#the fairy council thinks it means timmy was always meant to be a fairy

[cubbihue]

Wait, hang on. So is the reason why Timmy is a Pixie right now is because he's not a full fledged fairy yet? How long does it take before he makes that transition?

Nobody's quite sure!! It's been so long since the last taken child, so long since the last successful taken child, that not even the Fairy Council is sure when Timmy can become a fairy. They can't put a specific number on it.

He's a full fledged Pixie though. So, that's something! They suspect he can become a Fairy once his body can handle the same level of magic that a Fairy has.

Or at least until Timmy's completely shed of everything that made him Human. For now, though, he's feeling magic growth pains, and he has two teen gremlins raiding his kitchen.

Bitties Series: [Start] > [Previous] > [Next]

[fountainpenguin]

WORLDBUILDING NOTES FOR FRAYED KNOTS +

No fanfic update this week, but I have a worldbuilding dump of some notes instead. It starts out with a simple ref sheet of color meanings we’ve previously discussed (Magic and zodiac bonds), but mostly discusses Anti-Fairy culture. These notes mostly apply to Frayed Knots stuff and should come up in the story bit by bit, but story flow takes priority over info-dumping, so this is here if you want to know how things work sooner rather than later.

Slight spoilers I guess, but nothing that’s going to affect your read. It’s just stuff like, “This is what daily life in the executive building is like”, “This is why Anti-Fairies respect the land”. And like I said, the color cheat sheet was included.

I’ll probably throw a link to this post in every time I do a Knots chapter update, because none of you can stop me. Who knows? Maybe you’re one of those people and you want to like, open it in another tab for reference. It’s possible.

I just like reminding you guys that my fanfics are needlessly complicated because I like micromanaging everything. You don’t need, nor would I expect you to, memorize everything, so it’s nice to have a ref sheet around at times.

GENERAL THINGS TO REFERENCE

THE CLOUDLANDS

Legal names of Fairy World / Anti-Fairy World / Pixie World and name meanings

Cloudland maps (Time zones included) 

Cloudland flora and fauna

FAIRYKIND BIOLOGY

Fairy social ladder / caste system / subspecies list: Part 1 | Part 2

How Fairykind aging works in my fanfics 

Vague magical races phylogenetic tree

Physiology post

> Anti-Fairies and their pouches 

Fairykind and diseases 

Magic pools

CULTURE

Culture and politics overview post

> Another Fairykind culture post (This one includes the Refracted)

Fairy ethnicities / cultures / architecture post

The Fairy zodiac

> That way more detailed post about the zodiac spirits

> Sunnie’s reference (Other nature spirits possibly to come)

School and cohorts

That post about Anti-Bryndin

The camarilla court / Names and zodiacs

OTHER

My Origin of the Pixies / Frayed Knots parallel timeline

My FOP fanmade terms glossary

My FOP story bible / dump doc

Detailed explanation of how wands work

That page on my blog with links to character ref sheets

Lohai’s reference | Norm’s family tree (Note: I know them all, A.C. doesn’t)

The “Bat cube and associates” tag if you want to see all my Anti-Fairy stuff

Headcanon masterpost list if there’s something else you’re looking for

Meanings of the magical colors / moods in more detail

FAIRY ZODIAC:

SEASONS:

SPRING: March 15th - June 19th

SUMMER: June 20th - September 14th

AUTUMN: September 15th - December 19th

WINTER: December 20th - March 14th

Map

Faeheim - Above California; Inkblot - Above Kansas; Luna’s Landing - It was above Spain on the last map but now it’s above England because I messed up while doing this and I’m too lazy to fix it right now. It’s somewhere.

Luna’s Landing is 7 hours ahead of Pixie World and 8 hours ahead of Faeheim. The Divide Gate is located in Greece, on Mount Olympus, and appears on Planes 1-12. The Barrier does not exist from Planes 13+

Fairies who fall out of the cloudlands and into the ocean will drown, unless they can save themselves with magic. Most subspecies struggle to fly with wet wings. Falling out of the cloudlands and hitting solid ground is risky too.

The Refracted refuse to nominate anyone to the position of Robes. The actual robes exist, but the positions are currently empty, as the Refracts don’t believe in placing some people so high above the rest.

The table is always set for them in the Council meeting room, and the meetings always start ten minutes late to give them time to show up; the Council treats them as though they could show up at any time, even though they never do.

MOSTLY THE CLOUDLANDS LOOK LIKE THIS:

Lots of different clouds slightly above and below. Not a great environment for animals, so you don’t see deer wandering around. Some clouds are larger than others. That’s where people build cities. Plane 7 has lots of flat, connected land and is a better environment for wildlife, especially unicorns and such. 

