06 - Ashley 02 - Lessons
“When I finally found the address again, I couldn’t find the place. I looked all through the week.”
“Oh, that’s no secret. I only open up n weekends. Can’t afford anything else. Work as a barista the rest of the week. Late shifts. People always need coffee.”
“People.”
“Yes. People. All there are, are people.”
“But there’s monsters-“
“People.” Rhi stressed, then sighed. “It’s going to be hard to…. You know what, there’s *Lessons*.”
“What-?”
“If we’re going, we should get going.”
She says as she pulls a wide brimmed pointed black hat from behind the counter.
Ashley: “Wait… are you really a W-“
“*What I am*,” Rhi interrupts “Is an enterprising small business owner-“ She says, looking at her shop as she puts the hat on. “With a broom and a really nifty hat.” She adds with a Wink. “Come on. To *Lessons*.”
—- ‘Lessons’ turned out to be a little cafe nook in a side street. Flowers bloomed in pots in the front and the whole storefront seemed to be alive with blooms. Stepping through the door, the place was quiet but there seemed a sense of vibrant energy tingling down Ashley as she followed Rhi in. Rhi pointed out a table and sat, her jaunty hat slipped back a little to give her clear view.
“This is lessons.” Rhi added. “Pay attention.” She says with a smile.
A young woman approached the table, and Ashley squinted. She couldn’t quite be sure, but she thought, in the moment it took for the waitress to pull a pencil from behind her ear, that her ear was… pointed.
Celeste, it appeared by her name tag, nodded once in greeting - maybe recognition - to Rhi, and turned to Ashley.
“Hi, I see this is your first time here, May I take your name?” “Uh, sure, it’s Ashley,” “Thank you.” Celeste smiled - her green n seeming, just for a moment, being a little too wide as she flipped the pencil around from jotting on her notepad and gently booped Ashley on the nose with the eraser end of it. She continued to smile, as she turned to Rhi.
“Make sure you let your friend know how to collect it before they leave.”
Looking quickly between Celeste and Rhi, Ashley almost missed the subtle shift - the change of the name tag… from Celeste to Ashley., right before the waitress walked off.
“What was that all about?” “Were you paying attention?” Rhi smiled. “What’s your name?” Ashley looked puzzled. “What?” “Your name. What is it?” “It’s Ah-“. Her eyes opened wide as if suddenly, her throat closed over on the word. She had barely uttered a syllable when there was suddenly no air. She coughed once, and tried again. “It’s ach-“ as once again, she choked.
“No no, that can’t be it. That might have been your name.” Rhi pointed a finger at the waitress, and smiled. “But she asked - very politely, I might add - if she could *take it*, and you let her. So it’s hers now, not yours.”
Not-Ashley sputtered for a few moments, before looking at Rhi. “How?! Why?!”
“Look, this is Lessons, and here’s the first. The simplest. The most straight forward. When you deal with the Fae, you de add l with them basically on their terms. Humans and Fae, the history is mixed. Some love us. Some hate us. Some eat us. Some don’t even know what half of those concepts are.” She waved down a different server with a hand, as she continued. “The important lesson here, to start, is that when dealing with them, you need to pay attention. Words mean literal things, and magic is just strong enough to back it up.”
“And… you’re a Witch. Wait, you said ‘us’, and I get the feeling you meant ‘human’ there.”
“Good! You were paying attention!” She clapped once, as the server arrived. This one spoke almost sibilantly as she proffered a tray of sweets. “Sssample?” Rhi took the cue and waved off Not-Ashley as she saw the girls hand move. “No, thank you. Two cups of coffee, and we will be paying by card before we leave.” “Sssuit yourssself.” The girl all but hissed with a smile as she turned to the coffee station. “Lesson two. And kinda three.” Rhi added, visibly relaxing as the girl turned away. “Never *take* anything. *Especially* not food. Always set the terms of an exchange.” Rhi added. “Taking something is like giving something, if you don’t set terms, they’ll go with whatever they think is fair, and they don’t think like us at all.” Rhi frowned at her own words. “No, that’s not fair. Okay, so, for clarity.”
She smiled up as the coffee was delivered wordlessly and thanked the waitress. She took a sip, and looked at the swirl in the cup. “So, welcome to the world. The world just got bigger and smaller. Because the Fae, abs I’ll just say that for now, the Fae are here. They always were, and as humans started taking more and more of the world, the Fae didn’t… didn’t go away or anything, it’s their world too. It’s why I say they’re just people too. Because they are. You have Full blooded Fae, you have the half Fae, you have the Faetouched, and you have Humans of all flavours , all living together in this world. Even within those groups, you have the wild, the conforming and the unknowing of all of those categories. It’s one big mess of society.”
