Author's Note: I always enjoyed the idea of daemons from His Dark Materials and decided to try writing a crossover between the two. If you don't really know what that is, I tried my best explaining it throughout the story. It won't be exact to how the book portrayed it (I tweaked it a bit), but the idea is overall the same. Sorry if it gets confusing in any way, let me know if I should add more details to the story so it makes more sense. I don't own His Dark Materials or Glee! I also apologize in advance for any grammatical/spelling/any errors, English isn't my first language (not an excuse I know)! But I hope you guys enjoy it!
Chapter I: Batesian Mimicry
In my youth, my grandmother would tell me stories of a fantastical world where humans lived without the companionship of their daemon at their side. How lonely these people must have been, I would say back to my grandmother. I could never imagine myself without Lord Tubbington, even if I do find his voice of reason to be occasionally annoying. In a way, my daemon was the only being that truly understood who I was and loved me unconditionally for it, but that's because my daemon is essentially me. My grandmother would chuckle during these times and explain that it wasn't the case that they didn't have a daemon, just that it was internalized. The essence of a daemon was like having a soul for a human. It was just one entity, instead of the two that we have in our world. Nevertheless, imagining not having Lord Tubbington was like imagining us being separated and that to me was one of the scariest possibilities ever. I was born with him by my side and when the time comes, I'm sure he'll also die by my side. But love, she would say, love was something those people had so that they wouldn't feel as lonely. It wasn't until I was older that I would come to learn how love could ever console the sense of that loneliness.
"Brittany!" cried out an excited voice into my ear. I groaned at the sudden violation and turned over to escape the sound, a fourteen year old girl should have every right to sleep in on weekend.
"C'mon Brittany!" it was then I felt small teeth gently pulling at my earlobe. "Get up! Didn't you say you wanted to explore that cool forest by our house today? You promised we'd go out today!"
"Tubs, that hurts," I muttered sleepily as I swatted my hand in Lord Tubbington's direction to stop his assault on my ear. "Five more minutes…"
"No! That's what you said ten minutes ago! I already gave you extra time; you made a promise, time to fulfill it! It's a good day to go exploring!" His small paw patted my face with each word, each pat increasing in force. There were times that I enjoyed the slight contrast in our personalities. The fact that Lord Tubbington was so punctual and responsible was probably one of the reasons why I didn't have to repeat eighth grade. Not to say that I wasn't those qualities, I just had different priorities like dance class and watching movies. I've never missed a single class for dance and I'm pretty sure I know all the lines to Mean Girls. But if there was something we both really enjoyed was a chance for adventure, except when that meant for me to get up earlier than I wanted to.
"Brittany!"
"Awake! Lord Tubbington!" I shouted at him as I flung my arm in his direction to get him to stop pestering me. "All right, let me get ready and then let's go."
There was a small forest approximately a mile away from our new house. We lived in a residential area near the middle of the mountains just twenty minutes away from my new high school. Looking up the street, we could tell that past the next two blocks of houses was wild terrain – no houses, no establishments, just perfect hiking and exploring opportunities. I had moved to Lima, Ohio around mid-August, and had spent most of my remainng summer vacation unpacking things from boxes and setting up my new room. Ohio was sure different from where I was before. It was a lot less populated, more trees and fewer skyscrapers. I guess my parents had just wanted to go to a calmer place, especially after my father's high blood pressure scare. This was the first weekend since school started and all I wanted to do relax and not be pounced by huge, overweight cats.
"Excuse you, but it's two PM," Lord Tubbington said, perched on top of my head. He was kind of a strange grey tabby cat, and though he loved adventure he oddly didn't enjoying moving. When we were first born, he was quite rotund and I had just assumed that I was due to baby weight (hence how he got his name). However, since we've gotten older I found him to suit his name more and more, since his chubby appearance has yet to change. Feeling personally victimized as his personal slave, he and I jokingly started to refer to him as Lord Tubbington, the name eventually just kind of stuck.
"Yeah and that's early for me," I guess I had been complaining aloud again. That happens every now and then, but I guess I need to make sure the voices in my head stay there. I don't want another voiceover disaster happening.