Plane 11 has very few clouds, and they’re super spaced out like distant islands. It’s a dangerous place to fly, especially since Plane 10 is right below it and full of lava and sharp rocks. You would want to traverse Plane 11 in a cloudship.

Skyship - A flying merchant or passenger ship meant to travel outward from Fairy World to other planets. Designed for travel only between Planes 2 and 6 and not intended to travel higher than that. This travel through the universe is called starsailing. We saw docked skyships in “Love Struck Out”. 

Cloudship - Technically a type of skyship. These ships travel from lower Planes to higher ones by sailing back and forth until they find the different Bridges. They are not designed to travel to other planets. Usually a simpler design than the merchant skyships, built for strength to muscle through various harsh environments instead of speed and tourist pleasure. It’s difficult and expensive to travel to the higher planes from lower ones, whereas traveling via Bridge is free, and you get to see the sights. Also it’s just safer that way, usually.

The Bridges have existed for a long time and are hard to create. They sprang up before cloudships did, and the cloudships go and find them. Let’s go with that. Don’t question why they aren’t all in one general location to allow quicker travel. We’re lampshading that plot hole because that would be lame storytelling.

PLANES OF EXISTENCE:

The Planes of Existence are complicated. There’s a general sense that the universe still exists beyond the cloudlands, and that the Planes of Existence stretch on forever. Only certain creatures - namely the Fairykind, as well as their godkids - have the ability to scale the planes. I think they don’t like spreading around word of different Planes to alien races who may want to take over. The Planes stretch on “forever”, but all the Bridges to get higher are located only in the cloudlands. You don’t have to cross the entire universe to reach other Bridges, just the general cloudland area.

You can descend the planes by falling from clouds on higher planes. You have to ascend the planes either using a Bridge, or a wand with a chip that lets you skip them. Fairies and Anti-Fairies live in the Deep Kingdom, divided by the Barrier. The Refracted live in the High Kingdom.

1) Abracatraz, stars, and black holes, 2) Planets (Most famously Earth) 3) Lowlands - Pixie World, Novakiin, Lau Rell, Patio World, Mistleville... Sometimes rains acid from GBA World 4) Barrenglades - Giant Bucket of Acid World, Cherish Jungle, Anti-Pixie Isle 5) Fairy World Proper - Faeheim, Serentip, Amity Headquarters... Lots of "main" Fairy World locations. 6) Fairy World Outskirts - Burger World, Ivory Wand and Comet Blood 7) Wanderplains - Animals and fields; also known as Dairy World 8) Anti-Fairy World Proper - Blue Castle, forests, and small towns; the Eros Nest is on this plane too, on the Fairy World side 9) Anti-Fairy World Outskirts - Very occasional small towns, mostly just a wilderness for roaming colonies; always red / gold like autumn 10) Harsh, fiery world. Lots of rocky cliff areas, tons of lava; famous and popular crystal caves; interesting plants (especially medical herbs) 11) Very open landscape. Few clouds; lots of empty sky; those who travel the planes usually dock cloudships here for easy take-off 12) Hush World - Wilderness; sense of unease / reverence; emormous monuments to ancient races carved into mountains; purple sky

There's some kind of barrier separating the Deep and High Kingdoms. There's a joke to be made about scaling a beanstalk to get higher.

13) Very bright and oddly sunny, grassy world. Now entering the High Kingdom; no Barrier. Hunter / gatherers, not farmers here 14) Dry desert world. Not a lot of water here, lots of sand 15) Crazy windy world. Erosion is intense; few buildings; maybe some windmills 16) Scary World - Basically the Negaverse; Nega-Timmy was born here. Don't ask for specifics because I don't know. 17) Hairy World - Bizarre jungle that's very orange and furry. Flora and fauna are huge. Lots of enormous predators. 18) Complete darkness, landscape difficult to determine, seems mostly rocky. Occasionally lit by geysers and things. 19) Avalon - Most Refracts (especially the Dame Head and pixie refracts) live on this plane. Others live below, not above. Good farmland. 20) Misty swamp world. It's misty and swampy. Fairly dark and spooky. 21) Ice and water world. Planes below this one sometimes get rained or snowed on due to leaks. Plants get watered. 22) Rest stop! More or less. Ships that gather Kiiloëi's water make camp here. A cold, lonely, creepy place. 23) Tír Na NÓg - Alleged ancient home of the Tuatha long ago, current home of the nature spirits; world of cliffs and chasms; "Fairy heaven" 24) The Kolobian Plane - Kiiloëi (the sacred rosewater fountain)

BRIDGES TO PLANE 2 (EARTH)

Rainbow Bridge (Plane 5) - Main Fairy World Bridge - Faeheim, Central Star to Dimmsdale, California (USA)

Pastel Bridge (Plane 7) - Secondary Fairy World Bridge - Hiero Town, Lower West to Cairo, Egypt

