Writing out the Rules {Open}

[Faerydae Lily Elfe]

Faye looked around the empty room. It was very quiet, for a school. Of course, she had only been at one school, and she reminded herself that they might run differently. Just because her first school had been busy, filled with people all the time, that didn't mean that this new one had to be. Anyway, this wasn't even a school. This was a place for crazy people, and Laila was not going to be happy that she'd ended up there. Although Laila was in her own crazy people place... No, she couldn't cry. Not on her first day. She was going to be strong and pretend that her mother being sent to a horrible place where they'd torture her wasn't upsetting.

Wiping her eyes quickly - she wasn't crying, there was something in her eye - she walked further into the room and sat on one of the sofas. There were a few, dotted around the room, but she had picked one of the ones that was almost hidden away in a corner. Pulling the small coffee table closer towards her, she took her notepad from her shoulder bag and emptied a few pens from her pencilcase onto the table. Somehow, despite how organized she tried to be, she always lost her pens and pencils; aside from the ones that didn't work. They always stuck around.

Scribbling on her hand, Faye tested all the pens until she found a black one that worked. Good; it was a nice pen, and would look good in her notepad. Stroking the soft, black cover, she let her fingers trace the smooth lumps coming out of the front. There were some crystals forming a border around the edges; different sorts. She had made it herself, in Design and Technology with Laila. It was beautiful, and it was okay to say that, because she had made four and that was the best one. She had also made her current sketch-pad, but hadn't used crystals. Just the same covering, and some silver threads to create a small border around the outside.

Opening the first page, she lent the A4 book on her knees and began to write. Putting the first rule in big, centered, fancy writing, she underlined it carefully - only slipping a little bit - and then bit her lip. How could she make it look more important? Faye wanted to use her watercolor paints, but then she'd have to go and get water, and she might ruin the thin paper if she went wrong. No, she'd have to make do with her pencils. Digging further into her bag, she found her tin of watercolor pencils. They had been a leaving present from her foster family, and one of the most beautiful things she had ever owned.

Sliding off the little sofa, she knelt by the table and carefully shaded the words; embossing them with pink, purple and blue, with the occasional highlight of gold. After a minute or so of coloring, she looked at the picture intently. Yes, it looked good. Satisfied, she pushed the pencil tin away, but kept her seat on the floor. It was better; and someone might want to use the sofa behind her. Now, all she had to do was write out the rest of the rules. In her best handwriting, she slowly scratched out rules two and three, humming quietly to herself as she did so. After she had finished this, Faye decided, she was going to see what the instant messenger thing was about, and maybe paint something. She planned the sketch in her head as she wrote, her writing becomming sloppier as she daydreamed.

It was going to be such a beautiful picture... She would draw herself, serving her sisters and Laila when they were ruling the land of the Faeries. She had already sketched out the same scene a few times, but this time would be even better. And maybe she could post it to her mother. Laila would like that... " No! " Faye hadn't been concentrating properly, and her hand had slipped on the paper, making it look disgustingly messy. Now she'd have to start again!

Trying her best not to do what she wanted to do, which was hit things, she wiped her eyes again, willing herself not to cry. Crying was a sign of weakness, and Faeries were strong... It was just she had spent so much time embossing the words. Staring at the ruined work, she closed her eyes, counted to ten and turned over the page to start again.

Faye's Notebook
Always, always, always make people happy; even Humans.
Remember your place.
Never address a Human by their Human name. Always use names of the flowers, or traditional Faerie names, if they are worthy.

[Laura Richardson]

She’d come into the common room to draw, honest. She hadn’t meant to spend a long time watching another girl draw. Admittedly Laura was hidden away in a corner, drawing a little on her own. It was hard enough to get privacy around here. She was fairly used to having reams of time to herself – her uncle only came home at night, usually, and sometimes she’d wake up and he wasn’t there, but usually only when she’d had nightmares. He’d give her something to drink, or sit her on the kitchen floor and give her a knife or both and when she woke up, usually later than normal, she’d feel better. But he wouldn’t be there. Being taken from that and shoved into school and foster parents who asked a lot and now this was simply a shock to the system and Laura craved some alone time. She understood why she couldn’t have it, though. It was her punishment for hurting herself when her foster parents let her be alone.

Watching this other girl closely, Laura wished she could hug people. She seemed sad. Laura was sad too, maybe they’d taken this other person away from her family too. She seemed to be copying out something vitally important. Laura thought they could be this girl’s rules. Laura wasn’t allowed to write out her rules, but if she had been…

Giving them a quick run through in her mind, Laura smiled at the girl and coughed slightly. She should say… something. “Are they your rules?” She wondered if she should offer the girl a tissue. “I mean… hello.” Laura blushed and went back to her drawing. It was of a horse, but it wasn’t very good. It would be better if there was one in front of her. She wasn’t sure what her Doctor Hudson would make of a horse in the school.

Smiling at Faye again, Laura turned her drawing around to show her. She’d never seen watercolour pencils before, Laura had only used paint at school. She wondered what it was like to do whatever you wanted with paint and then wondered if she should ask soon if it would be ok for her to have a go at painting. She’d asked on her application and they said yes. Watching the girl, Laura wondered why she was so sad. Would it be rude to ask?