As we made our way higher and higher into the mountains, we soon encountered the hiking grounds. These kinds of places were filled with endless possibilities for adventure, and it was better than babysitting my younger sister at home. After following the trail for a while, Tubs and I noticed a somewhat hidden track. Excited by the idea of getting metaphorically lost in the wilderness, we decided to take this alternative route.
I wondered if my phone would be able to help GPS our way back to the trail when I remembered that I didn't bring my cell phone. The problem nowadays was that people were so dependent on technology, including myself. Anytime someone was bored, they'd whip out their smart phone and just entertain themselves. I always thought that was a problem because it was denying chances for human interaction. People were getting worse at talking to each other and becoming more dependent on media for terms of communication. I didn't ever want to be one of those people, so I often left my cell phone at home. The only bad thing about that… I had no clue where I was or how long I had been wandering. I just had to rely on the position of the sun above my head and hope I wasn't walking into another universe or something. These were always legitimate concerns by the way.
After walking for a while and hearing Lord Tubbington's complaints about being completely lost, I heard the sound of water. It must have been a small waterfall. Curiously, I walked my way out of the thick foliage to come across a beautiful stretch of greenery decorated with flowers. At the end of the area was a small lake with a roaring waterfall. It was like finding a mini paradise. There weren't as many trees in the area to block out the skies and I was suddenly very glad I decided to apply some sunscreen.
There was a girl lying in the middle of the grass, and automatically I raised my hand to shield the sun's harsh light as though to confirm this observation. Her presence seemed to fit so intimately with the scenery that I had to take a better look to make sure she wasn't some nymph in the forest ready to steal me away. I didn't realize how close I had walked towards this girl until I realized I could see her face. She had her arm flung carelessly over her eyes as if she believed that that alone would be able to hide her from the sun's rays. As a result I couldn't clearly see her face, but I did notice her luscious red lips emphasized by exceptionally red lipstick. Her nose was slender and the bridge tall, and tempted me to run my index finger down it until I would touch her philtrum and then finally to those lips. Her raven hair lay sprawled across the grass, those full lock just asking for my fingers to run through them. I had never seen someone so enchanting, and as her presence hypnotized me before, I found my hand slowly moving toward her face. Somehow I had been captivated by the mystery of this girl that I didn't even hear Lord Tubbington's warnings, until it was too late.
Her eyes opened and immediately I could see dark brown orbs staring confusingly into my own. Her eyebrows furrowed at the sight of me and I drew back in surprise that she woke. It was then I heard the dangerous hissing of a snake, which seemed to appear out of nowhere. It was silly for me to forget about the girl's own daemon. She sat up straight to create even more distance between us and I watched as the red, yellow, and black colored snake curled protectively around the girl's shoulders watching me and Lord Tubbington.
"Who are you?" the girl asked, her eyes growing particularly cold as though I had intruded her private getaway. My eyes widened and I could tell that Lord Tubbington was equally nervous. We didn't mean any trouble.
"Um…" Lord Tubbington shyly looked at me as I found myself unable to introduce myself and rubbed his feline face into my calf as though to encourage me.
"Um? You interrupt my rest, invade my personal space, and when it comes to such a simple question you can't even answer?" she smirked as she began to walk more confidently in my direction realizing that she had the upper hand in the situation. I may have surprised her, but she immediately regained composure and was instilling her dominance. "Cat caught your tongue?"
"I…I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…" I said taking a step back every time she took a step forward. I could see Lord Tubbington mirroring my actions, as the snake continued to hiss loudly and show its fangs.
"And what exactly did you mean to do, Blondie," she taunted, finally stopping her advances. I looked behind me and realized that I was one step away from stepping into the lake that hugged the hill, which probably was her intention. If she wanted to, I suppose she could push me in, but at the moment, she seemed generally curious about me.
"I was just walking around the area, and then I kind of got lost and then I saw you," I said truthfully though purposely leaving out the part where I was enamored by her ethereal appearance and how I wanted to touch her just to make sure she was really human. Gulping, I finally looked once again into her dark eyes and noticed how much I underestimated her beauty. With her eyes now visible, I was able to piece together her entire visage. Her eyes were unfairly gorgeous and the dark eyeliner around her eyes just made her even more haunting.
