The Artist of Otherly Things

He tilts his head. "I don't think I'm lying," he continued as he thought and wondered.* "It means if I met a fae, I didn't know they were one or saw them in passing without checking. And I guess you aren't the riddle type. I mean I do not know."

He was curious and wondered, pondered. If Wil thought he was lying that may mean Aurelius wasn't good at hiding what they did to the fae, but also.. if that fae demanded revenge, he wouldn't send Wil. Did that captured fae have a child? Was it Wil? Did Devrim know of this and still try and risk it all? To many questions behind his unreadable expression.

"Hmmm." He thought and it was surely some coincidence. "Ring a memory?" He questioned the last part before getting it. "Oh.." He paused and thought or pretended to think. "I mean no offense but you and I believe Pan also have a teenage like face, well when you're actually looking like one. You get what I mean. Smoke not so much." He did recall that fae coming in like smoke but he assumed it was from his own magic. "Smoke and scary sounds like you're describing the Obscurus." He was thinking, it was a coincidence.

"If I did see a smokey and scary fae with a teenager's face, I do not recall. I was mostly with Devrim for a bit, maybe he knows. His memory is better than mine." He also was not exactly about to confirm they had captured and held a fae, especially one of the royals of Autumn. Aurelius was not about to be butchered because he somehow had magic so powerful to contain a prince of fae. Nor did he want to fight Wil on a misunderstanding.

Wil was used to interrogating people in Neverland; those who stole, those who were really spying for Dark Pan... but whatever~. Wil smiled with a shrug, a glint of that Autumn and Green flickering just for a moment before it completely went away. "I'm just teasing with ya, Aurie. I'm glad you can recognize me, though. Although, that's too bad, I mean, I wouldn't have minded. My father's an asshole, really."

"At some point, someone's going to have to explain why using too much magic makes my clothes change. Or gives me a dumb hat."

“I guess so, I don’t usually be around Faerie or Changelings for that matter. They tend to stay away from us, you’d see a Lupine more often than a Faerie or their toys and that is saying something since in all my years I’ve only seen one Lupine and thankfully it didn’t seem interested in tearing my intestines out. But that is fair. I just am used to humans and other vampires.”

He rolls his eyes. “Fathers sometimes, I swear to Merlin and the Goddess. Fae I assume is what they are, they hate my kind I think, see us as unnatural and guessing given you were both and neither, it was more unnatural which honestly is outdated given Tremere, my clan were once all mages that became vampires and re-learned magic through blood magic. Hated some thousand years ago but now usually no one cares I’m Tremere. Same with Thinbloods, I mean, they are still hunted down but not as badly as before. So who knows, maybe more hybrids will come around and we just have to accept the times changing.”

“Heh, almost killing Harry Hook. The fact he survived a Faerie attack is one for the books, not exactly Lupine but still. But disowning… they are old, Wil. Not an excuse but their values are outdated and probably paranoid at what is new.”

"Yeah, it's like that everywhere in Faerie, been that way for ages~. It's why I was placed into the human world as a baby to hide me away from all those other Fae who wanted me dead."

Wil wasn't looking at this Aurelius, his thoughts had drifted back to the days of his early youth - what it was like growing up in the foster care system.

"I guess in a way I'm a changeling, but I'm not at the same time. I was placed here, yeah, but not to replace any human child like in those stories. My mother really was a human woman. She died the day I was born." That's why he was never letting Abigail go.

"Hello Wil." He had been at his little cottage area he set up, still around the dragon's lair but out of most lines of vision and hidden by magic since mostly he preferred his solitude often.. well, hidden not well enough since Wil was standing there.

A small twinkling of color flickered into Wil's gaze and the edge of his lips curled just so slightly at the witch's recognition of him in this form. "I hadn't been sure if you would have recognized me," he said, his voice trailing off almost like a question. "Besides, it's been a while.. I think." He actually wasn't entirely sure about that, considering time moved very differently where he lived now.

"Never-the-less...," he sort of sang, "You're lying. I can tell." It was a guess, Wil actually had no way of 'reading' the man like his father did with the seeing aura's and all, but in a human context of the way he was acting he could.

"You didn't but you didn't know if you did?" Wil scoffed with a hint of a chuckle. "What the hell does that even meeann? Am I supposed to solve a riddle or something. It was a question, Aurelius." Wil shrugged, but it was obvious that something about him was playing with man.

"Wil, ... I'm not going back to Neverland," he drawled out in emphases on that last word. "Not yours or Pan's. This is where I belong. I belong here with Max and my kids. If Tom's gone, that means it my turn. That's what he'd been saying all along since he found out I'm biologically a girl. I'm supposed to take over and lead my Clan. We have not just mine, but three of his and Cal's, and I'm the only born dragon and Cal can't remove his guise."

