"It was hitting my sink with a fork," Sariel said, leading James into the kitchen and pointing to a series of dusty grey foot and hand prints that were spread out around the counter, windowsill, and sink. "I think it was trying to turn the knob," he added, gesturing to the large grey cat that had been following a few feet behind James, eyeing him. "But he scared it away."
James followed him to the kitchen and looked to the cat. He reached down and pet down the cat, "Good boy. Well that thing was a fairy. They come in swarms and love to steal, so I wouldn't be surprised if more started popping up. They're almost the pests of the magical world, except we respect them."
So elves are tall and fairies are tiny thieves. Sariel thought, looking briefly between the wall and his fridge. "Swarms…? Of how many?" He asked, opening one of the lower cabinets in the room. Stopping, he looked over at James, "Do they come back?" He added quickly, imagining the weird little people hopping around his apartment.
"It ranges, it could be half a dozen, or it could be over a hundred," James sighed as he had a small smile on, "But normally once caught they vacate the area. Especially if a known predator is around."
"So instead of mice, he'll chase off fairies," Sariel said, looking at Bamboo, who had planted himself beside James's feet. "So will there be any more here, or will they tell each other to leave?" He asked, thinking that if there was one in the sink there would probably be more in the bathroom and in the plant pots.
James nodded as he looked around trying to see if he could spot any of them, "Most swarms have a telepathic connection and once one discovers danger the rest are aware. Unless you happened to find a swarmless fairy, in which case if a different swarm moves in then the same thing will happen again."
Standing up, Sariel walked back over to the sink and wiped off the tiny foot and handprints, which he had noticed were also on the fridge and freezer handles. "Is there anything else like this that I should know about?" He asked, "House things like this?"
"I don't believe so," James responded after some thought, "No wait, there are garden gnomes. Those things are creepy and should be remove immediately. Especially if you make one angry."
Sariel smiled down at the sink, "So they'd like my entire apartment." He said, looking out the window one more time just in case the fairy decided to sneak back in -for whatever reason-. From under one of the cabinets that Sariel had failed to check came a quiet clinking noise. "I'm probably going to start finding these things stuck in the rooms I haven't checked."
James laughed as he opened the cabinet for Sariel letting the fairy run out taking whatever the poor thing had taken from it, "The gnomes probably would. Just so you get an idea as to what they are have you ever seen Doctor Who? Or heard of Weeping Angels? Because garden gnomes are basically that. Except garden gnomes, and they bite your ankles."
The cat walked to the main room, then to the door, and began to paw it, its claws scraping on the wood.
Sariel watched the grey figure hop out the window just as the last one had done. As soon as he heard the last of what James said, he looked back over at him. "Creepy little ankle biters and thieves?" He asked, pushing the cabinet shut. "Sounds fun," he added, somehow managing to sound only slightly panicked. "I wonder if I could get…bug repellent or something, but for gnomes and fairies."
"Not that I know of," James sighed and watched the last guy leave, "Best thing to do is get rid of them as soon as you can. Some weird alliance thing where if you kick them out once they don't come back again. Garden gnomes are a collective species so once you do it once you never do it again. Fairies come in swarms so you can get multiple infestations, but more often than not once you kick one swarm out another won't move in."
Sariel nodded and nudged a cabinet open with one of his feet before closing it after finding nothing new. "That's nice to know," he said, watching Bamboo jump onto the counter, and then the fridge. "Since I'm a Forest Sprite and I have plants everywhere, do you have anything like that? Is there a thing that elves like?"
"I personally really like plants like you, but I think every elf has something different. I have an older brother who constantly plays music, like old timey classical music," James responded, "So I really think it's different with every elf, but in general I think plants and animals are a consensus we can all agree to."
"Do you have any, or do you not keep them?" Sariel asked, now looking over to James before waving a hand. "Like this, anyway." He added. I doubt most would have them to this extent…They probably wouldn't be able to keep them alive.
"Not to this extent, but I do have some yes," James looked around his house realizing just how many plants were actually there, "How do you even care for this many?"
"They just kind of…Stay alive, I guess. I have to water them, but other than that I don't have to do much." He said, absently staring around at all of the holders. In the short time that he had been home, one of the plants had made its way across the round room that was in between the living room and kitchen.
"I know forest sprites make plants grow faster, but that fast? Is that normal for you?" James asked Sariel.
"It's always been like this," Sariel said, once again looking out the window above his sink. "Down there," he said, pointing to the garbage cans, "are the clippings from all the plants in my apartment. I had to clean things up after I got back. Quite a few of them were growing up the door," he said, adding the last few words as an afterthought.
"I didn't know that it wasn't like this for the others," Sariel said. After a few moments, he pointed briefly into the circular room that bridged the living room and the kitchen, where there was a similarly round table. "You can sit if you want, you don't have to stand around in here."
"Oh thank you," James responded taking a seat at the table. James looked around back to the garbage cans, "I've never met another forest sprite before so I can't say what the normal time is, but this seems incredibly fast."
"It does seem to happen quickly. I've never really thought about it before though because it's never really caused any damage." He said, sitting down across from James. "Do the people at your job know what you are?" He asked, thinking back to the servers he had seen running around the cafe.
“No,” James said with a long heavy sigh of annoyance, “Gossip girls. Every last one of them. I trust them to do their jobs and nothing more.”
"Oh, sorry, I had only seen the few that were there running around the room and none of them were really talking." He said, thinking up another question to ask. "What about your hearing? Do you think its better than a normal person's?" Sariel asked, attempting to brush over the last question.
“Definitely better,” James responded. He reached into his bag and pulled out his spare pair of earplugs, “I have to wear these so I don’t end up going deaf from all the sounds of the city. Still can hear like a regular person though.”