This is my entry for the lovely prompt my colleages in EFB discord server organized.
It's my first time writting something like this so I hope it's enjoyable.
With that said, enjoy it :3
The sun was setting. The night arrived over a small group of tired adventurers. Raven leaded the way, followed by his party. It was a tiring day filling out quest they found in the guild board. Dust in their faces and mud on the shoes, they finally saw the entrance of their house. A big inn that the locals prepared to accommodate the El search party as thanks for their hard work keeping demons and bandits a like far from the village.
"I hope they prepared the water for us." Elsword groaned.
"Is your ass too tired for do it by yourself bro?" Elesis said.
The little brother gave her sister an annoyed look. By the time they arrived at the gate, the entrance lights were lit. Raven knocked on the door and it was Aisha who came and let them in. They made their way to the living room, causing the present former innkeeper to scream in anger seeing the floor getting all dirty with mud and dirt. The old lady that used to be the inn owner made them head to the backyard.
"Nothing beats taking a hot bath after a day of hard work." Elsword said resting his hands on his nape.
"What hard work? You were just a nuisance since it was Elesis and me who had the job done." Raven complained.
"But I was there to give moral support." The redhead answered back.
They reached the backyard and saw Rena, Ara and Eve leaving. They were dressing their pajamas already, with a towel rolled up with their hair.
"Oh my, look at you. You look like kids that just came back from playing." Rena said while sharing a laugh with Ara.
Unlike those two, Eve didn't laugh, she was wearing such a sleepy face that it was hard to tell if she was awake or not. She even bumped into Elesis. She dismissed the tired Nasod with a head pat.
"All righty, time to get our bums shining." Elesis said, rushing first into the bath.
An hour later the group was already clean. They exited the bath with a towel hanging around their necks and a fresh look on their faces. Since they already had dinner on the way home, they headed straight to their rooms.
"Hey Raven, why don't you came along tonight? Chung and I are going to try those sweets we got as a reward for last week mission." Elsword said when Raven stopped on his room's door.
"I am sorry; I'm not interested in those kind of things." Raven said in a hurry and entered his room.
Elsword searched for her sister just to see her already entering her room. He resigned to join Chung alone.
Raven wandered in his room. He threw his shoes to a corner and decided he would clean them tomorrow. He collapsed on the bed and stared at the ceiling for a while before checking the time.
"I guess I should get going." He said before getting up with a jump.
He opened his drawer and browsed through his collection of clothes. After ten minutes deciding what to put on, he took out a black suit with a white shirt. After getting changed he went back to his drawer, this time he was looking for something at its bottom. He moved aside some old shoes boxes and revealed a small lever in there. Pulling it made the back of the drawer move slightly with a "clac" noise. He pushed the back and it moved aside to reveal some stairs heading down. Before getting in, Raven secured his room door with the lock.
The secret tunnel didn't head too deep underground, it was enough however to hide a whole basement. It was dark and humid, Raven walked feeling the walls until he stumbled with a door. He opened it and light came out.
"I see I'm not the first one to arrive today." He said, entering the room.
Unlike the humid and old look of the secret tunnel, the room he just entered was a lot different. A lot of candles and torches kept it well lit; there was a white carpet on the floor with roses drawn over it. A big table at the center with cushioned chairs around it and a lot of shelves on the sides of the room.
However the most interesting item would be those who occupied the shelves. Plushies. Dozens of them. They were on the shelves, on the ground and even inside cardboard boxes. They were arranged in a variety of fashions. The ones on the lower shelves were arranged by their color, while the ones in the upper one went by their size. The ones on the left rack were animals, while the ones on the right were humans. The boxes had words describing its contents inside that ranged from the materials used to make them to even the collection they were supposed to form.
The only person in that room aside from Raven was a redheaded girl.
"I didn't want to be late to our tea party!" Elesis said.
She was crouching next to a box, searching through its insides. She would pull out a plushie and examine it before putting it inside again. Once she found one that she liked, she took it to the table, were other two plushies already sat. One was a small yellow creature, with long ears that ended in black tips. The other was a girl with purple hair and bunny ears, dressed in a black coat with purple skirt. The one Elesis carried to the table was another human, a man with black hair and a butler costume.
"Alright, all set. Shall we start?" Elesis said, sating between the girl and the creature plushies.
"Ok… ok… Wait a moment. You mixed the Pokemon ones with the Digimon ones again!" Raven shouted in an angry way.
Elesis looked like a caught cat, as she averted her gaze before answering.