“I’m not sure I follow. Faetouched?”
“Okay. So, I don’t want to say that there are some that are more Fae than others, but it’s a crudity that’s kinda fits. The full bloods are those who just are, they were born or created, as per what they are, abs they are a lineage. But even within that, you have the wild who live as they Are, and then the conforming, who through whatever reason or means go out of their way to seem more… human,or at least, fit into human society better. Celes- I mean, *Ashley* here, is one like that. Unless you’re really looking, you might never know.”
“Then you have the faetouched. Now, this is a very wide category, because it includes not only those who are born of a union between Fae and humans, but for those Fae who aren’t… that wise compatible, it can mean a close connection. Say for example, a girl befriends a pixie, and that pixie abs that girl share a wonderful life as friends, because, you know, girls are giants to pixies. If their relationship is true abs friendly. Just the presence of the pixie in the girls life could mean that and child the girl has, will take on some measures or features of the pixie - and we’d call that child Faetouched.”
She sipped at her coffee again. “But really. Like I said, they’re just people. Prying further into it can be… uncomfortable. Especially since a lot don’t have the connection to their heritage. Not many do, but they will seem to congregate around their ethnicities in the city. And like, that’s another thing. Even calling them *Fae* is wrought with disagreements, because they don’t all call themselves that. In the Slavic crowd, you have the *Mavka* and the *Nav*, and even they don’t like being called each other’s things.”
“What’s the difference there?” “Oh, right. You see, both are spirits. But the *Mavka* are nature spirits, but the *Nav* are spirits of the dead, or just, negative energy.”
“The dead, like, ghosts and stuff?”
Rhi thought for a moment, before responding. “They’ll call themselves something different, but ghosts, ghouls, vampires, the like. Most things that humanity has ever feared or told stories of are reflected somewhere. But let j mg e get into say that most of the time, popular media has many things wrong. You need to go back to really old teachings.”
“That sounds like… the city is really dangerous.”
“Oh, absolutely.
Rhi sighed at the expression on Ashley’s face.
“I mean. It’s just how it is. You saw something. Something that people don’t normally see. It happens.”
“
(TBC)
“People.”
“Yes. People. All there are, are people.”
“But there’s monsters-“
“People.” Rhi stressed, then sighed. “It’s going to be hard to…. You know what, there’s *Lessons*.”
“What-?”
“If we’re going, we should get going.”
She says as she pulls a wide brimmed pointed black hat from behind the counter.
Ashley: “Wait… are you really a W-“
“*What I am*,” Rhi interrupts “Is an enterprising small business owner-“ She says, looking at her shop as she puts the hat on. “With a broom and a really nifty hat.” She adds with a Wink. “Come on. To *Lessons*.”
—- ‘Lessons’ turned out to be a little cafe nook in a side street. Flowers bloomed in pots in the front and the whole storefront seemed to be alive with blooms. Stepping through the door, the place was quiet but there seemed a sense of vibrant energy tingling down Ashley as she followed Rhi in. Rhi pointed out a table and sat, her jaunty hat slipped back a little to give her clear view.
“This is lessons.” Rhi added. “Pay attention.” She says with a smile.
A young woman approached the table, and Ashley squinted. She couldn’t quite be sure, but she thought, in the moment it took for the waitress to pull a pencil from behind her ear, that her ear was… pointed.
Celeste, it appeared by her name tag, nodded once in greeting - maybe recognition - to Rhi, and turned to Ashley.
“Hi, I see this is your first time here, May I take your name?” “Uh, sure, it’s Ashley,” “Thank you.” Celeste smiled - her green n seeming, just for a moment, being a little too wide as she flipped the pencil around from jotting on her notepad and gently booped Ashley on the nose with the eraser end of it. She continued to smile, as she turned to Rhi.
“Make sure you let your friend know how to collect it before they leave.”
Looking quickly between Celeste and Rhi, Ashley almost missed the subtle shift - the change of the name tag… from Celeste to Ashley., right before the waitress walked off.
“What was that all about?” “Were you paying attention?” Rhi smiled. “What’s your name?” Ashley looked puzzled. “What?” “Your name. What is it?” “It’s Ah-“. Her eyes opened wide as if suddenly, her throat closed over on the word. She had barely uttered a syllable when there was suddenly no air. She coughed once, and tried again. “It’s ach-“ as once again, she choked.