Night Bridge (Plane 6) - Main Anti-Fairy World Bridge - Shadeblink, Far West to Tasmania -  Destroyed pre-Origin of the Pixies

Shadow Bridge (Plane 4) - Secondary Anti-Fairy World Bridge - Crowfeld, High South to Ireland - Destroyed pre-Origin of the Pixies

Bit Bridge (Plane 3) - Pixie World Bridge - Inkblot City, Central Star to Mushroom Rock, Kansas (USA)

Dot Bridge (Plane 4) - Anti-Pixie World Bridge - “Connects” Anti-Pixie Isle, Lower West, to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; never finished

FIVE FAIRY WARS:

The Sealing War - This is the war that was taking place during the “That Was Then” Prompt. It went on for eons, supposedly, and resulted in the fall of the Tuatha Dé Danann and the deaths of many Aos Sí. The nature spirits were sealed in their Temples during this war. Daoists believe the Tuatha and a race of people called the Molpa-Pel (mole people) were sealed inside the Earth at the end of this war, and that after the Tuatha died, their magic nourished the planet and caused plants to grow. The Zodii just believe the Tuatha were killed off. Nature spirits shaped the Earth.

The Sacred Revolution - Occurred shortly after the Sealing War. Was mostly the Fairies making a big stink to the rest of the universe that they exist and should be treated as big kids in the universe. There wasn’t much fighting actually going on. More of a cold war than anything else. It was a big deal to the Fairies though, so it’s considered one of the Fairy Wars.

The Struggle With the Darkness - “Wishology” stuff. Ancient Fairies chased the Darkness off. I’m still unclear about the rate at which Turbo Thunder ages.

The [War of the] Sunset Divide - A war that started before H.P. was born and finished thirty years after. His dad fought in this war. It was after this war that the Barrier went up, dividing Fairy World from Anti-Fairy World. Before then, Fairies and Anti-Fairies could travel between the two. My original plan was that all sky in the cloudlands used to be blue and this was the war that split Fairy World from Anti-Fairy World and gave Anti-Fairy World a red sky, but I’m uneasy about it now. Maybe it’s just metaphorical.

War of the Angels - The war between Fairies and Anti-Fairies over human godchildren (called angels back then). This war was mentioned in the Season 7 episode “Balance of Flour” and gave us the annual Bake-Off. We’ll see this war in both Origin and Knots.

The 1st and 2nd Creature Wars exist too, as we learned in the “Opportunity” Prompt. Not much is known about those now except that the 2nd one is the one that drove the Beasts underground. Neither will be important in Knots.

DAOISM VS. ZODIISM

Daoism - H.P. and most pixies consider themselves part of this religion, as do most Refracts. Daoists believe in the literal splitting apart of the Aos Sí into Fairies, Anti-Fairies, and the Refracted. They believe that what has come apart will come together again after death, and that three counterparts will become a single creature in the afterlife: Daoine Síth. 

There is a book of scripture (known only as King Nuada’s scripture at this time) and it’s custom to avoid using magic on Thursday, the holy day of the week. There are no deities of creation that are worshiped or prayed to. It’s a religion of reflection and self-actualization. The belief is that you should strive to become the best that you can, and help others become the best that they can. However, some Daoists do pray, just to the general universe. They kneel down and place their right hand in front of their forehead, thumb curled in so it touches the palm. The same sign (minus the kneeling) means “I come in peace” in Fairy culture.

Daoists tend to freak out around fairy dogs, who are said to carry souls to the afterlife. Actually, they are said to SWAP souls, switching bodies with those they catch sinning. Daoists believe fairy dogs can die, and that if you die while in the body of a fairy dog, you don’t go to heaven. You just cease to exist. Certain sins will likewise cause you to “die a dustless death” and lose your right to heaven.

H.P. actually doesn’t follow most of the Daoist teachings. He just believes in life after death. He was raised Daoist, so he just shrugged and went along with it. During the time he was growing up, there wasn’t separation of church and state. Daoism was taught in history class at school. Thus, it’s basic fact for him. He considers Zodiism a waste of resources (Temples, murals, monuments, time, etc.) and sees it as a philosophy that teaches you can do whatever you want without consequences, even if you’re hurting people.

Zodiism - Anti-Cosmo and many Anti-Fairies follow the teachings of this philosophy. There are no “holy” texts, as Zodiism is a philosophy, not technically a religion. However, there are myths about the nature spirits. Zodiism is basically, “Astrology meets Greek gods”. The Zodii believe that Tarrow, the cosmic jellyfish and deity of fate and destiny, selects a path and soulmate(s) for everyone. You can choose to reject his plans, but you won’t have his influence in your life anymore, and things will probably go very wrong very soon. The Zodii also believe in reincarnation after death, and that you’ll either return as one of your descendants or as some aspect of nature, such as a tree or stream.

