I13DT - Fairy Land

[Laura Weston]

Laura was settled in at a table, munching on some dinner. She was flipping through some things on her phone and making assorted faces, which for Laura meant *actual* faces.

[Teri Napliotis]

Eventually she might notice that somebody is standing behind her, holding a tray filled to the brim with plates of food, staring at her wings, entranced.

[Laura Weston]

"If you have a question, you can ask," she said, glancing over her shoulder.

[Teri Napliotis]

"Your wings are really pretty." she says.

[Laura Weston]

"Thank you. Most of the time they just get in the way." She motioned to the seat on the other side of the table from her.

[Teri Napliotis]

It takes Teri a while to get what Laura means. "Oh! Thanks." she says, walking around and sitting down, though she's still kind of eyeing Laura's wings. Possibly. It's hard to tell where exactly she's looking with her compound eyes. "Teri Napliotis."

[Laura Weston]

"Laura Weston. I think we've met once, but it's been a while."

[Teri Napliotis]

"We did? Sorry, sometimes we forget things." she says, starting to shovel food in her mouth.

[Laura Weston]

"Like I said, it's been a while and it was only in passing." She flexed her wings out so Teri could still look at them if she wanted.

[Teri Napliotis]

And so she does while she wolfs down the food in her mouth.

"Do they work?"

[Laura Weston]

"They do, but I get tired if I fly for too long. Still, it's nice to be in the air every once in a while. It's a little cold outside to be using them though."

[Teri Napliotis]

"The outside is awful. Winter's much nicer back in Greece."

[Laura Weston]

"I'm from Canada, so I can't really claim nicer weather."

[Teri Napliotis]

"Brrrr. Do you get lots of snow back home?"

[Laura Weston]

"More than others in some places, but generally yes."

[Teri Napliotis]

"Hopefully it won't snow here or we won't be able to go outside much."

[Laura Weston]

"All you need is a good winter coat and you should be fine."

[Teri Napliotis]

"But that's just not the same as being outside as ourselves."

[Laura Weston]

"Okay, now I get the feeling you're not talking about the two of us collectively."

[Teri Napliotis]

"Oh, no no, we're just talking about us." she says, pointing at herself.

[Laura Weston]

"Any particular reason you refer to yourself as plural?"

[Teri Napliotis]

"Yeah, cause there's lots of us." she smiles and reaches into her hair, her hand coming back carrying a huge locust.

[Laura Weston]

Laura quirked an eyebrow, "Okay, this is going to sound really insensitive, but is there a reason you're keeping a really big bug in your hair?"

[Teri Napliotis]

"Because it's one of us." she says.

[Laura Weston]

Laura seemed to be trying to process that. "So you're a collection of large grasshoppers?"

[Teri Napliotis]

"Yes!" she beams. "Well, they say we turn into a swarm of grasshoppers, but they're not gone when I'm like this. We're still that way in our head." she says, pointing at her skull.

[Laura Weston]

"Interesting," she says. "So you said you were from Greece?"

[Teri Napliotis]

"Yeah, but they didn't want us there anymore."

[Laura Weston]

"That sucks."

[Teri Napliotis]

"Yeah, but here we get as much food as we want and people here are nicer." she smiles.

[Laura Weston]

"Well, there is that, I suppose."

[Teri Napliotis]

"We miss being able to just go where we want to, though. Not that we're locked up here, but living in the mountainside felt... freer? Is that a word?"

[Laura Weston]

"If it isn't, it should be. Do you not go down to Maldon?"

[Teri Napliotis]

"Of course, but it's not the same. Everything here is towns or farmland."