As Strong As Metal

•TMI Tuesday•

•TMI Tuesday•

•TMI Tuesday•

•TMI Tuesday•

With recent activities going on within the forest, Mateo was on high alert much more than he usually was. Word has gotten around that vampires were now being spotted. This didn’t sit right with Mateo, as it made it much harder to protect his kind knowing that he had to deal with bloodsuckers traipsing about. Not that he couldn’t handle them himself, it was more the others not being able to stand against them that worried him.

Mateo was virtually vampire proof, as his skin was thicker than an average person’s. Being able to shift so easily to any element of earth had it benefits, especially when comes to piercing his flesh. He pities the poor vamp that tries to bite him. Let’s just say it won’t end well for them. 

Currently, Mateo was on patrol around the forts. Following his daily routine of checking around and surveying the area before he makes a trip to the market. All seemed normal as he checked clearing near the Seelie court. That is until he felt a change in the earth. The subtle shake of the ground notifying him that someone was near. “State your purpose. What business do you have with the Seelie court?”

“Tricks? Dove, when I’m in the mood for tricks, it’s not very frequent for them to fail. No, I’m here simply out of curiosity, and your obvious dislike for me has only sparked it more.” He wasn’t here to trick Mateo, just to try to win a fraction of favor, though it was looking more and more like that not be doable. “Is there a reason why you seem to hate us so much? I mean sure there was once an…intended war, but it never came to be. With a common enemy in the works, isn’t that what should be directing our hatred towards?”

Avery eyed the bottle, watching it tip and seeing the impressive bob of Mateo’s throat. He didn’t take personal offense to the other fae moving away, but felt less optimistic about making any progress. Maybe this one just wasn’t worth the trouble, and he didn’t feel motivated enough to work overly hard for it. 

Sighing, Avery reached down and scooped a pinecone into his hand, fingers delicately plucking at it as he narrowed his eyes in confusion at the question. “My deal?” He scoffed lightly. “I’m not entirely sure what you mean by that.” Oh he was sure rumor of his deeds got around, and maybe that was what Mateo was referring to, but it was always better to play the innocent act rather than assume.

Mateo couldn’t help but laugh his steel ass off. “Well get ready for some fireworks because it won’t be lightening up anytime soon.” He wasn’t sure but something about Avery was funny...or maybe that was the alcohol talking. Either way, maybe this night won’t be completely awful. “You make a surprisingly good point, but how am I to know that once all of this isn’t over you won’t turn on me? Plus I still hate your guts,” Mateo said nonchalantly, another chuckle escaping his mouth.

It was becoming more apparent that the alcohol was starting to take its effect on Mateo, and boy did it hit hard. His inhibitions where nowhere to be seen and he could feel much less hatred for Avery than he did before. It was nice. Mateo than leaned back and made sure to get far more comfortable than he was, to begin with. Suddenly, he was starting to feel much warmer despite being outside on a winter night. To alleviate his sudden hot flash, Mateo removed the jacket he was wearing revealing his sleeveless muscle tee, a personal favorite of his.

Mateo once again took a swig from the bottle before he passed it back to Avery. For a second he forgot what the topic of conversation was. When the other spoke up he soon again remembered. “Oh don’t act all innocent with me. I know all Unseelie fae are always looking for a come up. And I hear things you know, the forest talks. So tell me what’s your deal? What are you trying to gain out here?”

Struggles, struggled confusion and perseverance pushed through as Mateo completed his course. Aibell was slightly pleased by the fact that he was able to escape. It was not the best of times, and there will always be room for improvement. But now as Mateo found and smashed the exit - the whole maze collapsed. Below them, the ground went back to normal and the breeze had turned from strong, lashing winds to a cool breeze.

Aibell stepped forward, facing the younger fae and encircling him. She waited for him to change into normal as she continued her search, trying to see all possible knicks and scratches that could have been in his physical body. She was not worried, of course not -, he would be able to carry his own weight as was required. Being a soldier was not an easy task, a protector can be rewarding, yet very risky. Valiant although sometimes taken for granted.

