~~The Writers~~


"Time to get to work, queen of my night," Zelda caroled as she came drifting into the bedroom she shared with her wife of twenty years. Corina was already at one of the two computers sharing a wide sweep of desk, sipping at a glass of wine.

"I swear to God, if I get one more complaint that we're not making Midnight Garden LGBT enough, I'm going to have Lance and Garth discover their feelings for each other," Corina complained, leaning back to kiss Zelda warmly before the other woman sat at her own computer.

"Oh, let's do that. We ended last season with them furiously at each others throats, each blaming the other for Adora's kidnapping by Fell Nocturne, the evil shopkeeper of Wicked Delights... when it was really Ralph talking out of school that got her snatched... Yes, that'd be perfect, fisticuffs ends up in passion."

"Mm, but then we lose the Arthur/Lancelot Romeo and Juliet thing they've got with Adora, much as I'd love to see those two little hotties in a torrid lip lock," Corina mulled, tapping her fingertip to her lips.

"Naw, more sexual tension, they still want lovely Adora's magical virginal golden honey pot. And ? oh, you know what, let's go ahead and have the sexy nerd girl seducing Adora's little sister, and mmm... What do we have on the fan boards?" Zelda mused, opening a deliciously gothic web site dedicated to the show.

To all appearances, it was a fan site, a forum board with Twitter and Tumblr feeds where devotees of the show were encouraged to air their opinions and theories of the show, as well as to post their fan fictions and role play.

To Zelda and Corina, it was pay dirt. They'd set the site up themselves and began harvesting stories, ideas, and even characters from the fans almost as soon as the show had aired.

"Everyone wants the sexy nerd girl to be secretly good, but is working for Diable Direword. They want her to believe she is the 'blossom of love' that will destroy him, and ? Yeah, that'll work. I like that. We'll have Sterling reinforce that, which will mess with Adora's and Diable's mind..." Corina smiled, quickly making notes.

"Oh I love it. And let's have sexy nerd girl... did we name her?"

"Nope. Let's name herrrr Aubrey Nightshade..." Zelda decided, quickly typing that into the note pad application shared between her and Corina's computers.

"I like it, but we've got a Thai girl playing her," Corina pointed out with a laugh.

"It's a shout out to Randy Milholland. Besides, his Aubrey is evil, and the fans will find the connection and buzz about it," Zelda chortled, "Also, I think Aubrey will be Celestial's ? goddaughter."

"Okay. Speaking of Celestial, I just read a little story with Sterling and Celestial, from when they were discussing the mysterious mystery that I haven't figured out what it is yet..."

"That'll be Celestial's tormented vampire husband," Zelda supplied.

"Right, here, Celestial notices someone listening, she sends Sterling after it, it turns out to be a girl more beautiful than beauty itself, smitten, Sterling suddenly turns sweet..."

"Ugh! Pass. Sterling cannot ever be sweet."

"Right, but the idea of Celestial ordering him to her bidding like she's summoning the wild hunt, him running down some random hottie ? that'll be a perfect way to introduce another ivory tower chicka who will be evil and that will enable us to bring in Adora's brother Cliff and also to get some more of the rival family battling..." Zelda decided, quickly typing her idea down. Corina frowned, nodding after a moment.

"Let's have her be older, twenty something, she'll be daughter of the Grimmer house, mmm... unnatural relationships are all the rage, so let's have her doing the nasty with bastard uncle Keith... While putting a spell of enchantment on Cliff... Yeah. Now what to do with Sterling?" Zelda beamed.

"You know what, we've kept him mysterious for three seasons now, let's go ahead and have him undergoing tests and challenges to his abilities... Benjamin's a pretty good stuntman, right?" Corina mulled, typing rapidly as she glanced at a photograph of Benjamin in character as Sterling Astrophel.

"He did say he needed the money to finish paying Star off," Zelda grinned.

~~Dr. Skullbasher, MD~~


Part of the deal for appearing in Midnight Gardens was full and inclusive health care. Benjamin insisted on it. Doing his own stunts could be dangerous, and despite training, it was a hazard of the profession to get hurt.

First things were first. He made an appointment soon after arriving just for a general check up, and because frankly, he was a young sexually active male. That wasn't the free and easy thing it'd been in the past.

His doctor turned out to be a genial dwarf woman named Lolita Skullbasher, with graying hair in elaborate braids and bright brown eyes. He patiently answered all the questions, took all the tests, and finally sat down with her, wrapped in a sheet.

"You're about twenty pounds underweight, Cookie, and no I don't care about how the camera yadda yadda yadda. You need to put those pounds back on," Lolita informed him, looking through her charts, "You're healthy as a horse, though. The spectral analyzer did have a few blips, nothing to be concerned about, just aware."

"The spectral... isn't that something from Ghostbusters?" Benjamin sputtered, looking up from dolefully poking at his stomach. Even sitting, it was rather concave, and he reluctantly had to agree with the doctor on being underweight.

"Probably, I don't name this silly crap, I just learn to use it properly," Lolita cackled with a wink, "We routinely scan people, especially if they're new, for any extra sensory abilities, because suddenly turning into a werewolf? Scary stuff, Cookie. But I'm not seeing that, just a few blips. You're probably just sensitive to the world of woogie. Nothing to worry about."

"Oh, okay, I was wondering," Benjamin laughed.

"Now, any questions? About anything, you are new here," Lolita encouraged, hopping onto the examination table beside him. He shifted to give her room and ran an arm around her easily.

"Sex," he nodded.

"I'm married, Cookie, I told you that," she cackled, bumping him in return, a pat of her hand to his back, "Well, RhyDin does not have the venereal diseases you've had to worry about back home. You're not going to transmit or be infected by anything like the clap, AIDS, crabs, any of that. But."

"There's always a but just when I'm about to toss out my condoms," Benjamin chuckled, head tipping.

"Hold onto those, Cookie. In RhyDin, especially as you are a young, handsome human, you can get anyone pregnant. Anyone. Anything," Lolita informed him gravely. He stared at her.

"I mean it, boy. You can knock up a dragon, a sea horse, the talking dog next door. Male or female or neither."

"...Whut..." he faltered, green eyes wide.

"Or worse, you can BE knocked up," she added, dark. Benjamin gaped at her. Lolita nodded once, firmly, and hopped off of the table to pull a chart down. It showed a cross section of ground going into a mountain chain and had silhouettes of several different beings.

"Here in RhyDin, we have identified several heavy earth elements which act like hormones on living and dead tissue. Long term exposure can even produce virgin births, or even weirder, virgin births with up to five sets of DNA," she explained, tapping at the diagram. Benjamin swallowed hard, his eyes enormous.

"I don't want to have a baby," he whimpered, clutching hands over his crotch.

"Good. I've studied this phenomena for years, Cookie, and I really think mindset is part of that. If you're bound and determined to have babies, babies happen. Unfortunately, it doesn't work quite as well the other way round," Lolita nodded, "Whatever you do, do not drink the water here unless it has been filtered or boiled or both. Bottled is best. The fertility elements are freed from the heavy metals through water, and they're pure and concentrated."

"Oh," Benjamin replied, wide eyed, trying to remember if he'd drank any water not from a bottle since arriving.

"You showed up clean for the hormones, never fear. They can be washed out of you, incidentally, it's just not a pleasant process. We suggest that you have them cleansed about every other year, unless you've managed to get a large build up of them," Lolita soothed, amused.

"Oh. Whew." he laughed with a sick grin. Lolita patted his knee.

"Anything else?"

"No, just... what sort of protection should I use, then? I'm bisexual, and I'm kind of easy," he admitted with a laugh and shrug.

"Well, first off, let's lay off on the being easy part, Cookie, that's what gets nice young people like you into trouble. Be a little choosy, okay? You don't lose the game if you go home alone once in a while," she advised archly, waggling her forefinger at him. He caught it quickly.

"But I do lose points," he told her with soulful eyes, laughing when she swatted him.

"Stick to people who you've noticed are okay with one night stands or friends," she went on, "And, then we'll send you to Gloria, she's our on duty mage, she'll go ahead and ...Hm. Where's my ? there we go..."

Benjamin tilted his head, watching as Lolita put up a test order sheet, and began to fill it out.

"Okay, I think we'll go with the heavy duty no-baby spell, a DNA scrambler..."

"A what...?"

"DNA scrambler, we whipped that up years ago when we had a rash of people pregnant by persons who couldn't be the parent and yet somehow the baby's had that person's DNA. It's a mutation in the heavy earth hormones that shows up randomly. It would allow the mother to not only have a virgin birth, but the baby would belong to who she wanted it to belong to. DNA scrambler keeps that from happening," Lolita explained, dryly amused. Benjamin stared at her, mouth hung open.

"Then we'll go ahead with the skin purification. That way you can swim around here and not worry about getting water in your mouth. Hm... Did you want a bigger todger, while we're at it?" she continued, pointing her pen at his crotch. He jumped and looked down, then lifted the sheet.

"They can do that?"

"Cookie, if you want to be a woman for a day, bam, you've got boobs and a vagoo. Gloria's good."

Benjamin sputtered laughter, shaking his head.

"No, thank you. I'm just fine the way I am. Is that really covered on my insurance?"

"Yup. Some boys date big girls, and I don't mean tall and heavy, I mean scaly or furred and giant," Lolita responded, brown eyes twinkling, "It's nice to meet someone who's happy with what he's got."

"Well, back home, if you're all that enormous, you're going to be dating farm animals or in porn," Benjamin shrugged widely, nearly laughing, "And porn doesn't pay the way it used to; these days, anyone with a web camera can be in porn."

"Hah! That's the truth. Okay, then we will do the non fertility ? that will need to be redone every year, you'll be sent a note. Same with the scrambler. We'll do a ward against infection, and the skin purification. That'll keep you out of trouble, I think," Lolita nodded, finishing up the work order. She handed it over to Benjamin with a grin, "Gloria's the tall, willowy brunette. She's single."

"Ohh. Thank you," he took the papers and sputtered laughing, "You think she'll help me try out the spells?"

"What did I just tell you about being easy? She'd want to turn you into a woman first," she scolded with a laugh, "Johnny will take you to Gloria once you're dressed."

Benjamin gaped at her, his face scarlet, and started laughing once Lolita had thumped out of the exam room.

~~The Fan Club President~~

"Mooooom!" Elliot Breezer complained as his mother dragged him through the house by an ankle, an altogether undignified method for any teenager to travel in, and worse because his mother seemed to be a petite little creature of maybe one hundred pounds soaking wet.

"Why do I have to be Chuchi Marks? Make Cindy be Chuchi Marks! I don't even watch your silly show!" the boy complained, scrabbling for a door jam and clinging. Zelda gave a good heave on her son, breaking his grip and continuing to drag.

"You are Chuchi Marks because you want to be a commentator, critic, and journalist, and writing as Chuchi Marks, the breathlessly agog president of the Midnight Gardens of RhyDin fan club will give you practice," Zelda informed him.

"You mean you just haven't found anyone who can write with teenage culture references and you're torturing me into doing it," Elliot grumbled, finally resigning himself to his fate.

"Now you're learning! Bring me a girl your age who is breathlessly agog over the show and is willing to write a blog as Chuchi with me hovering over her shoulder and you're free," Zelda grinned, hauling her seventeen year old son onto a chair parked before a pink laptop boldly marked 'Chuchi'.

"Will I still get paid?" he asked, eying her sidelong. A lot of his friends were into the show, after all.

"Hah! Nope. I'll give you a finders fee, but after that, you'll have to do your chores for money," Zelda laughed. Elliot grumbled.

"Fine, I'm Chuchi. If this turns me gay, then what, Mom?!"

"Then we'll have a nice coming out party for you, what are you kidding? Write."

The threat wasn't effective when his parents were a lesbian couple, Elliot realized. He sighed.

"Okay, what is the breathlessly agog blog about?"

"You were invited to watch filming yesterday, and you saw... this..." Zelda explained, reaching over her son to tap at the mouse pad, bringing up a film clip. Elliot made a face. The lead actress, Winnifred Glee, was smoking hot, and so were most of the other woman on the cast, but that didn't mean Elliot wanted to watch the show.

It was a glittering scene in one of the mansions ballrooms. Subtly creepy because the entire district of Midnight Gardens had been abandoned decades ago, and the set dressing people purposefully didn't restore the rooms they used to new. There were cracks visible, water and rust stains, mold, faded and decrepit furnishings, cobwebs, sometimes even rats and other creatures scurried through scenes.

The women were in stunning, gorgeous ball gowns, the men in elegant tuxedos. They were waiting for their marks, for the scene to begin. Most of the younger ladies had grouped around the buffet table and were laughing, goofing around while the director spoke to two of the older actors.

Benjamin, in costume, was sitting in an open window sill beside a large and grumpy looking griffon. The beast made a face as the camera panned over them, Benjamin crudely straddled his druidic staff and fondled it lasciviously until the woman playing Celestial smacked him one.

"Yeah, don't mention that," Zelda sputtered.

"The girls would go apeshxt to see that, Mom," Elliot chortled.

"Just watch," she exhaled, rolling her eyes in amusement.

The director called the scene to order, directing the actors to their places. Just as the camera moved to frame the older couple dancing, there was a loud crack. A groan. Voices raised in terror.

The camera turned with dizzying speed to pinpoint a heavy light bar suspended from a rack overhead. One of the chains had snapped. It swung downwards, crashing into its support. The rack crumpled at the blow, and the entire piece came crashing down.

"Move move move!" the griffon could be heard bellowing.

"NO!" another voice, Benjamin's, but it took on bizarre harmonics in the chaos.

Something like the staff Benjamin had been holding arrowed into the destruction just before its final collapse. Then, it all exploded, the entirety of the rack and lights shunting over five feet in the last moment.

Five feet that spared the lives of the girls standing under the lights. The camera panned to them. Many were injured, Benjamin among them. He'd managed to snatch one of the girls out of the way and fell over her when the heavy coils of power cables and chains crashed down.

Far better those and some debris than the full weight of the light bar.

"Holy..." Elliot gaped.

"Yeah, the light crew and riggers are getting flayed alive. It's sheer dumb luck that thing shifted at the last moment," Zelda agreed dryly.

