"Don't just stand about, sit down, sit down!
I was just about to make some tea, would you like some?"

accept a cup of TEA

GRIST smiles (did xe always have a mouth to smile with?). Xir long, dark cloak rustles across the cottage floor as xe places a huge iron cauldron over the hearthfire and lights the flames below it with a snap of xir fingers. The water in the cauldron - was there always water in there? - boils almost instantly. GRIST takes a china TEACUP from a nearby packing box, holds it delicately between two twig-like fingers, and dips it elegantly into the bubbling cauldron. When xir lifts it out again, the bubbling in the cauldron has calmed already. GRIST hands you the TEACUP and you flinch, expecting it to burn you, but the TEA is a perfect temperature.

"Don't worry - all that stuff about accepting food and drink from Fae doesn't really apply over the internet."



"...Unless you'd like it to."

try very hard not to stare at the PLATE OF SNACKS on the table

GRIST laughs xir rustling-leaf laugh again. Xe nudges the PLATE closer to you.

"Go on - I wouldn't have put them out if I didn't want to share!"

THOMAS, the black cat you saw at the gate earlier, has appeared in the cottage doorway.

"Oh good, Thomas has come in from the garden. Hello, Thomas!"

THOMAS leaps gracefully onto the CHAIR beside the FIREPLACE.

_{[NARRATOR, whispering: you can play with Thomas by clicking on him - he loves to chase your mouse! he's sitting in the top corner of the web page right now. You can click him a second time when you're ready to stop playing chase, and he'll go back up to the corner.]}

GRIST begins unpacking a nearby crate full of video games, books, and DVDs. Xe places a stack of them on a nearby shelf and lights a tall, green candle beside them. The candle smells of moss and rain, and the figures on the videogame cases seem to leap about in its flickering light. As GRIST begins unpacking some figurines and trinkets, you see a SHRINE begin to take shape.