Work was quite slow today. Maybe it was because Juniper was waiting in anticipation for the plan tomorrow, or maybe it was because the puppet shop was actually just slow in business. Either way, the day felt like it was going on forever. Sotry glaring holes into Juniper’s skull certainly was not helping the case.
“You got somethin’ you wanna talk to me about, bud?” Juniper asked, sliding aer headphones off.
“Not particularly.” Sotry responded. “I just want to let you know how much I despise you.”
“Awesome. Keep it up.”
Juniper put xir headphones back on & continued to sweep the floor. Sotry was certainly one to hold grudges. This is something Juniper discovered very quickly during their time at the puppet shop. If nobody else was in the shop, Sotry would sit at the reception desk & brood, just watching Juniper sweep & dust, almost as if he was plotting something.
It was always a relief when Alph or a customer came into the shop. If it was a customer, Sotry would be too busy helping them to sit & sulk, & if it were Alph, Sotry would typically avoid Juniper’s presence altogether.
Juniper wondered if Sotry was still upset over his “president of the world” plan being foiled, & if Sotry even knew it was an unrealistic plan to begin with. Then again, everything about Juniper's life had been unrealistic ever since ey got the necklace, so who’s to say?
Nevertheless, though.. Juniper wanted to make peace with Sotry. She knew Sotry would definitely never forgive her now, & Juniper wasn't going to try & get on his “good side” at this point in time, but if the two of them could find some common ground..
“Hey, Sotry,” Juniper slipped zyr headphones off again. “Have you ever watched a TV show before?”
“...No.”
“Oh, really? I think you might enjoy some of them. There’s this one I’ve been meaning to watch for a while, but I just haven’t gotten around to it. Maybe we could watch it together or something-”
“Not interested.”
“Wow, you’re quick to throw that idea away. Why not?”
“I’ve got... better things to do with my time.”
Juniper tilted xaer head. “& what exactly is it that you do with your time?”
“It’s none of your business.”
“Oh, well.” she shrugged, putting her headphones back on. “If you ever change your mind, you know how to contact me.”
-
175 dollars by Tuesday was the goal.
Cherry was quite close to this goal already, thanks to the gigs she’s been doing around town. All she needed was 30 more bucks, & she’d be able to pay rent for the month. After that’s out of the way, & after Cherry gets into the groove of their new job, paying rent should be a lot easier.
For now, though, she had to find a way to snag $30 before February ended. Their first shift was on Monday, which did not give her a lot of time to get paid, so Cherry would have to get that last bit of money another way.
It was at this point in the middle of Cherry’s thinking that she heard a knock-knock-knocking come from her door. Cherry wasn’t expecting anyone today, but their curiosity was what made them open the door up.
“Hey.”
“NATALIE?!”
Indeed, there stood Natalie Fiala, at Cherry’s apartment door.
“How’d you know I live here?!”
“Oh, a little birdie told me.. but that’s not relevant right now. I’ve heard you & your hero friends seem to be down on your luck currently.”
“Can you get out of here?”
“No, I’m evil. It’s my job to be annoying.”
Natalie waltzed into the dorm like she owned the place & promptly sat down on Cherry’s sofa. “I like the new hair, by the way. Suits you.”
“..thanks?”
“My pleasure. Now,” Natalie turned to face Cherry. “How much more do you need to pay for rent?”
“Why would I tell you?”
“Because I can give it to you... for a price.”
“I’m not paying you to give me money.”
“No- Not like that. Listen, you want me outta here so badly? It’ll go faster if you just answer my question.”
“Fine.” Cherry sighed. “30 bucks.”
“Perfect.” Natalie grinned, pulling out her wallet & taking out 30 dollars. “I’ve got the money. It’ll be yours soon if you agree to my terms.”
“If you make me humiliate myself in public, I’m gonna-”
“No, no, nothing like that. I just want to challenge you to a duel.”
Cherry was taken aback. A duel?!
“You seem confused. Want me to explain what a duel is?”
“No- I know what a duel is. WHY a duel, though?”
“You all refused to fight me in that Walmart about a month ago. If I’m going to be your group’s arch-rival, we’re going to have to fight.”
“We refused to fight you because all you have is a squeaky hammer.”
“That was a month ago. I’ve got new tricks up my sleeve.” Natalie grinned, fanning herself with the 30 dollars in her hand.
“If you want this money, you’re going to meet me at the abandoned Pizza Hut at 6:30 tonight. If you win, the money is yours. But if you lose.. well, you can probably guess what happens if you lose. Will you take my deal?”
Cherry really, really did not want to take Natalie’s deal.. but she really needed that money. Plus, what could Natalie really do to them, anyway?
“I’ll take your deal.”
