Maybe Fairy Tales Do Exist (Kota)

After the Halloween party, Ari tried not to pretend to much. But sometimes, not pretending was like living in reality, and that scared Ari to no end. But, she was just starting to get over the fact that her fantasy world of princes, and princesses was not true. She was wandering the grounds, and came upon this weird but looking thing. Her imagination ran wild. What if... No. There couldn't be any what ifs. No once upon a times. She wasn't sure about the happy endings yet as hers hadn't come. But she doubted they existed as well.

But, just because her imagination was dead, didn't mean her curiosity was. She peeked in the window, and looked around it. It was huge! Almost frightening. She wanted to go inside. It looked abandoned. But then again, she couldn't be so sure. Ari walked around it. Looking at its massiveness. It was almost ten times bigger than her! She smiled again thinking about her once favorite fairy tale. Snow White and the seven dwarfs. It reminded her so much if the little cottage that Snow White lived in with the dwarfs.

Ari went around to the door. She knocked, but got no answer. So, Ari took that as she could walk right in. She smiled at the overly sized coffee table and chairs. She went over to the bed, and sat on it. Clouds if dust erupted from its springs, making Ari cough, and wave her hand I front of her FaceTime get it out of her burning eyes. She got up, and decided that there was no Snow White here. But, as she was on her way out, she ran into someone. Someone who was rather large in size. Big enough to fit in the giant tables and filthy mattress.

And at that moment, Ari didn't know what to think. Was he going to be nice, and let her go on her merry way?or was he going to kidnap her, and never let her see her best friend Matthew ever again? The thought terrified her so much, that she screamed so loud, and instead of running out the door like a normal person, she ran and hid behind the old giant table. Yeah, because that wouldn't get her eaten alive.

Kota liked this Hogwarts castle. But at the same time, he didn't like it very much. His hut was very practical, and it allowed him to spend much of his time alone, as he liked. He had full access to the forest, which he and Atka explored on a constant basis. Already, Kota knew the most common paths, had encountered several creatures and could make his way to many landmarks and back. However, the grounds of the castle were also quite lacking. Kota was used to living on his own in the frozen, unforgiving tundra of Alaska. His primitive hut, in comparison, felt more like a five star hotel. Kota would never be caught dead in a five star hotel. Additionally, he was far too close to civilization. What satisfaction was there to be gained from fending for yourself when a castle full of food was only a short walk away? Of course, Kota could hunt - but the forest here lacked a population of proper animals to hunt.

With half of his work done for the day, Kota retired to his hut for a meal. Just because it was less thrilling to gather his own food here didn't mean that Kota would do anything less than that. He wasn't the type of person to appreciate food popping up out of nowhere before him. In fact, he would feel shamed to eat such an easy meal! Instead, Kota took one of the deer legs that he'd strung up from the ceiling and prepared it quickly before setting it on a spoke over the fire. Regular deer were scarce here, but in a way that was good. It meant that when Kota did find a deer, he had reason to be appreciative.

While waiting for his deer leg to roast, Kota grabbed a long stick from a pile of firewood and sat down in the oversized chair which he hadn't cut up and used for firewood yet. Untucking his knife from his belt, he began to idly carve the head of the branch into a point. Because one could never have too many hand-carved spears. Though, if anyone had too many hand-carved spears, it was Kota. Because here, there wasn't much to do with them. Though, they were admittedly quite attractive. With so much free time, Kota was able to carve intricate designs into his spears. Which was useless, but strangely satisfying. But first, he would have to carve the most important part, and that was the point.

Kota heard the footsteps on his stairs, but thought little of them. The children here seemed to be uncaring of other's property. Kota didn't care. The noise didn't bother him. So long as they left him alone, they could trample on his stairs all they wanted. His eyes raised, however, when a knock on the door sounded out. Kota would get up and answer it when he was finished carving the point of his spear. Perhaps it was the headmaster. But as it seemed, the person outside couldn't wait and the door slammed open. It wasn't the headmaster. It was a small girl with bright red hair. Kota just stared at her, waiting for her to say something. But she didn't say anything. She just screamed really loudly, and Kota raised an eyebrow at her, but didn't flinch at the shrill sound.

"Do you need something?" he asked plainly, standing up and crossing the room to check on his deer leg. He would ignore her strange behavior. Atka, however, seemed interested in the girl. Kota didn't call her back as the Malamute padded over to the girl to investigate. He ignored them both until the girl chose to speak, instead using his newly crafted spear to stab into the haunch of meat and see if it was cooked through.

Ari looked up at the man in shock. He was like twice her size. And Ari didn't like that at all. She liked short people like Matthew! People she could relate to. But Ari was supposed to be brave. She was  scandalous Slytherin. Ari crossed her arms and said, "I could ask you the same question big scary man. Do you need something?" Ari could act tough. Ari was the toughest one around. She puffed out her tiny chest and didn't say anything after. She made sure she looked like a scary Ari. A scary Ari was pretty much what the name said. Scary. Ari was then getting nervous. She started to feel frightened. Maybe this man would eat her. Maybe she would never become the great teacher that she was supposed to be. Maybe she would never see Matthew, Arwen, or Derek again!