While there are hundreds of nature spirits, the main seven control the elements and are therefore placed on the Fairy zodiac. The days of the week are named after them. It’s said that their power is strongest on their day of the week, not to mention their year in the seven-year cycle. Similarly, the Zodii believe that the day of the week and year of the zodiac cycle affects the flow of luck that influences you. They tend to be very superstitious people, and will postpone events until the right moment- for example, marrying in a Love year.

Then there are bonds. The Zodii believe in fate, and that the year of your birth has a major impact on your personality. As such, they believe in automatic compatibility between certain signs on the zodiac, and automatic incompatibility between others. It’s not unusual for a Zodii to refuse to even have so much as a one-night stand with someone of an “incompatible” zodiac.

Anti-Cosmo considers Daoism sacrilege. As far as he’s concerned, the nature spirits are very real. They interact with mortals who are willing to accept and believe in them. When they’re bored or angry, they cause mayhem in the forms of floods, quakes, tornadoes, volcanoes, blizzards, and so on. When they’re pleased, everyone is blessed. There is documented proof of the nature spirits. Less so for the Daoine. Anti-Cosmo doesn’t believe in becoming Daoine after death like H.P. does.

Other belief systems exist in the cloudlands. These are just the only ones that are going to come up in my works.

ANTI-FAIRY BASICS

What is Hy-Brasil?

All of Anti-Fairy World. It encompasses nothing else. It literally just means Anti-Fairy World.

The Zodii (usually Anti-Fairies) believe Hy-Brasil to be the name of the land spirit (Note: The land consists of clouds and stuff; land does not mean only Earth or dirt). Hy-Brasil is considered to be a spirit bear and one of the Wise Ancients, but in a sort of dormant state most of the time.

Non-Zodii believe their ancestors manually created the cloudlands.

What is the Hy-Brasil landscape like?

Rule of thumb: Lots of crags, crevices, lava pools, acid pools... Not the kind of place you want to build a stable home. Rarely is the land flat, so you’d have to do some massive work. There are also rivers and forests (usually with leaves black, red, or orange... but not green). 

Near the border with Fairy World, it’s warm enough that the rivers remain in liquid form. The farther away you go, the colder it gets. The rivers and lakes freeze (though acid and lava pools don’t). Sunnie, the Water spirit, is highly associated with cold and ice for this reason. Ice is a form of water, after all.

Most Anti-Fairies deeply value the land and don’t want to damage it and offend Hy-Brasil. Their buildings are usually made of materials taken from Earth instead (or from the Fairy World spirit, Tír Ildáthach, when they really want to be spiteful). The Blue Castle was allegedly a gift from the spirits, so it’s ritzier.

The cloudlands are a cold realm as a whole. Anti-Fairy World even more so than Fairy World. Changes of the seasons are limited. I imagine that leaves still fall off trees at certain times of the year, but you won’t lose crops to frost. Apart from a few rare exceptions, it doesn’t rain or snow in the cloudlands.

Why aren’t the Regions named after their colors / Why don’t the Temples match up to the Region colors?

Because I didn’t think this through and I have regrets Because the Regions were named generations before the position of Council Robes were created. The first members of the Council each took a Robe, and that color became associated with their Region.

It would also be very offensive to the Zodii if all seven zodiac colors were on well-dressed authorities gathered in one place, and yet the people wearing them hadn’t been born in the zodiac year whose color they were wearing. 

Thus, the colors don’t match up with the Temples because if they did, the Zodii would make a stink about it. Council Robes are elected, but if the Robes were all the zodiac colors, the Zodii would insist they represent nature spirits instead of regions and it would be a political nightmare.

Where is the Anti-Fairy capital city?

Luna’s Landing is on Plane 8. It is located in the Blue time zone, which puts it 7 hours ahead of Pixie World, and 8 hours ahead of Fairy World’s capital city, Faeheim.

The Blue Castle and Grand Archives building are both counted as part of this city, though the Blue Castle is removed from the main city bustle by a path and drawbridge.

Luna’s Landing can legally be called a city due to the presence of the Love Temple.

What is the Blue Castle and who lives there?

The Blue Castle is the executive building, and it’s like the White House. This is where the High Count, High Countess, the camarilla court, and their families live day to day. And the housekeeping and cooking staff too. 

In Anti-Fairy World, which is usually lacking in stable jobs, the Castle gets lots of eager applicants for housekeeping. The camarilla conduct job interviews as necessary, and the High Count and Countess both stamp the paperwork (usually without looking at it). That sort of paperwork rarely passes through Pixie hands, since it’s pretty quick and easy, and it’s best not to release that information to potential enemies.

