Silver and Glory Find Silver's Fate

Characters in this scene: Silver, Glory, Lord Grey

"I've been thinking," Glory said to Silver. They were both in Glory's van, parked little ways downtown of Indianapolis. Glory was lying on her couch, while Silver was reading a book by the table.

"Should I be frightened?" Silver asked dryly, turning a page; she cocked her head, considering, then reached for a piece of paper by her hand and started to sketch.

"Depends," she says, sitting up and looking over at her. "I was thinking about what the wager for our Sell-Off should be."

"I'm quite curious to learn what you think you don't already have from me."

"Well, I got an idea, but you may not like it."

Silver sighed, still sketching. "Go on, tell me."

"If I win the Sell-Off, I get to read the Grey's scroll with you. If you win, you can choose to read it however and whenever you wish, and I won't inquire about whatever is on it without your permission."

Silver paused. She put down her pencil, then bookmarked her spot, then turned to look at Glory. "I'm sworn to try not to betray you, you know."

"Yeah, I know."

"Why does this matter so much to you?"

"Because we're in this together. Whether we want to admit it or not. It's inevitable that we're going to be pulled into each other's shit. And what Grey's got in there concerns me as well."

"My point is... do you trust me?" Silver cocks her head. "If it really matters, if its more than just him being a rude little shit or whatever. Do you trust me to tell you with only the oaths we have now?"

"Because you're bringing this down to a bet. Which is a choice."

Glory thought for a moment. "It's... not that I don't trust you. It's that... I'll stand by you, even if I know I can't rely on you. I think if it came down to you bearing the consequences of dealing with Fae on your own, or pulling me in to whatever horrible thing may be contained in that scroll, you would choose the former."

Silver wrinkles her nose. "You're not wrong, except that I don't know how I'd keep you out if it's actually, truly bad." Silver thrums her fingers on her knee, thinking. "Do you want this to be a bet? Or is it just the only way you can think of to get me to agree?"

Glory gave her a small smile. "Well, a part of it is also to spice the challenge. Proving the superiority of soft drinks over tea is a pretty good prize, but let's ramp up the stakes a bit."

Silver rolled her eyes. "Counterproposal hypothetical. I win, you tell me about your hometown. You win, I warn you about a certain threat I haven't been bothered to tell you about. And we just go and read the scroll now."

Glory eyes widen in surprise. "You mean, read the scroll now, now? Like, right now? Together?"

"Preferably in a warded room, for safety." Silver shrugs. "You more or less asked nicely. I'd like to encourage more of that and less of the pushing, given how it ended last time you metaphorically shoved at things."

Glory's eyes narrow. "If this was a big threat, I think you would've told me by now. Is it your family? Are they finally coming for us?"

Silver grins. "You haven't won the challenge, Glory."

Glory frowned, and she looked away, thinking long and hard for a while. Finally, she answered back. "If you win, I'll tell you what my hometown is called, where it is, how you can get to it, and what you should do if you ever find yourself anywhere near it. But I won't give you anymore than that."

Silver nods. "If you're sure." She shrugs; "I'll take a different recompense, if you want. It'd be fair. But you wanted stakes, it seemed, and this... seemed like stakes." She gets to her feet.

"So, we're doing this?" Glory also got up to her feet.

Silver pulled out the scroll, spinning it in her hands. "I guess we're agreed, then. You got an appropriately warded room, just in case? Or just, y'know, a room stuff isn't likely to break out of?"

"My Demesne isn't good enough?" She says, gesturing widely to their surroundings.

Silver huffs. "It was willingly brought into your demesne, Glory. Please, let me be paranoid. Some things can take advantage of shit like that."

"Well no, I don't have such a room. I'm rather limited in space, despite what you may think."

Silver shrugs, and starts walking. "My room it is. C'mon, then."

"Ooh, do I finally get a look inside your sacred chambers?" Glory said, happily hopping alongside her.

"You make it sound like you're specifically excluded." Silver pushed open the doors to her room, sized for a very large creature.

It definitely wasn't like the rest of the van.

Technically, the room was metal, gleaming and silvery like steel or, well, silver. But it looked like a small grove. The floor was patterned like grass and small stones, and intricately detailed carvings of trees and bushes wrapped around the walls. At the end was a pool, sized for Silver's other shape (a good portion of it extending under the front part). To the right Silver seemed to have set up her bedroom area, cushions underneath a covering leaf (large enough for Silver and Glory to curl up), with bush-like 'drawers'. To the left was what seemed like a crafting section, materials set up on tree-like shelves grown up from the floor, her desk a large curling leaf. The room was darker than the rest of the van, but it glittered gently. Like starlight, perhaps. There was a notable chill to the air, sharp and cold.

