(no subject)

[knavish-sprite.insanejournal.com]

Characters: Puck and Titania
Date/Time: July 26th, 2013
Location: NYC
Rating: Probably PG. Maybe higher.
Warnings: None yet. Puck will surely think of something, though.
Summary: Newly-mortal Puck is reuniting with Titania.

Air travel wasn't that new to Puck. On occasion, he'd chosen to bear wings and fly. Airline travel, however, was a whole new thing to discover. And what wonders there were! Moving sidewalks! Bustling people! Mysterious machines that whirred and beeped and revealed secrets! And the flight itself, cutting through the air currents, rather than swooping and bobbing along with them.

Indeed, as he entered the new airport, Puck was so fascinated with all the sights and sounds and people that he very nearly forgot he was supposed to be looking for Titania.

Comments

[knavish-sprite.insanejournal.com]

"Such a delight to know I've managed to keep within your favored graces, Lady," he said with a smile, cheerfully following along with her.

[ill-met.insanejournal.com]

"Well, it's been a while since the Incident..." The look she shot him over her shoulder hovered somewhere between coy and reprimanding. Then she smiled and any concern about her anger fled; Titania's smile had a way of warming a person from top to toe - as if they had their own miniature sun. "First, we're going to Central Park, though," she reminded him. "It's been ages since I had someone willing to roll in the grass with me."

[knavish-sprite.insanejournal.com]

"Then roll we shall," he promised, his fingers twined with hers.

[ill-met.insanejournal.com]

"Until we're sick from laughing," she agreed.

It took another fifteen minutes before they reached the park and found a suitable sun-dappled hill. Titania stood atop it and she held Puck's hand in an absent manner as she tipped back her head and closed her eyes and enjoyed the glow that settled over her pale olive skin. She breathed deeply, chest rising and falling rhythmically, but there was nothing but sudden peace on her lovely face.

[knavish-sprite.insanejournal.com]

"Are all Seelie solar-powered?" Puck teased gently.

[ill-met.insanejournal.com]

"Maybe a little bit." She laughed and opened her pale eyes and turned to grant him a glorious smile. "I have to admit that this body does tan prettily," she returned.

[knavish-sprite.insanejournal.com]

"Gold was always your color, Lady," he said, nodding in approval.

[ill-met.insanejournal.com]

"Sweet of you to notice and say so." Titania turned and took both of his hands in hers. "I know you're not a big fan of the sunshine, Mischief, but I thought you might like to see this park. It's awfully pretty, don't you think?"

[knavish-sprite.insanejournal.com]

"Its beauty pales in your presence," he remarked.

[ill-met.insanejournal.com]

"And you are full of silver words and wickedness." Nonetheless, she looked pleased at his compliment and leaned forward to kiss his cheek. Drawing back, she studied his face. He really had lucked out in this mortal form, she thought. Very, very handsome. She ducked in again for another affectionate kiss, this time catching the tip of his nose. "Care to join me on the grass?"

[knavish-sprite.insanejournal.com]

"You seem curiously surprised by this, Lady," he laughed and stole a quick kiss of his own, "But, certainly, I shall join you on the grass."

[ill-met.insanejournal.com]

"I'm still getting used to you and remembering you, Mischief," she answered. "Don't worry. I'm sure it'll all come back to me before long. All the best things always do." With that, she sank down onto the springy green grass. Her dainty fingers feathered through the blades for a moment and she smiled. Then, with a glance at him, she lowered herself to lie flat on her back, dark hair a cloud around her head.

[knavish-sprite.insanejournal.com]

Puck lay down beside her, his fingers idly stroking the skin of her arm.
"What is it you're thinking, Lady?" he asked, his voice a velvet murmur in her ear.

[ill-met.insanejournal.com]

"Nothing in particular," she admitted. A slight, visible shiver ran through her at his tone but she made no move to reciprocate his touch. "I'm just enjoying this. At the risk of swelling your head impossibly, it's approaching a sort of bliss."