“Perfect!” Natalie shook Cherry’s hand & hopped up off the couch. “See you tonight!”
-
It was a lovely day today, & Nora had decided to bring Sorrel along to get smoothies as a celebration.
“Congrats on getting hired!” she cheered. “When's your first day?”
“Thanks! Ah.. I believe I start tomorrow!”
Sorrel had just gotten hired at that puppet place they applied to. It was quite a momentous occasion for them, considering they didn't think they'd get hired that quickly.
“That's awesome!” Nora nodded, taking a sip of her smoothie. “I.. haven't had that much luck in terms of actually getting employed, but I've got most of the money from doing odd jobs around the city.”
“I’m sure it'll happen eventually. You said you applied to DQ, right?”
“Indeed! I'm still waiting for them to get back to me for an interview..”
Sorrel took a sip from their smoothie. It was nice living with their sister again after so long, but they knew they had to move out eventually. The next thing on their list would be to find a place to live.
$175 a month was very generous for rent. Sorrel knew they weren't going to get that kind of deal anywhere else. The only other place they could go until they saved up again was..
“Do you think Mom & Dad would let me move back in?” they asked.
“Oh- uh..” Nora seemed a bit caught off-guard by that question. “I think they would.. wouldn't that mean you would have to tell them you dropped out, though?”
“That's what I was thinking. They would be so disappointed in me, even more so since I haven't told them for months.”
Setting their smoothie down, Nora looked up at Sorrel. “Do you remember in middle school, when I was failing history class? I hid that from Mom & Dad for so long.”
“Oh, they were pissed when they found out.”
“Yeah.. getting yelled at right after parent-teacher conferences was not fun.. but they understood why I had lied to them. After the waterworks were over with, we were able to work things out & get a tutor to help me out.”
“Wasn't I your tutor?”
“Exactly!” Nora chuckled.
“The point I'm trying to make here is.. well.. they'll understand. It'll be tense, sure, but Mom & Dad care about us. They'll be more than willing to help you out- Are you crying??”
“No..!” Sorrel sniffled, clearly crying. “My.. eyes are just sweating!”
“Sure.”
“But really though..” Sorrel wiped their eyes. “I think that was exactly what I needed to hear. Thanks, sis.”
“Of course.” Nora grinned, finishing up their smoothie. “Now, first one to the car is a rotten banana!”
“Hey, wait!!! I'm not done with my smoothie!!”
-
“July 24th, 2019..”
Kalani was bored, so he had taken to reading The Auctioneer’s diary. It had been quite interesting, & learning about all of the neat auctioneering facts had been fun. The part she was at now, though..
“It's my birthday today!” the page read. “My 18th, in fact!”
Kalani thought that was quite interesting. Sorrel had turned 18 just a month before in 2019. Knowing that The Auctioneer was around the same age as Sorrel was intriguing.
“I'm going to invite Brooklyn & Quinn over to that old auction house today to celebrate! I wonder what presents they're going to get me!”
The rest of the entry wasn't very long, it was just another auctioneering fact. But when Kalani turned the page..
“July 26th, 2020..”
This next entry was just over a year after the last one! The Auctioneer had mentioned during their battle that they had been locked in a freezer for a year, which is how their skin got all blue & cold.. Kalani was starting to piece things together.
Puck’s friends had locked him in that freezer in the Auction House, which is what Kalani was about to read about on the page.
“I'M OUT. I'M OUT. THE ONLY REASON I KNOW WHAT DAY IT IS IS BECAUSE I HAVE BEEN KEEPING TRACK. ONE TALLY MARK A DAY KEEPS THE FROSTBITE AWAY.”
Their handwriting was shaky & unstable. The whimsy from his words was gone.
“THEY LOCKED ME IN THERE. THEY SAID IT WAS FOR MY OWN GOOD. WHAT KIND OF PERSON ATTEMPTS TO FREEZE THEIR BEST FRIEND? BUT I LIVED. SOMEHOW.”
“& I WILL MAKE THEM FEEL HOW I'VE FELT FOR THE PAST YEAR.”
The Auctioneer’s story was so captivating.. Kalani couldn't help but continue reading! She flipped the page to the next entry, July 27th of 2020. The first thing Kalani noticed in this entry was whilst the handwriting was still shaky, it was no longer written in all capitals.
“I found them yesterday. It was easy, really. They had moved in together, without me. I was supposed to have moved in with them a year ago. We were SUPPOSED to be together no matter what. We were friends.”
“That is clearly no longer the case. Using a couple of tranquilizer darts I had found, I knocked them out & brought them to the Auction House, & locked them in the freezer, just as they had done to me.”
