eachdraidh | video | open to both courts

[ The locket is, as usual, in the air and facing the Outsider. Unfortunately, his gaze seems to be a bit to the left of the locket and instead of floating in mid-air, he's sitting on his bed. A large white rat scurries up his arm and across his shoulder, then leaps to the mattress and then the floor; judging by the faint noise in the background, it's not the only rat in the room. ]

I can no longer see, [ the Outsider states simply, sounding faintly confused. ] The Maidenfish have handed me a piece of paper, but if it says anything, I cannot read it.

[ The aforementioned piece of paper is held up so that the locket can get a good look at the writing- or that's the intention, anyway. He's holding it backwards, and one of the Maidenfish (in the form of a woman, wearing a veil and a long, black dress with a train) gently turns the paper around so that the words face the screen.

Dearest Outsider,

You will have found by morning's light that I have divested you of your eyesight. Is it something you miss? Something you might like to have returned to you?

I'd hoped so! For I'd dearly like to have those shards of mine returned. I propose this to you:

Deliver either a fully-powered shard or a sigil tablet to an old, ruined place where the Black Shuck was once worshipped, in the dark of Nimh Gleane: a circle made of seven stone statues of the Old Dog himself. Place the object in the open mouths of any number of the statues and be on your way. If this is done within a month, I shall make the return to you as swift and silent as it was stolen!

If not, I'll distribute what I've taken among the humble populace of native folk.

Best wishes,

Reynard the Fox, Rightful Lord of Maupertius, titles & honors, etc. ]

If someone could inform me of what it says...?

[ After what he deems an appropriate length of time, the Outsider lowers the paper. Shifting slightly on the bed to hand the note back to one of the Maidenfish, his movement reveals one more thing: on the wall behind him, a fine drawing of a winking fox's face in red chalk. ]

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If they were going to attack you, they would have already, [ he replies. Not comforting, but she didn't ask for comfort. The white rat he'd been petting earlier is still bolding sitting on some of the furniture, though it tries to stick to the shadows. ]

They prefer the shadows. But they have a taste for flesh; a group can strip a man of it in seconds. I imagine Reynard was not a pretty sight when he left.

[ He's rather pleased about that. ]

[ The raven watches the rats skitter about, head cocking this way and that, but remains on her shoulder. Twitching all it does as she takes a few steps into the room. ]

One can only hope.

[ A few more steps, each growing more confident than the last. She pulls a tiny bag from her sleeve, filled with corn, depositing it upon the furniture. A present for the white creature. ]

Sit down, for all my magic I have yet to gain the ability to float. [ Sir, you are taller than her by default... levitating off the ground is only making that worse. ]

[ Smart bird.

The white rat sniffs, whiskers twitching, and goes to inspect its gift. Maneater it may be, but it likes corn, too. If the Outsider could see it, he'd probably laugh.

Instead, he does as he's told, taking a seat. ]

I find that it can be useful.

[ Funny, she has something equivalent of a god following her instructions. It makes her lips press together in a smile he cannot see. Morgana falls in place in front of him, hovering close enough to make most men comfortable. Lucky the Outsider is no man. ]

I imagine you would.

[ There is something... she thinks, the faint trace of magic lingering around his eyes, too thin to follow or likely unravel. Her fingers trace along cool skin. ] Hmm.

I would know, would I not?

[ It's almost but not quite a tease. He stays statute-still as she touches him, staring expressionlessly forward. ]

Tell me what you feel.

Void. [ She answers straightly, smile sitting on her lips. He bleeds though muted than it should be, she thinks, and her magic makes her sensitive to it. The all hungry blackness that sits at the edge of everything. ]

There is a magic focused around your eyes, laying there like a thick curtain in place of what should be.

Does it scare you? [ Excite you? Do anything? He asks the question idly, as if the answer doesn't matter; in the grand scheme of things, perhaps it doesn't. ]

The Fox has powerful magic, [ he says, tilts his head slightly in her hands. ] And he is creative.

Instinctively? Yes. [ Her tone suggests that her answer isn't something ground breaking. Anything living and breathing would fear the Void, the nothingness, the unknown that will consume all. ]

Very. [ She hums briefly, fingers still on his cold skin. ] This may hurt. [ That is about all the warning she gives him before her own magic flares up, it twists and snakes through her veins and out her fingertips - he spelling trying to combat the Fox's magic. What results is a clash of powerful forces, neither side giving way sparking against his skin sharp and vicious. ]

But? [ Instincts can be worked against, overruled, altered. What does she feel when she lets herself think?

If it hurts, he does not show it. He sits, quiet, unmoving; he feels the play of magic over his face and shows no more consideration for it than someone might for a slight breeze.

(There is consideration, of course. But why share what it is?) ]

I open my arms to it like an old friend. [ She has never felt in the way she does now, standing before him. Nevertheless she knows the touch of it, she spent two years in a pit in nothing but darkness, much touched her mind during that time.

The sharp clash of magic lasts but a moment longer before the glow in her eyes fades and the magic ceases. The result causes Morgana to scowl and click her tongue in annoyance - it did not work. Despite her best effort the Fox's magic remained where it was and his vision absent. ]

He is more powerful than I anticipated.

And it will meet you. [ Just be careful that it doesn't drag you down when you embrace. ]

Yes, [ the Outsider sighs, head drooping for a moment before he straightens. ] He is... strange. More than a fox. More than a human. Very powerful. I don't like it.

[ Perhaps it already has.

She takes half a step back to give him space, focus remaining on his black eyes. It feels as if her pride has been struck with this, unable to remove the damage the Fox has wrought. ]

Neither do I. [ It does not bode well for her, he still claims Maupertius has his. ] There may still be a way to retrieve you sight without bending to his demands, it need only to be uncovered.

Perhaps, [ agrees the Outsider. ] But I must confess some curiosity as to what he intends to do. He could have simply taken my shard, but he wants me to fetch one for him.

Pride is a dangerous thing, [ he laughs, dark and low, an ancient thing who's terribly, terribly amused. ]

[ She feels his laugh reverberate in her chest, dark and low and heavy, her instincts flare to life and the siren begins her head. Run.

Morgana does not move. ]

He may wish to return to his power, he may be too weak to steal the shard from your chest. Whatever his plan, I do not believe it to be good.

video | open to both courts | morning of the 26th

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