Exiled to the streets

Studying her Martin nodded "Well my current partner ran off and left us, so as long as you don't break your contract and try I suppose I can train you" Wrinkling his nose as he thought he added bluntly "You showed promise and seem open to learning. Trainable" with that he left heading back to his carriage snapping at someone who got in his way. Sethian smiled "Well he likes you, that would have been much more explosive if he hadn't" patting her shoulder the blond yawned "Well I'm hungry, want to go find something to eat?" there were supposed to be some nice cafes around here worth checking out and it'd be a good way to learn more about his new friend. He fully intended to treat her like he would anyone else in his care, she seemed so desperate to prove herself "you did well Lori" his voice was warm and gentle, looking over at the horses when a brief disagreement disrupted the herd.


Looking up from absently humming to the dog and the girl in his arms, the faeries humming ceased when Jon walked back out, leaning against him in an offer of comfort. "Beat him?" he hadn't been that interested in the kid but finding out that his parents had beaten him fired up the instinct that most faeries had regarding children. "Then we can't let them find him again" There was no way he was going to let anything else happen to the kid, his features usually relaxed had clouded into a dark scowl "If he has nowhere to go he can stay with us" his free hand that had wound its way into Tors fur tightened a little, they'd look after the kid and hopefully by the time Hrolf left to go home the kid would be alright, still very much considering bringing Lilli and Jon with him.

Walking along with her he didn't say much, once he'd sat down he shrugged "Yeah, I have a lot to do with the animals and helping the boss out with paperwork. I organize ticket giveaways and advertisements" it was a lot more than most people realized, but it kept him busy and busy was good. Ordering an iced coffee and a sugary biscuit, Seth leaned back into his seat with a smile waiting for his food and drink to be served, wondering if the girl had more questions or not."Martin starts his day with a practice at about six so you'll want to meet him in the tent once we're at our new Location" it was a good idea to tell her now in his opinion after all Martin could sometimes be a bit difficult to work with.


Who could beat a kid like that? Hrolf listened quietly to what Jon had to say, resting his head on the other male's shoulder quietly. Not really responding to what was mentioned regarding introducing himself Hrolf mused to himself "I'm going to be allowed home in a couple of months" Jon knew that he lived on a farm so he didn't feel the need to explain that again "i have the space if needed" unwilling to admit what he was and go into details right now, he decided to get up and headed inside after passing Lilli to her father. Coming back out after a few moments of talking to the boy he sighed and spoke "I need to talk to you" fidgeting with his shirt sleeve Hrolf admitted, "Faeries are real, everything I told Lilli is actually true." he'd have to prove it by showing his wings he was fairly sure but it'd have to do inspecting his cuticles he continued "if you need a place to live in a couple of months you'd be welcome to come back with me" remembering something he reached over and pulled up his bags rummaging around to pull out a small package wrapped in waxy fabric.

The questions were good, it meant she was paying attention and was interested in learning more, absently a hand lifted to scratch at an itchy part of his jaw where he'd slipped when shaving that morning. "In America, we usually travel by train and in Europe by vans and the odd bus" deciding he'd better seem interested in her story Sethian queried "Will your mother be coming to watch us? Once you're up and running trapeze wise of course" thanking the waitress when she brought his cold drink and smiling warmly at her Hrolf happily sipped his sugar iced coffee quite fond of the sugary drink. If she did he'd be quite interested in meeting her, not having much to go on apart from the fact that she clearly was a good mother, Lori was a well-adjusted person so far so she'd been raised well.

Smiling when his dog clambered into his lap and licked his face, Hrolf was grateful for the comfort. "I'd turn Lilli into a Faerie and christen her my heir. She'd never want for anything, I'd never think about taking her away from her father, So I'd make you a pet and give you work on the farm to do. There are plenty of dogs that require training" bumping his broken finger and cussing to himself, Hrolf held the finger close to his chest managing to continue "You don't have to answer right away, my exile ends at the beginning of Autumn so there's time to think" Not a big fan of pain the throbbing of his finger, the faerie grumbled away to himself blaming his brother entirely for it.

