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Author Topic: Story - The Dark Fairy  (Read 10909 times)

Offline Sparky

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Re: Story - The Dark Fairy
« Reply #15 on: 24. February 2022, 00:56:12 AM »
Chapter 9

"Your majesty, there is a young fairy outside, name of 'Lilly': I believe you requested her presence?"

"Oh, yes, thank you Blossom, show her in will you - and Blossom, can you please organise some tea for my guest and myself?"

Lilly was shown into the Queen's drawing room. As soon as Lilly had heard that she was to see the Queen, she had conjured up a very smart pink dress and matching shoes: smart and simple but not too flashy, erring towards the business side of things. Definitely a bit more 'business attire' than the roller boots and clothes she had on before. The Queen stood up as Lilly entered the room, and Lilly went over to her, and curtsied.

"Your Royal Highness, you asked me to come....". Unlike when she had come to tea with Princess Tatiana - or Tats as she prefers to be known - when things were much more informal, today Lilly was visiting on official business.

"Yes, Lilly, it's so nice to see you again! I hear you and your friends are rather busy right now!". Lilly was suitably impressed that she remembered their previous couple of visits. "Come and sit with me..." The queen sat down in a comfy lounge chair, motioning to Lilly to sit in an identical one next to her.

"So, how can I be of help, your majesty?"

"Well, it's more that I think I might be of help to you. I've been reading the official reports about the strange happenings at Runesdale" said the Queen.

"Yes, it's all VERY odd. I mean, it's a relatively small town, yet there has been so much strange stuff going on, all related to human teeth. I mean, if it was close to a fairy outpost, then I could believe that maybe we have a rogue fairy, most likely a rogue tooth fairy, out there, but we have nothing anywhere near there." explained Lilly

"Actually, I think you might be wrong about that...." said the Queen

"Wrong about which bit?"

"The lack of a fairy outpost. Hear me out.....". As the Queen said that, Blossom arrived with a tray with 2 cups, a teapot, milk, sugar, and a plate of rather nice biscuits.

"Thank you, Blossom, we'll manage it ourselves" she said, dismissing Blossom. The queen lifted the lid of the teapot, and gave it a stir, and replaced the lid. She picked up the teapot, and poured the tea into the 2 cups (and don't tell me that it needs to brew for 3 minutes before pouring: the palace is BIG, and the Queen knows that it takes at least 3 minutes for the tea to get to her from the kitchens!). "Milk? Sugar?" the Queen asked Lilly. Whilst Lilly had been with Tats for tea with the queen a couple times, Lilly was still quite excited: not only was having tea alone with the queen a very special thing, having your tea POURED by the Queen, well, just WOW!

"Milk, no sugar, thank you your majesty" she replied. The Queen added the milk, gave it a stir, and passed it to Lilly.

"Help yourself to biscuits...."

"Thank you. So, you were saying, your majesty?...."

"Ah yes, Runesdale. As a child I read a story, it was all about the workings of a big fairy palace, where the fairy King and Queen lived with their four daughters. As a young child, I thought it was a delightful piece of fiction... until I read your report". The Queen leaned to her left, and picked up a very old book from the table next to her. "I found it, amongst my other childhood books, and looked at it again, but this time as an adult, and realised that it wasn't a story book at all, it was a book that detailed the running of a *real* royal palace. And you get one guess where it was located"

"Runesdale?"

"Almost, but not quite. It's in a place called 'Runesvale Forest' - with a 'V'... but as we all know, place names often change over time, and I'm thinking it's the same place. I have often wondered why England is the only country where the Palace, and the 'centre of operations' and other things are not all in the same place. European countries have HUGE fairy palaces."

"But we've got fairies there right now, and I'm sure they would have looked around: they'd recognise a Royal Palace, I mean, you can't really MISS a huge great Palace!"

"You wouldn't miss it, if it were still there. But what if it got destroyed?"

"Destroyed? How would a palace get destroyed?"

"By two human brothers who also knocked down half the forest without permission?" suggested the Queen. "Just as described in the background report about Runesdale".

"My goodness, that sounds.... horrible! But half a moment, if something like THAT happened, surely we'd know about it?"

"Would we? Sometimes history gets changed. Think of the long-term effects of such a terrible event: fairies and humans potentially at war? I mean, as far as most fairies would know, their palace was just destroyed by humans. Maybe the King and Queen from back then worked out that it WAS just a big mistake: a fairy palace isn't going to be at all visible to humans, they would never know what they just did. And risking a war with humans would be stupid, we could never hope to win."

"Ok, so let's say there WAS a palace there.... how does that tie up with what's happening now?"

"You said it yourself: 'if it was close to a fairy outpost, then you could believe that maybe there's a rogue fairy out there'."

"Ok, so I'm supposed to take on this idea based on... a child's book?"

"No, I think you need to go look at the Dark Archive"

"The Dark Archive, what's that?"

"How's your mother doing?" asked the Queen, appearing to suddenly change the subject.

"My mother? To be honest, I'm not really sure. I guess she's ok, I've not seen her for a while"

"You need to go see her...". Lilly was getting confused. "Your mother's office was built on top of the Dark Archive, and she is it's 'keeper'".

"She's never said anything about a 'Dark Archive'".

"She won't have. Its mere existence is on a 'need-to-know' basis, and you now need to know about it."

"So, she knows about all the stuff in the Dark Archive?"

"No, not in the least. Whilst she's its keeper, her security level lets her see but a tiny part of the archive. Of course, you have a rather higher clearance, so you should be able to see everything. I suggest you might want to elevate your mother's security a bit, I think she might be able to help you. And speak to Sir Donald when you get back to your office...."

Lilly took another sip of her tea. What the Queen had just told her was a huge step to take, but it was something to investigate. If it WERE true, it would explain things perfectly.

"Here, borrow my book, read it - but I would like it back at some point, if only for sentimental reasons" said the Queen


Offline Sparky

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Re: Story - The Dark Fairy
« Reply #16 on: 25. February 2022, 18:09:35 PM »
Chapter 10

Lilly knocked at her boss' (that's Donald's!) open door. "Yes, Lilly, come in. How was your meeting with the Queen?"

"Very interesting! And possibly *very* relevant"

"What do you mean"

"I need you to tell me more about the Dark Archive"

"The Dark Archive? What's that?"

"Oh, come on, I KNOW you know about it. The Queen just told me about it: apparently, it's under mum's office, and she's it's Keeper. And her majesty thinks I need to visit it."

"Ah, sounds like it's time that you 'need-to-know' about it then! Well, the Dark Archive contains a large library of very old books. Some contain old magic. Some of the books contain some very nasty magic that was banned, but we still keep the details, you never know when you might need it. There's also books that detail fairy history, some that we maybe wouldn't want to be public knowledge".

"Maybe something like this then?" said Lilly, putting the Queen's book on the desk. Donald picked it up and took a look.

"Where did you find this?"

"The Queen lent it to me: it's why she wanted to see me. She has a VERY interesting theory, and suggested I might be able to confirm it - or otherwise - by seeing what's in the Dark Archive". She explained more about what the Queen had told her.

"I have a feeling you will find what you're looking for in the Dark Archive"

"You know more than you're letting on, aren't you?"

"I'm very aware that historical details are sometime changed, often for good political reasons. You're probably going to need some help, so take along whoever you need."

"Actually, I'm not sure anyone from here can help, but I can think of a couple of fairies who can"

"You're thinking about your friends, Magic and Sparkle, aren't you?"

"Yes"

"Can you trust them?"

"Yes, I'd trust them both with my own life!"

"In that case, do what you need to, to let them see what they need from the Dark Archive. And whatever backup you need, just ask. If what you say is true, the implications are far-reaching"

Offline Sparky

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Re: Story - The Dark Fairy
« Reply #17 on: 25. February 2022, 18:13:09 PM »
So, Chapter 10 was a bit short, wasn't it? Chapter 11 isn't THAT much bigger, so today you get a second chapter, at no extra cost!
-----------------------------------------

Chapter 11

"Hi mum" said Lilly, as she walked into the boss' office... the boss, of course, being Lilly's mum. Lilly, being apparently just a normal teen fairy, was of course dressed in pink. With matching pink roller boots. And bows in her hair. (She had changed back out of the rather boring dress she had worn to see the Queen)

"Lilly! Nice to see you, you haven't been home for AGES... And what are THOSE things" she asked, pointing at Lilly's feet. They hugged.

"Sorry, I've been a bit busy. And those are roller boots, all the rage at university at the moment"

"Busy? But you're a second-year university student! Second year students are never busy..."

"Yeah, about that...."

"What about it?"

"Erm, I'm not actually at university any more..."

"What??!! You DROPPED OUT OF UNIVERSITY?" shouted an angry mum.

"Calm down mum, it's not like that at all! They actually let me graduate several months ago. I'm doing something else right now"

"You graduated, and you never told me? Hey, how does a SECOND-year student graduate? And what ARE you doing right now that's so important?"

"Yeah, we all agreed I was wasting my time at university, so they offered me an instant graduation, and an interesting job with FI5. And as for now.... well, right now, I need access to the 'Dark Archives'"

"'Dark Archives'? What are you on about? There's no such thing as 'The Dark Archives'"

"Oh, come on mum, I know that you're the "Keeper", and that they are under your office! The Queen told me herself. Ok, maybe I need to show you this....". Lilly got out her security pass, and gave it to her mum, who looked at it.

"The Queen? And you've got a level 96 security? What?!". Clearly Lilly's mum was rather surprised at her rather high security level. "I mean, the queen's only got a security level of 80!"

"Actually, she's was pushed up to 85, as of a few weeks ago. What are you then? Office Manager... I guess that makes you about a level 50?"

"I'm level 55, actually"

Lilly waved her hand - it seems that she no longer actually needed to use her wand to do magic. "Can you read this, and sign it, so I can increase your security clearance" she said, passing her the paper that had appeared in her hand. "Make sure you read point number 4..."

"So, why do I need this then?" asked her mum

"Well, as a 55, you have access to the entrance of 'the Dark Archive', but most of it is off-limits to you. I'm going to need to discuss some other bits with you, and Magic and Sparkle too... ah yes, when you've signed it, can you get them to come over as soon as they can, tell them to wait here, in your office". Her mum passed the paper back to Lilly, who checked it, and waved it away. "Check your security pass...."

Lilly's mum pulled out her pass: it was now showing 71.

"Ok, we need to go look in the Dark Archive... how do we get in?... and I'll tell you what I've been up to on the way...."

Offline Sparky

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Re: Story - The Dark Fairy
« Reply #18 on: 27. February 2022, 21:52:11 PM »
Chapter 12

Meanwhile, back at Runesdale.....

"Phew, me wings ain't what they used to be" says Flora, sitting on the edge of the bed to catch her breath. So, who is everyone?"

"Well, I'm Sparkle, and this is Magic, we're sort-of in charge of things. This is Faylinn, who called you, and this is Elida"

"Nice to meet you all" said Flora, "I think we HAVE met before, haven't we?" she asked Faylinn, who nodded. She turned to Elida: "So, I'm betting this is probably your first Priority One, isn't it, Elida"

"Yes, it is, and I'm learning so much"

"Good. Tell you what, I'm guessing I'll be hanging around for a bit, so when we get a quiet bit, maybe I can show you a few things that might come in handy"

"Oh, yes, please, I'd like that!"

"So, I'm guessing this is our poor customer?"

"Yes, this is Violet. She's 19, and if you look at THIS picture, taken last week, you can see she had nice teeth"

"Oh, yes, they really are nice..... and now?"

"And now..." replied Sparkle, swiping the screen of her phone, "They look like that!"

"Well, I've watched humans putting braces on other humans like that, but there's no way they can twist teeth like that so quickly! Let's go take a proper look at her"

Violet was still dozing on the settee, so Flora was able to have a good look at her. "I guess we need to get the braces off first: so, what sort of things have you tried so far, Elida?" she asked. Elida explained what they had done so far.