"Still doesn't explain why your pervy little hands were trying to touch me, Blondie," she said and I felt myself blushing from being caught. I could see Lord Tubbington dipping his head in embarrassment as well for the fact that he wasn't able to stop me from my temptations.
"I wasn't… " I wasn't sure what to say without making the situation even more awkward. The more I looked at her, the more scrutinized I felt and so I decided to concentrate on the mud on my shoes. I had figured she was going to push me into the bank of the lake, and so I decided to make her job a little easier. The girl's eyebrows raised at my falling into the waters, a look of genuine confusion settling in. The coolness of the water felt good against the heat, whether this heat was from the nature of the hot day or due to the stupidity of my choices I wasn't sure. My attention soon snapped back to the girl as I heard her chuckling above.
The water was pretty shallow, but it definitely made most of my clothes wet. Lord Tubbington pounced into the water next to me, his little paws getting wet.
"You okay?" His head nudged against my arm. I affectionately placed my hand on my daemon's head letting him know that everything was okay just that I probably seemed even weirder to this girl. It was then that Lord Tubbington's feline form transformed into a duck and floated upon the water. I strangely haven't gotten my period and guessed that that was the reason that my daemon hadn't settled. Lord Tubbington was still able to change forms to whatever he found suitable.
"You certainly are… interesting," the girl said as she extended her hand to me to help me up. Now it was my turn to be surprised, I could have sworn from that display of foolishness that she would've laughed at me and be done like most people. I gripped her left hand with my right and just as I was about to fully stand up, she let go.
My bottom hit the bank of the lake, and since I hadn't been anticipating such an action, my entire body was once again half submerged in the water. She was laughing again, and in my anger, I grabbed her hand and pulled her in. I suspect she wasn't expecting that because soon she fell to her knees in the water, her hands quickly reached out to stabilize her fall.
"What the f- " she began as she pushed back some hairs that had come loose from behind her ear.
"You started it!" I shouted, as I quickly got up and made my way towards the deeper parts of the lake. I could hear Lord Tubbington scrambling behind me as well, taking flight so he would still be near me. It was the fastest I ever saw him move.
"Get back here!" she yelled at me, following me into the deeper waters not caring if she was going to get her clothes wet anymore. The snake remained in its form and was coiled protectively along her arm. I wondered if her daemon had already reached its settling until I saw that she extended her arm into the air and the snake's scales receded into black feathers. The new form was a black sort of bird and started to chase after Lord Tubbington.
"I'm sorry! I just…" Why in the world did I think I could pull her into the water without some kind of consequence? Great thinking Brittany. The depth of the water was getting greater and greater and soon I found myself unable to reach the bottom. I wasn't that great at swimming, but with all this adrenaline kicking in, I felt like I could become the next Olympic champion. Unfortunately, it seemed like the girl was an adept swimmer and I could hear the sounds of her splashes approaching. I hadn't felt any particular pain, so I imagine Lord Tubbington was also still out of reach of the girl's daemon. That was a troubling thing about daemons, whatever they feel I feel and vice versa.
"Got you!" the girl grunted as a hand clamped down on my foot. As she pulled herself closer to me, I began to flail hoping she would let go. I felt a strange stab of pain to my arm, knowing immediately that Lord Tubbington's wing was probably being grabbed by the crow's talons. I was in so much shit.
"I was just really really hypnotized by how pretty you look," I shouted at her knowing that the truth may very well cause me even more trouble. I realize it may seem a bit strange to compliment another girl in such a way, or I hope she takes it as a compliment. Nevertheless, I couldn't gauge her reaction because I was still moving around.
"Stop! Stop thrashing! Calm down, I'm not –" but her words were getting cut off I splashed water in her direction and for a second I thought I heard her laughing. "Blondie! Stop! I'm not going to hurt you!"
Immediately I stopped my flailing and noticed that she was just calmly laying her hand on my shoulder now. Treading water wasn't something I usually did, and combined with all the swimming I had just done, I was getting exhausted.
