Ink Stains (MCYT Oneshots)

🌱 Of Those Mortally Alive (Foolish-centric)

(A/N: revisiting this au!! anyways no plot just stuff <3
me rereading my previous shots n spotting all the mistakes and left off sentences I wrote: :ohgod:
cw: minor body horror? starts from 'True Nature' and ends at 'You know they've...')

Elsewhere University is interesting.

When you took the opportunity to check up on Saint Barray's land, you never would've imagined a university to grow in the place of his house. How funny, too; Saint Barray has never liked the thought of educational facilities. He'd always preferred homeschooling, if you remember correctly.

Still, from your point of view on the tree, visible but ignored, you can see students mingling around, acting like they are used to the faery magic in the air and side-stepping all the little traps easily. Perhaps they are used to it; they are staying here for quite a while, if you remember correctly, from your good friend's letters.

Your memory is a little unreliable, you suppose. You guess that's what six decades in solitude does to one of the faeries.

Still, it does please you to see that the humans have learned from their mistakes; you aren't in disguise right now, so the humans would see you as one of the faeries. You wonder how they see you, as humans usually can't bear a faery's True Nature without getting their eyes burnt out and their tongues shrivelled. You know they've learned the ways to not trap themselves into a deal, and while you should be angry, it is rather pleasing to see your foes getting smarter. It gives more chance for faeries to push themselves to be better, to think smarter.

As much as you'd like to stay up here and watch over the humans, though, you have something to do. Or, mo specifically, something to speak to your old friend about. It has been long since you've seen him, and last time you heard, he had gotten a nephew. Or was it a niece? Perhaps it is both.

You slink down the tree and into the forest, shifting and shrinking yourself into something closely resembling the humans. In fact, as you inspect yourself in a lake nearby, you think that you look believably human. The emerald around your neck words wonders for it; though it's a little odd to not have it on your head.

You step out of the forest, and pretend as though you've been walking on the path all along. You walk, eyeing everything around, slotting all the memories of the little details into your mind. So much has changed over the years, and so have you.

Elsewhere University truly is interesting.

"Oh, are you a transfer here?"

Blinking, you glance down to meet the eyes of a brown haired woman. She has an iron necklace hanging around her neck, and you can smell the faint scent of salt lingering in her pirate coat. She dresses oddly, compared to some of the other students up have spotted, but then again, everyone here is weird.

If you were a normal faery, you wouldn't have even stayed. As it stands, you are very much decidedly not a normal faery, and the iron and salt don't affect you as it does to your kin. Or is it former kin?

You feel your human lips twitch into a smile. Idly, you use your human fingers toy with the gleaming emerald hanging loosely around your human neck by a thin iron chain, and smile at the way she eyes it, the way her eyes focus on it, as if she's transfixed.

"Mhm, I am," you hum. "I've already heard all the rules, don't worry. I'm just... a little lost."

"That's fine," she responds, shooting you a smile. "You may call me Puffy. What about you?"

Huh. You haven't really prepared for this sort of thing.

Still, a word comes to your mind, and you dip your head just a little as you reply, "You may call me Foolish."

"Foolish?" her brow arches, and you smile and nod. "All names have power, you know."

"I do know," you simply respond, cheerful and not breaking in your eye contact. "I've thought this through."

"If you're sure," Puffy eventually says, breaking eye contact. It's out of necessity, rather than submission. You look forward to winning against her in a staring contest, as the humans would put it. "You're lost, aren't you? Come on, no strings or favours attached; I'll lead you around. What class do you have first?"

You hum, walking as she starts to do the same. "Your help is appreciated. I have... Literature, first."

"English major, then?"

"Sort of," you reply, finding your eyes straying to a tall tower nearby. You hope your good friend will be nearby; it would be tiring to have to go search for him.

Then again, perhaps you can stay just a while longer; get a good grip on how these mortals act...