"Sounds like the two of you are pretty clued up! Ok, I know a few older magic spells that might help.... let me try another 'diagnostic' one first.....". She waved her wand. "Hmm, yes, old, but not TOO old....". She waved her wand again, and a big old spell book appeared.

Flora opened the book about a quarter the way through, then turned a few pages. "You both might be interested in what’s in here" she said. They all spent several minutes reading through a few spells.

"Ok, Elida, why don't you help me with these two then?" suggested Flora.

"Really?"

"Of course. How else you going to keep learning?". With a big smile, Elida summoned her wand, and tried the first spell, then she checked if there was any change - there wasn't. Then they tried the second spell, which made the brackets glow slightly for a few seconds.

"Oooh, that's interesting" said Elida.

As Flora and Elida started to work on Violet, Sparkle turned to Magic: "I'm thinking that we should continue our flyovers, just in case there's a second surprise waiting for us somewhere"

"That sounds like a good idea. Hey, Faylinn, it looks like those two have things under control for the moment, would you like to join us to check if there's any more 'surprises' waiting for us?"

"Yeah, sure: Flora, you going to be ok without me?"

"Yes, go on... if we need you, Elida can always call you...."

The three fairies spent some time flying around, but found nothing else, so returned back to Violet, Elida and Flora.

"Any luck yet?" asked Magic

"Well, yes and no" said Elida. "I think we're a bit closer to understanding what they used to attach the metal brackets, we're just having problems actually detaching them"

"Ok, well we couldn't find any other 'disturbances', so we can concentrate on Violet".

Just then, Magic's phone beeped - she had a text. "It's the boss. You and I need to go back to the office, asap. All related to what we're doing, plus Lilly is there" said Magic to Sparkle.

"Oh, ok! To be honest, there's not a lot more we two can do here for the moment. Faylinn, can we leave you in charge of things here, I think you know what's going on the best."

"That's fine with me - I can always call if there's any problems" replied Faylinn

"Flora - great to meet you! Keep on doing what you can, and get Faylinn to update us on how things go. I'd like all three of you to stay overnight - get operations to put you in the same place as us: it's really nice, and I know she has plenty of space for you." said Sparkle

"I'll never complain about a break from being home, especially if the firm is paying!" said Flora with a smile.

"And Elida, don't worry if you think you're not contributing all that much: that doesn't really matter, having another person around is always very useful, plus I suspect you're learning a lot from Faylinn and Flora!"

"Thank you" said Elida, "and yes, I am!"

"I'm assuming we'll be back later on, no doubt with a few others too, now it's a Priority One!"

"Ok, see you both later on" said Faylinn

Magic & Sparkle left the three tooth fairies to get on with things.

"So, yes, that glowing, it was interesting....." said Flora, "I wonder.....". Flora flipped forward a few more pages in the book. Flora, Faylinn and Elida had a bit of a chat about what they thought they needed to do.

"Whoever did this is a pretty capable fairy" commented Elida.

"I'd say definitely competent, I think the big problem is that she's using some old spells that have gone out of use.... you know how things change: when I was a kid, we had record players and big black round records. Then it was CDs, now I believe you just have it all inside your phones.... so people tend to forget about the old records, ignore them. And I think it's the same with the magic she's using, it's old, it's stuff we don't use these days because there are better, and often simpler, spells we can use."

"Ok, yeah, I understand" said Elida. "But WHY is she using old magic?"

"THAT is actually a very good question. But we can worry more about that later, let's see what we can do to get these braces off poor Violet."

"Maybe we need to actually use more than one spell at a time?" suggested Elida

"Nice idea.... any suggestions WHICH spells?" said Flora, smiling.

They spent quite a bit of time looking through Flora's spell books, plus looked online at some of the more modern spells, and tried a few combinations, but still had no luck, although the last pair they tried simply 'felt' good,

"Hey, I have an idea" said Elida. "let's try combining those last 2 spells with that one that made the braces glow?"

"Yes, why not, there's nothing to lose. Ok, Elida, you do the earlier spell, Faylinn and I can do these two...." Flora waved her wand, casting her spell, then Faylinn cast hers. Finally, Elida cast the earlier spell... the braces glowed brightly for a second, sort of like they had before, but differently. Elida touched the braces, which were now no longer glued to Violet's teeth, so she took the braces from Violet's mouth.

"Oh, nicely done, everyone!" said Faylinn, "Now we just need to straighten her teeth. Shall we let Elida do that?"

"Absolutely!" replied Flora. Elida didn't need to refer to any of her notes, as this was basic tooth-fairy magic. She waved her magic wand, and one by one Violet's teeth straightened up again.

"Lovely work there, Elida" said Flora. "I guess we're done here for the moment then"

"Well, we'd better wake Violet up, and one of us needs to get her to forget what happened" said Faylinn

"Can I do that, please? I could do with the experience" asked Elida

"Sure, why not" replied Faylinn. Faylinn and Flora watched as Elida magicked Violet back to her bed, then ran a couple of spells on her, to wipe her memories.

"Good magicking there, Elida! Ok, I think we're all done" said Faylinn.

"Oh, the headgear, mustn't leave that...." said Elida, "Sparkle brought it through from the bathroom, now where DID she put it?". Elida looked around, and quickly found it.

"Ok, I'll call control to update them, and get them to book us into the same place as Magic and Sparkle" suggested Faylinn. "How about after that, we go drop our stuff off, then take a look around the town: Magic said there was a dentist's and an orthodontist's. You want to join us, Flora?"

"Yes, that could be fun. Then maybe later on we can go somewhere nice & quiet, and I can show you both some of the old magic I sometimes still use".

Offline Sparky

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Re: Story - The Dark Fairy
« Reply #19 on: 02. March 2022, 00:42:30 AM »
Chapter 13


Lilly and her mum went down the steps and into the archive, specifically in to a sort of 'reception' area. There were 4 doors, each with a very old plaque on them. 'History - Authorised access only!'. 'Dangerous and Dark Magic - Authorised access only!'. 'Older Magic'. And finally, 'Toilet'. In the 'reception' area there were some notes, plus a book that contained details of what was where, and spells to use to search the books.

"I've only ever been able to get into the 'Older Magic' room." explained Lilly's mum.

"That makes sense: you should be able to get into them all now." replied Lilly.

"So, you've not actually said what you've been up to...."

"Well, remember me and Tats got involved with a few others, to sort out the 'excessive magic use' problems we had?"

"Yes, but that was just a 'holiday thing' wasn't it?"

"Initially, yes, but then Tats and I were sent up to the North East: there was a specific group of young fairies up there causing a lot of problems, and 'the powers that be' were all for giving them the boot, but we suggested that maybe it just needed to be sorted in a different way. We were up there for over a week, we had a LOT of late nights. And drank a LOT of alcohol with the girls up there. But finally they accepted us, and were willing to listen. The end result is that we now have a really great team up there, who fully appreciate what they need to do, and more importantly, how to do it properly. We ought to go and visit them again sometime!"

"So how did that lead to you leaving university?"

"Well, Sir Donald - he's my boss - realised that things needed to change rather a lot more than they thought, and asked me, Tats, and a small number of others to go work at FI5. He said we were wasting our time at University, we clearly knew everything we needed, and organised instant degrees for us all."

Lilly's mum gave Lilly a big hug. "You know, I always did feel you were bright... I guess I didn't realise quite HOW bright! I'm very proud of you, Lilly! And something tells me you're quite enjoying what you are doing? And hey, where are you living now, then?"

"I'm still living at the university: I like it there, it's fun, plus I'm able to get to know a few of the students that we may want to recruit in the future. And yes, the job is fun. A bit stressful at times, like at the moment, but I'm really enjoying it."

"And clearly your bosses are pleased with what you're doing - they don't give out high security clearances to just anyone."

"In a way, that's one of the toughest bits, not being able to tell most people what I'm doing."

"So, back to the Archive" said Lilly's mum. "What are we looking for?"

"To be honest, I'm not 100% sure what I'm looking for down here. I guess partly I need to just understand what's here, but I also want to look for some very specific historical stuff...."

"Specific stuff?"

"Yes, going back to just after the human's Great War, so many generations ago." Lilly explained the Queen's theory to her mum. "So I'm looking for anything that might confirm what actually happened".

The two of them spent some time using various spells to help them search for what they wanted, but whilst they found some more general history stuff, the search spells weren't giving them what they needed.

"Have you noticed that all the stuff we've been looking at is in THIS part of the room. I'm starting to think that what I need is in THAT part of the room, and it's specifically NOT been indexed." For the next half hour, they randomly pulled books from the shelves, looking at them. They learnt a LOT of interesting historical things about certain humans and certain fairies that were hidden for very good reasons, but was not what they wanted.

"Hey, Lilly, come and see this one..". Lilly's mum was looking through a thick book, hand written (so probably the only copy ever made). In it they found the story of the destruction of the Palace, and then all about the mass magic used to cause all of fairy-kind - including those who actually CAST the magic - to forget about what happened. There was another book next to it, with more details of the magic used.

"Mum, you can't say anything about this to anyone...."

"Yes, I know.... although maybe 'the powers that be' might like to consider that it's time that everyone SHOULD know about it: it was a long time ago."

"I hear what you're saying, and maybe you're right, but that's really a discussion for another day. But at least this stuff confirms our initial thoughts. Ok, let's take a look at the two other rooms: if we have a fairy that has, somehow, come from the old palace, we need to understand the sort of magic she's familiar with... if not for me, for the tooth fairies who are trying to sort things out for us". They spent a bit longer in the two rooms full of magic books, and found that there was indeed some useful stuff there.

"You going to take any of that lot with you?"

"Just a couple that might help me deal with our Dark Fairy, but the rest... I know it's here, we can come back later when we better know what's needed. But I do need to read these books further, and show a couple of people. Come on, let's go. With luck, Magic and Sparkle will be waiting for us...."


"Oh, Magic, Sparkle, thanks for getting here so quickly, it's so good to see you both!". Lilly and her mum had just walked out of the door at the back of the office, that lead to a storage cupboard.... well, it was also the portal to the Dark Archive! Lilly put down four large old dusty books.

"Lilly! Great to see you! Nice roller boots, they suit you! You're gonna have to give me some later on! So, what's those four books then?" asked Magic, pointing at the books. "And where DID you just come from?"

"Oh, they're books from...." then she stopped herself. "I'll tell you in a moment...". Lilly waved her hand, and 2 bits of paper appeared. "I need you both to read these and sign them. Make sure you read point number 4 carefully.... Then I'll increase your security levels a bit... actually, I think I'll be almost tripling them!"

Sparkle read the document... "So, number 4: 'you may not say anything about the contents of the Dark Archive, or indeed that the Dark Archive even exists, without specific permission from someone with a security grade 90 or above'. Who's that then, the queen? And hey, if I don't actually sign this, I already know about the 'Dark Archive'... that's stupid!"

"Yeah, I know it is - but that's stupid official paperwork for you! And no, the Queen has only got a clearance of 85. There's me and about 15 others that are over 90"

"What?" asked Magic, confused.

"Just sign it, and I'll explain.....". Magic & Sparkle signed the documents, and passed them back to Lilly, who waved them away. "Ok, show me your security passes will you?". They both pulled out their passes, to discover that their security level had shot up from 26 to 70.

"Seventy?" exclaimed Lilly's mum"

"Yeah... I felt I ought to make you a 71, if only coz you're their boss!" explained Lilly.

"Lilly, what on earth is going on?" asked Sparkle

"Ok, so I'm no longer at university.... after everything I was doing, they decided that it was stupid for me to waste any more time there, so they graduated me. Tats too. And a couple of others. Since then, I've been working with a small team of other young graduates, acting as a sort of 'strike team', sorting out problems - and you would be surprised what's going on that you don't hear about. So, I now have a pretty high security clearance, there's probably only 4 or 5 others higher than me, plus I'm guessing my colleagues all at the same level as me. My boss is definitely old-school, but he realises that old-school methods aren't good enough any more. My team are trusted absolutely, to do whatever is needed, in pretty much any way we feel fit. We are trusted to 'never cross that line', although I will admit we've been pretty close to it a couple of times. Basically, what that means is that whatever any of us says, happens. And usually happens quickly! Especially when dealing with a Priority One - good call by the way!"

