking candlestick?

[He looks at the hand, only a little suspicious.]

Every year it loses petals.

[shylyintrepid]

A timer curse? I can break those easily! Do you remember what you fought about? If you can't, that's okay, I can still break them easily enough. My godmother cast the first one. I grew up learning how to cast and break these.

[honey_silk_tongue]

I already said I didn't know. [He huffs, just a little. But then his eyes widen as he looks at Jehan.] Seriously? You could do that?

[shylyintrepid]

Yes! They're love and attraction based curses--I could lay ten of them in a second, given enough cause. Let me see it, let me see it.

[honey_silk_tongue]

[A bit of hope swells in his chest and Zane moves to grab the bottom of his shirt before he stops.

Suspicion squashes that hope down.]

What do you get out of this?

[shylyintrepid]

A kiss. Just a kiss, on the cheek if you want, and cheesecake.

[honey_silk_tongue]

That's it?

[Zane bites his lip, mostly to fight down a smile.]

You could be asking for anything and all you want is a kiss on the cheek and cheesecake?

[Oh no he's still really cute!]