The Deep Freezer at Wren's place was a large affair. The thing was big enough to handle at least 3 full head of cattle with enough space to fit a couple of full goats along with it. While it was never that full, it's always good to have the space should you need it. It sits in the barn, in its own shiny, metal case, constantly giving off a low-decibel hum as it works to stay icy during even the hottest of summer days. Naturally, the encasement built around it is completely insulated, just to help out in the efforts.
Backpack, check. Walking staff, check. Good boots, check. Down-filled jacket, check. Balaclava, big gloves and three pairs of socks, check. Grumbling about how /some/ people with feathers get insulation of their own, check. Jane's not looking forward to a trip into Winter, it seems - but then she's seen winter in the hinterlands of Norway, so there might be a reason for that. "So, what's the plan?"
Conni is waiting outside the freezer, leant against the door with a big bundle of clothes in her arms. Her fully assembled staff is leaning against the wall nearby and she has a backpack on the floor by her feet. Seeing Jane, she calls out a friendly 'Aloha!'. Waiting until she gets close, Conni smiles and gestures with her head towards the freezer. "It's fairly simple. Go in, storm castle, don't get caught, don't die, find pixie and then get out!" Conni grins and sticks her hands in the pockets of her coat. "Okay, mostly simple. Wren's coming and so is Volya, I don't know if you've met her yet but she knows about me as does Wren."
Wren might well have taken 3-4 trips between the house and his barn, bringing out everything he might need for this particular excursion. Nothing was precisely matched, but he'd managed to get together an odd assortment of clothing items and cold weather gear that would help keep him warm enough not to die from exposure (hopefully) during the march through NeverNever ice castles.
The jacket he'd found was a powder blue, big enough to fit him luckily, and goose down stuffed enough to make it quite puffy just sitting on the workbench waiting for him. A set of down lined overalls waited next to it, a shade of periwinkle blue that most men might not find desirable, but hey, it was tall enough, and luckily wouldn't have to worry about fitting over Wren's broad shoulders. The moon-boot style cold-weather footwear he'd found quite literally looked like someone's Unicorn had thrown up on them, and must have been a gag gift for their first owner. But hey, they were in size 16, and if it fits... Whatcha gonna do? Aside from the lighter colored snow gear and his rainbow and sparkle boots, Wren came back into the Barn a final time carrying a long, black scarf that was very nice indeed, a bright blue knit cap, a set of driving gloves and a huge, puffy set of down-lined mittens that were the color of pepto bysmol.
Wren looked at Conni and Jane, giving them both a dashing smile as he pushed a free hand back through his hair. "Ladies, Aloha to you both, you look beautiful as ever." His bright blue eyes fixed to the two of them with obvious pleasure, as he made his way over to the work bench and put the rest of the cold weather gear, plus a standard hiking backpack filled with possible necessities and a very nice rifle attached to the side down onto the floor. He'd pulled on thick, comfy looking sweats over a pair of long-johns, was currently barefoot but had also been carrying a wad of wool socks in the crook of his arm. For a shirt, he had on a Tshirt layered over a thermal undershirt, and over that he had on a long sleeved, charcoal gray, insulated hunting shirt, meant to be comfortable AND keep him warm without a jacket over it.
Volya was busy pulling on layers of shirts and jackets, some of them oversized, so the sleeves covered her hands. Reaching her arm up, she shook the sleeve down. "I don't think I could cross over in there if I tried, so in the spirit of voyeurism, could someone make out with Wren? I feel like offering a BJ for the sake of a rescue mission is the very definition of slut, and not okay in the realm of relationships." Pulling a pair of knit caps onto her head, she grinned, "Unless you took the time to preheat the oven?" Blinking, she looked back at Jane. "My phone buzzes, we go in, pray time runs slower there, find his place, distractions, and people find the pixie while avoiding a few guards and whatnot... Conni seemed a bit more armyish, so I was going to do more of the planning..." Volya gestured to Jane, "Or you, Conni may have mentioned you being the sort to charge into Winter as well." Volya finished pulling her third pair of socks on, before squeezing her feet into her boots with a heavy grunt. Bouncing to her feet, she patted her belt for the small knife before picking up her wooden pig sticker, and tossed her hiking pack over her shoulder. Vee grinned at Wren, "That's the right stuff."
Jane nods. "Sounds like a plan to me," she says, then blinks at Volya. "You need someone to be horny as all get-out? Sure, no problem." With a grin, Jane reaches out to Conni, pulling the light-skinned woman closer as she moves in herself. "Makin' out in public. Again." She winks, then starts attempting to find Conni's tonsils with her tongue while simultaneously checking that her backside is where it should be.
There is a muffled yelp of complaint as Conni is pulled in, her eyes going wide and then the only noise that comes from her mouth is rather like a moan. Reaching a hand to the back of Jane's head, she draws her in closer, all while conducting the sort of body exam that would make a TSA agent blush. Finally pulling away from Jane, Conni licks her lips and gazes into her eyes for a moment longer before heading over to Wren, the look in her eyes almost completely predatory. "This is just to help Volya, honest!" Grinning happily, Conni hooks an arm around Wren's neck and draws him down to her level, locking lips with him and kissing him hungrily. She takes her time, not wanting to waste the moment and rather conscious of what they're all about to do. She is breathing heavily when she finally pulls back, still with one arm wrapped around his neck, seeming unwilling to move just yet. "Hey you!" She grins and reaching up, plants a by comparison rather chaste kiss on his lips. Turning, she looks over to Volya. "I hope that helped. If it didn't we're going to be delays for a few hours."
Wren glanced over at Volya and chuckled softly, shaking his head. "Aloha Vee, you look positively snow-mageddon ready." He winked to her, then proceeded to get socks on, pull on periwinkle overalls, get on his moon-boots with their rainbows and sparkles. The gloves went on before the jacket, and after he'd zipped up fully, the hat, then the scarf around his face and neck, then the hood of the pale blue coat was pulled up. Only after he pulled on the backpack and made himself look like some sort of color obsessed arctic explorer did he pull on the huge, pepto-pink mittens over his hands. Looking over at Conni and Jane, he shook his head and whistled softly.
When Conni came closer Wren welcomed her, though it was slightly more awkward to get a close touch with the thousands of layers between them. He kissed her back with a slow, decidedly male grumble deep in his chest, and when she broke away to tell him hello, he was still grinning with a steadily, burning heat in his blue eyes as he looked down to her face.