"Wow.. you HAVE done well! So how IS Tats? Is she working with you on this?" asked Magic

"Tats is doing just fine, but she's busy doing something else right now, so we probably won't see her... which is a shame, as I do like working with her."

"So why you still dressed like a university student then?" asked Magic

"Well, I do still have my room at the uni, and I like the look, plus it does make a pretty good disguise! Anyway, the reason that I'm here..."

"Yeah, those old books on the desk?....." asked Sparkle.

"Yeah, come on to those in a second. First of all, girls, thank you both for your amazing work out in the field, your recent reports have been well detailed, and have been incredibly helpful to us. So, a bit of history: the town of Runesdale, where all of these strange braces happenings have been going on, has a very interesting history, not just for humans, but also for fairies. Whilst the human history is well documented, the fairy history has been well hidden... down in the Dark Archive. Ok, so before I tell you this, you need to know that you can NOT say any of this to anyone else, not even make tiny hints. Are you guys clear about that?". Lilly felt a bit bad at the way she was actually treating Magic and Sparkle, but this was actually important, it had major security implications.

"Yes, we understand" replied Magic, and Sparkle nodded too.

"So, about 10 or 15 generations of fairies ago - so after the first great human war - two brothers returned from the war, and without any permission, decided to use something similar to modern bulldozers to knock down half the forest, partly to grow more crops, to earn more money, but also to develop the few houses into what has now become the town of Runesdale."

"Ok" said Sparkle, "so how does this affect us fairies?"

"Because of what was, it seems, the saddest day in English Fairy history. The Queen lent me a book today that hinted that a fairy palace existed in a place called Runesvale Forest - that's Runesvale with a 'V'...  it sounds conveniently similar to Runesdale, doesn't it? Initially she thought it was just a bit of children's fiction, but when she read about what's going on there, she called for me to visit... and THIS book we just found down in the archive confirms my worst fears: the forest that those two brothers knocked down was Runesvale Forest, the location of our nation's fairy castle. A large castle that was home to the country's fairy King and Queen, and their 4 daughters, and hundreds and hundreds of other fairies.  Not to mention the elves that lived next door. It was the central HQ and operations centre for fairies in the country - so rather like the European fairy palaces! Without realising what they had done, the two brothers completely destroyed the fairy castle. About 70% of the fairies managed to get away - they had almost no notice of what was going on, and besides, their rather old-fashioned magic simply wasn't up to stopping the more modern human machines."

"70% escaped? So what happened to the other 30%?" asked Magic.

"Apparently it was a massacre!" explained Lilly, with a lot of sadness in her voice.

"So why don't we all know about this?"

"The whole concept of fairies being 'defeated' by humans was.... well, not a good one, and it was decided to erase all memories of what happened, and to lock away all mention into 'The Dark Archive'. The then fairy King and Queen realised that, for fairy-kind to continue to exist in peace, there must be no hint that the humans had knowingly destroyed the palace.... they realised it was an accident, but to avoid any questions, the whole event had to be hidden. Seems that there was a lot of old and dark magic involved. Anyway, mum has been the 'keeper' of the archive since she become the boss here, but even she didn't realise quite how much stuff was there until I was able to show her. This book here details what happened. For example, only two of the King and Queen's daughter princesses survived, the other two were assumed to be dead: well, that's what they thought...."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, while you were on your way here, mum and I were using some pretty strong magic to find the information we needed, and failed: these two books were so secret that they simply weren't indexed. Anyway, this book confirms that one of the 'lost' princesses was a 'hair fairy', and the other was a 'tooth fairy'" 

"So you're telling us that what's been going on in Runesdale is because of an old tooth fairy, who has somehow survived - how many years was it? But we fairies are all good, and don't do nasty things!" asked Sparkle

"I really wish that was the case. Have you ever noticed what happens to old magic things when they go wrong? They go nasty, they go bad. Now, imagine: the biggest magic fairy castle, so full of magic, and bigger than anything we have now - they diversified the real-estate position after that big disaster, so nothing as catastrophic could ever happen again - just imagine what could happen if THAT castle got destroyed. If there happened to be ANY of it left, it would be so dark, so angry, so wanting revenge on the humans for what was done to it. Now imagine someone stuck in there, for about a hundred years. That's 10 to 15 generations of fairies.... That's a LOT of dark and anger for a tooth fairy to deal with!"

"So, you really think we're dealing with a dark tooth fairy?" asked Magic.

"Well, it's the best explanation that I can come up with. These books confirm the location, confirm the history... I can't really see any OTHER explanation - unless you believe in aliens?"

"So I'm guessing we have to take her down?" said Sparkle

"Maybe. Or maybe there's something we can do to turn her back from the dark side. That's why I got these other books out. They contain a lot of ancient magic spells, and there's many other books like this down in the Archive, locked away for very good reason..."

"And you're gonna let us read them?"

"Yes, stupidly, I am. And any of the other books down in the Archive you feel you may need to read too. I need a couple of people with me that not only understand what this is all about, but that I can trust, and apart from Tats, there's no one I'd trust more than you two - and that's why I needed to up your security levels. By the way, 'safeties will be off' for this operation: forget nudges, just do whatever is needed to sort things out, as long as you don't actually 'cross that line'. And I don't just mean about dealing with our dark fairy princess, I'm talking about containing what's going on, and sorting out the victims.".

"What about the people you work with? Surely you have some fairy FAS (*) or similar guys available to you?"

"The FAS guys are completely trustworthy, but have a rather limited skill-set, much of which involves just aiming then pulling a trigger. And the guys I work with just don't have your knowledge. You guys have a lot of experience, you understand humans, and teeth and braces, and that's what this is all about."

"So, what's the plan then, Lilly?" asked her mum.

"Well, I need you to get an FPU out to site as soon as possible..."

"An FPU?"

"A Fairy Power Unit, there's supposed to be one down in the stores. I've got a couple of our advanced tech team going out to site: I know one of them from uni, one of her guys is working on some advanced magic detection stuff, so we can hopefully find any new victims fairly quickly, and contain them.... but it currently needs a lot of power to run it."

"Then what?" asked Magic

"Ultimately, we need to find that Dark Fairy, but goodness knows where she's hiding out. I'm sort of guessing at the old Palace, but where that is, who knows? In the meantime, we need to keep on top of what's happening, containing any new cases as best we can. I want to keep the on-site team as small as possible, so our Dark Fairy doesn't get tipped off, otherwise me might completely lose her. I have a tactical team lined up for when we need them, but I'm not planning on letting them anywhere near the place for the moment!"

"But they'll go and 'neutralise' the dark fairy when we know where she is?"

"I guess it depends on what we find out. As I said, 'neutralising' her should be the last resort. I'm thinking that WE may be the ones to go in and face her: as I said, I'd like to actually rescue her, if we can. So I need you two prepared to back me up, and that's going to mean some strong protection spells, to protect us from whatever the castle leftovers want to throw at us. And that's what these books are for. And as I said, there's plenty more books downstairs if we need them. I'm also thinking that one of your tooth fairies may need to come and look at them too, to find some spells they can use."

"Ok, so anyone else joining us?"

"Well, I'm hoping that mum will remain here, ready to go into the archives again, in case we need anything else from there. But other than that, not really. I want us to keep a really low profile. I don't want to alert the humans, and I don't want to scare this dark fairy in any way. As I said, I'd like to actually rescue her, if we can do that...."


(* Author's Note: Fairy Air Service, similar to the UK's SAS, an elite group of fairy soldiers)


Offline Sparky

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Re: Story - The Dark Fairy
« Reply #20 on: 03. March 2022, 19:21:38 PM »
Chapter 14

Later on, Lilly, Magic and Sparkle met up with Elida, Faylinn and Flora at the guest house. It was only afternoon, so they had plenty of time to chat and plan things.

"Flora, it's so nice to meet you again!" said Lilly. Flora looked puzzled. "Oh, you came and talked to us at university last year!"

"Ah, yes, I remember now, that was a fun day!" replied Flora

"And hello again Faylinn... so I'm guessing you must be Elida, nice to meet you too!"

"Nice to meet you too, Lilly. I'm guessing you're taking over from Magic & Sparkle now, are you?" said Elida in her soft Irish accent.

"Yes and no. I'd like Magic & Sparkle to keep running the day-to-day side of things, they know what they are doing. I'll be working more on the 'tactical' side of things, but I'm gonna be available to help out more generally too, if you guys need me. Ok, so let me explain what's going on from my side of things, then I'd like to talk to you three ladies about teeth and braces."

"So, I've got a small team of tech people joining us a bit later. One of the guys, Puck, has been working on some tech that I'm hoping may help us locate the victims, or more specifically, the use of magic. The bad news is that I'm told that it's very much a 'work in progress' and anything we DO get from his kit is likely to be not all that accurate, and may take some time to get the results... which I don't mind too much, because anything it can give us might be helpful. And it's going to help Puck's team to improve the kit, which has got to be good in the longer term. So, I'm looking at the tech kit as being our backup at the moment, I'm guessing we'll probably need to do it manually again tomorrow: what exactly have you been doing?"

"Well, so far we've been doing a simple combined 'detect angst and magic' spell: the big problem with that has been that it's a pretty short-range spell, meaning we had to pretty much be just inches above the roof, and fly around any big houses" explained Magic, "However, with the 'resources' we were able to look at earlier on, we think we might have a couple of alternative spells that might work a little better. Also, it was a bit slow with just two of us, but if ALL of us could do it tomorrow, it would be a lot easier!"

"That sounds like a good plan. So how did you keep in touch with each other?" asked Lilly

"We just used our phones... yeah, we could do with something better if there's more than just two of us, don't suppose you guys have something we can use, Lilly?"

"Yeah, leave that with me. So, when you finally found your 'victim', what did you do?"

"So, the first one, which I guess was really victim number 2, we caught up with when she was at home, having visited the orthodontist - who of course failed to remove her braces. So when Elida and Faylinn arrived, we just put her into a short sleep - making sure her room was secure, of course."

"And that was good enough for you guys?" asked Lilly of the two tooth fairies.

"Yes, it worked out nicely" replied Faylinn.

"So what about this morning?"

"Well, I think we got very lucky this morning: it was actually getting late, just after 9 o'clock. We were actually checking in on the phone when Sparkle found Violet - victim number 3 - just moments after she had discovered her braces" explained Magic.

"Yeah, so I quickly called Faylinn, and threw a 'calming' spell at Violet." explained Sparkle. "Magic got there a few minutes later, and we ran a 'FairyTime', giving us time to hack her phone, and find out more about her. I think I might have overdone the 'calming' spell though, she was pretty much out of it sitting on the settee.... so when Elida and Faylinn got to us soon after, we just put her to sleep on the settee."

"So you're happy working on the victims when they're under a sleep spell?"

"Yes, it's been just fine so far...." said Flora

"But the braces were a LOT harder to remove this morning: there was definite signs of some quite old magic, and whilst Faylinn and I tried quite a few things, we had no luck, which is why we asked Flora to join us" explained Elida

"Yes, and even the older magic I knew wasn't enough to remove them... It was Elida who suggested combining three spells that finally let us remove the braces" explained Flora.

"I get the feeling that we might struggle tomorrow: whoever is doing this is clearly getting better at doing it. And it's not just how he or she is gluing the brackets onto the victim's teeth, the quality of the braces themselves looked 'better' too" said Faylinn.