"It didn't. Look..." Elliot responded, running the video back frame by frame. He pointed out the flying staff. It was blurred, but was clearly the staff Benjamin had been holding.

"He threw it and that pushed it back," the boy explained, brows lifting. The staff didn't have enough mass to push aside all of that falling weight.

"...I didn't notice that," Zelda frowned, peering at the still frame.

"He's just a guy, isn't he? Benjamin?" Elliot asked, his brow knitting.

"Yeah. Casting would have preferred he really was a mage, Russel and Mary do the special effects for him."

"Russel and Mary weren't there, were they?"

"No. They had to run for them, see..." Zelda started the film once more. Once the bar had fallen, a stunned silence reigned, broken abruptly as the director hollered for Russel and Mary, then for paramedics.

The camera had clearly been abandoned, it shook and then remained pointed at the wreckage for the rest of the clip. Benjamin pushed a coil of cables off of him and peeled the girl he'd fallen over up. She had several cuts on her face, but other than being frightened, seemed okay.

Benjamin and several others turned to free the other girls from the wreckage, Benjamin grabbing the first aid kit someone brought and starting to work on Winnifred, who seemed to be the worst off.

"I'm Carrie," she quipped, her voice pain filled but laughing.

"Gross," Russel sputtered, anxious, as he came rushing in with another girl who yelped in horror before getting hold of herself.

"You get Shandra, I'll get Winnie, are the paramedics coming? My healing spells aren't the greatest," Russel frowned, kneeling to start work.

"They'll be here as soon as they can," the director replied, "And you're going to end up the best healer in town, just healing Benjamin."

"Hah! That's the truth," Russel cackled, and glanced to Benjamin, "You hurt, boy?"

"A little, but it's nothing, just bruises. Work on the girls, I'm fine," Benjamin responded easily.

"I want the light and rigging crew in my trailer in one hour," the director snapped, "Steve, have the fire crew inspect the light rig, I want to know exactly why that thing gave."

"Is this still on? Geez..." With that, the film went black. Elliot leaned back, fingers curled at his lips, brows knit.

"What caused it?" he asked.

"Wrong chain for the light bar," Zelda replied, shaking her head, "Lazy moron didn't bother changing it when they brought the rig inside. They can't use the structural elements of any of the houses to support the gear, so they just build racks in the rooms. The lights for interior are a lot heavier than the outdoor sets."

"They fired him, I'm sure?" Elliot scoffed.

"That'll be Chuchi's next big scandal to release. It turns out the lighting and rigging company that Edwards hired is made up of about five people that are qualified to do lighting and rigging, and the rest are their incompetent and lazy ne'er do well relatives."

"Oooh. This is all so going into my own blog," Elliot crooned, his eyes blazing with glee, "So, delay in filming?"

"No, Edwards bit the bullet and brought in a Union team. More expensive, bonded and guaranteed. No accidents," Zelda chuckled.

"Everyone's okay?" Elliot added as he brought up a word processing program.

"Thankfully."

"Miraculously," Elliot corrected dryly, "Release the video with the blog?"

"Not until I edit it. And Chuchi must gush about how she helped with the first aid, and that she held Winnifred Glee's hand and rode in the ambulance to the hospital with her," Zelda chuckled, settling back and folding her arms, watching her son get to work.

~Thunder~

It happened so fast.

Jack could be aggravating sometimes. He was an impatient creature, he was greedy, he was thoughtless, he saw his own center revolving perfectly around his Manon, that in turn turning in harmony with all around them. And those were all his things, his toys, his beauties... And they weren't.

Benjamin wanted so much to sit down with Gemethyst. She saw something a little edged in darkness, perhaps her own, but what she saw didn't have to be there. He wanted to reassure her. He wanted to assure her. He wanted to let her know there was more.

Bonding with her while watching two alphas fighting for top wasn't exactly what Benjamin had in mind. In Jack's mind, it was a perfect opportunity to winkle out truths and lay down masks, but what was in Jack's mind the purity of expedience was only more confusion. He had a motley crew of humans and elves to work with.

Though it may have smoothed some of the way, and definitely burned through Benjamin's dreams. It left wounds, anger, confusion, but that was Jack's way, and he wasn't working with fae. Though he contentedly believed he had managed to straighten everything out, it really was not.

It happened so fast.

Benjamin turned his usual run for the inn. It was hot. He dunked his head into the water trough to cool off and was pleased to find Jack on the porch. Pleased, but Jack had out already his winkle of truth. He carefully cut thread after thread while seeming to just chat nicely with the young actor.

Benjamin had become used to nosey and even downright invasive questioning, and simply let it all slide over him. Of course he wasn't too skinny because of his abilities. His abilities weren't anything but a possible potential, he hadn't even learned a single thing from Lirenel about magic. It was just dreaming dust and ghosts of the fire.

It was hot. Benjamin once more went to the trough, this time sitting in it, sprawling in the cool, mossy water. Partially because he noticed that Jack hated being splattered with water. He stepped back to the porch and shook just to do that.

...So fast...

Jack rubbed his knee, still badly bruised in his lecherous run in with his Knight. Benjamin grimaced, and abruptly reached down, intending to lay his cool hand on the bruise.

Energy in spiraling spiderwebs of lightning leapt from his fingers. Encountering the water on his skin, it went wild, lacing over Jack in a sudden explosion of power. It threw Benjamin back into his seat and left him as suddenly as it had manifested.

Jack lay twitching on the swing. Benjamin nearly screamed. He'd killed his friend, he was positive of it.

People moved in quickly, the young man who knew Benjamin from Midnight Gardens of RhyDin. Rei, Gemethyst's son. Salvador, quietly taking Benjamin's arm and feeding him tequila.

By the time Lirenel arrived to take charge of the situation, Jack was on his feet. The bruises on his face and body were gone. More astonishingly, the ribbons that had been cut and ruined in an earlier misadventure were restored, healed, their colors bright and vibrant.

Jack's Wings. They had been cut. They were whole. Laughing in sheer joy, the crow flew away.

I healed him. I almost killed him. Benjamin could only stare at his hand. The energy that had passed through him ? that he had somehow created ? left the mark of a four pointed star on his palm. Almost identical to the star on Star's brow.

"You need to learn to control it, Benji," Lirenel smiled, and guided the actor home.

Which didn't answer the most important question: what the hell was he controlling?

(Love to Lirenel, Jack, Gemythist, Rei, Salvador, and Bran <3)

~~The Backstory~~

Benjamin lay sprawled on a comfortably ugly couch with a pair of toddler twin boys mauling him. Winnifred Glee had shoved to sit between his legs, aiding and abetting the two little darlings. All this while a star-eyed eleven year old girl painted carefully on Benjamin's fingernails.

Elliot worked once more on the dreaded pink Chuchi laptop, but was less ill tempered over it. He was getting paid much better and getting to design blog sites. He paused to turn the laptop and show an unrelentingly gothic and dark skin to Benjamin and Winnifred.

"It's like goth for Barbie, Elliot," Benjamin sputtered, "Use the designs from Sterling's bracers and belts. No one likes a kindergoth."

"I thought you were too Mr. Sunshine to know Goth," Elliot grumbled, amused, but took Benjamin's idea gladly. He could even put the skin up for sale or download from the main M-GoR site.

"All English and N.A. people know for Goth," he insisted.

"I want Adora's to be a pink and silver sort of American McGee's Alice in Wonderland," Winnie called. Elliot gave her a blank look, and she gasped.

"Google it, heathen!"

"I loved that game," Benjamin added, wide eyed.

"I know! When she got the rage crystals??!"

Elliot rolled his eyes as they got all excited over the ancient Doom-engine game. He had to admit, it did look pretty cool.

"Benjamin," Corine called as she marched into the domestic harmony, carrying her pad and a cup of coffee. She sat carefully and peered at the young man. He did resemble Elvis around the lips and dimple, but he held his face entirely different.

"You're not one of the Boston Piers," Corine continued. Benjamin shook his head.

"Nope, England. No relation, they checked," he assured her arrogantly. Corine laughed, brows quirking.

"I see. Explain how your family happened to get involved with Bear Woman Justice For Children for me...?"

"She's spelunking for story lines," Elliot smirked humorously.

"Oh geez," Benjamin laughed, rolling green eyes, "We're not involved in it, we founded it and run it."

"Ooh, tell," Corina encouraged, quirking her brows. She was looking for new story lines, but specifically wanted things that would illustrate Sterling further.

"Okay. Over ten years ago, Mum and Da were visiting friends in Thailand. Mum, her translator, and one of the friends car broke down in a red light district. While they were waiting for help, this filthy, beaten, terrified little girl, completely naked, came running down the road, pursued by two big men."

"Oh," Corina noted, instantly understanding the context. Her gaze flicked uneasily to her young daughter who contentedly painted Benjamin's fingernails. Benjamin nodded, a wry smile with it.

"She was maybe ten. She hid behind Mum and her friend. The two men went to grab her and drag her back, and Mum went feral. See, Mum grew up on a reservation. It was tough. Her Mum and Nana sent her to a lot of self defense classes."

He reduced so much to such simple words. It wasn't anything he really wanted to dwell on, neither the reasons his mother was so well educated in Karate and Tai Quon Do; nor the reasons that sent the girl running.

"Mum handed the first man his ass, and the second tried to appeal to logic and explained the girl was property of a brothel, she'd been sold to them months ago, and she had to do her work. That just turned Mum even more feral. She finished him off and challenged the entire street to come and get some if they thought they were taking that kid from her."

"Damn," Winnifred whispered, her beautiful gold-shot blue eyes wide.

"Let me show you Mum..." he grinned, pulling his phone out. He proudly displayed an image of a beautiful Arapaho woman in traditional dress. She had a twinkling smile and warmth to her eyes. The next image he showed, she was dressed for some glamorous event, glittering in a blue sheath dress. It was obvious there that she was a small woman, standing next to her proud husband.

"She's beautiful, Benji," Corine mulled, comparing the image to Benjamin. He favored his mother in build and refinement of feature, his father in his eyes and strength.

"She is, thank you," he beamed, but the smile turned quickly quirky, "The brothel owner came out and appealed to Mum's higher nature, surely Mum could see that she was depriving that poor woman of income, and how would she feed and educate her kids, and yadda yadda yadda. Mum went absolutely ballistic."

"Ohh, yeah, so much wrong with that," Winnifred winced.

"Mmhm. Anyhow, an international incident later, and we were the proud new family to little Kimi and were founding the Bear Woman Justice For Children foundation. Mum named it partially after a Lakota woman who was crusading against domestic violence in the tribes and partially for the cult of Artemis."

"Hm. I see," Corine mulled, "So what to they do that's different from any other charity?"

"They rescue and rehabilitate," Benjamin shrugged, "Kids are kept safe in small home like settings, taught that they do matter, that they are loved, and that they can be more than they believe. They don't leave there, either to return to their original home or just into society, until they feel totally ready to do that. The Foundation works with governments and whoever they can to try and protect children and young women, but it's an uphill battle, that's for sure."

Corine made a face at her notes.

"I suppose it would be unforgivably crass to turn that into nighttime drama fodder."

"Do it," Benjamin encouraged, holding her gaze steadily, "The more people aware of the problem, the more people who will stand against it."

"Oh oh oh. There's Sterling's backstory right there!" Winnifred blurted out, "Long ago, Sterling's people were like, tribal Britons, and a Rome-like force swept in and slaughtered all the adults and took the kids to force into slavery. Three teenagers manage to escape and vow to free the rest."

"It's been done, but go on, I am intrigued," Corine encouraged.

"Everything's been done, Corine, it's a matter of how well," Benjamin chuckled.

"Right! So those three eventually rescue all the children, but in the process, they're no longer a tribe, they're enforcers. They've learned all the magics they can to help rescue kids at risk, and they worship an Artemis like goddess ? like Celestial ? and now they form this society in which Sterling is working his way up through. Sterling and his now dead partner, the cold and beautiful Fiona, were responsible for rescuing and returning Adora..." Winnifred went on, wide eyed and grinning, bouncing up and down until Benjamin mugged horribly, and moved her away from his crotch.

"Sorry, love, but you know what Nicholson said..." she purred, wide eyed.

"Kid alert, Winnie!" Benjamin yelped, nodding to Corine's daughter who raptly listened to them.

"...Here's Johnny!" Winnifred finished with a stupid grin.

"Okay, that does work, we never did specify who rescued Adora, and all we know is that a beautiful woman was killed in the process of it..." Corine mulled as she pulled up her outline and continuity sheets for the show, "And seriously, having Fiona do what Benji's Mum did to save her would be incredible."

"And if Fiona was actually his mom, that'd explain some of his love hate thing with Adora," Elliot pointed out.

"I thought you didn't watch the show," Corine teased her son. He made a face.

"I don't, I have to blog it, remember?"

"All I would ask is to put the name and link to the Foundation in the credits and web site," Benjamin shrugged, smiling faintly.

"Done. Now, you both have buttloads of fan mail to answer once Elliot's done with your sites. Forward anything cool to Zelda and I," Corine grinned as she started to work, scribing over her pad quickly.

~The Fan Mail~

Benjamin sprawled lazily on his back porch. It was a small affair, a deck with a few mismatched pieces of lounge furniture, a table, a barbecue. An old fashioned redwood plank hot tub was built into it, but was currently filled with rain water.

Star dozed in the cooling evening, Bob the evil rooster crowed a final time for the night over his dozing hens, safe in their henhouse behind Star's stable. An owl hooted from one of the trees. A large, fat opossum mother trundled by, carrying a back's worth of babies.

Bracing himself, Benjamin opened his blog site for Sterling, and with a wince, opened Pandora's box. His email for the show. The box wasn't full, but not for lack of trying.

There was already a system for answering in place, most would be moved to a message board visible to the public. Questions he'd already answered would be linked back to the answers. Praise would be thanked. Cool ideas he'd forward to the writers.

'Dear Stirlin wud u have my babiez cuz I luv you like woa, luv so much111!!!!! I RREELY LUV UUUU!!!! Bethany

Benjamin sighed. Again with the male pregnancy.

"Bethany, thanks for your support, I'm grateful for all of my fans. Cheers, Benjamin Piers." he wrote, his standard response to most declarations of love for him or Sterling.

