A Fox In Magix
Speaking
Thoughts/Spells
Demonic Voice
Disclaimer: I own neither Winx Club, nor Naruto.
AN/ I know it's been a while. Trust me, you don't want me to get into the details, but it's been a long few months. Never fear. Though I haven't posted in a while, I'm still writing. I've got nearly complete chapters for Rosario and Shadowed Light, and my X23 crossover has a nearly complete intro chapter.
FYI: Considering how long it's turned out to be, this chapter, the Grounded episode, will be split in two.
NOTE: ALL my fics are still on. As it stands though, my Justice League and Ultimate X-Men ones are on temporary hiatus until I can figure out their futures. Justice League due to the New 52 changes, even if my fic is based on the tv series. And Ultimate X-Men, well, what with the series ended, I want to see how Ultimate X goes before I commit anymore.
But all the rest are still running. I just haven't had many moments where I felt like writing. (The stress of applying to a Professional school and waiting to be accepted. It's only because of the acceptance that I've relaxed enough to write these.)
Enjoy.
Chapter 3 - Grounded, Part 1
Two days of classes where they could do nothing but listen, falling behind all the other girls when it came to practical lessons, had not diminished the feeling of loss as they went about without their powers. Though Bloom was handling it the easiest by far. She'd grown up on Earth, after all, having spent the majority of her life without those powers so it wasn't all that new or dramatic. The impact of the last few days had weighed heaviest on the members of the group that had grown up in magic's presence. Without their powers, the majority of them felt…limited. As they were supposed to.
But that was neither here nor there. The here and now had the gaggle of teen fairies assembled in Griselda's office, early Saturday morning. This was not how they wanted to spend a Saturday.
Soft-spoken as she was, two days into their punishment had emboldened the nature fairy into voicing the question they all wanted to know the answer to. "Griselda…We were wondering when we might get our powers back?" she implored for them all.
"Your little "field trip" to Cloud Tower was unacceptable, not to mention dangerous," she retorted brusquely, and stood from behind her desk. "You're lucky you weren't turned into jumping beans and sold to the Inter-Realm Circus! You won't be getting your powers back any time soon," leveling the truth on them before pacing to the front of the desk. "But that's only the beginning of your punishment."
All flinched at her finishing words, absorbing her meaning. "Ah! What's the rest of it?" Flora asked meekly.
The chastisement leaving her voice, her eyes bore a lecturing sternness to their gaze. "You may not leave the campus for the next two days." Effectively, their punishment included the robbing of the weekend.
"Veg out all weekend?" Stella cracked flippantly. "Not exactly a punishment, Miss G." Despite the no nonsense atmosphere that always seemed to surround Griselda, Bloom couldn't help the giggle that sneaked past her lips.
Tecna was a bit more wary of what her friend's behavior would draw out. "Stella!" she hushed.
Too late.
The smug look on the Assistant Head's face told them all they needed to know.
Clapping her hands, energy flickered before flying forth and bringing into existence several armfuls of cleaning supplies: brooms, mops, buckets, sponges… "There will be no vegging out," she countered. "You will clean this school from basement to belfry using these cleaning implements." Grabbing up a mop, she marched over to the Solarian fairy. "Here you are, Miss Stella. Your new best friend," and thrust it into her hands. Oh yeah, she wasn't enjoying this at all.
"What a curious looking remnant of primitive technology," Tecna mused, flipping open her small computer, immediately searching for online reference materials. "Perhaps there's an online manual in my-"
'CLP' Stepping over to the tech fairy, Griselda pushed the screen down, closing the computer and halting her search. "You won't need a manual, Miss Tecna," she clipped.
"Oh, no manual?" brow knitting in agitation. This was stepping quite the ways beyond her realm. And she couldn't even look for a referential guide.
Musa smiled at her. "Don't worry, Tecna. It's not that complicated."
"Yeah," agreed Flora with a little added levity. "The only manual we'll be using is manual labor." But Tecna still sagged, shoulders and head bowing.
"Exactly. If we had a manual for the labor we'd be more efficient at-," she proclaimed in argument of her point, but was interrupted by joint laughter. Glaring weakly at her friends and roommates, "What's so funny? I was not joking."
