General Summary:
As a "gift," the Kira Clover family pays…for a picnic for the Magic Knights after you know, they saved the kingdom…twice. Thankfully, they can bring friends and family…
Chapter Summary: Charlotte and Dorothy have a tea party. Vanessa third-wheels it.
Picnics and Flowers
Chapter 1: Memories – CharDotty
By:
IAmStoryteller
"How did ya manage to get Lord Julius to give ya the budget for the picnic to turn it into a fancy tea party," asked Vanessa, who was already on her third glass of sangria. Vanessa sat haphazardly in a chair. Today, Vanessa opted not to wear her normal outfit. She wore a pink, very short dress, and a pointy, pink witches' hat. Vanessa had told Charlotte once that Vanessa purposely dressed the way she did to see the offended looks on snooty men and women's faces.
Charlotte took a sip of her tea and said, "Like I was letting a bunch of men plan it. We would have had nothing but meat and beer. There were children coming to this event. I didn't fancy cleaning up vomit on the Golden Dawn headquarters."
Dorothy snorted in her sleep, sitting in the chair next to Charlotte. Dorothy opted for a different kind of outfit today too. It wasn't like they often got to dress in anything other than their battle outfits. Dorothy had a wonderful purple hat with ribbon tied like a flower and her dress was floral with an emphasis on the purple.
Vanessa laughed, loudly. Charlotte had long since grown accustomed to Vanessa's loud and wild personality these days. At one time, it may have made her wince, but Charlotte liked Vanessa's honesty in how she presented herself. There was no nonsense when it came to being friends with Vanessa Enoteca. Vanessa's laughter devolved into a fit of giggles, and said, "It was real nice of Captain Vangeance to let us host it here."
Nearly the Magic Knights and their families were all on the Golden Dawn grounds having a bit of a picnic and/or tea party. According to Lord Julius, the Kira Clover House actually gave a "gift" to the Magic Knights money for a picnic as a thank you for saving the world twice.
Not like, Charlotte thought darkly to herself, the Magic Knights could have used a bigger budget for the Magic Tool Research Lab and more money towards repairing the actual damages to the towns and villages through realms.
Charlotte scoffed. "William and Dorothy are good friends."
"Dorothy is friends with everyone," said Vanessa, nudging Dorothy with her hand. Dorothy didn't budge in her sleep. "Even Noelle's oldest brother likes her. And he likes no one."
Charlotte put her cup down and laughed gently. "That's true. But apparently William and Dorothy were ah, how did she put it, "pining buddies." Thus, William owed Dorothy a favor."
Vanessa stared at Charlotte. Vanessa downed the rest of her sangria and said, "Damn, I didn't know that Captain Vangeance had the hots for Captain Yami for that long and that Dorothy had the hots for you for the same length of time. "Pining buddies," hah, I like it.``
Charlotte flushed red. "Y-yeah well, and that's how we wound up here."
"Hehehe, you're so cute when you blush about Dorothy," Vanessa cackled.
"Don't you have some juniors to harass," asked Charlotte, feeling a bit warm, despite wearing a cool light blue blouse and skirt combo in the middle of early spring.
Vanessa grinned something fierce. "Well, Noelle is on her date with Kahono. Asta is with Yuno and Mimosa playing with the kids that came with their parents. And the rest of my squad dispersed. Besides, Luck and Magna dragged Finral into some game of tag, which I have no desire to play. You and Dorothy are stuck with me."
"I'll be sure to pick you off the ground when you've gotten wasted," said Charlotte.
"Hah, bold of you assume this weak as liquor can down me," said Vanessa.
"Fruity drinks tend to have more alcohol in them than expected," said Charlotte, regaining a bit of her composure. "You should drink some water, though."
"You're such a Mom Friend, Charlotte," said Vanessa. Vanessa poked Dorothy in the cheek, causing Dorothy to scrunch her nose at the disruption to her sleep. "Dorothy, wake up and get your girlfriend to lighten up a bit."