Clearing his throat softly to get the sound of desire to thin up a little, Wren finally managed to speak in something other than a hoarse whisper, "While you two always tip the scales toward my favorite two women to watch doing anything sexy at all, I'm afraid we need you to save the glorious performance for the freezer, ladies. So, let's step in, and then once more again with feeling?" He grinned to them, then reluctantly moved away from Conni to clomp over in the stiff soles of his insanely colorful moon-boots and opened up the freezer door, causing a rush of billowing, icy air to flow into the barn. "After you, ladies, I wouldn't want to miss an opportunity to appreciate beautiful art in movement."
Volya seemed to have no problem in the world as Jane and Conni started making out, she was hypnotized instantly. "Oh, that works..." She just kept staring at the two Valkyries as it turned into a Wren sandwich, and she pulled at her collar, blinking at Conni. "We may get delayed for hours... I have no idea how the summoning and whatnot is going, just waiting for a text." Reaching over her shoulder, she found the handle of a Louisville slugger hanging out of her after a few of tries. "And got the bat... So there's that." The woman looked straight out confused, her mouth dropping open. "Oh right... The freezer... Got completely flower brained for a moment there." The woman cleared her throat, her pink cowgirl boots slid across the barn door as she stepped inside. "Do we need light? Moans in the darkness work too."
Jane doesn't seem at all bothered about being womanhandled, but when Conni leaves her for Wren she does so with a slap on the backside. "Go get him, girl!" And then Wren points out that they need to be in the freezer and she can only gape at him. "Well, damn," she says, then grins. "You mean we gotta do that /again/? Oh /what/ a /shame/!" She turns and makes her way into the freezer, and the rear view is that of a woman who knows how to flaunt her assets. Even when they're all bundled up against the cold.
"With feeling huh? Okay but /only/ because you asked so nicely!" Reaching up to cup Wren's cheek, Conni grabs her backpack and her spear and with that and the bundle of clothes in her arms she makes her way into the freezer. Stopping just inside the door, Conni quickly slips into her skiing pants, only limping slightly when she puts weight on the wrong leg. Slipping the straps over her shoulders, she sets her backpack and her spear against the back wall and then sidles over to Jane. "You're wearing far too many clothes for this to be truly fun." Grinning, she reaches over to Jane and hugs her tight while she waits for the others to get in, not wanting to waste the performance and then apparently just changing her minds and diving in anyway. Leaning in close to Jane, she nips at her bottom lip with her teeth and then leaning closer, plants her lips on Jane, forcing her mouth open with hers and then kissing her passionately. Drawing one hand around her back and the other near her neck, she lose track of time as she works on tasting every inch of Jane's mouth, only drawing back occasionally for breath before going back in again. Her hands wander all the time, Conni apparently losing track of where they are as she starts to undo Jane's jacket so that she can slip a hand under her top.
As Wren slipped into the freezer, he flipped the light switch on the inner wall and caused a single, incandescent bulb to flare to life, the quality of illumination somewhat dim compared to the outside world. When he shut the door, though, it was clear that the light was getting stronger as the bulb itself warmed up in slow increments. Rather than insinuating himself into the makeout session between Conni and Jane, he simply leaned against the wall, his backpack and the currently enclosed in a gun-case muzzle of his gun scraping along the wall and making a slash in the layer of ice there. He grinned, looking relaxed and liked he was truly enjoying himself. Going so far as to cross his long legs at the ankles, he just shook his head and looked over at Volya, winking to her. "My life might well be my favorite thing about my life, Vee."
"Fingers tunneling their way to the hottest parts... Nope. It's good." Volya cleared her throat as she leaned her head back to exhaling heavily and watch her breath condense. "So random place in Winter... We get our bearings, and..." She got sucked right back into staring at the three of them. And a couple of minutes passed, when her phone buzzed. Blinking, she stared at her crotch, "Oh right, my phone... Thought I had willed something else to manifest..." A groan escaped her, "Which I now have mixed feelings about..." Digging out her phone, she double checked it, then replaced it in her pocket. Stepping forward, she slipped her arms around the group. A soft moan slipped from her lips as the boundary between her and the Nevernever loosed and lubed allows them to slip into Faerie...
Coming into NeverNever in a place that feels almost completely the opposite of one's normal environment might not be all that odd. But coming into the icy, chilled plane of a NeverNever Winter controlled environment might be odder still. White, blues, grays, and some odd, minute sparkles made up the color palate of the world. The ground was a flat, likely quite treacherous place that seemed to be made of ever increasing layers of ice and snow, building one atop the other. Where feet rested, imprints were made into snow that had fallen somewhat recently as it still maintained its powdery consistency.
The sky is gray and filled with fluffy, fat, white clouds that look on the verge of dropping more snowflakes at any moment. Ahead, a good mile or two in the distance, began the foothills of a mountain that rose high enough into the sky that its summit was blanketed and completely obscured by the clouds in the air. Even the trees, what few of them there were, in nearby clumps looked to be made more of ice than anything living. No leaves or needles existed upon them and they were left with long, cragging trunks and sparse, somehow spindly looking branches that had icicles dripping from them to form solid lines of clear, glittering ice all the way to the ground.
It's easily -20 F outside.
"We'll call it a warm-up," says Jane with a wink to Conni before the action gets cold and steamy once more. And in a freezer, steam isn't hard - er, difficult - to generate. Conni's tasting every inch of her mouth, but Jane is giving just as good as she's getting, to the point where she too is losing track of exactly why they started doing this and that there's anything else to bother with right now. There's a shimmy of Jane's hips, possibly in response to Wren's words, but a couple of seconds later than a reaction would be expected to be. And then it gets a lot colder, and she pulls away from Conni with a shudder. "Yeah, I thinkin' the beach after we get done here."
There is a little moan of protest from Conni as Jane pulls away but then she blinks as realizes where she is. Following a flurry of activity, Conni manages to put on her coat, her backpack, a scarf and her gloves in record time...and the right way round! Clapping her hands together to get some circulation going, she props her spear against her shoulder while she works on getting her bearings. Raising the edges of her scarf so that her ears are covered, she looks over to Wren and Volya. "Please tell me we don't have to go to far in this? All this time in Hawaii has robbed me of my cold tolerance." Looking around at the snowy landscape, she lets out a sigh. "If only we had a big enough sleeping bag to get warm in." She shakes her head then and tries to regain focus. "No, missing first, fun later!"
Wren was perfectly happy to be watching, especially as his attention was grabbed by the hip wiggle. It was certainly inviting. His head was cocked to just the right angle for him to take a nice, long look, and then Vee pulled them all together in a hug. It was a blissful moment, to be sure, as Wren wasn't one to neglect a hug. His long, currently rather padded arms wrapped around the women and he pressed himself into them with a soft groan for the rather delightful pressure it added to certain quite interested parts of his anatomy.