"Can you please let me –" Suddenly, she splashed what felt like a tsunami at my face leaving me stunned. Was she going to drown me? Was this the last day of my life? I hadn't even got to see what my daemon's final form would be.
"That was for earlier," she smirked. In response, I splashed her back observing how she was surprised that I could do that. I didn't even really realize what I was doing, it was just so automatic. I was just defending myself. She splashed me back and I mirrored her actions. Eventually, she stopped and instead of seirously hurting me, she just shook her head and let out a laugh.
"You're really something. C'mon let's get out of here," she said as she let go of me to swim back to shore. I wasn't sure if it was a good idea to follow her, but I wasn't going to spend the rest of my time hiding out in the water. Looking above, I noticed how the girl's daemon swooped down to fly by her, allowing Lord Tubbington to come down to my side.
"They're nuts Brittany! I told you it wasn't a good idea to go up to them!" he said as he used his bill to fix the plumage of his wings.
"I don't know, I think… we were having fun," I said slowly swimming back to the greenery. I saw that the other girl had already reached it and was taking off her clothes. The other girl's daemon no longer in an avian form, I had assumed it changed back into the snake it was before. Guess her daemon hadn't settled yet either.
"Are you kidding me? Being chased and feeling like you're about to die is fun?" he asked incredulously. "I thought I wasn't going to make it when that guy got me."
"It was exhilarating," I admitted nearly reaching my destination. Once again, the girl bent down to allow the snake to wrap itself around her arm. Her daemon sure took on an interesting form for a snake, the vibrant red and yellow separated by a thin black.
"I come in peace?" I shyly whispered, watching as the girl laid her black tank top and jean shorts on the ground in the sunlight to allow it to dry. In the meantime, I couldn't help noticing how fit she was and the ample size of her breasts, even if it was mostly covered by a black lacey bra. Her panties matched of course.
"Eyes up here, Blondie," she said haughtily as she rested on her side on the grass. She didn't seem to actually be offended by my gazing though and from her slight smile, it would almost seem as though she were proud. "And why don't you do the same, it's fucking hot anyway."
I quietly nodded, and in a quick swoop, removed my own tank top and shorts to lay it next to hers. I could feel her eyes scanning my body and I made sure to exaggerate my bending so she could get a better look at my ass. She wasn't the only one with an amazing body. After years of dancing, I was pretty sure I gave her a run for her money. She chuckled at my antics and patted the area next to her suggesting that I lie beside her. And when I did, Lord Tubbington became his usual tabby self and curled up near my chest.
"So who are you?" she asked curiously, the earlier disdain completely gone. In this position, it reminded me of when I first saw her, except I could see her eyes now and she was only in her underwear.
"I'm Brittany," I stated as I extended the arm I wasn't leaning on towards her. She seemed amused by my desire to shake her hand, but I guess she decided to indulge me because a second later she reached out for mine. Her grip was firm and enticing, as though she was trying to live a tactile impression on my hand. Despite her strong grip, I noticed that her hands were particularly soft, moisturized daily to maintain such gentleness. Her nails were also trimmed neatly, the tips painted white for a French manicure. Our two daemons seemed to also be engaging in a greeting with Lord Tubbington bowing his head at the snake, whom returned the hello.
"I'm Lord Tubbington," he said, noting that the snake seemed to smile at his particular title.
"So where do you go Brittany?" she asked as she moved to a more comfortable position, her hand now supporting her head.
"I just transferred, but I'm going to a school called McKinley High School."
"Oh?" she seemed pretty interested by my comment, but I couldn't tell if it was because she went there or knew something about it. "How do you like it there?"
"It's all right. Some people seem pretty nice, and others… don't," I frowned as I remembered seeing Rachel and her daemon Jesse cleaning up their slushied selves in the bathroom earlier this week. Rachel could be pretty talkative but even I didn't think she needed to suffer the icy dousing of a cherry slushie. She was one of the first people I met at school and took it upon herself to introduce me to the school.