Not believing their attitudes, and not liking that they didn't appreciate that they were being punished, "That's enough!" she barked reproachfully at them, voice cracking like a whip, but the jocularity was only weakened, not stopped. "Leave no paperweight undusted! Now…Get To Work!"
Organizing, they separated in two groups. Flora took Tecna, and Bloom and Musa took charge over Stella. It'd been deemed necessary for at least two to keep the flighty fairy's nose to the proverbial grindstone.
Not that they were being successful at it.
Bloom scrubbed the higher ascending benches.
Musa wiped down the lower benches.
Stella…perched herself atop the teacher's desk and worked on her makeup.
On her knees, Bloom sat back up, stretching her already stiff back. "Only ten more lecture halls to go," she reminded. Her words weren't rhetorical though. They were aimed at the only member of their small team not to do anything yet.
Hand coming up to wipe her brow, Musa agreed wholeheartedly. "How 'bout a little H to the E to the L to the P, Stella?"
Ball rolling and all, justifiably so, "Totally! This is kinda your fault, you know," the redhead reminded.
Snapping her compact shut, "This is my fault?" she scoffed, disbelieving in the very possibility, and kept primping.
"If you hadn't opened your big yap-trap…" and let the meaning sink in.
Pulling out a file, "You both laughed," she sniffed, tending to her nails.
Patience worn thin, "C'mon, Stell', just grab a scrub brush!" the musical fairy snapped.
"Blisters are my enemy," turning away in distaste at the idea of labor.
Frowning angrily, "Wear…GLOVES!"
"Ugh! Gloves with a tank top!"
"Oh, that's a really good point." Having come down the stairs at some point, Bloom was now standing just away from them, pouring soap into a bucket of water. "I hadn't even thought of that." Her tone was nonchalant, maybe even cheery.
"Thank you, Bloom," she praised, ignorant of the impish grin across her defender's face. "Look, getting dirty is simply not in my makeup." Throwing the empty detergent bottle aside, Bloom picked up the bucket.
"You're not the only princess here?" Musa countered furiously, at Stella's pomposity. She was always that way, but right now it was grinding gears.
"Maybe," she conceded. "But on Solaria? Royalty and suds don't-waagh!" Her haughty diatribe broke off in the wake of the soapy water splashing on her. Bloom pulled back the bucket, now only half full, and was trying her best not to grin to widely.
"What were you saying, Stella?" she asked innocently. Musa clutched her ribs, laughing as hard as she was at the still stunned, and very much sudsy, Stella. Eyes narrowing, "Oh, I got some for you, too, Musa," she declared archly, and hurled more water.
In the stairwells, Tecna and Flora went about their task: sweeping the corridors and stairs. The only issue was that the concept of using such an archaic tool was difficult for Tecna to grasp. Fortunately, for both their sakes, Flora was quite patient. "It's not that complicated, Tecna," she insisted, broom in hand. "Here, let me show you."
"Thanks, but I know I can figure out the secret to these strange objects by myself," overturning the bucket of cleaning supplies to examine the container itself. To anyone less understanding, the scene would've been very hard not to laugh at, the fairy trying to discern the purpose of a bucket.
"That's called a bucket."
Struck by some unknown inspiration, Tecna donned the bucket like a helmet. "Aha!"
Smiling understandingly, "That's one use for it. And the broom? Well?" Quizzing her on the item on which her hands were propped.
"The broom is elongated so that the user might reach high places," she deduced, taking up her own broom.
"Like that picture up there?" noting the large blue picture a good meter over their heads.
Smiling triumphantly, "Exactly! Observe." Turning the broom, she lifted it bristles first over her head and to the picture, brushing its surface roughly. It worked, too.
Laughing lightly to herself, "Good job, sweetie." But all the jostling from the broom shook the picture from where it hung and it came crashing down.
"Oopsy!"
Tecna sighed in relief. "Good thing I figured out how to use the bucket."
Humoring her friend, Flora just smiled. She wasn't completely wrong. The bucket could've saved her from a wicked headache. It was just so sad about the ruined painting. "Yeah. Let's go find Bloom."
What they saw though was not what they'd expected. Soapy puddles and downed fairies littered the classroom. Bloom was flat on the floor, Stella next to her, propped against the teacher's desk, while Musa had splayed herself out on top of the desk. All three looked absolutely soaked, and exhausted.