"Well, that brings me on to my next question: we believe that this is all being done by a tooth fairy who has, for some reason, gone a bit rogue. Now, to be honest, I'm not over familiar with what you guys do, so Flora, can you take me back a few years, and explain what you used to do, then tell me how things have changed...". Lilly was clearly not wanting to let on to the tooth fairies the extra details, and history that she - and Magic and Sparkle - knew about this rogue fairy... it was a 'need to know' basis, and for the moment they didn't really need to know.

"Well, going back several generations, it was all a lot simpler. They didn't have braces back then, it was just teeth. Of course, the 'bread and butter' was giving out a silver threepence when a child lost a baby tooth. Plus, there was doing things to help when someone got toothache and all that sort of thing: apparently some people just couldn't afford to go to the dentist. It's a lot different now.... yeah, we still give out the money for baby teeth - a POUND now, would you believe it!! But there's a lot more about calming both kids and adults before they go to see the dentist. And now with braces - I suspect you two can fill in Lilly about that better than I can!"

"Yes, we see a lot of kids scared to go to the dentist, but also a lot of kids scared to visit the orthodontist, scared of getting braces - so a lot of 'calming' spells there. Then getting a bit sore for the first week or two after getting braces, and then after adjustments, so there we're either doing some 'painkilling' spells, or 'remember to take some painkillers' spells. What did I miss, Elida?"

"Well, I guess the problems when some kids get awkward appliances, like those big bulky twin blocks. And don't forget the absolute panic some kids have when they get given headgear or a facemask" added Elida.

"Yeah, I must admit, I actually feel sorry for kids that get headgear, and their parents are very insistent on them wearing them enough: working with them can take quite a bit of time. But I guess with general dental hygiene being better, we get less of the toothaches that I suspect Flora used to see"

"Absolutely" replied Flora

"Ok, so go back even further, maybe as far as fifty or a hundred years ago.... what would tooth fairies be doing then?" asked Lilly. All three of the tooth fairies were silent.

"You think our 'Dark Tooth Fairy' could be THAT old?" asked Elida. Lilly realised that only Magic had, as yet, put those three words together, and she knew the real details: it was clear that Elida was a lot brighter than she let on.

"There is 'certain evidence' that we have seen" said Lilly very carefully, "that indicates it could be a distinct possibility, and it would certainly explain the use of the rather old magic".

"But how could a fairy even LIVE that long?" asked Faylinn.

"Good question, and we have no ideas on that one yet. So, what skills will she have? All indications are that this MUST be a tooth fairy, so I'm happy to call her a 'she'"

"Going back THAT far, I’m guessing it's going to be a lot of pain-killing, and a lot of relaxation, say when they had a tooth pulled. No nice anaesthetics back then...." said Flora.

"So did our Dark Lady start doing this BEFORE we saw the braces? Maybe doing some simple tooth stuff?"

"You know, when we were in the dentist yesterday, I think I saw some notes there about a couple of urgent cases. But I didn't think it was really relevant at the time, as it was about things before the braces stuff started" said Sparkle. “I guess it could be just normal stuff, but maybe it was her?"

"Ok, so why the move to braces?"

"Oh, come ON, Lilly" said Sparkle smiling widely, "you know we fairies all love sparkly stuff!"

"Yeah" added Elida, I remember the first time I saw a human in braces close up: wow, they were so beautiful! Now imagine a tooth fairy that's never even HEARD of braces, never even seen them from a distance. There's no WAY she's not going to be instantly interested in them. And if she really IS 'dark', and she sees how many kids actually HATE braces, I mean, she's just found the perfect weapon!"

"Ok, but what about the glue?" asked Lilly

"Oh, historically I guess we tooth fairies would have needed various sorts of magic glue to hold rotting teeth together and that sort of stuff, which of course we hardly need now.... so yes, I guess that's a skill we no longer have or need." said Flora.

"Well, thank you ladies, that has all been VERY helpful! I'm going to go and check in with my tech guys, see how they are getting on....." said Lilly. Before Lilly left, she spoke to one of the operations team in her office. "Oh, hiya, it's Lilly here. Look, can you do me a favour, and run an in-depth security check on both Elida and Faylinn, I may need to bump their security levels up quite severely.".

Next, she made another call: "Hi Ella, where are you guys?" asked Lilly on the phone.

"We're in a nice fairy-tent on the top of the town hall: it's a nice big flat roof here, and good views across the town"

"Ok, I'll be with you in a few minutes...."


Offline firesonga

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Re: Story - The Dark Fairy
« Reply #21 on: 03. March 2022, 21:19:08 PM »
Sparky, thank you for this story. It has been really good so far and I can't wait to see where it goes.

Offline Sparky

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Re: Story - The Dark Fairy
« Reply #22 on: 04. March 2022, 02:01:41 AM »
Sparky, thank you for this story. It has been really good so far and I can't wait to see where it goes.

Always good to hear that I have at least ONE reader  :D

And there's PLENTY more (victims) to come..... and something tells me that our Dark Fairy will not be too easy to find....

Offline zahnspange

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Re: Story - The Dark Fairy
« Reply #23 on: 04. March 2022, 19:19:00 PM »
 ;D you have definately not only one reader ... i appreciate your story very much and look forward to each part ... can´t wait for the next victim !

Offline xxxforce

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Re: Story - The Dark Fairy
« Reply #24 on: 04. March 2022, 23:09:46 PM »
also for me.. You're definitely a very talented and creative writer..
You can't say that this story is a pure fetish story anymore.. its a bit like a fantasy novel  and i really enjoy it, just because its fun to read and as a reader you want to know - How does it go on in the next chapter?  ;D

Offline Sparky

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Re: Story - The Dark Fairy
« Reply #25 on: 05. March 2022, 22:09:08 PM »
Chapter 15


"Hi Ella, how's it going?" asked Lilly.

"Not good I'm afraid." relied Ella

"Oh, what's the problem?"

"Well, Puck just plugged everything in, and it looks like one of the two sensor systems is dead, and the main kit has gone way out of calibration."

"Oh, not good.... Are you guys happy with your location?"

"Yes, I think for the moment it gives us good visibility, but we may decide to relocate later on, I guess it depends on how things go"

"Ok.... let's go and talk with Puck...." said Lilly. She knew that Puck would probably be very stressed and worried, which wouldn’t be good in terms of him sorting out the kit.

"Hi Puck, Ella tells me you have some problems..."

"Yeah, this sensor got damaged, and the rest of the stuff is way out of calibration". Puck clearly sounded stressed.

"I'm guessing a fair bit of work.... would you care to guess how long it might take to get it all running again?"

"Twelve hours at least, if not longer... so please don't do what they do in the films ,and say 'you've got six hours'... it just won't happen!"

"Come on Puck, I'm really NOT like that! Am I? Ok, so we won't be able to use it tomorrow then... maybe the next day, if things go well?"

"Yeah, with a bit of luck"

"Ok, well look, I know you're going to be working on it now, but don't try and be a hero and pull an all-nighter. Ella, make sure you BOTH get back to the guest house to join us for dinner, and that you both get a good night's rest: I need you both at your best tomorrow to try and get this working. Puck: is there anything I can do to help.... I mean, clearly I have no idea how to actually FIX anything, I'm thinking about any extra equipment, other fairies and so on...."

"Ummm, let me chat with Ella"

"Ok. I appreciate this is kit very much a 'work in progress', so when you manage to get it running, *any* help you can give us will be really great. Plus, hopefully this is all going to be helpful for you in terms of making it better. So, anything you need, just shout... this is a Priority One, so we can pull a bit of rank if we need to! But just take things gently, don't feel you are under ANY pressure.... because when you're under pressure, that's when you'll make silly mistakes!"

Lilly stayed and chatted with both of them for a little longer - when she finally left, she could tell that Puck was a lot more relaxed.


Back at the guest house, Lilly met up with Magic and Sparkle. "So, we definitely won't have any fancy kit to help us tomorrow, they have some issues, so we're on our own. By the way, I've asked someone to send us some comms kit for us to use tomorrow... So, what's your plans?"

"I guess pretty much what we did yesterday and this morning, except that there will be more of us, and there's a couple of other spells I found in those books you got out of the Archive that might help us a bit. But finding our next victim is one thing: I'm worried that our three tooth fairies are going to struggle tomorrow. Why don't you take Flora to the Archive, let her dig around to see if she can find some useful old spells."

"Whilst I'd like to do that, letting Flora anywhere near the archive is a big no-no" explained Lilly

"Oh, why?"

"I can't go into details, but she managed to get herself indirectly involved in something last year. So, I'm currently getting a security check done on Elida and Faylinn. I'm thinking that we don't worry about it tonight, let's wait till tomorrow, and see what we're actually up against, then I'll take one of them down into the Archive.... That work for you guys?"

"Yeah. So what are YOU doing in all this?" asked Sparkle

"My job is to actually find our Dark Fairy, and do whatever needs to be done. And to get you guys whatever resources you need, to both help our 'victims' plus do whatever is needed to contain the situation. From what Faylinn said earlier, it looks like they contained things nicely this morning. As for the previous couple of cases... I agree with what you put in the report, it's 'out there' now, so I gess we'll just have to live with it. As long as we contain anything in the future, I'm hoping we'll be ok. So, a question for you: what's your take on Elida?"

"A little inexperienced, but VERY capable. Watching her working with Faylinn, and also with Flora today, I get the feeling that she actually UNDERSTANDS the magic, as opposed to most fairies, who just USE the magic. From what I understand, it was very much her idea to try the various combinations of spells, that led up to the triple-spell that actually worked. You might want to have a word with Flora, but I'm seeing in her a lot of what we saw in you - she's going to be quite some capable fairy in the future, and probably not that that long in the future either" said Magic.

"Yes, I was getting some good feelings when we were talking earlier. Maybe having a word with Flora would be a good idea....". The three of them chatted together for a while, partly work, but also about other things. Lilly's phone rang: it was one of the operations team: both Elida and Faylinn checked out ok on the security check. "Ok, I need to find Flora, and have a quick word." Lilly found her out in the garden, talking with both Faylinn and Elida.

"I'm sorry to butt in, but Flora, can you spare me a couple of minutes?". Lilly took Flora into the small library.

"Is there a problem?" asked Flora.

"Why do people assume there's a problem just because I want a word? No, I was wanting to ask you about Elida."

"What about her?"

"Tell me what you think about her..."

"Well, a bit inexperienced, but VERY willing to learn - I did an informal session yesterday with her and Faylin, and she was just taking everying in... so definitely NOT stupid. I'm not really sure how to put it, but, unlike many fairies, she really seems to actually UNDERSTAND what the magic is about... I saw her trying out some stuff this morning that fairies with three or four times her experience would never even think to do"

"Yeah, that's funny, Magic said exactly the same thing about her understanding stuff."

"I think, with the right guidance, she could become one of the great tooth fairies!"

"Would you be interested in mentoring her maybe?"

"Would absolutely LOVE to!"

 

Dinner was at 6:30pm. Ella and Puck got there a few minutes before: Lilly had organised that an FAS operative would be looking after their kit at all times.

Lilly introduced everyone before they all went into the dining room for dinner. The food was simple home cooking, but tasted really good. As they ate, they chatted and got to know each other a bit more: whilst various of them had met at work, few of them had actually met socially (apart from Magic, Sparkle and Lilly, of course). It wasn't long before they started chatting about the problems of 'The Dark Fairy' (of course, whilst M, S and L by now had a pretty good idea who was carrying out the braces spells on people, they had not given ANY details to anyone else)

"So, this fairy" said Lilly. "When is she doing her magic do you think?"

"Well, if I was a nasty fairy, I'd want it to be dark, with everyone in bed, asleep. So that's going to make it well after midnight, but probably before 5am" suggested Magic

"Yes, that's what I'd do" agreed Flora. "The actual magic probably only takes minutes, but if it was me, I'd probably want to sit there for a bit, and admire my handiwork, look at the lovely shiny metalwork inside the victim's mouth. But what I don't get is, if she likes braces so much, why is she only putting braces on one person at a time?"