And then, of course, Wren was nearly blinded by pure, white, glaring snow. He closed his eyes and backed away from the three ladies, moving his scarf up over his mouth and nose, and most of his cheeks, as he slowly blinked his eyes to get them used to the glare of even marginal light beaming off the random ice crystals in the surrounding area. "Well then. This feels like possibly the reason I didn't go to Alaska when I was a kid." He chuckled slightly, turning around in a slow circle to get his bearings and a general lay of the land. Rather than pulling out his entire rifle, Wren reached back into the case and removed just the scope from it, holding it up to his eye to scan the distance, in every direction. "Just checking to see if we've got anything nearby." Oddly, despite the cold, Wren seemed well in his element having to scope out new territory.
Wren nodded toward the North, where the large mountain is. "There's tracks over there, so something likes to move up and down that mountain. And there's definitely signs of some sort of four legged animal moving off to the east, something with hooves. Keep your eyes out for anything, though. Animals here might be able to fully burrow into the snow and lay in wait for prey. Well, animals or Fae." He lowered the scope, then glanced back over at Volya, Jane, and Conni. "We thinking mountain, or is this guy a plane lover?"
Volya stepped back from the group, the cold that settled in her lungs caused her to shiver as she stabbed the back end of the spear into the group. Moving her pack around, she picked out a scarf to wrap around her face a couple of times. "O-okay... So now we're... Somewhere stupidly cold..." She scanned the area, "Uhhh... I've never been here before, so we may hours or days from where we're trying to go. So ask for directions from the nearest..." As she continued to look, she shook her head. "Just remember, not to call out names, particularly mine. Isaac made that mistake and ended up calling an armored elf, who changed him into a girl to make out with him... Fair warning." The woman moved her spear to the crook of her arm, before crossing them. "And I was never the best at sorting out my way around here." Vee consider for a long moment, "His name means forming ice... It takes moisture to make ice, like humidity. Aren't mountains dry? I want to say plains, and it's sort of the chance that we run into someone semi-friend. And trees and plants don't tend to grow on mountains."
Luckily, most everyone has covered everything vital and it's not quite freezing enough that anyone's risking their lungs exploding due to ice crystals. This is quite lucky indeed. The quality of the space around them isn't changing at the moment, it's just dead cold. Deadly cold, really. Almost like the snowy environment is waiting.
Jane blinks at Conni for a few moments, then looks around at Wren and Volya. "Right," she says. "Let's get on the way." Pause. "I gotta assume it's uphill?" A little more thought, and then Jane dives for the zip that Conni left open. "Holy hell! What is it up here, minus double-digits?" Zip finally gets fumbled together and zipped up, and then Jane spends a few moments checking that all her other cold-weather gear is in place and didn't get Conni'd.
"No calling names or we get..what? Okay." Conni grins and then nods to Volya. Turning she looks over to Jane as she notices the sudden activity. "Sorry!" Conni blinks in alarm as she watches Jane fumble with her clothes, her cheeks turning a little red (although that's probably the cold) as she works on checking her own gear. Once she is sure everything is buttoned up as it should be, she turns a slow circle while scanning the horizon with her pale blue eyes. Remaining quiet for some moments, she finally takes a breath and then points towards the east. "From what you told me Vee, I think that is where we need to be going. This person is always fighting against the rising sun, no? The coldest winds come in from the easterly shores. Yes, I think it is that way. It feels right. It must be right." Nodding in apparent agreement with herself, Conni takes up her spear and starts to trudge towards the east, her footing a little awkward but the Dane is not one to complain...not loudly at least. Of course, the litany of words coming out of her mouth are possibly a Danish song, probably best not to repeat what she's saying in polite company though.
Wren smiled, though it was almost impossible to see with the scarf covering most of his face, so the slight crinkling at the corners of his eyes would have to suffice for the implication of the expression. "East it is." He looked at Jane, making sure that she was alright before giving her a supportive nod. Once they started moving, Wren began following, but instead of just walking along behind the trio of ladies, he pulled free what looked like a palm-frond hand broom from his backpack, then started to wipe away the footsteps they left behind as they moved. "I'm going to try to make it so our steps aren't so obvious, so if you guys can move in single file, following each other's footsteps, it'll make it easier." He suggested this as he was busily attempting to clear up 4 full sets of footprints and the area they'd obviously arrived in.
Volya absently started to march in place in an effort to stay warm. "Alright... Try to stay warm, if you start feeling strange, dizzy or whatnot, or you can't feel something, I can cast a spell." Her eyes narrowed against the cold, "It may not be much... But it's something... I'm just trying to avoid using any Summer magic here unless it's for the distraction." She gave a nod to Conni, "Alright... The sounds right, I guess." The woman took a deep breath, huddling in her shoulders as she started walking to the East. "Wren... In my pack is a few honey treats, if we find the pixie, offer her one to get a message to the Wyld pixie matron. Her name is..." She exhaled and spoke in a gentle whisper, draining as much inflection from the spoken name as possible, "Artio..."
As the group marched toward the Easterly plains, the footsteps from some sort of four legged, hooved creature do indeed become something they cross. The footsteps lead away from where they're heading, and are the only ones they really end up seeing. Far off in the distance, the sky takes on the look of flickering static as the clouds open up and it begins snowing. The weather change is decidedly heading in the direction of the east as well, coming from the North West. And it would be upon them in short order, really. Walking toward the east and away from the Northerly mountain spire of ice and snow leads them toward an area that just looks like a never ending span of ice and snow with only occasionally rolling hills, and very small ones at that.
Jane, very much out of her depth and floundering around despite not having sunk in very far, decides that following Conni - in Conni's footsteps - is the way forward. Apparently this bit at least she's done before, although her 'walking' staff gets slung across her shoulders rather than being used to assist in walking. "Good thinking," she says to Wren, then nods to Volya before turning her attention back to plodding in Conni's wake. Her voice provides second line to Conni's song as they walk.
Conni continues on her march, the song she is singing getting a little louder as she continues to plod along. Watching how the scenery changes only seems to reinforce her opinion that they're going the right way, although the lack of any visible castles is a little disheartening. She's not making the best pace but seeing as how she is in the lead, there is little else those who are following can do. Volya gets stared at occasionally as she pulls a Legolas and just capers around in the snow, apparently unaffected. Stopping to check her bearings, Conni veers off towards the left, pointing with he spear towards the rolling hills. "This feels right. Far better view from down here, nothing in the way. These folk love themselves and their work, he's want an unobstructed view." Nodding, Conni pauses as she looks back down the line to make sure everyone is okay, waving at Wren as he brings up the rear and hides their tracks.
