Private Finished Ninth Session: Box

Box stood outside the discreet door to Valli's office, waiting, impatiently. for 3PM. Well stood is a loose term, Box was floating, cross legged outside Valli's door. The Ouphe had been in therapy since he had started at the academy. Being forced to insult people wasn't a great way to make friends, and besides the odd meeting with the few people who could put up with that, he didn't really do much. Box spent most of his time either attempting to pay attention in class, or working on the latest commission at the jewellers. He had quite a lot of fun making a wire enclosure for a purple stone, that worked as a heat charm. Mister G, Box's name for the man who owned the jewellers, was partially deaf, and so Box could insult him while his hearing aids were out, and the man thought none the wiser. It felt mean, but it wasn't.

All he really longed for was for everything to be fixed. This was a magic school for goodness sake. Surely someone could wave a magic wand or perform a spell to fix everything. Whilst he wasn't the biggest fan of therapy, he saw it's purpose. He waved a hand, and pulled an over-sized pocket-watch out of the air, and stared at the second hand as it clicked around the face

"TIck tock" said Box, staring intently as the hand clicked around to 12 "It's fuck off o'clock"

He gently floated through the door of the office, careful not to move as he did so, before announcing his prescence.

"Heyo Doctor Brynderpants, i'm here for my meeting."

@Romi

Box floated over to the chair and sat, cross legged, a foot above the chair, so his eye height was slightly below valli's

"Erm. Not really. That christmas thing came, that christmas thing went. Didn't get anything. Mister G doesn't celebrate christ-mas. The club gave me a bonus for the roast night i did, although i could have got more. This fantastic dickhead came in and it was just too easy. He looked like he shouldn't be allowed within a mile of a school, so it was like shooting fish in a barrel."

At that, Box pulled a large fish out of the air and swallowed it hole.

"Took my sweets, did the exercises, the same difference." He smiled at this, his strange smile, but there was sadness in those big blue eyes. He was sick of things not changing. "Some guy threw his burrito at me in the street after I called his girlfriend a whore. It actually tasted pretty good."

Box had a moment of realisation. Something had changed. Something that set him apart from other fae. He had found a different skill...

"You know what, something inter-es-ting did happen. I found something out. Let's dem-on-strate"

Box thought for a moment.

"Dr Brynderpants, you are a woman. You have pink hair. You smell like elderberries. You are a sparrow wearing a suit."

@Romi

Box didn't respond. Instead, a small sparrow, wearing a tuxedo poked it's head out of the orange ruff that surrounded Box's neck. It hopped onto his nose, and began to speak, in boxes voice.

"As far as i know, i'm the only lyin' Ouphe. Even the fucking king of the Ouphes has to tell the truth. I mean noone would admit to having an affair with their partner's sibling in court like i made them do. It's fucking fantastic."

Box flicked his head up and swallowed the suited bird whole, with a big gulp, before looking up with a beaming smile.

"I can expand my repertoire. I can speak in met-a-phors not sim-i-lie. Its gonna do wonders for my career. I can say all sorts of lies. I am the king of the world. I used to be lead guitar in the beatles. I am happy and content with my life. The sky is green."

Box stopped for a second. His toothy grin vanished into a dour demeaner. It was quite common knowledge that box could shapeshift, but somehow, now, he seemed slightly smaller.

"I still have to insult though. So shit's not gonna get better, its just gonna get more di-verse. Worse and di-verse."

@Romi

"The only smart Fae i know are that Ceidwen woman who hates me cos i called her daughter a harlot. I mean she was acting like a harlot around Colonel Sanders. Anyway, you hooking me up with a Fae who knows would be really nice. Pre-fer-ab-ly one who doesn't call me stupid."

Box looked sad again. Ouphes weren't viewed very highly in Fae society, or even viewed very mediumly. They were treated as lesser fae, often at the same level as those poor fae-touched humans that the fae kidnapped, little more than slaves. They had their own court, their own king, and their strength was ever really when they banded together. Box had been lucky. Noone could kill him, so they just exiled him, placed wards against him on their courts, and forgot about him. Eventually he ended up in the human world.

"I mean i'm not that intal... intul... bright, but at least i'm trying to learn my vocat... vocabo... words. And as for my fun-da-men-tal nature changing, I mean an Ouphe's still an Ouphe's still an Ouphe. We are what we're born as. Not all Ouphes feed off insults, but ain't never met an Ouphe who could change what they feed on. But then again I ain't never met an Ouphe who could lie neither. So maybe i could..."

@Romi

"Thanks Doctor" said Box, smiling a toothy grin. It would be nice to talk to a fae, lie to them, show them that he wasn't a lesser fae anymore. He was King Box! Lord of liars! Or at least he was in his own head.

"I mean i wonder if I can feed off lying now" mused Box. "Lets give it a go. This chair is fluor-esc-ent yellow and made of wine"

Box concentrated for a few moments, his fists clentched, his teeth gritted, his big, round eyes pulsating with a soft light, before he sighed and relaxed.

"Nope, nothing at all. I mean maybe lying is a good thing. I can pretend to care about annoying people. Especially if i get arrested again, i can act like i respect the policefolk."

Box thought for a moment. Valli certainly did have an optimistic view of the world, and Box, despite all his negativity, kinda wanted to believe it. Maybe it was that aura thing Valli had told him about in his first meeting. Box had tried mimicing Valli, shapeshifting his face too look like Valli, but it was never right, there was something off, like a badly forged copy of a painting, or a bootleg movie.

"I mean i tend not to go out in public much. I stay in the backroom of the jewellers most of the time, making my things"

The backroom of the jewellers. It had previously been the current owner's previous co-owner's workshop, unfortunately the co-owner had tried to steal from the shop to pay for an unfortunate and expensive cocaine and sex addiction, and had been treated with a stay in jail for his troubles. Now box lived there. He had a futon, and a workbench, a TV, and a minifridge. It was his paradise. A place he would much rather be right now, working on the necklace some fancy person had ordered.

"I go to feed at the roast nights, but that only lasts me four out of the seven days. That leaves three where i'm starving."

Box held up two fingers, before momentarily counting and adding a third. He hoped Valli hadn't seen.

"The school suggested that solution, with the dude with the headphones, but it didn't really work"

@Romi