"You know, that's an interesting point!" said Sparkle, "although people like murderers usually only kill one person at a time."

"Oh, Sparkle!!! We're eating dinner!" said Magic.

"I'm sorry..." replied Sparkle, "but I suspect it's quite normal. This fairy needs to 'get her fix', and once she's 'done the deed', then she's probably feeling a lot calmer.... A bit like a drug addict, I guess."

"So, Lilly, at the moment, which is more important: fixing what she does, or catching her?" asked Magic

"For the moment, I think that we're going to have to just fix what she does. One VERY important thing for you all to take note of: the whole reason we're keeping such a low profile - for the moment at least - is that I don't want our 'Dark Fairy' knowing that we are here, and that we are onto her. When we finally track her down, I would like our encounter to be a complete surprise for her. So, if at any point you actually SEE our fairy, do NOT approach her, keep well away from her. Yes, follow her if it's safe, but at a good distance. And don't use any magic, she might be using a magic detection spell to protect herself."

"But, to be honest, trying to 'catch a fairy in the act' without any support from Puck and Ella is going to be like finding a needle in a haystack, and would rely on so much luck. But if these guys are able to get their tech working, then there's a possibility we might be in with a chance. So, for tomorrow at least, we don't need to be up in the middle of the night, just early enough so we're searching before, or as, people start to wake up. We have a couple of new spells we can try out too"


Offline Sparky

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Re: Story - The Dark Fairy
« Reply #26 on: 08. March 2022, 18:56:23 PM »
Chapter 16


As we now know, Runesdale is a quaint town in middle England, located near a large forest. As well as the ridiculous number of Coffee Shops, it also has a US themed 50's cafe:

"Stepping through the doors of JB’s diner is like going back in time. They have spared no expense in decorating the interior with countless items of 1950’s memorabilia and paraphernalia. Almost every space on the wall, ceiling and everywhere possible has been covered with images suitable to the area. The staff are also in keeping with the theme with plenty of pin up looks and even the odd roller-skating waitress."

Caroline Whitepetal was a single mum in her 40s, she shared a 2 bedroom house - located in the south of Runesdale - with her daughter Belle. Belle is 22 years old, and currently works as a roller-waitress at JB's Diner. Luckily for both of them, they actually get on pretty well together, so don't have any problem having dinner together at home - they take turns in cooking - or even spending the evening together. Tonight, after dinner, they played cards for a while, then watched TV.

Finally, about 11pm, they both went off to bed. Tomorrow, Caroline and Belle would both be getting up relatively early, to go to work. By midnight they were both asleep.

A few hours later, a small dark figure, invisible to humans, entered the house, and looked around. The house was suitably dark and quiet, so she went and looked in the bedrooms, where she found Caroline and Belle both fast asleep. After waving her wand a few times, she sat back and admired her handiwork: happy with what she had done, she then left the house, and flew back to.... well, I'm not really sure.

Caroline's alarm beeped gently, waking her up. She went into her ensuite bathroom - still half asleep - to get herself ready for work. In there, she looked in the mirror... and SCREAMED! Her scream was so loud that people who lived half a mile away could probably hear it.

SHE HAD CROOKED TEETH, BRACES, AND HEADGEAR!

In the other bedroom, Belle had been woken by her alarm, and had gone in the dim light into her en-suite bathroom, where she turned on the light. She caught sight of herself in the mirror, and something looked... odd. She went to the mirror to look closer.... and SCREAMED! Her scream was also so loud that people who lived most of a kilometer away could probably hear it.

SHE HAD CROOKED TEETH, BRACES, AND HEADGEAR!

The strange thing is that, when Caroline and Belle both went to bed last night, their teeth were quite straight, and neither of them actually had any braces!

They had both screamed at pretty much the same time, but still heard each other. They both ran out of their bathrooms, through their bedrooms, and met on the upstairs landing. And just stared at each other!

But it was odd, they both suddenly became quite amazingly calm about the whole thing, and they both went into Caroline's room, and sat and chatted for a few minutes. They looked at each other's braces: whilst they both seemed to have bands around their molars, and typical metal brackets on their other teeth, with an archwire held in place with quite plain ligatures, Caroline had a metal facebow attached to an elastic strap that went around her neck, whereas Belle's facebow was connected with elastics to a set of straps that went over and around her head. Caroline's teeth were a bit crooked, whilst Belle seemed to have some nicely protruding top teeth.

Caroline leaned over, and undid the elastic bands that were holding Belle's facebow in place. Belle remembered one of her friends at school having a headgear, and knew that the ends of the facebow went into tubes on the braces, so she tried gently pulling on the facebow, but nothing happened. So Belle then leaned over to her mum, unclipped her neck strap, then got her to open her mouth, so she could check her facebow. As expected, the ends of the facebow went into some tubes on her molar bands. But, like Belle's, her facebow seemed to be somehow fixed firmly into place too.

And that's when things started to get a bit strange. For a start, they were both back in their own beds, feeling rather rough - clearly something they ate last night just wasn't agreeing with them. Plus, the facebows they had been wearing seemed to have magically gone. And their braces, and their twisted / buck teeth, well... who really cared about them any more? What was more important was to call work, and let them know that they wouldn't be going in, at least not this morning - maybe in the afternoon if their 'problem had passed', so to speak. After calling work, Belle went into see her mum again: they were both feeling rough, and whilst Belle knew that her mum also had braces... well, that was normal, wasn't it? After a quick chat with her mum, Belle went back to bed again, and both Belle and her mum slept for a while.

Some time later in the morning, Caroline woke up again, and went to the toilet, after which she felt a LOT better. As she looked in the mirror, she had a strange feeling for a moment. A feeling that she had braces on her teeth. Or was it a dream that she had just had? Not that it mattered, there were definitely no braces on her teeth. Although one of her teeth... didn't it used to stick out a tiny bit? It certainly didn't any more.

She went to check on Belle, who it turned out was in the loo. When she came out, she was feeling a lot better too.

"You know" said Belle, "I just had the STRANGEST of dreams....."


Offline Sparky

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Re: Story - The Dark Fairy
« Reply #27 on: 11. March 2022, 18:54:36 PM »
Chapter 17


The eight fairies met for breakfast at a little before 5:30 am. Ella and Puck wanted to get a good start on working on the technical kit, and the other six fairies planned to get out searching for today's 'victim': they had absolutely no doubt that there would be one, the question was just where, and what braces would be awaiting them this morning.

While they were eating, Lilly pulled out a small container, put it on the table, and opened it. "As promised, some comms devices for everyone. Ella and Puck, you take one each too, even if you don't need it this morning, it will probably be useful at some point." The devices looked like the wireless in-ear monitors we often see on TV.

"So how do they work"

"Interestingly enough, by some VERY modern magic. They're fresh out of the lab, made for us by one of Puck's colleagues. No messing around pressing a button to talk, it just works out when you want everyone to hear what you're saying, but doesn't come on if you're just talking to someone locally. Plus, if you just want to speak to one person, think of them as you speak"

Magic put hers into her ear, and Sparkle did the same. "Red Leader to Blue Leader, do you copy?" said Magic. "Copying you loud and clear, Red Leader!" replied Sparkle. "Yes, VERY nice..... should be a LOT easier than trying to talk on the phone when you're flying!"

"What HAVE you two been watching on TV?" asked Faylinn.

"Who knows, those two seem to be a law unto themselves sometimes!" commented Lilly.

They continued eating the excellent breakfast, still chatting.

"I'm thinking we divide into two:" said Magic, "I'll take Elida and Faylinn and cover the southern housing estate, and Sparkle, you take Flora and Lilly, and cover the western housing estate. I suggest we alternate between the spells we were using yesterday, and the new spells that we found yesterday... I'm saying that simply because we know what we did yesterday was effective, even if short range, but we're not yet sure how good the new ones will be".

"Sounds like a good plan to me" replied Sparkle.

By 6:30 am they had started flying around the two housing estates. By 7:00 am they had had no 'positives' so Sparkle went off to do a quick tour around the central area, where there were a much smaller number of houses and flats over shops, but again found nothing.

Magic was doing a second circuit where she had checked earlier, when suddenly she got a response. "Guys, Magic here, I have something!".

"Yes, so do I" added Faylinn, "And I can actually hear them screaming!".

"Them?" asked a voice in their ears.

"Yes, sounded like 2 screams at the same time!" replied Faylinn.

Both Magic and Faylinn flew to where they each thought the victim was: they met on the upstairs landing just as Caroline and Belle came running out of their bedrooms.

"What the heck?" said Magic, who instantly ran a "FairyTime" spell (I need to explain that these spell are quite local, so only covered the two victims and the two fairies, and the area around them... the effect was that whilst the world appeared to freeze, the two fairies could do stuff in the house... but they would need to end the spell to allow the others to get there).

"Ok, Faylinn, we have no more than 10 minutes: you take a look at them both, see what you can find, I'll look around to see who else is here, and see what I can find out about them". Faylinn took a good look at Caroline and Belle. Their braces were actually pretty much identical, and quite typical of what humans got for real treatment: shiny molar bands, top and bottom, glued onto the front full molars, with medium sized shiny metal brackets glued onto the other 20 teeth. Caroline's medium-thickness archwire was held in place with bright fluorescent pink ligatures, whilst Bell had neon green ligatures. Like that it probably wouldn't be so bad, but they both had a single shiny steel facebow connected to their top teeth. Whilst Carol had a simple cervical strap, Bell had an interlandi headgear, with stretched elastics connecting it to the facebow. Faylinn looked more carefully at the facebows, and could see some glue holding them into their respective headgear tubes on the molar bands.

Faylinn also took a note of their teeth: assuming they both had straight teeth before, Caroline's teeth had been twisted around, and Belle's top front teeth were also noticeably protruding, with gaps between them. She ran a 'diagnostic' spell, to see what she was dealing with.

Magic flew around the house quickly, and returned a couple of minutes later, with two mobile phones in her hand. "Looks like there's just the two of them living here, and nothing else exciting to report.....". She started looking at their phones. "Ok, so older lady is Caroline, younger one is Belle, they seem to be mother and daughter. And guess what...." asked Magic.

"They both had lovely straight teeth yesterday?" replied Faylinn. "Too easy! Clearly their braces and so on are all magic. So, as expected, a bit of a step up on yesterday. Apart from there being two of them, our Dark Fairy has fitted molar bands to both of them, and the facebows are both glued into place. The good news is that I think the glue holding in the facebows is similar to what she used yesterday, although the glue holding the rather nice shiny metalwork to their teeth is different. It goes without saying that their teeth have been twisted, and the younger one - Belle you said? - has some lovely buck teeth!".

"And I like the touch that she gave them different headgears!" commented Magic. "Right, I'll just copy a few selfies from their phones, put their phones back where they were, then I think we can end the FairyTime spell, and let the others get here!"

"Want me to do some 'calming' spells on them?" asked Faylinn.

"Yes, probably a good idea" said Magic, who then ended the FairyTime. "Red Leader to all fairies: we have TWO victims today! Let me repeat that: TWO victims! I'll meet you all up on the roof!". Elida got there a minute later, the others took another couple of minutes.

"Something tells me you just ran a FairyTime" commented Lilly.

"Yup, come along into the main bedroom and meet our two victims" said Magic, "Mum and daughter: mum is Caroline, daughter is Belle. We have molar bands and glued-in headgear today! And some cute buck teeth! How they doing, Faylinn?"

"I've calmed them down, and they are both feeling VERY confused.". They all went into the bedroom.

"I'm not surprised" said Sparkle. The two ladies were sat on the bed and looking at each other's braces. They had both unhooked their actual headgears, and put them on the bed, and were trying - unsuccessfully of course - to remove each others facebows. "So, how do we want to handle this then? Get them both into bed, and knock them out?"

"That's probably the simplest" said Faylinn.

