I just had a funny/silly thought about pixie dust that I might use for my story...

[Naruzeldamaster]

Option A: basically Dandruff (but not the same) but for pixies, On one hand 'oh lord' on the other hand '[wheeze]'
Option B: The weird dust that moths and such have on their wings. Which, also kinda gross, but more of a natural product of nature.

Granted, the pixie dust does something else in my story (I think making people fly would get the great mouse's ninjas after me...)
But either way both ideas somehow make equal bits of sense.

TBH I'm more leaning toward the moth dust idea (whatever it's called)

As for what the pixie dust is used for, I haven't quite nailed it down yet.
One idea is that it might make quite a potent gunpowder.
Another (less family friendly) option is...well, a 'substance' if you catch my drift.
Yet another option is a sort of bitter medicine that heals poison.
Possibilities are endless, especially because this story is a comedy at heart.

 

[Queshire]

Good news! Pixie dust is from the original story, though called fairy dust there. So it's safe to use.

Personally I prefer the moth dust route as well and the magical gun powder idea is interesting. It could make the little fairies horribly dangerous in a fight if they can fully control it themselves.

 

[Naruzeldamaster]

Good news! Pixie dust is from the original story, though called fairy dust there. So it's safe to use.

Personally I prefer the moth dust route as well and the magical gun powder idea is interesting. It could make the little fairies horribly dangerous in a fight if they can fully control it themselves.

Yep, I'm just talking ideas for now, good to know that pixie/fairy dust flying thing is from the original story.

I was leaning more toward the moth dust idea too, but the dandruff idea made me laugh so I proposed/was considering both.

Both of them SOMEHOW make sense, to me anyway, just one is less biologically 'gross' than the other. That really does change the mental image of Tinkerbell if it was Dandruff...ew. (funny but also ew especially the Disney version where she's flinging the stuff everywhere)

I could even play into it by having the pixies have more moth-like wings (but still with elegant patterns) than the traditional pixie wings (ala fern gully etc)

If I went the gunpowder route, imagine different species/colors of pixies could produce different dusts with different effects.

I've been wanting to include Pixies in my story for a good bit, I just wanted them to have a valuable export.

 

[A. E. Lowan]

We have flower faeries, who are dusted in pollen that can get one rather high. Our faerie knight in tarnished armor has several friends among their number, which has gotten him into trouble on more than one occasion.

 

[RoccO]

There are sticks that look like moths. I love it when they converge. You cannot tell if it is a moth until you touch them, but you cannot touch moths because it damages them. Every parent and their kid knows that.

But on the business side, pixies and fairies come naturally with dust and it makes them fly. At least you learn that from Wendy and Peter. The fact that there is multitudinous purposes for dust does not matter, it usually makes you feel bad with a thrill before it arrives.

Embarrassing thought, dust itself is mostly human skin, if you find it around the house or see it collect over the years, it is a common denominator. Collect dust. We all know what that means.

At least, that is my two cents.

 

[Prince of Spires]

One idea I still have bouncing around my head is to push the idea of magical pixie dust to its distopian extreme. If pixie dust has magical properties, then it stands to reason that people will look for ways to extract it on an industrial scale. Which of course gives you battery cage like pixie farms etc.

As for which of your two options to go with, if you're leaning towards the moth dust, then just go with that. Pick the one you like best and run with it. Of course, you could also blend the two and have a pixie remark that for them the dust on their wings feels a bit like human dandruff and they'd love to have a cure for it, because it's bloody annoying that things start flying whenever you accidentally flap your wings near them.

 

[Naruzeldamaster]

We have flower faeries, who are dusted in pollen that can get one rather high. Our faerie knight in tarnished armor has several friends among their number, which has gotten him into trouble on more than one occasion.

You might want to look into youtuber Failboat.
He rarely talks about it but he has a DND character that's a fairy, and he's....something.
He's one of the stronger members in the party too.

One idea I still have bouncing around my head is to push the idea of magical pixie dust to its distopian extreme. If pixie dust has magical properties, then it stands to reason that people will look for ways to extract it on an industrial scale. Which of course gives you battery cage like pixie farms etc.

I wasn't planning on going quite that far, but I was thinking something like that (especially if I go with the magic gunpowder idea) someone 'enslaving' them to create fairy dust to create a 'business' out of it. That's why one of my ideas was having it as a 'substance' (A non descript one, but still...)

Maybe if it does both, have the flying things be a boon but you'd better be careful not to cause any sort of spark...

As for which of your two options to go with, if you're leaning towards the moth dust, then just go with that. Pick the one you like best and run with it. Of course, you could also blend the two and have a pixie remark that for them the dust on their wings feels a bit like human dandruff and they'd love to have a cure for it, because it's bloody annoying that things start flying whenever you accidentally flap your wings near them.

I mean, technically I could go with both.
Biologically it's more like moth dust but the faries themselves consider it as annoying as human dandruff. They'd sure love to find a use for the stuff because it gets EVERYWHERE. lol They aren't sure why humans kidnap them to produce their dust most of the time. (At least until the plot happens with them)

Maybe the dust is just magical period and it has different properties based on what you mix it with, then the possibilities are endless.