The next morning sky found herself woken up by someone shaking her body, which meant she either slept through her alarm, or her alarm hadn't gone off yet. Her eyes were droopy and she wanted to go back to sleep, but instead felt a sense of deja vu when her blue eyes met familiar green ones.
She screamed, taking in the sight of galexia as she remembered she was supposed to be waiting for her to get back last night.
She passed out didn't she?
Galexia looked fine though, in fact she looked more then awake and before sky could even ask what happened galexia was already filling in her words, "You feel asleep when i got here so i went to bed and then got up and dressed before you awoke! You should have seen dinner with the lucitors! It was FUN!". Sky gave her a look before rubbing her eyes, "I've eaten with them before, anyways is luna up yet?". The girl happily nodded, "Oh, she left to train hours ago! You should have seen her!".
Sky shot up and off the bed, "Wait? She left where?"
"The training room? She says she's a knight now...is that her cover? What's my cover?". Sky struggled to reach her closet, picking out something random before searching for a hat to match. Galexia's eyes wondered over her many hats, but kept her focus on the cover she'd been talking about. Sky glared at her as she leaned over her shoulder and put her new clothes down her bed, wanting the girl to leave so she could actually get dressed, "Um look, I-I don't have a cover for you yet...uh...what do you want to be?".
Galexia blinked, unsure quite yet as sky sighed, "You...don't think this is still a dream right?".
"When did i think this was a dream?"
"Nevermind, here, you can be...a foreign exchange student from earth. Mom won't mind, well...she shouldn't mind at least...", Galexia seemed content with that, and that was enough for sky, "Ok so, can you please leave my room?". The girl complied and sky groaned, another day, another babysitting job.
She changed before joining her sister, who smiled at her outfit as sky dragged her alongside her. At least she could get some breakfast before facing whatever doom she had to deal with today, and at least galexia was still wearing her make-up for her cheekmarks, though more then likely luna made sure of that.
Guess sky was going to have to order more of that.
"I like your hats..looks scary.", lexi said casually, and sky shrugged, "Um thanks...i make them sometimes...". She looked over galexia to find something to compliment about her when she saw her earrings, "hey wait are those...bottlecaps?". The brunette smiled wider, as if she'd been waiting to be asked that all day. "Oh yeah, i made them last night, they were just so PRETTY!". Sky was gaping at them but she went on, "Mom and me made cute jewelry out of stuff all the TIME, she's gonna love all this cuteness".
The girl was clearly about juda's age based on her features, but sky could'nt help but be baffled she was going to be a queen.
Was this another Dirhhennia case? Did she have another sibling to overpass her? Because sky knew she was nothing special, but the girl next to her had been so off since they first met she couldn't help but wonder what in the heck was going on in whatever world she was from.
Though how likely she was to get anything from her didn't really seem possible.
Galexia suddenly pulled out something from inside a jacket she was wearing, a nice green notebook with some stickers on it. Pulling out a marker from inside her jacket, she immediately started scribbling as they walked, and sky proceeded to stop questioning it to go back to her previous thought process. Servants passed by, paying no mind to her but plenty to the gal who kept bumping into them as she scribbled into her notebook, not even phased as she bumped into them.
Sky watched her put the book back into her jacket and made the choice to gab onto her arm and move her along faster to the kitchens.
Grabbing some mini pancakes on the way out with some milk, as lexi picked out a fruit bowl, they made their way out of the kitchens. Sky reluctantly picked up some health snack for luna as well, just in case, though it's likely she has already eaten by this point.
Sky wasn't one for training, everyone and anyone knew that, but she was more then familiar with the training grounds for their knights. In fact why her mom didn't consider training her here was something to think about. Then again it would've been more awkward being watched by a bunch of knights who were eager to train themselves, and forcing them not to train as probably worse then the kids. All around sky could spot monsters and mewmans of all shapes and sizes lifting weights, clashing swords, and chatting.
If Melanie was here she'd probably compare it to some of the weird stuff she saw in teen "high school" movies.
Luna was easy enough to spot, no one could mistake that blonde hair, even if it was now tied up in a bun as the girl was doing push-ups on one of the mats off in the corner. All alone, counting how many she'd done, and doing them with ease.
With one hand.