'Dear Benjamin Piers is Sterling and Adora going to be a couple because they are so cute they would be such a perfect couple my friend and I want them to get married and have babies. Love, Henri and Monica.'

"Henri and Monica, I honestly don't know, they keep us in the dark about the scripts. They have me doing a lot of stunts this season though. Cheers, Benjamin Piers."

'Explain why, if in the first episode, Adora is rescued by persons unknown, why there aren't any Get of Fenris around. Yeah, I didn't think you could. Because you're all fake. You don't even know why Adora would be rescued, because the Get of Fenris would beat them all. Explain that. Kevin.'

Benjamin's brows quirked, his head tilting as he read the entry. Finally, he shrugged.

"Kevin, I don't know, I didn't join the cast until the fourth episode. Mark and Anna play all of the Get of Fenris characters in the show, they were hired after I was. So probably Diable Direword hadn't gotten around to hiring his Get of Fenris yet. If you're a fan of the GoF, this season will feature them a lot. Yours, Benjamin Piers."

"Sterling, I felt your gaze from the show last night, it touched me in ways I have never been touched in as a woman..." he read slowly, and his face started to turn bright red as the rest of the letter described just how that touch went and ultimately burned through two sets of double A batteries.

"Oh boy," Benjamin muttered, laughing softly and reaching for a glass of cherry infused moonshine and Cola, "That's not going on the message board."

"Mellisa R. Thank you for your support, I'm grateful for all of my fans. Cheers, Benjamin Piers." he quickly typed, omitting the letter.

'Hi Mr. Benjamin Piers, I think you're a great actor. I love watching you every week. Are you in anything else? Maude.'

"Hi, Maude, thank you so much. I only had a few roles, they're linked in the FAQ. Mum says she's going to start posting the videos of me dancing tap and tribal from when I was a kid, too, so when you hear my anguished screams of horror, you'll know my Mum's been up to no good. Cheers, Benjamin Piers."

'Sterling, I want to bring you to THE LORD'S way, it breaks my heart to see a strong and just man like you mired in the evil of paganism. JESUS CHRIST OUR SAVIOR will bring you TRUE LOVE and TRUE JUSTICE. Please message me It's not too late it is NEVER TOO LATE FOR CHRIST'S SALVATION! I will pray for you! You will never overcome Direword without JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD, you must come to me so I can TEACH YOU the WORD of CHRIST! Your BELOVED IN CHRIST, Helena.'

Benjamin exhaled, rubbing his brow.

"Hello, Helena. Sterling is pagan because that's how he's written to be. We try to be respectful of all religions both in the story and on set. We ask that all of our fans be tolerant and kind to each other on the boards no matter what their religion, race, ability, or sexual orientation. Cheers, Benjamin Piers."

'Benjamin or Sterling or whoever you are, can I have your address, it's for a secret project. I won't tell anyone. Do you wear underwear to bed? Staci K.'

Shaking his head, he chuckled and wrote out a reply.

"Hello, Staci K. I am Benjamin Piers, I play Sterling on the show. I wear pajamas to bed. I'm afraid I can't give my address out. Cheers, Benjamin Piers."

'Hello, Mr. Benjamin, do you remember me, I'm Christy from Pasadena, you showed me how to ride a pony at Bickell's Ranch. I think your show's so great, and I ride a lot now, Mom got me a horse because I learned how to take care of one so well from you, her name is Peaches, we rescued her from the pound, isn't that funny? I want to train her to do tricks like your horse do you think I can? Love, Christy, PS here's a picture of me and Peaches at our dressage practice.'

Benjamin beamed abruptly, looking at the photo of a young girl and her horse.

"Hello, Christy, I sure do remember you. I knew you'd be a great horsewoman. It's great to hear your Mom got you Peaches, I love the photo you sent. She's a beauty. I'm really happy to hear you rescued her. I've always said you don't rescue an animal, they rescue you. I'm sure you can learn to train her to do a lot of tricks, just be careful and work with your riding instructor so you both stay safe. I use clicker training with Star, and I get a lot of advice and help from Mr. Bickell, still. I'd love to see your photos of you and Peaches. Here's a link to the site I go to for advice in training Star..."

Well, that made up for at least two of the creepy people, Benjamin decided, beaming ear to ear and just as proud of Christy as if he was her brother. He remembered the girl, she'd been painfully shy and terribly troubled, slowly recovering from the shock of losing her father. The horse he'd paired her with had been a loving and empathic mare who had the girl smiling again before her time at the ranch was half over.

'Benjamin Piers, what is that thing you wear around your neck in the show? I'm trying to make a cosplay costume but I can't see what it is. Debbi.'

Everything gets gender-bent, Benjamin reminded himself with a wry grin. He located a photo of the choker he wore, black velvet with a painted raven skull hanging pendant from it.

"Hello, Debbi, this is the choker, click on it to get a link to where you can buy it already made or to just get the parts for it. It's not a real raven skull, it's plastic. Be sure to post photos of your costume when you're done, I'd love to see it. Cheers, Benjamin."

'Hi Benjamin Mom said you're an actor and it's a show I guess it'd be kind of weird if all that was real but anyhow I really want to be on your show I want to be Sterling's daughter who's really pretty and sweet and she helps him make friends and everyone loves her and she has a beautiful white horse that Xanthus loves and they have babies and they're unicorn and pegasis and they talk and then I'd have Sterling save Adora and they'd be married and have twins. Is that okay? Mom said I could go if you said okay. Love, Francine.'

Benjamin held his hand over his lips, shoulders shaking as he read through the girl's story idea. Brows quirked, he settled down to a long drink of his moonshine and cola.

"Hello, Francine, yes I am an actor, my name is Benjamin. The show is just pretend. I think it's great you think about ways to write stories for the show. There's a forum for people learning how to write right here, too, and I think on the fan-board, too. The more you write, the more you learn.

I don't have anything to do with the writing of the show, though, I'm just an actor. You'd have to write the writers with your ideas, they're linked here too. I think it's great if you want to keep a horse, but they are a lot of work, and you should never breed any animal just to get babies. You can see my friend Christy here, she's adopted a horse and is learning about riding. You might like that too. Cheers, Benjamin.

Smiling nastily, Benjamin forwarded the girl's story idea to Corine and Zelda. Though he assumed they plowed through dozens of those stock Mary Sue stories a day.

'Hi Benji! You have an email now! Thank you again soooo much for having Brian and I at your booth at the con. I <3 U! Beautiful Joy. PS here's links to my new stories! Pls read them and tell me what u think pls please pleaseee?'

Benjamin laughed softly to see Joy's message. Somewhere along the line, the girl had realized that he had relationships with both of her father figures. She responded by recasting him as brother, much to Benjamin's relief.

However, Sterling was still fair game. She was just as prolific with her fan fictions as ever.

"Hello, Joy, it was lovely having you both there, and thank you for your help. Betty (Bettina Joyner who plays Celestial) says your costume was just perfect. I'll stop by soon, I've got some great Robert Mitchum movies and macarons to share with you both. Reading your stories as soon as I'm done here. Cheers, Benjamin."

Benjamin knew Brian found him to be a disappointment, he wasn't at all like Sterling, after all, and the teen boy wanted to be that dark and brooding gothic anti hero. He figured showing Brian that despite being a cheerful and light hearted sort, he still knew for badass would help bring the kid around.

'Hey where is this show filmed, anyhow? My friend Greg says he found it but I couldn't see the Van Houten house. He said it was Lincoln Park in Pomona, but that's where that other show was filmed, I thought it was supposed to be filmed in the Borderlands? Sterling2343 said it's in Pennsylvania, and he's been there. So where is it? Mitch.'

Benjamin mused as he read the email. The location was a closely guarded secret, mostly because the entire neighborhood was abandoned and up for sale. Abandoned properties meant there weren't any neighbors to annoy, and thus, cheap.

Eventually, the film company planned on buying the neighborhood and using it as a studio, but that was still in negotiations. Meantime, they had sealed it off, hired security, and were in the process of putting motion detection cameras all through it. The set dressers purposefully changed elements scene to scene, Easter eggs for the watchers, but mainly to obscure any identifying elements.

Tapping his lips, Benjamin's brows quirked up. It was a fairly secure site, after all. He decided he would bring Lirenel there, and let the elf see for himself that Benjamin was safe.

"Hello, Mitch, I'm not allowed to give the location of the studio or talk about it other than to say it really is that creepy. Cheers, Benjamin."

Finally at an end to the emails, Benjamin woofed and leaned back. He paused as he got a private message from Ivan, who played Lance.

'Benji, this bint is freaking me out,' the message read, and Benjamin frowned at the forwarded email. The girl threatened suicide if Ivan didn't call her at once. Shaking his head, he signed into the site as an administrator and tracked down the girl's information. He forwarded all that to the web master to deal with.

'Read your procedures sheet, dummy. Next time just forward it all to Fatcat Web, they'll contact the girl and send a cop or something. Don't post it to the boards! Geez the actor's emails have only been live a few days and already with the crazy," he wrote back.

Another message dinged, and Benjamin opened it, amused.

'Right? Want to swap erotica?'

Benjamin cackled and promptly forwarded Melissa's letter.

"We need a private board for this," Benjamin mused, quickly creating a hidden folder titled 'Midnight Garden of Sleaze' and then inviting the actors and crew to it. It had over thirty entries before he finally opened the fan site and dutifully began to plow through Beautiful Joy's fan fictions.

~Falling Superstar~

Masterson Blake had been a huge star in a few realities, a tall, rugged, impossibly handsome man, cut from the same cloth as the legendary heroes of the 1950s Earth Prime. He had been a dashing swordsman, a western sheriff, a passionate politician, a smoldering lover, he could do it all with panache and left a swath of wet panties and testosterone in his wake.

That unchallenged mastery of the industry was failing after decades of complete control. The Epsilon and Targa realities where he had been a virtual god began to spurn him as more and more evidence of his vile personal habits surfaced. The public no longer flocked to his movies. They no longer turned a blind eye to news of his personal entertainments.

Masterson's own daughter wrote a tell-all biography of her father, and he was forced to scramble to do damage control. He demanded guest star roles in several television shows, from the up and coming Midnight Gardens of RhyDin to the long running and well respected Chimera Dreams.

Annoyingly, none of those shows, even Midnight Gardens, which was still tottering over its newness, would allow Masterson sexual favors from the cast. Especially Midnight Garden. He could ask, they informed him, but he would not be granted full right to any of the younger actors bodies.

Masterson lusted wildly after young Winnifred Glee, who would have nothing to do with him. He couldn't break down her will for anything. Instead, he found Benjamin cheerfully accepting Masterson's demands. Benjamin, who before he even took off his shoes, had laid down a list of rules.

"Just how satisfying can this be if you have these rules, dear boy?" Masterson had snarled, trying very hard to make it sound sweet. Benjamin had simply arched a brow.

"You break the rules, I'm out of here, and I do a lot of talking."

The threat wasn't veiled at all. Masterson grudgingly admired the young man's moxie, and realized only belatedly that Benjamin wouldn't care if his acting career was ruined.

It wasn't nearly the deliciously erotic madness that Masterson desired. He did his role and never looked back. The show became more and more popular, Masterson arrogantly took credit for that, though his character had been forgettable and his acting even more so.

A year later, and Masterson's new movie flopped. A multi-million dollar production filled with special effects, action, sex, with all of the hottest women stars and music by the most popular bands did an epic facer. No one could tell if it was because the movie sucked or because people were no longer willing to watch anything with Masterson in it.

Masterson quickly turned back to Midnight Garden of RhyDin. It was hot, popular, already winning awards. He demanded a reprise of his earlier role. To his angered astonishment, the director responded that the character wasn't necessary, and refused to have a story written around it.

The shows producers weren't interested in Masterson returning, either, but grudgingly ordered the part to be written after Masterson paid them the money to purchase the entire neighborhood.

Infuriatingly, that lump sum of money did not include the free use of any of the actors, including and especially Winnifred. In fact, Masterson was flatly told to leave the other actors alone.

Each passing month found Masterson's favorite games further and further curtailed, his lusts left wanting and his needs burning and raw. What the other actors didn't know wouldn't hurt him, Masterson decided. Winnifred spurned him, but Benjamin agreed.

~The Guide~


Crows flocked.

One, ten, thirty, a hundred.

The sky was dark with them. One by one they landed. On the roof, the corral fence, the nearby trees, even on Star's back and head.

Grunting and muttering, Star managed to haul Benjamin from the driveway, teeth fastened into Levi's, half dragging the young man up the front porch.

Jack was there. Silently, the man opened the screen and door. He lifted Benjamin from Star's care.

"Good job, Star," he murmured to the horse as he carried the actor inside. Benjamin groaned softly, a mess of dirt and blood, aching, slashes, welts, and bruises turning his back into a battle field.

"Who?" Jack demanded in a soft voice that promised retribution and then some. Benjamin exhaled.

"It's not like that, Jack. I agreed, he just went too far and didn't want to stop when I told him to."

Jack's eyes narrowed. His senses told him much more than Benjamin could. There was more there than just rough sex that got out of hand. He gripped Benjamin's chin and turned his face to look into his eyes.

"Who?"

"It was one of the guest stars, sometimes, they think we're there to service them, and I usually volunteer because what he wants is one of the girls, and most of them aren't able to take this sort of thing," Benjamin admitted, wry.

Lirenel had told Jack about this. An ugly side to the industry Benjamin worked for. It amounted to a little friendly prostitution of the actors. Jack had no idea it would be this violent. His star filled eyes narrowed.

"Paladin," he murmured, and didn't know whether to smack Benjamin or hug him. Instead, he began to heal the young man's wounds. Relieved to see they were all external.

"He would have killed Winnie. He wouldn't stop, and the only reason he did stop is I... I zapped him..." Benjamin exhaled, agitated, "I like those sorts of games but... Winnie's never even had sex, and the rest of the girls... I couldn't let him hurt them."

"Are all of these guest stars like this?" Jack inquired cooly. Benjamin shook his head.

"No. Usually, it's just a shag in all fun and... I don't even think Masterson wants to put it in, he just is all into this weird... werewolf thing..."

Jack snarled in silence as he worked.

"So attacks you?"