"What happened here?" Tecna gasped in shock at the state of the room. Barring that the grime was more or less gone, the room was messier now than when they'd started.
"Are you guys okay?"
Stella grinned up at them. "Bloom taught us a great Earth sport called Water Fight, and I won!"
"Oh, please! You did not win," Musa interrupted. "I did." Rolling to the side, Bloom laughed at her friends' weak argument.
"It's not funny." It looked like fun, but, given the situation, Flora tried to make them see reason.
"What if Griselda sees this?" Tecna implored, understanding exactly what Flora meant..
"Indeed! What if?"
Too late seemed to be a very popular concept as of late. That, and irony.
Musa groaned. "Busted."
Standing dauntingly in the doorway, Griselda strode forward. "I wanted to let you know that Charmed Life is playing Magix Stadium tomorrow night, and all of Alfea will be there. Do you know this group?" Griselda never talked pop culture. That should've been their first clue.
Stella's eyes lit up, "I've got all their cds!"
It was an ambush. "Good thing, because since you have so much cleaning left you won't be attending the show." Groans and destroyed hope abound. "Perhaps one of your classmates will pick you up a t-shirt?" before turning and walking back out of the lecture hall.
Now that was just rubbing salt in a wound.
Cloud Tower:
In the cafeteria, Stormy openly raged. "Those pixie losers had the nerve to sneak onto our turf!" fist coming down on the table, rattling dishes. "And we just let them get away!" Fear of the upper classmen was a common thing. That's why they didn't feel the need to talk with greater secrecy in the oddly shaped chamber. It was a tall, extremely so, room, the walls lined by tabled tiers.
Draped in her chair, "A real with would not let such an offense go unpunished," Darcy proposed.
Icy, much like her name implied, didn't seem the slightest agitated. In fact, her words were calm and even, if malicious of intent. "And neither shall we, my dear Darcy." She smirked deviously at the next plan already hatching in her mind. "Since the Power of the Dragon's not in the Solaria ring, we'll go find the true source of power and use it to destroy their entire school."
"Why do we hate the girls of Alfea so much?" Heads turned. Many in annoyance at this lone heretic, but three in arrogant disgust at someone intentionally listening in and questioning their plans. "I mean, that seems kinda old school."
Icy looked down her nose at the befreckled redhead several levels below them, ironically in terms of both location and power. "Who is this gangly freshman talking to me?" she sneered.
"I'm just sayin'…" she flustered under all the focus on her. Unlike many of the other students, she didn't quite look the part. That is, her looks weren't severe or sharp, neither was she condescending or mean. The true killer was that she looked…spunky. A gathered lock of her hair at the temple was tied and dyed blue to in contrast to the red. And the pumpkin on her t-shirt did not exactly instill fear in others.
A cute witch. In a place like Cloud Tower, it meant you'd want to keep your head down. "I mean, in some ways…Alfea's kinda rockin'."
Death knell.
"Peace and love," Stormy cooed dramatically before slamming her fists on the table, laughing in cold amusement. In fact, the reaction was infectious as laughing rang all throughout. Whether from the humor or from fear of standing out, and against the Trix, there was no telling. "Who let this wick-wannabe in here anyway?" she snarked, but her ragging had only just begun. "You're just so alternative, aren't you? So…cutting edge. Let's all think outside Pandora's Box and love each other. Not!"
The standout blushed brightly under the peer-wide ridicule.
Darcy clucked her tongue in mock sympathy. "Aw, the poor thing looks embarrassed," and snapped her fingers. Down below, at the girl's table, an orb of dark blue semi-liquid coalesced from thin air before rocketing at her face. To her shock, and that of the only other person at her table, a somewhat weedy looking green-haired teen, it spread all around her head. Eyes wide in instinctual fear, she fell to the ground, her fingers tearing at the immovable bubble.
"It's not funny!" the other girl pleaded, dropping to the redhead's side as she clawed at the blob, trying to get it off without suffocating…or drowning, whichever. "She can't breathe!"
"Stupid freshman, goo-blob only lasts for a minute," Darcy scoffed in finality, the blob already dematerializing. Eyes still awash with panic, she gasped in relief, taking in lungful after glorious lungful of precious air.