Paying close attention when Lori spoke about her mother he drew some of his own conclusions “Fair enough, I hope they’ll be able to come and enjoy the show” The question about his parents made him smile almost ruefully “They passed away a good few years ago I’m afraid” it had been what fifty years now? He didn’t really remember or care very much for them anymore, but she didn’t need to know that so he leaned back in his chair and changed the subject smoothly “Payment wise you’ll start off on the starter amount and the more skilled you get the more you’ll eventually end up earning. Do you have any other questions or worries that you want to put to me? If I remember right you should fit into some of the costumes already kept with the circus, we have a seamstress in France who makes amazing costumes, if you want your own, you’ll have to go to her and pay for it. The guy running the circus is a little cheap in that regard” rolling his eyes as a sign of him not particularly agreeing with what the circus master had decided Sethain lifted his glass to sip the sweet drink once again.

Listening carefully Hrolf frowned slightly “I’d be fine bringing him with us back to the Faerie world, he’d have a job on the farm and would be safe from his parents if he wanted to come with us.” Looking over at him when the human tugged his hand over, he did his best to realign it before offering his hand back without a word. He wanted to hear what Jon thought about bringing the boy back with them, it’d stop the boy’s parents from being able to hurt him and keep him safe. “But you don’t have to decide once away” reassuring his friend quietly he looked over towards where the boy was curled up fast asleep, it seemed the human world was just as difficult as the faerie world in some retrospect’s, he wouldn’t mind taking him, rescuing him but it’d just depend. He wasn’t that pleased about his broken finger, but at least Jon would splint it for him, it got a bit fiddly doing something like that with only one good hand.

At the question, Seth sighed and rubbed the back of his neck musing over how best to word things without scaring her off too much “Keep out of arms reach, Lori. He’s quite fond of pretty women, I’ll do what I can to keep him at bay” he’d do the best he could as he was becoming quite fond of Lori, she was whip-smart and caught onto things quickly she’d fit in well around here and from what he’d gotten from Martin she’d do well handling the rather temperamental gymnast. Depending on how things went he’d potentially help her out when it came to the seamstress, however, he was wary of appearing too forward or overbearing so it’d depend, absently tapping his fingers against his cup while searching his mind for anything else. They’d already discussed where she’d be sleeping "if need be I can see if I can organize alternate places for you to sleep, I can understand if you’d feel uncomfortable sharing a living space with a man you don’t really know” she knew his name and that was literally about it apart from the fact that he was a faerie and Prince Atrel wanted him kept an eye on just in case. It was, however, a ‘normal’ thing to do and for now he was mostly concerned about treating her as if he had no idea what her actual purpose was, it was better to do that for now, he was used to a degree of pretense these days and this was just another layer to it.


What the human said made sense, Hrolf nodded his agreement although nowhere near as good at reading people like his older brother, Hrolf had the feeling that the boy would come back with him. He’d be fed and safe and would be off the streets, away from whoever had beaten the shit out of him the poor thing. He was more concerned about finding out whether or not Lilli and Jon would come back with him as well, he definitely would not have survived this long without the human's help and he honestly wanted to help them both out having grown to care about both of them. What better way to repay Jon kindness than by giving his daughter a life where she’d never miss out on anything ever again, she’d naturally not wish to be without her father so it was an easy step to invite him to join them as well, although it’d mean that he himself would miss out on working and training the dogs which were something he’d always had a passion for. Yes Lilli would be his heir but he had no intention of ever really relinquishing the farm, it was what got him up in the morning and was all he had that was all his and nobody else's, feeling rather alone in the big wide world, both of them. Hrolf murmured thanks for his splinted finger and moved away to snuggle down with his dog, petting Tor with his non-broken finger the faerie closed his eyes doing what he did best, dealing with feelings and thoughts that weren’t that great by mentally sitting on them, acknowledging how they made him feel but refusing to actually say or do anything that would draw attention to those thoughts as if they were inappropriate.

