No! He didn't want to be her familiar! Hylltywyll is a free Fairy! He wouldn't serve anyone, especially not this crazy woman who was messing with his mind! He had no idea who this Mother Moon was, but she wasn't his mom and neither was Cirice. He didn't want to stay with her forever no matter how lonely she was.

Hylltywyll looked at Ulrich and the talking, floating dagger as they spoke and realized what the guy and his dagger were saying and what they were trying to do. The Fairy stopped squirming, pretending to be docile again. Maybe if she didn't realize he was thinking clearly again, she wouldn't cast the spell again. And if she was convinced by this guy's dagger to put him down then he'd have a chance to escape.

He didn't question how a dagger was talking right now. If it was helping him escape, he didn't care.

“Oh well um Iryla and I parted ways a little while ago. She had things she needed to attend to and I had some as well. You know how it is…” Cirice trails off, theres obviously a story there but not one she’s wanting to tell. “Oh yay the food.”

She looks lovingly down at the small fuzzy creature in her lap, “I suppose you’re right. I can’t do everything for him. As much as I’d like to. Come on little guy, eat your fill Hylly!” She lifts him up gently and sits him on the table with a quick kiss on the forehead. She’s glad he’s stopped drooling and hums happily at him, watching to make sure he eats before she digs in herself.

“Where are you guys headed after this?”

Ulrich picks up on her probably not wanting to talk about her business. Which is understandable; everyone had their secrets that they would rather keep. He simply looked up and nodded knowingly while still digging into the food in front of him.

The two watch as she agrees with Alvis' suggestion. They couldn't make it too obvious that they were carefully watching her movements as she set Hyl down on the table. Ulrich went back to enjoying his food while Alvis divided his attentions between them.

Seeing as Ulrich's face was stuffed at the moment; Alvis answered for the both of them.

"Honestly, we're not too sure. We were just going wherever the wind would take us, and that's how we ended up here in the first place."

Ulrich nods his head up and down in agreement.

"Who knows where we'll end up next after this. You know how it goes living the life of a traveler."

You couldn't see Alvis smiling physically, but you could sure hear it in his voice. He was trying to keep her attention on them as much as possible; as to give their friend here the chance to escape.

“Where the wind takes you?” She asks between bites, “Mother Moon leads me where I need to go. And sometimes people reach out and ask for help with things. Sometimes I run out of money and take jobs because I can’t survive otherwise. Luckily a healer is usually in need pretty much anywhere. There will always be people who need help, that’s why we do what we do!”

“I think after this I’ll go to Moonglade perhaps, or maybe Frost Gale… I haven’t really decided. I’ll wait until I sleep and see if Mother Moon leads me anywhere. Hylly and I can then get on the road in the morning!”

She hums gleefully, completely unaware of the scheme her friends are pulling.

Hylltywyll sat on the table and ate the food obediently, waiting for the perfect opportunity to scurry away. With the man and dagger distracting her, it should only be a matter of time. Hopefully not too long though. They wanted greatly to tear off the stupid bow tie she'd dressed them up in, but that would definitely have been too suspicious. They'd have to just bear it until they got away. The cloak was kind of nice though...

Due to his great feeling of guilt, Ulrich closed his eyes for a second as she mentioned her and Hyl traveling together in the morning. He and Alvis were actively distracting her to give Hyl the chance to flee, and this bothered his conscience greatly.

"Ah, Moonglade or perhaps Frost Glade, eh?" Ulrich placed a hand on his chin as he remembered his travels through both regions. "Perhaps I'll return to King's Valley and visit the family."

Alvis motions over to Ulrich in a way reminiscent to someone using their elbow to bump someone's arm. In this case; the Dagger's cross guard repeatedly bumped into Ulrich's arm.

"Ohoho, will a certain someone be joining along with you on that trip?" He asks teasingly.

"Well, if she would like to. I won't stop her from tagging along." Ulrich offers a shrug to the Talking Dagger.

It would seem that Ulrich and Alvis had gotten a bit distracted by their own distraction. This should give them the proper energy to pull Cirice's attentions more into the conversation. Once that happened— hopefully it would— Hylltywyll would be presented the perfect opportunity to flee.

“Oh? Who are you talking about? A girlfriend maybe?” Cirice asks with interest, “I think I’ll be heading to Frost Glade next, I haven’t been there yet and I look forward to seeing snow for the first time. I’m told it's quite beautiful!”

Her attention is fully absorbed into the conversation and her food, happy for the company and to hear more about what her friends have going on. She has completely missed the shift in Hyl’s demeanor and the fact he’s now only faking being under her spell. He’s still behaving so why would she think to recast the enchantment. Things are going nicely. Its a lovely meal with people she cares about, what more could she want?

With Cirice fully absorbed into the conversation, now was the perfect opportunity that Hylltywyll had been looking for to escape! In one quick motion, he picked up a banana cream pie and swung around to throw the whole thing directly into Cirice's face before immediately scurrying away. He hopped off the table and ran on all fours to the shadows of the nearest table to hide with his shadowy magic. His presence was completely masked as he tore off the bowtie around his neck and tossed it at Cirice's feet.

Success! He had gotten away safely and gotten a little sweet revenge as he did so!

"Ah, a girlfriend?! Ulrich, is she your girlfriend? I wonder."

Ulrich's shoot from Alvis to Cirice quickly, and he lets out a nervous chuckle.

"Uuuhhh, no. No, she's not my girlfriend. She's actually someone I taught how to harness the power of the Sky Domain." He clears his throat. "And we've been traveling together for quite some time. So I wouldn't be surprised if she decided to tag along... I-if she wanted to, of course."

Smooth, real smooth. He honestly sounded like he was trying to dodge the question.