"Attention, witches." Atop the highest tier with the rest of the faculty, Headmistress Griffin's voice echoed downward to all the students. "The precious princesses of Alfea have booked Magix Stadium tomorrow night for some wretched music concert. So our Money For Monsters fundraiser has to move to the elementary school auditorium. So plan accordingly." Turning away, she walked back to the staff table, muttering under her breath. "Worthless do-gooding pixies." You wouldn't say she was growling.
Not if you liked not being transformed into a lesser life form.
But Icy saw the opportunity in this. "Tomorrow night's the night. With the whole school empty, it'll be ours to destroy," a darkly smug smirk spreading over her lips.
Sunday:
Alfean students, and the vastly outnumbered teachers, bordered hover buses. The transports had been booked in advance to ferry the lot of them to and from the concert. But the cheers and jubilant cries were restricted to those who weren't restricted from going to said event.
Casting one last glance to their free classmates, Bloom turned away from the hall windows and back to her fellow grounded fairies. "It's just us," she sighed dejectedly.
"That band's bunk, but anything beats cleaning duty," Musa claimed, aptly appraising their situation. No one disagreed.
"I've got an idea, let's call up the boys."
Flora sighed weakly at Stella's proposal. "Right. I'm sure they'd just flip at the prospect of helping us clean."
But Bloom was taking Stella's idea and running with it. "Well, we'll just say we, uh, we need some heroics and bravery." It wasn't really a bad idea.
"But won't Griselda be angry?" Tecna asked, voicing a serious kink in the burgeoning plan. Bloom's smile didn't falter in the slightest.
"M-mn," shaking her head to emphasize the point. "She said no magic, but she never said we couldn't get any assistance from our favorite heroes."
The bucket and mop flew from Stella's hands. "Yes! And we know they can't resist a call from damsels in distress," and dramatically portrayed the role of the winsome damsel.
And just like that, the plan had unanimous support. Brooms, mops, and buckets all fell in a pile, joining Stella's. "Quick! Cell 'em before they leave for the show!"
"Bringgg!"
"SPANG!"
"&$%^&&!#"
"Bringgg!"
"SPANG!SPANG!SPANG!"
"Gaaaaahh!"
Taking great care, and an atrocious level of self-restraint to boot, he pulled the offending object, a cell phone, from his back pocket. "Yeeeess?" he asked into the microphone, wondering if they could hear his molars grinding away at one another. Oh well, it's not like they were irreplaceable.
"Naruto? Are you there?" Oh. Tecna. "I'm sorry, but I can't hear you too well. There appears to be some interference in the connection." Well, that answers that question. He discreetly halted his jaw's aggravated grinding. "Oh. Well that's better. I hope I'm not interrupting anything."
Blue eyes shifted to the wreck he'd been working on. "No, no. Nothing really," sugar coating the Hell out of it.
"Spang!"
Okay, that settled it, he was being mocked. As they say, if looks could kill… Giving in to a momentary reprieve, never defeat, he cradled the phone between his ear and shoulder as he proceeded to wipe the various smatterings of refined grease from his hands. "So what's up?"
It didn't take long. Barely twenty minutes later, and three red hover-bikes shot through Alfea's gates. "You guys didn't waste any time, did you?" Stella greeted cheerily before skipping over to her beau. On their own bikes, Brandon and Riven lifted away their helmets. Each of them was wearing a blazer over their casual clothes for some modicum of protection from the elements.
"So, uh, exactly what kind of heroics and bravery do you girls need?" Sky asked her, hand affectionately petting the dog situated on the seat in front of him.
"Heroics and bravery?" Surprisingly not very far behind the Red Fountain trio was a blonde haired young man who was familiar to some. Unlike the Heroes, he was in an everyday pair of jeans and a red t-shirt, under a baggie black and red hoodie.
"Who're-"
His attention went to Tecna though. "Am I late?"
Trying not to smile at his laid-back playfulness, she stepped over and hugged him, "Not at all. You're right on time."
Blue eyes surveyed, over her shoulder, the odd confused glances between the gathered teens. "Name's Naruto," he offered, Tecna breaking the embrace. Stella's eyes bugged. This was the "Naruto" Tecna had spoken of but had never introduced?
"Come on in, we'll explain the daring mission ahead of you," Bloom interrupted, trying not to laugh at her own choice of words as she ushered them all in. But her eyes lingered on Brandon.
