Forums » Fantasy Roleplay » Trick or Treat: Ferid's Fairy House

'Allowed to trick or treat?' Ah, nuts. Saph had figured this was some kinda tradition he just wasn't familiar with, but...

"Well shit, nobody told ME ya aged outta free candy..." Saphir grumbled, not exactly coming across as a picture of maturity himself (except for maybe the eye bags). "Ehhh, you'll be FINE, kid. Dad Energy over there ain't gonna rat on ya. And I sure as hell ain't no snitch!" he added proudly, despite being the far more egregious trick-or-treat rule breaker.

Though just as soon as Dean's temper flared, Saphir was QUICK to pivot, immediately scrambling on the ground for the precious dirt apples. He probably would've made off into the night like a deer into the woods, were it not for Ferid's offer catching his ear, too. He popped back onto his feet, as nonchalantly as a man with no dignity could possibly manage.

"...So, uh. Seconds?"

Ferid smiled lightly; uh-oh, Saphir had called Dean a kid. Which- he guessed it was okay to be called a kid tonight? Ferid had been out of the trick-or-treating game for twenty years or so, being a changeling and all. He chimed in on the aging-out-of-candy conversation. "I think anyone that wants to trick or treat should be able to, despite their age." Nope, he wouldn't rat on either of them. "A lot of parents go with their kids, too, because it's fun. There's no age limit in my book." Had Ferid trick or treated with his kid when she was younger? Of course!

He nodded to Saphir. "Yeah, feel free. There's normal candy and the other snacks, too, if you want." Unless they both really wanted apples, which, Ferid was flattered by considering he'd made them. He hadn't made the normal candy.

As for the fireflies (who were slipping the fairy fruit into Ferid's candy cauldron, and Dean and Saphir's treat bags if they had one, to boot, "Oh, they tend to like my garden. I think they help pollinate it, so to speak, only instead of pollen they're spreading their magic. I'm not exactly sure how it works." He only know it did work.

Dean raised an eyebrow at Saphir. "I mean...if y'look fresh-faced 'nough, I guess it's fine. Not sure y'can pull off bein' a kid though, what with the-" he gestured broadly at the man's facial hair. But Ferid didn't seem to mind handing out Halloween treats to the grown man, so who was Dean to yuck their yum. He waved a had dismissively, "Alright, alright. So we're all cool with everyone 'ere gettin' treats. 'An no one's gonna rat no one else out. I aint no snitch either."

He gave Ferid a sideways glance and frowned. Saph had it right on the money: he EXUDED dad energy, even in the way he gently offered them alternate snacks. Dean couldn't help but wonder how he would've turned out had he had a dad like Ferid. Would I be wearin' fanny packs, too? he thought. He loudly bit into one of the candy apples, then made his verdict, "Pfft, I can get normal candy at the store. These suckers? This is the special shit, right 'ere."

When Saph launched himself at the dirt apples, Dean couldn't help but chortle, "Dude, you part squirrel or somethin'? I wasn't gonna steal 'em from ya, geeeeeeeeeeez." So twitchy!

Dean was too busy to notice the fruit being dropped in his bag, rather, his attention had shifted to the 'fireflies' in the garden. "Wut? Aren't ya half plant? How do ya not know how it works???" He, somehow, managed to keep himself from asking whether they pollinated him as well.

Sherelle had dressed in a simple witch costume; she hadn't actually experienced trick-or-treating before, but that didn't matter. Features somewhat youthful enough that some might believe her to be an older teenager than a young woman. If someone was offended by her older age for the holiday. - A grand wide-brimmed hat with a point that slumped over was atop her head. Decorated with dried flowers and crystal embellishments. A dress and tights sought to resemble something magical and in purple hues. Pointed shoes on her feet. A pillow case in hand.

Sherelle stepped up to the home and gasped the moment it turned into a tree with little faeries (or what she assumed to be) and rich, glorious, tempting fruit that Adam and Eve would drool over. The young woman stared a moment longer as if speechless, and found herself staring along the branches and suddenly becoming wary and cautious once the excitement wore off.

"...Is this a fae trap?" She asked meekly to those in attendance.