Wait ... he was biologically a girl? Wil didn't speak but stated in his head as he couldn't help the slightly confused look on his face as he peeked up at Devrim. This was new. Not that he cared, but he just had always assumed since he'd always seemed to look like and be a boy.

They had raised him and he never said anything.

He also had no idea there were so many dragon kids.

Not that any of this was more important than what had happened to Devrim which just seemed even more complicated and fucked now with this really wrong image in his head of what actually really transpired now in that Order... and the other talk of fucking.

He wasn't even going to go there.

He alllllmost asked... but nope nope not not going there.

Sometimes he really just needed to shut up his internal dialogue.

Fuck it. He wouldn't lie to Wil. He had no reason to. "Nah, I wasn't under anyone's control, .. except for you... I'm assuming you know, considering you talked to the vampire Aurie. It was my own doing, though. It's not his fault, so don't blame him or do anything, okay?"

Dev took a inhale of his cigarette, before letting a gust of the smoke trail out. The truth was, he hadn't been that great since he had gotten back --- just --- everything kind of piling up and all.

Dev shrugged. "I guess," he said to the not mattering how you were born thing. "This is just new to me, you know? I didn't think you really cared about me or anything." Dev sniffed, rubbing his eyes. He probably looked like shit in this guise. He hadn't exactly been sleeping too much.

"I need to do what I need to do, Wil. They have my child. If I'm under the influence of Aurie, than maybe the Order won't be able to control me."

While he was overly happy to hear that Devrim actually killed that lizard asshole on his own will, the state Devrim was in kind of nixed that.

Wil heard the comment on how Devrim thought he didn't care about him, but he made no move to say anything back. Part of Wil was deflecting that away inside, dissociating from the truth of that.

He couldn't help it. It was a trauma reflex at this point in his life - to not feel anything, because when he did, he hurt too much.

He loved too much.

No. He had gone back to pretending and living within his own imaginative mind, just like when he was a little kid in the mortal human world. The only difference was that his sketchbook had now become a reality.

Flash backs of him searching for Danny after the Order had taken him shot to mind, and that he died.

He glances at Wil who laughed and mocked. Such a child. But he was almost tempted to amuse the kid. Or frighten him... Aurie wanted to go for the latter. Blood Sorcery or Oblivion.. what would be more interesting.

"Need some proof I see. Seeing is believing." He doubted Wil would be up for him tasting some of his blood to learn some of the boy's traits. Finally he closes his eyes.

He rouses the blood inside of himself, preparing. And already can hear the beast in his mind as un-amused as ever that Aurelius would do tricks like some useless mongrel for treats. He grit his teeth and ignored the words in his head and suddenly opened his eyes that shown a slight red hue in his usual brown eyes.

He hadn't expected a show of Aurelius' power, but he had to admit, he was actually surprised and bit amused. A small toying grin reached the corner of his lips as he watched with a little curious hesitation as the shadow reached around him.

When it tapped him on the head, did Wil smile even bigger and allowed his own imaginative magic to unleash several long spiraling roots that also broke up along the floor to circle themselves around Aurie without actually touching him.

When Wil looked up, the entirety of Aurelius' home would 'appear' gone and they were now surrounded by a surreal blue forest with little zipping shadowy sprite like energy jumping through it's branches. The moon lingered overhead yet looks oddly 'off' as if a copy but not quite right.

"I like your magic," he smirked a little. "Don't worry you're not trapped here. It's just an illusion. I'm a Dream Fae. What else can you do?" He was curious.

"Yep junkie is about right." Another reason he didn't want ghouls, they got to needy after a while, to warped where somehow they think slavery was a twisted form of love. He'd be damned more if he'll allow Devrim to keep doing this to himself. "Craving withdrawals, thankfully it won't affect him as severely. If he had been a human on the vitae for a couple hundred years would've been alarming since without blood after that, they'd wither and ash pretty much at that age. Devrim just wants vitae, hopefully mine and not so foolish to try and take from other, less caring vampires."

"He may have developed some of my power, not as strong as mine but can be a shock so hopefully he doesn't figure out he has my power." And Aurelius dreaded how either could manifest since he wasn't exactly a normal creature himself.

Wil didn't know which was more surprising, the fact that Dev was now some blood junkie, or that he now might actually be a dragon that has magical powers??!!

Wil just took a moment to star at this man.

"I'm sorry," Will stated with a chortled half-chuckle. "For a moment I thought you said Devrim might have magical powers." He force laughed, again.

"I mean that would be crazy, right? A dragon with blood magic and shadows?"

"... and here I originally thought you were some stuck up old guy who didn't know how to laugh."

He had to be completely joking. That little kid? Dev?