Stella practically hung from Tecna's shoulder as they reentered the main building. "Way to go, Tecna," she cheered in a conspiratorially low whisper. "Bagged yourself a hottie!" The technocrat's blush flared, but she didn't deny the wealth of her find.
Wet mop slapping on the floor, "Here're the steps!" Stereo going in the background, Musa took the lead, mop in hand, and mixed some dancing into the scrubbing. "Soap up…Scrub…And rinse!" Throwing in a spin, "See? It's not too hard."
Naruto felt like laughing.
Sure, the situation hadn't been exactly what Tecna'd told him, but he had the growing feeling that the other guys hadn't been told anything close to the truth. As exhibited by their expressions.
The somewhat retro-fashioned teen, Sky, what a weird name, was the first to let his thoughts be known. "Um?"
Purple-hair, Ribbon or something, wasn't as speechless. "We skipped a concert for this?" And cut right to the point.
Grinning cockily, Naruto eyed the others. "Don't tell me the "heroes" are too good for a little housework?" Slipping off his jacket, he threw it to the side, just in time to catch a mop thrown by Bloom.
"Oh, come on! It'll be a blast!" And threw similar mops to the others. First Brandon, then to Sky…and Riven let his clatter lifelessly at his feet, scowl adorning his face.
But it was Naruto who made the most sense. Leaning his weight on his own mop, "You like having girlfriends?" he whispered to them, getting nods. "Then shut up and mop." Okay, so he wasn't exactly Vince Lombarde, but he felt that was inspirational enough.
Leaning down over the stereo she'd brought down for just this occasion, Flora dialed the volume up before stepping back away. "Alright, guys, let's turn it up and get rockin'."
"Come on, everybody. Mop and step and yeah!" Musa twirled her mop showily as, behind her, the boys had doffed their reluctance in favor of doing a kick line with their girlfriends. Sky and Stella, then Brandon and Bloom, each kicking in a comedic way. Separate, Tecna and Flora did mirroring dance/cleaning moves, before backing up to one another, and laughing as Naruto had skidded by them, riding atop a pair of mop heads.
Leading them, Musa had her mop aloft, spinning it swiftly, the others taking formation and doing the same. It was actually unexpectedly amusing. "You've heard of hip-hop? Well this is hip-mop!" she announced.
But, unlike the rest of them, purple hair had gone and moped around, instead of mopping. Leaning in the doorway, he broadcast an annoyed glare at them all. "Lame," he griped sourly.
Even little Kiko was getting in the spirit…until his impromptu baton smacked right in the face of Prince Sky's dog. Noting the haughty, offended glare, the little rabbit sped away, as fast as it could while maintaining a cover of nonchalant innocence.
Despite the mix of work and play, the former did actually get done. And, with the school emptied, it meant they had the freedom to use the space as they deemed fit. For now at least.
"The cleaning is finite. It's time to get the party started, and DJ Musa is at the tables!" Pulling out some cds, they skimmed through the air to an array of players. "Let's see…Tunes for the East wing, West wing, North wing, and South wing!" Cleaning finished, the girls had dressed up, and they and the guys were ready for a concert of their own. Fast-paced dance music blaring, everyone began to feel the spirit.
Bloom and Stella were dancing together, laughing at the wonderful change in the evening's pace. "You go, Stella!" she cheered.
"Go, Bloom!" But the Solarian fairy caught herself. "Wait! What do you think you're doing dancing with me? Get on over there. I know you've had your eye on Mister Blonde and Blue all night long."
"I have no idea what you're talking about," she claimed with demure innocence, somewhat jokingly.
Giving her a gentle, if insistent, elbow nudge to the back, "Coyness will only get yourself so far, Bloom," she advised. "Don't be afraid to go for what you want. Ask Brandon to dance with you."
(With Tecna and Flore)
"So, Naruto seems nice." Helping Flora to put out some drinks, a few of which were organically processed fruit beverages, at the nature fairy's pushing, Tecna couldn't stop herself from arranging the drinks according to flavor, nutrient content, and so on. Flora really was a gentle spirit, so very soft-spoken, who leaned towards being non-confrontational almost all the time, but caring for her friends tended to bring her out of her shell. Right now, she liked seeing Tecna happy.