In Knots, the staff are referred to as servants because that’s the time period, but rest assured that the position is paid and they can resign if they want to. They pride themselves on working quickly and being unnoticed. But of course, Foop gets his fun out of catching them in the act. As we saw in “Step Back”, he likes wandering around via the housekeeping tunnels. Anti-Cosmo, being both oblivious and the opposite of subtle, never uses them and usually forgets they exist. Even as a kid, he’d rather hang with the camarilla than the servants.

The High Count and High Countess have conjoining offices with a door that shuts between them. They do their political work there. Paperwork and evil plans and stuff. Anti-Cosmo tries to keep things orderly, but he never does- he’s just a cluttered person by nature, since he follows so many trains of thought at once. Anti-Wanda, unsurprisingly, doesn’t do much better.

What is the Grand Archives Building?

The Grand Archives building is the Anti-Fairy parallel of both the U.S. Capitol and the National Archives. And probably other buildings in other countries, but I’m an American, so I know these ones.

This is where census records and other important documents get stored. The lower two floors are a grand public library. The third and fourth floors are where the archives are, which is special access only. On the fourth floor is the open-roofed building where the Anti-Fairy Council meet and do legislative / judicial things; that’s where we see them in the show.

What is Anti-Fairy clothing like?

Much fancier than Fairy clothing. Fairies tend to use color to show off. Style is less important (They like things they can move around in easily, and the general style is loose clothing so nymphs can easily crawl into their parents’ pouches).

Anti-Fairies use style to show off. They have fancy coats, vests, cloaks, the works. As a culture, they favor dark colors for camouflage, making hunting and stalking easier. Additionally, the Fairy zodiac is so heavily associated with its colors. Anti-Fairies only wear colors ceremonially, and then it’s almost always their zodiac color.

There are exceptions to this rule, as it is a tradition, not a law. However, you would likely be shunned were you to wear bright colors outside of certain events. The anti-pixies figured that out the hard way.

Who are the anti-pixies?

Green-furred, yellow-haired, genetically identical bundles of chaos brought to us by “Clash With the Anti-World”. I’m just going to assume that if you’ve been following my works enough to want to read this post, you already know them.

What is Anti-Fairy technology like?

They don’t even have printing presses. Their lighting is torches hanging on the walls, or candles in dishes. They often use scrolls instead of individual sheets of paper. Anti-Fairies also have these things called anti-gravity platters, which are basically floating platters that hold food up high so a roosting Anti-Fairy can reach them easily. The Seelie favor scrying bowls, but Anti-Fairies favor crystal balls for long-distance communication.

We know from the Musical that Cosmo owned a car before he and Wanda were married. I invented these things called cloudcars, based off the car Sanderson was driving during the “Pixie Rap” song. These cars travel through the clouds, jumping gaps between the clouds and stuff. Those aren’t really things in Anti-Fairy society. Anti-Fairies are usually faster fliers than Fairies anyway, due to their wings being tools of propulsion. And, Anti-Fairies live in colonies. They’re social creatures who like to fly together, or poof. Cars are lonely for them. Not to mention it’s often difficult for them to get comfortable thanks to their wings.

Technology changes over time. Above are the things that hold across the ages. There are other nuances. For example, at the start of both Origin and Knots, no one has running water indoors. They have wells and things. Eventually, that will be a thing. Even Anti-Fairies enjoy indoor running water, and like to shower.

As a rule of thumb, Anti-Fairy tech is simpler and often considered “backwards” compared to Seelie tech. Pixie tech is even more advanced than Fairy tech the majority of the time.

What do Anti-Fairies eat?

Depends. Technically, Anti-Fairies don’t need food to survive. However, if they don’t eat well, their health will suffer. Mostly they eat the same food Fairies eat, although Anti-Fairy meals tend to be extravagant. Not a lot of fast food in Anti-Fairy World.

Sometimes, Anti-Fairies do chase after and eat the bugs that flit about their world, for sport or as an actual food source. While it isn’t healthy to survive entirely on that diet, it’s a better alternative than going completely hungry.

As it stands in Frayed Knots right now, the Anti-Fairies hold one of the four treasures of the Tuatha Dé Danann. The Blue Castle possesses the Dagda’s bottomless cauldron. The Fairies have King Nuada’s unavoidable sword, the Refracted have Lugh’s peacemaking spear, and they all share the Lia Fáil (the coronation stone, which we saw for the first time in “Playing With the Big Kids”).

Marriage customs in the cloudlands?

Such things vary by subspecies, and are details that you don’t really need to know. The only important Seelie one is that the fairy subspecies are said to be monogamous for life, meaning that they “only give their souls away once”, and that they never remarry if their spouse separates from them or dies. It’s fairy culture to take an interest in someone young and stick with them. For example, Juandissimo “gave his soul” away to Wanda, and part of the reason why he can’t move on is because of this. The rest is just him being a clingy type by nature.