[knavish-sprite.insanejournal.com]

"Bliss, you say? Anything I can do to improve the perfection?" he offered.

[ill-met.insanejournal.com]

Titania abruptly rolled onto her side to face him. Only the slightest of distances, mere breaths of air, separated their bodies now and she met his eyes with an expression mixed of amusement, thoughtfulness, and warmth. "Tell me, Puck, my Mischief, my darling... How are you coping with this mortal land?"

[knavish-sprite.insanejournal.com]

A shadow crossed his face. Whatever answer he gave, it would not diminish the daily suffering mortality gave him, each day creeping slowly toward the inevitable oblivion, another tiny piece of him dying. And yet, he returned her look with a smile.
"Sweet Lady, the wonders never cease. I thought I had learned so much of humans by watching them from the shadows century after century, and now walking among them I find a new discovery with each passing day," he said, "And I can't wait to see which new things the next day will bring. Things to see and smell and taste and touch and do. It is a wonderland, Lady."

[ill-met.insanejournal.com]

She let his answer lie between them for long moments and her expression remained prettily neutral. Her hand left the grass between them and moved to settle over his, twining their fingers together. Then she lifted one corner of her mouth in a quirky little smile, half sad and half understanding. "It's a good distraction, huh?" she murmured. "There's so much to do and see that you can fill up as many of the hours as you want to fill up."

Her smile widened. As if deciding that she had offered up quite enough sensitive maturity for the moment, Titania leaned forward to brush her lips over his. "Bet Mab'll just love keeping a spazzy, no-sleep Puck around the place."

[knavish-sprite.insanejournal.com]

He gently, but deliberately stroked her cheek.
"And what of Lady Titania? How much would she love keeping a Puck around her place?"

[ill-met.insanejournal.com]

"A Puck is the best sort of ornament to any well-appointed bower," she replied promptly, flashes of the old her once again peeking through her practiced slang. She studied his face for a moment and then turned her own face into his touch. "A very, very nice thing indeed and something that would be a charming boon."

[knavish-sprite.insanejournal.com]

"There are those who say that a Puck can be a dangerous, wicked creature,brethren to the Devil Himself. Undoing a day's work. Spoiling food. Giving frights in the night, and stealing kisses and worse in the dark. And that the price of capturing one and claiming it for one's own is beyond the capacity of mortals to understand how dear it can be," he murmured in an idle tone, but his eyes gleamed. "Do you believe such tales, Lady? Would you still desire one for your bower? Or are you made of sterner stuff, dancing along the line that separates bravery from foolhardiness?"

[ill-met.insanejournal.com]

Her laughter was pure music, long-buried magic still accessible even in her mortal form, and she made a graceful movement, propping her upper body on a braced elbow. From her new vantage point, she looked down at the reclined Puck and smiled. "Of course I'm made of sterner stuff, darling Puck," she murmured. "I'm royalty but, more importantly than that, I'm the edge of sunlight on the fresh morning dew, I'm not here or there or quite anywhere, and I'm me."

The smile grew into something wickedly smug and teasing. Titania reached out to press a dainty finger against his nose, then to his lips, before she leaned down to chase the touch with a fleeting kiss. "I'm Titania, my lovely Mischief, and I drew the thread through those lines ages ago."

[knavish-sprite.insanejournal.com]

"And say you did manage to catch a Puck for your bower. Whatever would you do with one?" he asked.

[ill-met.insanejournal.com]

A deft shift brought her mouth to his ear and, in a low-purring voice, she whispered, "I would be most generous with my favors until you cried enough and then... Then you can kneel before me and pay court properly."

[knavish-sprite.insanejournal.com]

"You would have a Puck on his knees, Lady? You had best hope for one that knew his way well in the dance of the Courts," he teased back, one of his hands drifting idly to her thigh.