"He really is," the technocrat supplied, smiing. Cups laid out in a row, another biodegradable that Flora had snuck in, all that was left was… "Now where's that ice?"
"Comin'," Naruto announced from behind them, a bag of ice in hand. The school's kitchen was closed so he'd opted to get it off-campus himself for the sake of speed. Not that he explained it all out like that. No one had asked so he said nothing.
Producing a bowl, "You can put it in here. Thank you," Flora instructed appreciatively. Untying the top, he poured the contents into the large bowl, the individual ice cubes clinking and clattering.
(Outside)
The stars sparkled dimly. Except for the few dorm rooms the small party occupied, windows were dark all throughout the campus, the school courtyard only dimly lit by the few lamps turned on.
But the blanket of serenity was short lived as, in the center of the quad, purple lightning arced through the air. Coming to ground, it coalesced and, in a subdued flash of light, gave way to a trio of harsh looking teens.
Stormy, Darcy, and Icy, respectively, in a semicircle.
"Guh," Darcy exclaimed almost immediately, making a show of cringing. "What may I ask is that hideous noise?" Following their ears, a trio of eyes tracked the sound to its origin, a room several floors up with its lights on. "It's coming from up there."
"I thought this place was supposed to be empty."
"Let's check it out." Flying up and across the quad to the single lit dormitory window, the trio hovered just below the balcony, peeking through the railing.
"It's them!" Stormy hissed lowly. The sight of dancing teens being what they didn't want to see.
(With the Winx)
In a surprising turn, Naruto had pulled Tecna from her shell of social awkwardness and onto the dance floor.
"But I don't really know how to dance!"
Smiling crookedly, but also invitingly. "It's not exactly my forte either, but I'm not about to let that stop me."
"Two pairs of left feet, that's rich," Riven heckled from the side. Leaning against the wall, he was the picture of stoic solitude as he nursed a soda. To the more blunt perspective, you could simply say he was being an ass.
Song reaching its zenith, Musa moonwalked right up to Riven, "Whoohoo! Go, Musa! Work it!" twirling right under his nose before skipping away. Showing off, but also a teasing invitation to stop being such a stick in the mud and join the party.
Sniffing scornfully at him for his demeaning comment, Tecna reversed her standpoint and actually pulled Naruto along for the last few feet. "Let's dance then," she insisted. "We'll not let him ruin this." To which the blonde's grin widened.
The song changed almost immediately though, altering the mood entirely. Instead of the robust, lively tune, it slowed, softening. (Forever or Endlessly from the Winx soundtracks, take your pick. Both work.) Inexperienced at dancing as she was, Tecna still recognized what the slow tempo meant. "Um, I'm not sure-" but the warm confidence in his smile swayed her.
"I didn't expect this," Brandon admitted to Riven, coming back from getting a drink from the table. "I'm actually having fun!"
"Good for you. I'm glad someone is," Riven grumped sarcastically before walking off in an emo-like huff. "I'm getting some air, bro," stomping out on the balcony.
Disappearing before they could be spotted, the three witches regrouped out of sight back on the ground. Icy scoffed in annoyance at it all. "That was close." The school's supposed to be cleared out, and that group of pixies just had to be an exception to the rule.
"Should we go?" Darcy proposed, playing the devil's advocate. Or…was it erring on the side of the angels? Idioms, go figure.
"Because of those twits?" Icy almost snarled, eyes narrowing in a furious scowl. "I want the Dragon Fire power, and I'll burn in the flames of Ryhala before I let a handful of pixies get in my way," throwing extra venom into her declaration.
"Me too!" Icy's speech had lit the unbiased, lashing anger that was always so close to Darcy's surface. "Once we get it we will so rule that they'll be naming entire realms after the three of us!"
Icy slapped on a confident smirk. "So let's conjure the Whisperian Crystals. They'll find the source of the Dragon Fire and lead us straight to it!"
"What about the fairies? Are we just gonna let them dance and party like they're all that?" Darcy reminded haughtily. Okay, from an outside perspective, that was a rather petty point-of-view.
"I say we summon a Cretian Minotaur from Limbo and have him crash their party."