The fairies have this tradition called the Year of Promise, which involves engaging in intimacy on the first night of serious courtship, and then spending a year not touching people at all (They wear gloves and socks all the time and avoid skin-to-skin contact). At least, they’re supposed to. When the year is up, they either reinstate their commitment to one another, or agree to separate (if they haven’t already). Supposedly, this helps fairies figure out if they truly want this person to be their one true spouse. Because fairies tend not to remarry, it’s a big deal to choose right. 

This isn’t to say fairies can’t remarry. It’s just that these are their biological instincts. I wanted a custom that was similar to real-life dragonflies, who tend to take the first mate they can. That’s what I was going for with “traditionally engage in intimacy on the first night of serious courtship”. Something quick.

Wing notches are fairy culture because fairies don’t usually remarry. They’re basically permanent wedding rings, but they’re slits in the costas of your wings. The pair have matching notches, so it’s like a ring, but you can see the pair match. Speaking of notches, you may have noticed that in the cover image for Frayed Knots, Anti-Cosmo has holes in his wings. Those mimic the notches Cosmo has on his wings. I accidentally drew them when he was a pup in the preview image of “Growing Pains”, but no, Anti-Cosmo only gets these later.

Anti-Fairy society has a different view of marriage. Remember, they believe in the zodiac and in soulmates. It’s not uncommon for Anti-Fairies to be involved in arranged marriages courtesy of their parents. Most notably, the Anti-Fairies who live at the Blue Castle are considered nobles and are frequently betrothed by the age of seven. To an outsider, these matches appear random, but the Anti-Fairies view the matches made as fate.

Anti-Fairies consider a soulmate to be your best friend and closest companion. This can lead to some things that gross out the Seelie Court. Namely, Anti-Fairies being married even to their siblings. However, Anti-Fairies just consider marriage a bond between soulmates, and it’s not as weird for Anti-Fairies when you pair this with their more relaxed view of, well, engaging in intimate acts. Anti-Fairies can’t get pregnant if their counterparts aren’t, which removes some of the risk of certain intimate acts.

Basically, Anti-Fairies believe in soulmates, and acknowledge that you don’t have to have romantic feelings for your soulmate. Especially if your soulmate is your sibling. Anti-Fairy culture would rather promote going after someone you’re attracted to rather than engaging in intimacy with someone you’re not. Soulmates are supposed to support each other, and not be hurt when their partner wants to spend a night with someone else. In Anti-Fairy culture, two consenting partners coming together is completely acceptable, and one’s wife or husband is meant to respect and support their partner’s choices.

In short, you’re supposed to marry your soulmate, who is probably the person you were betrothed to when you were little. This soulmate is meant to be your best friend and support you, and you support them. Cheating isn’t considered a real thing and isn’t frowned upon; it’s just “his other family” or “her friend with benefits”. Soulmates are married, so you’re expected to raise your respective children together (For example, if your counterparts married different people and had kids with them, then there would be two different Seelie families, but the Anti-Fairy children would be raised together as one family with married parents). 

There is a certain parental duty that comes along with marriage in the hopes of preventing deadbeat parents running out on responsibility. It can still happen, but the idea is that it’s your obligation to support your soulmate (who may not be the person you had kids with). These customs are less strict farther from the Blue Castle, though; they’re traditions, not laws, and not harshly enforced. In many areas of Anti-Fairy World, Anti-Fairies scoff at marriage altogether, and instead just engage in casual relationships without any sort of commitment. Anti-Fairy culture is okay with this as long as there’s mutual consent. Consent is easy to monitor in colonies, but among the loner types, it can be more difficult. 

The important thing to remember is, consent is super valued in Anti-Fairy culture, there are just as many platonic marriages as there are casual flings, and Anti-Fairies don’t see anything wrong with what we would call cheating on your partner. They don’t really have a word for it, and have to describe the concept with general words.

Are there language barriers between the Fairies and Anti-Fairies?

The famous one is “sleep together”. Anti-Fairies often live in colonies, and hang together when they roost. “Roosting together” means roosting in the same general location. “Bundling” means hanging together so close that your bodies touch. You get lots of platonic cuddles in Anti-Fairy World. They’re meant to survive the cold, but even they get sick when it’s TOO cold. So, they snuggle for warmth a lot. Lots of casual hugs. 

And casual hand-holding, since when you have a visitor to your [large] home, it’s common decency to lead them around by the hand so they don’t have to echolocate to avoid walls as you two talk. It’s weird, but Anti-Fairies have trouble seeing at all when they can’t echolocate. Like. Their eyes are right there. If you cover their mouth and show them something, they’ll look at it like they understand it’s there. But they’ll still jump in surprise when you take your hand away and let them echolocate again. It’s like their brains absorb some information through their eyes, but they can’t process it without really sensing the shape, size, distance, etc. their echolocation gives them.

