WHAT: An adventure of trying to leave the fae realm during the Midsummer festival WHERE: Fae Realm > Vallo Forest > Morningside WHEN: Backdated to end of June WARNINGS: Mentions of orgies and some shady fae torture but it's fluff! STATUS: Complete
The early part of the evening had been playing the game of politics. Well, following the brief pause in the beginning, for Morpheus to clasp Kenzi’s necklace around her neck while he tried to resist the urge to graze a finger along the pale skin there.
He only half succeeded.
Morpheus managed to not stay distracted for more than a brief moment in time, but throughout the night he found excuses to let his fingers trail on her back, or to stand close to her. He tried to pass it off as protection. The Summer Court was one of the more dangerous ones to venture into, especially as a mortal, and the amount of fae that had sent her looks was only waylaid by the fact that she had a powerful cosmic being at her side.
Or so he told himself.
It wasn’t until much later, and in more quiet, empty halls, that he took her hand. But it was to tug her in one direction before they went through the open door. “That way is to the orgy, I believe.” He could have just sand-traveled them home, but it was considered rude to leave the fae realm any way other than the portal out. Which left them exploring the now-abandoned labyrinth likely designed to keep Mortals in.
Kenzi didn’t spook easily.
Okay, wait. Scratch that. She did, but she was good at not showing it, and good at navigating an endless game of fae tricks and riddles. This wasn’t the time or place for cheeky shenanigans. She stayed close to Morpheus, close to Bo (who blended in well with her fae status and that oozing sex appeal), and did her best to play pretty eye candy for a powerful entity while bullshitting all her charisma.
Aside from not partaking in their booze or food (she had a flask in her gown’s pocket, and she ate prior to this), it was honestly pretty fun. A bit weird, and she trusted absolutely no bitch, but it was definitely an experience. Watching Morpheus conduct himself around the court was, uhhhhhh.
Kind of hot, okay.
Whatever. He was her date. She was allowed to think he was hot. Those are the rules. “Not a prude but, yeah – don’t want to witness an orgy, hope they’re being responsible and using protection,” Kenzi mused, ever so casually threading their fingers together. In her defense, Morpheus held her hand first (even if it was to lead the way, shush) and what if she got lost?? Totally reasonable thing to do. “Did they give you a map of this place by any chance? Or are they trying to keep us here?”
Morpheus made a little noise of amusement at the idea of participants in a fae orgy using protection. “I do not think they are concerned with such things.” He had never actually attended one, though, so he could not say for certain. Morpheus had never been one for extracurricular activities involving more than two or three at a time. It lost it’s charm after that threshold.
It wasn’t as if he was the type to lean in that direction - that was Desire’s realm of things. Morpheus had not experienced physical intimacy in over a hundred years, even handholding as they were now was a novelty. For him to want, it took something special, and getting wrapped up in that - in someone not quite as mortal as she might appear - was a dangerous idea.
But not one he’d walked away from yet.
“Here,” He was distracted, by her touch, and how she’d leaned into physical affection with him instead of pulling away. That was his only excuse as he opened a door that was not to the portal out, but occupied by inhabitants already. Fae ones, that immediately froze their dealings to glare at them.
“Is this an orgy too,” were the words Kenzi blurted out without really taking in the sight before them, which was – hold a tit up, what was happening? There was a table. A dope table, carved out of crystal and it had some knives, and a whip on it, and someone was sitting on a chair with a light shining on them. The room was pretty but looked potentially dangerous.
This was… an interview? No. An interrogation, and they were given nasty looks for having the audacity to interrupt.
“This is not a sex thing,” Kenzi whispered the obvious to Morpheus, swinging their joint hands now because this was awkward and what else was she supposed to do with her hands? “Don’t mind us, we were–trying to find the orgy and be team players, our bad. You guys keep doing you, haha. Hah.”
Shit.
“You are trespassing,” one of them hissed, rising from their chair and towering in height.
Morpheus was not one to twitch under pressure and had given himself long seconds to take in the scene. He had no interest in intervening, it was a rule of his, but as soon as one of them stood to confront them - and glared at Kenzi - his entire demeanor changed, and gone was the relaxed Morpheus of five minutes prior. His shoulders squared as he rose to his full height in something of a barrier between the fae now moving towards them and Kenzi.
“We are honored guests of Lord Thistleback.” Morpheus’ voice shot back with a sharp edge not normally heard in regular conversation, and it was enough to make the fae falter mid-stride.