Wren grinned over at Jane, then nodded to Conni and Volya. "Alright then, this sounds like it's the right way. It'd be real beautiful to see the ice all shimmering there with those little hills and all the flats leading up to them." He obviously agreed, and just continued making sweeping motions with his broom behind them as they walked, filling in their footsteps with the fluffy snow. "Mahalo for the line formation ladies, you've made my job all that much easier." His bright, rainbow and sparkles boots made crunching noises as the large, periwinkle and powder blue dressed Wren walked along behind the trio of ladies.
Volya's pace didn't seem slowed at all by the snow, the half-nymph was doing double-footed hops onto Jane and Conni's footprints. It went so far as to become a game in her head to include random happy giggles. Blinking, she double checked that people were still around, which was odd seeing as she was jumping into their footprints. Hushing herself, she whispered 'Sorry'. "Should we break off from one another... Like I was going for illusory army and rolling a massive fireball at the front door or something. People probably doing want to be near me at that point. Also... I may need to sort out the quickest way to Summer territory before that... Invisibility? I've never tried invisibility."
As the foursome walked through the snow, in steady order the storm that had started to the North West came down upon them. It wasn't light flurries. It was thick, heavy fluffs of snow that fell from the sky and created an ever-increasing blanket over the land. Luckily, there wasn't a sharp wind with it or the crystalline edges of those enormous snowflakes might well have been deadly. Instead, they just fell straight down, completely occluding any visibility beyond about 5 feet ahead of a person's nose. Even though it might have been disorienting, it would seem that most of those in the line of walking insurrectors have a good sense of direction. With Jane not leading or pulling up the rear, as long as she doesn't break away from the line and keeps walking in Conni's footsteps, she doesn't get lost.
After what might well seem like hours in the sound-muffling, thick blanketing snow, they come upon something. There's no huge wall of ice. No ramparts. The lead in line (Conni) simply finds herself 5 feet from the wall of a simple, worn, wooden cottage. There's no fire burning, no smoke leaving the chimney, and the place has a 3 foot thick layer of snow on the roof and snow powdered along every windowsill. It honestly doesn't look like it could have more than a single bedroom, if that, and the porch at the front is sagging as if it was built long, long ago and never updated. All in all, the wooden paneling that makes up the siding of the place just looks aged, almost to the point that it might seem like it would crumble away if the sun ever did come out and melt what ice was actually holding it together.
"If we have to hotfoot it out of here, I'm gonna just have to try not to freeze my tits off," says Jane, with a glance to Volya before she looks ahead to Conni. "Don't worry, they said. It's Norway, they said. You'll be fine, they said. And I was, at the Trondheim Hilton, with a chauffeur and a Range Rover. Er - guys? Where'd you go?"
"I tell you what, when we get back we can all warm up under the covers. If Wren doesn't mind, we can even camp out in his living room. Just snuggle up next to the fire, drink some mead and get offensively drunk and rowdy." Conni pauses, to look over to Jane, concern showing on what is visible of her face as she inspects her friend. "If I had the runes I'd get you warm in a jiffy but I was never good with fire." Letting out a soft sigh, Conni looks back ahead and... almost runs into the side of a house. Crouching, Conni motions for quiet and then waits for the others to get closer. Keeping her voice low, she calls out. "I can't hear anyone moving about inside but they'd need to be making a racket to get back the background noise. I'm also not tall enough to look through the windows. Hell, even Wren isn't tall enough. Any ideas?" She looks meaningfully towards Volya and Wren as she says this, her gaze occasionally flicking over to Jane to make sure she is okay.
Wren slipped out of his backpack, then tucked the long since useless scope back into his gun case. The palm frond footprint remover went away as well, then he turned and walked over to Jane, his hands on her hips as he looked into her eyes, blinking away snowflakes from his lashes. "I'm going to put you up onto my shoulders so you can get a look inside, yeah?" He nodded to Jane, then waited for her to nod in reply. Once she did, he turned her to be facing the same direction he was, and promptly lifted her up by her hips, his hands gripping firmly. Thank heavens for the strength it takes to lift a full on horse or cow at times, because lifting Jane was like lifting a feather.
Up she went, until Wren tilted his head forward and brought it up between Jane's legs, leaving Jane up high, her head almost 9 feet up in the air, with her rear and thighs set onto his shoulders. Wren shifted his grip to hold onto said thighs and walked forward toward the house that had sprung up in their path, coming at the window from the side so Jane's face wasn't just dead center in the window above the line of snow along the sill. "I'll stop when you tell me you've got a view, gorgeous." He kissed the inside of her thigh through the scarf over his mouth and her heavy pants, but the pressure was there, and meant to be reassuring.
Volya kept her eyes in narrow slits as the snow started falling, trying her best to keep the tail with the other two women, grabbing across to hold Jane's shoulder so she knew someone was there. When Conni flapped her arm, Vee had no idea what that meant. "Uhh..." She squinted her eyes, trying to sort the place out, "A cottage? I was hoping for something bigger... More terrifying. This..." The woman frowned, "This is worse than terrifying because it's so normal and helpful looking. Maybe it's a guardhouse, or serf thingie." A nervous slipped out, "On the other hand, this should be much easier to search. Maybe there's some sort of Fae bylaw or something that let's me just knock on the door, smile and be all polite... Should I dance? I can dance." Vee watched her Wren hoisted Jane up and nodded, "There works too." Leaning her head back to stare up at the structure, the changeling sighed. "Probably warded to nuke the entire. But the icy version of that... Frost Nova?"
The snow continued to fall, blanketing everything. Everyone's head was covered in at least a thick layer of it, and the depth of the snow they'd been walking in had surely almost doubled by now. The house remained silent. no light came through the windows, no indication of anyone being home.
Jane follows Conni, or at least the boot prints, up to the wall, then manages not to startle too badly when Wren arrives and says something. She nods her consent, and gets lifted. The kiss to the inside of her thigh gets him a pat on the head, but Jane's looking through the window to see what can be seen. "Kitchen," she reports quietly. "Two of everything. Door to the living room with front door beyond it, can't see anyone. Lots of wood in the place."