"Tell you what, why don't we leave you three to get on with it, I'll make sure the place is well locked up, then we'll have a look around the house" suggested Magic. While the three tooth fairies 'persuaded' Belle to go back to her own room, then put them both into a gentle sleep, Magic, Sparkle and Lilly went down to the lounge to chat.

"My first question is: was the new detection spell any use?" asked Lilly.

"I'm not sure. I actually picked them up with the old spell, even though I was 2 houses away... and I heard the screaming. Don't know about Faylinn".

"Did Faylinn have a chance to look at our victim's braces yet?"

"Yes, she did it while we were in FairyTime. For some reason, our Dark Fairy seems to have used two - or maybe I should say at least two - different glues today. Faylinn felt that the glue holding in the facebows was similar to what she used yesterday, but the glue holding the molar bands and brackets on was quite different".

"Something tells me that we may need to go visit the Archive... anyway, let's have a good look around, see if we find anything useful".

A few minutes later, Sparkle called out "Hey, Lilly, come on into Belle's bedroom a moment....". Lilly walked in to the bedroom, and looked around. Belle was lying asleep / unconscious / whatever on the bed. Hanging up on the front of the wardrobe was a familiar outfit - it was the sort of thing that waitresses at a 50's diner would wear: she remembered Sparkle saying that there was one in town.

"So what's so interesting then?" asked Lilly.

"Down there...." replied Sparkle, pointing to an area with several pairs of shoes.... and a pair of roller boots.

"Oh, very nice" said Lilly, smiling. Unlike the relatively plain roller boots Lilly was wearing, these were multi-coloured, with loads of sparkling glass 'jewels' all over them, and each of the four wheels on each boot was a different colour. While she was in the bedroom, she looked around the room. Something was trying to get her attention, but she couldn't work out what it was. She walked around, doing 'detect magic things' spells, but apart from Belle's braces, nothing came up.


In the other bedroom, the three tooth fairies stood next to Caroline, the mother, and took another look at her mouth: she had a very typical set of braces, but unlike the previous cases, she actually had molar bands. They had taken off the cervical strap, but the facebow was strongly glued into the tubes of the upper molar bands. To be honest, it didn't matter if the facebow actually remained in the bands, as long as the bands and brackets came off, everyone would be happy.

All three tooth fairies ran diagnostic spells on the braces. "Whilst the glue holding the braces in place seems to be quite different, the glue holding the headgear in really feels like it's the same as yesterday. What do you two think" asked Faylinn.

"Yes, I was getting that same feeling: so why don't we try that same triple spell as yesterday, maybe we'll get lucky?" replied Flora. They ran the same three spells, and whilst the braces remained firmly attached, the facebow appeared to be lose. Elida leaned over Caroline, and was able to pull it out, leaving just the 4 molar bands, and the 20 nice shiny metal brackets. Today's brackets were similar to the ones Violet had yesterday, but were a little bit bigger.


Lilly walked back into Caroline's bedroom, where the three tooth fairies were working on Caroline. "How's it going, ladies?"

"Well, we just managed to remove the facebow, we did pretty much what we did yesterday, but we're not having much luck with removing the braces yet" said Faylinn.

"Ok... keep trying". Once again, Lilly had a feeling that something was trying to get her attention, so again she ran the 'detect magic things' spell, but found nothing, apart from the braces. She was walking by the end of the bed, when something shiny caught her eye: it was on the bedside table. Lilly went to look: it was a small round silver coin. She picked it up..... then immediately walked back into Belle's bedroom, where she found exactly the same thing on her bedside table.

"Interesting!" said Lilly.

"What is?" asked Sparkle, who was still looking around Belle's room.

"I just found these, one by each bed...." said Lilly, showing Sparkle the two tiny silver coins.

"Isn't that the sort of thing that old tooth fairies used to leave little kids who just lost a tooth?" suggested Sparkle.

"Pretty much what I was thinking.... let's go ask our 'experts'". Lilly and Sparkle walked back into Caroline's bedroom.

"Ladies, can I just interrupt a moment.... just found these, one by each bed", and she showed them the coins.

"They look very much like old silver threepenny pieces, the sort of thing that we tooth fairies used to give young kids in exchange for their baby teeth" said Flora

"The strange thing is, they don't seem to be at all magical" said Lilly.

"They won't be. They are normal human coins" explained Flora.

"Oh, I never realised... so how do you get them?"

"That's for a tooth fairy to know, and others to not ask about!" said Flora with a wide smile. "I always carry a few one pound coins with me to exchange with baby teeth..."

"Yes, me too" said Faylinn

"Err... Lilly...." said Elida.

"Yes, Elida?"

"You know, I think I might also have seen one of those beside Violet's bed, yesterday!"

"Well, well, looks like we've found our Dark Fairy's 'calling card', interesting! And you never know, it might come in useful..."

Lilly left the three tooth fairies to continue their attempts at removing Caroline's braces, and got Sparkle and Magic together downstairs for a chat. "Looks like our tooth fairies are struggling"

"Yes, I think they are, sounds like you need to take Faylinn to the Dark Archives, to see what she can dig out" suggested Sparkle.

"Actually, I was thinking of taking Elida"

"Elida? Why her, surely Faylinn is far more experienced?"

"Whilst Faylinn I'm sure is a good tooth fairy, I think I need more than that to search in the archives. When I was down there with mum, even I was struggling, but I'm getting a good feeling about Elida - and you said it yourself, she seems to UNDERSTAND magic."

"Ok, fair comment, I'll support your choice!" said Magic. "In the meantime, I think we need to get our two ladies into some sort of 'holding pattern' - any suggestions?"

"Well, if nothing else, we should get them both to call work with some good excuse for not going in. By the look of the kitchen, they ate here last night, so maybe they got the shi..... errrr.... upset stomachs...?" suggested Sparkle.

"Oooh, you are nasty!"

"Yeah, but it's entirely credible for them.... ok, Lilly, we'll see you later!"


Offline Sparky

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Re: Story - The Dark Fairy
« Reply #28 on: 13. March 2022, 21:56:02 PM »
Chapter 18


"Elida, can you come with me a moment, please?" asked Lilly. She took her down into the lounge, where they could talk without being disturbed.

"Am I in trouble or something?" asked Elida.

"Why do people think always they are in trouble, just because I need a word. No, you're not, in fact completely the opposite."

"What do you mean"

"Let me start by asking you a question or two: First - and this isn't a job interview, I want to know your true feelings - do you actually ENJOY learning and doing magic?"

"Yes, absolutely. Especially the last couple of days, I've learnt SO MUCH!" replied Elida with a sparkle in her eyes.

"And do you sometimes feel.... hmm, how do I put this... that people underestimate you, that you could probably do a better job than them, if only you knew a little bit more? Try and be as honest as you can, and don't worry of it makes you feel a bit big-headed!...." said Lilly in a gentle and pleasant way.

Elida thought for a moment. "Yes, I do.... In fact, it's been so nice that both Faylinn and Flora have been letting me try so much."

"It was your idea yesterday to mix up the multiple spells wasn't it?"

"Yes, it just seemed like such an obvious thing to try, I don't know why Faylinn or Flora didn't suggest it! Oh, that sounds so bad...."

"Don't worry about it. Let me tell you something: I used to have the same sort of problem. Maybe it's something I can help you with? Anyway, thanks for being so honest with me." Lilly paused. "How would you like to learn something VERY different today, something that will probably stretch you a bit?".

A big smile came to Elida's face. "Yes please, Lilly!"

"So, I need to explain a few things, but before I can do that, I need you to sign this. It's similar to the security document you signed when you joined up, but goes a lot further. Don't rush it, you need to understand what it is you're signing...." Lilly gave her a copy of the same document that Magic, Sparkle and her mum had also recently signed.

"Dark Archive?" asked Elida.

"Don't worry, I'll explain all that in a moment ...". Elida took a few minutes to carefully read the document, then signed it. "So, what's this all about?"

"Well, first of all, you should find your security level has gone up .... quite substantially. That may be just temporary, but it might be more permanent, depending on how things go".

Elida looked at her 'pass' and was VERY surprised.

"You're joking?"

"No, not at all. I'm about to tell you some stuff, which you can't talk to anyone else about, unless you KNOW they have the correct clearance. At the moment, assume that that includes just me, Magic and Sparkle. Noone else. Understood?"

"Yes."

Lilly explained to Elida a simplified version of what they knew about the history of the destruction of the old palace. And about the existence of the Dark Archive. "That's where those new spells we were using this morning came from."

"Suddenly some of the stuff you've been saying makes so much more sense. But why are you telling me all this?" asked Elida

"Because I'm about to take you down into the Dark Archive. I need you to search for some old magic spells that can help you guys with removing those braces"

"Surely, if it's older magic, it would be better to take Flora?"

"Yes, I know, I agree, but unfortunately she can't know what's down there. Or even know that it exists. We can let her see certain specific things that we bring out, and have checked, but no more. And please don't ask me to explain"

"Oh.... right...."

"And from what I've seen of you working earlier on, I think you're going to find what we need very quickly... So, I'll have a quick word with Flora, and explain you and I are going to be visiting 'an important resource', then can you have a word with her, and get some ideas of the sort of things we will need?"


"Ok, ladies" said Lilly, talking to Magic, Sparkle, Faylinn and Flora. "I'm going to take Elida to a rather restricted 'resource' that we have access to, to see if we can find you some more relevant magic for you to use. In the meantime, I think maybe you guys need to wake these ladies up, and get them to call in sick to work. I have no doubt that between you, you can come up with something that won't sound too strange for our mum and daughter here to tell their respective bosses"

"Good idea" said Magic, "and maybe we can all have a cup of coffee while we're at it...."


As they both flew back to the office, Lilly explained a few more things to Elida, like how the Dark Archive was under her mum's office.

"Your mum's office?"

"Yeah, she's your boss!"

"Oh, sorry, I never realised!"

"That's ok. Actually, I'd better call her....".

Ten minutes later, Lilly's mum had let them into the Dark Archive: being the keeper, she was one of the few fairies allowed to let people into the Archive: even Lilly couldn't get in to the Dark Archive without her mum... it was all done to stop... well to stop a Dark Fairy from running amok.

"So, this is the first room we're interested in" said Lilly, showing her the 'Older Magic' room. "Although we'll probably also need to take a look in the 'Dangerous and Dark Magic' room afterwards. The room was large, with many old wooden shelves holding up hundreds of old books. As the place was hardly ever visited, it was dusty, and had an 'old' smell to it.

"Wow! There's a lot of books in here!" said Elida, clearly very impressed. The main library (the general one used by all the fairies) was a lot bigger, but all the books in there were very modern, the books in here oozed out a feeling 'we are VERY old'. "How are we going to find what we need?"

"Well, it's going to be more of 'how do YOU find what we need'?" replied Lilly, and she showed Elida how to use the search spells, which of course Elida picked up straight away.

"Ok, so I'm going to stand over here, out of your way, and let you just get on with it. Just ask if you need me!". Lilly stood there and watched as Elida waved her wand, running some quite complicated combinational search spells, as if it was something she did every day. Things to do with teeth, and glues, and other similar things. Quite a lot of books slid out from the shelf by an inch, marking their locations.

"No, far too many... " said Elida, who continued to narrow down the search. A lot of the books slid back into position on the shelves. "still too many... ok, let's try something a bit different.....". Bit by bit more of the books slid back into their normal places on the shelves, leaving just a few still proturuding. "Ok, let’s try that lot…" she said, waving her wand. Several books came off the shelves, and stacked up in front of Elida.

"I think what we're going to need is going to be in here somewhere" she said, quickly looking at the books. "This first one is a more general book, the others appear to be quite specialised, but I'm SURE that if we ask them nicely, they'll help us find what we want." explained Elida. When asked, the books were very polite, and opened up at the correct pages. They both looked at the books together, and found what they appeared to need.