To some degree, Anti-Fairies can see you when they’re talking, but not very well. It’s weird. For storytelling purposes, Anti-Fairy narrators have enough vision to help the reader follow along. When not narrating, I sometimes tone them back. Also, windows in Anti-Fairy World are usually covered by vertical bars, not glass panes. They can’t see glass, but can see through glass, and glass windows register as walls when they echolocate. They tend to run into windows. You should assume all windows in Anti-Fairy World have bars.

Back to the language stuff, Anti-Fairies tend to be super touchy-feely. They cuddle platonically for warmth and comfort, and rely on nonverbal cues like the twitching of ears or adjusting of clothes to progress to more intimate acts. The Seelie tend to be more verbal, and are likely to interpret platonic Anti-Fairy cuddles as signs of affection. 

As I said earlier, to an Anti-Fairy, “sleeping together” literally means sleeping near each other, possibly cuddling each other in your sleep. To a Seelie, it’s of course a euphemism for mating. Anti-Fairies get confused when they hear gossip about who is sleeping with who. It’s just sleep, right? What’s the deal? Yeah, they slept with that person once. You want to know who else they slept with? They slept with this person one day, and this one after that, and the next week they slept with this one...

Also, because they sleep and mate upside-down (most of the time), Anti-Fairies don’t associate beds with mating. So if you say you went to bed with someone, you’ll get the same cautious, blank nods. Anti-Fairies have more words for platonic sleeping together than they do for mating. It’s mostly a nonverbal thing for them. I mean, they’ve got ears to twitch! Gotta use ‘em! I say nonverbal, but I suppose singing their courtship songs is technically verbal.

Actually, “singing” would be a casual Seelie word that causes Anti-Fairies to do a double take. Anti-Cosmo gets weird looks when he tells Seelie about the time he slept with the Head Pixie (when they fell into the chasm together during the War of the Angels, as we’ll see later). Sanderson gets surprised looks when he tells Anti-Fairies about the people he’s sung with. Like I said, Anti-Fairies have courtship songs. Saying you sang with someone is the equivalent of saying you slept with them in Anti-Fairy culture. There’s no look of horror like the one that crosses an Anti-Fairy’s face when you’re at a party talking about that time you sang with a human... or your mother.

The other famous language barrier is licking. In Origin of the Pixies, H.P. licks lots of people (mostly his pixies). He licks their faces as a nonverbal cue to remind them he’s dominant. His subordinates lick his neck to show they recognize and accept his dominance. This is basic biology for them and they don’t think much of it. In Anti-Fairy culture, licking the neck is one of those nonverbal cues to proceed to more intimate acts. Definite culture shock there. Wasps and bats. Whatcha gonna do?

There are also certain phrases that the other culture takes literally. Anti-Cosmo especially tends to be literal, and answer rhetorical questions, which again earns him weird looks from the Seelie. H.P. adapts to new phrases well in general. I don’t know if any of you guys noticed, but before he met Emery in Origin, he would say “Wait a wingbeat”. After hanging out with her, he picked up saying “Wait a second” instead. He also picked up “Roger that” from China, and “Dude” from Sparkle (and living in Lau Rell). He quickly picks up on new slang terms.

H.P. is better at separating literal and figurative language than Anti-Cosmo is sometimes. Anti-Cosmo is usually good, but there are certain things that throw him. Anti-Cosmo is very much a person who needs to learn things for himself. H.P. is the kind of person who subtly adapts to those around him. Writer humor.

The slang word Anti-Cosmo had to teach H.P. was “cool”. Before that, he would refer to people as “hot”, again earning him uncertain looks. Hey, he’s a busy guy and he can’t always keep up with the young whippersnappers. I just find culture differences and language barriers hilarious.

What are Anti-Fairy senses like?

Fairies and Pixies basically have 360° vision. 270° of that is visual. However, they can sense the auras of magical creatures around them and behind them, to the point that if someone were to stick their tongue at them from behind, the Seelie Courter could sense that just as well as they could if they saw it with their eyes. They can read facial expressions of those they aren’t looking at directly. In “China’s Finger Trap”, H.P. even sensed China slow her pace and put her hand over her mouth from the other side of a door. We’ll see Poof getting super uncomfortable during “Watch and Learn” due to what he can sense too.

The distance one can sense depends on one’s share of their magic pool. It can be mathematically calculated by measuring the distance between head and floating crown. Don’t ask me to invent that formula. I don’t want to know. Yet.