“No no, that can’t be it. That might have been your name.” Rhi pointed a finger at the waitress, and smiled. “But she asked - very politely, I might add - if she could *take it*, and you let her. So it’s hers now, not yours.”
Not-Ashley sputtered for a few moments, before looking at Rhi. “How?! Why?!”
“Look, this is Lessons, and here’s the first. The simplest. The most straight forward. When you deal with the Fae, you de add l with them basically on their terms. Humans and Fae, the history is mixed. Some love us. Some hate us. Some eat us. Some don’t even know what half of those concepts are.” She waved down a different server with a hand, as she continued. “The important lesson here, to start, is that when dealing with them, you need to pay attention. Words mean literal things, and magic is just strong enough to back it up.”
“And… you’re a Witch. Wait, you said ‘us’, and I get the feeling you meant ‘human’ there.”
“Good! You were paying attention!” She clapped once, as the server arrived. This one spoke almost sibilantly as she proffered a tray of sweets. “Sssample?” Rhi took the cue and waved off Not-Ashley as she saw the girls hand move. “No, thank you. Two cups of coffee, and we will be paying by card before we leave.” “Sssuit yourssself.” The girl all but hissed with a smile as she turned to the coffee station. “Lesson two. And kinda three.” Rhi added, visibly relaxing as the girl turned away. “Never *take* anything. *Especially* not food. Always set the terms of an exchange.” Rhi added. “Taking something is like giving something, if you don’t set terms, they’ll go with whatever they think is fair, and they don’t think like us at all.” Rhi frowned at her own words. “No, that’s not fair. Okay, so, for clarity.”
She smiled up as the coffee was delivered wordlessly and thanked the waitress. She took a sip, and looked at the swirl in the cup. “So, welcome to the world. The world just got bigger and smaller. Because the Fae, abs I’ll just say that for now, the Fae are here. They always were, and as humans started taking more and more of the world, the Fae didn’t… didn’t go away or anything, it’s their world too. It’s why I say they’re just people too. Because they are. You have Full blooded Fae, you have the half Fae, you have the Faetouched, and you have Humans of all flavours , all living together in this world. Even within those groups, you have the wild, the conforming and the unknowing of all of those categories. It’s one big mess of society.”
“I’m not sure I follow. Faetouched?”
“Okay. So, I don’t want to say that there are some that are more Fae than others, but it’s a crudity that’s kinda fits. The full bloods are those who just are, they were born or created, as per what they are, abs they are a lineage. But even within that, you have the wild who live as they Are, and then the conforming, who through whatever reason or means go out of their way to seem more… human,or at least, fit into human society better. Celes- I mean, *Ashley* here, is one like that. Unless you’re really looking, you might never know.”
“Then you have the faetouched. Now, this is a very wide category, because it includes not only those who are born of a union between Fae and humans, but for those Fae who aren’t… that wise compatible, it can mean a close connection. Say for example, a girl befriends a pixie, and that pixie abs that girl share a wonderful life as friends, because, you know, girls are giants to pixies. If their relationship is true abs friendly. Just the presence of the pixie in the girls life could mean that and child the girl has, will take on some measures or features of the pixie - and we’d call that child Faetouched.”
She sipped at her coffee again. “But really. Like I said, they’re just people. Prying further into it can be… uncomfortable. Especially since a lot don’t have the connection to their heritage. Not many do, but they will seem to congregate around their ethnicities in the city. And like, that’s another thing. Even calling them *Fae* is wrought with disagreements, because they don’t all call themselves that. In the Slavic crowd, you have the *Mavka* and the *Nav*, and even they don’t like being called each other’s things.”
“What’s the difference there?” “Oh, right. You see, both are spirits. But the *Mavka* are nature spirits, but the *Nav* are spirits of the dead, or just, negative energy.”
“The dead, like, ghosts and stuff?”
Rhi thought for a moment, before responding. “They’ll call themselves something different, but ghosts, ghouls, vampires, the like. Most things that humanity has ever feared or told stories of are reflected somewhere. But let j mg e get into say that most of the time, popular media has many things wrong. You need to go back to really old teachings.”
“That sounds like… the city is really dangerous.”
“Oh, absolutely.
Rhi sighed at the expression on Ashley’s face.
“I mean. It’s just how it is. You saw something. Something that people don’t normally see. It happens.”
“
(TBC)
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