Sabrina entered the attic to find-
A perfectly average room.
It was dark, so she couldn't see it in detail, but she saw the shadows of a bed, a chair, a hooded figure... standard room stuff.
She also saw the outline of a bath bucket that made her eyes water.
"Oh my god..." she squealed softly. She reached out to touch it - to see if it was real...
"Oi... what the fuck are you doing to my tub?" An angry voice slurred. The hooded figure moved. Sabrina gasped.
"In fact..." it wobbled, "what the fuck are you doing in my room at all?"
Beneath the hood, Sabrina saw two yellow cat-like eyes sneering at her.
Is that... a Faerie?
⚛"""""◆"""""⚛
Sabrina had never seen a Faerie before. Blame it on her mother for keeping her locked up all day.
She had only heard of their tales.
From those tales she remembered a few key points:
- They were often humanoid (or perhaps, humans were Faerieoid)
- They had a range of irregular features (wings, unnaturally pigmented skin, extremely long libs, sharp teeth), in fact, humans with malformations were sometimes persecuted as Faeries, and were outcasted or killed
- They had a range of alliances that changed like the wind
- They were unaccustomed to human protocol (or perhaps, humans were unaccustomed to Faerie protocol)
- They were treacherous, or petty tricksters (although, Sabrina disregarded this point, as she found humans to have identical qualities)
Sabrina didn't see how this knowledge was helpful now that she was actually facing a Faerie. He just seemed like your average angry dude.
Sabrina still needed to answer him, "the bartender said I could stay here."
He scoffed and choked a little, "like hell."
"You better believe it!" She exclaimed, "he said I could go up here if I was 'pure of heart' of some shite." She paraphrased.
The Faerie laughed thinly "hun, I can tell when you're lying."
The fuck?
Sabrina hated being patronised.
"I'm not lying," she growled "the guy said 'don't go up there if you're not a good person'. I think I'm a pretty decent person-"
"So you interpreted that as 'if you're not a horrible person, you can stay in my attic.'"
I mean, yeah - fuck off. But she didn't want to piss him off.
So instead, Sabrina glared at him. He kept her stare, amused. Sabrina saw the glass of a whiskey bottle shine from a low lantern light as the Faerie brought it to his lips.
"Are you drunk...?" She asked.
"No, I'm hungover." He said between sips.
"But you're still drinking..."
"Then I'm both."
"How can you be both?"
"Fuck you, that's how."
"You like that word, don't you?"
Same, though. Sabrina thought to herself.
"Piss off."
"Good, you're expanding your vocabulary."
Now he looked pissed. But Sabrina didn't care anymore; she was smug.
"You'd better run on home before I forget my manners." He hissed, "I eat princesses like you for breakfast - or any other meal time - it doesn't really matter."
Weird threat, but okay.
Then her blood went cold, "wait - how did you know I was a princess?"
His eyes glinted, " I didn't."
Wait, what?
Oh, he meant like, 'princess'. He was patronising her again.
Motherfucker.
"Well, I'm not a princess - I was being sarcastic."
The Faerie somehow managed to look even smugger than before. She couldn't see his mouth, but she knew he was grinning. She knew it was a stupid grin, and she wanted to punch that stupid grin off his face.
She clenched her fists, then relaxed them.
"Princess or not," the Faerie spoke again, "now that you've seen me, I can't let you-"
He was cut off when the bartender burst into the room with a bright lantern in his hand.
The Faerie hissed "what the fuck, Jerry?"
"Sorry!"
The Faerie cowered in the corner of the room, shying from the light.
What a bitch.
"Deserik," Jerry said, exasperated, "I can't let you kill this girl."
Sabrina's heart fell through her ass.
He was being serious...?
"I wasn't going to-"
"You literally just said-"
"I was bluffing." He admitted to her.
Sabrina didn't know what to believe anymore.
"Besides, you've never cared about me killing anyone before this. What's so different about this girl?"
"What do you mean?" Jerry asked, rhetorically, "I've always cared about you killing people!"
The Faerie cocked his head, "you've never been against it...?"
"You think I'm for you eating people? I'm not!"
"Why didn't you tell me!?" The Faerie slurred.
"I..." Jerry paused, "I don't know."
The Faerie hiccuped guiltily.
"Maybe we should... talk about this?" The Faerie winced as he suggested it.
"Not now; you're totally shitfaced. You're not making any sense."
"I... I" the Faerie stuttered, "I make perfect sense!"
Sabrina felt quite awkward, caught in the midst of this argument. She stepped back and watched as they screamed their throats out at each other. After a few minutes, she backed down into the tavern. People were listening in on their conversation.
"Shoo, shoo." She told them. They scattered like fruit flies.