Creeping around the side of the house, Conni grins as Jane is lifted and then gives her report. Making her way to the front door, she knocks once and then tries the door knob. There is a muttered curse as the knob keeps turning, Conni looking back to the others and then shaking her head. "Okay, I'm going to do this my way." Taking a step back from the door, she scuffs some of the snow out of the way with her foot and then eyes up the distance. "Unless there is a better suggestion, I'm going to use my universal key." She looks to Wren, Volya and Jane.
Wren glanced up at Jane, though of course the added padding of his coat's hood and everything else makes it impossible to get a real view of her. Once she's done with her report, Wren reached up and moved his hands to her hips, lifting her again, so he could duck his head out from under her. Of course, he did what he could to help keep her warm, and slid her backside down the front of his body slowly until she reached the ground, holding her back against him for a brief moment before he squeezed her hips softly and released her. "Alright.. wait! Conni. Why not try a window first? Just see if any of them open? It might be less of an issue than just.. opening the door with a shoulder? You don't want to ruin someone's front door if you can just climb in a window, right?" He looked at the others, moving so that he could have them in his 5 foot radius of sight. Stepping up to the closest window, the kitchen one, he reached up and started wiping the snow away to demonstrate that the encasement did exist, it wasn't just 'window dressing'. When he pushed up on the bottom edge of the window it didn't budge. "This one's either locked or frozen shut.. there are what, 3 more? Let's check them before we bust down the door?"
Volya was sort of spacing out when her jaw dropped, "What two? Like two of everything? Wait a second..." She tried to track Conni's movement to the best of her ability considering the snowfall, but the knock gave her a better idea of where she was. "Hold on a second! If someone lays out two of everything, he is expecting a guest or someone else lives here with him. As I recall, the negotiations are for three guests, not one. I think he has a cottagemate! Stopping knocking!" The woman bit her scarf, and decided to take a long job around the place for any signs of tracks or what, leading from the cottage.
The cottage remains unmoving, unlit, and accepting of the snow that falls upon it. The window doesn't budge when Wren tries it, but no one screams in alarm when he wipes the snow away from it, either.
Jane gets set down again, responding to the way Wren sets her down by reaching behind and squeezing his backside for him. With a grin, she struts away, following the wall around to Conni and the door. Her head tilts a little to one side at Volya's announcement, and she frowns. "We sure we're here on a rescue?"
Stepping back in alarm as she listens to Volya, Conni nods to both Wren and Volya before stepping over to one of the windows. "Okay, so we need to be subtle." She takes her time with the unfamiliar word, sounding out each syllable as if distasteful to her. "I'm still sure we're here on a rescue, this could be a front or something? It's all very odd here anyway, I'm sure there will be fire-breathing turtles next." Grinning to Jane, Conni steps over to one of the windows and eyes it for a few moments before moving in close with her spear. Wedging the tip of the blade between the sections of wood, Conni heaves until she hears a click. Letting out a very quiet cheer, she starts to lift the bottom of the window, slowly at first but then quicker when she doesn't get shot at. "Okay?" She says in a low tone. "Ta da?"
As Conni pries open the window, a gust of warm, sweet air leaves the cottage. It's utterly DELICIOUS. Like someone has taken the time to bake both bread and sugar cookies and then followed that up with some cinnamon rolls and a chocolate souffle. The sheer, mouthwatering delight of the smells coming from the cottage along with the delectable warmth are something of a real motivator to get inside. Especially if the place is that comforting, it's like someone opened the bakery and put out the welcome mat, just for them.
Wren chuckled softly when Jane gripped his rear, giving her a wink before she wandered off. He looked over in time to see Volya wander off in search of tracks, and came to her side, reaching over to grab her arm gently. "Vee, hold up, let me help you, alright?" He patted her arm softly, then looked around on the ground, crouching, examining the snow for irregularities. "There's more than just two sets of tracks, coming and going, but they're not recent enough to be above the newest snow, or even the one before that. Some of them are really old. Like there's been a ton of traffic through here. I bet if the snow and ice melted there's a really well worn walkway leading up to this cottage." He cocked his head to the side, sniffing deeply of the air when Conni pried the window open. "Huh.. You know what they say about Faerie, right? If it's too good to be true, it's really bad." He glanced at the women with him, attempting to see all three of them through the nearly blinding snowfall.
Volya was working her way around the house and turned her head to try to sort out what Jane was asking. The fact of the matter, her feet kept moving to take her away from the house. A gust of wind and snow offered up a temporary whiteout condition as Vee froze in place. In a nature gap in the whiteout, she spotted tracks and started follow them, until they started to multiple. "It's clearly storm troopers... Sand people attempt to hide their numbers." She kept following, and it wasn't until she start feeling dizzy that she realized she has circled around was tracking herself. Stopping again, she blinked as she whispered to herself, "You can never tell anyone of this..." The spiral of warm and sweet caused Volya to drool as she happily plopped down to her knees in the snow. "Oh dear god, it's worse than I thought... He baked." The changeling started sniffing the air as she started crawling back towards the source of the delicious smells.
The Snow began falling harder. Thicker, as if that was possible. The individual flakes now looked to be almost the size of a fingertip, thick and heavy, and each one that hit into someone was noticeable, carried weight.
Jane blinks, then sniffs at the aroma. "Oh, man," she says, then pauses, her eyes narrowing. "Er - Connie? Guys? It's starting to get worse out here, but... I just got this kinda feeling that if it ain't made out of gingerbread we're probably gonna be alright. Right?"
Conni takes a deep breath as the delightful smells start to waft out from the window, her stomach reminding her that it has been far too long since she last ate. "I'm thinking we can just hop on in, get what we need and then leave." Even her tone of voice doesn't agree with her. "But then again, what's to say that this isn't a rest station for weary travelers? Fae are all out courtesy and can you smell that foood? It would be almost rude to ignore an invitation like that. It's not like we're weak either?" Lifting her head, Conni takes another deep breath. "Oh, that is heavenly! How can anything bad be on the other end of that." Then, before anyone can stop her, she has grabbed onto the window sill and is hauling herself up, her spear left propping up the window in her hurry to get to the food.
Wren grimaced as he saw Volya go down to the ground on her knees. "Vee honey, you need to stay with us, we're at least safer all together." He reached down and slid his arm behind Volya's back, then reached under her rear with the other and hoisted Volya up off the snow, tucking her in against his chest. "I gotcha. Just hang on for a second while we go check on the other two, alright?" Of course, Wren follows his own footsteps back to where he'd left both Jane and Conni, just in time to watch Conni's but disappear through the window into the house. "Oh well shit." He grumbled the words, and moved up closer, calling softly into the Window. "Conni, you alright?" Keeping Volya held in his arms, he peered into he house to see where Conni landed, worry causing his brows to knit together.