She stopped as she faced him and a single nod was brought forth. “Well done. Your speed may be practiced on - but as you have been a leaf in the strength of the wind, congratulations on moving through it all. Now then-” she started as she raised her hand and conjured fire from her hand. The fire drifted into a circular orb, floating it’s way towards a small pedestal made from earth.

“You have been able to shift into dirt, mud, and even sad yes? There are no dire amounts of lava and volcanoes in Arain to worry about such destruction- but in the unfortunate event that you may be under heat- so to say, you will need to let yourself, flow with the fire. Yes as rock you may withstand it, but for how long? As you are one with the water as mud, you must be one with yourself as fire.” There are so many kinds of rocks that could withstand certain temperatures, and maybe in a way Aibell was paranoid- or she just wanted everything to be as perfect as it could, and it includes dangerous levels of temperature. 

The orb was now raising in temperature, and the red flame turned brighter, shifting between red and blue as it’s intensity worked to more dangerous levels. Fire has always been one of the trickier things she was able to control, it was not always easy as the other elements, and she was prone to using it dangerously - it was more of the fire working with her than she worked with it. With great concentration, she kept her magick up- ready for anything.   "Are you ready to begin?“

With the hole now in the wall of the maze, Mateo was finally able to step through. Once outside he was greeted with the regal face of the Seelie queen. She appeared please and for that Mateo was grateful. It had not been an easy task to traverse the maze but with perseverance, he was able to succeed. He now watched in amazement as the earthly structure now collapsed back into whence it came.

Mateo than shifted back to normal as his queen came to speak to him. She looked him over for a bit to see if he needed any healing but Mateo was proud to say he did not. He then kneeled out of respect for the Seelie queen. “Thank you, my queen. Your task may have seemed eccentric but I must say that it was quite challenging. I am glad that I was able to persevere in the end.”

It was not long before Aibell was introducing the next segment of training. Confusion laced Mateo’s expression as he was not quite sure what she was proposing. “Yes, my queen. All elements of the earth are at my disposal,” he assured. Mateo was accustomed to incorporating the other elements into his forms such as water and air, with mud and dust respectively, but he’d never been able to connect with fire. “Fire? My queen, I don’t think I’ve ever been able to connect with fire. I don’t even think I’ve been able to shift into lava either,” he admitted.

Mateo watched in awe as the flame formed in Aibell’s hand. It then was whisked away as it floated off to rest on an earthly pedestal. The colors shifting from red to blue indicating the intensity of the temperature. As Aibell spoke, the words rang true in Mateo’s mind. Letting his instincts take over, he shifted into that of coal. A type of rock that he knew what used as fuel within the human world. “Yes, my queen!”

Emma: Do I even weigh anything to you?

•TMI Tuesday•

“Oh… hello” he didn’t expect a guy form from the goddamned earth and into a human— no a fae. There was only one fae he knew that had that magick, and he categorized and memorized every single fae he could after the eclipse. Another Seelie. Yippee. He didn’t know if the fae knew who he was - if he was in the eclipse battle, maybe he would have seen Tobias although he was more at the sidelines. If not - then hopefully he didn’t see him much as he tried to stay a good distance away from the Seelie Forts, only occasionally gazing from far away.

The fae also looked out of sorts - maybe because he just flew, his particles probably blew him somewhere. Tobias snorted inwardly, unsure how to make of it. “You alright?” he offered “Every piece of you doing good?” The sight that he had also made him aware that the man was not exactly a man- it was none of his business though, and in a way, he admired that the fae took his chances and went through a change. Humans had a lot of stories regarding their gender and sexual orientation, the fae were risque and open enough with such activities, it was nice to find one who fought for what they wanted.

“I have some water? Bread if you want?” he offered as she raised his bag. Tobias was actually going to walk through the other side of the Forest, where there were bodies of water that didn’t equate to a small pond or the main lake, he wanted to find a place that wasn’t as crowded as other parts. He didn’t expect to see someone, but then again, he was sure this fae didn’t expect getting lost elsewhere as well.

