The little birdhouses differ in both size and color, hanging close together at random height intervals. Morpheus hands me a paper bag with seeds inside.
I raise an eyebrow. "Seeds? You're feeding your slaves birdseed?"
"No, and this is the easiest form of sustenance for them, considering you don't need a hammer to catch it." Morpheus smiles wryly at me and fills one of the smaller sprite-houses with the tiny pellets.
"And they're paid," he adds after a moment's thought.
I mimic him, opening a larger one decorated with neon purple swirls against a bright blue background and filling it. The seeds don't seem to be entirely normal. One of them hisses at me as I drop it in, and another turns the exact color of my skin, so camouflaged I don't notice until it drops into the glass container.
"Did Jeb paint these?" I smirk.
Morpheus frowns. "As a matter of fact, the sprites did. Speaking of which-"
Now finished with three sprite-houses, he lets out a whistle.
Gossamer flies into view with the entire sprite horde in less than five seconds. One tiny green girl licks her lips. From this angle, it's impossible to tell if she's looking at the sprite-houses or Morpheus.
Frankly, it unnerves me.
Gossamer clears her throat, looking sideways at me.
"Rabid White is here to see you, Master."
Morpheus nods slightly. "Let him wait. He'll be fine with the tea."
Gossamer lands on his outstretched finger, and he smiles at her. Envy pools in my stomach from the way his gaze falls across her- the same way Jeb looks at me when he's painting, as if he's taking her apart and putting her back together with his eyes.
The sprites flit to different houses and sit with their feet dangling, biting into seeds as though they were pastries. The tiny girl from before gets the hissing one, and she hisses right back at it happily.
Suddenly, a crash echoes throughout the room.
"Bloody hell!" Morpheus shouts. Gossamer jumps off of his finger. "That'll be the tea set. I'm leaving you in charge, luv."
I blink as he strides quickly out of the room, most likely to reprimand Rabid for his latest mishap.
A tap on my shoulder catches my attention.
"Lady Alyssa."
Gossamer pouts at me and crosses her arms. A few other sprites follow suit behind her. I'm suddenly reminded of Taelor and her groupies.
"...Yes?" Suddenly I'm afraid of the thumb sized girl staring back at me, even though I could probably flick her away with my pinky.
She does her best to look dignified, fraction of my size that she is.
"We need to talk."
"It's about Master Morpheus."
~~~
A/N: Dun dun DUN!
Gossamer be jeeeeeeelly...
Also, the prompt was 'feeding the faeries', not sure what this is... *sweatdrop* hopefully Sydney will forgive me~
