Post by Lucca on Sept 24, 2010 9:12:24 GMT -5
Title: A Proper Familiar
Author: Lucca
Rating: PGish
Characters/Pairings: Eldy, Thaddeus
Warnings: One very, very mild bad word
Word Count: 1,888
Summary: How Eldy 'meets' Thaddeus.
Notes: I felt such an amazing item deserved a proper back story. I'm not sure quite how well this qualifies as I'm not entirely happy with the ending. Also it's unbetaed, so please forgive any mistakes. >_> OH PFFT ALSO. I almost forgot. This is for prompt 61, "Fairy Tale".
It was a silly little whim. Eldryia never knew just why she did it. Just that one day, she happened to be stalking the servant’s hallway when she heard them gossiping. There was a magic cauldron in the City, they said. If you threw items into it, something extraordinary could come out! Eldryia had rolled her eyes and kept walking to find something that made more sense to listen in on. A magic cauldron, indeed! It sounded just about as possible as that Wishing Well in the Highlands everyone was always going on about. Crazy superstitious lot, the servants.
Still, as the day went on, Eldryia found herself rather bored and antsy. It wasn’t so uncommon of a thing, after getting back from her journey of self-discovery, for her to feel suffocated if she stayed home for too long at a time. And since she could think of nothing better to do, she figured she might as well put these rumors of a ‘magic cauldron’ to rest once and for all. Of course, there was no way she was going to risk any of her own belongings. Not only did she have very little to begin with, but if this was all just some stupid hoax she didn’t want a swindler carrying away all of her most prized possessions.
So she went for a little hunt, to find things around the palace no one would miss. In the garden, she found a very peculiar thorny vine that was wriggling all over the place like it was alive, though it was no longer attached to the ground. She carefully got it into a sack without touching it with her bare paws (those thorns looked sharp). Next, a raid of the quarters of a servant who had quit last week and left in a huff turned up a dusty bottle of something that smelled very strongly of mint. It went into the sack as well. Finally, she happened across the most curious thing on her way out of the Palace...a small little...worm inside a glass case. It was shivering and she almost felt sorry for it, but it was, after all, just a worm.
She didn’t think anyone would miss these items, strange as they were and all left places where they were obviously abandoned, so Eldy threw the sack over her shoulder and made her quiet way to the Capital. She didn’t wish to draw attention to what she was doing by calling a carriage, and anyway, she knew she could use the exercise, so she walked, binding making little noise as she pulled it along behind her. It was well past sunset by the time she made it to the city, and Eldy decided to stop for a bit of coffee. The Torque had never much cared for the stuff, but she needed something of a pick me up, and if she put enough sugar in, it should taste bearable. As she sipped the too-sweet-yet-still-bitter beverage, her eyes lingered over the burlap sack she’d brought with her, safely stowed under her table in the tiny cafe, and took a moment to wonder what she was doing here. Did she actually believe that something was going to happen when she threw these items into the pot, other than being parted from them like a fool from his money?
“Of course not,” she scoffed aloud, causing the few other patrons and the barista to look up at her in surprise. She ignored them easily. “I’m just bored, that’s all. It’s something to do.” Gulping down the rest of her coffee and trying not to gag on the sugar sludge at the bottom, Eldy paid her tab and took her leave.
It took longer than she’d expected to find the place, a lot of skulking around in dark alleys and hugging the sides of dilapidated buildings, but eventually Eldy had her reward: an unassuming black pot, just sitting there in the center square of the Outer Bazaar. The pedestal with crumbling stone feet on it was a little odd, but otherwise it just looked like a normal pot. Eldy moved closer and peered inside, but there was nothing there. It didn’t even have any water left from the rain or a dead bug or something. “Weird,” she muttered, raising an eyebrow, and then she shrugged. What could it hurt?
She upended the sack, letting all its contents fall into the pot. As almost an after thought, she threw in a few coins, too. Maybe she was a fool for it, but part of her was actually excited, wondering what would happen. (Nothing, the logical part of her still insisted firmly.) Still, she backed up a few paces, staring at the cauldron in the unblinking way that only a Feline can.
There was a horrible grinding noise that made her tail puff up and seemed to last for far longer than the half minute it actually did. Her ear flattened against the side of her head and her purple gaze darted around the deserted street, as if expecting someone to have heard the commotion and come running out to bother her. No one did, thankfully, and after the noise had stopped and Eldy’s heart rate was back to normal, the Feline crept back up to see what had become of her items. Obviously, this wasn’t a normal cauldron, as something had happened. She just wasn’t sure what. Eldy first peered into the cauldron, but...there was nothing there. No sign of the items or money she’d thrown in at all. She began to paw around on the ground outside the cauldron, and gasped in surprise as her paw touched something sharp.
