[pandora] when winter ends*

[taksondane]

The wind picked up, blowing a light dusting of powdered snow across the white forest floor. Light, thin footprints soiled the pure snow, betraying the faerie's paths and the trail a skinny human boy took to the edge of of the Seelie territory. Takson stood in the snow, arms wrapping around himself, teeth chattering violently. He hated snow, he hated winter hated fall hated early spring. He hated snow. He hated cold. He didn't want to be out here, but he was told to stand here, right here, and wait...

Wait for someone. And then he was supposed to bring them back. He didn't know what or who he was waiting for, but maybe if he waited for long enough they would give him some food. He loved food. He hadn't eaten yet today. Or yesterday. But that was yesterday, and it didn't matter. It was cold. He had been standing out there for a good forty minutes, and had taken to shivering violently from under his thin pants, long sleeved shirt and the pelt of furs he'd thrown around himself and held close. He wished he had fur. It would keep him warm, at the very least.

What was he waiting for? It was the most unsatisfying thing in the world, to sit around and wait for something that you couldn't know what to expect. It was getting dark soon- his fingers were purple. His feet were cold and numb inside his moccasins. The touque he'd found in the forest four or five years ago was the only thing keeping his ears warm, but his nose was red and had long since stopped running- it felt like even the water in his eyes were frozen. He hated the cold.

ack. this is a sub-par post, I'm sorry. ): I had a really nice one written last night, but then my internet exploded and was like, 'nope, no awesomeness for you.'

[pandora hostage backwell]

Pandora didn't really understand what the faeries of the Seelie court were doing with him today. He'd fallen asleep in the lap of a Dark Court troll, and woken up in the middle of a snow-covered field with the Light Court faeries all around him. He hated waking up in new places. It still scared him. And then one of the pixies grabbed his hand and pulled him to his feet, making him put on masses of sweaters spun from some sort of hair, and shirts that were thin as spider's silk. He didn't like how itchy some of them felt, but he wasn't going to openly complain, since they popped a fruit or a kiss to his lips after each bit of clothing was shoved over his spiky hair. He liked the rewards. And some of them fussed over his hair, too, tugging at it, licking it, making it look more random and disheveled by the second. Why were they doing this? he wondered between morsels.

Once they'd gotten him fully dressed, they shoved him in the direction of a frozen path. "Keep walking until you see someone, dear. Don't stop until then," the little pixie giggled into his ear. He stared at her, confused, but she pushed him forward. "What am I supposed to do with them?" he asked. "Just go! No questions!" The faeries all squealed and giggled. He scowled, but someone pushed him forward again and he was off on his own.

It took Panda about twenty minutes to find who he'd been sent out for and when he saw him, all he could do was stare. He'd seen frozen sentries before, but this boy scared him. His fingers were blue, and his nose was red. He looked sick. Panda shuddered, walking up to him slowly, peering up at him through frosted eyelashes. His pale hand reached out to touch the other boy's cheek. "You're cold. Why'd they leave you out here?" he asked, not sure if the boy could understand what he said. The normal sentries never spoke. Or woke up. He wondered if he had some sort of spell on him, and that's why Panda had been sent out. To wake him up. He leaned up and pecked him on the lips quickly. Then he pulled back and stripped off two of the sweaters, offering them to the boy. That was the smart thing to do, he hoped. "Before you turn to ice," he told him as an explanation, wondering if he was being stupid or not.

"My name's Panda. Who're you?"

[taksondane]

Taksony spun around in a slow circle, trying to stay in exactly the same spot that he had been but in a way that allowed him to turn and see where this... other person... was coming from. The faeries were tricky, and he didn't know if they meant exactly this place when they said that he'd get a treat if he stayed put. He'd even tried not moving at all- but his arms started hurting and his body got cold. Colder than it already had been, at any rate.