It was interesting watching her, she’d been so well trained he was impressed, that and it was quite clear she was intelligent, it was going to be quite the ride working with her for however long she was going to be sticking around for. “Somehow I feel you’re able to take care of yourself when it comes to men that don’t know how to keep their hands to themselves, I’m glad to know you trust me” standing up he offered her a smile “Shall we?” wandering back to the fairgrounds where the circus currently was camped the faerie hummed to himself an old familiar tune, seeming very much like not much bothered him.  “Come on, Martin is likely practicing and I’m sure he’s dying to start teaching you” gesturing for her to continue following him, he wandered towards the big tent and there as he’s suspected was his copper-skinned friend. The man with a black mop of curly hair, a very feminine face stood up at the top of the tent watching some of the others practice barking out orders in a way that didn’t seem to suit the way he looked, when he was ready the man jumped off of the platform and reached out to grab a bar with ease, swinging from trapeze to trapeze he wound up upon another platform which was when he noticed them, jumping to grab hold of a pair of silks he slid down with relative ease to study them both.


Waking up cold quite early in the morning, Hrolf looked about for Tor and sat up seeing him curled up next to Lilli obviously very very fond of the little girl, well aware that the type of dogs he bred chose their masters and there was nothing he could do about it, Hrolf just squashed all of his feelings into a tight box that was pushed to the back of his mind. Getting up he slipped outside closing the makeshift door behind him and leaned against the house watching people walk past, most of them wrapped up in their own meaningless lives,. He himself was an adult and he didn’t have to let anyone know if he was going to go for a walk, so off he wandered ending up on the circus grounds watching the various things that were going on. The place was a buzz of activity, like a colony of bees they all buzzed around doing their jobs diligently and without hesitance, watching the horses almost longingly he wanted nothing more than to immerse himself with working with the animals that he felt so much more happier around. Being surrounded by people just made him feel lonely, and he wanted nothing more than to mount up and take a flock of sheep into the heart of his property and not come back for a while, his fists clenched so he shoved them in his pockets. In the end he gave in and walked over towards the horses, offering one a hand to sniff and murmuring softly he was found later gently resting his forehead against the animals neck breathing deeply, ever keeping an eye on the time he made sure he was at the place where he and Jon normally got breakfast with a light-hearted smile on his face while eating toast slathered in honey.  

Seth shrugged “End of the week, we’re packing up and moving on, we stay in each place for about a week before moving on” falling silent when the feminine man walked over, Seth piped up once more when Martin was infront of them “She’s signed on and officially yours to start training, don’t be too hard on her” flicking Lori a grin he turned and headed out of the tent leaving her with the infamously bad tempered man. He snorted rudely at Seth’s retreating frame very convinced that he’d be as hard as he wanted on the girl, turning brown eyes onto her he beckoned and started showing her a series of movements designed to start building up muscles in the right places. Once he’d’ shown her them all he spoke to her “These are what you will do every day, they build up your muscles to the point where you will be able to start doing actual practice up there, until then you have the very low ones that teach you grip and how to control your speed and direction. Questions?” he wasn’t harsh as much as very blunt with her, giving her a good idea of what he expected from her right at the start. The trapeze he’d pointed out was only about two meters from the safety net, for performances they removed the safety net but for practice there was one designed to catch them. Folding his arms over her chest and shifting his weight, Martin kept his gaze squarely on the girls face waiting to hear any questions before he went back to teaching some of the others.


Stirring when he was woken, Connor looked up at Jon blinking up at him until the words sunk in and he nodded, getting up with a loud yawn and stretch, the boy followed Jon and Lilli quietly discovering that he felt much safer with them than when he’d been on his own so he stuck close. He didn’t really feel like talking much either so he quite happily dug into breakfast without a word, happily eating quite quickly as if he wasn’t all too sure that someone wouldn’t step out of the shadows and remove the toast. The plain jam on toast tasted so good to the underweight Connor that he had several pieces, on his fifth when Hrolf arrived he scooched over to give the taller man a place to sit with them, flicking his dark blue eyes up when Jon spoke, realizing that he wasn’t being spoken to he resumed hungrily scoffing. The blond faerie nodded “yes I did, it was quite good” being with the animals had helped soothe some of the complicated feelings that were washing over him, greeting Tor when the shaggy beast made its way over from where Lilli was to lean against him and ask for pats. His family had never been one for talking about problems, so all of the toxic feelings were safely pressurized inside of him.