"Did something happen to you?" the girl asked grimly as though she were possibly concerned for my wellbeing. Her eyebrows furrowed giving her quite a look of contemplation, like she was trying to remember something.
"Oh no, no, this girl in my class just got slushied."
"That poor songbird's wings! I'd hate to have gotten that stuck in my fur," Lord Tubbington shuddered. The girl's snake hissed oddly like it was trying to conceal a laugh.
"She probably deserved it. Only losers gets slushied at McKinley, so she must've been doing something pretty lame," it was strange how much the girl was aware of the McKinley customs. I wondered if she went there, or if the school's slushie rituals were just that infamous.
"She was just singing in the halls…" I defended not really understanding why singing would cause someone to deserve a slushie facial.
"In the hallways? God are you talking about Rachel Berry?" she rolled her eyes in disgust at the mention of that very girl. It doesn't seem like she particularly liked Rachel.
"Have you heard of her?" I had thought perhaps Rachel's reputation as that annoying girl singing monologues in the hallways preceded her.
"Something like that. Look just don't hang out with people like her, you wouldn't want to get slushied," she advised.
"She was just one of the first people I met, she seemed kind of normal until she opened her mouth to sing about new beginnings," I joked as I remembered how distracted I was about how wide her mouth could open. Girl's got some big notes that come out of that big mouth.
"She's probably just trying to get you to join her little Glee club. Don't do it," the girl said, once again showing that she seemed to know a little bit too much about Rachel.
"Glee club? A club about being happy?" I asked. I hadn't heard of a glee club before.
"More like a bunch of lame kids and their lame daemons making nauseating noises and working to hopefully one day break each and every one of our ear drums," she rolled onto her back away from me to stare into the skies again. Her daemon closing its eyes for a brief respite.
"Oh, I don't think I'd join that, I'm not that interested in singing. I'm more into dancing."
"Dancing?" she asked suddenly and opened one eye to look in my direction. I had caught her attention.
"Yeah, I've taken dance since I was four, I'm pretty good at it," I was quite good at my craft. I wanted to show her my abilities, but was scared that I would be placed on the same level of coolness of those Glee club kids. At the same time though, I wanted to peak her interest in me, and get her to want to know more about me.
"Show me." That was fast, but who was I to turn down a performance for this beautiful girl.
At the moment, I was glad that I was in my underwear because it would be easier to do some moves. Standing up, I took a couple steps back so that she could see my entire body. From my standing position, I placed one hand on my cocked hip and bent my opposite leg forward a bit. I repeated this action from the opposite side so now that my legs were at shoulder's width and both my hands on my hips, throughout this I decided to lock onto her face so she knew I was performing for her. I wasn't too sure what kind of style to do for her, so I just decided to do a simple routine I choreographed during dance class. It involved a lot of body rolls and seductively touching my own body, so that she could understand how I felt when I first saw her. I had trouble communicating sometimes with words, but I knew I was always able to express my feelings through dance.
"Wow," the girl was apparently speechless, I think I enjoyed the fact that I impressed her. She unconsciously licked her lips as I took a bow whilst I maintained eye contact with her.
"Was it everything you wished and more?" I asked a bit breathlessly as I moved to lay back down near her. Lord Tubbington smiled at my performance and I could tell he gleamed with pride.
"Don't get too cocky, Blondie," she changed her position so that she was looking back to the skies, her arms neatly cradling her head. It was then I knew she was shutting me out again.
"You don't have to do that," I stated as my arm reached out to touch her shoulder. However, seeing her snake wake and hiss at me I immediately drew back.
"Do what?" she inquired uninterestedly.
"Call me Blondie, just call me Brittany like everyone else." I did introduce myself to her so that she could call me by my name.
"Maybe I don't want to be like everyone else," she challenged, but she didn't feel the necessity to make eye contact with me as we speak.
"You're not… like everyone else," I admitted. Every time I spoke the hard truth to her, she seemed to respond and so II was going to speak exactly what was on my mind. "You're way hotter than all of them." And at that she scoffed.
