Post by Merla, the Daughter of Summer on Nov 27, 2021 21:32:36 GMT
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The dream made no sense. Merla was herself and yet not like herself, in a place she knew and yet could not have known.
“What are you going to do after graduation?”
It was the question that started it all, the one that brought them into this strange, mystical land of cars, smartphones, biker gangs and homecoming dances.
In the dream Merla knew who she was: Daughter of Titania, CEO of Faerie Florists, the biggest and most successful flower emporium, ever. “Flowers, the perfect gift for any and every occasion.” She had just come back from spending the summer with her family, the Copperkettles, and tomorrow was the first day of senior year. Astra, her gorgeous and holographic wrapped sports car was parked down the way from where she was chilling by the fire with Baine, Pieni, Ghesh and BB.
Oh, and Egle was there too.
“Isn’t that BB’s god? What was she doing there?” Kruxeral interrupts her. “And what is this ‘graduation’ thing? Sounds serious. And, most importantly, when am I going to show up?”
“Patience,” Merla teases him, poking him in the side that starts a bout of tickled laughter. “I cannot tell you the ending, it will spoil the journey!”
It was Egle who asked BB the question, which her friend did not know how to answer. Looking at the others, none of them really knew how to either. High school didn’t really prepare you for life, it was more the prelude, the tutorial where you start to learn what you like or don’t like, what you’re half decent at or what you can excel at. You’re still just beginning your journey. But sometimes, if you’re lucky, there’s a chance for you to discover yourself.
The beginning of the first day of senior year started as one would expect in Titania’s house – a morning delivery of fresh baked goods from Nerry’s Pastries ’n Pies, complete with a fruit basket full of seasonal summer fruits. It was as she was thanking the driver that Titania walked into the foyer, iPad in hand, bluetooth earpiece already in her ear, dressed in the sharpest, most stylish suit a business woman could wear.
“Start of senior year. Are you ready?”
Merla nodded. “Hundred percent!”
“You’ve got your flash cards?”
“Of course,” she pats one side of her book bag.
“I made sure to get your schedule. They were going to give it to you when you arrived, but I wanted to get it for you, early. It’s already in your bag.”
“Oh, wow. That’s-”
“I’ve marked out the best and quickest routes between your classes. I know you’ve been to school before, I just want to make sure everything is perfect for you.”
She had smiled at this, feeling a familiar warmth blossom in her chest. “Thank you Mum.”
But being the CEO of the most successful flower emporium, ever, meant Titania had places to go and people to see, but not before Merla gave her a hug.
“Is this where I come in?” Kruxeral asks, grinning.
“If you don’t stop asking I won’t tell you what you did in this dream scenario and you will be driven mad with wanting,” Merla goaded.
“Ah but you underestimate my ability to retaliate, arael’salif*. Two can play this game…” And he proceeded to tickle her, getting Merla back for before.
Now the villain of this dream, Griff, is a nasty piece of work. Griff is on the hockey team, meaning he’s buff, tough, and is known to be rather rough on and off the rink. You know the saying, “I went to a fight the other night, and a hockey game broke out?” Well, the fighting is always started by Griff.
And he had some major beef with Egle.
“So Egle, the god that BB helped create, the one that gave her wild magic but then divine magic, is in this dream too,” Kruxeral clarifies.
Merla nods. “She was a high schooler, just like us.”
“And what is a ‘high schooler’ praytell?”
“A student.”
“Ah, now that I understand.”
The first day went by almost without incident. BB, Ghesh and Baine were in geography class whilst Merla and Pieni were in drama class. First day back meant it was auditions, and they were putting on this fantastic new musical called In the Heights. Unsurprisingly, one particularly feisty and peppy girl was gunning for the lead.
“I never did find out if I got the part actually,” Merla says offhandedly.
“I have no doubt you would have,” Kruxeral reassures her with a kiss.
It was during their second period when BB, Pieni, and Merla were in chemistry class (“It’s like alchemy, except its based on experiments, observations and facts,” Merla answers, anticipating the question.) when Jenna, their new teacher, was demonstrating how to create little fire balls using bubbles, gas and a candlestick. What their new teacher did not know was BB’s fear of fire, and whilst doing her fun demonstration a little too enthusiastically, the ceiling caught fire. But Egle was there right beside BB, helping her leave the classroom.
They got a free period after that.
After school the Copperkettles swung by Spruce Shield High School to pick Merla up to go bowling. It just so happened that Coach Nailo had just ended practice for the Crimson Serpent’s rugby team, so she asked if Ghesh and Baine wanted to come along with her, BB, Egle, and Pieni. Burton wouldn’t stop grumbling about “I thought this was gonna be a family only thing,” but between Merla, Marto and Yoara, they teased him into half begrudging silence.
It was a wild time, many laughs with Burton being super serious and Eina being ridiculously silly. But there was a quiet moment when Egle leaned in and said, “I’m worried.”
Turns out Griff had it in for BB’s friend and he was looking to find a way to get her expelled. If he did, that was it. Game over. No second chance. No coming back.
“Why do I get the feeling that you’re about to tell me this wasn’t really a dream, that Griff was some sort of demon, and he had trapped you all in this bizarre fantasy, to slowly kill you all?” Kruxeral says, the laughter on his face not quite reaching his eyes.
“Because you’re clever.” Merla winks at him. “It is a good guess, but not quite right though.”
Lucky for Egle, BB, Merla, and the rest of them were not going to let that happen.
Even in the dream, they were all schemers – so they started to plan. Figuring out when Griff and his gang would try something was easy. The Homecoming Dance was the following week and the ideal opportunity for Griff to set something up and pin it on Egle. But it was also the best chance they had at turning the tables on Griff and his goons. But what to do?