"Ok, so far so good. Next, I think we need to search for something to help us detect our Dark Fairy..." said Elida, "let me try this...". Elida said a few words, searching for 'detecting tooth fairies who are doing magic', and waved her wand. Nothing happened, then suddenly a small book on the shelf right next to her popped out.

"Yes, come on then" she said, encouraging the book, which gently flew over to the desk, and opened up, at page 404. Elida smiled when she read what the page said: 'The requested resource could not be found but may be available in the future. Subsequent requests by the client are permissible'. Next to the text there was a rather nice drawing. "Oh, what a nice way to say 'no'" commented Elida.

"Thank you book... you might as well wait here for the moment, I get a feeling that you're going to be needed again". Elida tried another, rather more general, search 'detecting other fairies who are using magic'. The book fluttered, and opened up on page 401, which said 'Authentication is required and has failed or has not yet been provided'. Then it helped a bit more by turning to page 305, which stated 'The requested resource is available only through a proxy'

"Oh... ok... Lilly, maybe you can help on this, I'm assuming that your security level is rather higher than mine" and explained what the book had just shown her. Lilly came over, and basically repeated the same search request.

Once again, the little book fluttered it pages, this time opening at page 308, which said 'This and all future requests for this resource should be directed to the Dangerous and Dark Magic Library'

"Well, little book: you may be small, but you are both very pretty and very helpful. You may now go back to your shelf!" said Elida. The book ruffled its pages, briefly turned to page 200, and when Elida had read the one word on the page, the book closed itself, and went gently back to its shelf.

"I guess we now need to go into the other room" said Elida.

"Actually, we could do with one more detection spell: for old silver coins" said Lilly. "You never know, if we're having trouble detecting her magic, we might catch her by her coins!"

"Nice idea, Lilly, ok..... let's try this: search for silver..." Once again, a lot of books offered themselves. "Ok, how about 'silver coins' then?". Most went back into place, leaving about 6 or 8 books sticking out. "Ok, books, let's forget the magic search for the moment: I'm looking for something to help us detect a tooth fairy who has a few old silver threepenny coins on them. Any takers?"

One book gracefully slipped off the shelf, and came down in front of her. The book was clearly well used, the back binding was damaged, and there was noticeable wear on the covers. Elida opened it up, to find a name on the inside front cover: 'Princess Buttercup'. "Well, Princess, clearly you liked this book, so book, can you show me what you know?". The book gently flicked through its pages, and stopped at a page that had clearly been read many times, and there were even a few notes in the margins.

"Did you just say 'princess'?" asked Lilly.

"Yes, this is Princess Buttercup's book, whoever she was."

"If I remember correctly, she was one of the two princesses that were never found, the one that wasn't the tooth fairy"

"I wonder if she used to do something like play hide-and-seek with her tooth fairy sister, and used this to help find her?"

"Yes, I guess that's quite possible."

"So, I would say that we have all we need from in here: do we just take these books with us?"

"We can take that general one with us, but not these others – there’s too much dangerous stuff in them for them to be out in public." Of course, what Lilly REALLY meant was 'for Flora to see'. "Plus, I think Princess Buttercup's book should stay here too. Use your phone to take pics of the pages we need, and we can print them out upstairs. Then, as you said, we need to go and have a look in the other room....".

Lilly led them both into the 'Dangerous and Dark Magic' room: as they entered, they could feel a sort of 'clamminess' from the dark magic. "So, it should be the same principles to search in here, just be VERY careful how you search, there's some nasty stuff in here: I saw some of it when I was down here the other day with mum!"

Elida carefully ran a search spell, this time searching for 'detecting other fairies, without them knowing', and suddenly one dusty book flew off the shelf, and headed straight towards Elida. Elida put her hand out: "Don't you DARE!" she said very firmly to the book. "Down on the table! And NO messing about, otherwise you're going STRAIGHT back onto your shelf!" she added, pointing at the table. The book gingerly and gently landed on the table.

Lilly was pleasantly surprised: Elida seemed to know exactly how to control these darker books, without needing anything explained to her. And she seemed to be in complete control.

Elida stared at the book, then waved her wand. The book opened itself, and started flicking its pages menacingly. "Behave!" she commanded, "otherwise you know what will happen" she said in a stern voice. "Now, which page do I need to look at?" she said more pleasantly. The book realised that Elida wasn't going to stand for any messing about, and did what it was told, opening at page 53. "Oh, yes, very nice.... come and have a look at this, Lilly!"

Lilly took a look at what was on page 53: yes, it looked like it could be a VERY helpful spell, despite the side-effects it would have on the caster. But the good thing about the spell is that no other fairies could detect it was being cast, which is probably why it had those side-effects.

"I think we need to memorise this one" suggested Elida, "I don't think I'd be comfortable with anyone else knowing it, not even Magic or Sparkle"

"Yes, very fair comment...." replied Lilly. They both spent a few minutes learning the spell, as well as reading some notes on other useful spells that could help, which some helpful historical fairy had written in the margins.

"Thank you very much, book.... now close yourself up, and go back to your shelf... quietly!" said Elida with a lot of authority. The book did exactly as it had been told, without any fuss.

"While we're here, one more please Elida: we could do with something to help Puck... you know, help him calibrate his equipment. I'm guessing if it's old-ish and dark-ish, then pretty much anything will do. Even better if it includes teeth or glue. But something pretty stand-alone".

"Yes, that makes sense. Ok, books, you just heard Lilly, any suggestions?" and she waved her wand. Two books started jiggling on the shelf, then settled back down after a few seconds.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say those books are actually excited!" commented Lilly.

"I think they probably ARE. I mean, how often does anyone come down here, and even just talk to them, let alone search them? Ok, you two, come on down, and let me see what you have for us." They clearly knew that Elida wouldn't accept any nonsense from them, and both came over to the desk, landing beside each other. One was a very plain brown book, the other was a more colourful blue.

"Let's start with you, brown book... what's your suggestion?". The book opened to a page with a spell that allowed you to magic up new teeth, typically to replace old decayed teeth. "Hmm, interesting, not sure how that one works for us....". With that, the blue book started jiggling gently. "Yes, blue book, settle down. Now what do you have for me then?". The blue book opened its pages, and weirdly offered a spell for creating a jawbone. "Ah, right, yes!" exclaimed Elida. "Hey, were you two talking to each other up there on the shelf?" The blue book jiggled excitedly.

"Well, thank you both.... let me just take a picture of you... smile!". Elida used her camera to get pictures of the spells, then told the two books to return to their shelves.

"Thank you all for your help today! Would you like me to come back again?" asked Elida. Lots of the books jiggled on their shelves.

"I must say I'm very impressed, Elida," commented Lilly as they walked out, "you were in complete control there..."

"Yeah, I'm not sure how, but I just seemed to instinctively know what I needed to do" replied Elida with a big smile on her face. "And you know, those books ARE rather cute!" Lilly closed the door to the Dangerous and Dark Magic Library, and they walked back upstairs.

"Find what you were looking for?" asked Lilly's mum as they walked out of the cupboard.

"Yes, I think we did, plus I think Elida had a good feeling for what else is available, should we need it. Umm, Elida, I need a quick word with mum, why don't you.... err, yeah, make us all a coffee".

"Sure thing..." said Elida, understanding that they needed privacy for a few minutes.

"So" said Lilly, "not only is Elida a promising tooth fairy, she was able to search the Dark Archive like she's been doing it all her life. And she didn't allow the books in the 'Dangerous' room to mis-behave either... she kinda reminded me of my old school teacher, Miss Jones! But it's like she actually understands those books: I'm thinking you might like want to use her skills in the future"

"Thanks for the heads up, Lilly. So, how's it going in Runesdale? I'm guessing you are having some braces issues again...."

"Yes, this Dark Fairy is learning quickly. Today we got a 'two for the price of one': a mother and daughter pair, with some not very nice braces on their teeth. Ok, yeah, they are really nice and shiny, with lots of metal, so from a fairy perspective they are ACTUALLY very nice... but you know what I mean! And they are stuck on very well, which is why we came here to see if we can find some new - well, actually very OLD - magic to try out."

"So why did you bring Elida? and not Flora? I mean, Flora knows old magic pretty well"

"Yeah, unfortunately there's a bit of a security issue with Flora, so out of Elida and Faylinn, I've been watching Elida, and I had a feeling she would be a lot better at this - and it turns out she is. I'm not saying Faylinn isn't a capable tooth fairy, far from it, but she's just your normal 'get on and do the job' sort of fairy. Elida is so different - to be honest, I see a lot of me in her, if you know what I mean"

"Yes, I do. I have a feeling I'll want to have a chat with her when this is all over, and I'll probably need your help to do it"

"No problems with that, mum....."

There was a knock on the door: Elida had returned with their coffees. While they sat and drank them, Elida connected her phone to the printer, and printed out the spells they needed, then put them inside the one book they had brought out with them.

"Ok, thanks mum! We need to get back to Runesdale, and remove some braces....."


Offline Sparky

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Re: Story - The Dark Fairy
« Reply #29 on: 15. March 2022, 14:49:32 PM »
Chapter 19

While Elida and Lilly went off to the Dark Archive, Magic and Sparkle had a chat with Flora and Faylinn.

"I'm guessing that you've reached a bit of an impasse for the moment?" commented Magic

"Yes, we have. We're assuming that Lilly and Elida might be a while, in which case both these ladies are going to be missed at work"

"Yes, we were thinking the same, so I suggest giving them both gippy tummies - they would probably just assume it's something they ate last night - and tell them to call work, and say they don't feel too good, but they hope to be in a bit later if they feel better" said Magic.

"Are we allowed to do that? I'm thinking 'nudges' and all that..." asked Faylinn

"We are on a Priority One, plus Lilly specifically said we can do pretty much whatever we need to, to keep the situation contained, so I'd say there should be no issues".

Flora smiled. "It's been a while, would you mind if I did the necessary?" she asked.

"Be our guest!" replied Sparkle. "But be reasonably nice to them!"

"Don't worry, I will....". Flora went into each bedroom in turn, woke them up partially (so they actually DID still feel a bit rough!), threw an 'ignore the braces that you seem to have in your mouth, they are actually quite normal' sort of spell, then got each of them to call work, telling them that their guts were suffering (which they seemed to be - magic can do some useful things at times!), but they hoped they might be feeling better a bit later on. Caroline's boss was fine, but Belle's was a bit upset, but accepted there wasn't a lot she could really do.

Luckily, without needing any magic, they both just decided that staying in bed for the moment was probably the best thing for them, and with the help of a little more magic, they fell asleep again.

After that, it was really just a matter of waiting for Lilly and Elida to get back - hopefully with some magic that might help them.

------

"So, we found this book in...." Elida started to explain to Faylinn and Flora. Lilly looked over at Elida, to remind her. "... in a private collection" explained Elida. "There's some good basic stuff I think might help us, plus I was able to take pictures of some pages from some other books too, but which we weren't allowed to bring with us."

'Nicely put, Elida!' thought Lilly.

Flora looked at the very old book, gently flicking through it. "I don't think I'd better even think about asking where this came from, but yes, I think you're right." She then picked up the printouts - several of which detailed some very old 'glue spells' - and smiled. "Ohh, VERY nice.... we just need to work out the opposites of these ones, which hopefully won't be too difficult."

Faylinn also took a look at the book. "Oooh, interesting! I'll have to have a proper look through this later too" added Faylinn. "So, let's see if any of this helps us!"

The three tooth fairies chatted for a while, working out what the reverse of the glue spells would be, and wrote a few notes. With the book and various other bits of paper to hand, the three of them briefly looked at each other. "I can see you want to try the first one, don't you?" said Faylinn to Elida. "Go on, you've earned it...". Elida stood over Caroline, and tried the first spell, reading the words carefully from the book. There were a couple of tiny crackles from the braces, but nothing happened.