"Don't think your saying that will get you anywhere, I'm not gay. I'm not going to give you some special pink triangle Tegan and Sara invitation into my pants because you think you can compliment," she said quickly as though to brush any attempts of hitting on her, which wasn't even my intention at all. I just thought she was a really pretty girl and I wanted to be her friend. And worst, the more I talked to her, the more I wanted to know about her. But she was so defensive about my compliment I wondered if it she was going to misinterpret my desires.
"I don't want to get into your pants. I want to get into your head, but not literally. Like, metaphorically… to get to know you," I might as well just try. Who knows, maybe she'll shut herself out again, but maybe she won't.
"Why would you be interested in someone like me?" She asked a little harshly and it was then I had a feeling that the girl was more lonely than she let on to be.
"I don't know, you're like this really weird puzzle. And I like puzzles."
"What?" I must have offended her because she turned her head towards me once again.
"You're mean to me, then you're slightly nice the next. And then the more we talk, the nicer you become, I don't think you're as tough as a person you put yourself to be. I mean… red on yellow will kill a fellow, red on black, venom lack."
Her eyes widened at my observation in shock as though no one had ever told her that before, maybe she didn't even know it herself. I watched as her mouth opened and closed trying to form some kind of retort, but she couldn't. I didn't want her to panic though, it was okay. Snakes were extremely beautiful creatures, and intelligent too. Her daemon just happened to really like the form of a king snake, a type of snake that wasn't venomous at all but only appeared so. In fact, it was a type of defense mechanism in which it was copying the appearance of a coral snake, an actually venomous snake, so that others would think it was deadly, but it wasn't. That's exactly like what this girl is. She puts on a front to make people think she was mean and dangerous, but she's not. And because of that she's probably often misunderstood.
"Don't worry! I don't tell anyone if that's what you're worried about," I said trying to reassure her.
"You don't know who I am! Why the fuck am I even talking to you? I have razor blades in my hair!" she sat up to regain her dominance, which was really silly considering if I sat up I would be taller than her. Still, I let her indulge in her desire to look down on me like I was inferior, that she was the one in control of the situation. It was so dumb though because if anyone saw us they'd notice that we were both in our underwear arguing. Or she was yelling, I was just trying to console her.
"Because you know you can trust me. You're being defensive, relax I'm not going to tell anyone except Lord Tubbington but that's because he's here," I shrugged as I touched Lord Tubbington's head.
"Yeah, if this is some secret I swear on my cigars I won't tell anyone," he joked, I hoped. I hated when he smokes.
"Why are you so nice to me?" her voice slightly cracked and I watched as she turned her face so I couldn't see her. Was she going to cry?
"Why not?" I sat up slowly and took Lord Tubbington in my arms.
"You said so yourself, I'm mean. Why would you stick around after how I've treated you?" she whispered that last part. Her snake daemon's melting away and changing into a new form of a mouse, and crawling onto her shoulder. It seemed to want to comfort her, whispering soft nothings into her ear.
"It's like I said before, you're like a puzzle right now. I think you say some things that are mean, but I don't think that means you're a bad person," I said honestly facing the back of her head. Lord Tubbington looked up worryingly at me and I could only return his look of concern.
"So what I'm just some kind of toy to you? A puzzle for you to figure out and when you're done you'll leave?"
"No, I'll always be your friend. As long as you want and even longer," I couldn't take it anymore and so I stood up completely and went around so that I could see her face to face. I sat right back down in front of her so that it would seem like we were equals, and not that I was scolding her.
"Yeah, until you find something about me you don't like and then…" she trailed off so quickly that I almost then catch this last part. "And then you just leave…"
"I promise, pinky promise," automatically, my hands went to cup her left hand. I opened up her hand, which had been clenched so tightly that it left little half moon indentations in her palm, and linked our pinkies.
"Til the day my life is through, this I promise you," I began to softly sing to her. I wasn't even sure if she knew N'Sync, but they were such a classic group when I grew up. She gave me a slight smile, the most genuine one I've seen all day and that alone encouraged me to continue my serenading, even if I wasn't the best singer.
"I'ved loved you forever,
In lifetimes before
And I promise you never…
Will you hurt anymore."