Volya kept crawling back towards the house and the window... At least that was the plan, Volya had no idea which direction she was heading save for forward. Forward until Wren's hold on her stopped any momentum from gaining. "There's cinnamon rolls. Nothing should smell that delicious and exist anywhere but my belly." Her grin made it to her eyes. "Cinnamon rolls!" The last words she shouted before Wren hoisted her up. Idly stroking Wren's chin, that crazed smile in her eyes. "Wren... We should go inside. Light a fire, you, me, Conni, Jane... All warm by the fire, bodies tied in knots, so we have no clue where one of us begins and ends. Sound nice?"
Inside, Conni finds baskets of food, all along a shelf that wasn't visible from the window. Little cakes, iced buns, cinnamon rolls, cookies, large loaves of old-style white bread. And they're still warm, the oven is still on, as if something else might be cooking just now, and there was! Lo and behold, there's another bread rising in the oven, and it looks to be some sort of chocolate swirl bread from the coloring. It's got a little time to go, but once it's out.. Oh HEAVEN. The lights remain out, however, and the wood stove in the living room isn't burning. But the warmth of the place, it immediately touches Conni's cheeks and leaves them kissed with a soothing touch against the frozen sensation from outside.
Outside.. the snow is getting heavier...
Jane shivers as Conni vanishes inside, then catches up the spear and leaps for the windowsill herself. "Whatever we're doing we gotta do it," she says over one shoulder. "We can't stay out in this." And then she's doing her level best to get both herself and the spear through the window in one piece, and without breaking the window any further than it's already broken.
A rosy cheeked Conni pops her head out of the window, smiling down to those still outside. "It's lovely and warm in here and the food...oh my, so much food! I'm going to have a quick look around!" Her head disappears for a moment and then pops back into view once Jane is inside. "On second thoughts...Lets get you all inside first?" Reaching out with a hand, she gestures towards Wren. "Pass me Volya and I'll lift her inside, she's looking a little cold." She's frowning now, the weather outside looking truly dangerous.
Wren was holding onto the Volya when the colder chill came across with the heavier snowfall. As he felt her start shaking hard as he held her, he just nodded. "I can agree with inside, Vee. I don't know if I think having us all tied together in a knot is the best plan, though, since we need to watch our asses. But I'll get you inside, right now." Wren moved forward after Jane, waiting until the tall Valkyrie was able to get in through the window. When Conni popped her head out, Wren just nodded, pressing Volya up toward Conni so that the woman could get inside. "I'll be right in, I'm just going to clear up the last of our own tracks in case someone comes by. Take my bag?" He moved over once Volya was handed off to the warmth of the cottage and picked up his backpack, pulling the sweeper out of it. "DON'T EAT ANYTHING!" He told her firmly, handing the pack to Conni. "And leave the window open a minute, I'll be right in." Then Wren winked at Conni and walked into the heavier falling snow with his 'broom' to go clean up the obvious tracks the four of them had left around the house.
Volya drew in a hissing breath as the cold sunk to her very bones. Pain was an excellent wake up call for her. Her irises flared with emerald green light as Summer energy cruised through her. The woman literally heated up in Wren's arms as she was passed over to Conni. "FUCKING WINTER!" The woman was seething and spitting, struggle to, "Little Pixie! Where are you!?!" The woman squirmed to get free, "This house is Satan! If someone doesn't find that goddamn pixie, I'll burn the whole fucking place down!" Vee let out a frustrating scream, "Pixie! I have honey treats! And a penis if need be!"
The weather outside became a maelstrom of wind and snow, forcing complete white out conditions with a whip-like integrity to the sheering howl of the breeze that it could cut through anything in its path. And that path included Wren. Angry, disastrously rough cold caught up with him and laced its way through his muscles.
Inside the house, the warmth seemed to ratchet up, making the place welcoming and completely encompassing all inside within the embrace of true comfort. The fireplace lit, filling the room with the scent of wood burning in that wonderful, Christmas memory kind of way, the logs spiced with cinnamon and other spices so that the smells of mulled wine started to fill the air as well. As if on cue, the oven dinged! The bread, that fresh, delicious new bread, is done! From down the hallway, a happy, merry little sound could be heard. "Oooooh, it's so goooooood!" Came the happy voice. High pitched and delighted. "So warm... I think I'll just cuddle down in the blankets and go back to sleep!" A small giggle of pure pleasure came after a little hum of effort.
Jane pauses, eyeing the fire and then looking round at Volya. "Er, babe? I... this is weird, but this is weird. So. That fire lit up when you were freakin' out and talkin' about burnin' the place down." She yawns. "This place ain't safe. Even if it feels like it is. Where's Wren gotten to?"
"He said he was going to clear the tracks but look out there now!" Conni starts to make her way to the window but then her body just seems to sag. She looks almost panicked for a moment but then she just lets her knees fold out from under her. "It's just so warm here, so nice. I'm going to need a minute and then I'll go look." Conni blinks her eyes tiredly as she settles on the floor, doing her best to stifle a face splitting yawn. "Just 5 minutes and then I'll go. Maybe 10." Her head starts to bob and she starts to remove her jacket. "I'll just rest my head for a little while. Wake me when dinner is ready."
Wren was outside a little bit, it's true. When a white encrusted hand came to the window, gripping the sill tightly, it was followed by another white encrusted hand, ice melting from the fingers into a puddle as it gripped inside the house. His head came into view as he hoisted himself up, through the window, and literally somersaulted into the house, landing on his back.. and probably a little on Conni. He made a howling sound, low in his throat, as he was free of the blinding blizzard outside. "That... That is NOT how I wanted to die." He shifted and looked over at the sleepy Conni, his scarf now a mat of melting snow and ice, his eyelashes frozen together, his eyebrows a mask of white that was starting to melt and drip down his face. "Conni?" His voice went from relieved to downright worried in no time at all, and he moved himself so he wasn't on her limbs. Lifting his head, he looked around for Jane and Volya. "Jane? Vee?" Alarm was downright ringing his bells at this point, and his eyes searched the small cabin wildly.
"Jane... Please..." Volya nodded to the woman as she speak, "That's the feelings you need to sort out here. It isn't safe. You're right, so try to ignore everything else you're feeling, and run. I can try to burn a path through the snow, but I can't carry you and Conni." Volya hissed instead of continuing, she ran down the hallway in search of the source of the little voice. Coming to the bedroom, she threw open the door. "Hello? Bread was made little pixie."