"Yeah. Funny thing is, he doesn't believe there are werewolves and..." Benjamin paused, groaning as Jack's healing pained him. That pain kicked loose the tumbling blocks of his logical thought process.

"He said I wasn't enough. He's been lusting after Winnifred since ? since last year. Jack. He'll kill her. You have to find him, you have to stop him," Benjamin hissed, twisting in Jack's arms to stare into the man's eyes, horror filling verdant greens.

Jack exhaled. He was not a hero. The role suited him poorly. Yet he could not deny the boon Benjamin asked even if he wanted to. The lad was loyal, he was selfless, it was ever only a matter of time before Benjamin would need Jack's help with something of this nature.

"Ben. Jamin," Jack smiled, slight and terse, kissing Benjamin's brow, "I will bring you his head."

"I don't want his head, just make sure he doesn't hurt Winnie," Benjamin sputtered laughing. Jack muttered. So much easier to just relieve the man of his cranium, but he did suppose it wouldn't match with Benjamin's d?cor.

Several of the crows flew off. They had seen the Mercedes that Masterson drove, and crows never forget.

Soon, Jack could see what they saw. His eyes narrowed. The man was parked beside a quaint, old fashioned court of rental cottages. He leered fixedly at one cottage in particular, where Winnifred Glee watched TV with a few friends.

Once those friends had left... Masterson had a direct shot from his car to her cottage and back.

"Rest," Jack murmured, kissing Benjamin's lips, tender and warm, "I will see to it."

Benjamin smiled, a strange mixture of relief, amusement, love, and that grim sense of duty that paladinly sorts always managed to pick up.

There was a young female crow that had taken to watching Benjamin. She perched on Star's head between the stallion's ears and peered as querulously at Jack as the man stepped out as Star did.

"He'll be alright," Jack noted, patting Star's nose, gentle and fond, "Watch for him. I will return shortly."

Jack was gone into a rising spiral of that vast murder of crows. Star lifted his head to watch them with the female crow. The crow crackled, and Star responded in a dark humor of a rumble.

~The Chromebook~


Benjamin hovered over Russel's shoulder as the old wizard worked on a Chromebook at his desk. He had the back open and was carefully replacing bits and pieces. Every now and then, the old man grabbed a fly swatter and smacked Benjamin back.

"Ow."

"I told you to find the little boy that does this, he can get it up and running in less than an hour," Russel scolded, amused.

"He's at summer camp," Benjamin responded sulkily. He retreated at last, sitting and watching Russel work, pouring them both cups of tea from a fancy silver service.

"How's your granddaughter?" Benjamin inquired after a few moments. Russel snorted.

"She was certainly raised better than to deal with the trash she was with. She'll be fine, her mother's taken her home to Scotland," the old man noted darkly before glancing back at Benjamin.

Ralphie had said Benjamin had 'gone spazzy' when the Naga trying to kill Russel's granddaughter had turned up. He couldn't decide if it was Ralphie trying to use a new word or if Benjamin had gone 'spazzy'. It was difficult to envision.

"You know, you've made quite the start of your own life here, Benji," Russel noted, adjusting his glasses and peering at his work.

"I know," Benjamin agreed, setting the cup and saucer by the older man's hand.

"That elf fellow clearly adores you, and if you ask me, he looks like the sort you settle down and adopt a few kids with," Russel pointed out. Benjamin rolled his eyes and exhaled.

"I don't need this from you."

"I play the bad guy, I have to get my licks in," Russel grinned, "And I've seen you with Winnie..."

"Winnie's like a sister."

"Ah. Much prettier than my sisters," Russel chuckled, and again, Benjamin rolled his eyes and shook his head.

"Don't you have enough around here to get your paternal instincts out on? The writer's kids, Anna's knocked up, Fianna has three kids..."

"Nope. Now..." Russel abruptly turned from the laptop to Benjamin, reaching over to take the young man's hand, "I want you to understand something. It is not unusual for people to be brought here abruptly or planned to find they can't return home."

"You've said that," Benjamin exhaled, struggling not to squirm.

"It does sometimes mean they were killed in their home reality," Russel told him gently, squeezing his hand, "And it does sometimes mean they are dead, period. But you aren't dead. You were brought here for a reason."

"Why haven't I been able to get back home then...?"

"Most likely because you're being held here until you do have a life here, a reason to stay, a reason to work on the reason you are here."

Benjamin bit his lower lip and nodded slowly.

He could see it in the smoke, in his dreams. Something so unimaginably vast. He could see the endless skies, he could hear the calls of the great mythic birds.

In the mornings when he prayed, he could pry open small windows and look into other places. He could call to the people he loved, and often, bring them to him.

But only those in RhyDin.

"This should get you in touch with your reality," Russel smiled, finally putting the laptop into Benjamin's hands, "I just want to warn you. If it doesn't ? then ? we'll talk."

Benjamin felt a cold finger of dread drag down his spine. He watched, wide eyed, as Russel opened the laptop and opened the Skype application.

"What if the only thing that answers me is my imagination?" Benjamin asked softly. Russel smiled, thin and wry.

"That's why I'm standing here rudely waiting for you to call your family. But since you've been able to contact your family through the show's website, I'd say it was all really a matter of you having reason to stay here."

Benjamin looked up at the old man, then took a deep breath. He opened his account and then contacted his parent's Skype.

The returning image was jumbled and colorful for a few moments, and cheerful yelling blared from the speaker.

"BEEENNNNNNNNGGGGEEEEEE!!!" a little girl squealed, and all went dark, as if she was hugging the computer, which she was.

"Becky!" Benjamin laughed, so immeasurably relieved to see his youngest sister, "Becky, go get Mummy or Da."

"BENNNNNNGGGEEEEE!!!" Becky squealed once more, her lips smooshed to the screen. "KISSKISS! I love you! BYE!"

Then she turned off the Skype. Benjamin blinked a few times.

A few moments later, the Skype lit up once more, and Benjamin found himself staring at his mother's face, her own brilliant with surprised wonder.

"Mum!" he blurted out, abruptly in tears, and fully understanding Becky's impulse to hug and kiss the computer.

"Oh baby! Finally! Every time we try to call, it says you're out of the service area! We were so worried until we found the web site! How are you?! We've missed you so much!" she responded, "We hear you in your prayers and can almost see you, what are you doing?"

Benjamin tried to answer, but words collided in his mouth, and all he could do was stare at his mother's beloved face, tears running down his cheeks. Russel quickly leaned down.

"I'm Russel, I work with Benjamin on the show, I play the bad guy," the old man chuckled, "He's truthfully doing quite well, Mrs. Piers, he was just afraid I wouldn't be able to noodle this laptop into getting the reception we need to contact you."

"Oh, we're just now getting it on Netflix, it's so tawdry," Mrs. Piers chuckled, amused, "Your horse is beautiful, Benji."

"Oh. Yes. Star. I'm sorry, Mum, I didn't... didn't expect..." Benjamin stammered a bit, managing to get hold of himself enough to talk.

"It's all right, sweetness. Here's Da... Tell us everything," his mother smiled, looking up as her husband knelt on the floor beside her, looking into the laptop. Benjamin could only beam, staring at his parents faces until Russel humorously prodded the young man to speak.

~The Dogs~

Dogs. About twenty of them, from six years old and up. Each with a collar with their name that corresponded with an information sheet on the table sitting in the rough enclosure of hay bales making up the Holtendirks Dairy Moonshine booth.

Ranging from thoroughly questionable mutts to purebreds, the dogs were all hound types, all retired from hunting or surrendered for other reasons, and all very very glad to be out of the animal shelter where their existence was tenuous at best.

They did what hounds do best, they lounged about on the grass, playing with each other or toys lazily, and grouped around Jack as he sat on a rocking chair and played banjo. Soon enough, Gemythist joined him on the mandolin, singing counterpart to his folk tunes.

To Benjamin's delighted surprise, Lirenel later took the mandolin, and not only played, but danced along with Dair and Fin. He met Shylah, and he met a young lady fan, then managed to figure out the entire series of illusion over Johann and his mate.

Taneth arrived, and though Benjamin had thought she would gladly play with the pups, she was deeply upset about something, and she refused to go to anyone. Fortunately, a woman arrived who was able to comfort her, at least.

And so ran a wonderful evening with a lot of booze and a lot of dogs. Skid pledged to take any remaining dogs, a total of four. It would have been five, but Benjamin took home Elsa, a big silvery gray otterhound.

It was a grand evening.

~The Beautiful Evening~


For several moments, Lirenel stood on the dirt road that Benjamin's house sat along and admired the sweet sight on the porch. Benjamin wore well fitted slacks in charcoal and a button down shirt of pale green ? miss buttoned. Lirenel's lips quirked, considering his own impeccable clothing, dove gray and black, as he slowly approached the house.

Benjamin grinned as he tracked Lirenel, rather haplessly trying to properly button the shirt and finally just tucked it in. Green eyes were bright with the delight of seeing the elf, his smile of welcome was pure sunshine.

"You are adorable," Lirenel chuckled, his voice soft, as he drew the young man into his arms and studied Benjamin's eyes.

"I'm lame. You look gorgeous. You always look so perfectly gorgeous," he countered with a laugh, letting his accent turn snotty English lad, "Buttons are not my forte."

"It is a burden, to be this devastatingly handsome," Lirenel grinned, head tilting as he idly unbuttoned Benjamin's shirt. He considered buttoning it properly, but the young man was simply too charming in a disheveled state. He skimmed a hand up warm tan skin to Benjamin's jaw, tilting his head and leaning to give a kiss of welcome.

"You're not lame," Lirenel added with a chuckle, gazing into bright green eyes, enchanted with what he saw there, caressing Benjamin's cheek.

Benjamin returned the kiss with interest, soft, eager touches of his lips to Lirenel's, playful with little nibbles and nips. "It was lovely curling up with you and Jack and Gem the other night to sleep," Benjamin murmured, sliding closer into Lirenel's arms, a tight embrace of arms and a soft thrum as he recalled the night.

Lirenel squeezed in return, lips curving into a smile. "It was, though I spent a few hours just watching. The peace sleep brings to the turmoils we've had--it was good to see. And you." He leaned to nuzzle a kiss from Benjamin, marveling all over again at how perfectly the young man fit into his arms.

"The beauty that rests in stillness upon you--Michaelangelo must have envisioned such beauty when he carved the sorrowful face of the virgin in his Piet?. You protect, even in your sleep, Benjamin," the elf whispered. In sorrow, Lirenel thought, there was great beauty.

Benjamin's skin ran pink, watching Lirenel shy and impish both. "Walk around the block with me. Watch the night come in, the cows and goats bedding down," Benjamin whispered, pressing a line of kisses along Lirenel's jaw, "Then we'll soak in the hot tub and watch the night together."

"I would like nothing better, my heart," Lirenel smiled, and Benjamin paused to kiss his lips, soft, tender, his breath catching with an adoring smile.

"I love hearing you say that. My heart," Benjamin murmured.

Lirenel smiled and took Benjamin's hand, leading him from the porch with a flourish.

Benjamin grinned, strolling along the dirt road, humorously taking Lirenel's arm and clasping it to his chest while they walked. It was farmland and woods, much like Benjamin's childhood home. His little cottage was well away from any other homes. There were several of similar homes in a wide perimeter around the remains of some ancient and ruined manor house in the middle of what had become woodland. It suited Benjamin perfectly.

It was a lovely August evening, cooling from the heat of the day in warm scents of grass and sage. Thunderheads crowded around the nearby mountains, flashing light from time to time.

"My heart. Yes. You are my heart," Benjamin murmured, squeezing Lirenel's arm, amused by the greedy and selfish gesture it was. He was anything but greedy or selfish, but Lirenel, Lirenel was different.

"So, it is official, then?" Lirenel replied, his laugther silver bells in the wind.

"Official?" Benjamin chuckled, his head canted as he slipped his hand from Lirenel's arm to his strong hand and squeezed that, too. "Yes. I think it is. That's where you are in me. What you are for me. When I look at you and where you are in me. My heart. You made my knees go weak when you said it that first time. All I could think of was getting you to say it again."

Lirenel smiled, mulling that over, turning it in his mind for several steps of a companionable silence. "It is the truth."

"I hear it in your voice," Benjamin mulled, resting his head to Lir's shoulder as they walked, "I never thought I'd meet anyone like you. Someone that would be at the center of my attention." A slight shrug with the admission, though Benjamin was flushing solid crimson all over again.

"Does it worry you, to be of such a singular mind?" Arm bent at the elbow, Lirenel curled his hand so that he could hold Benjamin closer. For a few delightfully off track steps, he even put his head against the top of the young man's, laughing for the sheer joy of it, but soft, so not to disturb the animals settling down for slumber.

"No," Benjamin grinned, pausing just so he could press closer, sliding an arm around Lirenel's waist, tilting his head face up to the elf's humorously nibbling at his jaw. "You made it all safe without even realizing it, I think. Safe for me, I mean. So I wouldn't panic and run. You made it clear you belong to Jack, and in turn, he is yours, but the way you've braided yourselves... Made a perfect space for me. I don't know if we'd ever be at a point where it's only you and I and marriage and all that. It doesn't scare me to think of that."

Lirenel He licked his lips and acknowledged the shiver that Ben's nibbling, even in play, sent through him. He listened to Benjamin's explanation in an accepting silence, though his thoughts began to poke and prod at him. How could it be that he kept smiling? His heart--more, his world--so recently shattered and here, now, he could step back from the pain, look ahead and look to Benjamin to think about what *he* was doing and feeling. Could he call it progress or denial?

"Marriage. It doesn't scare you to not know if we'll ever be at that point or it doesn't scare you to consider it, or both?" Lirenel asked, caressing a hand over Benjamin's cheek.

"It doesn't scare me. It never did, I never considered it as something that would be for me, or if it did become something for me, it would be in a way I could understand and enjoy," Benjamin replied, warm, pressing closer to Lirenel.

Benjamin might call Lirenel's ability to look past his recent tragedies progress, but Benjamin was the sort to process and accept rather quickly. He knew not everyone was that way, and he knew some people thought he was rather shallow for it. And didn't care.