I always loved this song and the meaning behind it. I guess I lost myself in the song for a second, but what brought me back was when the girl also started to sing. And when she opened her mouth, it was like the heavens had released their angels to serenade me. Her voice was so velvet-like and unique. It was so soothing that I felt the intoxication creep through veins, wanting more.
"I give you my word
I give you my heart
This is a battle we've won
And with this vow,
Forever has begun."
She stopped there even though I knew she wanted to finish the rest of the song. It was probably because she noticed that I had stopped singing and she didn't want to do it alone. She sure had an amazing voice.
"For someone who doesn't like glee club, I think you'd be great there," I said and watched as she dipped her head slightly in embarrassment. The girl was starting to trust me more and thus accept my compliments.
"Yeah? I just don't wanna have to convince Schuester that I rightfully deserve to be the lead and not manhands," she huffed and crossed her arms in annoyance. I chuckled at her suddenly child-like behavior. Her mouse soon returning to its usual snake form.
"You're better than her! Definitely, your voice has that sort of super sexy quality, something Rachel can never pull off. Have you seen her, she's like the epitome of unsexy and creepy animal sweaters," I stated not even really realizing that I somehow knew that manhands was Rachel. I mean, I guess she does have kind of mannish hands.
"Thanks…" she said shyly, as yet another genuine grin appeared on her face. In return, I flashed on my brightest smile, which she oddly chuckled at. She probably thought I was goofy, but that was fine. I could see that Lord Tubbington was also making friendly gestures with the snake, who seemed to be a lot less defensive than before.
"It's getting cold, I'm going to put on my clothes now, is that okay?" Truth was, it was getting dark and I've been freezing my ass for some bit. I also had to go home soon, and I didn't want to accidentally walk in public without any clothes. That didn't need to happen a second time.
"I don't care, why are you asking me?" she shrugged at her own comment, but got up with me to make our way back to put on our clothes, which weren't completely dry yet.
"Because I know you secretly were checking me out," I said winking in her direction as I put on my tank top. She froze at my comment, her hands just gripping at her tank top.
"Oh my god," she said completely bug-eyed, which cracked me up.
"Just kidding," I said, and her immobility spell was broken. She glanced away briefly before continuing to put on her own clothes.
"You have a great body though, fits with your pretty face," I said once more and watched as she nervously scrunched up her face. It was so funny to embarrass her I don't think I'd mind doing it more when we start to hang out more…if we do. She softly slapped my arm and I wondered where her previous badass demeanor ran off to. Looking to the sky, I could tell it was getting close to dinner time and I would hate for my mom to start calling the police all worried that I got lost in the city again.
"Hey, my mom's probably going to start wondering where I'm at, I hafta go home soon," and at that she frowned, my words shattering our little fantasy world and bringing us hard back to real life. I wondered if her parents were worried about her or if they were waiting for her at home too. She bent down so her daemon could wrap itself around her arm, before standing straight up next to me. She was a couple inches shorter than I was.
"Oh…" she sounded disappointed; it seemed so strange that she was unhappy after just brief moments of happiness.
"But I can meet you here again if you want!" I said immediately reaching to give her another pinky promise, to which she gave me a sad smile.
"Um… I actually go to McKinley too," she confessed thinking that I hadn't known that detail already. She let so much information about herself slip, even someone as... dumb as I could figure that out.
"I know."
"How?" she wasn't questioning this time in a defensive manner, just curious.
"You talked about fighting for the spotlight with Rachel, so I figured you went to our school. I don't think I saw you though, or maybe I did but I don't remember. But I'm sure if I saw such a pretty face like yours I'd definitely remember it. I'm speaking too much aren't I?"
"I don't mind," she answered, truly not at all bothered by my train of thought.
"I mean this can be our secret place if you want to meet again," I didn't want her to feel obligated to hang out with me at school. She already seemed like such a guarded person, I could only imagine how she was at school. Of course, I'd love to be able to talk and hang out with her like friends…
"I…" she hesitated. She seemed ashamed to deny our friendship the proper respect it deserves.
"It's okay, we can take baby steps," I didn't mind. I was slowly understanding the pieces of this mysterious girl.