"Go on, Flora, you try the next one....". Flora read the second spell, pointing her wand at Caroline's mouth. A few crackles, and a short buzz, but nothing. "Go on, Faylinn, your turn" said Flora, passing the book over. Faylinn turned over a few pages, searching for something she had seen earlier. Moments after she uttered the words, a small amount of smoke came from Caroline's mouth, but the braces were still firmly attached. They tried a couple more spells, but no luck.

"I think maybe we need to be combining spells again" suggested Flora. "Elida, you seem to have a knack for this, which ones do you thing we need to combine?"

"Well, I'm not 100% sure, but I have a few ideas...." replied Elida.


"Hooray!!!!" shouted out Elida about 20 minutes later: they had finally managed to remove Caroline’s braces. "Hopefully it won't take a moment to remove Bella's braces too". With the braces removed, Flora moved her teeth back to being straight again.

"Nice teeth" commented Flora, "they look so much nicer like this... although the braces are nice in their own way."

"Ahh, Flora, you've just lost the enjoyment of seeing nice sparkly things, haven't you?" teased Faylinn

"You're probably right, but I do love the sight of nice straight teeth, especially when they look as nice as hers."

The three of them then moved into the other bedroom, and repeated the spells they had just used, but on Belle. Within minutes the braces were removed, and her teeth were straight again. "Another set of nice teeth" commented Flora, "but not as nice as her mum's!"

"So, I guess we now need to tidy up a few loose ends" commented Lilly. "How about we give them some real upset stomachs, that will magically clear after a visit to the loo. After that we can wipe their memories for the last few hours, and implant something about them eating something last night that must have given them dodgy guts?"

"Well, definitely more than nudges, but I must admit, it's probably for the best" agreed Sparkle. Wands were waved, memories were wiped, and fake memories installed.

With their work done, Faylinn went and had a word with Sparkle. "Hey, Sparkle, there seems to be a bit of a backlog building up at the office, I was thinking that, if we're all done here for the day, maybe Flora and I can go and sort out a few other cases - we can be back here for tea time"

"Good idea, let me just double check with Magic and Lilly...". Using the clever comms kit, she just thought about wanting to talk to the two of them. "Guys, Sparkle here, got a second?". The others came back to her, and agreed that they could go. "I'd like Elida to stay here though" commented Lilly.

Five minutes later, the four of them were sat on the roof of Caroline and Belle's place, chilling out for a few minutes.

Elida put her hand in her pocket, and brought out several sets of braces: the set that they had removed yesterday from Violet, and the two sets from today. "It's interesting, todays brackets are a bit larger than yesterday's - I wonder if that's relevant in any way?" she asked no one in particular.

"I think she's just evolving" replied Lilly. By now, all four fairies were looking at the braces, which were now sparkling nicely in the sunshine. They really DID look so nice.

"Erm, would you mind if I kept them?" asked Elida (she also had all the headgears in her other pocket).

"Something tells me that you like braces...." said Sparkle, smiling and showing off HER braces. Elida turned a bit of a pink colour. "Don't worry, there's nothing particularly strange about liking braces. I'm quite open about my love of braces...."

"I'm not sure what it is about them" replied Elida, "Yes, I know part of it is that they really are nice and shiny, but maybe it's also because I know I can't have braces myself"

"You never had 'wishes'
  • as a kid then?" asked Magic. [* wishes are the fairy equivalent of human braces, used to straighten the teeth of fairies with a malocclusion]


"No, I didn't.... but they don't look half as nice as human braces. Hey, I was thinking......"

"Yeah?"

"Well, we're done for now, aren't we?"

"For this morning, yes" said Lilly, "but this afternoon I was hoping you might like to go and work with Ella and Puck, do some magic for them to help them line up their kit. So, what you wanting to do then?"

"Well, can we go back to the orthodontist's again - I was thinking it would be fun to go and watch a few more patients!"

"I like your thinking there, Elida! Maybe we should all go, I think a bit of fun like that would do us a lot of good...."


-------


"Hi Ella! Hi Puck!" said Elida. It was after lunch, and she had just joined them on their roof, to help them test out their equipment.

"Oh, hi there Elida! Lilly said to expect you" replied Ella.

"So, have you had any luck getting your kit working yet?" Elida asked Puck.

"Yes, a few steps forward. The second sensor is still not working, but we'd like to do some simple testing, and Lilly said you'd be able to do some relevant magic for us" said Puck.

"Sure. So, what have you done so far?"

"Well, Ella's been doing some mainstream modern magic, and this single sensor is detecting it ok, but what we haven't done is try it with some older-style magic. I have no idea what the technical differences are, to be honest"

"Ok, well, I can think of quite a few things I could try for you...."

"Excellent. Hey, let's take a quick break before we start" suggested Ella, "grab a coffee, let our brains take a short rest, and we can have a chat about what to try".


"Ok" said Puck about half an hour later. "I know modern magic works, so want to start with that, Elida?". Elida did a few simple bits of fun magic... fire balls and that sort of thing. "Yes, it seems to be seeing that ok. Want to try some older magic now?"

Elida took the braces that she had in her pocket, and felt them, trying to get a feel for how the Dark Fairy might have created them. Then she used the two dark spells from the archive: one to create a jawbone, the other to put some teeth into the jawbone. After that, she used an old spell to create some braces, and finally another old dark magic spell to glue them on to the teeth - the whole thing took no more than 20 or 30 seconds, and it was clear that Elida was rather enjoying what she was doing.

"Hmmm, strange, I got nothing at all there....." said Puck.

"Oh... so how do you actually detect the magic then?" asked Elida. Puck started to explain, using long words and phrases like 'oscillator' and 'super heterodyne' and 'phase variance'. "I'm sorry Puck, but you lost me as soon as you said 'oscilloscope'"

"'Oscillator' actually.... but close!". He tried to simplify things for Elida, explaining that it was a mixture of clever electronics, clever software, and clever magic. "Ah!!!" exclaimed Puck, who had just had a brilliant idea that would explain the problem.

"What is it?" asked Ella.

"Well, the magic I'm using here to detect stuff is very modern magic - maybe we need to use some sort of OLDER magic? Elida, I'm going to need your help...."

Elida spent the next hour or so working with Ella and Puck, figuring out how to do stuff with the limited knowledge she had. They managed to detect some slightly older magic as a result. "I think I need to go back to.....". She was about to say 'The Dark Archive' when she remembered what Lilly had said earlier on. "Umm... to where I was this morning, I vaguely remember seeing some stuff that might be relevant there"

"The Dark Archive, you mean? Don't worry, Lilly told us both about that earlier, said there might be something there that might be helpful to us"

"Yes, it was there... let me ask Lilly if I can go back". Elida got her phone out and called Lilly, and asked her if she could go to the Dark Archive again.

"Sure, why don't you and Puck go together?" suggested Lilly. Elida asked Puck if he would go with her, and he agreed it would probably make a lot of sense. "Ok, I'll let mum know you're on your way."

At the Dark Archive, Elida quickly impressed Puck with her skills at not only finding the information they wanted, but at the way she was able to control the books. Elida and Puck took pictures of the relevant pages, then went back to site.

"You know" said Puck on the way back, "You're a natural with those books - I could see you were really enjoying what you were doing there!".

"It's strange, but in a way the 'dark' books are actually like bullies: big and tough on the outside, but inside they are actually really nice, if you treat them right".



"Any luck" asked Ella, when they arrived back.

"We think so, yes..." replied Puck. "Ok, Elida, want to try something?" said Puck a while later, after they had 'installed' the older magic spells into the equipment. Once again, Elida created some teeth models, then magicked some shiny braces. "Yes, I'm seeing that this time... keep going!". Elida then started using two or three different 'glue spells'. "Yes, I'm seeing all of those too!"

"Nice work, you two!" said Ella.

"So, does that mean it's ready for us to try tomorrow?" asked Elida.

"I wish...." said Puck. "You know, I sometimes think it would be nice if us fairies could have fairies to grant us our wishes! But no, detecting the magic is a big bit of it though. As it is, whilst we might be able to DETECT magic, we need to not only make sure it works at a distance, we need to be able to find out WHERE it's being used. That's why we need the second sensor, that way we can try and calculate the amplitude and phase angle..... sorry, let me try that again: it's like listening for a sound: with one ear, you can hear a sound, that the sound is there, but you don't really know where it is. With two ears, your brain can do some clever work to work out the direction, and if you're lucky, how far away. All we have so far is one ear, and very little brain!"

"Ah, so THAT's why you need the second sensor!"

"Absolutely. Then there's a load of calculations that need to be done, and my tests last week were taking really ages to give a result. I'm hoping that I can work on it, and make it a bit faster. You know, Ella, I'm wondering if having a third sensor might be useful?"

"Yes, I could see that. Maybe once Ambrose has fixed the broken one, he could make us another? Tell you what we could try in the meantime though: all the testing so far has been pretty near to the sensor. I'm thinking we need to get Elida to go a bit further away."

"Yeah, I can do that!" said Elida. Several sets of braces glued to teeth models, and a bit of tweaking later, they were managing to detect older magic at a range of up to about a mile. However, other than being able to say 'it happened, and it's over there, somewhere', they had no real idea in what direction or how far away it was.



"I hear you've made some good progress this afternoon" said Lilly to Puck, as they were all having their dinner together.

"Yes, we have. Elida has been very helpful to us this afternoon" he added, looking over at her, and smiling. "But I'm not sure if it will be enough to be much use to you yet. All I can tell you is that some sort of magic happened, somewhere, within the kit's range"

"Ok, so what do you need to do next then?"

"I'm waiting for Ambrose to finish fixing the second sensor - he thinks he'll have that tomorrow morning sometime. And we've also decided to get Ambrose to make us a third sensor, it's likely to improve things"

"That is great news, Puck, well done! And thanks for helping him, Elida! So, Magic, Sparkle: would it be of any help to simply know that someone has done some magic?"

"Yeah, I was just thinking about that.... I mean, if we want to have any chance of catching our Dark Lady, it would be very useful to know when she's out and about."

"Ok. Ella, Puck, how would you feel about getting a few hours rest, then doing a through-the-night stint? Once you've detected something, then you could come back here and get some sleep. There'll be an FAS guy to keep you company too... and keep you awake!"

"Yes, if you think it's worthwhile, why not?" said Ella.

"And is there any particular advantage in us being woken in the middle of the night if Puck or Ella spot something?"

"Well, it WOULD allow us to get a head start on things, maybe get to our victim before they wake up."

"Ok, that might be helpful...."

"Ella, just call me, whatever time it happens, and I'll wake up everyone else" said Lilly.

"OK"

"So, this afternoon, Magic, Sparkle and I tried out some of the magic that Elida and I found yesterday morning, and we now think we have a combinational pair of spells that should help us detect magic, and very specifically older magic, at up to say 200 metres, which should help us to find our victim a lot quicker tomorrow. We'll show it to you all after dinner"



After dinner, Elida had a quiet word with Lilly. "Lilly, you know that spell we found yesterday.."

"Which one? There were quite a few" replied Lilly.

"The one we memorised."

"Ah, yes, THAT one...."

"Tomorrow morning, after we've finished sorting out tomorrow's victim, I was wondering if we could try that spell out. I'm thinking that if there ARE side effects, I'd like to know what they are BEFORE needing to use it"

"Very good thinking there, Elida. Plus, we need to see what effect that 'recovery spell' has in helping to reduce the side effects."

"Yes... I'm wondering if it's worth getting Magic and Sparkle involved?"

"What, casting the 'detect fairy' spell?"

"No, casting the 'recovery spell', the one that might help with the side-effects. That would leave us two to concentrate on tracking our Dark Fairy. My limited experience is that it's a lot easier to cast a spell on someone else than on yourself"

"Ok, that sounds like a good plan, and I have no problems involving Magic and Sparkle with that magic. Leave it with me, and yes, we'll find somewhere that we can 'have a play'. Hey, good work with Puck earlier. You two seem to be getting on well."

Elida went a tiny bit pink. "Yes, we are...."