If any of you live in the US, I'm pretty sure everybody knows what happened at the capitol...gee, what a wonderful way to start the year, eh?
*sigh*...
'Murica.
DoggyPocky: Lol I'm glad Spike is well received. He's one of the OCs I like to write for. I did want Rose to be a girl kind of similar to Wanda, someone with a head on her shoulders and has more depth than, like, a barbie. Thornton, mmmmm, he might have some murkiness in him somewhere. And as far as the age difference with Blonda and Professor Cardician, it's explored so much in other types of media, and while it is kind of like 'girl, what is you doin?', diving into such a 'taboo' topic seems to fit with her character.
With Mama Cosma, I honestly wanted her to understand as well, but I feel like with her manipulative and controlling nature, her narcissism sort of prevents her from truly coming to enough of an understanding for her son to accept her back in his life.
Can I also say that I love your profile avatar? It's makes me chuckle every time I see it.
Blaring sirens shook Cupid from his beauty sleep, sirens that were not his normal alarm.
Groggily blinking slumber away, Cupid rolled over to view the clock on his desk, 7:30am printed in digital red. 7:30? Nope, definitely not his alarm; his first class of the day wasn't for another two hours. Remembering Juandissimo had an early class, Cupid repositioned himself on his stomach and turned his head facing away, figuring Juandissimo would soon realize his alarm was going off. Cupid could never sleep through an alarm as obnoxious as loud sirens, so he hoped soon would come sooner than later…
Twenty seconds past by…
Then another twenty…
…then another.
At that point, a whole minute had past of the same siren blasting his eardrums…
Cupid. Was. Livid.
"Juaaaaaaaaannn!" Cupid groaned, lifting his head from his pillow to face Juandissimo's side of the room. "Turn it ooooooooofffff!"
Juandissimo, resting on his stomach with his back ponytail facing Cupid, didn't respond, still as stone aside from the subtle rise and fall of his wings.
…I know good and well he can hear this monstrosity… "Juandissimo!" Cupid called out a little bit louder, only to be met with more silence. "JUAN…DIS…SIMO!"
This was strange to Cupid; Juandissimo was never that heavy of a sleeper. Usually, his alarm would only go off for maybe three seconds before he'd get up to turn it off, sometimes earlier than that to where Cupid wouldn't hear it at all. The few times Cupid came into the room at odd hours of the night, the slightest bump of a chair woke him up. How was it that he couldn't hear an alarm literally making Cupid's ears ring in his head?
With an irritated grumble, Cupid took his wand from his desk and used magic to shut off Juandissimo's alarm, sighing in relief the moment his ears could finally stop ringing. Setting his wand back, Cupid floated out of his bed over to his roommate's, wiping excess sleep from his eyes. He leaned down to shake Juandissimo on his back, shaking him harder the longer he received no reaction.
Geez Leweez! No matter how hard Cupid shook him, Juandissimo didn't stir. Whatever's got him this knocked, he's gotta put me on…
Looks like this calls for more drastic measures.
Cupid flew back to his side of the room to retrieve his wand, and when he returned to Juandissimo, he poofed a spray bottle in his hand. He hovered over to where he could see more of Juandissimo's profile, and he aimed the bottle directly on his cheek, giving it a few squirts of water. He made the bottle disappear once Juandissimo shot up in his bed, watching him shake his head after an aggressive attempt to wipe the water from his face.
"I'm sorry, but I had no other way of getting you to wake up!" Cupid griped as Juandissimo held his head, grunting in pain. "I don't have class for two hours, but now I'm up because of your ridiculous alarm!"
Juandissimo felt as if a jack-hammer was drilling into his skull, and Cupid's yelling didn't make it better.
"Now, get up!" Cupid turned away to return to his mattress kingdom. "You don't wanna be late for class again, do you?!" His irritation soon disappeared from the sound of someone gagging behind him, turning around to see Juandissimo use a hand to cover his mouth as if to keep puking. "…Juan, are you alright?"
His had his answer when Juandissimo hurried to pick up the trashcan by his bed, vomiting straight blue bile.