“We all have dates, yeah?” Baine asked.
“Pieni and Ghesh don’t. Unless there’s something you’re not telling us?” Merla’s look is probing.
Pieni’s feather’s puffed up slightly. “I fly solo.”
“I, uh, don’t actually have a date-” Ghesh started, when out of nowhere, Wanda showed up.
“If you go to the dance with me I could help you with whatever it is you’re planning,” she said, sidling up to Ghesh. “No one actually likes Griff and his gang and Ghesh here is the hottest bachelor of senior year!”
The dragonborn blinked a few times. “Ah, alrigh-”
“Perfect! My sister’s the photographer for the dance. I’ll give her the deets. But first, we,” Wanda linked her arm through Ghesh’s, “should go shopping. We must have complimentary outfits.”
“We need something more than just a photographer who’s willing to help,” BB started but Wanda held up a hand.
“You know those scary looking, beefed up bikes they have?”
They all nodded.
“I hear they still owe quite a hefty sum for that work.”
“You don’t say…” Baine said, thinking.
Merla’s eyes lit up. “I think I saw some Facebook Messages the other day, something about skipping town after the Homecoming Dance?”
The others turned to look at her. Baine grins, catching on.
“We can’t let them skip out on paying. As concerned citizens we should say something!”
“My Mum would be devastated to hear a small business being cheated out of their hard earned money. ‘Think globally, act locally,’ and all that jazz.”
Pieni looks back and forth between the two, slightly confused. “Where did you see these messages?” he asked.
Merla looks to Baine. “It was on one of the school computers wasn’t it? Clearing your browser history is important, you never know who might be checking it.”
He nodded. “Yeah, I’ll see if I can find them again. Might have to get creative.”
“I don’t understand a word of what you just said but I think I get the gist of it,” Kruxeral says.
“Good! Now, try not to interrupt me again, I… I’m finding it hard to remember some of the details…”
Taking the completely legitimate screen evidence from a Facebook Messenger Group chat between Griff and his goons to her mother.
“And these are bad kids,” Titania clarified.
“Hundred percent,” Merla answered.
“With motorcycles you want to have repossessed by the shop because they aren’t paying their dues.”
“Yes. They clearly aren’t making their payments. Just thinking about the local economy!”
“Yes, think globally, act locally…” Titania fell silent as she thought. “Alright. But I knew nothing about this. I am simply being a concerned citizen.”
And she did it perfectly.
Then, it was the night of the dance. Merla got ready, wearing a beautiful pink midi dress covered in blue butterflies and ruffles. Kruxeral arrived promptly at 6:00 dressed in a corset waistcoat of green and gold, collared shirt with the sleeves rolled up, and fine deep green slacks that tapered off just above his knee to show off the soft fur of his goat let legs.
“I finally show up, and in such style too!” Kruxeral pulls out a small book and a small nub of charcoal and writes something down. When he’s done the satyr snaps the book shut. “Just making a few notes. Please, do continue.”
They all arrived, serendipitously, at the same time; Kruxeral and Merla by driving Astra, Ghesh and Wanda riding in the limo Lytton and Baine had rented, BB, Dwrihian and Egle by bus, with Pieni landing by air. Griff and his gang were already there, the red motorcycles all in a neat little row closest to the school gate. It didn’t matter. They all knew their tasks, they all knew who they had to keep an eye out for, it was only a matter of time.
And try they did. Griff had it all set up, all they had to do was lock Elge out of the gymnasium where the dance was in a part of the school she wasn’t supposed to be in, maybe start a little fire in the library, and boom, she’d have been expelled. But they all took turns staying with Elge with BB never really leaving her side.
“Hey Griff, aren’t those your bikes?” Wanda asked as he walked past her and Ghesh at the punch bowl
“What?!” He stopped and turned back, not even questioning.
Across the room, Wanda’s sister was already making a b-line for the front doors.
Somewhere behind the crowd, Baine and Lytton oh so subtly begin to herd everyone in that direction.
They all watch as four red motorcycles are loaded onto a tow truck, Griff and his cronies dancing around them, shouting some kind of profanity or how this is unfair, but all of it falling on deff ears. Without their motorcycles, they were nothing, and thus had no way to harm Egle any more.
“Then we all woke up in BB’s flower field in New Hillborrow,” Merla finishes.
Kruxeral gives an amused chuckle. “For a dream that made no sense it was a pretty decent story. Though it had many strange and ridiculous things to it, I quite enjoyed hearing it. Thank you for tell it to me, arael’salif.” He lightly kisses her on the lips.
She smiles as he draws back. “Dreams aren’t meant to make complete sense. If they did, then it would be just like reality and that wouldn’t be any fun.”
“True! But, tell me, what happened with Egle? Is she alright?” he asks.
“Oh yes!” Merla beamed, clapping her hands together. “Though the dream was her way of getting us to help her on a more even playing ground, living in the Astral Sea is dangerous. It would be only a matter of time before someone attacked her again. Baine sent Frankie to the Fields of Elysium to ask Evelyn – an angel of Lathander – if it would be possible for Egle to move there. Being a god and all – albeit a pretty new one – it makes more sense that she should be somewhere in the Upper Planes. I told BB we can go visit Egle again, once she has settled.”
“I’m sure both BB and Egle will be happy about that.”
Merla smiles and lets out a small sigh.
Kruxeral raises an eyebrow “What is it?”
“Just something Egle said to BB. It… really resonated with me.”
He draws her toward him, wrapping his arms around her. “What was it?”
“‘There’s no moving on without you.’”
The words drape over them in the stillness of Merla’s rooms. Kruxeral holds her closer, pressing his lips to her forehead.
“I know that feeling all too well.”
*arael’salif – Heartsong (said to someone you love)