Oh, how Taks wished he could be curled up asleep in front of the fire, or in some faerie's warm bed. He liked it when the faeries let him sleep with them. Maybe not the pain, but the kissing and cuddling before and the close sleeping afterwards. Sometimes, in a lazy sort of affection, they put their arm around his waist as he slept and held on to him. They never forgot to feed him the morning after, either. I should be sleeping right now, the boy whined to himself, shuffling his feet around in that tiny circle again and again, trying to see some sort of moving black speck. So far, no luck.

But wait... What was that in the distance? Takson squinted, pulling the pelt tighter to his body as, indeed, another person trudged through the snow to where he was standing. He was another human, or so it seemed, and he was wearing sweaters... Lots and lots of them. Takson wanted sweaters. All he had gotten was his moccasins. He looked scared, almost- he was shorter than Takson. He looked cold, even with his sweaters. He wondered how he looked to the boy- if he looked cold, then Taksony must have looked frozen.

the other boy touched his cheek- "You're cold. Why'd they leave you out here?" Takson pulled the fur pelt closer to his face, feeling the soft bristle of the fur on the skin of his neck. "To find you," he answered, looking up to the grey sky. It was snowing, but the tree's naked fingers had caught most of it. "At least, I think I am. Am I supposed to find you, or am I supposed to find someone else?" He didn't know. He didn't know how he was supposed to know. The Faeries just led him out here and told him to stay.

He smiled as he earned himself a quick kiss, but was a little confused when the boy started taking off his sweaters. Was there something inside one of the pockets? "Before you turn to ice," he offered them to Takson, and, perplexed at the notion, the boy took them silently and pulled them over his head, then wrapped the pelt around himself once more. "Thank you," He replied simply, gently grabbing the short one's hand. "We have to go now," he explained simply, leading the way as he followed the footprints home. Sometimes the snow had covered the prints for meters on end, but Takson knew how to get home- he just knew.

"My name's Panda. Who're you?" Panda. Panda Panda Panda. That was a fun name- Panda. "Taksony Fjodor Dane," He answered with a smile- he never got to use his name much, so when he did he used it in full. "I picked it myself." He added with a sense of pride- he thought it was a very distinguished name, especially for having picked it himself, with no help at all. "I don't really mind which one you call me, though. The faeries don't call me that much, though. They call me different things." He smiled to his new friend, feeling a little bit better now that he had sweaters and someone to talk to.

[pandora hostage backwell]

Pandora grinned when the icy boy told him he was there for him. Sure, he looked half frozen and that his fingers would fall off pretty soon, but it was nice to be someone's reason for doing something. He giggled a little at how unsure the taller of the two sounded. "I think you were supposed to find me. They sent me in this direction and told me not to stop until I found someone. You are someone." The shorter of the two boys smiled up at him, fingers playing with his hair. He was cute. So damn cute it hurt to look at him. Panda knew he was off-limits, though. Sweet tooths rarely fucked each other unless the faeries were just bored and wanted to watch. The idea wasn't that appealing, honestly. He hated being watched, most of all when he was touching someone. He didn't have privacy issues with the fey, he just wished they'd leave him alone for a while. Just sometimes.

Panda shivered a little, watching him pull the sweaters on over his head. At least the itchy material was no longer choking him. But the air was cold, and the snow under his bare feet was freezing. He scrunched his long, painted toes in the snow. The fey had forgotten shoes. They always forgot something. He stared up at the other boy, wishing he wasn't a pet for non-human's pleasure. Just once. He smiled as the taller boy took his hand, entwining their fingers, his other hand also wrapping around it, to warm up his blue fingers. "Where are we going?" he asked, feeling like a small child as he was led through the frozen forest paths, the chill creeping up his frozen toes into his legs.

"I like your name," Panda told him, smiling. He wanted to try it out on his own tongue, but the syllibles didn't fit right in his brain, and he knew if he tried, he's screw it up and make a fool of himself. "C-can I call you Taks? The whole thing is hard for me." He blushed, embarrassed. "Taks is easy. And it's still your name. Just... shorter." Panda shrugged, leaning up against Takson. Mmm. He was starting to warm up. That was good.