“Today, I returned, to see how they were holding up, to see if they would repent. But something curious happened.. something unexpected. Quinn & Brooklyn had turned into stone statues.”
“I was amazed, & had many questions. Why hadn't I been turned to stone, like my old friends had? What made me different? An answer never came to me, but an idea did.”
“The Auction House was old. The city was sure to close it down soon. If I bought it, & auctioned off these statues.. well, I’d just be living the dream, wouldn't I? :)”
Kalani could not believe what he had just read. The Auctioneer turned their friends to stone, & auctioned them off?
“They did not need to go that far..” Kalani mumbled to herself, turning the page.
It was blank.
That was the end of the diary. Puck must have abandoned it, for whatever reason. What that reason was, Kalani didn't know.
He was determined to figure it out, though.
-
“Thank you for coming today.”
“Whatever.”
The clock had just hit 6:30 pm. Cherry & Natalie stood across from each other at the abandoned Pizza Hut. Cherry did not want to be here, but they really, really needed that $30.
“You remember the rules, don't you?”
“Sure. If I win, you hand over the 30 bucks. & if I lose..”
“If you lose, then I get to join your magical group!”
Cherry didn't care to tell her that that wasn't possible.
“Additionally,” Natalie continued. “To make this ‘fair’, any use of weapons or powers are not allowed. Do you understand?”
Cherry nods. She didn't want to enter Hero Mode anyway, so this was just convenient.
“Good. Then let's get started.”
Cracking her knuckles, Cherry prepared themself for the duel. Natalie initiated the fight by rushing over & shoving Cherry into the chain-link fence. They quickly recovered, bouncing themselves off of the fence & approached Natalie, attempting to punch her.
SNATCH!
Natalie grabbed a hold of Cherry’s wrist, a smug grin on her face.
Without thinking too much, Cherry used her other hand to grab onto Natalie's wrist, slamming it down. The shock made Natalie release her grasp on Cherry's right wrist.
“Ooh, nice one.”
“...Thanks.”
Natalie was running up to Cherry again, presumably to push her into the fence again. Cherry slid to the left right when she approached them, causing Natalie to stumble for a moment, before regaining her balance.
She turned to look at Cherry.
Cherry looked right back at her.
She started running toward Natalie again, ready to punch, anticipating a wrist snatch this time. They slid to the right exactly when Natalie went to get their wrist, & used this moment to sock her in the cheek.
Natalie had little to no reaction, implying she was used to this. She rolled up her sleeves & sprinted up to Cherry, grabbing her wrist & spinning her around before she even had time to react.
When Natalie had decided that Cherry was adequately dizzy, she let go & let them spin all the way into the wall of the abandoned Pizza Hut.
Her head was throbbing, & everything was swirling around in her vision.. but she was still standing. “Well,” Natalie chuckled, that smug grin still on her face. “I think this means I win-”
Cherry stumbled over to Natalie, & delivered an extremely-deserved uppercut straight to her face.
“OW!”
Natalie lost her balance, falling over & hitting the chain-link fence behind her. Now it was Cherry who had the smug grin on their face.
“You were saying..?”
Grumbling, Natalie reached into her pocket & pulled out the $30. She handed it over to Cherry.
“Fine. You win. Whatever.”
Cherry gladly took the $30 & put it in her pocket. Wiping the sweat off of their forehead, they thought for a moment. That fight.. it had actually been quite fun. Cherry could barely believe it herself, but she did enjoy the thrill of it all.
“Hey,” they turned toward Natalie. “Same time next week?”
Natalie looked up at her & smiled.
“Sure.”
-
Juno was restless.
Juniper had already gone to bed a few hours ago, promising Juno that “tomorrow will be the day, I swear it.” He had been getting quite fed up with waiting so long to enact his plan.
Hopping off of the couch, Juno started pacing around the dorm room. She might as well just take things into her own hands at this rate.
As he paced, an object piqued their curiosity. On the kitchen counter, there sat a metallic yellow & gold envelope. It was open, & a letter laid within it. Standing on her tippy-toes, Juno reached up to grab the letter, her bright yellow eyes illuminating the area just enough to be able to read it in horror.
It was a letter from Fate herself, informing the heroes of Juno’s plan. Reading through it, Juno suddenly realized why the heroes had been putting off taking him back to the castle for so long. They already knew what he was going to do!
“Of course!” Juno hissed. “Of course she snitched on me! She’s FATE, after all!
The bottom of the letter made his anger & fear rise even more.
“Unfortunately, fending off Juno with your weapons will not suffice this time. A creature such as her must be permanently stopped. Frozen, if you will.”
Juno threw the letter to the ground. “So that’s how they wanna play, huh?”
“Well, I’ll give them a game to play!”