bakerstreet | Nothing else matters

[Pandora can psychically connect with a single person. That link is innately codependent.

Or, if you want non-supernatural au, let me know!]

Edited 2016-05-19 15:15 (UTC)

A hermit in nearly all things, except that his face was clean shaven either in youth or care, he lived in a round stone tower above a wide valley where five rivers flowed down from the mountains and met the ocean. Each morning he rose, walked the lines of his blood filled circles that were embedded in the walls and floor of the towers three stories, fed the animals who kept him company and provided the food or labor he required, and worked on the things that needed his attention. Every day was essentially the same except for the months he stopped to walk the protective blood-soaked lines that circled the precious valley.

It was returning from one of these month-long journeys, there along the pass road, which cut through the mountains, that he discovered the unconscious girl. She was thin and seemingly abandoned, her eyes large in the pale waif's face. There was a spark in her, one that had not yet given up hope, a flame he recognized in his own travels, a stranger who had found no one at home in the body it now lived.

Taking great care, he picked up the not quite woman and mounted the stallion, who took the slight additional weight without harm and took the lost spirit back to The Folly. The Sung protective spells, that kept everyone out, that kept them from finding this place parted and let him through, the Song he Sung including the Noah's arch of animals, and this lost stranger.

He tucked her into the second floor's bed and left her there with the large friendly hounds, needing to step out to the barn to care for the horses and release the cooped up chickens from their traveling baskets and the pair of goats were untied and returned to their pen. Chores soon done, he retreated back to the tower to make a hearty stew and put away the unused supplies. While he worked, he hummed and the red blood of both himself and ancestors long before him, lines that were carved into the stone and the smooth cedar floors and ceilings, flickered with light and danced in the corner of his vision. It was through these lines that he monitored the young woman's health, healing the bruises and scrapes on her body, and knew exactly where she and the hounds were. One, the large male, came down to remind that they were hungry too, and with a rumbling chuckle, dinner preparations paused as he did as asked. Crunchy vegetables, meat, and a bit of starch was cut into bite sized pieces and divided into bowls. The hounds would have bones tonight, their usual treat when returning from such a long excursion, and he pulled those from the deep freeze in the basement carved out of the bedrock. Then and only then, did he return to the meal for humans.

Pandora’s abrupt departure from her own world had been entirely unplanned. In retrospect, if she’d known that her flight from her father’s men would mean finding herself in the middle of nowhere, she’d have brought supplies. Instead, she was stuck but she was alone. Small miracles.

She’d walked until exhaustion won out. Thirst was easy to deal with, but hunger in a strange place? There were rules about strange places, and beyond that, she wasn’t confident in identifying edible plants over poisonous ones.

It was surprising, then, to find herself warm and not currently being pricked by blades of grass. For the longest time, she hovered between waking and sleeping, soothed by the warmth and the humming awareness of magic and living things around her. One of the hounds wiggled and laid half on top of her, despite her efforts to redirect the weight elsewhere. Cuddlers. What could you do?

The dogs sliding away finally roused her. Pandora found her feet, rubbing at her face and lazily taking in the room. Yep, gold and red. What strange place was she in? The hound vocalization drew her attention and she followed a wagging tail down. One hand reached out to steady herself on the wall, and she paused, examining her skin. Not a scratch, not a bruise.

Well, if she’s in some fairyland, she’s pretty sure she can rule out the ‘girl-eating kind’.

Built in cabinets frame a closed door, behind which is a small bathroom, and flow around have of the curved room to a window where they end in a window seat and bookshelves. The open door faces a landing, the choices being up or down, the bedroom having taken up the entire floor. Grooves are cut in the stone, and what looks to be red liquid but is hard to the touch, as hard as the walls themselves, flicker with light. The female, she seemed to be a pit bull mix, led the way down the stairs that circled the inside of the tower. Another dog, a male, looked up from the bottom of the stairs, his stubby tail excited. He bent to bow, to boof and welcome them. A man, sunbrowned skin, buckwheat honey brown eyes, and dark mahogany hair that was pulled back tight and braided at the back of his skull, also turned as they came into view. He was all brown, except for the clothes he wore and there he favored blues.

"Good evening," voice low, humming notes it in it that caused the dancing red to flicker, in the walls and the stone floor. A ritual greeting was given, "Welcome to the oasis. Come share in the waters. No harm will come to you here." He took a step to the sturdy wooden table where a pot of mint tea waited, and poured two glasses - glasses, beautiful colored glass. The delicate scent of mint and jasmine curled up in the steam, sweetness too.

It's the dogs that win her more than anything. Dogs with unkind humans have a different feel to them, a way they hold themselves, a hungry-prickly sort of edge. She lingers a little behind, taking in the details around her, only orienting her attention to the man in question when he opted to speak.