Well she was smarter than the average bear and asked sensible questions, he felt some of his irritation at having to train someone from scratch again abate slightly “We usually practice first thing in the morning before it gets too hot, the general rule is if they’re not being used help yourself” Thinking things over to himself for a few moments the man then added offhandedly “Once you think you’ve built up enough muscle come see me and I will start your lessons” with the raw talent she’d managed to show the other night he wasn’t expecting to have to wait for very long. Remembering he beckoned and headed towards where some of the spare equipment was kept, passing her some chalk, a pair of specialized gloves and the boots often used “These are now yours, take good care of them, the chalk stops your hands from becoming too sweaty, you got a name kid” he couldn’t remember if he’d been told her name or not, he was interested enough in her to request she repeat herself. That wasn’t a privilege most got given from him, he was infamous for having a very short fuse especially when it came to idiots, usually the only person he really tolerated was Seth.


Sighing at the fact that he was left in charge of two children now, once they’d both finished eating, he stood up and headed off to the park with Tor following closely carrying his ball. As soon as Lilli was set down the dog got straight into trying to get her to play with him having already decided that she was his new master, ignoring the bitter spear that stabbed at him Hrolf sat down on a bench and glanced over at Connor, deciding that he was going to pet the boy and give him a better life on the farm than on the streets he spent the morning weaving a collar for him out of some grass taking care to pick grass that wasn’t going to be itchy. Once it was finished he beckoned Connor over and passed it to him with a gentle smile on his face “Here, I’m going to be heading home in a few weeks, I’d like to bring you with me. You’d be safe from your parents and wouldn’t want for anything, I’d make sure of it”speaking very quietly to Connor he could see that the boy was seriously thinking over what he’d said, the dark blue eyes flicked from the item in his hand back to Hrolfs face before the boy nodded and accepted the collar and put it on, brainy enough to read between the lines and understand that the item was part of the deal. Making sure the pair of kids got something to eat for lunch, Hrolf himself skipped the meal anxious about what was happening with his farm and just wanting to be home, at dinner he sat at the table with the two humans staring off into space as if preoccupied.

Glancing over when Jon sat down, Hrolf offered a brief smile achingly aware of how time was slipping away until he could be in his house, in his bed where he belonged. Once Jon had finished his plate of food, Hrolf headed back with them to the abandoned house that he’d managed to create a door for, once Connor was half asleep and Lilli was asleep the blond faerie opened his mouth to talk “I’ll be taking Connor with me when I go, he will be safe from whoever hurt him and he’s clever enough to do quite well for himself on the farm” flicking his gaze to the simple collar that was around Connors throat he had already decided that he would bring Jon with him if he agreed to let Lilli become a faerie, he’d need someone to take care of her and the way that Jon had taken care of all of them suggested that he’d be a very useful pet and companion. It was up to the human however, he could always decide that he wanted to keep Hrolf in debt to him, there wasn’t much he’d be able to do if that was the case, watching Tor curl up next to Lilli, once again he thrust his feelings into a box and imagined dropping the box covered in chains into the sea. There was nothing that could be done when it came to Tor picking Lilli as his new person, the animal chose the person, it was just a little difficult feeling abandoned again, it wasn’t their fault so he wouldn’t talk about it, couldn’t talk about it.

