Unfamiliar Environment

Endless screaming. That, combined with the whirring of the fan, was enough to drive anyone insane.

“Ugh! Remind me why we, a couple of winter sprites, have moved to Texas in the middle of summer!” the figure sprawled out on the floor whined at her roommate. Her thin, translucent blue wings spread apart as much as possible in front of the fan. She let her head fall into the throw pillow in front of her, and she screamed. “--!”

Her roommate stopped from her typing to look over at the miserable looking sprite. “What was that last bit, Lumi?”

The now-named ‘Lumi’ shot up onto her knees and gripped the sides of her ears, “I said, Eira, that I want the fucking cicadas to stop screaming, ‘cause I’m pretty sure my eardrums are gonna explode!”

Eira looked at Lumi, unfazed. “We’ve been here for months, and you decide to start complaining about the bugs now? Get ahold of yourself, and go put some earplugs in.” the older winter sprite turned back to her computer, paused, and added “And would you stop using so much magic? I am aware the heat is suffocating, but I’m getting worried about our human roommate, she’s either going to pass out one of these days or see through our illusions, and neither one of those are situations I want to deal with.” Lumi grumbled and threw up a very obscene hand gesture, but conceded. Lumi got up and headed for the junk drawer in the kitchen, sighing a bit when she felt the cold tile floor on her bare feet. She found and put in the bright orange earplugs, before deciding she was jus going to lay on the kitchen floor.

She groaned, “Holy shit Eira you gotta try this it’s so nice.”

“Stop swearing, you’re almost a hundred.” Eira could almost hear the eyeroll in response to that.

For the next half hour, the only sounds from inside the apartment were the soft clicking of Eira, working diligently for her online classes, and the whirring of the fan. Which was broken very suddenly by the front door being shoved open. Lumi stretched and got up, cracking her back as she did so. “Sweet, Ray-ray is back.”

“Hey ya’ll! I’m back from my dad’s house!” there was a pause, followed by a heavy thud as the door closed, “And I brought cupcakes!”

Both the fair-folk straightened up at that “Cupcakes!” they both cheered.

“so, how was your dad’s, Ray-ray?” Eira asked as she carefully peeled the wrapper from the sugary treat

The human in question snorted, “About what you’d expect, he just wanted to show me off to his rich boss with a son. And you can call me by my full name, you know that, right?”

“We legally cannot.” Lumi’s muffled reply made Raven laugh. She sat down between the two sprites, letting herself relax a bit around her friends.

“Well, how are you two doing, I know Texas is pretty different from Minnesota. You two handling the heat okay?”

Lumi was about to speak up, but Eira beat her to the punch. “We’re fine, it’s a bit hotter than we were expecting, but it’s nothing we can’t handle”

“Speak for yourself.” Lumi grumbled.

Raven looked between the two of them, getting a soft look on her face as she did so. “Hey, if this is about me mentioning the AC bill, it’s nothing to worry about. I want you two to be comfortable while we’re here. I did some reading on the way back, and I learned about this thing called ‘temperature shock’ and since you’re not used to hot weather, I wanted to make sure you two were safe while I was gone.”

Eira cocked her head, much like a puppy would, eyes full of confusion “But, the bill-“

“Nope, none of that. Your health is more important than money. I’m not gonna end up like my dad and put the hoards of money above other people.” Raven wagged her finger at Eira, like a mother gently scolding a child.

Lumi cooed “Awww, Ray-ray! Is there something we can do in return?” Eira’s wings twitched in a very clear signal to Lumi ‘Don’t’. The younger sprite ignored this.

The human waved her hand in a dismissive manner, “Nah, nothing you can do that I want. I’m just glad the both of you are here with me. Seriously you guys, you have no idea how much you two being here is helping me get through this.”

The two sprites gave each other a Look.

It was never good to be in debt to a human, particularly one you liked. Eira leaned back on the couch, saving and closing her document so she could focus entirely on weaving a Deal into the conversation.

“Well,” she began. “Why don’t you tell us what happened over at your dad’s? You know, let off a bit of steam?”

The lone human looked unsure. “I don’t know, I mean he is my dad, it would be rude to gossip behind his back about stuff.”

Lumi picked up the conversation, “It’s not gossip, you’re just venting. Totally normal and healthy to do.” She smirked, “and it’s not like anything will come of it, so what’s the harm?”

Raven thought this over, and gave out a heavy sigh. “You’re right, I’ve been letting myself bottle this crap up because he’s my dad.”

The winter fey leaned into their human companion to encourage her.

“I just- He keeps trying to set me up with the kids of snobby rich folk, and I’m sick of it! He knows that I’m a lesbian, and every time I visit him there’s some old guy who’s the president of whatever big stupid corporation he’s found, and the old dude’s kid that my dad is very obviously trying to set me up with. I hate it!”

Lumi made a noise in sympathy and pat Raven’s shoulder. Raven smiled at her in appreciation before continuing.

“Today it was some kid named Derek Von-Something-or-other. He was a huge tool the entire time, and apparently my dad thought he was perfect, because he and Derek’s dad were going over wedding plans and dowry’s like I was something to be auctioned off!” Raven took a breath, becoming more frantic and trying to calm herself. “And the whole time Derek had this creepy look on his face like he couldn’t wait to start murdering me or something. I’m just so sick of my dad doing this shit, and I want it to stop!” Raven finished her tirade, holding her head in her hands, and leaning forward off the edge of the couch.

Eira gently followed up with “Do you know what the corporation was?”

Raven nodded. “it was like, ‘Von-something incorporated’. I think they own a lot of furniture companies or something.” Eira typed away into her search bar.

“Also, who the fuck names their kid ‘Derek’?” Lumi joked to lighten the mood. It got a small giggle out of Raven.

“Ah! I found it, Von Claude Inc. Owned by Julius von Claude III, and -lemme just bring up the about page- has two sons, Julius Von Claude IV, and Derek Von Claude. Doesn’t say anything about a wife, but has a picture of her, yikes.”

Lumi, ever the helpful one, pulled Raven to her feet and brought her to the small kitchen and opened the freezer. “C’mon Ray-ray, ice-cream makes everything better. You want a drumstick, or Ben&Jerry’s?”

Raven laughed, “Drumstick, Ben is my dad’s name and I don’t want to think about him right now.”

“Oh?” Lumi responded as she handed over the requested treat. “I didn’t know that.”

“Yeah, Benjamin Locke. I thought you knew that.”

“I did not, but anyway, lets just take the rest of the day to just keep cool, and relax.”

Eira flicked her wings again to say ‘I’m finished’ and Lumi tossed her a drumstick ice-cream.

The two winter fey relaxed for now, satisfied that they could repay the kindness that had been given to them with the information they had. They would finalize the Deal tomorrow, but for now, it was way too hot to do anything but sit here, in this rinky-dink apartment in Texas, and eat ice-cream while simply enjoying each others’ company.

Lumi whined as the temperature rose another five degrees a half hour later. “Ugh, I Hate Texas, this place is the Worst!” there was a short pause for her companions to laugh, and then "Oh my GOD, are those stupid bugs even Louder!?"