Rituals one is unfamiliar with will always be a little awkward, even if one has the best intentions. His greeting definitely smacks of ritual, but she's distracted by the small changes in the lights. She blinks and glances back at him, her head tilted curiously. Okay. Ritual over. Expectation not received.

"Hello."

Happy, healthy dogs they were, their bodies laughing with wiggles and bounces, snuffling each other after their brief separation, bumping into each other as they headed towards their bowls. The black coat interrupted with white squiggles female was clearly in charge of the larger, brown brindled male.

"Greetings," rays extended from his eyes into his temples. The left one was blurred, damaged once upon a time. "Tea? Tradition insists."

She considers a moment. The dogs, of course, are the deciding factor. Finally, Pandora nods. "Please."

Chose a glass and held it up in a salute then sipped, showing that indeed, she would not be harmed. Waited for her and when she sipped, he returned to the makings of the stew, sauteing the root vegetables before adding them to the broth. "I am Ferox Cousland. And you are?"

Eating the food of fairy will trap you there forever. But the food smells good enough to make her stomach cramp uncomfortably, and the tea soothes her dry throat. In for a penny, in for a pound.

"I'm Pandora." No last name. She's still undecided as to that, just yet.

Winced. A girl with a box meets the boy who had once been in a box. This was no layer like home, this was not Thedas, just Earth with its strangeness that he had experienced a time or four. Not this, this was new.

"My brother, Horse and his mate, Lightning." He didn't mean literal brother, but long time companion in nearly all layers. "Stew will cook a bit. Would you like some bread and butter to tide you over?" also reaching for a jar of blackberry jam.

The dogs? Her gaze flicked back to the canines. Happy dogs. She perked up at the offer of bread. Caution has it's place, but she's tiny and hungry. She's not quite sure how long ago her last meal was, but it hadn't been very much.

She's not going to argue with being fed. Besides, if this is a fairyland, it's not that unpleasant, actually. "Yes, please."

"Of course." Pausing one preparation for another, a loaf of fresh baked bread was unwrapped and set on the clean cutting board. Two thick slices cut and plated, they and a lump of butter and a jar of dark berry jam were set on the table. He took the opportunity to refilled her glass. "Why were you out on the pass in the middle of the night."

As much as she likes sweets, it's butter she spreads on, as she sinks into a seat. "I got lost." Her tone is factual, unconcerned, a moment before she bites into the bread. She doesn't have to eat and run, not right now, and besides, she doesn't even know where the exits are. So she forces herself to eat slow, to taste and actually savor the bit of food. "Do you live here by yourself?"

Rich butter, from creamy goat milk, is made right here, just like he makes many things, whether it is the leather cushions on the chairs or his own clothing. His ancestors, each with their own talents cut the stone or worked the wood.

He looks at her to the hounds then back to her. "Answering the question you mean, yes. My sister visits."

Some tension she hadn't been aware she'd been holding onto eased from her back. One foot stuck out slowly to rub her toes over the back of the dog who'd stayed with her. "Where is this place, precisely?"

"This tower is The Folly. It was built by my ancestors and the Nehalem or, as most would call them, the Tillamook Indians. We're on the west side of the Cascades and have an excellent view of the valley and ocean below." Not from this floor, but on the three floors up above. The trees to the west side have been cleared, a pasture for the horses. One which they will plow and plant with grain for their winter feed.

"Oh." She has no idea what that means, actually. For all she knows, she leaped from one world to another. Or one country to another. Or a few cities. "Why's it called the Folly?"

"A folly to build such a thing. A folly to try to keep what is coming back. A folly to dedicate one lifetime and then another to guarding the valley...on and on they said, and so the tower was named before the foundations were cut from the bedrock." A pause. The steaming pan of vegetables was lifted and scraped into the pot of thick meaty stew that bubbles away on the back of the woodstove. "Where did you expect to be?"

"I didn't." She really hadn't had much of a plan, except away, away, when she stepped through the gold and green arch. It had closed behind her, and that had been good enough, just then.

"Guarding the valley from what?"

"What is evil, what does not belong," left shoulder rose and became stuck. Slowly it released as the pot was stirred. A citron curl of a tattoo was painted on that side, the coil of the tip resting under his left ear the remainder covered by the peacock blue shirt. "Man, beast, others besides. Bad things still happen to those who live down below. Just less."

[i'd like to do a parental gen thread, if that's okay? someone needs to protect this baby]

[Sure! I'd be up for that! He needs all of the bad influence. Have any starter in mind? I'll also have to link icons but /shrug.]

[so many terrible adults lmao. dont worry about the icons i understand

well i haven't finished the series (spoil me all you want), so it depends on when it happens if u wanna stick to ciel's canon/world.]

Edited 2016-05-22 05:31 (UTC)

[Although he might have his paid back soon because people are dirty enablers....