But, before she jumped to conclusions, she remembered her Aunt Evelyn's advice. Never judge a book by it's cover. She thought about it and realized it had a more deeper meaning. Ari was pretty sure this man wasn't a book, but a live human being. At least, she hoped he was alive. The way he was glaring at her for so long made her think he was dead. But she saw his chest moving up and down, so she was pretty confident that he was in fact alive. Ari realized that this man probably had a story that was worth hearing. And Ari was wanting to hear it. Because this mountain man seemed more interesting than her. She then said, "I'm Ariadne, but most people call me Ari because Ariadne is a stupid name." She added, "What's yours?"

She was trying this new thing to be more concerned for other people. It worked on Derek, so why couldn't it work for others? She smiled at the end of her sentence. She would get this guy to talk whether he liked it or not. Maybe she should start with her story to get him more comfortable. That's what Aunt Evelyn does when she tried to get Ari to talk about something she didn't want to talk about. So she started, "I'm from Ireland! What about you?" She hoped this scary mountain man didn't mind questions, because at this point, Ari was full of them.

Kota simply stared at the girl as she took her time getting over her fear. And then she spoke, and Kota tilted his head slightly as he listened. He was quite inexperienced when it came to interacting with children. Not to mention that he'd never seen such a hair color before in his life. How could someone with such bright hair ever hope to camouflage themselves in the wilderness? A bear would easily find her. Most of what the girl said drifted past his consciousness, being filtered out as unimportant information. Her question, however, did register. And Kota answered it simply. "I don't," he replied, turning away from her to check once more on his cooking dinner. Atka, on the other hand, still seemed interested in the girl, and walked a circle around her, sniffing at her. "Enough, Atka," he commanded, and instantly, the dog retreated to his side, sitting on the ground beside him.

Surely, now the girl could leave. If she had been sent to see if he needed anything, her task was now complete and she could move on to whatever her next task was. Or perhaps go and play with the other children. Kota didn't understand why she remained, but didn't say anything to her as he took the deer leg off of the fire. It made no difference to him if she stood there or not. But it did make a difference to him if she spoke. And he might have told her that she was no longer welcome in his shelter, but what she had to say actually did spike his interest somewhat. Only because Kota was quite familiar with what the girl was saying. "My name is Nadlerkotauyok," he said simply in response. "But I'm called Kota because Nadlerkotauyok is a stupid name." It was a surprise to find something in common with this girl. Kota was certain he would find nothing else in common with her.

"Ireland," he repeated, confirming that he had heard her. That would possibly explain her hair. Kota's mother, being originally from London, had told him plenty about the world. And he vaguely remembered hearing that Irish people tended to have pale features and bright hair. Apparently, there was no need for camouflage in Ireland, if their red hair remained prevalent. "I'm from Alaska," he told her, not bothering to elaborate. There was no need to tell her that he was an Inuit - or, in terms that she would understand, an Eskimo. She hadn't asked. As he finished tending to dinner, Atka rose again and went once more over to the girl. "Does she bother you?" he asked, watching the dog for a moment before turning his gaze back to the food.

Ari smiled at the man, and just invited herself to sit on the big chair in the room. She already had something in common with the big scary mountain man that didn't seem so scary anymore. She said his name, "Kota. I like it! And it's way better than Nadlerkotastrad or what ever you said your real name was. It's really hard to pronounce. Unlike Ariadne, which is way better than your stupid name." There she went again. Ari mentally slapped herself and apologized in her head. Which was pretty much the same thing as apologizing outloud, so ARI counted it.

The dog was sniffing her. Ari held her hand out so it could sniff her, and get more comfortable around Ari, as she obviously was going to be here a while as she was sitting in Kotas chair. Ari loved dogs. She wished she could have one herself, but both her mum and aunt EVELYN where allergic, so it was impossible. Her father felt bad about her not being able to have a pet with fur, so he got her a fish. She got bored of the fish easily she forgot to give it a name, and it died a day later from her not feeding it.

The man said he was from Alaska. Ari didn't know what that was, and it sounded almost as stupid as his name. Ari didn't really bother to care wether or not she knew where Alaska was. She said, "it's cold in here. If my best friend MATTHEW where here he could light us a fire to keep warm. He's good at fire spells. Ari deliberately ignored his answer to her question about where he was from.

He asked if the dog was bothering her. She replied, " no not at all! She's a lovely dog! What kind is it? I'm not allowed to have a dog as my mum and aunt are allergic. I had a fish once though. Rather boring. Couldn't take it for a walk or anything! It just sat there like a lump on a log!" Ari was sure KOTA would be fascinated with her fish story. Now that she thought about it, she hadn't told her fish story to anyone! Not even Matthew and that KOTA was the first!