Making sure to avoid all the guards, who were on the best behavoir in the presence of the princess, as she made her way over. Luna didn't take notice of them, continuing to count to herself, even as galexia took a seat next to her and munched on her fruit. Sky waved her hand out in front of her to get her attention but luna was more interested in finishing what she started then be interrupted by these girls. Her pace not even wavering as she continued to kept count.
"61...62...63...64...65...".
Sweat was dripping off her body and sky turned her head to the side as she made her was to 70 and finished her workout.
Was it too late to accuse her of actually being a shapeshifter?
Sky reluctantly held out the granola she picked up and watched luna chug down a bottle of water she probably had picked up earlier, down. Catching her breath before grabbing it with a nod as her way of saying thanks before eating, "Good to see you up...sorry, this tends to be part of my normal routine back home...". She sighed and took another sip of water, "Hope you don't mind of course, but since i'm apparently a knight in training now, no reason I can't be here...".
"No it's fine I guess, might as well make yourself at home..".
Her tone of voice was still less then enthusiastic and luna pressed her knees to her chest, "We're going to have to make a schedule to figure out when we can talk and what we're going to do each day, we need time to talk, and do what we need to do everyday...i don't know how busy you were before, but considering you have lessons with our mom...we need to work our way around all this mess. Have you called on your demon frie- judas? Yet?"
"No, i haven't, i'll call him later...or text him...he's bound to be busy and yesterday was so chaotic I wanna wait just a bit...", Luna finished her snack and tossed it into the nearest trashcan from where she sat with ease, before turning back to the girls. "I've been around our knights back home, never used their training area since i had my own, but this place is quite...well...more active then I expected?". She reached up to tighten her hair's bun, eyes looking around the room, "If my mom is...y'know...the leader? and she's out, i'd think more of these guys would do their own things or be in charge of roles in her absence...".
"Aww no no...her second in command is in charge for now...", sky's causal tone made the girl raise an eyebrow, "What? You don't think she'd have a second in command? Of course she has to! Mom sure won't do it and other mom..? Yeah no...". This made luna take another look at the crowd, "Ok, then whose the second in command? Most of the people in here look too young and no one in here seems to be wearing anything that shows any command...".
Then galexia suddenly pulled out her notebook and showed off a picture of...
"Here she is!".
Luna looked utterly perplexed at the scribbled drawing of a woman with green hair in a ponytail coming from her shiny helmet, her blue-green shades, and her dark skin. "Kelly?", Luna blinked before turning to sky, who gave her an odd face back, "Uh yeah? That's her alright...guess lexi met her earlier or something...what's your problem?".
"Oh no no, it's nothing I just...nevermind...anyways, as far as today goes, you two can go off and do...whatever you need to do...I'll stick around here, we can meet up at lunchtime. Talking about anything we found out or...something, you fine with that?". Sky shrugged, "Fine, whatever...i'll just text jude and stuff, i dunno how he's gonna hold up with his guests but hopefully he's in a mood to talk...you just do...whatever you were doing...".
"You mean blending in?"
"Yeah that."
"I'll be fine...though...", she turned to galexia, a look of both bewilderment and confusion lined on her pretty face, "I suggest you keep an eye on her...". Sky gave her a puzzled look, yeah the other girl was strange but her drawing portraits of people wasn't THAT strange was it? Nonetheless, they probably outta split groups before they drew any suspicion.
She stood up, urging galexia to follow her as luna went back to work, happy they talked for once without any arguments between them.
This time.
Judas's end was a lot less boring.
Ever since this morning he'd been active, getting his normal chores and work done, next to constant sessions to keep an eye on the girls and his brothers. Mason was assumed to still be in his garden and landon...was more then likely off brooding somewhere then anything by this point since yesterday was full of nothing but torture for him. Then again, it was also probably very possible thanks to Judas, Landon could be more or less hiding from mason with the girls, who now suddenly wouldn't leave him alone as part of his new "Wing man" status. The thought both amused judas, and made him feel a little bad, though most of his focus were shifted to the girls.
He had definitely taken a liking to sunny despite the incident, she was rather likable and in the end she was still just a kid. Celeste on the other hand was a lot harder, she did nothing without showing some reluctance to doing it, and it seemed she had no actual idea how to smile. In fact the grumpy look in her face was probably her resting face by this point. Judas almost wanted to question Landon if they even did make up but then again, maybe this was normal for Celeste.