“Wha-HEY. I ain’t no squirrel!” he retorted, as if Dean were making a real accusation. Already, Saph wrist-deep into digging through the candy cauldron, which kind of undercut whatever authority he was trying to speak with.

“Thems INSTINCTS, buddy,” he said, punctuating the sentence with a bite of dirt apple. It… it wasn’t great. “RAZOR sharp instincts. Take it from me, you’re better off assumin’ everything everywhere is out ta get ya. Like, all the time. Ya keep more apples that way, y’know?” He chuckled unconvincingly, the laugh tinged with equal parts sweaty bravado and regret.

As he began stuffing the fistful of candy into his pockets, he considered what Ferid said about the ‘fireflies.’ “Eughh. That’d explain why the air’s so thick with it,” Saph muttered, taking another miserable bite of apple. No wonder he was having a hard time differentiating one magic source from another–it was EVERYWHERE. He spat out what mighta been a wood chip, and tossed the spent stick and core of one finished apple onto the ground along with it. Blehh. Welp, that was one down.

All too eager to get the taste outta his mouth, Saph reached into the cauldron again only to pull out an unwrapped… berry sorta thing? Huh. It occurred to him as he was popping it into his mouth that this was probably a REAL good time not to trust like that, assume the worst and all. But hey, Ferid was good people, so what was the worst that could happen?

Ferid chuckled to Dean pointing out Saphir's facial hair. "You can wear a bandana or a mask," he suggested. ...That is what the player was going to do come Thursday. No one would be the wiser! Trick or treating was a dying (art)form, and it could use all the people it could get. "Agreed," he nodded to Dean. As for it Dean would be wearing fanny packs- yess! That and tall socks, maybe, and dad hats. And if he didn't -now-, he would when he was older. He smiled. "Thanks," he said regarding the candy apple compliment.

"Well, it's all magic, and I don't even understand all the ins and out of it," he shrugged. "I just know what it does." Like complex science, some of it just went over his head.

Ferid let Saph dig through the candy cauldron, letting the two of them talk. "Yeah..." he responded to the air being thick with magic. "I don't know -why- my house showed up on this block like this, but it's magical, alright." And magic could do some crazy things, as evidenced by Saph beginning to feel strength welling up even in his fingertips.

Ferid noticed Sherelle stepping onto his property, and gave her a smile. "Happy Halloween!" said the tree-man. "No trap, but I'd be careful of the fruits there; they can have some strange effects if you eat them."

Dean puffed his chest and took a step towards the other, his pointer finger wagging lazily at him, "I aint never seen a more squirrel-man in my LIFE. Y'realize ya just grabbed dirt-covered apples from the ground, right??" Forget the fact that he was about to do the exact same thing moments before. No, Saph was the weird one, here! Of course, being schooled on the matter only served to tick him off more. His face turned a bright red. "I GOT GOOD INSTINCTS! I just KNOW this guy. He aint no jerkbag. Aint out 'ere murderin' people t'death or nothin'!"

He leered at the other - at the triumphant way he ate his apple, as though taunting him. Dean cursed beneath his breath. He might've escalated things, had Sherelle not shown up in that instant. Instead, he deflated and slid towards her, "Not a trap, I know this dude. Wouldn't hurt a fly." In fact, he was much more likely to take a fly in, treat it for whatever ailment it had, and feed it a delicious meal. The thought made him grimace. He hten held up his pillowcase and said, "Look at us, we're matchin'."

Saphir looked at Ferid in appalled disbelief, just as the treeman offered his helpful warning to the witchy newcomer. He laughed, high and strained and utterly defeated—the laugh of a man who was almost CERTAINLY about to turn into a goddamn frog.

“HAHA. Aw, yeah?” said Saphir, leaning in toward Ferid with a tight voice and an exasperated smile. “Kinda like the one I just ATE? PAL?”

Hahah, nah, it was fine. He was just gonna die was all. Probably. All too late, he could feel the familiar itch of magic as it traveled down his gullet, spreading out across his body. He winced, muttering a little mantra of colorful swears, waiting for the whimsical fairy poison to just COMPLETELY wreck his shop.