Ah! Okay. I'm up to date so i'm okay with whatever you'd like. We can have it set in Ylisse too. I'm okay with either one.]

[at first i was even more indecisive but then the most Hilarrible idea. What if Henry, not knowing about the whole demon pact thing, accidentally kills/banishes Seb with dark magic, leading to an argument etc and then Henry as a replacement?

Mostly I think sebastian would be an obstacle bc he wouldn't let ~~his lunch~~ciel get close to anyone else]

[That would be so amusing omg.... I'm up for it XDD]

[hehehe, glad to hear it! Do you want to make the starter?

[What kind of idiot would somehow banish away a demon? First of all, how the hell did he know about Sebastian? It wasn't like he made it obvious up until they went about their business; than again, those people didn't live to tell generally. But now Ciel was holding his eye patch and demanding Sebastian to come back. That was an order.... Except it didn't work...

Okay, this wasn't going to fly. Pointing to Henry, he demanded that he must replace Sebastian and after some time, he had finally accepted his fate as Ciel's butler.]

You call this tea? Ridiculous.... It's weak.

[Wasn't the first time people demanded Henry to follow their orders, and an overburdened kid definitely was a lot easier. Who knew banishing a soul-eating demon would get them yelled at? Ahaha, Henry could never quite get things right!

More importantly, they were stuck in this country for a while, which was just... weird. About so many things. The air stank, the clothing they were given was drab, and now the tea. Henry was more used to a battlefield than a kitchen, but they could always adjust. Eventually.]

Nyahaha, sorry! Last time you said it was too strong so I tried to make it more insipid, like the grub.

[Ciel's getting used to weird quickly.... It's not his fault that you wear weird crap.]

Make it again.[At least he's not throwing the cup at him.]

[For a wealthy nation, England sure doesn't wear a lot of gold. At least Henry can still wear their gold garters under the black pants.]

Okie doke!

[That's one thing going for Henry: for all their eccentricities, they are cheerfully obedient. They trundle the cart back to the kitchens to make it again...

...Only to return, tea, kettle, and all, to make it in front of Ciel.]

[Well, this wasn't quite what he was expecting, but as long as he makes it properly. The hell if Ciel knew how to though.]

[Better than going back and forth across this large house! After steeping a few minutes, Henry hits a medium from the previous two attempts and pours in cream and drops in the sugar. Clink clink clink.]

Here you go! You know, I could make a tea that'd get smoke out of your lungs. Usually it's made for miners but since you're a minor I'm sure it'll be fine! Nyahaha!

.... Just what are you insinuating...?

It's a joke! See, miners often get dust in their lungs from their job, and you're a kid, so "miner" and "minor" sound the same.

[And since Ciel's drinking, Henry might as well have a cup, right? They're used to having it black but the cream is really nice.]

[He's not amused.. He gets it but.... wow..

Better get used to it, Ciel.]

Don't you have some duties to attend to...? [Commenting to him having a cup himself. He has a lot to learn.]

[There are depths to this pungeon yet to be delved]

Yeah, probably. What about you? The new tutors working out?

[Without a jack of all trades like Sebastian around, it fell on Henry and Tanaka to find some replacements. Tanaka was easily fatigued and mostly just told Henry what to look for, while Henry used their best judgement to find people with the right temperament and approach to suit Ciel. Henry wasn't the best at social stuff but even they realized that the tutors would need to be respectful of their student.]

Probably... [That's not a good response...] They're fine. Although they act intimidated for some reason.

[Couldn't possibly be because of Ciel... n o p e ...]

Huh, really? Maybe they don't wanna upset you and get fired? I don't know your reputation!

[Another thing that Henry failed at; they were used to murdering on a battlefield, no matter who it was. This place was obsessed with lineage and titles and stuff. Kinda made Henry think of a bee hive, with all the roles set at birth, more or less.]

Do you like them?

Nothing else matters

Pandora | OC | OTA

trying again.

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Rey || Star Wars: The Force Awakens || F/M

Sarah Manning || Orphan Black || F/M

Rey | SW:TFA | OTA

Ciel Phantomhive | Black Butler/Kuroshitsuji | OTA

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Yep... It happened.... My friends are dirty enablers

aww, what nice friends! i dont know how i got so many icons when henry has like, 3 faces.

This is true. The rest just complement his 3 expressions, amirite?

pretty much lmao; all the icons i didn't use are either additional things or henry's body language

This is late.... I understand that so well though.

no problem! :3b

roxas ( kingdom hearts )

Mirai Kuriyama (栗山 未来) // Beyond the Boundary (境界の彼方) // ota

BB-8 | Star Wars | OTA

Wanda Maximoff | MCU | ota

Mirai Kuriyama (栗山未来) // Beyond the Boundary (境界の彼方) // ota