Pan couldn't help staring at Taks. He was pretty. He had the bony, starved features that he'd come to associate with sweet tooths, the glazed-over eyes that all of them seemed to have from their addiction to the faerie food and the magic drugs. But Taks was different for some reason. He just put off that 'different' vibe for some reason. And Pandora wanted that. Badly. "I have an idea on how we can stay warm, but... you have to kiss me back," he purred before pressing him lips to Taks, having to stand on his tiptoes to reach. He cursed his shortness, pulling Taks down to him instead, one hand moving to cup the back of his neck. He parted Taks' lips with his tongue, rolling it in the taller boy's mouth. He liked this idea. Loved it, even. He couldn't not. Pandora may act like a child sometimes, but he certainly wasn't one. He knew how to please, and how to do it well. His other hand, which was still clutching Taks went around his own waist, leaving it perched on his own him. After a moment he pulled back, his breath creating a warm fog in front of his face. "You taste good," he praised, grinning.

[taksondane]

Sweaters sure liked to giggle. It was a nice, tinkling sound, though, like the bells that are sometimes on top of doors. "I think you were supposed to find me. They sent me in this direction and told me not to stop until I found someone. You are someone." At this, Takson grinned- "You are who I've been waiting for!" he exclaimed, excited to get out of the cold, for the treat he would get, and for the very idea of getting something done. He'd won the game. Taks smiled when the other boy- Panda, his name was- played with his snowy hair; it felt good when someone played with his hair. It made the skin on top of his head get sensitive and it tickled when their fingers or his hair got behind his ears.

He'd pulled the sweaters on and started leading the way, hand in hand with Panda, when he noticed the boy's feet- they were cold and bare, all red in the snow that melted around them. "your feet," Taks pointed out plainly, frowning at the idea of having two cold feet- he pulled a moccasin off and handed it to Panda. "We can share," He offered, a large smile on his face. "It isn't good to have bare feet in the snow. I've seen bad things happen to bare feet in the snow." When he was younger, another sweet tooth had been in the snow with no shoes for a very long time. Their feet turned strange colours and hurt the girl, and the faeries had stopped feeding her. It was after that that Taksony had decided that bare feet in the snow was not a good thing.

"Where are we going?" Where were they going? Now, that was a silly question. "This way," Taks replied- he didn't mean to be sarcastic or rude, but that was all the clues he had been given himself. "We're following the footprints. We're going home... I hope." Sometimes the footprints didn't lead home. Sometimes there were many footprints, too many to follow. If they went in different directions, you had to pick one and hope you were right. Faeries liked watching Takson be confused. It's not like it was hard. they had exchanged names, and Panda seemed to like Taks' name just as much as Taksony had liked his- "I like your name. C-can I call you Taks? The whole thing is hard for me. Taks is easy. And it's still your name. Just... shorter."

Taks. Tax. Takz. Taks. Taksony's face broke into a grin as he nodded enthusiastically- "Of course you can!" he exclaimed; he liked the choppiness of it. Taks. Tacks. It was like the noise that rabbits made when they had heard your coming and dashed into the bushes before they were gone. "You can call me anything you like. The faeries call me bird. Or rabbit. One of them even calls me possum..." He continued on, naming the random nicknames several faeries had called him over the years. "... I don't really know if they're good or not, because faeries eat those, right?" He thought about this for a while, biting his lip and shivering slightly as a cold breeze hit them. "I don't want to be eaten."

