Deviation Actions
Literature Text
Stede was in his kitchen when he heard a frantic knocking at the door. Curious, he thought, no one should be here for the party yet. The knocking continued, rising in tempo until the door was practically falling from its hinges as Stede rushed to the door and opened it. To his surprise a tall, strange looking creature practically fell into his front room, panting heavily and wild eyed. Stede had never seen a creature like this before, but he wasn't about to let that make him into a bad host.
"Oh you poor thing," he cooed soothingly, guiding the creature into his living room and patting her hand. He quickly offered her a seat, which she seemed to take gratefully, and he held up a hand before she could open her mouth to speak. "Now, let me get you something warm to drink. You look half frozen and you could use something to wet your throat, I'm sure. Just rest for a bit, don't worry. It's safe here." Stede bustled into the kitchen before the strange creature could argue and quickly made up a pot of tea. He chose something that was good for calming nerves, a lovely chamomile that smelled enchanting, before coming back into the living room and setting the cup down next to the creature. "Now, please, tell me what's the matter? Is there anything I can help with?"
Stede listened to the strange creature talk for quite a while. She explained that her name was Suteo, and that she was a strange to this place. He noticed the strange lantern that she clutched in her hand, and her strange appearance. He'd heard of Whicks before but never seen one in person. How strange, he thought, that she seems almost to be made of melting wax. How beautiful. He didn't even mind that it seemed her wax was dripping down to the carpet below and cooling into small puddles. He'd find a way to clean it, he was sure.
Suteo was worried. She explained to Stede her problem, how the whisps were gathering in great numbers and without lanters to contain them there may be some kind of horrible accident. He wasn't sure he believed that, whisps had never bothered him before, but in order not to seem like an ungracious host he quickly went into the next room and collected a few things that he could use to craft himself a tiny lantern to hang outside his door.
Thankfully Stede was a very crafty Cccat, so he had lots of things he could use hanging around. With Suteo's help and expert advice, he very quickly crafted a lantern with some left over wire he had from a recent project and some pieces of glass. He glued the last piece into place and then went to refill Suteo's cup with tea. She insisted she would need to leave soon, and he wanted to make sure she was properly warmed up before she went back into the cold of the coming Night.
Suteo watched him place his lantern outside his door, and he smiled at her kindly. "Thank you for telling me about the Whisps, I'll make sure to be very careful tonight." The Whick nodded, her nerves calmed by the lovely hot tea and the rest inside the warm little cottage. Before she left the Cccat ran inside with a quick little word, coming out again holding a scarf in his claws. The scarf matched her wax, in bright purples and oranges and when the cccat wrapped the scarf around her neck Suteo's eyes began to well up with grateful tears.
"There we are," Stede said gently, patting her hand. "You're welcome back any time, you know. Please don't stay away too long. I enjoyed your company."