“Hello, what’s this?” she mumbled to herself, gingerly picking up the item. It was a small, prickly sort of thing, vaguely in the shape of a legless Dragon curled up. But when she held it up to the light, it shone in a way that made her breath catch. There were numerous facets, and each one seemed to shine a different shade of green. Eldy had never much been one to care for jewelry or other such trinkets, but this was pretty...and, though it seemed small and useless, she had a hunch there was more to it than there appeared to be. “Mine,” she crooned at it, sticking it into her money pouch, and she thought she felt a little tingle spread up her arm at the word, though she may have imagined it.
Throughout the following day, Eldy kept the little Wurm close. She would glance at it occasionally, marveling at its intricacy and color, and several times caught herself wondering, again, what sort of powers it might have if she could unlock its secrets. And to think she’d dismissed the idea of the magic pot as ridiculous superstition! She was glad, now, that she’d decided to follow that whim. Of course, the biggest surprise came when she was eating dinner (alone in her quarters after a day of babysitting) and suddenly heard an unexpected, unfamiliar voice.
“Good evening,” said the voice in deep, clipped tones, and Eldy jumped.
“Who said that?” she demanded, glancing around the empty room. She couldn’t see anyone, and she knew none of the servants sounded like that, anyway.
“I am Thaddeus, and I am most graciously in your service, Madame Heart,” the voice replied, and Eldy frowned, still looking for the source. She peeked under the bed, but there was nothing there. Her ear flicking, trying to determine where she was hearing the words come from, she paced the length of her small room.
“Where and what are you?” she finally said, giving up and sitting down. To her great surprise, she saw movement, then...from her money pouch. If she had been the fainting type, she might have done so when the vigorous wiggling was followed by a small, green head poking up from the opening. A green, spiky, Dragon-shaped head. Eldy’s breath caught in her throat. No. Way.
“I am a worm,” the head said in the same deep voice that wasn’t as incongruous as one might think coming from such a small body. “Well, that is not entirely accurate. I was a worm. Now, I am a Wurm.” It—he, Thaddeus—looked down, as if assessing his own appearance. A toothy smile spread across his face, and he wiggled the rest of the way free of the bag. “And I am your familiar, Master.” He paused and added, with just a hint of pleading under his cultured tone, “If you would have me, that is.”
“Yes...that is to say, of course...” Eldy stuttered out, eyes wide. She knew there was something special about the pretty little trinket, but she’d never expected this! She cleared her throat and tried to compose herself a little better. “Thaddeus. My name’s Eldryia, or Eldy, if you prefer.” She raised an eyebrow at him. “What, exactly, can you do for your Master?” It was a bit thrilling to think she had such power over something. And something intelligent, too! Thaddeus wasn’t just another Bander or Mome. He was something else entirely, something unique, and he was hers!
The little Wurm bowed low. “Master Eldryia,” he said, and Eldy practically shivered at the title. “There are many things that I can do for you. Some of them are magical, but are only available once a week. I can grant you the power of discharging poisonous spikes, such as those that cover my body, from your paw. I can disguise your aroma in various and sundry ways. Furthermore, I can change my size to gigantic proportions fit for attack or transportation, though I will return to my normal, diminutive stature after a half hour.”
Eldy gaped. Those were some truly amazing powers, and that wasn’t even mentioning the fact that he was small, intelligent, and could probably spy even better than she could, should the need arise. She felt like she was the luckiest Card in the world right then, to have something so amazing. “Thaddeus...that’s...” The expression on the glittering Wurm’s face was hopeful, and Eldy paused. She had been thinking of him, she realized, as an object. Surely that couldn’t be right...he was a living thing with a consciousness. She couldn’t see him as some sort of...of trinket to be used and then ignored, or even as a servant, though he called her Master. He was also going to be a responsibility, a familiar, and...dare she hope for a friend? She smiled, but before she could give voice to these thoughts, the Wurm spoke again.
“Master Eldryia, I hope that you will accept my sworn fealty,” he said earnestly. “I can merely ask you to allow me to serve you as best I can, with what meager powers I have. I know I’m hardly a proper sort of familiar, but...”
“Thaddeus,” Eldy interrupted gently, and the Wurm flinched and looked up at her meekly. “Your powers are damned good. And no matter what anyone else says...” She leaned forward to scoop him up gently into her paw. “You’re a wonderful familiar, and I feel lucky to have you. Really.”
Somehow, the Wurm’s beaming smile looked dignified, and Eldy felt herself smiling in return. She had a feeling this was going to be the start of an amazing relationship.