Watching Jon closely as the other man brushed his fingers gently through the dark red hair of his daughter, knowing that Jon was likely unaware that his love for his daughter was as clear as the nose on his face. Who was he to take a daughter away from her father? Reaching into his pocket he pulled out the other collar and offered it to him “Why don’t you come with her?” he guessed that he’d have to explain the various rules about being a pet to him but he wanted to offer Jon at least a chance to stay with his daughter and to live in comfort. After all, if it hadn’t been for Jon he wouldn’t be alive right now, the way that he’d been looked over was also a reason why he was offering the collar to Jon, he would make a good pet when it came to keeping an eye on things and making sure he ate as he was often one to forget about eating and keep working. He would have to also find out what Jon knew how to do so that he could give him some jobs around the place to do. He’d make the girl a faerie once he returned to the faerie world with them, it was too dangerous to make her one here when he was well aware that there were plenty of poachers who’d love the chance to get a young faerie especially one with red hair.

The question was expected, Jon wasn’t a fool after all “You’d become my pet, safe from other faeries you’d work on the farm alongside me and the boy. You’d be able to raise your daughter still and be a part of her life, I’d teach you how you’d need to behave around other faeries and what is expected. I wouldn’t feel right separating a daughter from her loving father” he spoke rather simply but it was the truth “You only become my pet once you don the collar, there are several tiers of collars that you earn as you go through life. If you’re not a hundred percent sure, just keep it until you are. I wont be turning Lilli into a Faerie until we are home, there are many poachers that would jump at the chance to capture a young faerie especially with red hair, so you have until I leave for the faerie world to make up your mind” offering a slight smile he stayed still while offering the collar still. Once he was home he would also need to get in contact with his half brother Tori, after a year of him being away he was expecting that he would have lost all of his customers and would have a lot of work to catch up on but he was fairly confident that his brother would be more than happy to start ordering from him again. Realizing that he was loosing focus he brought his attention back to the here and now, not the mountain of work he expected that would be waiting for him when he got home.

Hrolf took a breath “You’d need to give me your full name and around all other faeries do not tell them your full name or they will use it to control you. You’d spend most of your time on the farm but you’d be able to visit anyone in the human world with my permission. I think that’s about it? I’ve never actually had a pet before, but I can promise none of you would want for anything, I owe you big time for helping me Jon. I wouldn’t offer this to just anybody” listening as the rain started to hit the tin roof, he was thankful that the old roof still held the water out, he really couldn’t afford to lose any more weight and being cold could literally kill him. Shivering briefly he snuggled himself down into the blanket more, when he got home he’d be able to start working on putting on weight, on the streets the best he could do was just try to survive. What hadn’t helped was the first few months of being on the street on his own wracked with guilt and avoiding eating, he’d done a lot of things in his lifetime but that had the closest he’d ever been to suicide if he hadn’t stumbled in on Jon and Lilli he knew he would have died, after all, he’d been exiled for a reason. He needed to pay reparations to the pet that had been hurt because of him, as predicted the guilt returned churning his stomach and making him feel like he was being stabbed, on the outside his face showed nothing, his father had never been one to talk about one's problems and he’d picked up on that, this was a cross he had to bear on his own, it was his own fault.

The few weeks that passed by were instrumental, he’d already started teaching Con things that the newly made pet would need to know in order to do well, and it was good to see that his hunch about the boy was right he was flourishing quite nicely into a good pet. He’d also started teaching Lilli more about faeries, making the knowledge into fun games or telling her stories, as for Jon the company was always welcome, he liked the company that he provided and privately it felt nice to be taken care of, like somebody actually gave a damn about him. Hrolf had never been one for watching the world through rose coloured lenses, he’d never been good enough and only had the farm because his older brother had left, so he’d always had to take care of himself by himself. It’d been interesting to observe how Connor had started acting around the pair of them, seeming to have figured out that he was safe, he seemed to see both adults as parental figures of sorts, the boy in question was now following him and Jon quite closely as they made their way to the portal where he would finally be able to go home. Each step felt like a mile, but finally, they were at the portal, turning to pull the last remaining piece of faerie food he had left on him, he passed it to Lilli “Here you are” speaking warmly and with a noticeable amount of affection in his gaze, While she ate it his gaze flicked up to meet Jons in a silent question. He’d explained that it wouldn’t be safe for Jon in the faerie world unless he was a pet or a bound servant and that pets got better treatment and had better flexibility movement-wise, so he waited to see what the human would do.