"If we never go there, that's fine, we'll have each other anyhow, and be surrounded by people who love us. If we do, well, we'll still be surrounded by people who love us. If things change by being married or not, we'll be the ones to have changed us. I trust future me and you," Benjamin gave a soft laugh with that, tugging Lirenel along once more. That hot tub was giving its steamy sirens call to him.

"We do have one another, Benjamin. We do," Lirenel agreed, soft. His heart tripped in his chest. How peculiar! How utterly strange for it to do that...

With Ben pressed up against him, Lirenel felt things stir in him that never stirred; at least, not outside the dreamscape. Oh, he could make things happen -- and did, for joy and for pleasure and for others -- but this, this was pure reaction. He followed easily where he was led, the "planned spontaneity" a marvelous thrill. He shivered with delight, with prospects and possibilities.

The stars wheeled overhead. The thunderheads brought flashes a little more often and rumbled their pleasure a-far off.

"You know, you do fit in so very perfectly, Benjamin. I am Jack Scot's, yes. I love him. I serve him. I am his liegeman and he needs me. I think, no, I know that I need him as much. Maybe more. Maybe that's why I've rarely been home since I pledged him my service."

"Yes," Benjamin grinned, squeezing Lirenel's hand. They had gone full circuit, back to his house, and around it, pausing to pat Star's nose, and of habit, making sure the horse's water was fresh.

Lirenel greeted Star as well, with a bow and respect. Star was more than just a pet. Star whickered, he was banging a half-inflated soccer ball about, but paused long enough to give a hop and flashy bow in return. Acting all the time, always playing, Benjamin and Star were sweet pleasures that made him smile.

Benjamin laughed at his horse's antics, and as he towed Lirenel to the porch deck, started to undress near the hot tub. "How did you meet Jack, come to be his knight?" It was an old-fashioned redwood plank-bound hot tub, and it steamed in the cooling evening. He had a couple of jars of 'shine in a bucket of ice near at hand.

Lirenel watched Benjamin undress, fascinated by each fluid motion, each ripple of finely formed muscle in his heart's lean frame. He considered the question and plumbed his memory for the answer. He was meant to remember things, all things... but mostly the things that he thought about were sad, to flavor the guilt he slept with and drank in each night. Meeting Jack was a mixed memory.

Buttons undone, Benjamin let the shirt slide from his body. He caught it to toss over a chair and paused to kick off his sneakers. He unfastened his slacks to drop off, leaning over and hopping a bit.

Lirenel smiled at the hopping and stepped close, swift and silent as always, to lend his hands as support, one on either of Benjamin's hips. He slipped out of his loafers and enjoyed the sensation of warm skin beneath his fingers. "We met in a bar and he was hurt--the result of a hunter's trap."

"Oh." Benjamin grinned, and shamelessly twerked a few times. Which dissolved him into giggling. Lithe and light, he was a sleek and compactly muscled creature, agile, he straightened and grinned mischief at Lirenel. "Jack seems as skilled as Gem is at getting into trouble."

Lirenel flicked out his hand to give that twerky bare bottom a little slap. "That's been my experience." Then he tugged his sweater off over his head and balled it up to join Benjamin's clothing. Long fingers paused at the clasp to his pants as his focus went long.

"I was drawn to him, even then." Thirteen odd years before... "And I wanted to ask him why, so I found out where he lived and infiltrated his wards and sat on the roof of his house until he invited me in."

Benjamin smiled encouragement, reaching over to slide a hand after the pants once they lowered, to caress taut ass into the dip between cheek and thigh. He abruptly laughed at that. "Jack must have been flustered at that, to find you'd slipped through his wards."

"I ..." a considerable pause as Lirenel controlled, or tried to control, the hitch in his breathing. Something significant changed and he didn't immediately grasp what it was. "I am certain he anticipated me. Having been caught in a human trap and injured, he wasn't about to be caught in mine. He let me through and he wanted to talk to me, to know what need I had, deeper than the blood in my veins, for his company."

That was an odd way to put it, really, but Benjamin just nodded, quiet and listening. He shifted, turning to slip into the hot tub with scarce a splash, reaching for Lirenel's hand to tug him in after.

The water's heat invaded him, turned Lirenel's marbled flesh to rosy skin almost instantly. "Oh, that's ... lovely."

"Mm. It's wonderfully healing after a long day," Benjamin agreed, sliding close to Lirenel's side, reaching over to pour a good measure of scented salts into the water. Mints and rosemary mingled with the scents of the evening. Then he started the jets. Swirling bubbling waters.

Surprise lit Lirenel's eyes, still far too red near their black centers, ringed with golden brown. "Look at this!" The Bubbles! The white, the foam, the smells! As if Ben didn't know what it did. Yeah, it's his first time in a "hot tub" as opposed to a tub of heated water.

"Bubbles!" Benjamin laughed, "We'd never get Jack out of here if he ever got over his dislike of water." He rested against Lir's side and watched his profile, humor alight in bright greens.

His eyes grew wide. One arm wrapped around Benjamin and clinging to his side; the other rode the frothy waves. "This is amazing!"

The old tub had no lights under the water, but porch lights illuminated the roiling surface and the rise of steam. Benjamin laughed again and pressed his cheek to Lirenel's profile, enjoying the electric sensation of the elf's amazement. "It's wonderful. You're always welcome to stop by and hop in, you know."

"Really? Thank you, Benji," Lirenel kissed him soundly. "Ooo," he sighed after. "It makes everything ... tingle."

"Mm. It does," he murmured, smiling into the kiss. The hard part was deciding how long to let Lirenel enjoy the water before taking advantage of that tingling. He lifted a warm and wet hand to Lirenel's cheek, turning the elf to him to nuzzle out another kiss, tongue's tip teasing over his lips. "I suppose I should let you tell the rest of your story."

Lirenel's eyes half closed, Benjamin's touch, his teasing kiss and the water stirred him. He trembled to feel the added rise of heat between his legs. "If you... if that's ... " The hell with it. He pulled Benjamin into a deep kiss, fingers of one hand knotting in his hair. They could finish the conversation another time.

For now, it was all the beauty of the night sky and the heat of the water and their bodies.

(Written with the incomparable Lirenel <3)

~Creeper~

Moonlight turned Lirenel's skin to the finest alabaster. Benjamin lay beside the elf on his bed, head propped up on his hand, and quietly studied every curve, every dip and hollow, every muscle. He caressed skin that was slightly cool, soft, and elastic, a quiet gaze of green following the path his hand took.

So beautiful. So strong. Lirenel was a slowly opening mystery, showing each facet's shine before revealing another. There was so much there, and Benjamin only dimly realized how much.

It seemed silly, now that Benjamin thought about it, to think that Lirenel had blissfully existed without entanglements or events to his life. Benjamin was infamous for his denial, though it was as much protection for his all too human psyche as it was a minor annoyance. Being able to skip over things that his mind wasn't yet ready for preserved his sanity and good humor alike.

It'd taken weeks before Benjamin realized that Lirenel wasn't human, and had found the elf's pointed ears. A little longer than that to realize that Lirenel was entirely enchanted with him. Finding himself caught into Lirenel's arms and hearing him murmur about how wonderfully well Benjamin fit there had been a revelation.

He wouldn't have thought Lirenel really would like him, a brash young human who fumbled through energies he didn't quite understand and often was hiding from those things.

It had been surprising, some of the things he'd come to learn of Lirenel. The elf was so polished, so refined, elegant, it was strange to think he'd ever been anything but that perfect knight.

With kids! Benjamin stifled a soft laugh. Family was a sacred thing to him, and everything that had happened about Lirenel's children had been madness. It was a wonder, really, that they were as average as they were.

Brandon was precisely the son Benjamin would envision for Lirenel, he decided. Handsome, intelligent, and as nasty as his father could be. Angry. With good reason.

Benjamin grimaced a bit as he stretched out alongside Lirenel, hand moving to lightly trace the elf's brow. Now that he could see it, Benjamin sensed, tasted, a great loss and sadness around Lirenel.

It was a nasty catch. Without those losses, Benjamin wasn't sure he would have even met Lirenel. He wondered if he was taking advantage of them. Benjamin never dwelled on things. Once something was done, it was done. He took the lessons learned and moved forward.

He knew people found him shallow for it, but he didn't care, usually. When he suffered, he found solace for it. He found distraction. He found healing. He knew most people weren't like that.

He touched Lirenel's lips lightly, following the sensual bow of his lower lip, and then leaned to place a gentle kiss there, hoping that he brought solace, distraction, and mostly healing to Lirenel's heart.

There was much more to learn there. Benjamin was patient. He didn't push. He waited.

Lirenel's eyes flickered open to find Benjamin watching him, and he chuckled softly, pulling him close once more. Benjamin wanted to insist he wasn't a creeper watching Lirenel sleep, but ...Lirenel didn't mind.

~Dreaming~

It was its own place and time. Place in time. Wide eyed and wondering as a child, Benjamin followed Lirenel's lead, stepping from the world into the Dreaming.

"If you're going to go about getting yourself into situations above your head, I'd better make sure you can manage them," Lirenel had noted, dryly amused. Benjamin was exactly what Jack always insisted. A bright star, a flashing strike of lightning, always in motion, always shining.

Sometimes, that meant finding out at a point too late to help that Benjamin had somehow stumbled though something that by all rights should have killed him. Usually with Benjamin none the wiser, other times, with him trembling in shock and suffering reaction.

Benjamin's survival strategy was simple but effective. When faced with something outside of his known reality, he would acknowledge it calmly, then look away and attempt not to make trouble until he had familiarity with it. It worked with Icer, it worked with most of everything he ran into.

Most of everything. When his reality crashed, what he knew to be true crumbled, and he couldn't look away...

In most ways, Benjamin was only human, after all.

This would help. Bend the edges a bit, as it were, to let Benjamin adapt much more quickly, or to retreat if he couldn't. Lirenel crafted a doorway leading into the Dreaming, a realm of its own. A place crafted by fancy and imagination, which gave those things their own reality to exist within.

It would help familiarize Benjamin with the powers Lirenel could see just fingertips out of the young man's reach.

Lirenel turned to Benjamin just as the young man flashed away, sheer joy and laughter overtaking him as he realized it was all dreaming. Lirenel paused, his golden brown eyes widening, as he watched the young man.

Beautiful. He watched, entranced, rather than to call Benjamin to order, to explain, and instead just let Benjamin experience.

After all that, Benjamin simply returned to Lirenel. Lirenel caught the young man in his arms and heart. The entire reality of Dreaming and all that could be done, and Benjamin returned without comment or care to the elf's side.

Sometimes, Lirenel wondered who was teaching who.

~The Pontfadog Oak~


"There we are, dearling. The Pontfadog Oak," Grandma murmured, looking down with bright green eyes to her little grandson. His eyes were as green as hers, wide with wonder.

"It's big," the child whispered, loosing her hand to patter around the width of the great tree. The breeze whispered through its leaves, and he paused, looking upwards at the moving play of green and brown against the sky.

It seemed there were words in the whisperings, ancient and distant. As if the oak was speaking to an unseen host. His grandmother watched, smiling, her eyes half lidded while she enjoyed the late spring sun.

"Where does it go to, Gramma?" the boy inquired, finding the hollow through the tree. He paused and peered through, reaching his hand inside.

"To the other side, of course," she chuckled, watching as he so very carefully and cautiously got to know the ancient oak.

The boy slipped within the trunk. Wide eyed, he looked up, around, a hand carefully trailing over the warm wood. The scents were rich and earthy, the sting of tannin almost unnoticed.

The pulse of life ran through the wood. His brows beetled as he squatted down to pat the packed mulch of wood and dirt under his feet. The whispers were constant. His head tilted as he tried to pick out the words.

No oak is ever a lonely thing, they each are a habitat unto themselves. The boy found connections on connections to the Pontfadog Oak, from the rich work of decay at its feet to the birds flitting in its branches.

From far, far away, he could hear his grandmother chatting with someone.

It seemed that as he explored the oak, he was examined just as closely. What a pretty child, such a pretty boy, so gentle and sweet, so adorable, so playful, so curious...

A tone sounded in his mind, a slowly growing brilliance. Something pushing at his mind to try and become coherent in the little one's understanding. It was so much easier with children, they had not been trained so firmly to distinguish night from day, fantasy from fact, reality from shadow.

Green eyes widened as he stared, transfixed, his breath sucking in slowly. He felt himself drawn, pulled, to that brilliance, that wonder.

Come away, O human child....

The boy paused, the glamour broken by the merest thing, a wrap of a rootlet around his ankle. There was a feel of thunder in the air, a rumbling of anger. The wood pressed around him, living and warm, and he turned in that thick touch to gaze out of the tree's hollow.

Grandma snatched the boy up, indignant, and stepped back. The woman she had been chatting with, her face set in a heavy frown, pushed inwards. She had an iron horseshoe in hand and quite a lot of angry words to speak.

Confused, the child looked up to his grandmother. She smiled and kissed his sweet brow.

"There, dearling. The oaks, the willows, the rowans and yews will always protect you as long as you are kind to them."

"...Where was I going...?" the boy asked, abruptly alarmed to realize that he had almost walked away from the loving arms of his family. Grandmother squeezed him, letting her confidence blanket his fear.

"One day, dearling, you may see the fairy world. But you must make your own way, and never let someone else make that way for you. Don't go, though, unless you know how to come back, as well."

"Okay, Gramma," he promised solemnly.

"There. She'll certainly think twice before trying to sneak another little'un for herself through here," the other woman noted with a certain ghoulish satisfaction to her voice. She pulled herself from the hollow of the oak, taking Grandmother's arm.

"Tell the Oak thank you, and we'll got and get lunch, then," Grandmother chuckled, squeezing the boy and setting him back to his feet. Baffled, the child smiled, shy, and gave a shruggy little bow.

"Thank you, Oak. I'd rather be home."

"Very good, lad." the other woman chuckled, and she and Grandmother led him away. The child looked back as often as he could at the ancient tree.

He must make his own way.


(Sad to say, the Pontfadog Oak has passed into another phase of its existence.http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/apr/28/pontfadog-oak-revered-loved-mourned)

~Unwed Mother~

Grizelda was Jack's little snitch. The young crow female had been tasked to keep tabs on Benjamin, but really, Benjamin was rarely into much that was all that dangerous. Soon, a young male crow was often accompanying Grizelda on her vigils.