[Faerydae Lily Elfe]

Faye jumped as she heard a voice and looked up, pulling the notebook towards her and pressing it against her chest. Some people - usually teacher type people - tended to get angry when they saw her writing her rules out. But no, this wasn't a teacher. It was a girl, blonde and quite pretty, who looked about her age. " Um...yes. " Laura was speaking of rules as if she had them herself, she noticed. Most people just looked confused when she mentioned them. " Do you have rules as well? I mean...hello. As well. " She giggled, and looked at the drawing as it was shown to her. It was pretty.
 
" I like it. It's nice. " Faye thought that it would be improved if there were a few Faeries in the background, but didn't think it would be nice to suggest it. It might upset Laura. She turned the pages of her own sketchbook over, to the back where she had done several drawings when she was in the car on the way to St. Dympha's. " I drew these earlier today... " She span the book around so it was facing her, and looked at the drawings critically. She'd just drawn Faeries in various poses all around the page, with dark, depressed-looking colours. " I was in the car so they're a bit...wobbly. Oh. I'm Faye, by the way. "
 
She hoped that the other girl wouldn’t be angry with her for not remembering to introduce herself straight away. It was impolite, she knew, and she was an idiot for having forgotten and she needed to send out lots and lots of good energy to make up for it. ” I like your hair! “ Her voice sounded strange, almost scary with enthusiasm, and she blushed. ” I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to...not introduce myself. I’m sorry. Can I...make up for it? “ She hoped that Laura would say yes. It’d be sad otherwise if she’d upset a girl and couldn’t apologize.

[Laura Richardson]

Laura smiled back at Faye. “I have rules as well.” She nodded, feeling a little embarrassed she’d just parroted the other girl’s words back at her. “I’m not allowed to tell or show people or draw them, though…” She was a bit fed up about that, secretly. Her uncle knew best and everything but it didn’t stop her feeling things. And it was so annoying when people asked her for them and she couldn’t say. Laura supposed there must be a reason.

“They’re pretty faeries.” Laura put her head on one side. “Are you here for drawing? I am. And you have pretty hair as well.” Laura looked at it with her head on one side. Eventually she smiled again. She didn’t want to make the girl uncomfortable, even if she did sound just a little bit scary. “I’m Laura. I… forget to do that too. All the time. It’s bad of me I suppose… I didn’t introduce myself either. Maybe… we make it up to each other?” Laura tried to smile over her bumbly words. She hadn’t meant to make anyone uncomfortable.

Laura picked up her pencil and turned to a new page. She wanted to see what her faeries looked like. Things tended to look different depending on who drew them. Quickly sketching, Laura turned it around to show Faye. She smiled. “Did you just get here?” She paused and chewed her lip a little before carrying on. “Do you like it?” No one she’d met so far had liked it properly. Everyone said it was ok or it was really bad. Laura wanted to go home. She wondered if that was what Faye wanted as well, or if she was only thinking about her again. Francesca didn’t seem to want to go home. But then, Laura knew next to nothing about Francesca, aside from that she didn’t talk and liked fire and photographs. She took beautiful photographs. Laura had some on her slice of wall that Francesca had given her. Maybe Faye took photographs too…

[Faerydae Lily Elfe]

Laura had rules as well? Faye stared, her eyes wide with disbelief. "You have rules? What are they?" She realized how stupid that sounded - after all, the girl had just said she wasn't allowed to tell people or draw them - and blushed. "Sorry. I've just...never met anyone else that had rules, really. I mean, anyone else." She smiled, still watching Laura intently. "I have lots of rules, but the most important one is to always make people happy." Pausing, Faye hoped that she wasn't sounding weird. She'd been told that she did, sometimes. "I'm...part-evil, I guess, and making people happy stops that. Sorta." Part-evil was a good way to describe it. If she was fully-evil, she'd be a Demon - Faerie Queen forbid - but she wasn't that horrible. Just partly. "Um... Why can't you tell people? I'm sorry if you aren't allowed to tell me that, as well!" She didn't want to sound pushy or anything. Laura might feel like she had to tell her, which would be bad.

Faye smiled happily. "Thank you! I'm here because I paint, but I draw as well, and then paint over the lines..." She paused, wondering how much information she should divulge to this near-stranger. "My mother - not my real mother, but that's hard to explain - could talk to the Faerie Queen, and she'd describe Faeries and things, and then say it all out loud to me so I'd draw it. That's how I learnt." Was she talking too much? Probably, and she did that a lot. It was just nice to talk to people. Her foster family hadn't really let her meet many people, because all their friends ended up thinking she was really weird, and then not liking the family because of her. She'd felt bad about that.

"Um...I like your Human name, but it's not really a name. You can be Dandelion for now, maybe? It means Happiness, which is a good thing for a name to mean." What if she'd offended Dandelion by saying that? Faye put her hands beneath the table, scratching at her right hand with her nails. It was a punishment for offending someone, which was horrible of her. "It'd not bad of you, don't worry." She resisted the urge to sigh. "It's okay for Humans to forget things. Changelings - like me - aren't really allowed, because it's horrible." Not a very good explanation, but Dandelion seemed nice. She'd probably understand.

She smiled at Dandelion's Faeries, reaching out and stroking the wings of them. "They're lovely. What are they Faeries of?" There were different Faeries for everything. If she became one, she'd like to be the guardian of Changelings, so she could help other ones like her get better. "Yes, I'm new here - today. It's..." She thought, carefully, wanting to be honest and get the right answer at the same time. "Well, it's different to my old school. But there are nice people here, I think. I mean, I've only met you so far, but you're nice... Do you like it?" Faye hoped so. She didn't want Dandelion to be unhappy. She didn't want anyone to be unhappy.