Dorothy's pretty purple eyes snapped open. "Vanessa, stop poking me. And get me an Old Fashioned."
Vanessa sighed, acting like she was put out. "Fine. I need to re-up on my sangria. Charlotte, you want something?"
"No," said Charlotte, who won't touch alcohol after the last time, because she embarrassed herself awfully bad.
Vanessa said, "A Bellini it is, then." She grinned and rushed to the makeshift bar set up.
Charlotte sighed, "I think I'm the one that will need to be picked up off the floor after that."
"Don't worry, love, I got you," said Dorothy, grinning. "So, has anything exploded yet?"
Charlotte gave Dorothy an exasperated look. "Why would something explode?"
"Because it's us," said Dorothy, not missing a beat. "And Mereoleona is beating everyone in an arm wrestling competition and you remember what happened last time she did that…"
"There was such much paperwork," Charlotte cringed.
After the war in Spade, Charlotte, Vanessa, and Dorothy were dragged unwillingly out by Mereoleona to have some fun.
Except, Charlotte should have known better and they wound up in the toughest town in the Forsaken Realm where Mereoleona challenged all the big, burly men to arm wrestling competitions while she downed drink after drink, not even getting a bit drunk. There may or may not have been a bar fight that nearly leveled said town. Marx had been very, very irate. Lord Julius found it hilarious. And Charlotte was 85% sure that Mereoleona had been proposed to at least four times that night and Vanessa got a tattoo of the word "witchy" on her left butt cheek. Charlotte spent the next five days nursing the biggest hangover while Dorothy slept for a month.
"I'm back," cheered Vanessa, carrying three glasses. She handed the drinks out. "What are we talking about?"
"The Ark Town fiasco," said Dorothy, taking a sip of her drink.
"Oh, yeah, I remember, sorta. Still have that tat on my ass," said Vanessa, shaking her head. "I think I gave my squad a heart-attack the first time they saw it. But still it's not as bad as the time that me, Grey, and Charmy accidentally found a dungeon under Runyon Village, then got arrested by the stupid Green Mantis squad because we released an ancient magic beast by mistake, and then Charmy ate all the food in town and getting us banned for life."
Charlotte and Dorothy stared at Vanessa.
"Okay, that's weird as heck," said Dorothy.
"Was it as much paperwork as the Ark Town," Charlotte asked.
"Well, yeah," said Vanessa. "Unfortunately, Captain Yami didn't get our message so it was Vice-Captain Nacht who came to get us. Stick-in-the-mud was not impressed. Chewed us out. Made Grey cry, which made me and Charmy cry, and then he felt bad for making us cry and bought us hot chocolate and promised not to rat us out to Captain Yami. Unfortunately, Marx was not as forgiving."
Charlotte easily sipped her Bellini, making sure not to go hard on it, lest she get drunk. "It's the same reason why Wainsley, Borja, Selena, Galgaria and Sol aren't allowed to go out together. They somehow wound up starting an underground fight club in Kikka to buy some sort of crystal figurine for me. It was very sweet, but also, I had a lot of explaining to do."
"Aww," said Dorothy and then promptly fell back to sleep as she was prone to do.
Charlotte smiled fondly at her girlfriend. But then, Charlotte realized something horrifying. "God, what's gonna happen when Noelle and Mimosa grow up just a bit more?"
"They're good girls, they'll be fine," said Vanessa, who probably couldn't imagine sweet, innocent Noelle in that much trouble.
Charlotte downed her drink in one go and said, "You and Dorothy weren't around back then, but even I remember Noelle's mother, Mimosa's mother and Mereoleona's mother and they were twenty times worse than any of us. Noelle is just like her mother, and Mimosa is just like her mother and they both get special training from Mereoleona now, don't they? Marx is still cleaning up the mess from Captain Acier's bachelorette party."
Vanessa gaped and then, she drank the rest of her drink. "Well, damn, I think I need more alcohol. My Noe-Noe and sweet Mimosa...
"Get me another glass too."