The fire continued to burn on in the fireplace, giving the entire cottage the most wonderful, welcoming scents. Especially when mixed in with the smell of freshly baked bready goodness, and other goodies. Everything was just so perfectly homey! Like they should be more than pleased to be welcomed there, rested there, fed there. This is BY FAR the best pit stop in the snowy world of hell one might imagine.
Down the hallway, when Volya opened the door to the bedroom, she comes across quite a sight. There, on a bed under a little gingham throw was a tiny creature. She was maybe 3 inches tall.. but was at least 6 inches wide. The little thing had grown so rotund that it was unlikely her wings could have even moved her enough to flip her off of her back, should she fall over. Her chins made up a plethora of folds under her jawline and luckily pixies don't wear clothes, or she'd have long since grown out of them. Of course, it meant that the pixie laying in bed without a blanket covering her upper half was displaying the most massive mammaries ever found on a pixie in the wild. Ever. She was snoring, her breath having to work through all the extra ounces of flesh she'd packed on, but she looked blissful and completely at home in the seemingly massive queen sized bed under the small square of her blanket.
Jane's relief at the sight of Wren is almost palpable. She nods to Volya, then frowns in thought. "Isaz," she murmurs, and ice crystallizes around her. With nothing attacking it doesn't absorb any blows, but it certainly wakes her up a bit!
As Wren comes close, Conni smiles and reaches out for him. "So warm..." Trying to grab at him, Conni attempts to pull him in for a cuddle, her head still dipping as she balances on the very verge of consciousness. Having removed her jacket, Conni is attempting to bundle it up with her free hand to use as a pillow, the floor seeming damn comfortable right now.
Wren laid there on the floor, then managed to lift himself up enough to pull the end of the window down, shutting it against the water that kept pouring in on him as the driving snow melted over his head. "Oh man, I'm so glad you guys are alright. I couldn't see anything out there and I heard Volya yelling about how angry she was. I thought the worst." He shifted and moved his arm around Conni, pulling her close so that she could use him to cuddle against. He tugged at her coat to make it into a blanket for her, then pulled his scarf off his face since he was nearly water-boarding himself with it by now after the snow and ice had soaked it. "Where is Vee? And Jane, come over here, you actually look.. cold." He blinked as Jane seemed to have a shiver run over her, holding his other hand out to her in its absurd, pepto pink mitten.
Volya got this horrified expression at what she saw in the bedroom. "Do you..." Vee's eyelids fell heavily and her head followed shortly after. "W-What!? I'm up!" Pulling at her scarf, she refocused and smiled at the pixie, Vee's skin holding a pale green hue. "Sweetie... All 3 of your moms are going to be working on their 100th kid. They really need you to participate in pixie season. You're the last one. Will you please come with me? Because even Eira would be happy to see you. I'll pamper you until we get there? Or have sex? At this point, the edge of Summery--" Vee let out a long yawn, smacking her lips. "I have honey treats."
The little cottage remained as it was, warm, eager to hold all in its bosom and keep them safe, fed, dry...
The little pixie in the bed opened her eyes slowly, eyeballs looking like little rolling pills of ice as she stared at Volya. "Seeeeeex?" She breathed the word, then there was a series of grunts as the pixie attempted to sit up, doing more an impression of a rolling boat than anything as the seated position just wasn't available to one without a set of abdominals strong enough to pull themselves up. "Ooooh.. Ok... bring it here though.. or bring me there... is sex in the house? Because... there's no way I can even make it out there in that snow. It's pretty, I love it, and I won't freeze to death, but all the real yummies are here, and I don't have to worry about anything. but sex. Sex I like. Sex is good." She threw off the cover over the rest of her body and she was corpulent as all hell. Chortling, she patted her hands onto her flopping lap of an abdomen and the sea that was her belly rolled. "Seeeex!"
Jane, now that she's woken up a little, heads for the sink. Grabbing a bucket she sets it filling, and when she judges it full enough she sets the bucket down between Conni and Wren and shoves it over. "Wakey wakey!"
Volya let out a heavy sigh, "Wreeeen..." Rubbing at her eyes to get the sleep out of them with the heel of her sleeve covered hand. "I promise to bring you somewhere to have sex without taking you through the snow, do we have a deal? Pixie trains are a thing." Vee called back down the hallway, "Wreeeeen! I need you to do your thing. Warm up the flux capacitor, we leaving from here." With a heavy sigh, that led into chattering teeth, Vee crossed the bedroom to climb across the bed. Reaching out her hand and shaking it free of the sleeve, she picked up the pixie. At least, she attempted to pick up the pixie, she wasn't expecting an Olympic shot-put. She used a second hand to actually pick up the faerie. "Bread on the way out?" Volya leaned her weight, testing the spring of the bed. "This is a nice bed... But committed relationship here." Shielding the pixie, Vee rolled off the bed to walk down the hallway.
Rubbing at her eyes, Conni smiles and snuggles closer to Wren. She seems ready to close her eyes again when a thought occurs to her. "The Pixie!" The words come out in a shrill tone, an edge of panic to her voice. Wrapping an arm around Wren, she slowly gets to her feet, the weight almost too much to bear given the expression on her face. "Quick Wren, Volya needs you to have sex with something!"
Wren shuddered sharply as the water drenched him, courtesy of Jane. He stared up at her for a moment, blinking, then shook his head. "Oh this... is not a good place to lay down and relax in. You're right." He shifted, moving so that Conni wasn't taking all of his weight as she stood up and helped him to stand as well. One of his arms remained around Conni's shoulders, though, and he hugged her close to his side while dripping wet. Without much thought, he reached out to take Jane's arm, pulling her closer while he leaned down a little and gave her a gentle, but sure kiss on the lips that involved a grumble of male appreciation, his mouth still damp from all the soaking. When he pulled back, he offered her a winsome smile that lit up his blue eyes and made them sparkle. "Mahalo, beautiful. That was needed." Then, of course, Wren got a look at Volya, coming down the hall.. carrying what looked like a 20lb lump of malleable flesh, that talked... and had wings far too small for its girth, along with breasts far too outlandish for its stature. "Veee? You want me to have... sex with..." He cleared his throat and smiled to the little-ish pixie, nodding to her. "Aloha miss." He then looked at Vee, eyebrows raised high. "Her?"
The house was still warm, and awesomely smelled of baked goods. Everything was still welcoming and inviting, but let's face it, water baths that soak through your clothes aren't much help for remaining laid out on the floor.