"I'm sorry; it's just that for me they look basically the same." Elesis answered.
"That they look what!?" Raven yelled angrier than before.
Elesis sighed; she offered to rearrange them again while Raven brews the tea. The basement was also equipped with a kettle and stove. Both items brought by the ones using them. Raven discovered the hidden basement by accident, while searching for a place to hide his collection. Even when he owns such huge collection of plushies, he would never admit so in front of everyone else. The fact that Elesis knew was simply that Raven discovered Elesis sewing a plushie. He decided to share his hobby with her since them. The basement ended being their breakaway from daily work and stress.
He finished brewing tea and served it on the small teacups placed on the table. Elesis already finished up putting each plushie in its designed place. Raven was usually a messy person, however this place was his sanctuary, and he wouldn't like the minimum disturbance to it.
"I also brought sweets! I took them from my brother's room this morning." Elesis said, showing raven a black box with all kind of chocolate sweets inside it.
Their "tea party" would usually be a quiet time where they would both enjoy tea. Sometimes Elesis would grab one of their company plushies and talk through it, and so she did with the bunny eared one this time.
"Tell me Raven, why don't you ask out that pointy eared girl at once?" Elesis asked, making her voice sound higher pitched.
Raven coughed as he was sipping tea.
"That's none of your concern…" He answered.
"Oh, come on, it's not funny if you don't play along." Elesis complained.
"Then ask something better."
Elesis threw the plush over to Raven with a laugh, and Raven asked this time with the same tone Elesis used before.
"Why don't you tell your brother you like to sew plushie versions of him?" Raven asked through the plushie.
"Because I also sew plushie versions of everyone else. Even yours Raven. Would you like to have them?" Elesis said.
"I'll certainly do."
The rest of the party was more quiet. Silence only interrupted by the occasional sip of tea. It wasn't an awkward silence though. Both of them seek relaxation, and both of them found it here. It was not only a place full of cute plushies they could feel and hug, it was also a hidden place, secret to anyone else. After finishing his tea, Raven walked to a pile of plushies conveniently placed near the stove and collapsed over it. Some plushies jumped in the air as he fall on the comfy improvised bed. He rolled one way and another, before starting to fall asleep. Elesis finished her share of tea and headed out. There was another door right opposing the one Raven used, this one connecting with Elesis' drawer.
"Leaving already?" Raven asked without leaving his place.
"Yeah, I want to do something." Elesis said.
She made her way out and up the stairs. Exited the hidden passage and closed the fake door. She also unlocked the door to avoid raising suspicions. She went back to the drawer and took out a wooden box. She opened it revealing a set of plushies. They were all of humans. Her friends, to be more precise. There were a plushie for every member of the El search party. After looking at them, she pulled out one of them. It was one with silver hair and black clothes. She pet the plushie hair with a smile.
"I see you are again with that."
Elesis froze hearing a voice behind her. She slowly turned around until she saw who was speaking, even when she already fully know who she was. She saw Eve, sat on her bed looking at her while rubbing her eyes. The shirt she was wearing as pajama had sleeves so long that her hands remained hidden inside them. Eve stood and walked next to Elesis, snatching the plushie out of her hands and walking back to bed.
"This is good, I'm taking it to sleep." Eve said.
"Why aren't you in your room?" Elesis asked.
"It's cold there." Eve answered showing her back at her.
"What? Is as cold as any other room." Elesis replied.
Eve didn't said more, instead she slightly turn her head to look at Elesis.
"I like this plushie, did you made it?" Eve asked.
"… Yeah, I sewed it." Elesis answered.
"For what purpose?" Eve asked again.
"I… don't know. I like to play around with those things." Elesis answered fidgeting.
Eve looked ahead again. She placed the plushie on the bed, next to her place and stretched before getting into bed. Her shirt-pajama revealed a cute pair of pink panties that Elesis tried not to stare to.
"Why do you even bother making this thing when you already have the real thing around?" Eve finally said, getting into bed and hugging her imitating plushie.
Elesis blush at Eve comment. She stared at her and realized that she was actually pouting and averting her gaze. Elesis got into bed and hug her. In a way, she was right. It was way better the feeling of the real person. However she somehow enjoyed making the plushie itself. But what could be better than having both? She thought. She squeezed the little Nasod in her arms and blew the only lit candle.
And that's it. I hope you liked it.
My number one worry about the fic was that Raven wouldn't look too much weird or shady. And I think he actually looks good here, idk.
Thank you for reading and best of lucks for all the participants :3