Disclaimer: No owny.
Newly beta'ed!!! :)
IMPORTANT: There's a legend or another about the red string of destiny to the chinese...
And the there's two fairy courts: the Seelie which resides in the Forest and the Underground. More will be explained later, but for now merely remember Tinsel is a Unseelie and the Seelie are his greatest enemies. ...And a reviewer mentioned Desdren Files? Just no. Never hear nor watched it before so ha! :) Got it from the real stories...and partially the Daughter of the Forest Series.
There were many things as the American Dragon that Jake hated doing. Practicing his skill was one of those things. He hated the mental strain. He hated the physical strain. He plain hated it. Except for this once. This time, Jake was practicing on how to sense Spud.
In a totally non-stalkerish way, of course.
He started with clearing his mind, then he thought of how Spud smelled. It was homely and all his, and somehow the thought of it conjured a golden ball in Jake's mind. It kind of looked like a bouncy ball, he mused. One of the big ones you could get at the front of Wal-Mart. Connected to the gold ball and leading away from was a red string connected to a gray ball – this one more like a retarded gummy bear. The red string did not look particularly strong. He wondered why...
Jake touched the gold-ball-feeling that was Spud. Immediately he felt a flurry of emotions drown him. Panic. Anger. Fear. Happiness. Love. Stress. Anxiety... Jake pulled away from the gold ball in shock. How could Spud hide these things from him? What else was he hiding?
Concern now filling him, Jake got ready for school. How on Earth was he supposed to act normal around Spud now?
"This bein' pregnant thing blows," Trixie said angrily.
"Who's the one who forgot to wear protection?" Jake taunted. "Was it me? Noooo. Was it Spud? Noooo. Was it Trixie and Kyle?"
"Ooh! Let me answer this! It was Kyle and Trixie, right?" Spud asked, grinning madly.
"Got it in one!" Jake called, laughing.
"Shut up!" Trixie growled.
The three walked past a bunch of kids playing double dutch.
"Man, I wish I still knew the songs and how to do that," Trixie remarked, sighing.
"It's okay, Trixie!" Jake smiled. "After a few months you'll be able to!"
He was duly hit.
"Though, this song is new..." she trailed off.
"The prince comes! He returns on the Midsummer wind! And frost from Midwinter! With purple eyes! He'll be the Dragon King! Mordred! M-O-R-D-R-E-D! How many brides will he take? 1-2-3-4-5-6-"
"Weird." Jake remarked.
"Yeah, it kinda is, but that's the fun. No one knows how those songs start. They just do." Trixie laughed. "Though it sucks when they don't rhyme."
"Who are you? The rhyming police?" Spud asked childishly.
Trixie stuck her tongue out at him.
"I liked it," he continued.
The rest of the day continued in a relatively light hearted manner. Well, according to Tinsel it seemed light hearted. He had been concerned a few times about human and dragon etiquette.
In the Underground, if a male had only opened the door for his comrade and not for a female - especially a pregnant female - he would have been berated by the Women's Council! Tinsel had been astounded when the dragon opened the door for the human boy, and allowed it to slam in the face of the Great Mother.
Sacrilegious!
Tinsel was about to get involved in the matter when the Great Mother hit the dragon hard enough that he yelped. The fairy grinned menacingly in approval. The Great Mother needed to be strong!
The tiny fairy quickly followed after them as they entered the huge building. It was almost a castle, but not as grand nor as large on the inside. He could easily see why the Great Mother and the dragon and the human were so down-trodden about coming here. It was not fit for the brightest, sun flowery [i]bastard[/i] of a fairy!
Shuddering, Tinsel followed his charges. He was surprised at how often the Great Mother abused the dragon – not that Tinsel disapproved. A tiny human woman with child had the power to bring pain to the American Dragon? It should have been impossible! The American Dragon had faced the Dark Dragon and lived! What in the name of Pan was going on here?
Fairly disturbed now, Tinsel wished he could forget the screeches of pain the dragon had produced. Yup. As far as he was aware, the dragon was big, buff, and tough, and in no circumstances was he crying, "Don't! Please forgive me!" Nope. Not at all.