Except… it didn’t? Saph cracked open an eye to see he wasn’t standing at frog level or nothin’. Warily, he patted himself down, only to discover (1) his shirt fit weird, and (2), something resembling muscle definition?

Saph froze, his expression going grave. Several gears seemed to be turning in his head.

“...Awright.” He pointed at his face. “Is it still… y’know.”

He almost said squirrely, but he wasn’t about to give Dean the satisfaction.

Regardless, he gave the young woman a commiserating sort of look. “Eheh. Yeah, nah. Tree guy here’s peachy.” A pause. “Hundred percent a fairy trap, though. Just sayin'.”

Stormcloud coloured eyes widened in surprise at the loud voices - startled at first, perhaps expecting a jump-scare from traditional Hallow's eve and was already on edge in expectation. The human laughed at her clumsy mistake and pressed her fingertips to her lips to stifle herself from giggling too much. Wariness evident as she listened to Ferid's warning regarding the fruit and examined them closer. Squinting eyes and nodding as if she too acknowledged that this must be true! Did she have fae vision or something? "Oh, yes, I see."

Sherelle grinned wide and laughed again, spinning around to Saphir and Dean alike when each addressed her. "Oh?" She muses at the five-star-review that had been evidently given to the host. Which was quickly soiled by Saphir seeking to sneak-in a comment of the exact opposite. Sherelle sighed dramatically and shook her head, rocking on her heels idly. "Well I suppose I've got nothing to fight this fae trap now that I am in it." She decided aloud, nodding once in agreement with herself. Playing along with the silly game.

"Well, for your sake," she says to Saphir after his eating. "I hope you don't die-- or worse." Stated so matter-of-fact it was almost deadpan delivered in dry humour. What could be worse than death?

Sherelle beamed at Dean when he held-up his pillow case, "this is what I was told to bring." She explained, "but I saw someone holding a plastic pumpkin bucket and I wish I had something like that! Maybe next year. I haven't done this before." Sheepish expression given. Flushing with a little bit of shame as if she should have already experienced trick-or-treating.

To Ferid, she looks to his tree-like form, "do you suppose you are made of the house? Or is the house made of you?" Spooooky! "You are very calm for someone who has somehow brought all this magic to him without worry. You must do well in stressful situations."

Ferid looked to Dean as he called Saphir a squirrel. "Pierce," he said, and left unspoken-- 'be nice'. It came across in his Disappointed Dad tone, though. Though then Dean was singing his praises a second later, and Saph, too.

"I've a feeling you all might've had some experience with fairy-magic, too," he chuckled. "I know I certainly have."

He frowned in concern to Saphir. "Sorry about that. Do you feel any different? " He nodded in agreement with Sherelle on her comment to Saphir. "Agreed. If it helps, I don't grow anything in the garden that can seriously injure a person, and if you -do- get sick somehow, I can heal you." Why was Ferid growing weird fruit in his garden anyway?? They might've acted different or had different side effects with changelings. He nodded. "Your face looks fine, but you seem almost..." He studied Saphir intently. "Bigger."

He smiled to Sherelle. "I'm glad to be on your first trick-or-treating experience! There are candy apples, candy, other snacks...." And of course the garden fruits, which, yeah, were technically edible too. His thick brows furrowed in thought as Sherelle posed her question- was he made of house or was the house made of him. Alas, he hadn't heard of the Gingerbread Man conundrum before. "Well, we -can- talk and communicate to one another, me and all plants and some animals, really. So I guess I'm more like a roommate?" He chuckled. "Let's just say I've had a lot of practice. I'm a dad, I used to be an EMT, and I've... had my fair share of being around interesting situations."

Oblivious, Dean looked at Saphir's face and scrunched up his own. "Dumb-lookin'? Yup." Although, now that he looked at him more closely, the guy was kinda jacked. He must've been slouching before. Surely, that's all it was. Might be best not to taunt him. And just as quickly, he got a light scolding from Ferid. He raised his hands defensively, "Hey. He started it by eatin' apples FROM THE GROUND!"