Anti-Fairies cannot sense auras like this. At least, not in the same way. Instead, they just get super intense hearing. We witnessed Foop’s extreme listening sense at the beginning of “Hidden”. Each magical creature registers as a different sound in the energy field. Fairies sound like tearing velcro. Pixies sound like a finger flipping through the pages of a book. In “Think Positive”, Anti-Cosmo said all genies register as gongs to him, even when they aren’t snapping their fingers to use magic. He also said anti-pixies sound like screeching brakes on a car out of control.

But, Anti-Fairy vision is much narrower than that of the Seelie Court. It’s much easier to sneak up on an Anti-Fairy than on a Fairy or Pixie. Though of course, it depends on how distracted they are, and how well they’re listening.

Can Anti-Fairies flip their eyes into field-sight like the Seelie Court?

Anti-Fairies cannot see the energy field or magic lines. You could say they have their own energy field they can see. They can see influences of luck and fate, called “karmic weaves”. We’ll learn more about that in “Fun With Yarn”.

BookwormGal and I were talking about Amanda Adams and the Fairy zodiac this one time. I joked that if I had written the confrontation scene between Timmy and Amanda vs. Anti-Cosmo and H.P. during “Never Had a Friend Like Me”, things would have gone very differently. Like, Anti-Cosmo realizing that Amanda balances the two end points of the positive and negative Leaves year traits (Bravery and Rashness) unusually well, and so he abruptly screeches to a halt to throw a huge ceremony in her honor. Just. In the middle of the revenge plan. I drew Amanda decked out in Leaves year green HERE, though I’ll have to redraw her someday since I’ve never been happy with how I did. Someday.

I wasn’t being completely serious about equilibrium, but then I ran with the idea and it got super out of hand. Specifically, if Amanda can embody Rashness in combination with Bravery, then it seems logical for H.P. to embody equilibrium for the Soil year traits (Perseverance and Obsession). You’ll see that very soon in “What Karma Is”. The Anti-Fairies drool over his karmic weave. And it’s going to keep coming up. Don’t forget. Not that you could. It’s hilarious. I’m hilarious.

Anti-Fairies can’t see the energy field like the Fairies can, but they can see karmic weaves. Or at least they can under certain conditions, such as when you cross your fingers behind your back. They know. They always know.

I’ve actually written some of that AU confrontation scene, since Bookworm gave me permission to make it a Prompt towards the end of the 130 called “You Deserve It”. Here’s a cool rough draft snippet of it, because I think it’s funny:

Timmy raised his eyebrows. “I don’t trust you.”

The Head Pixie grabbed the first three hangers from the closet. “I’m not even going to make up an excuse as to why you should. This wasn’t my idea.”

“Teleporting me away from my fairies? On Christmas? When they have no magic?”

“It wasn’t my idea,” he droned again. “Anti-Cosmo has been interested in your friend for some time now. I don’t know if you know this, but he has a long affinity with genies.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Until your fairies came along, he and Anti-Wanda were childless. He filled that void in his life by raising young genies instead. They’re an endangered species, so he bred them and they had babies. Recently it has come to his attention that your friend…?”

“Amanda Adams.”

“Ms. Adams has been in possession of a genie for a curious amount of time. The girl isn’t known to have the most attentive parents, so he thought he might surprise her with Christmas dinner and discuss her relationship with the genie in the process. Apparently, you happened to be in the room and got picked up along with her.”

Timmy wrinkled his nose. “Nope. Still don’t trust you.”

“Still wasn’t my idea.” H.P. sat on the edge of the bed with the mound of navy blue clothes in his lap. “If it makes you happier, genies do not surrender their powers as Fairies do. Thus, spending Christmas Day with a genie’s master is hardly as antagonistic as spending it with a fairy’s godchild.”

“Well, I’m a fairy’s godchild. And I think this is suspicious.”

H.P. blinked in a dull way. For him, that was probably a pretty normal blink. “Since you’re not the one Anti-Cosmo wanted to have dinner with, I would offer to return you to Dimmsdale. In fact, I would offer to go with you. The traditional Anti-Fairy foods are not exactly to my liking. Much too flavorful. However, I don’t think you would be pleased if I sent you there while Ms. Adams remained here.”

Timmy reluctantly acknowledged the truth of that statement, but didn’t pick up the offered jacket. “Are you going to be wearing colorful clothes to this dinner too? Man, you must really hate that.”

“Actually, I was born in a Soil year. I get dull brown.”

“Of course you do.”

Don’t mess with the Anti-Fairies when they find someone at equilibrium. The karmic weaves are both gorgeous and delicious. They feed on this kind of stuff.

That’s that for today. I was going to have some nature spirit stuff in this post, but they got their own giant post a few days ago instead. You’ll see this stuff in Knots, but it’s also here too. Feel free to ask questions if you have any.