The Other Half

**InvertedMonkey** · Mar 23rd, 2016 12:22 AM

... There's a little man in the walls. A little (mostly) hairy man. Like a troll from one of those old illustrations. This is like something out of a fairy-tale. Which, dismayingly, exactly fits the life of a Changeling. Fuck. Is he the brownie? She'd assumed they'd be Changelings, but it now occurs to her that they could just as well be hobs. After all, it would be just like a hob to trade valuable work for cheap milk and honey, but with disastrous consequences and death if the promise was broken. Ramona steps forward, trying to get a better look. "Yeah... we're here to help," she answers. "But... maybe you could tell us a bit more about what we're helping with?"

**Nathan Griffin** · Mar 24th, 2016 06:06 PM

He holds the light just as Green instructs him, his golden eyes fixed on the place the voice had come from. At first he thought it was a mouse or a cat. Then he got a better look at it. What the...? his lips moved but no sound came out. Now I've really seen everything. Why was it always the brownies and the scary ghost riders? Where were the pretty mermaids and cutesy flower sprites?

"Uh..." I'm talking to a freaking brownie. This shit's so surreal. Enough to make him wonder if he was dreaming or had gotten into the Hedge without noticing. "Sure. Help. What she said."

**Malcolm Green** · Mar 24th, 2016 09:33 PM

The mountain was momentarily taken aback.

"Ah. Uh. No. She's..." he trailed off, heavy brows furrowing into gouging clefts on his rock-like face. "She's... You? You need help?"

He'd come prepared to fix a stove or check out a wall. He'd come expecting to find a superstitious mundane who knew too much (and would need to be avoided in the future). He'd come expecting some hob malfeasance. Just...

Not quite like this.

Mar 25th, 2016 10:34 PM

The hob's mouth broke into a smile in what seemed to be relief, though his small, glittering eyes were slower to change expression. Nathan's visible mien earned him a long, unblinking look, but after a moment the hob shuffled forward to sit at the front of the cupboard, toes curled over the lip.

"Frances isn't supposed to see me, it's one of The Rules." The more the hob spoke, the clearer it became that his voice wasn't necessarily soft by design, but worn. "There are a lot of rules. Some of them are my rules and some of them... aren't. There are rules about leaving the house, but none about people coming in, so I had to make do. I'm so, so glad that you're..." A tiny hand reached out to pet the air, as if stroking Nathan's cheek from a distance and with it a representation of all things fae-touched.

Refocusing, the hob wrapped its thin arms around its legs. "The Weaver will be home soon. I'm not... I don't want to be here, but she made me say the words. So I'm here and I help, with the house and with her... work, the project. All the..." He made vague, round gestures with his hands before giving up. "They're in the basement."

The hob chewed his bottom lip, looking between them. "You need to make her stop, she's going to hurt Frances."

1 success

Wits+Empathy, please

**Malcolm Green** · Mar 25th, 2016 10:42 PM

Green won't pick up anything. He has enough time with people let alone hobs.

**InvertedMonkey** · Mar 27th, 2016 01:10 AM

Empathy: 1 success

**Malcolm Green** · Mar 28th, 2016 06:33 PM

le BUMP Nathan Griffin Gwydden

**Nathan Griffin** · Mar 28th, 2016 07:52 PM

fail

Mar 30th, 2016 05:08 PM

Apparently there were so few stories of altruistic hobs in the Hedge because they had been dragged away to live in people's cupboards. The story he began to tell seemed plausible enough, and there was little enough reason to lie; to Ramona, though, a faint glimmer of doubt crept in. Not about the factuality of the tale, but the framing of it: after remarking on his own plight, the hob was quick to express his concern for Frances. Whether that was for their benefit or his own emotional connection, who could say.

Outside, a car door slammed.

**Malcolm Green** · Mar 30th, 2016 06:37 PM

Rules.

Rules were enough to seal it for the mountain, who came to the opinion that the diminutive fellow was a Lars or a Brownie or another household fairy of some kind. In which case the hob would be more... benign... than not. The hidden inconsistencies of the story were lost on the Elemental.

He grunted, as was his want when processing surprise, irritation, or new information.

"Guess we are going to have to take a look at that basement," he said to the others. To corroborate the Brownie's information. To check the pipes. All of those things.

Before he has time to reflect on the information, he hears a door slam.

"Who?"

He's already rising, using his huge frame to partially block the view of the open cupboard.

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2016-03-25 22:27:46		Hob (The Other Half) rolls 4 to Manipulation+Subterfuge (10 Again)		10, 5, 2, 3, 2		1 success

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2016-03-25 22:41:08		Green to empathise rolls 1 to Wits + Empathy (Seeming Curse)		5		failure

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2016-03-27 01:09:49		Ramona Bohannon rolls 3 to Wits + Empathy (TOH) (10 Again)		8, 3, 1		1 success

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2016-03-28 19:51:42		Nathan rolls 2 to to WIT + Empathy (10 Again)		6, 3		failure

The Other Half

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