My groups usually think of them as a powerful fey creature who sometimes just whisks people away for an indeterminate amount of time, only to bring them back later.
Way back in high school, we had a massive Mage campaign. Someone brought their asshole boyfriend who was a dick from the beginning by insisting that no, he wouldn't play a mage. This was World of Darkness and he was going to be a vampire. And he kept being a dick for a few more sessions. Then they broke up, so the DM had his character sucked into an air vent and mushed into a pulp by the razor sharp extraction fans while we were walking down a corridor. And we all moved on like it never happened.