Then, there was a single egg laid in one of Benjamin's shoes left to dry on the hearth, under the broody little crow. Benjamin eyed Grizelda, confused, when he reached for his shoe and was pecked several times for his efforts. Finally, he grabbed her and lifted her from the shoe to find the little egg. He blinked several times, then looked at the ruffled crow. She cawed at him peevishly.

"...You're very very late for laying eggs, Miss," he noted, "And very young. Where is your Mum and Da? Beating up your beau?"

Grizelda hunkered and wasn't going to dignify any of it with an answer. Exhaling and rolling his eyes, Benjamin placed the crow back onto her shoe-nest. He called his veterinarian.

Benjamin watched a bit anxiously while Dr. Krimper checked Grizelda and her egg over. Krimper hummed and ignored Grizelda's broody nastiness, ruffling her feathers to check her skin for parasites, looking into her beak, and all around being very disrespectful, in her eyes.

"She's just at that point between leaving her parents and starting her own little family. Usually, these eggs get laid, but they're late in the season and often aren't good," Krimper smiled, picking up the egg. Grizelda fluttered and flailed angrily while he checked it against the light.

"This one's good. You little minx," Krimper added with a chuckle.

"Here, put her in this. I need my shoes," Benjamin grinned, setting out a floppy old wool hat for Grizelda's nest.

"Here's the thing, lad," Krimper noted as he settled the grumpy hen and egg, "In the wild, it would just go sour pretty quickly, before she lost any condition for the winter, and she'd have a proper nest of eggs with the rest come next spring. But since she's clearly decided that she's an indoor bird, if you let her set on it, it'll hatch ? but you're going to have to keep the baby inside until spring at the least."

"If I take it away from her, she'll be furious, and so will the rest of the murder," Benjamin pointed out wryly. Krimper nodded.

"Yup. Your fault, laddy buck, you had the flock wormed and deloused, so they're all quite a lot more healthy than a typical flock. Not to mention you let this little cookie inside, and they're smart enough to know a good thing when they've got it."

"I didn't let her inside, she sneaks in when the doors or windows are open..." he insisted, weakly, because he knew whenever she had snuck inside, he'd rewarded her with treats and petting.

"Be that as it may," Krimper chuckled, amused, "The egg should hatch in a few weeks, so keep the fire warm for them. Make sure you've got plenty of wet cat food or just raw meat for her. Call me if there's any problems, but it looks like she's got it in beak."

"Thanks, Doc," Benjamin replied, rolling his eyes in amusement. This wasn't exactly how he'd expected his family to grow.

~Baby Bunting~

Bye bye baby bunting,
Daddy's gone a-hunting
To get a little bunny skin
To wrap the baby bunting in.

"...our little lamb..." Benjamin said, and he forgot the rest, forgot what he'd said before, and found himself gazing into wide and teary amethyst eyes.

"...our... Our little lamb...?" Gemethyst had squeaked, her hands clasping together before her.

Our. Our. All of our. One child so loved. Ours.

"Yes. Ours," Benjamin repeated with a soft chuckle. They had each other, after all. Their connections crossed and crissed, some lovers, some friends, all with respect and care for each other.

"Ours," Gemethyst squeaked again, and threw herself into Benjamin's arms. As if he was unaware of what his acceptance of her babe meant to her, he cheerfully petted silvery hair and rattled on.

"Mmhm. I'll need to bring down a deer or two, a few rabbits or squirrels, to make a bunting for her."

Benjamin could feel the little one. Her contentment and calm, and when her mother was agitated or angry, Benjamin could rest his hand on Gemethyst's belly and soothe her.

"Her...?" Gemethyst had asked a few moments later.

"Lirenel said she was," Benjamin chuckled. Gemethyst looked to the elf man, at his wide and proud smile.

"Yes. Ours," he agreed with Benjamin.

Belonging. Gemethyst found it there.

~The night before The Night Before~

Not quite night. Quiet. Lirenel ran his fingers over the wood railing. His home stood transformed from a dark paneled hermit's retreat to a starlit sky. Strings of lights in fragrant evergreen -- brought straight from Kentucky for the occasion by Willam, coaxed there by Brandon -- draped windows and doorways. A grand tree, a ridiculously HUGE tree, lorded it over the Great Room done up in decorator ornaments, all brand new.

Lirenel allowed no one, not even Brandon, to bring out the old ornaments. He explained simply, "not this year, please," and everyone seemed to accept it. Christmas eve had always been his time with his husband and children. One gift open the night before ... a reminder of the One Gift sung into birth by Angels.

The tree looked magazine perfect and ultimately just as impersonal. His son and daughter would open their one gifts without him, this year. He simply ... couldn't. He didn't think they'd miss him.

But that was all right. This house wasn't home yet, despite having been bathed in Rei's blood after his leap from a roof. Lirenel still didn't have all the details on that and frankly, he'd leave that to Gem. This house was, after all, but a placeholder in his life, he knew that. He wanted to simply move in with Benjamin and have "sleep overs" as Taneth would put it, with Jack whenever his lord needed him. He smiled. Winter was not Jack's best season, still, he handled it well and he'd agreed to come to Kentucky on Christmas Day for an old-fashioned, down home holiday, southern style.

Christmas day would find Lirenel, Brandon and 'Reesey exchanging gifts in the Kentucky house with Willam, Heidi and Stephen before a huge breakfast with all the hands who didn't have families of their own. Many didn't. Heidi already had a huge meal in the works for the afternoon as well. After that, Benjamin, Taneth in tow and finished with his Orphan's party, would arrive to whisk him and Brandon--if the lad wished--off to London.

Thank God they didn't have to fly traditional airlines.

Lirenel smiled. He found excitement tickling the fringes of his emotions. He rather liked Benjamin's parents and he had prepared, with Pharlen's help, for exposure to any daylight. New sunscreen. Good stuff and something he had considered taking to the estate outside the city to examine in detail in his own laboratories. After the new year. He hadn't checked the weather, but he planned to feast a bit before he left so he'd be strong and ready for the day's adventures.

Jack promised to show up Christmas Day. For Brandon's sake he hoped Jack and Sid would bring the twins. He also hoped for some private time with his lord, his love, while the young people were engaged in the yearly snowball fight and fort building. Kentucky promised snow and if the weather folks didn't deliver, the estate had their own snow machines.

He stepped down into the Great Room from the staircase. With a soft whisper of a spell he turned on the stereo--not the radio, or the music of a modern world, but his own collection. He listened to the soothing sounds of George Winston and padded in a stocking'd dance to the tree. A few gifts hung there already, small things, expensive things, trifles of affection. He caressed a bauble or two and smiled more broadly. Expressions of love from his son--*his* son! Sadness sloughed away. He slipped two from his pocket and hung them by their ribbons on the sturdy branches. Things for his loves to find later. Little surprises.

He checked his watch. Almost time to go. He pulled out his phone and texted, with much backspacing and auto-correction, that he was "on his way". Soon, he'd been by Benjamin's side, ready to ward the tree from pets crazed with Christmas ornament need. Maybe Jack and Gem would show up, maybe Taneth, too. Maybe not. Either way, they'd be together and the night, begun in silence and reverence so long ago, would be filled with music and laughter and love.

~Mean Time~

Something hit him at the shoulders with somewhere around a 45 kilos weight and force enough to knock him to his knees. Benjamin managed to half turn and found himself in a tangle of limbs, a hand over his mouth, a stare as madly green as a furious moggie's in his.

"Jackie?" he whispered behind her hand. She hissed.

"Shh!"

Jackie got her feet under her and wrestled herself to a pile of boxes and pallets, dragging Benjamin's hand. Benjamin hadn't a clue but moved along with her quickly and silently.

Jackie got her back to the wall and glanced aside to Benjamin as he waited tensely beside her. She gave him a smile that veered between chipper and stressed, definitely lame, her fingertip across her lips.

It was an alley freezing into the winter, dark as the sun set, filthy as it was desolate. It was as strange a place to find Benjamin as it was to find Jackie. Not such a strange place to find a hulking brute of a woman, humanoid but hairy enough to be some sort of a shifter. The female dropped to the alley in a misshapen hunkering of leather, opossum sharp teeth bared as she glared, piggish eyes wide as she sought to pierce the shadows.

Whatever the female was, she was fast, and she was furious. It was as if she'd taken frames out of time, one instant shoving over trashcans, the next, directly in front of Jackie and Benjamin.

That Glasgow grin of a smile turned mockingly maternal, the woman's features flowing into a false piety while she lifted a heavy pistol.

Jackie's hands jerked, and with that abrupt and instinctive motion, time came to a skidding halt, barely in control, in a bubble around the alleyway. She clung to that control with the bloodied fingernails of her will, biting her lower lip hard.

In that instant, reality heaved to a halt in a strange collision of energy and intent. Benjamin's hand, the palm marked with a star of a scar, extended outwards, laced in a slow crawl of vibrant energies. The stepped leader pulsed in a slow flash of potential from his fingers.

"Wow, it's not stopping," Jackie whispered, "What is it?"

"...What is happening?" Benjamin demanded in a thin voice, his eyes like saucers. The woman was motionless, but he could see the bullet caught in the barrel, the gasses from the pull of trigger caught in their expansion.

"Some people just can't take business for business and have to make it personal," Jackie sniffed with a little toss of her head, hopping to her feet and moving out of the path of the bullet. It was still moving, the leader was still jumping in pulses from Benjamin's hand.

"I really do suck at commanding time," Jackie added mournfully, "Move, Benjamin."

"I can't," he responded, terse.

Jackie frowned, looking from the energy slowly making its way towards the gun holding woman, then to Benjamin.

"Oh. It's kind of locked you into place, hasn't it? Oh. Boy."

"...Why can't I move, why is everything in slow motion?!" Benjamin demanded, his voice sharp, terse. He clung to his television persona to shove away the hysteria battering at his mind.

Sterling would never panic. Never go hysterical. He was always in command of himself even when he wasn't in command of the situation. Benjamin felt the horribly slow expansion of his lungs, the air filling them tainted with ozone and garbage.

Be Sterling.

"I command time, but not really well, it's kind of what we do, my family," Jackie rattled off, wincing, "I promise you'll be okay. I mean, you know Mum."

"Move her, or at least the gun," Benjamin snapped, sweat raising on his skin as he realized he was trapped. His body was immobile, his mind moved at whatever quantum speed Jackie had sped them to.

"On it," Jackie nodded, reaching over and turning the woman's hand and pistol, "Is that enough to kill her?"

"I don't know, it's lightning," Benjamin whispered, terse, unable to even track Jackie with his gaze.

"Ohh, the positive leader's coming up through her, that is so epic," Jackie announced, watching the slow rise of energy matching that Benjamin sent out bursting from the woman's chest.

"What is going on, Jackie?" Benjamin asked once more, somehow keeping his voice calm and even, "No sidestep answers. Why is this happening?"

"She's a bounty hunter, she was down at the docks asking questions about a green haired girl who'd been blonde, yellow eyes that maybe weren't anymore, pale skin and shy and pretty much sounded like Les," Jackie shrugged, "I tried to pay her off, but she got all pissy, and you know, it's just business."

Benjamin really wanted to stare at the girl, but remained frozen in place. The channel carved between himself and the bounty hunter as the positive and negative leaders met. His body shook with the flashing energy crashing through him. The pain was exquisite. He had never noticed it before.

"That means it's not business to her and to whoever hired her," Benjamin hissed sharply. Jackie winced, pulling back as she saw the energy building in the young man.

"Oh Fates," she squeaked, hunkering. So very glad of the rubber soled chucks she wore, and jerking out of physical contact with Benjamin.

Even with time altered, the return stroke of the lightning was brilliant and swift, leaping across the space between Benjamin's hand and the bounty hunter in jagged claws of energy.

Jackie's gaze turned from gleefully watching the slow speed electrocution of the bounty hunter to Benjamin. Her mouth fell open. Her concentration shattered at what she saw.

Benjamin flung back against the wall as the last flash of lightning burned, felt the sprite of it rise violently through him. Jackie yelped, the bullet striking bricks over her shoulder. The bounty hunter squalled, falling into burnt spasms in the filthy snow.

Time returned to its flow to the sound of Benjamin's heavy panting breaths. Jackie finally moved, touching his shoulder. She yipped as static ignited off of her fingers, then she winced as Benjamin collapsed into a heap.

"Oh Fates," she exhaled, grimacing and petting his cheek, "I better get you home to Mom. She'll know what to do."

It couldn't be said that Jackie hadn't listened to her fathers instructions, she assured herself that the bounty hunter was dead, turning the gun still held clenched in the woman's grasp and pushing the cold finger to pull the trigger.

For a long moment she regarded the woman's head, making a face.

"Nng. Whatever you know is not worth cutting open your skull," Jackie muttered, turning back to Benjamin. She got her shoulder under his arm, and focussed. Moments later, they were gone.

The alley returned to quiet. Scavengers of all sorts swarmed by, some attracted by the gold coins scattered around the body, others by the body.

Some were attracted to the handful of large feathers stuck in the snow melt, beautiful and new, storm gray and mottled.

~A week~

If a week could get any worse, Benjamin didn't want to know how. He returned, still reeling and in shock, to find Jack and Lirenel. His mind battered around the scene, the freezing of time, the bullet spinning eternally towards his face, his own powers turning on him in the feedback loop of energies...

To kill...

Yet that didn't bother him. The young man who was so compassionate had none for the woman that tried to kill him. Her choice that day had been to try and take his life and that of Jackie's, she had failed.

Relief to being returned to Jack, Lirenel, and Taneth was intense, but short lived. Lirenel wanted to see the scene of the incident. Wanted to make sure it was simply a fluke.

The woman lay where she'd fallen, but in the time since she had died, scavengers had been through the alley. The gold was gone, the now useless weapon she'd carried. The feathers were gone, carefully collected.

Assassin Cult members always work in pairs. Pharlen texted it just as one of Lirenel's people texted for them to get out of the alley. In the West End, it was difficult to discern between those that belonged there and those looking for or bringing trouble. The assassin woman's partner was no different.