He follows it immediately with poking more of his food with his fork, proceeding to stuff it into his mouth.

Then it happens. The little creature that they'd been trying to help escape from Cirice took the chance to swing a pie right in her face! He then scurried off into the shadows as quickly as he could!

They both sat still in shock and surprise. Ulrich's mouth sat agape and the food that he had just stuffed into his mouth fell back out onto the plate. He blinked several times in quick succession from the surprise of what Hylltywyll had just done. If Alvis could sweat, he'd be doing just that right about now, but he physically can't.

"O-oh good gods above... Cirice, are you alright there?"

Cirice blinks in confusion and surprise. She’s… Sticky. Sticky and covered in fluffy white cream that smells of bananas. What… Just happened? She licks her lips, getting a taste of the pie. The table is cleared of it, the tin sitting in her lap. Her lap… which is now empty of her fuzzy companion! She stands up quickly in concern.

“Hylly??” She calls out in fear, “Hylly where are you?? Ulrich, Alvis, he’s gone! Help me find him!” She wipes her face with a gloved hand, getting a bit of the cream off and throws the soiled glove on the table. Freed from their hiding, the demonic runes on her arm flare to life, light collecting in her palm as she starts looking around for Hyl, banishing the shadows with the light¹.

“He couldn’t have gotten very far! His bowtie!!” She finds it by her feet, “Hylly? Come back!”

---

1 Light

With the sudden flash of bright light, Hylltywyll covered his eyes and backed farther under the table, farther into the shadow. He hadn't expected her to do that and you know, he really probably should have. She's pulled out spells he hadn't expected before, namely the ones that hypnotized him and then wiped his memory of the hypnosis. He really hadn't seen those coming from someone who seemed so annoyingly innocent but he wasn't the only one that knew where that had brought him.

For a short moment, the shadow beneath the table refused to move despite the brightness coming from the light in Cirice's palm. Hylltywyll remained hidden within it, but who knew if anyone would notice the shadow beneath the table behaving a bit strangely. It was at least less obvious than if he was suddenly completely exposed.

He began to make his way farther from the crazy lady. He scurried beneath tables, from shadow to shadow, trying to remain exposed for as little time as possible.  He moved toward the closest exit, an open window.

---

Overbearing Shadow
Pass Without a Trace

Alvis shot up from the table quickly floating over to Cirice to try and "help" her look for Hylltywyll.

"I think he might've gone that way, Darling!" Alvis points her in direction leading away from Hyl.

Ulrich took a bit longer to spring up from his seat as he had to wipe his mouth. He didn't want to be running around in here with his face all dirty! Even if he'd just committed an act of betrayal on Cirice... Oh, the poor thing! The guilt was eating at him, but he had to make sure Hyl made a clean get away!

As Alvis directed her attention elsewhere, Ulrich spots Hyl scurrying underneath a table close to an open window. He shoots a worried expression in Hyl's direction; accompanied with frantic gestures with his hand. He mouths the words, "Get out of here already," and quickly starts to act like he's searching for the him underneath the tables nearest to him.

Way to go, Ulrich! We had to help him get away from Cirice! Ugh, how was I supposed to know he was going to throw a pie into her face like that?!

He quietly smacks his palm against his forehead; internally berating himself for what just transpired moments ago.

“A-Alvis we have to find him! Wh-what if he gets hurt!” Cirice wails, breaking into tears and covering her face with her arm, squishing leftover pie into her hair. “U-Ulrich d-did you f-find him?”

She’s distraught, and sinks to the floor, turning towards the door and letting out a sad wail. “H-he can’t ha-have gotten far, could he? N-not on those little legs… Right?” She’s blubbering now, sinking to the floor in a heap of skirts and tears, “Th-the door! Th-the windows, m-make sure he doesn’t get out!”

She’s not really in a state to stop him now, even if she did find him. She’s pathetic and pitiful. Unable to keep the things and people she cares about safe and protected. Not even someone she can hold in her arms was safe and happy in her care.

Hylltywyll climbed up onto the window frame and into the sun streaming in, fully visible for a moment. He took one last glance at Cirice from over his shoulder. She was crying and blubbering about him from the floor. Pathetic and sad. He'd almost have felt a tinge of guilt if the memory of her magical mental manipulation on him wasn't so painfully fresh. There was no way he'd feel bad for escaping from that, even if she cried over it forever. He refused to be some pet.

The little Fairy jumped out of the window and scurried away to freedom, not caring about Cirice's feelings. His stomach hurt from all of the sweets he'd had to eat both while hypnotized and while pretending to be. Even if he'd wanted to be her pet, damn was she a lousy owner. He'd probably have been a balloon or dead within a month, and no doubt a drooling husk of himself under her spell. He shivered just thinking about it. No, it was just lucky he'd managed to escape with some guy's help. Maybe he'd thank that guy some time in the future. He just hoped he'd never see that crazy lady ever again!

He also never wanted to eat another brownie as long as he lived.

Alvis continues to float next to Cirice attempting to comfort her as she wails on the floor.

Ulrich watched with a remorseful expression as Hyl paused for a second in the window to spare one last look at Cirice. His eyes flew to Cirice then back to the window, but the little Fairy had disappeared. He'd made his way off into the beaming rays of freedom.

Ulrich and Alvis exchange glances; giving subtle nods to each other. Ulrich makes his way towards his friend crying her eyes out on the floor. The guilt of what they had just done was like a knife piercing his heart. His chest felt heavy from the feeling of it all, and it only grew heavier with every step closer to Cirice.

He kneels down next to her, "I'm sorry, Cirice. I think Hyl's gone now; I couldn't find him anywhere."

He offers his hand to her; hopefully she would take it. If she'd realized what the two of them had done, and she'd chosen not to take it, he would understand.