"OMG, Ew!" Cupid cringed, the sounds of heaving alone disgusting him. "Don't tell me you have that stomach virus going around! I don't wanna get sick!"
Coughing up the last of his bile, Juandissimo set the trashcan back down, the soreness in his throat rasping his voice. "…it is not a virus…"
"Then why the heck else are you hacking up a liver?!"
Juandissimo coughed as he held his head in his palms, wishing the churning in his stomach and the pounding in his head would both just go away. His throat felt dry as a desert and pain throbbed his eyes every time he tried to open them. Wanting to be sure for himself that Juandissimo didn't have a virus, Cupid flew over to him, removing his hands from his face to feel his forehead. He placed his other hand on his own forehead to compare, and from what he felt, Juandissimo's body temperature felt pretty normal.
That's when he recalled the weird bottle from the day before, the bottle with the weird substance he didn't recognize. "What was in that bottle that's got you so hungover?!"
Juandissimo leaned backwards to lay on his covers, finding the spinning in his head less dizzying that way. "Nothing…"
"Nothing?!" Cupid's hands fell to his sides. "You can't think of a better answer?! Like, oh, I dunno, the truth?!"
"Por favor…" Juandissimo croaked, crossing his arms over his closed eyes. "…keep your voice down…"
"I'm not even talking that loud!" Cupid yelled, though to Juandissimo, he might as well have been speaking through a megaphone. "No one told you to get plastered!"
Not bothering to respond, Juandissimo released a heavy sigh. His day hadn't even started, and he already wanted it to be over…
. . . . . .
"As you all know, or, should know," Professor Voila continued in her Fairy World History lecture, using her white chalk to draw a timeline of events on her chalkboard. "hundreds of millenniums ago, fairies were once fairy warriors who fought a long war against The Darkness."
With his head sitting on his folded arms, Cosmo let out a small yawn as Wanda scribbled notes in her notebook. If it wasn't meddling voices in his mind disrupting his sleep, working six days a week came with its strains. Sleeping in class became less of an issue, though the difficulties of refraining from such persisted.
With her back turned to her class, Professor Voila wrote specific years on her timeline that she would be covering for remaining thirty minutes of class. Gradually opening the door to the classroom, Juandissimo made sure Professor Voila still faced the board before sneaking quietly inside, slowly shutting the door in attempt to not disrupt her train of concentration. Hearing the subtle click of the door closing, Wanda lifted her eyes from her notebook, observing Juandissimo hover up the steps to find his row to take his seat…
"Late again, are we, Mr. Magnifico?"
"Madre joda…" he muttered under his breath. How could he ever forget…Professor Voila practically had eyes in the back of her head.
"This is the third time in just three weeks alone, Mr. Magnifico." Professor Voila turned to face her class, eyeing Juandissimo with a stern glare. "One more tardy results in an automatic fail."
"Lo siento, Professor…" Juandissimo sighed, feeling another migraine coming on. "…it will not happen again."
"Which is what you said last time." Professor Voila bitterly pointed out. "Perhaps staying after class to clean off the board without magic will help you keep your promises."
It took everything in his power not to roll his eyes.
"Glad we got that settled." Professor Voila assertively stated before turning back to her chalkboard. "Now, back to what I was saying…"
Wanda watched Juandissimo drop his backpack on the desk, pinching the bridge of his nose as he took his seat. Using his backpack as padding, he laid his head in his arms crossed, not bothering to pretend to pay any attention.
Something about his peculiar behavior worried Wanda; his tardiness seemed more intentional, half the time his attendance felt forced. There'd be times where he seemed less engaged than usual, like his mind was somewhere else. He certainly wouldn't admit anything to her. It wasn't her business, and he'd have no problem reminding her so.
Just because it wasn't her business, however, didn't mean she couldn't be curious…
Pulling into the driveway of her grandmother's home, Susie saw an elderly woman with a graying braided bun open her front door, having anticipated her arrival. Chocolate skin riddled with aging crinkles, her red nightgown covered her down to her ankles, footed with indigo fuzzy slippers matching her wrinkled eyes.