The male opened fire on Lirenel and Benjamin the moment he spotted them standing over the body of his mate. The shotgun blast tore into Lirenel's shoulder. Benjamin responded swiftly, violently, a slash of lightning biting into the assassin and throwing him back.

Fury and pain lit off in Lirenel's eyes. The elegant knight and precise swordsman forewent all of that, leaping uncannily high and swift, sending him to crash down on the assassin, the man's shoulder and head under his boots. A more gruesome and thorough curb stomp there had never been.

The wounds wouldn't heal completely under Benjamin's powers. He tried, he had healed similar wounds before, but he wasn't able to restore Lirenel.

The rest of the week was a downwards spiral so vicious, he wondered if his ancestors were determined to show him the threshold of his breaking point. His trust, his faith, remained true while he carried on like some battered and confused survivor struggling to keep afloat on wreckage in an icy sea.

Then...

He found himself gazing at what was his. Like glancing to the back of his hand, looking across a room and recognizing his own face in a mirror... Seven storm gray and cloud white feathers dangled from bands of faery silver. Jack held it up to show him, then fastened it around his neck. Benjamin's fingers rested on the soft feathers.

Lirenel was healed, the wound poisoned with some preparation meant to torpor a vampire. If he hadn't been as powerful as he was...

Benjamin didn't want to think about it. He chose to think about how the incident showed him that Lirenel truly had managed to reclaim his children.

He chose to think of Jack's arms around him. Of laying in the crow's and knight's arms, radiating warmth and love.

He chose to think of Taneth going through all of his clothes. Fortunately, most survived her foray into boy pants.

Benjamin smiled, sitting at his desk. Carefully winding silver and bronze wire, delicately painting designs in ink. A beautifully polished boulder opal big enough to fit in a man's palm with striations of vivid blue like a lightning bolt rested near his hand.

He finished with the feather. It was his own. He knew it was. Was certain of it. A contour feather, white and dark gray. He carefully crafted it to become a quill pen.

Benjamin smiled and put the opal in his pocket, tucked the pen into his coat. He put the pain and suffering of the week behind him, and walked to his yard to kneel before the sacred fire.

~Practice~


Lirenel's estate in RhyDin was enormous, beautiful, a grand expanse of grounds and buildings. A fine stable of beautiful horses, a spectacular garden, a large and comprehensive training ground.

Benjamin found Lirenel in the master bedroom, going through memories. Old clothing, mementos, photographs, he patiently went through them all with a pensive smile resting on his lips. The room, particularly the bed, had been torn to pieces.

It was almost a frightening sight, though Lirenel had only a bit of gentle humor and rue about it. That he, who was so self contained, so controlled and calm, had completely lost command of himself and let his grief and anger and loss run rampant in the place where he and his husband had been so happy for so many years.

To be so engaged with one person, to be so wrapped up with them, to be that close that the pain of losing them was physical, that was more frightening to Benjamin than the obvious signs of an inhuman strength.

Yet Benjamin recognized within himself and in Lirenel that there were bonds between them just as powerful. As he recognized it, he realized, he did not fear it. Lirenel understood what and who he was, accepted it, cherished it. Benjamin could do no less than to return it, and with it, simple gratitude.

Lirenel led Benjamin through the huge estate, and as they walked, he casually decided that it would make a fine home and refuge for children rescued from the street. Where they could be safe, be educated, given a real chance at life.

Benjamin was speechless. Stunned. Lirenel smiled to the young man's astonished wonder, saying simply that they would work out the details.

But first...

Benjamin realized that Lirenel had led him to the training grounds.

"I've been a bit remiss, I would rather hold you in my arms when I can get away to come to you," Lirenel grinned, not a bit remorseful. Often, he wondered just what it was about Benjamin that so easily called his desires to his skin. Other times, he simply gloried in it.

"You've learned how to use your powers to protect and heal, my heart. Now you need to learn to control them to fight with them," Lirenel assured Benjamin. He indicated targets set up around the arena and stepped back.

Benjamin blinked several times.

"You can do it," Lirenel encouraged, a faint and humorous smile touching at his lips.

Benjamin stood for a long moment, staring at his hands. Where the power was, the energy, the very heart of the storm, he felt it deep within him. He'd learned to so carefully harness it into tiny amounts, into healing, guiding and shaping it precisely, that it seemed strange to simply let it sing from his hands like horses loosed from the paddock.

Lirenel winced, struggling to keep from laughing, when Benjamin managed to envelope himself in a sudden snap of static electricity. Benjamin's eyes were wide and round, his hair standing like a dandelion puff.

"Uhm. I think..."

Benjamin focussed, as if he was directing the energy for a careful healing, but without that intent to heal. He touched at the anger at being attacked, ignored the fear of it, and let more, and more, then more, fly from him.

Sharp and jagged, a powerful lash of electricity took out a section of fence. The sonic boom of thunder followed, loud and jangling. Benjamin winced.

"I'll have it repaired, keep going," Lirenel reassured him, arms folding over his chest as he watched. Pride gleamed in golden eyes along with humor.

Another, and another... Benjamin's aim improved bolt by bolt. His green eyes took on a lambent gleam, brilliant and shining. He moved awkwardly, feeling unfamiliar weight on his back, but he didn't let that break his concentration.

Lirenel watched, the pride in his smile turning to wonder as he watched his young thunderbird working.


(Much love and thanks to Lirenel's wonderful player.)

~Cares~

Wings. They remained when Benjamin returned himself to his home. His balance skewed and twisted often under them, abruptly his feet would sweep off to the side in response to an unintended flap or wave, and he would find himself on his hands and knees or his ass. And he would laugh.

"I have brought myself home from Fae, Grandmother," Benjamin murmured Welsh words to the sacred fire. He knelt in the snowy yard, heedless of the cold, wrapped in sage smoke.

Watch. Listen. Learn. Be wary.

Words whispered in the gentle breeze, and Benjamin lowered his head, nodding.

"I shall."

Such a pretty thing he was, so exotic, so sweet, so sensual, he could not ever let his guard down in Faery. Never completely.

Thanking Grandmother for her wisdom, Benjamin rose from the dying fire, carefully kicking a bit of snow to smother the coals. He started to return to his home, but something stopped him.

A tug at his mind or heart, his intuition, simply a desire to exercise and bring strength to the young wings. Wearing little more than a pair of sweat pants in the cold twilight, Benjamin walked.

She lay like a doll forgotten and tossed aside, a heap of cold and golden hair lain in the ice shot dirt. Benjamin's brows knit, and he dropped to his knees at Taneth's side. He called her name, wings curving around her in a tenting of warmth, protection.

It took so long for her to awaken. She was so cold in his arms. Fear jerked into a icy knot of fear deep in his belly. Fear cost far too much. He forced it to stay still, focussed on Taneth. He couldn't fail her.

Taneth woke slowly, with so many questions. Would he leave her, did he love her, would he remember her...

You're in my heart. You're part of me. I trust you. I love you, I will always love you...

He whispered reassurances to Taneth that he really wasn't sure was really reassuring to her. She watched him as if she would look into the very center of his soul, and he accepted that gaze without hesitation. Letting her gaze within him as she had once allowed him to look within her.

Ketch found them, a miserable pair, Benjamin scarce able to lift Taneth, Taneth weak and weary, and helped get them home. Benjamin wrapped her in blankets, his wings, Elsa and Bob curled up with her, all before the fireplace burning hot and steady. And still she felt cold.

He was upon a darkened stage within his dreaming mind. There was no audience, no cast, no crew. Yet he could taste the potential.

"She wants a true love. One man who can join with her and make a life together."

"I know that."

"So why don't you?"

Benjamin exhaled faintly, turning until he could see himself. Not himself. Sterling. Arrogant, cruel, harsh, powerful, and underneath it all, a hopeless romantic.

How strange it was, because Benjamin had no illusions of love.

"I have offered what I can offer. I don't think she would accept that. It must seem a poor and half assed thing. As if I'm tossing the dog a bone."

"Man up, Benjamin," Sterling sneered, arms folded over his chest, a harsh sneer of a smile on his lips, "It is well past time for you to put away your youthful toys and stop following your dick. She needs you."

Benjamin reacted as if slapped, turning a burning gaze upon the mage.

"I know what most people think. And it is not manning up to walk away from those that I love, and less than that to assume that Taneth is some fairy tale princess that needs a man to rescue her. She is a force of nature."

"She is a woman who can't understand why her friend who says he loves her so much can't love her as one woman," Sterling retorted.

"That is not what I am," Benjamin responded, harsh and cold, "I trust her, and that means more to me than love. It always has. For the first time in my life, I have people around me who let me be me ?"

"And it's all about you, Benji, sweet, lovely, precious little Benji," Sterling purred nastily, green eyes glittering in the darkened setting. Benjamin glared back with identical eyes.

"I'm talking to myself and you say you can't understand what I am?" he snapped. Sterling quirked a brow with a slow pull of grin.

"I'm Sterling, Benjamin. You might say I'm new here."

"You're not," Benjamin snorted, turning away. "My love isn't less because I give it to many. My love for Lirenel isn't less than my love for Jack or Gem or anyone. It's different. My love for Taneth isn't some nice, homogenized brother-friend thing."

"I never doubted that you couldn't run in and shag her if you had half a chance," Sterling scoffed, disdain painting over his handsome features. Benjamin glanced at him once more.

"Sexual repression is your thing, Sterling, don't force that crap on me. Of course I would. Gladly. Even if sex was all she wanted."

"But that is not all she wants. She wants what any one would want. A love that's all for her, that she can be all for. And you just push yourself away. Why?"

Benjamin exhaled faintly, shaking his head.

"I could do that. I could ask my other loves to release me to her. And I could spend... I don't know. A month. A year. Ten years. At her side. Her perfect man. Never looking aside. Worshipping her."

"Why don't you?" Sterling demanded, his brows knitting.

"I wouldn't be me," Benjamin responded, "I wouldn't be the person... I don't even know if she loves me, wants me, like that. Hell, I don't even know if I'm her type."

"I think she is as careful to avoid giving you signals like that as you are to her," Sterling mulled, head tilting, hand on his chin.

"I'm not all that careful about it. Maybe. It doesn't really matter. Whether you like it or not, I am what I am. I trust those I have given myself to. She is more than welcome in my life as anything she wants to be within it."

"On your terms," Sterling pointed out archly. Benjamin nodded.

"And hers. Taneth has always written her own rules with me."

"What if that is what she needs? She's been crumbling since her 'sweetie' told her he didn't want her any more," Sterling demanded, pacing towards Benjamin.

Benjamin's brows knit as he turned just as Sterling stepped closer, putting them face to face.

"No. She was crumbling before then. She was wandering around, dazed. No one seemed to care. I picked her up. She was cold."

"Maybe that's it, Benjamin," Sterling murmured, moving once more. He walked into ? through ? Benjamin. Benjamin's breath caught in a startled gasp.

"Shh, Bright Star," Jack hushed, frowning as he negotiated the tangle of birds, dog, Benjamin, blankets and Taneth, glancing to the youth as he awoke, wide eyed and twitching.

"Oh. Jack," Benjamin exhaled in a tone of relief, sagging into the man's arms, pulling Taneth with him.

Jack chuckled faintly as he found himself fully involved in their cuddle pile, saying no more as he watched Benjamin drift back to sleep. The Crow's brows quirked, however, as a hand skimmed over the young man's brow.

~White Latex~

Still, no response. Brandon lay in a sphere of perhaps his own creating, away from his loved ones. Under the despairing eyes of his father, his family, while Joy mourned in a lonely tower.

"That's enough of that," Benjamin murmured to himself, admiring his reflection in the mirror. He was stunning in ice white latex, sleek with every muscle lovingly displayed in the breathtakingly tight bit of club wear.

Tossing a cloak over himself, he turned, and instants later, was padding brashly through Lirenel's halls, Wyllem at his side. He thanked the man again, profuse and earnest, for helping watch over Brandon, and then rather shamelessly stepped into the boy's room to steal his father.

"Come with me, my Heart. You need to rest from this," Benjamin murmured, leading him downstairs, "And you haven't taken me for a ride in your Cadillac yet."

Time away from trouble and care, but mainly, time with his heart. While adorned in lovely kink wear. It was win-win in Benjamin's mind.

~A Proper Pair of Toffs~

"Wake up, my heart," Benjamin murmured to Lirenel's delicately tapered ear, humorous as he slowly pulled the elf to sit up in bed. It was nearing sundown, and the actor was busy.

Benjamin tugged and pulled at Lirenel, playing valet and getting the elf dressed, and finally, pulled Lirenel to stand beside him before his full length mirror. Both clad in fine evening suits from the gaslit era, elegant and florid alike.

"Proper pair of toffs, wouldn't you say, old chap?" Benjamin grinned, tilting his top hat to a rakish angle on his head. His suit was dark blue, faintly pin striped in red that was picked up again in the elaborately embroidered waistcoat under the jacket. Lirenel's suit was similar, but cream and gold picked out from the dark linen rather than reds.

He handed Lirenel a lion headed cane, a pair of fine kid gloves, finishing the ensemble with a frock coat with several capelets. Once he had pulled on his own gloves and coat, he picked up a black umbrella and waved it for the door.

"We're off now. Come, they won't hold their horses forever," he nodded, leaning heavily on his English accent, grinning, green eyes bright.

Benjamin meant exactly that, it turned out. Though he shifted them through the planes of fog from Benjamin's RhyDin home to his parents estate in England, there was indeed a hansom cab pulled by a pair of fine, strong cobs waiting. The sun had just set, leaving a glory of watercolors smeared over the darkening sky.

Once in the cab, Benjamin tapped the roof with his brolly handle and beamed to Lirenel. They started off, and a look out of the window showed that they hadn't travelled back into time. Plenty of people stopped to watch the stately procession of the cab, and more as it was joined by other horse drawn vehicles and a few vintage steam, electric, and gas powered cars.

Within the hour, the driver stopped and let the pair out. Benjamin grinned, taking Lirenel's arm, and directing him to a fantastic slice of whimsy ? evening at the Wizarding World Amusement Park.

"Come on," Benjamin whispered to the elf, grinning.