But being caught getting their hands dirty was never a good look. Morpheus knew he’d gained the upperhand and smirked. “Unless you’d like me to report this to him, I suggest you stop there.” There would be no reporting, because it would never reach that part, but the threat had done it’s job. Red-faced, the fae glared at both of them, clearly contemplating his next move. “Get out. Before he never hears from his honored guests again.”
Kenzi wasn’t… worried, no. It wasn’t as if she was a stranger to being sucked into fae drama. She was used to being at the end of sketchy, mean looks from them just for existing. On her own, she could usually get by with street smarts and getting creative. Like, you know, running really really fast after going look! Over there! and then attempting some kind of arson. There were options.
Morpheus exuding his fuck around and find out energy was a good route, though.
“That’s what we were trying to do, dude,” she shot back at them, eyes narrowed into slits. “Happy to remove ourselves from whatever nefarious thing you’re doing.”
She might be in their territory but she wasn’t about to roll over and show her belly, either. Kenzi wasn’t here for the ‘I’m superior due to my magical race’ thing.
“We were not speaking to–”
“Don’t care,” she cut them off, tugging on Morpheus’ arm to lead him out the door. They might be about to change their minds about letting them off without fulfilling that threat, and she wasn’t about to stand around and find out. “They want to make it hard for humans to get out of here, right? So I’m guessing the way out… is probably hidden by some kind of glamour? Illusion?”
On his way out the door, Morpheus paused briefly to give an exaggerated bow to the fae in question. His black suit billowed behind him as the door closed and they were out of earshot. “Yes,” he was constantly impressed with Kenzi’s deduction skills, though it rarely surprised him and how astute she was. “But there are always tells. An aura of magic, a shimmery veil, something glowing.”
He had never known the fae to make anything look ordinary when they had the chance for something spectacular.
Morpheus walked with her, fingers just grazing the small of her back as they lingered. He preferred to stay in contact with her as they walked through the maze of halls, but sand began swirling around his fingertips out of impatience to leave. “If we do not find it soon, I will--” At the end of the hallway was an orb, delicately balanced on a pedestal. “There.” Though he’d been wrong once before, and this time was not so keen to jump in headfirst.
It was a portal, that much he was certain of, but to where? “It may put us someplace inconvenient.”
Ohh, shiny. If it weren’t their ticket out of here, she would almost dare pluck the orb from its resting place to shove into her pocket – because every dress she glamoured for herself obviously had pockets. “Don’t know,” Kenzi chewed her bottom lip, glancing over her shoulder nervously to see if they were being tailed. There were shadows cast against the other corridors suspiciously shaped like people, and she didn’t want to find out if they belonged to lost souls also stuck wandering around or those ornery fae they walked in on. “But we’re already some place inconvenient, so – you know what us humans like to say, right? YOLO.”
When they reached the end of the hallway, and touched it, and it felt like nothing happened – they weren’t sucked through an interdimensional portal, a swirly gateway didn’t open up before them to step through. Instead it was subtle. It was graceful. The stroke of magic swept over them like a feather-like caress. All Kenzi did was blink, and…
There were no halls. No orb. No shimmering floors in which they could see their reflection. Their walls were trees with blooming flowers, and the ground beneath their feet was earth and grass. Night had fallen, but the space was bright with floating lights – some kind of forest magic, or fireflies, or fairies? The cute kind of fae, not the asshole kind. (She hoped.)
Kenzi snorted a laugh. “This isn’t a trap, right? If this is a trap, I regret touching the shiny thing.”
Was this Vallo forest? She couldn’t tell. She didn’t venture much out in the woods – her footwear was too high maintenance for nature.
“I don’t believe so.” It didn’t take Morpheus long to reorient himself, as he glanced around the forest. It was the Vallo forest, and not one of the fae realms, though pretty as it was.
He didn’t drop his hand away from her, even going as far as pulling her in just a little closer. Morpheus looked down at her, not afraid of the closeness even if a quiet voice in the back of his mind warned him it was not a good idea.
“I believe it is just Vallo’s natural forest. Would you like me to take you home through sand travel?” It was a simple thing for him, but not a movement that everyone enjoyed. There were waypoints they could walk through, but this was natural and known to Morpheus. It also kept his hand on Kenzi’s back, for the selfish edge of things.