At Sherelle, he raised an eyebrow. "It aint a fae trap. It's just his house. He's a big softie." Or, at least, he assumed it was his house. For all he knew, Ferid enchanted a tree in the middle of nowhere just to hand out candy apples because he made too many. As for their pillowcases, he jostled his own proudly, at which point he noticed another one of those fruit in there. He fished it out and scrutinized it closely, then gave it a sniff. It didn't smell spicy. Maybe this one was safe. "Pumpkin buckets are fine 'an all, but y'can fit soooo much more candy in these guys. If y'go the pumpkin route next year, make sure t'carry a backpack or somethin' t'empty yer bucket every now 'an again."

His casual expression turned to abject horror. Although not directed at him, the thought of Ferid living inside his own species' corpse was...well, it wasn't pleasant. Thankfully, the hulking man explained it away casually. So rather than comment, he at first licked the fruit, then looked at Saphir, who was fine, licked it again to make sure it wasn't spicy, and finally, gobbled it up.

Saphir squinted at the girl—or rather, how SHE was squinting at the magically contaminated fruit. “You got wizard eyes or somethin’?” He asked, munching on the last candied dirt apple. Still wretched, but he was COMMITTED now. He pointed it at her casually as he chewed. “That, uh… big hat ‘a yours IS just a costume, right?”


But as Sherelle and Ferid both shared the kind(?) sentiment of wishing Saphir not dead, the thought seemed to make him a little squirmy. “Well thanks I g—wait, whaddaya mean ‘or WORSE?!’”

Ferid was kind, at least, breaking the news about his unimproved face. “Oh.” Saph tried to contain his disappointment. “Woulda been nice ta go as a handsome guy for this trick-or-treatin’ thing. I mean, y’know, if I HAD ta get cursed.” He sighed, giving his arm a tentative flex as he looked at it, almost clinically, as it strained against the linen of his sleeve. This was probably still a bad thing, right? “Big” didn’t exactly suit him—Saph still carried himself like a scrawny guy, and muscling up had made him no less twitchy.

Dean, meanwhile, didn’t seem particularly concerned with phrasing things politely.

“‘EY! I ain’t dumb, I’m ugly!” Saph corrected, throwing the now cored apple at the kid. Clearly, he didn’t realize he’d just dunked on himself, too.

A moment later, his indignation was redirected elsewhere as Dean ate yet another almost DEFINITELY poisoned fruit.

“KID. C’MON. Seriously?! Don’t put that in your mouth!”

Sherelle beamed at Ferid and curtsied the best she knew how -- one foot in front of the other and dipping her head forward. Her long curls spilled down her shoulders and she grinned. "How do you do!" She glanced towards the candied apples and nearly licked her lips at the thought of biting into something like that. "...and these aren't the ones from the tree?" She motioned towards the fae-hanging fruit. Regardless, she headed towards the assortment and picked-up the juiciest and more smothered in caramel she could find. Sherelle opened her mouth as wide as she could while holding the stick and bit hard. Swallowing before speaking; "alright. That's really good." She laughed sheepishly, "did you make them yourself? I love cooking. And baking."

"An EMT?" She parroted, munching on her apple the meanwhile and speaking between bites when she'd swallowed it down. "That's like.. a medical person, right?" From the way she spoke and seemed to not understand the more 'modern' terms might indicate she was not from around this timeline!

Dean's reassurance brought a sage nod, "thanks. How do you all know each other?" She asked, wanting to hear some sort of story. Believing it to be a good one considering their hilarious antics! - She also listened to his advice about the pumpkin buckets and 'hmmed.' "Well, I will take your advice." She decided. No doubt he was more experienced than she, and therefore had no reason to doubt him! Who wouldn't want to plunder more treasure? Or, treats.

Saphir's inquiry about wizard eyes brought the human to look momentarily surprised; "Oh-- uh. No. I wish! I just thought maybe there would be a different sheen or.. something off. To make it more seductive to bite, y'know?" As for her costume, she laughed and nodded multiple times in excitement. Almost looking like a bobblehead doll. "Yes! I am not a witch. Although I imagine a witch might be pretty awesome to be!" Sherelle grinned at the 'or worse' repetition. She does not elaborate. Only grins!

"I guess if he knows it is bad for him, and he eats it anyway - it's his own fault." The young woman shrugs, and decides to take-up space sitting on a chair or stump, perhaps even the table. Whichever is available.