He was special then! He had a magical power of bringing out stuff that she didn't care to talk about! She replied, "Not even Matthew or ARWEN knows about my dead fish! Your the first! But don't you worry Mr. I'll tell them about it some other time." Because Ari was posting is the mountain man didn't have anything better to do than hear about her dead pet fish.

"Nadlerkotauyok," he repeated calmly, correcting the girl when she said his name completely wrong. "And where I come from, Ariadne would be considered a much stranger name than mine." Kota's name wasn't unusual, considering the Inuit tribe that he was from. But that didn't mean that he liked it. "My mother is named Ana. A common name here, but a strange one to my people." It was likely his mother's name that had made Kota shorten his own. Ana was so simple. And Kota was such a simple person, that he, too, should have a simple name. Kota didn't react at the girl's comment about his name being stupid. Even if he didn't agree with her, he wouldn't have reacted. Insults were unuseful things that only effected those with a weak enough mind to allow it. Kota's mind was not weak. None of Kota was weak.

"I like the cold," he said simply. But as she spoke, he stepped across the room toward the fireplace and picked up the flint that sat next to it. "I have no trouble making fire," he informed her, reaching down to pull a knife from his boot. Kota swiped the metal blade of the knife over the flint a few times until it sparked and caught the kindle beneath the logs. Setting both down, Kota leaned forward, blowing into the sparks for a few moments until they ignited. "There." Though, the moment the girl was gone, Kota would put the fire out. But for now, it made no difference to him if it was lit. "Would you like some?" he asked evenly as he finally began to cut into the haunch that he had cooked. If she was going to stay, Kota supposed he shouldn't eat in front of her. Though, if she said she wanted nothing, he would. A strange red haired girl wouldn't stop him from going about his business as usual.

Kota nodded once as Ariadne pointed out that Atka was a lovely dog. "She is a good companion," he informed her. If Kota was fond of any living thing in this world aside from his mother, it was Atka. The dog had been with him through many struggles, and had always stayed by his side. "She is an Alaskan Malamute, and her name is Atka," he replied. "She likes you." Of course, Atka liked most people. The dog was much more trusting than Kota. But, when it truly mattered, Atka had good judgement. Generally, if Atka had no opposition to the present company, they likely meant no harm. "A fish would be a useless companion," he said, a bit thrown off by the fact that anyone would consider such a ridiculous thing to begin with. "What use would it have?" Kota had no response to what the girl said about him being the first to know about her fish. He couldn't see why it mattered, or why she had told him at all.

Ari rolled her eyes when the man corrected her. If it was one thing Ari hated it was being corrected, or told that she was wrong. Which was what KOTA was doing at that moment. She said, "yeah same difference." But as soon as she had done what she did, she knew that if somebody mispronounced her name (which they often did) she knew how she reacted when they did and instantly felt a little smudge tiny bit bad about it. But again, not bad enough to apologize out loud. The dog was kicking her and she giggled a bit. Ari could tell it liked her. But of course, most animals did. Besides the dead fish, but that was her fault.

Ari looked up and smiled at his mothers name. Ana. Much like Princess Ana from her favorite movie ever! Ari said, "like princess ana from frozen! It's like my favorite movie ever, and if it's my favorite movie, it should be yours too, because I pick good movies." Ari noted seriously. That was another thing this dude and her had in common. Not necessarily his mum, but the name of his mum. Ari was sure her first born daughter would be ana, and the second ELSA.

He was a tad weird. What weirdo liked the cold? She sure didn't. She hated the cold. The cold was stupid. The only good thing that could come out of it would be that she could try and build talking snow man who liked warm hugs. That was her main goal in life, but she didn't know if she could really happen, as she hadn't heard of anybody successfully making a talking snowman. And if they claimed to have done so, they were of course, mentally insane. But Ari wanted to make it not the most insanest idea in the world. She wanted to make it work. And because Ari's ideas where amazing, she was sure somebody would agree to help her.

Ari nodded at the offer of cake. Cake was good, cake was her favorite. She particularly liked chocolate cake. But was this chocolate? She wasn't sure. Was it even cake? She didn't know. She then regretted her decision immediately. She just sat there and smiled like the little angel she was, and picked at what ever it was that KOTA had given her. She asked, "what is it if you don't mind me asking." She hoped he wasn't trying to poison poor innocent little ARI. Because then the whole world would crumble and be sad at the thought of her death. In fact, the world might possibly end if she died. And this man would surly be decapitated, or worse, fired from his job.

What use was a fish. Finally, somebody understood. Somebody got her. She shrugged and said, "beats me. But my aunt thought it would work better than a dog or a cat. I've also got a pretty owl names OLAF! He delivers my letters and such. But other than that, no pet for me." Ari pretended that an Alaskan malamute was the greatest thing ever with her expressions. Because she had been horribly mean to this dude, and frankly, she was surprised he was still letting her stay.