Once in park, Susie cut off her engine and exited the vehicle, habitually locking her doors with her car remote. Susie could have gone to visit her grandmother at any point during the week, yet she chose to visit after her 3:00pm class, seeing as how Mondays had less traffic than any other day of the week.
"Hey there, sugah'!" Grandma Cocoa's excitement to see her granddaughter brought a warm smile to Susie's cheeks. "How's my baby?!"
"Good." Susie embraced her grandmother in a gentle squeeze. "No complaints. How're you?!"
"Just fine." Grandma Cocoa replied, breaking the hug. "C'mon in!"
Susie followed her grandmother inside the home, immediately welcomed by the aroma of chocolate. Coincidentally, Grandma Cocoa always loved the smell of fudge, so she'd light all of her chocolate and cocoa-scented candles placed throughout the home, especially the two resting above the fireplace in the living room. Susie would always use this as an excuse to why she had such a sweet tooth, and every single time, Grandma Cocoa would laugh as if she heard the joke for the first time.
When Susie closed the front door behind her, her indigo eyes noticed an ebony fairy with similarly colored eyes staring back at her, seated on the living room couch. His black cornrolls matched the kink of her hair, his black short-sleeved polo practically swallowing his frail physique. His torn, faded jeans sagged slightly and his scuffed black sneakers aged terribly with the torn soles hanging off. Watching as he rose from the couch, hovering in one spot, the suppressed memories of her childhood resurfaced, and her bones quivered underneath their muscle.
"…h-hey Susie-Lue." The fairy shyly greeted in his raspy deep voice, waving an awkward hand before tucking it back in his pants pocket. He nervously scratched the side of his head, clearing the frog in his throat. "…i-it's me."
Calling her 'Susie-Lue' was all the reminder she needed to recognize the fairy who stood before her. Never in a million millennia did she believe she'd see him again…
Grandma Cocoa sensed her granddaughter's uneasiness and reached out to her with a tender hand, a hand Susie backed away from with a startled stare.
"…Why is he here?!" Susie's question sounded more like a defensive statement.
"To rebuild what he lost." Grandma Cocoa purely explained, predicting Susie's reaction. "He wants to get his life togetha'."
Susie wanted to trust her grandmother's words, but given her history with him, she found them hard to believe.
"…Susie-Lue, I…" when the fairy made an advance towards Susie, her first instinct was to back away. "…I-I'm sorry."
She couldn't stop her eyes from glossing, staring at the man she once called her father. "No, you're not…"
"But I am, honey…" he pleaded, hoping he could get through to his daughter. "…I'm sorry…for leavin' you…"
"You abandoned me!" Eyes shot with fury, Susie couldn't understand why he'd come back now out of all times.
"I know…" he floated a few more inches closer while his daughter floated away, her rejection stinging his heart more than he thought it would. "…a-and I look back on that and I regret everything…"
Grandma Cocoa remained silent hovering a couple feet away, ensuring not to intervene. Her son requested he do most of the talking, believing it could prove to Susie that his intentions were pure.
"…I hope you can forgive me…" he continued, feeling his own tears press behind his eyes. "…I wanna right my wrongs."
"Fifteen years and now you wanna right your wrongs?!" Susie spat, refusing to let her tears fall.
"It took fifteen years for me to realize how the Fairoin was fryin' my brain…" he admitted, a hand over his chest. "I was knockin' on death's door! And that's when I learned…I couldn't live like this no more…"
"Why come back here?!" Susie still wasn't sold. "Grandma doesn't need the stress of dealing with a druggie like you!"
"Sugah', it's alright." Grandma Cocoa interjected, speaking for herself. "I asked to take him in."
Towards her grandmother, Susie had never glared harder. "Why would you do that?!"
"He's still my son." Grandma Cocoa remained calm in her response as her granddaughter shook her head in denial. "He needed somewhere ta go once he finished rehab, and I'm all he has."
