Oh yeah! (same anon as before but I figure I should probably ask here instead haha), I imagine the perspective on the situation will change as Briar finds out the true nature of the berries! I just really like imagining the angst possibilities heh. Like they very much had tasted the berries, so the flavor alone could bring back the feeling of absolute fear of that night when Moon came for them.
I'm intersted in a lot of things honestly! Sun mentions that they have to be mean due to the reader's actions, which I suppose is a diffenrence in perspective between fae and humans? Because technically to a human, no matter how they phrase it, it's still a choice. One that means their whole life will be uprooted. (Also I wonder if there was an effect to eating the berries that will come into play later)
Also, reading the lore post, I imagine Briar will become one of these touched by the Fae, I think it was called? So they would become sort of immortal in order to be able to go through the whole one year per berry punishment deal. Which also makes me think of a whole angst potential for that as well. If time runs in a similar manner in the fae realm than it does in the human one, if by the end of the punishment they wanted to return to their own world, how would they even right? Because if so many years have passed, their home and belongings would no longer be there, anyone that knew them would probably be dead, and how would they explain their sudden reappearance (unless taken by the fae is something known to be common enough)
And oh! I'm curious of the human perspective about the fae. I know there are offerings and gifts, but how well known are they? Sun said there were signs to prevent people from taking the blackberries, but why did no one warn the reader of what they were? Did people assume they would know already? Did they just get particularly unlucky comming across a generally unknown group of berries? And also are people who are knowlegeable about the fae only respect them? Or would they react negatively to one touched by the Fae?
Sorry for so many questions haha!
Going through and reading this, there's a LOT of very good questions here which I'm happy to answer!
The importance of the berries is very, very major in the grand scheme of things. But it's something I'd rather answer in the form of a story prompt than through directly revealing it in a question. But without giving away any major details; eating the blackberries won't do anything to people.
The instant they're consumed or destroyed (as in through cooking or cutting, etc), the magical properties that make them so important disappear. And THAT in and of itself is part of why Moon (and Sun) have been left so greatly infuriated by what "Briar" has done. Its not entirely about the blackberries, but more about the consequences of what can or will happen with the blackberries gone. And those potential consequences do directly tie into why the reader is being punished the way that they are.
The Fae are getting even. And in expanding upon the story, it'll become easy to see how it is that they're getting even through their chosen means of punishing "Briar". Because what Briar has done will have major, major effects. And they must be held accountable for their actions.
Moving on to the "Fae Touched" aspect - you're right on the money! In fact, mortal creatures in general will just stop aging once in the Fae Realm. Because that's sort of just how the magic in the realm will work. Whether you go there for a year or for a thousand years, you will not age a day (though your hair and nails will grow, albeit as a slow pace). But the actual process of becoming magical involves so much more than just being in the realm.
You have to consume of Fae Food and drink and even interact with the Fae of the realm for the effects to really start to take root, and even then it takes decades for anything to start happening. And you might not even be aware of these effects at all, for a while!
But part of the punishment (aka part of how the Fae are being cruel to the reader) has been specifically made to strip them of their former life. They have lost their home. They have lost any friends or family. Their life, as they knew it, is gone. And it all ties back to the consequences that the Fae now face because of Briar stealing the blackberries.
As for the Fae realm itself and how it ties into the mortal realm: by and large, Fae are considered to be a silly superstition to humans. There are groups who firmly believe these superstitions, those who don't, and then those special few (witches or Fae descendants) who know the truth.
Fae Forests, like the forest that Sun and Moon live in, act as tourist traps or as wildlife reserves in the human world. Leaving an offering is a superstitious thing to some, but just a silly game to others. It all depends on the induvial and where they come from.
In "Briar's" case, these "signs" discouraging people from picking the blackberries were treated as another silly part of local superstition. Because people pick blackberries there all the time. It all narrows down to when they chose to pick these berries (poor timing on their part, as the blackberries are normally perfectly fine to take. They just happened to pick the berries during a point in time where the berries were said to be "off limits").