He knew his mom staking guards on them was going to be an issues, both if the girls got discovered for having marks, for having wands, or for lying about where they came from and who they are. He didn't have much of a choice though, even as the prince his mother was still way more above him and those guards were not easy to move or convince to leave. At least mason was too occupied in trying to come up with idea for landon to get too involved in the girls though, which was a plus for judas, but less so for his brother.
He felt very guilty for sicking their younger brother on him, but then again, landon was so painfully unsocial that some good MIGHT come from the whole thing.
at least, Judas sure hoped it did.
He was exhausted last night, his brain felt like dough and by the time he flopped on his bed he was out. He almost slept through his alarm this morning, the screeching noises it made eventually forcing him up and back to his routine. Though granted his routine was going to be shifted a little with the official addition of their guests. For one, he had breakfast with them, choosing to stay by them as much as he could as to try and speak to them, though he had to be careful with the guards around.
Afterwards, it was landon's turn.
Landon was less busy then he was and though he was reluctant about helping, anything that allowed him the chance to stay far away from mason for now was more then fine with him, though i would'nt surprise judas if the boy kept his distance from them thanks to Celeste's teasing. He still looked partially upset about the phone call and whatever mason had walked in on, but he seemed to feel better the less people brought it up. Sunny seemed to think he was alright and her smile never waved despite him and Celeste's moody attitude, trying to socialize with them and smiling alongside them.
At least one of them should keep some kind of eye on them as much as possible just to be safe, while in the meantime they did what they needed to do. Judas kept his compact in his pocket, pulling it out every time it buzzed, he needed to hear from sky. If they were going to get anywhere, they needed a plan, and for now they didn't have one aside from keeping the girls secret and just keeping an eye on everyone.
Which was probably not going to get them far in the long run unless the culprit practically blurted out their plans to them.
Though so far, this was already off to a better start then yesterday. Judas was still nervous about everything but his head was a bit clearer. He found himself for the moment in the library of the underworld, taking some time to look into anything of interest. Hew'd already skimmed through a few different spellbooks and frankly he didn't know why he thought he'd find much here to begin with, the high commission would never let anyone have any kind of spell that allowed anyone to do what sky's wand did, for obvious reasons.
Though so far, the fabric of time and the multiverse didn't seem to be collapsing, so that was a good sign at least that the presence of the girls wasn't going to cause impending doom to rain down upon the world. Though he could almost be certain the commission would notice something was off soon enough.
He tossed the book he was reading into the pile and sighed, perhaps he should start somewhere else instead. He thought about asking his father considering his mother would be immediately suspicious if he was up to anything with sky again, but even then his father would probably blab to his mom anyway. Family in the lucitor family was odd, though his grandparents on both sides were great, they were some of the few relatives he could actually talk to, the rest being either dead or barely around.
Even his uncle wasn't an option because he was taking a job in another state and he knew next to nothing about magic.
Not to mention those that were distant were distant because they didn't want to be associated with the family.
and sky thought her family was a wreck.
he found himself pacing, trying to think of his next course of action when finally, his compact buzzed in her pocket. The part demon felt relieved to hear from sky as a text message appeared, he quickly read her response before texting her back.
Sky: So, we have no plans...I think for now, we're just gonna keep in contact and work along as we go i guess..
Judas: That it?
Sky: Guess so...i mean, unless you have a plan?
Judas: Well no, but we need to figure out how this happened...if you think it's the commission, we need to get that kinda info out of them...somehow.
Sky: Well, they're suspicious of me apparently, so, don't think I'm gonna be any help
Judas: What?
Sky: They're suspicious that i destroyed the archives, we heard the recording jude, i'm their prime suspect...
The boy bit his lips, fangs picking the soft flesh as he took a moment to think about the situation before texting her back. He would call her, but he'd get in big trouble since he was in the library and hades knows he doesn't need to lose his phone again.
Judas: Well then, maybe let us take the reigns for a bit, keep yourself out of trouble...
He could already imagine sky's face on her end, a look that said: "Keeping me out of trouble? Ha ha, very funny.". So when there was a bit of a silence, as sky hadn't texted him back, he immediately tried to make up for his last text message.
Judas: Look, for now, just work on your studies, help your mom, and just be careful...we can take care of it...
Sky bit her lip, thoughts of what luna said last night to her re-emerging and she grumpily texted back her friend.
Sky: No, let me help, let me do something at least...