She glanced back to the fairy before her, distrust prevalent in her eyes. Her grandmother's compassion wasn't unknown to her, otherwise, Susie would have struggled living in the system, jumping from house to house wondering if she'd ever find a forever home. What she couldn't understand was why her compassion had any room for the son that stole money from her, the son that would dump his child on her just to go shoplift or sell his body to support his habit. Whenever he'd go missing for multiple days in a row, sometimes full weeks, she vaguely remembered her grandmother sitting on her bed, muffling her sobs to keep Susie from hearing them when she didn't realize she was sitting outside the door to her bedroom, listening to her heart cry out for his safety, cry out for his return, crying for his life, crying to all the pain he was causing to his own offspring...
How, after all that he's put her through, can she just accept him back as if none of that happened?
"…Susie-Lu-"
"Stop calling me that!"
The male fairy winced slightly from his daughter's sudden outburst. His soul was crushed by her anger mixed in the sadness of her falling tears. "…Susie…"
"I hate you!" Everything came rushing back in Susie's mind, including blurred visions of grown men on top of her four-year old body. As blurred and choppy as those memories were, her grandmother eventually told her the drastic measures her father went through to get money for Fairoin…
"Susie I'm sorry!" the crack in his voice brought sympathy to his mother's face. "I can't change the past, but I can change the future! Please…" his hand reached out to grab Susie's before she had time to react, begging in his eyes. "...please find it in your heart to forgive me…"
Confliction seeping through the cracks, Susie snatched her hand away, the brick walls of her guard chipping away just as the suffering she suppressed slowly slithered its way in.
Returning from visiting with Rose in her room, Wanda floated through Pisces Hall to the room she shared with Susie, thinking she'd be back from visiting with her grandmother. She wasn't quite certain since Susie never responded to her text, and it wasn't like Susie not to respond.
Taking out her keys, she twisted the lock and opened the door, entering into darkness with the only light being that from both windows, moonlight seeping through the blinds. She assumed Susie may not had come back from how dark the room was. That was until her eyes adjusted to the dark after closing the door and she could make out a silhouette of Susie laying on her side, facing the wall to her bed.
"…Susie?" Wanda called out softly, waiting for any reaction before she approached. Shadows of her blinds casted lines of light and dark over Susie's still form, so it was difficult to see Susie's eyes for any indication that perhaps she could be sleeping. Then again, if Susie was sleeping, she wouldn't be laying on top of her covers, nor would she be fully clothed. "…are you awake?"
The faint sniffle let it be known that Susie was far from asleep, rolling over to face her best friend. Wanda flew over to her side of the room to turn on her lamp, her heart instantly wrought with worry at the sheen glistening from her damp cheeks.
"Susie…" she went to her friend, bending down to face level as Susie curled further into herself. "…what's wrong?"
Susie's weak whimper made Wanda worry more. Susie was never one to show that anything bothered her, nor was she ever one to succumb to any sort of sadness, at least, never in front of Wanda.
As a small sob escaped, Susie shut her eyes from hot new tears rolling down her cheeks. "…I-I saw my dad…"
. . . . . .
Following the familiar path to his girlfriend's room, Alewandro floated to the fourth room on his left, knocking to make his presence known. He didn't have to wait long before Wanda opened the door, greeting him as she let him inside. The sight of Susie crying silently with her back against the head of her bedframe broke his heart. He's never seen her so upset…
"Susie's lucky to have a boyfriend like you." Wanda smiled, touching Alewandro by his shoulder. "You're always there when she needs you."
"And Susie is lucky to have a great friend like you." Alewandro returned. "You are always so compassionate, something this world needs more of."
"I'm gonna go see what Cosmo's up to." Wanda put her dorm key in her small purse, holding the door open to prevent it from slamming shut. "Figured you two could use the space."
"Gracias, Wanda." Alewandro thanked, turning to his girlfriend curled in the same position. "I will let you know if anything changes."
"Okay."
Alewandro went over to sit beside Susie on her bed after Wanda left, propping himself against her wall as he sat next to her feet. Watching her closely, he rested a hand over her forearm, caressing it with his thumb. Her eyes remain lowered, no other emotion other than the sorrow trickling down.
"...bebé." Alewandro didn't want to pressure her, speaking gently to let her know she was safe. "…bebé talk to me."
Her lips remained sealed, no motion to wipe her tears away.
"…please, talk to me?" Alewandro tried again, searching for any sign of emotion in her expression.