As Volya carried the pixie down the hall, it chortled more, wriggling and giggling in Vee's hand until its flesh was moving in heavy waves, causing Volya's hands to sway to one side, then the other. Everyone in the kitchen could hear the little voice going "WHEEEEEEEE!" As Vee came down the hall. When the portly pixie saw Wren, she let out a squeal of delight. "OOooooh! Is that mine?!" She eyed Wren with those orbs of ice that passed for eyes and clapped her hands together, arms flapping like broken bird wings.
Jane enjoys the kiss for a moment, then grins at the pixie and slaps Wren on the back. "Only if he wants to be," she says to the pixie. She turns that bright grin on Volya, then. "Thanks!" And then she's reaching further behind Wren to squeeze Conni's shoulder. "Great to have you back!"
"I'll admit, it might require a little lubricant." Conni is doing her best to keep a straight face, looking from the Pixie to Wren and then into his eyes. "Okay, perhaps she didn't say sex and I was just thinking sex?" Conni frowns and then bites at her lip. "Wait, what did you want Vee?" Reaching over, she picks up her discarded jacket and starts to shrug into it once more. "So uh, back into the blizzard or is there a faster, warmer way out?" Stepping over to Jane, she envelops her in a quick hug. "Thank you, I needed that. It was so strange!"
Wren watched Vee coming closer and offered her a slightly nervous smile. Instead of just letting go of Jane entirely, he reached out his long arm and wrapped it around her, along the shoulders, to pull her closer. Closing his eyes for a long moment, he pulled the two women up quite tight against himself and inhaled, not the general scents of the room, but them, the scent of their combined hair and skin under his nose. It seemed to relax him a bit, and his shoulders lost some of the tension they'd been holding since the blizzard had tried to kill him outside. "You know... I'm sure that we just need to get somewhere else and I'll see this with new eyes." He opened is eyes and looked at Vee, Wren's gentle nature coming back into obvious levels in his eyes as he lifted his chin to urge her to come closer. "Come here, Vee. We need a group hug, I can get us through here. Comfort's something I know. I just had to remember." He smiled to her softly, waiting for Volya to join in the group hug with her smallish burden.
Volya carefully hauled the lovely pixie to where they were relaxing, getting each other wet and otherwise being. Vee's left eye twitched for a split second. "My bones hurt... And any sort of revving I attempted would sort of mean someone was just as likely to catch on fire..." Taking a deep breath, Vee stepped forward, leaning into the group hug, bringing the pixie along, because the more the merrier. "He is going to be so pissed..."
Once the group was hugging close and a soft sigh left Wren... the world opened. The brilliance of Changelings and any other creature traveling at a point to which they were attuned. There was no longer the stilling emptiness of a blizzard outside the cottage. In fact, the scents of different breads and goodies were suddenly gone, replaced with the strong smell of cedar wood burning in a massive fireplace.
They were no longer in the NeverNever. Eyes opening would reveal a sign hanging up over a huge welcoming space, the sign reading Hotel Alphubel, underneath it in Swiss 'All welcome to enjoy the best stay of their lives'. They were in Switzerland. Zermatt to be precise, at the base of the Matterhorn. There weren't many people inside right now, as most were outside skiing or snowboarding or having a good time at the surrounding shops and restaurants. But they were there, not far from the check in desk at the front of the hotel.
Jane exhales as she's hugged, and when she opens her eyes she sags in relief to see that they're no longer in the (von) Trap(p) house. "Now that's a welcome sight," she says. "Time for a hot shower and some hot company. Who's gonna check us in?"
Conni lets out a long contented sigh as she's hugged and she doesn't open her eyes until she can feel something is up. Blinking, she takes a quick look around but she seems reluctant to move away from the hug. "I would love to but I have a relationship with my credit cards. I love them but the bank says I'm not allowed to keep them. Something about 'paying bills' or other such nonsense." Letting her voice drop, she leans in. "Did anyone think to bring a passport with them? I know where mine is and I don't have it on me. Oh!" Clearing her throat, Conni starts to collapse her spear, "Okay, armed and in a foreign country. Erm. But, we got away!"
Thank heavens Wren's gun was in its case in his backpack. Especially since he'd thought to hook his foot around the strap before they'd crossed over. That would have made that particular changeling cry like a baby. He looked around and his eyes widened before he shook his head. "I haven't had to take my passport to go anywhere in a real long time. We might have to get back using the Ways, and hopefully it'll get us there faster than flying." He slowly pulled his arms back from around the group, tugging his first pepto-pink mitten off with his teeth before he pulled the other off with gloved fingers. "I can get us a room for the night, and we can head out. But we're going to have to figure out what to do with the little bundle of happy over there once we get a little settled." He nodded, then stepped away from the women, moving to the front desk to get them checked in with someone that blessedly spoke English, so they didn't have to wait for an interpreter.
Volya opened her eyes, staring at the world around them. Her gaze was drawn to the huge spire of stone and snow known as the Matterhorn. "What the... What!?!" The woman shook her head, "That does not look like Mauna Kea. No, no, no. No." Stepping back, Vee shook her head, "I'm going to find a nice patch of grass and get a summoning circle going to call the Matriarchs." Shutting her eyes, she shook her head, "Passport? Passport!?! I didn't even think I'd need my wallet, let alone a passport! I can't be..." Hugging the pixie to her chest, she gestured to the Matterhorn with a wide and frantic gesture. "Here! Wherever here is! I live in an engineless van on back on a very nice old man's farm! I don't have money to stay in a hotel." The woman's skin was definitely green. "Burning a circle! Calling for a pickup, because it's better that she--" She indicated the pixie, "Is not available." Taking in the area, Vee nodded in a direction and took it.
After a few short conversations, the summoning circle was created via Volya and likely Conni scorching the snow away from a large circle of grass. Once it was opened, Artio was summoned, and she simply arrived. It was decidedly mossy smelling once she was there. Wren greeted her with the look of purely being stumped into total adoration, and almost looked like he was going to pet her horns, until he remembered why they were there. They handed over the corpulent little pixie to Artio, who was surprised indeed at her appearance. There wasn't much said, but Artio did incline her head to the group gathered and stretched her neck to the side.
"It's done, your men have lived up to their end of the bargain and are no longer required to spend one day in the Matron's arms to beget a child. This one will get with seed, and we can move on past our season. You have our gratitude. In return, I'll return you to where you began." Artio smiled slightly, and then Artio was simply gone, leaving behind a thick bed of moss and ferns and vines. Once she was gone, the rest of them were simply gone as well. Back in the freezer, on Wren's farm. Where it was bloody cold, but nowhere near so dangerous as the NeverNever.
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