Author: Lucca
Rating: PGish
Characters/Pairings: Eldy, Thaddeus
Warnings: One very, very mild bad word
Word Count: 1,888
Summary: How Eldy 'meets' Thaddeus.
Notes: I felt such an amazing item deserved a proper back story. I'm not sure quite how well this qualifies as I'm not entirely happy with the ending. Also it's unbetaed, so please forgive any mistakes. >_> OH PFFT ALSO. I almost forgot. This is for prompt 61, "Fairy Tale".
It was a silly little whim. Eldryia never knew just why she did it. Just that one day, she happened to be stalking the servant’s hallway when she heard them gossiping. There was a magic cauldron in the City, they said. If you threw items into it, something extraordinary could come out! Eldryia had rolled her eyes and kept walking to find something that made more sense to listen in on. A magic cauldron, indeed! It sounded just about as possible as that Wishing Well in the Highlands everyone was always going on about. Crazy superstitious lot, the servants.
Still, as the day went on, Eldryia found herself rather bored and antsy. It wasn’t so uncommon of a thing, after getting back from her journey of self-discovery, for her to feel suffocated if she stayed home for too long at a time. And since she could think of nothing better to do, she figured she might as well put these rumors of a ‘magic cauldron’ to rest once and for all. Of course, there was no way she was going to risk any of her own belongings. Not only did she have very little to begin with, but if this was all just some stupid hoax she didn’t want a swindler carrying away all of her most prized possessions.
So she went for a little hunt, to find things around the palace no one would miss. In the garden, she found a very peculiar thorny vine that was wriggling all over the place like it was alive, though it was no longer attached to the ground. She carefully got it into a sack without touching it with her bare paws (those thorns looked sharp). Next, a raid of the quarters of a servant who had quit last week and left in a huff turned up a dusty bottle of something that smelled very strongly of mint. It went into the sack as well. Finally, she happened across the most curious thing on her way out of the Palace...a small little...worm inside a glass case. It was shivering and she almost felt sorry for it, but it was, after all, just a worm.
She didn’t think anyone would miss these items, strange as they were and all left places where they were obviously abandoned, so Eldy threw the sack over her shoulder and made her quiet way to the Capital. She didn’t wish to draw attention to what she was doing by calling a carriage, and anyway, she knew she could use the exercise, so she walked, binding making little noise as she pulled it along behind her. It was well past sunset by the time she made it to the city, and Eldy decided to stop for a bit of coffee. The Torque had never much cared for the stuff, but she needed something of a pick me up, and if she put enough sugar in, it should taste bearable. As she sipped the too-sweet-yet-still-bitter beverage, her eyes lingered over the burlap sack she’d brought with her, safely stowed under her table in the tiny cafe, and took a moment to wonder what she was doing here. Did she actually believe that something was going to happen when she threw these items into the pot, other than being parted from them like a fool from his money?
“Of course not,” she scoffed aloud, causing the few other patrons and the barista to look up at her in surprise. She ignored them easily. “I’m just bored, that’s all. It’s something to do.” Gulping down the rest of her coffee and trying not to gag on the sugar sludge at the bottom, Eldy paid her tab and took her leave.
It took longer than she’d expected to find the place, a lot of skulking around in dark alleys and hugging the sides of dilapidated buildings, but eventually Eldy had her reward: an unassuming black pot, just sitting there in the center square of the Outer Bazaar. The pedestal with crumbling stone feet on it was a little odd, but otherwise it just looked like a normal pot. Eldy moved closer and peered inside, but there was nothing there. It didn’t even have any water left from the rain or a dead bug or something. “Weird,” she muttered, raising an eyebrow, and then she shrugged. What could it hurt?
She upended the sack, letting all its contents fall into the pot. As almost an after thought, she threw in a few coins, too. Maybe she was a fool for it, but part of her was actually excited, wondering what would happen. (Nothing, the logical part of her still insisted firmly.) Still, she backed up a few paces, staring at the cauldron in the unblinking way that only a Feline can.
There was a horrible grinding noise that made her tail puff up and seemed to last for far longer than the half minute it actually did. Her ear flattened against the side of her head and her purple gaze darted around the deserted street, as if expecting someone to have heard the commotion and come running out to bother her. No one did, thankfully, and after the noise had stopped and Eldy’s heart rate was back to normal, the Feline crept back up to see what had become of her items. Obviously, this wasn’t a normal cauldron, as something had happened. She just wasn’t sure what. Eldy first peered into the cauldron, but...there was nothing there. No sign of the items or money she’d thrown in at all. She began to paw around on the ground outside the cauldron, and gasped in surprise as her paw touched something sharp.
