Otts and Ynés in the Carnival of Reason

VI. The Faux Seelie Host

Ynés rearranged the meal in front of her, so that the baguette stuffed with goat meat caldereta was framed by the paper cone of yam fries and the tankard of iced kamias tea. Then she held the enchanted scroll above the whole composition. Within seconds, a woodcut of her meal (or at least a passable facsimile of it) manifested on the parchment surface.

"You know, I've never really understood why people make woodcuts of their food," said Otts.

"Spoken like somebody who's never had to worry about going hungry," said Ynés, all matter-of-fact.

Just as Otts was struggling to come up with a clever rejoinder, he noticed a commotion from the next table. It appeared to be the fae queen Titania and her consort Oberon, accompanied by an entourage of elfin handmaidens. Otts did his best to avoid gawking but Ynés seemed nonplussed, continuing to feast on her sandwich.

"Oh, come on! Don't tell me you've never seen glamplayers before?" she asked.

Like so many other things, Otts had only read about glamplay: the hobby of using ritual glamour to take on the appearance of literary characters or folk heroes. Most glamplay involved little more than flashy illusions. But this group had obviously put serious effort into casting greater polymorphing spells. Not only that, they were acting the part, behaving as if they were actual fairy nobility who had deigned to bless these mere mortals with their presence.

"Pay no mind," said Ynés. "Let them have their fun."

"But they can't waltz around like that, pretending they're royals!" Otts insisted. "It's just not proper."

"I'll tell you what's not proper! Dingy workhouses. Labor conditions up in the mills. The Arkwright-Medici Wage Code farce. Stevedores wrecking their backs on the pier, just to earn a pittance."

Otts parted his lips, ready to utter a feeble apology. Ynés cut him off.

"I'm not done yet!" she continued, "Did I ever tell you that mi Papá was one of the artificers in the Ternate riots? Had to forge himself a new left arm. Or that the soup kitchen in our barrio was shut down because some minor vassal needed to finance their opium habit? So don't go talking to me about what's 'proper', savvy?"

"Okay, I'm sorry," he said meekly. "I didn't mean to be callous."

"It doesn't mean that you weren't."

Ynés' tirade had caught the attention of the glamplayers, who cheered on her bravado. She flashed them a coy smile and curtsied.

Otts noticed the stares of the ersatz faeries. He hung his head low and promptly ran off.