Holy balls, those cheekbones. Kenzi blinked at him. Her brain was having a derp moment–Morpheus had this intensity about him that made her stop in her tracks sometimes and stare. Hopefully in a not creepy way?? But she was quick enough to snap herself out of it, clearing her throat before offering up a smile.
“I’m good with the sand travel,” she confirmed, giving his chest a pat-pat since they were close, and she was, like, cool with it. Obviously. Kenzi never had a problem showing someone she didn’t like them, but she liked this someone a little too much. This billion-years-old, all too powerful embodiment of dreams and nightmares. (Shit.) “This was fun. Pretty hot how you can spook them, Morphy.”
Morpheus let the back of his knuckles graze against her jawline for one brief moment - but it felt like a hundred years passed before he spoke. “You did very well yourself. I was even more impressed than I expected to be.” It was a moment where he felt himself pulled closer to her, and Morpheus found his head moving just ever-so-slightly.
He snapped out of it before he did anything too rash, and they were both dissolved into a swirl of dream sand. A moment later, the pair were deposited right outside Kenzi’s door - as he was a gentleman and did not want to make any assumptions by delivering her directly inside.
“Ah-- There we are.” And now Morpheus looked like an awkward teenager as his cheeks pinkened slightly and he took one small step back.
Oh shit oh shit oh shit, he was gonna kiss her, that’s cool–she had brushed her teeth and everything, she didn’t even eat that one garlic tentacle thing that was being passed around as an appetizer despite it smelling amazing (she didn’t trust fae-made grub, anyway), her breath was fiiiine. Kenzi had this.
Until the only thing that happened was sand, and the hallways of Morningside. She swallowed her frustrations to an extent and grabbed him by the fabric of his ensemble.
“Here we are,” she echoed, quirking a perfectly shaped eyebrow up at him. “Am I allowed to give you a kiss goodnight? Or is that crossing a line with the dates we’ve been on?”
Morpheus sucked in a breath that he did not need. But it happened, as if his body took over. He wasn’t sure why it was so surprising that she would want this. Him. He had considered himself loveless for so long, after everything that had happened with Calliope, that it was difficult to imagine a world where someone ignored all of that for him.
It did something to Morpheus, relaxed him in a way that he had not expected. His face did not flush to anymore color than his pale skin allowed, but his hand was on her again, tentative.
“It should be I that asks that question.” He did not move further away and opted to lean into her pull. “You can have anything of me that you desire, Mackenzie Malikov. When it comes to you, I am for the taking.”
Hearing that was a relief. There were some insecurities that nagged Kenzi still, like the whole human thing being tangled up with someone that was distinctly non-human, and technically ancient, and kind of a big deal – and that could make things complicated. Would make things complicated, if she were to be honest herself. Vallo’s dating scene was a risky gamble. She’d seen it not go well for a few people, and she didn’t think anyone was the exception to the rule. It’d be kind of a dumb thing to do if you were into keeping your heart intact.
Kenzi had told herself over and over that, yeah, this might be a bad idea. But when she closed the gap between them, and pressed her lips to his for a kiss, she had this warm, blooming feeling that it was kinda of the best idea.
It was chaste as far as kisses went, all lingering and sweet before she pulled back just a smidge. “We made it to first base,” Kenzi whispered to Morpheus, lips stretching into a wry smile.
He matched that wry smile with an ease that was not common. Morpheus had his own thoughts on the non-human/human relations - namely that they were forbidden - but Kenzi was just not-human enough that he had let himself ignore it.
So far, Vallo had been out of the eye of his rules. He had broken many of them thus far, and no dire consequences had cropped up. Kenzi had already seen the worst of him, with his nightmares, and she had not shied away.
That was why he lingered now, he pressed his own kiss slowly to her lips. It was just as chaste as the first, but more of a goodbye. “May you dream of baseball tonight.” That wry smile turned a little smug as he took a step back, and the sand swirled and whisked him away to the Dreaming, alone.
Kenzi was totally not in a daze, it was fine. “Wait, what do you mean about base–”
Oh. Duh. Her eyes blinked with clarity before they narrowed. Did he really just kiss her and sand himself away? Morpheus was rude, but he was also hot, so. She’d allow it. “That was mean!” she called out into the air heatlessly, and went to go into the apartment except she hit the door first because she forgot to open it.
Definitely not in a daze, at all. What was she, twelve?