~Banned~

"I don't give a good Goddamn who he is, he's banned off the lot and that's that," Patricia Mokers noted flatly as she went over the day's scripts. The woman at her elbow flounced and uneasily tried to put a stern expression onto her sweet natured face.

"Conner Thraven, he is Winnie's boyfriend."

"If he is Winnie's boyfriend, then I think you should know he has on more than one occasion struck her, and that is why he is banned off of the lot," Patricia snapped, lowering the scripts and eying the woman coldly, "This isn't Hollywood where we play at being honorable and scold people for being bad while giving them all the adulation they think they deserve."

The other woman gulped and drew back, startled. She dithered with her hands, fidgeting and flouncing.

"...It... I mean. It must have just been. An accident. He's... he wouldn't..."

"Mrs. Harper, you are a plugged nickel from joining him in being banned off the lot," Patricia snapped, her eyes narrowing.

"Winnie is my daughter! You can't ban me!"

"Yes. I can," Patricia responded, turning to face Mrs. Harper fully, "In fact, Mrs. Harper, I can ban Winnie off of the lot and find some ridiculous and hackneyed plot device to replace her character without any trouble at all. I was hired to direct this train wreck, and part of that is making sure my actors can do their job in safety. Conner threatens your daughter's safety, and you not only want to make excuses for him but to give him access to hurt your daughter again?"

Mrs. Harper stared back at the woman, her mouth pinched shut. After a long moment, she turned and walked away, half running, stumbling and swaying. Patricia narrowed her eyes.

Winnifred watched her mother stumble her way to the front gates, half concealed in an over hang of trailing roses, biting her lower lip almost hard enough to break the skin. It killed her, but what else could she do? She had to hide from her own mother.

Russel had taken her in without comment when she insisted that her rented cottage was being retrofitted. It had been a relief to stay with the old man, living on the lot, and never having to step outside the walls... To be safe.

It was amusing to find that the winsome heroine of the show was living with the wicked evil villain, but really, it wasn't all that funny to Winnifred. She hugged herself, wincing as her phone rang not ten minutes after her mother fled the lot.

Before Winnifred could mute her phone, it was snatched out of her hand. She stared at Benjamin's impassive face, watching him put the phone to his ear. To her horror, he not only answered, but answered in a tone that sounded much like Winnifred's own voice.

A long while passed. Winnifred could hear her mother both sobbing and scolding, but not her words. She could finally hear her mother calling her name several times. Benjamin quietly cut off the call there, then turned the phone off. Winnifred stared at him, her face paper white.

"Do you want to keep this job?" Benjamin asked Winnifred, blunt and cold. Winnifred flinched.

"You know I love this job, Benjamin. You know it's my life. It's what I always dreamed of. I don't even care if I go on to bigger things or not."

"Then why are you letting her do this to you?"

Winnifred exhaled, her eyes closing.

"She's my mother, Benjamin. Family. You understand that."

"I understand a mother being a mother, Winnifred. I understand family supporting and loving and elevating and working. I understand dysfunctional families fighting and whacking their heads together. This isn't about family. This is about how much power she has over you. I don't care how sweet and loving and adorable she is. This is about power and controlling you," he whispered, low and intense.

"I don't want to talk to Sterling, I want Benjamin back," Winnifred blurted out. He smiled, cold and cruel as a whip cut.

"It doesn't work that way, Winnifred."

"She thinks she's doing the right thing and I know it isn't, that's why I moved here where she can't get at me!" Winnifred exhaled, pulling at her hair.

"Does she really?" he inquired, silky smooth. Winnifred lifted her head to rally, glaring at him, but found her mouth frozen shut. She wasn't Aurora and didn't have a script to read.

"Fine. Conner's a spoiled moron, and he's so convinced he can get away with whatever he wants that he's almost destroyed his career. So, his mother figures if he's dating me, he'll look good, he'll get his career back. She knows my mother and my mother is a big fan of his and here we are. Mother doesn't seem to realize I'm a much bigger star than he is."

"You know, it would have been nice if it was at least worth writing down and selling to the show," Benjamin sneered nastily. Not Benjamin, Winnifred reminded herself.

Sterling.

"I'm so sorry my personal problems aren't interesting enough for you," she snapped.

"So tell her you're not going to date him, and you're not going to talk to her until she gets that through her thick skull," he shrugged, unconcerned.

"I'm tired of telling her that. I'm tired of finding that idiot running around saying I'm his girlfriend, I'm tired of him threatening to hurt ?"

"What?"

Winnifred stopped with a wince.

"And I don't want him dead just because he's an immature idiot, either," she added firmly.

"If he gets himself killed, which seems entirely likely, my precious, it is because he is an idiot. It has nothing to do with you. You are not Adora," he smiled, thin and cold. Winnifred stared flatly at him.

"At least she'd get a kiss for dealing with the prince of assholes."

Sterling smiled, charming and charmed.

"I would love you far more than she," he purred, leaning to whisper near her ear, "You have balls."

Winnifred stared sidelong at him, wide eyed, and then yelped when he smacked her upside the head.

"So use them."

"Why the hell is it you can smack me around, but it's abusive when Conner did it?!" Winnifred blurted out, kneeing him in the thigh before slamming a fist into his jaw. She watched in mute satisfaction as he staggered and fell against the wall. He wiped a few drops of blood from his jaw and smiled, nodding.

"That's why."

"I want Benjamin, I don't like you," Winnifred snapped, uncomfortably aware of just why she disliked Sterling so much at that moment.

"If you're not going to fight for yourself, Winnie, no one else will," he replied, shuddering and shaking himself. Winnifred winced once more as she watched him remove the elaborately braided wig.

"...Did you hear...?" she asked hesitantly. Benjamin shook his head.

"Not really. I never do. Not unless he's talking to me."

"I don't want to be in the middle of all this, Benjamin. Mark hates me now. My mother will hate me. And I'll be constantly having to tell people Conner's not my problem..." Winnifred blurted out, in tears as she threw herself into Benjamin's arms.

"Mark doesn't hate you. He's just waiting for you to figure this out. If your mother can't understand, then, there's nothing you can do. Hiding will only make him think he can say what he wants," Benjamin whispered warmly, squeezing her.

"She hates Mark. She said she'd disown me if I married him. Because he's a were wolf. She thinks he's evil," Winnifred finally admitted, "He doesn't know. I don't want my own mother to be one of the people who calls him that."

"Mark's a good man. If your mother can't see it, then you just have to go by your own lights. She'll come around, or she won't. My parents had to go through that, too. Not with their own parents, fortunately, but... You're a smart girl, Winnie. Do what you know you have to do."

"How can a dick like Sterling live in your head?" Winnifred asked after a few moments, wiping her face on his cloak.

"I like dicks," Benjamin grinned, wide eyed. Winnifred gaped at him, her face running scarlet before she yowled a laugh and smacked him. He laughed, squeezing her tightly to him.

"Because I don't always understand the way it works here. How bad things can be. He does," Benjamin whispered.

Winnifred nodded and drew in a firm breath. She looked into Benjamin's green eyes, resolute.

"Is Mark on the set still?"

Benjamin nodded with a warm smile. He watched her turn and walk away, then continued down the road to meet with Star. He groaned faintly as he pulled himself to the horse's back. Winnifred could kick hard when she wanted to, and she almost always wanted to kick Sterling when he decided to talk to her.

A small, noisy dirt bike whizzed down the road, heading into town, as Benjamin and Star reached the small valley where he lived. Benjamin frowned faintly, watching the figure disappearing into the dust.

~The Paladin~

It was passing strange to realize that not only the wards around Benjamin's home were unseen, but completely unrealized. It was a bit annoying to realize at the same moment that Benjamin simply hadn't warded his home against people of good intentions and family.

The best of intentions and the closest of family could bring about danger, after all. Such was Jack's paranoia, which turned wry as he realized that the woman riding a horse barging into Benjamin's home was nothing less than a paladin.

It didn't matter, Benjamin still needed to lace up that hole.

Halcyon, she named herself, and her steed, an eye popping giant of a Percheon type called Stupid walked right to Jack, Gem, and Benjamin as they enjoyed the evening air.

Once introduced, Stupid cantered off into the back field, where the horses roamed and exercised. Soon after, the big gray and Star were in a cheerful shoving match, kicking, racing, romping around gladly.

Star's grand sire. Benjamin gaped at the beast. That strange creature whose eyes burned with the light of the holy Phoenix...

That was Star's grand sire.

That did explain a lot.

"I see Star has chosen his companion well: Ye are Thunderbird," Halcyon smiled to Benjamin, "We be kin, of sorts, I be thinking."

The paladin was strangely familiar. Waterbird, he knew. They were companions to the celestial Thunderbird. They flew in their own formations.

Familiar, and still alien.

She had known of Gem from long ago, though Gem only recalled the woman as a knight of a mad empire. Knew how strange it was that someone so lawful and good could work in the court she did.

Benjamin could only stare at the woman. She was beautiful, that much was so, but it was not her outwards appearance that held his attention. It was the silvering of her soul, which she made no effort to conceal.

A paladin. A paladin that wasn't a self righteous prig with a stick up her butt. She was kind, she was self effacing, she was warm and friendly.

Benjamin scarce heard the conversation she had with Jack, save that she apologized humbly for walking into the property without asking. She must have said the right things the right ways, though. Jack was soon calling her Daughter.

Daughter. Benjamin could only wonder why, wonder what cord she touched in Jack's mind and soul.

Jack was not forthcoming with any information, but as he allowed the woman to come and join them on the porch, he spoke those all important words to Halcyon:

"Favor us with a story, Daughter."

Halcyon smiled.

"I be nay a bard like me Dad, but I reckon I knows a few tales which may please ye..."

~Tits~

Benjamin Piers. Conner snarled the name as he pulled himself onto his motorcycle. They let that freak beat him up. They didn't even press charges. They let Benjamin put him into the hospital and didn't say boo to him.

If Benjamin's fans knew what a raging freak he was...

Conner paused as he fastened his helmet strap, his eyes narrowing.

It was rare that anything regarding Benjamin Piers private life showed up anywhere. If he was at a party, he was with a few other cast members or the show's producer, or more usually, with some fan. He did volunteer work all over the place, but there were never any reporters around to document him. Just people writing on social media that they'd seen him.

Probably was his own people posting crap to make him look like a good guy despite playing a bad guy. Conner smirked as he considered doing the same. It'd be a cheap and easy way to restore his reputation.

He was tired of being the good boy. It rankled. He made money hand over fist, he should be enjoying it old school, with all the groupies, sex, drugs, and alcohol that he could get.

Conner started up the powerful dirt bike and released the clutch to go tearing down a back country road on one wheel. After a few laps of the long dirt track, he slowed the bike down, looking around as he rode.

Supposedly, Benjamin lived in that back country somewhere. Him and his horse. That big black bastard couldn't be too hard to find. Once Conner knew where Benjamin lived, he could find out just what sort of a freak the man really was. No one could be as good as Benjamin made himself out to be.

Winnie had said Benjamin lived in a little ranch style house. That it was on a big piece of land just after a dairy farm. Conner frowned as he passed by the dairy. There were four or five herds of cows on the road, most seemed to have dairies, but there was no sign of a house.

Conner spotted a shack just off the road and stopped, frowning as he dismounted his motorcycle. A small clearing and an abandoned shack. This couldn't be it.

Turning, Conner found himself confronted by the hottest mama he'd ever seen. He stared at her. Five foot nothing. Big purple eyes. Glossy lips. Pale skin. Silver hair. But what drew his attention were the woman's breasts, held cherished within the confines of the luckiest black leather he'd ever seen.

"Hey, Tits," he crooned, his gaze locked onto her chest, "You wouldn't happen to know where Benjamin Piers lives, would you?"

She answered, he didn't pay attention. His brain kicked into overdrive, saying anything it would take to get him in the position to get just one feel of those enormous boobs without the leather in the way.

When he finally left, Conner was convinced that the woman, Gemma or something, was willing to tell him everything he wanted and would meet him later for dinner. She was totally into him, he told himself smugly. She'd help him take Benjamin down a few pegs and she'd slip him all the poon he wanted. He grinned and gunned the motorcycle faster, heading back to his hotel.

Gemethyst stared after the young man, her lips in a thin white line. She tried to find the good in everyone, but Conner had nothing to him. Her fists clenched. If she hadn't needed to know more about who the young man was and why he wanted Benjamin, she would have beaten the pretty clean off of him.

"Tits," Jack snickered from behind her. Gemethyst whirled on him, her eyes snapping with anger. Jack's eyes widened comically, and he turned tail and ran back for Benjamin's property. She tore after him, but was already laughing by the time they passed through the barrier concealing Benjamin's home from outsiders.

~Dreamings~

A far off glimpse of his golden knight through the haze of the lands of Dream led Benjamin on his way. He walked, drifted, flew, peaceful mind and heart carrying him. His hands held out.

It startled Lirenel sometimes. To find that Benjamin held power so well hidden, he was unaware of it himself. Perhaps Jack said it best, that the young man shone. That seemed to answer all.

The Game continued. Lirenel glanced at the other players, and simply lay down his hand. Turning from the game to take well earned respite. He drew Benjamin into his arms and found that perfect fit, that turn of head and rest of cheek, curl of arm and rest of shoulders where the thunderbird belonged so well.

It took little to awaken Benjamin from his meditations, a kiss, a nip of lip, and those verdant eyes opened wide. His smile was warm, welcoming, unsurprised to find that his prayers at his sacred fire had brought back the mortal form of the elf knight.

Benjamin easily fell into Lirenel's arms, returning his passion eagerly, playful, sending them sprawling over the new grown grass. A moments respite, or a months, really, it was impossible to say.

Things were changing. The hands Lirenel had won were beginning to show their course, their influence. New growth, even as the onset of spring, was certain and strong.

Some of those new threads were evident in Benjamin, in the strength of his powers awakening, in the arcane touches around him. Oddly, even in the short cut of his hair. Or perhaps not, Jack never had been fond of long hair on his men.

It wasn't all in vain. That was all that mattered.

A long while later, Benjamin hauled Lirenel to his feet, laughing, smeared in mud, blood, grass and sweat, to lead him into the house. A shower, and then an evening bonding all over again with little Nyx and Jewel, Jack as he arrived.