Ferid smiled back at Sherelle, and gave her a little bow. The branches and bark that made up his being creaked a little bit, sounding like a tree in the wind. "How do you do; my name's Ferid." He shook his head at the question of the candy apples. "No, no, they're safe. Yup, I made them myself, with apples I got from a normal orchard." It was funny to imagine a tree-man picking apples from an orchard.... even funnier to imagine him in the grocery store buying the other ingredients. But he could probably change his form to some degree to look human. "Thanks. And oh, me too. I've been told I can make some mean baklava. What're your favorite things to cook and bake?"

"Yup, it's like a paramedic." She wasn't the first person he'd met that wasn't too familiar with the acronym. "I help- or used to help- people after they called 911. I'm the guy that showed up at people's houses and rode in the back of ambulances with them when they were having a medical emergency." That -would- be very stressful; definitely not everybody could handle that vocation.

As for how Dean and him met... he'd let Dean answer that one. He chuckled at Saphir's comment. "It sounds like you need a real witch's spell for that." Which, yeah, hopefully the other wouldn't get any ideas. Ferid tried not to mess with magic when he could help it.

Ferid shrugged to Sherelle, and felt like he was surrounded by kids again- the two in particular being Dean and Saphir. One was slinging insults, the other was throwing apple cores.... and apparently had some low self-esteem. "Okay, okay, settle down. You two won't be getting anymore candy or apples until you do." He didn't want to put them in separate time-out corners! Of course, he could just use his changeling powers on them to -make- them calm down, but that would be rude and an overstep of boundaries, for one. He almost went and unwrapped the Almond Joy Dean had given him, but, no, that -would- be rude, after just saying the other two couldn't have any more treats until they behaved.

Dean rolled his eyes so hard, he practically saw his own brain, "Now we're fishin' fer compliments, are we? Y'aint ugly. Yer a weirdo, but yer handsome. Deal with it." Even though he'd called Saphir a squirrel-face. Truly, that had more to do with his squirrely attitude than his facial features.

He turned to Sherelle, then glanced at Ferid expectantly. When the other didn't spill the tea, Dean shrugged, lowered his pitch to that of a storyteller around a fire, and replied, "We met breakin' into a top-secret supernatural research facility 'an settin' all their specimens free." He then guffawed, waved a hand dismissively, and continued, "Naaaaah, we just bump into eachother 'round town a lot, is all. He brought me soup once when I was sick. I think he's-" he looked at Ferid, "I think yer friends with Trev?" He raised his brows. "I didn't know y'were a paramedic, the hell?"

But then, he was tempted by the fruit, despite Saphir's protests, "I'M NOT A K-" No, no. He had to play the part for treats. He simmered down and shrugged. "It aint spicy, it's fine. Mind yer own damn business. Y'freakin' squirrel-face!" He felt a prickle at the back of his neck and slapped his hand over it. Then another prickle on his ankle. Unbeknownst to him, a row of spiders were skittering up to and on him. He was about to have another go at Saphir when Ferid daded at them both. He puffed his cheeks and pointed to Saphir indignantly, "He started it!"

Sherelle's response did NOTHING to put Saphir at ease. “Ehhehh... yeah?” he replied with a tired, threadbare sort of laugh—it sounded like he had some opinions about witches... or maybe about half-a-dozen witch related phobias. “Better off BEIN' a witch than bein' on the receiving end 'a one, huh?” As she grinned at him—very conspicuously ignoring the question—Saph had to consider the very real possibility that she was doing this on purpose. “Awright, well NOW you're just bein' ominous!” he huffed with an accusatory point. Was MESSING with him a part of this holiday ritual or something?

Ferid's job description, as Saphir went on to hear him explain, smoothly went in one ear and out the other. He was gonna chalk it up to more Magical Nonsense that Ferid was slinging all this jargon around. Saph hated to say you got used to never knowing what the HELL was goin' on... but you DID kinda get used to it.

When Ferid started laying down the law, Saphir threw his thick arms up in the air at the sheer injustice of it. “The hell'd I do?!” If you ignored all the shit Saphir did, that was literally ALL on the kid!