With great relief, Tinsel finally followed the three to the mid-day meal. It had been angering to hear these pathetic humans preach about wars and the formation of the Earth when they were obviously as ignorant as the monkeys they "evolved" from.
Humans.
Tinsel followed the Great Mother and her comrades to a table that Tinsel thought smelled funny. The sort of smell he came to associate with the Fair Lady's consort. Lemons and vanilla [i]so[/i] did not mix!
He allowed his attention to be captured by the humans milling around the dining room. How strange... There were so many! They all wore strange and new colors Tinsel had believed only existed in the Forest. And the shapes these humans took! Round, skinny, tall, short... so much different from the Underground. His attention was drawn back quite forcefully.
"Ew..."
"Please don't put that in your mou- EW!" Jake screeched.
Tinsel hurried to glimpse the Great Mother and shuddered in revulsion. She was mixing her celery in the cheese noodles, and was quickly sloshing it together with chocolate milk. Pregnant females were quite simply... gross. Not that he would ever tell the Women's Council that!
"When you are pregnant, then you can tell me what to do Mr. I-don't-hold-doors-for-grumpy-pregnant-best-friends." Trixie glared.
"Right!" Jake cowered.
Spud snickered, "It's okay Jakey. You know Trixie doesn't mean it."
"Yes, I do," Trixie growled back.
Spud promptly fell backwards laughing.
Yup, humans were a few brain cells short of sanity.
Tinsel could truthfully say he was glad when the three had to go back to classes. The Great Mother had devoured the dragon's lunch and the insane human's lunch in the same disgusting fashion as her own. It was creepy and Tinsel could easily see why she was chosen as the Unseelie's Great Mother. She was vicious enough to be an Unseelie.
When the bell rang (he was still unable to understand how they could call it a bell when it was not bell shaped), his charges came meandering out. They seemed relaxed and happy, which Tinsel was joyful to see. It meant he was not doing a terrible job!
And then Tinsel's day was shot to the Forest. He was not quite sure yet why humans seemed unable to control their more primal instincts, but when they [i]were[/i] unable to, they got very stupid. He was sincerely glad the Great Mother was not stupid, unlike the males that seemed to surround her.
In this instance, there were three large males. Tinsel thought that he recognized them, but he was quite unsure. The large blond male in the middle sneered degradingly at the Great Mother and Tinsel himself almost broke the laws of secrecy to deal with the foolish mortal. Tinsel smiled in approval as one of the Great Mother's male protectors – the brown colored one – stepped in front of her, no doubt to protect her honor.
The great blond brute shoved the honorable protector and Tinsel shivered in horror. The dragon's eyes flashed for a brief second before roaring and tackling down the blond.
"Brad!"
"Jake!"
"Dumbass!"
Tinsel watched in fascination as the dragon beat the brute's face in. Blood was painting the dragon's fist while the other two boys tried dragging the dragon off. Tinsel felt in this case maybe some magical influence would benefit if it meant the blond could be drastically hurt, but then he saw the Great Mother trying to get involved in the fray after the brunette who had gone after his mate. The other two males were going to get involved.
Tinsel quickly muttered the rune for healing and protection for the Great Mother and whispered a charm of encouragement to get the dragon off of the blond.
"You fucker!" the blond howled as he held his face.
"Shut up, Brad! Just be grateful I decided to stop breaking your face!" the dragon snarled as he looked at his mate's face.
Tinsel wisely whispered a charm of cowardice to get the three other males to go away as he saw blood on the dragon's mate's face. Avoidance from the other males was probably the best policy right now.
Tinsel watched as the group he was protecting left the park and walked home. They passed a small group of children playing outside, jumping rope.
"The prince comes! He returns on the Midsummer wind! And frost from Midwinter! With purple eyes! He'll be the Dragon King! Mordred! M-O-R-D-R-E-D! How many brides will he take? 1-2-3-4-5-6-"