“Hello, what’s this?” she mumbled to herself, gingerly picking up the item. It was a small, prickly sort of thing, vaguely in the shape of a legless Dragon curled up. But when she held it up to the light, it shone in a way that made her breath catch. There were numerous facets, and each one seemed to shine a different shade of green. Eldy had never much been one to care for jewelry or other such trinkets, but this was pretty...and, though it seemed small and useless, she had a hunch there was more to it than there appeared to be. “Mine,” she crooned at it, sticking it into her money pouch, and she thought she felt a little tingle spread up her arm at the word, though she may have imagined it.
Throughout the following day, Eldy kept the little Wurm close. She would glance at it occasionally, marveling at its intricacy and color, and several times caught herself wondering, again, what sort of powers it might have if she could unlock its secrets. And to think she’d dismissed the idea of the magic pot as ridiculous superstition! She was glad, now, that she’d decided to follow that whim. Of course, the biggest surprise came when she was eating dinner (alone in her quarters after a day of babysitting) and suddenly heard an unexpected, unfamiliar voice.
“Good evening,” said the voice in deep, clipped tones, and Eldy jumped.
“Who said that?” she demanded, glancing around the empty room. She couldn’t see anyone, and she knew none of the servants sounded like that, anyway.
“I am Thaddeus, and I am most graciously in your service, Madame Heart,” the voice replied, and Eldy frowned, still looking for the source. She peeked under the bed, but there was nothing there. Her ear flicking, trying to determine where she was hearing the words come from, she paced the length of her small room.
“Where and what are you?” she finally said, giving up and sitting down. To her great surprise, she saw movement, then...from her money pouch. If she had been the fainting type, she might have done so when the vigorous wiggling was followed by a small, green head poking up from the opening. A green, spiky, Dragon-shaped head. Eldy’s breath caught in her throat. No. Way.
“I am a worm,” the head said in the same deep voice that wasn’t as incongruous as one might think coming from such a small body. “Well, that is not entirely accurate. I was a worm. Now, I am a Wurm.” It—he, Thaddeus—looked down, as if assessing his own appearance. A toothy smile spread across his face, and he wiggled the rest of the way free of the bag. “And I am your familiar, Master.” He paused and added, with just a hint of pleading under his cultured tone, “If you would have me, that is.”
“Yes...that is to say, of course...” Eldy stuttered out, eyes wide. She knew there was something special about the pretty little trinket, but she’d never expected this! She cleared her throat and tried to compose herself a little better. “Thaddeus. My name’s Eldryia, or Eldy, if you prefer.” She raised an eyebrow at him. “What, exactly, can you do for your Master?” It was a bit thrilling to think she had such power over something. And something intelligent, too! Thaddeus wasn’t just another Bander or Mome. He was something else entirely, something unique, and he was hers!
The little Wurm bowed low. “Master Eldryia,” he said, and Eldy practically shivered at the title. “There are many things that I can do for you. Some of them are magical, but are only available once a week. I can grant you the power of discharging poisonous spikes, such as those that cover my body, from your paw. I can disguise your aroma in various and sundry ways. Furthermore, I can change my size to gigantic proportions fit for attack or transportation, though I will return to my normal, diminutive stature after a half hour.”
Eldy gaped. Those were some truly amazing powers, and that wasn’t even mentioning the fact that he was small, intelligent, and could probably spy even better than she could, should the need arise. She felt like she was the luckiest Card in the world right then, to have something so amazing. “Thaddeus...that’s...” The expression on the glittering Wurm’s face was hopeful, and Eldy paused. She had been thinking of him, she realized, as an object. Surely that couldn’t be right...he was a living thing with a consciousness. She couldn’t see him as some sort of...of trinket to be used and then ignored, or even as a servant, though he called her Master. He was also going to be a responsibility, a familiar, and...dare she hope for a friend? She smiled, but before she could give voice to these thoughts, the Wurm spoke again.
“Master Eldryia, I hope that you will accept my sworn fealty,” he said earnestly. “I can merely ask you to allow me to serve you as best I can, with what meager powers I have. I know I’m hardly a proper sort of familiar, but...”
“Thaddeus,” Eldy interrupted gently, and the Wurm flinched and looked up at her meekly. “Your powers are damned good. And no matter what anyone else says...” She leaned forward to scoop him up gently into her paw. “You’re a wonderful familiar, and I feel lucky to have you. Really.”
Somehow, the Wurm’s beaming smile looked dignified, and Eldy felt herself smiling in return. She had a feeling this was going to be the start of an amazing relationship.