A human, how wonderful. Obviously, Mateo wasn’t going to be enjoying the rest of his training. But at least this time he’ll try to be at least cordial. Compared to last time it should be easy, this human didn’t make him want to snap his neck. In fact, there weren’t many negative feelings that he could project to the human. Something about seemed different, almost as if he could see through Mateo in a way and that didn’t settle well with him. He would have to keep an eye on this one, that was for sure.

The sudden concern shown for Mateo was quite unexpected. He was well aware that he tended to come off very harsh to others and it was different to see someone, especially a human, be worried about him.  “I’m fine, just a bit dizzy,” Mateo had said slightly in awe. The trip had taken some out of him but as long as he was in one piece, which he seemed to be, he was good. 

Mateo then noticed the other man’s eyes linger on him for quite awhile. Not knowing what to do he decided to break the silence. “I’m sorry to drop in so unexpectedly. I hope I didn’t disturb you from anything.” It wasn’t like Mateo to apologize for something that wasn’t truly his fault, especially to a human, but in this circumstance, it felt appropriate. “No thank you. I assure you that I’m fine, no need for you to go out of your way for me,” Mateo said earnestly. He couldn’t help but feel a bit warm inside from the gesture. Here it was a complete stranger to him being truly nice to him. Maybe not all humans were so bad, maybe. Upon further looks at the other, something about the man seemed familiar to him. “Hey, do you know you? I feel like I’ve seen you somewhere before.”

•TMI Tuesday•

Has your greatest fear ever come true?

“No, it hasn’t and I would like to keep it that way.”

When it’s all said and done, will you have said more than you’ve done?

•TMI Tuesday•

•TMI Tuesday•

•TMI Tuesday•

Ronan smiled. The party trick comment elicited a proud rebuttal that he hadn’t been expecting. The wolf often found entertainment in getting under someone’s skin, picking at a scab to get a reaction. But the man’s face, despite the seriousness, was far too soft and inviting to do so. 

And.. perplexed too as Mateo surveyed the surroundings. Which struck Ronan as odd. Admittedly it was a powerful demonstration of magick, but not entirely helpful if one couldn’t control where they landed, if that was the case. He eyed the extended a hand a moment and then took it firmly with a nod. 

“Ronan. Uhm, well..” He glanced behind him with a wave of a hand. Mateo had offered a clue of where he’d come from and thereby who he was, so Ronan decided to give him one too. “The caves are not too far away, in that direction. So you’re on the other side of the forest. Were you looking to get lost on purpose or..?” Or a lot of weird shit had happened lately, members of his own pack had been affected by a ripple through the forest, so perhaps Mateo truly had no idea where he was. “Either way. If it makes you feel better, your arrival was pretty damn impressive.”

Mateo took the other’s hand firmly and shook it. ‘Nice to meet you, Ronan,” he said genuinely. He then looked in the direction he was made aware of. “Oh, the caves. Hmm, I have to visit there one day.” It was odd but he was actually curious as to what it looked like. The fae lived in trees and had managed to make a very cozy home for themselves, so he wondered if the wolves had managed to do the same. 

Ronan’s questions sparked the memory of what Mateo had been previously doing. He had almost completely forgotten that he had been training this new aspect of his magick. “Well no, I had been previously training. I was working on perfecting this new aspect of magick and ended up here. You know the rest,” Mateo explained. He smiled at the other, “You really think so? Thanks.”

It was nice to be complimented, Mateo rarely meets strangers so to get such a positive response from someone he barely knew was nice. “If you think that was impressive you should see some of the other things I can do,” he mentioned. Ok maybe he was trying to get his ego stroked just a bit but it was harmless, all in good fun for Mateo. “So what brings you out here?” Curiously, he wanted to know what exactly someone else does on a daily basis. Especially for some of the other inhabitants of the forest. It wasn’t exactly like everyone in the forest had 9 to 5 jobs.