“I'm settled!” he huffed, “You wouldn't friggin' BELIEVE how settled I am!” Regardless of his own age, it only took a bit of button-pushing to get him in the mindset of arguing with his brothers. And hell, if this kid WASN'T a little brother, he was a goddamn natural.

“'Started it...' pshh... I'll FINISH it...” he grumbled to no one in particular.

Right on time though, the next magic fruit decided to kick in. A single-file line of creepy-crawlies seemed to be making their way onto Dean—which had Saphir looking AWFULLY smug.

“Way t'go, smart guy,” Saph snorted, pointing right back at him. “Now ya got ants in your pants.”

Azura approached the house with caution.
However, upon arriving there, she found a magical place that felt incredibly safe, if a little magically mysterious at the same time. Eyes aglow, wondering at the firefly-faeries in front of them, the girl wandered through a beautiful garden. Smelling the luscious, inviting fruits, she sampled one.

After enjoying herself with fun affects that were also scary, (at least a little, at least at first) she had a good chuckle while making herself comfortable again and politely saying a trick or treat to the....ent? at the front.

After the interaction, happy with her full size Snickers, she skipped back out of the shimmering magical enclosure.

[Ok well, no one else is taking their turn so I'm going to keep going. o0]

Dean glared sharply at Saphir, "The hell did ya do? Y'freakin' argued with me over dumb stuff, man! Y'wanna go? Let's freakin' GO-!" He puffed up his chest, though he had no intention of actually fighting. Thankfully, a stranger walked over, picked a treat, and walked off, cutting off the flow of the fight before it had even begun. And after that, he had much bigger fish to fry. Or, errr, smaller fish. Thousands of them. He turned red in the face and began shimming around, slapping himself all over to try and get the spiders off. "THIS IS YER FAULT!" he shouted at Saphir. The smug look on the man's face didn't help any. "Yer-yer freakin' GROUND APPLES ATTRACTED 'EM!!!" As their numbers increased, now practically blotting out his pants, he shrieked, grabbed a handful, and tossed them towards Saphir. If he had to suffer, so should he!

Ferid looked at Dean for a moment. Technically they'd first met when Ferid was walking around town and Dean thought he was a kidnapper or something..... but no, no, he didn't remind the other of that. "Yeah," he agreed on knowing Trevor. As for being a paramedic, "That was a long time ago."

He waved to Azura, then offered her some candy, apples, and other snacks if she wanted to come up to the porch. "Happy Halloween!"

Then his attention was back on Dean and Saphir- mainly Dean, more like, the spiders all over him. He said something in Bosnian, probably something akin to, "Oh God", before attempting to wave the spiders off. "Off with you, off with you!" He called to them. Some did listen to him, skittering off Dean and back to wherever it was they'd come from, though still others were more stubborn. "They're saying that you smell nice-- they won't hurt you; just stay still--" Oop, and Dean was throwing some on Saphir. Well, it wouldn't be Halloween without spiders being thrown at one another, right?

Never had a good mood evaporated so quickly.

…Spiders to the face. Of COURSE it’d be spiders to the face. Every rotten day of his damn LIFE was spiders to the face, when you got right down to it!

Needless to say he screamed as the spider-snowball popped him, but at least he had the dignity of doing it through a mouth clamped tightly shut. Y’know, ON ACCOUNT OF ALL THE SPIDERS?

Frantically Saph pawed them out of his face, and it seemed like the hyperventilating kept most of ‘em from finding their way up his nose. So hey, there was that. When he was reasonably sure most were brushed onto the ground (and maybe into his hair, and chest, and oh god, down his SHIRT-?!), he felt comfortable enough to open his mouth again.

“SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT,” he cried (which was probably less than constructive). INFURIATINGLY, Ferid was busy tending to the kid, leaving Saph sort of strangling the air in an inarticulate fit of frustration.

“YEAH, HEY?” Saphir finally managed to spit out. “Can we maybe take a break from tellin’ spider-pants how nice he smells and GET THESE THE HELL OFFA ME?” He squirmed, gesturing urgently to his whole situation. “Make with the magic hands already, will ya?! CRIPES!”