Instead, Susie lifted herself from her bed and hovered slightly away from the bed, feeling ice-blue eyes staring from behind. Her arms folded against her, her eyes remained blank with hushed tears.
Bernard Sprinkle III, Cocoa Sprinkle's only son. Despite sharing the same last name, Susie felt no correlation to him. The first four years of her life were somewhat of a blur, yet the little she did remember scarred her. If she wasn't dumped off for her grandmother to watch over her, she would be left alone to fend for herself. She remembered distinct instances of her crying, screaming for her father, starving in a foiled diaper. When he'd come back, she remembered him being…spaced out. His eyes would droop, his mouth would hang open, and the veins would always bruise. He'd fall asleep upright sometimes, bent over with his arms hanging, his wings withering in the air as the conscious part of his mind battled with unconsciousness.
The times where he'd bring home strange men always frightened her, because her father made it clear those men were there for one purpose only. When times were toughest, he resorted to selling his own daughter's young body. How disgusting they had to be to want to do so many horrible, inappropriate things to a literal baby! Her grandmother told her she was lucky she was able to heal and everything down there wasn't completely mutilated…the police report in her battle for custody revealed some awful truths that no child should have to endure, grown men sticking random objects in places they shouldn't, including their own members.
The first four years of her life, she remembered feeling alone…feeling scared…defenseless. Her father treated her like just another quick buck…when he actually thought about his daughter, that is. She remembered bits and pieces of her eighth birthday, the first time he attempted to come back in her life. She recalled her grandmother yelling at her father…pleading for him to open his eyes to the damage he was inflicting on his own child. He had become so addicted that he lacked the mental compacity to see the error of his ways. Her grandmother gave him an ultimatum; his daughter, or drugs…
Her young ears could never unhear the words that came out his mouth next…
Drugs make me forget…they make me happy.
As if the daughter his late wife died to birth into this world couldn't bring him happiness…
The more her mind reveled in such an awful memory, the more Susie's rage boiled within. The more her rage boiled within…the less she could control. She tried so hard to lock the tiger of her wrath inside its cage. No one can see her upset…not when she's supposed to be this vibrant, exuberant personality everyone came to know and love. Yet her animosity corroded her emotional bottle like acid, and everything inside of her mind snapped.
Acting on impulse, she hurried to her desk and thrashed anything her hands could touch, a shrill screech growling in her throat. Everything in her path suffered; her chair, her phone, her pencil holder, any books sitting on her desk, her keys, anything within her grasp. Alewandro sprung from her bed and rushed over to her, trying to grab hold of her arms to stop her rampage.
"LET GO OF ME!" came her angered shriek, thrashing against the force of Alewandro's strong restraint. His arms cuffed her body against him, restricting any movement in the upper part of her arms. "LET GOOOO!"
Her screams only tightened his grip, refusing to let her go. Susie hardly lost control, and after seeing so first hand, he gave himself a mental note to never, ever let it happen again.
Whether it was exhaustion or the realization that she was trapped and couldn't break free, her thrashes slowly subdued into aching sobs, her hands reaching to hold his arms against her. He kissed nape of her neck before resting his chin against her shoulder, and with her eyes shut from the pain of rushing tears, she cried in his embrace.
Amid the wintry air beneath the noble-stary black, the half-moon cast a soft glow against Wanda's porcelain skin. Part of her didn't want to disturb Cosmo; he had taken that day off due to his exhaustion and needed to get some rest instead, but he insisted she come over when she told him Alewandro was on his way to comfort Susie. She could have just poofed to Cosmo's room, but the air was so quiet around her, she wanted to embrace the tranquility. Not a lot of students were out and about considering how late it was getting, so why not take the long way to Taurus Hall.
Turning down the path towards the mini amphitheater, Wanda caught a glimpse of Juandissimo alone on the steps, sitting with his head in his crossed arms bent over his knees. One of his hands dangled an opaque white bottle, surprised the bottle hadn't dropped from how limp his hand was. Once again…she knew it was none of her business. But she couldn't help but question why he'd be sitting like that alone outside at 10:30pm on a Monday night…
Taking her chances, Wanda flew over to Juandissimo, stopping a couple feet away. He didn't hear her approach, so she called out to him. Normally he'd react to anyone calling his name, but this time, nothing. Not even a flinch.