Icy's smirk turned into a decidedly sinister grin at Darcy's idea. "Excellent idea, but first…the Whisperian Crystals!" As one, all three gathered their magical energies, concentrating them until each was able to summon an ornate crystal, reminiscent of finely shaped glass.
(The Winx)
"I thought you said you couldn't dance," Tecna asked. Her cheeks bore a horrid flush as, somewhere down the line, the space between them had closed significantly as they danced until none remained.
His answer was warm against her ear, "I said it wasn't my forte," he explained. "Never said I couldn't." Darn him, but she could feel the amusement in his voice. "Still…don't ask me to do the waltz," he amended. "What you see is the extent of my ability." Okay, she was in too good a mood right now to slug him, even halfheartedly, for his fun at her expense.
Blue eyes shifting a little, he noted that while the majority of them had fallen into a slower paced dancing between couples, or somewhat couples, there were still a few bystanders. "I know Musa's interested in Mister Broody and Emo over there, but what about Flora, shouldn't her boyfriend be here?"
Glancing at her friend, she could see her smiling, but knew she had to be feeling a little left out. "Flora's a shy girl," she explained lowly. "I don't think she's opened up to anyone yet. And Musa…she does like a challenge, but even I have to wonder what it is she sees in Riven."
Looking thoughtful for a moment, he met eyes with her. "I've got an idea…if you'll keep an open mind."
Flora hummed lowly to herself as she watched all her friends, enjoying the happiness in their expressions. Albeit Bloom and Brandon weren't quite as close as Stella and Sky or, surprisingly enough, Tecna and Naruto, but it was there, under the surface. She wished she was out there, true enough, but she was also patient and would wait for her day to come. The day when she met someone who she could share her heart wholly with.
"This really is turning into a nice night."
Sighing to herself, she nodded. "It is, yes." It took a moment to register. Blinking in confusion, she turned her head to see Naruto sitting next to her on the couch. Naruto? Eyelids fluttering again, she looked back to the dance floor where Tecna and Naruto were still dancing. Attention shifting back and forth between the two, her eyes going round as her brow knit cutely, "What-"
The Naruto next to her grinned smugly. "Well, I thought everyone deserved to dance, and after a little explaining Tecna agreed." Slipping his hand over hers, he pulled the currently owl-eyed girl along with him onto the dance floor.
Moments later joined by another Naruto and Musa, though in the case of the latter, Musa took an aggressive lead, not being as "girly" as the others.
(With the Trix)
"Energies of chaos unite," Icy chanted at the hovering, glowing crystals. "Form the Whisperian Triangle!" A dark, purplish energy lanced out from each crystal like tendrils, each latching onto the crystals at either side of it. Rising overhead, the connected trio of crystals, shone brighter, spinning in the air. "Let the three cease to be, and bare one power unto me!" at which point they descended, moving now with a purpose of their own. "Let's go!" Taking flight, the trio of witches followed immediately in their wake.
Distance closed rapidly, and the ball of light that was the collection of crystals had all but run straight into the side of an exterior wall. Or not. It instead went right on through it as if one or the other was insubstantial. "It's going through the wall!" Stormy clipped.
Icy smirked. "Not a problem. Passus throughus!" Hand extending, she shot off a quick spell at the wall. The small bit of magic unfurled into a winding whirlpool, and, laughing, they melted through the physical barrier.
… (And, yes, this is a passing of time mark, not a divider mark.)
"Crap, but this place is so…dull," Darcy grumbled, taking stock of the inner workings of the building. There were no sharp angles, no harsh lighting…and it smelled flowery.
Having had more than enough of looking around, Icy turned back around, facing the others. "Ready, sisters?" The light of the Whisperan Crystals hanging overhead, awaiting its masters' permission, "Now then, complete the chain." Taking hands, they formed a rough triangle. Much like before, they gathered their energies until it hung around them like a ghostly, writhing skin. "Innya e soranim. Mythos viacomos vactos! Creature lost in the maze of mayhem, cross the void!" A dark swirling of energy had begun to form at their feet not long into the incantation, but it was at the last few words that a shape began to rise upward from it. A dark mass of muscle and sinew, defined by sharp horns, wooly hindquarters, and cloven feet, roused itself. Eleven feet at the horns, equipped with twin pairs of arms, the minotaur stretched in its newfound freedom, bellowing.
AN/ And that's Part 1. Later for now.