They continued walking, and Taksony vaguely noticed that the other boy was watching him... He was used to being watched, but this made him a little uncomfortable. Faeries watched him, sweet tooths did not. He could not feed this boy- why was he looking at him like that? He thought Panda was cute and enjoyed his company and the hand he held, but he could not offer him and food or magic. He didn't know what he wanted. "I have an idea on how we can stay warm, but... you have to kiss me back," Before Takson could speak, Panda's mouth was on his, leaning up on him and standing on his toes to reach. He was good at kissing- Takson let his hands sit loosely on the other boy's protruding hips, closing his eyes in delight as he felt Panda's tongue in his mouth- he tasted like fruit, smelt and tasted of the faerie fruit that he must have just eaten. Takson was hungry, suddenly very hungry and a little faint.

They kissed in the snowy silence for a while, back and forth and holding each other closer. It eventually ended, though, which left the two standing close and happy. "You taste good," Panda said simply, and Takson nodded. "You taste good, too," he agreed, sneaking another quick kiss before separating himself from Panda, continuing on the journey to the Seelie Court. "You taste like fruit. Did they feed you?"

[pandora hostage backwell]

Pandora looked down at his feet when Taks spoke, wrinkling his nose at how raw his toes looked. He'd seen when people's feet had gotten too cold, how the Unseelie court would just... take them off the feet they belonged to. He shuddered at the thought. He liked his toes. You don't really think about things like that until they are in danger and he hopped from foot to foot as his panic started to set in. but then Taks was taking off one of his shoes and offering it to him. He took it gratefully, stuffing it onto his much smaller foot. Panda grinned at him, but felt a it bad for taking away part of his warmth. But he was sharing sweaters, so it was fair. Right? "Thank you. That feels so much better," he told him, happy that at least one of his feet were going to be kept warm. An idea popped into his head that made him giggle. "If your other foot gets too cold, then you can switch the shoe over, so both of them stay warm." He was proud of himself for figuring that one out.

"This way." Panda made a face, confused. When the other sweet tooth clarified that they were going home, his first thoughts were that they were going to the dark court. Panda's mostly-home. He stayed with the darker faeries more that the light ones, because they could handle his twisted mind a little better than the Seelie court. But Taks was a Seelie court sweet tooth, so they were probably headed in that direction. "Are you good at finding your way home? I'm not good at finding. I get lost really easily," he said, blushing a bit, his cheeks going warm in an almost comfortable way.

A huge smile spread across Pandora's face as he agreed with the shortened version of his original name. Most of the faeries called him Panda or Pan, but a lot of the time, their mouths were too busy kissing him or biting him to call him anything. They sometimes called him their little bear, or dove. Even duck. "They won't eat you. They might try to taste you, but never eat you," Panda assured him, smiling. They faeries never ate the sweet tooths. He'd been bitten and nibbled on before, but he'd never seen someone actually eaten. "I'll make sure no one eats you, Taks." He gave his hand a squeeze.

Panda liked the way Taks kissed him, not at all hesitant, just slipping into it easily. He shivered as he felt the hands on his hips, loving how the cold fingers felt on his skin. This was one of the first times Panda had ever kissed someone without a real reason. Desire. Not need, but desire. It was simply because he wanted to kiss him. And Taks was doing a wonderful job of kissing back. When they pulled apart, Pan was smiling, a giggle breaking through his lips as Taks stole one more kiss. "Mmm. Thank you," he answered, leaning his head on the other sweet tooth's arm as they walked, too short to really reach his shoulder. "Food? No, I..." he trailed off, remembering green fingers shoving things into his pockets. "Yes, they fed me. H-hold on a second."

Panda pulled away from Taks, hopping from one foot to the other as he dug around in pockets, dropping little bits of paper and some rocks into the snow. But pretty soon he had a cluster of bright red berries in his hand that seemed to shimmer as he looked at them. He looked up at Taks before picking one out of the cluster and pushing it lightly against Taks lips. And another. And another. Panda never shared. But the boy deserved it. He needed the food. He'd kissed so well, too. He felt a bit like one of the faeries. "Yummy, huh? They should have fed you. The cold isn't fun, is it?" he asked gently, popping one of the tiny fruits into his own mouth.