She then flew a little closer, close enough to tap him on the shoulder. He responded to her tapping him, though when he lifted his head, Wanda noticed that his half-lidded eyes were quite red and his pupils almost blacked out his whole iris. If it wasn't Juandissimo, maybe she wouldn't have found it so concerning.
"…are you okay?" was the only thing she could think to ask.
Juandissimo's eyes tried to focus on his surroundings, though he seemed dazed and confused. "…h-how did I get here?"
"…do you not remember?" Wanda cocked a brow.
His delirious eyes slowly began to droop, struggling to keep his head elevated. Wanda had never seen him in such a state before…not even after multiple drinks at Senior Night.
Perhaps…it was because of whatever was in that bottle of his…
Wanda snatched the bottle from his hands, snapping him momentarily out of his daze, and twisting the cap, Wanda took a look to what was inside. The smell of cough syrup mixed with some kind of vodka flared in her nose, and holding the bottle to a good catch of moonlight, she could see that was inside had a pigment of highlighter blue. With all of those factors, she knew exactly what it was, and she wished she didn't.
She leaned down to lift Juandissimo's chin with her hand, forcing his baggy eyes to look at her. "Why in heaven's name are you drinking Spell?!"
'Spell', is the mystical yet toxic concoction of over-the-counter cough syrup with vodka; it's not illegal unless the fairy is underage or is caught intoxicated in a public space. The combination can be found in any store and is easy to make, but regardless of how sought after the euphoric effects can be (drink it and you'll be 'put under a spell,' hence the name,) this combination is extremely dangerous for fairies to consume in large amounts due to the potentially lethal interactions between both active ingredients.
The Juandissimo Wanda remembered wouldn't have gone to such lengths no matter how bad things were. He was the one to first break her own addiction of self-harm, coming to her aid in her darkest hour. He reminded her that her life was precious, that she didn't deserve to feel she were better off dead. The Juandissimo that appeared before her almost mirrored his imprisoned father's addiction to mind-altering substances, and that worried her greatly. She didn't have to ask why he turned to Spell as an escape; she knew the reason well enough. She just needed to know why Juandissimo felt that slowly killing himself was the only answer.
Shoving her hand away from his chin, Juandissimo managed to hold her gaze long enough to mutter "…why does it matter to you?"
"That's irrelevant." Wanda firmly stated, still holding the bottle in her hand. "Answer the question."
He tried to stand up from his seat, but when the world around him started to spin in his eyes, his vertigo made him stumble to the ground. She watched him hold his head in his palm while the other supported his weight, shutting his eyes when they couldn't focus. Thinking it was the right thing to do, she bent down to his level, extending a helping hand, but he refused her hand, pushing it away.
"…I…do not need your help…" he mustered the strength to force himself off the ground one knee at a time. "…I-I am fine…"
"Juandissimo, no you're not." Wanda was no fool, and out of it or not, she wasn't about to let him peg her as one.
When his head stopped spinning enough for him to at least open his eyes, Juandissimo wobbled in his flight, his dilated eyes fixed in a glare. "…Givvit back."
Wanda shifted her eyes to the bottle before shifting back to Juandissimo, standing her ground by keeping the bottle away from his reach. "…You've had enough."
And that he has, because as far as he was concerned, he's had enough of dealing with her…
Willing his wings to fly, Juandissimo floated passed her, seemingly no destination in mind. She would have gone after him, but Cosmo probably wondered where she was by now. As she watched him fly away, she eyed the white bottle in her hand…
How could Juandissimo stoop so low?
AN: Firstly.
I do not condone any drug or alcohol abuse in any way, shape, or form. I just like making characters miserable in my stories lol.
Secondly.
'Spell' is sort of my rendition of 'Lean' for fairies, and if you don't know what Lean is...be glad you're that innocent, cuz clearly I'm not.
Thirdly.
Didn't mean for Susie's backstory to be quite so dark but...um...yeah.