Glory whistled. "Nice place you got here. Didn't waste any time making it your own. Kinda taking up a lot of room though, don't you think?"

Silver sniffs. "I'm the size of a car. But if you need some of the space, I can definitely adjust things. I just... y'know. You're not the only one who pushes it." Silver shuts the door and takes a seat; despite her 'thoughtfulness' with the bed, she doesn't seem to have supplied a second seat. She spins the scroll in her hands. "Open-up time?"

"Wait," Glory said. She quickly whistled in a couple of goblins into the room with her. They quickly turned into a shotgun and a cattle prod, which she both strapped onto her back.

She then cleared her throat, and yelled out "Fuuuuuucckkk yyyoooooouuuu Greeeeyy!!!" at the top of her lungs. After Glory was done yelling, she turned over to Silver. "Yeah, I'm ready. Let's do this."

Silver grimaced. "They'd better leave once this is done." With a sigh, she unrolled the scroll.

As the scroll unrolls, neat and florid script writes itself as if being burned into the paper by an invisible hand. The first line reads: "A Fate Unchosen". As the second line writes itself, a silver colored flower petal gently falls out of the scroll and begins drifting towards the floor. The second line reads: "Your life is as a path to walk. Try not to become Lost upon it."

Silver flinches.

Glory frowned. "That's it? That's all?"

Silver catches the petal, going to one knee.

The petal feels at home in Silver's hand, like it has finally returned to where it belongs. It feels strangely heavy, for a petal, as if it is drawn towards the floor more than gravity might pull it.

"What's that?" Glory asks, leaning over to take a look.

"A story he had planned for me," Silver murmurs. With a sigh, she lets it drop.

The petal resumes drifting towards the floor.

"So, that all? Can you read it?"

"That's a question." She watches the petal. "You might want to catch it. It might be bad if it hits the floor."

Glory quickly catches the petal. She frowns as she looks at it, just sitting in her hand. "What do you want to do with it?" It settles warmly into Glory's hand. The petal feels strangely heavy; not only does it seem to want to pull towards the floor, but also towards Silver. It resonates strongly with the parts of Silver intermingled within Glory's Self.

"I don't know." Silver pulls out her phone, tapping a message. *This isn't your Room of Lost Petals. What happens if it hits the floor?*

*The scroll has been opened, then?* comes the response a few minutes later. *The same thing that happens to all discarded fates.*

*Cryptic.*

*I thought it poetic. You hold your own fate in your hands.*

*This is only one fate. Which one was it?*

*Why would it be only one fate?*

Silver winces. *One petal. Perhaps a foolish assumption on my part. It's still not the entirety of my fate.*

A Fate Unchosen.

Meanwhile, the scroll has begun to fill itself with more script, this time in Silver's own handwriting. The paper appears to be narrating events from the petal's perspective.

Glory leans in to read Silver's messages, then looks over to the scroll, and frowns. "I hate this fucking cryptic bastard."

*I made my choices, indeed, Faerie Lord. And I suffer the consequences, good and bad.* "Keep it if you like. Or throw it away. I don't think I want it."

Glory nodded. She looked at the petal in her hand. "So this was a story he planned for you, eh? A fate he had stored for you, before you became my Familiar, right?"

"I believe so, yes. He has many flowers. He told me once that I was still coming into bloom, and not yet losing my petals." Silver gestures to the petal. "I'm not sure what to think of the fact that that isn't a piece of paper on the floor of the other room, but it is certainly poetic." She sounds amused. "Of course, its story is still being written, so perhaps I am wrong."

"Yeah, pretty damn poetic," Glory said, still frowning. She then popped the petal in her mouth, and chewed on it.

Excruciating pain immediately wracks through Silver's and Glory's Self. The scroll jerks violently, as if the invisible hand writing upon it is writhing. Glory almost keels over in pain, but she keeps on chewing, with a look of extreme pain and anger in her face.

Silver flinches, curling in on herself. "Okay, bad idea! Bad idea, please stop."

The petal reforms itself repeatedly, drawing Silver's Self into itself like a vacuum each time it needs repair. Each chomp sends a new wave of horrific pain through them both.

Glory swallows.

....... "Glory, I think that was a bad idea."

The pain stops, at least, no longer mashed by teeth. Both of Silver's and Glory's Selves feel profoundly uncomfortable and vaguely wet.

"Don't worry, I'm wearing the condom. I wear it a lot. What keeps me thin and healthy."

"This is a very new sensation," Silver remarks. "... can I have it back when it comes out? Because I don't think I like this."

"Check back with me in another few hours," Glory said, already heading to the door.

Silver follows, rather instinctively.

"So!" Glory said, spinning around as they walk through the door, and capping her hands together. A wide smile came over her face. "Shall we begin the Sell-Off?"