A Night at the Freehold

     The scent of buttery popcorn wafted down the hall as Black Robin trotted into the large den, looking around as he carefully stretched his legs to place hooves carefully over the children sprawled on the floor. Balancing the bowl, he sighed, settling onto a footstool near Aeneas. The sidhe was already well on the way to tipsy, cradling his bottle of rum like an infant, glancing at the satyr with a wry smile.

     "Somethin’ wrong?" Aeneas wobbled a bit as he spoke, checking to make sure he hadn’t spilled any liquor.

     Robin eyed the popcorn in his bowl, looking up at the sidhe with a frown. "Why the hell is it always Orville’s movie theater butter popcorn? Hasn’t anyone around here heard of kettle corn?"

     The slightly inebriated sidhe motioned to where Amelia sat in a wingback chair, Iris curled up at her feet, resting her head on the sidhe’s knee while Amelia’s long fingers stroked through the iridescent hair. "It’s Iris’s favorite, and Amelia likes her to have what she wants." He burped, muffling it with one hand, wincing at the acidic taste of his own saliva. "Aren’t they cuuute?" His drunken slur draws the sidhe wilder’s attention. Amelia’s cold blue eyes narrow at him, the eighteen-year-old holding more threat in one glance than many men do at the height of their aggression. She turned away, looking down at her lover, then glanced at the blue screen of the plasma TV. Iris, leaning against Amelia’s shins, smiled gently at Aeneas, mouthing a silent apology for Amelia’s temper even as she snuggled against her girlfriend, the sixteen-year-old letting her eyes drift shut.

     Robin watched with a little smile, leaning over to whisper loudly to Aeneas. "I think you made her mad," he said, motioning to Amelia. He flashed the irritated sidhe a grin as he tucked his hooves under the chair, stuffing the popcorn in his mouth. Aeneas mumbled something as he leaned his head back on the couch, and Robin rolled his eyes. The sidhe would be fast asleep before the movie had even begun, and he’d be pissed when he woke up to find one of the kids had scribbled something on his face. The satyr shrugged, moving his hooves to allow Andrew to bustle past. It would be a hell of a good laugh in the morning.

     "Alright everyone!" The boggan called out cheerfully as he tried to juggle three DVD cases. "Let’s see…Bertram rented…"The Chronicles of Narnia," um…the second Harry Potter and…" Andrew blinked again, color rushing into his face. "Bertram! What in heaven’s name? What is this?" He darted from the room, waving the third, oddly blank case wildly, high-pitched voice echoing off of the walls.

     "Okay, Amy, you owe me ten," Iris said with a cheerful smile, tilting her head back to look up at Amelia. "Told you Bertram would get a porno and he’d forget to keep it away from Andrew."

     Sighing, Amelia looked down at Iris, one eyebrow lifted. "And you said he’d put it in without thinking about it. So, no. You have not won yet."

     The Gift of the Dreaming laughed a little, brushing a silvery curl from her face. "Hey, I never said when. Andrew will forget what’s in there, find it in Bertram’s room and think it’s just a movie. You’ll see. He’ll scream loud enough to hear him at school."

     Aeneas perked up, blinking blearily. "Huh? Bet? I wanna get in on it." He looked at Amelia, one eyebrow lifted slightly. "What’s the bet?"

     Iris flashed a grin, shifting her weight to drape her arm over Amelia’s lap, resting her cheek on her forearm. "I said Andrew’d find one of Bertram’s porn flicks and put it in without thinking about it. She," Iris pointed up at Amelia, "says he’d figure it out before putting the movie in."

     "Figure what out?" Coriline Ferrington’s bright silvery-grey eyes peered around the door frame before she pranced into the room, balancing a tray of juice for the kids. The rest of the fae exchanged glances, and Iris smiled up at the pooka.

     "That Bertram always forgets there are people older than six living here, too." She smiled sweetly, patting a floor cushion near her. "Gonna sit with me and Amy, Cori?"

     The pooka smiled back, innocent eyes shining happily at being wanted. "Sure, just let me give the kids their juice." Kneeling, she passed juice boxes around to the kids, chatting merrily with them as they gathered around to hug her, show her a new interesting item, or just to bask in the glow of the pooka’s enthusiasm.

     "A’ight Andrew. Aye, as ye say," the troll mumbled over his shoulder as he ducked his head to enter the room. Bertram paused, smiling gently down at Coriline and the children, then he glanced at the other fae. "Nay a word," the troll warned, pointing at Robin, Aeneas, Iris and Amelia in turn. "I know what ye’r thinkin’, and I don’t wanna ‘ear a word ’bout it." He shuffled to his battered armchair, sinking into it with a grumble as Iris giggled into Amelia’s leg.

     The boggan shuffled into the room, his round cheeks still very red as he shot Bertram an almost-intimidating glare. Looking at the others in the room, he cleared his throat self-consciously, popping open a DVD case. "Chronicles of Narnia it is," he said quickly, putting the disc into the player. Picking his way through the sprawled children, nudging the murr

ing Bug aside with a toe, he settled himself onto an ottoman, fumbling with the remote control. The two teenage girls looked at each other for a moment before Amelia leaned over and snatched the remote from the boggan’s hands. Iris rolled her eyes as Amelia jabbed a few buttons and the DVD player leapt into life.

     "You could’ve been nicer," she whispered as she pulled the remote from her girlfriend’s hands.

     Amelia shrugged, settling back into her chair, eyes already turning to the TV. "And your point is?" Her slender hands stroked over Iris’s hair, softening her cold tone, and Iris just smiled a little as she settled back against Amelia’s legs, her gaze shifting to the screen. The freehold, gathered in one room, lost themselves in the modern graphics of long-cherished fantasy tales, finding a little bit of the Dreaming even in the Waking World.