"Just as friends," her voice was stern, and I knew how serious she was about this. She wanted to be just friends, which confused me because that's all I ever wanted us to be.
"As much as friends you want to be."
She didn't respond, but instead nodded. I gathered Lord Tubbington into my arms, the lazy bastard was getting too tired to walk (as usual); I waved a goodbye to my new friend. She stood there motionless for a second before raising her hand to wave goodbye back.
"Bye!" Lord Tubbington called out. And as I walked just a couple feet, I soon heard the soft pitter patter of running.
"Brittany?" her voice prompted me to turn around.
"Yeah?"
"I didn't get to introduce us," she said and I smiled. The fact that my mysterious girl with the snake was finally going to give her name to me was a huge deal. I mentally slapped myself for incredulously not asking for her name the entire time we talked together.
"Oh yeah! We can do it over if you'd like," I said extending a hand to her, while holding Tubs with my other.
"Hi, I'm Brittany. Brittany Susan Pierce."
"Lord Tubbington, yes, I'm really a lord," he joked.
"Santana Marie Lopez," she said reaching to firmly grasp my hand. It was then a sudden realization hit me. This was the girl who slushied Rachel. I didn't witness it myself, but in the bathroom I remember Rachel complaining about some girl named Santana and how later throughout her tour she warned me about her. This was the infamous mean girl of the school, the one that Rachel said never to look in the eye or even try to talk to lest I get on her bad side. I had known Santana to be a bit defensive and potentially mean, but I couldn't believe she was the mean girl of the school. And yet, I felt little fear or animosity towards her. She was nothing that people made her out to be, just a misunderstood, beautiful creature with a tendency to use her meanness to weed out the people she would learn to care about in her life. Only those who were willing to take the time to break through that façade would be delighted to realize the shy and insecure girl on the inside. She was exactly what her daemon portrayed her to be. It was at this point, I decided to erase everything I knew about Santana from Rachel and start fresh with her.
"It's good to meet you Brittany Susan Pierce."
The snake raised its head and looked warily to Santana as though asking for permission to introduce itself. It was strange to see a daemon have to ask to speak considering that a daemon and a human were the same entity. And at the affirmation, the snake gave us a smile and cleared its throat.
"My name is Snix," she said. It was a feminine voice! Santana's daemon was female! In my entire fourteen years of living I had never met someone who had a daemon that was the same sex. I had heard tales from my grandmother of such people, but that they were extremely rare. I wasn't exactly what that implied about Santana and having a same sex daemon, but it didn't matter. Santana was Santana and Snix was Snix. They were still going to be our friends no matter what. I could see why she would want to hide such a matter, and why she would pretend to be a badass. In that moment I felt like a huge secret had been entrusted to Lord Tubbington and me.
"I'm glad to have met you two," I said glad to finally put a name to their faces. I would have loved to just enveloped them in a huge hug except her daemon was there and I knew how intimate or violating that could be. Humans don't just go touching another person's daemon unless for some special reasons. We weren't close enough for that and when we do become that close, it would be a very significant moment in our lives indeed.
"Is… is that okay?" she played a lot with her hands when she was nervous I noted.
"It's awesome!" I may have seemed a little too enthusiastic, and hopefully that didn't rub her the wrong way. I didn't want it to seem again that I was trying to get into her pants. I gave her hand one last squeeze before finally separating.
"I'll see you tomorrow!" I waved one last at the two.
"Bye!" they echoed and I wondered how long Santana and Snix would remain there. As I ran with the excess weight of Tubbington in my arms, I took a mental flashback of everything that just happened.
"Wow she's a she! I was wondering why she didn't talk to us earlier," Lord Tubbington voiced as I made it past the thick foliage of the forest and eventually found my way back to the trail.
"I think it's cool!" I told him, even though I knew he already agreed with me upon this manner.
"Me too," he said happily as he took the form of a duck again to relieve me of having to carry him. He flew by my side as I continued to run back towards my home. "Told you it was a good day to go exploring."
"Oh hush you," I giggled and together we hurried home excited for what adventures tomorrow would bring.