To be honest, judas was right, if she was under suspect she was probably better off not making herself more suspicious. But at the same time, what use would she be doing nothing this whole time? This was her wand that supposibly caused this after all. Also luna surely would be utterly annoyed if she did completely nothing instead of trying to help get her back to whatever utopia she came from, especically after telling her to "Take charge" or whatever else she'd been telling her.
Judas: Well, then...perhaps you can figure our why you're wand's all fritzy...wouldn't be weird or suspicious of you to do something like that right?
Sky: Ok, i can try.
Judas shoved the thing back into his pocket, only to jump up at the sight of someone standing directly in front of him. Making him fall back onto the floor and yelp in pain. When he was able to get a proper look at the situation, he met the eyes of his grandfather, who immediately helped him back onto his feet. "I'm sorry judas, didn't mean to scare you...i've been looking for you this morning for a word and i didn't want to bother you until you were done speaking to your friends.."
"Oh uh...ok...", his grandfather placed his hands into his pockets, looking down to the floor, " Sorry judas, and sorry about dinner as well...I probably should have waited till after to talk about it, I know your folks are sensitive to people wanting to cure you...". Judas's ears flickered as he put his hands out, "No no no, it's fine, I know you're all just...trying to help and...well i'm not king yet anyway, they need to know..". Fans dug into his lip as his eyes darted around the library, "I mean, a shocker is...decent...compared to other stuff...".
Sky tazing angel was still fresh in his mind despite everything and though that was the wrong call then, here...well...if could really knock angel down, then there was a chance it could help him. At least, it could take him down if his arm did end up going nuts at least. It's interesting, 17 years of his condition with no serious consequences and you'd think him and his folks would assume it was harmless. It randomly appeared and it was a nusence, but it also seemed to show up when he was in danger or in certain emotional acts.
17 years, and despite it being annoying, it had never harmed anyone innocent.
and yet, it was scary, it scared his parents, it scared everyone around him.
Judas was like a walking horror to everyone.
"It's not exactly a cure, but...I know you and your family just want to be prepared, and I think, we need a proper plan.", the old king started pacing, "Your family doesn't want to hurt you and I don't either, hades forbid someone lays a finger on you. But your folks need to have more of a plan if something DOES happen, we can't do nothing. You know if worst comes to worst, they have to hurt you to stop you... and if we don't do something...those people out there will...", He stopped moving, his back to his grandson.
"those idiots out there, who think you can't be king because of that curse? all they see is that lousy curse...you're a smart young man whose more then capable to handle this place and all they think of is you'll destroy us all because you can't help it...", he turned around, facing judas with a ferocity, "Then again, that's what they always have thought of every lucitor heir before you...look, you're going to be king soon judas, we can't keep waiting anymore for a solution because your folks don't want you hurt, if you're going to run this place we need to make sure that thing is under control and if it comes down to it, we need to stop it."
The older man continued to ramble, it might of gotten tiring considering how often he did it, but this was normal to judas. After all his father's anger issues came from somewhere and Dave sure showed it when he wanted to. You could always tell how passionate he was during times like these, and his family tended to always be one of the biggest things he was protective and passionate about. If you crossed his family, he wouldn't hesitate to play dirty, and he was not one to hide how he felt about anything.
Judas could remember countless times his grandfather would complain bout this and that, in fact this was unlikely the first time he talked about this subject in particular. But Judas just let him ramble on a bit more before speaking himself.
"I know...I know...trust me, you don't have to remind me...I-I'm scared of myself enough as is..", rubbing his arm, he managed to look his grandfather right in the eyes, "When i'm king, I'll show them I can do it, just like you did...curse or no curse...i'll try at least...". he rolled up the sleeve of his cursed arm, holding it in front of him, "My parents have considered options, you know my mom and safety, but i'm still open to other suggestions...well, as long as they don't put me to death..."
His shoulders sinked, trying to make the old man feel better, "It does means a lot, you're still trying to come up with solutions, it's much better then the tranquil darts and the chains suggestion at least". He watched his grandfather's face shift to one of guilt, ashamed of himself, " I was desperate at that time, I guess to them it made you sound more like an animal we had to lock up and I never wanted to make it sound that way...". He felt judas put a hand on his shoulder, "I kinda assumed after that, you were gonna stop...but here you are...".
"I just...I don't want another member of my family to go through that, thomas being the first half monster to take a throne was hard enough on him. And I just don't...and your parents just...sigh...", judas pulled him into a small hug, "Well, we can't cure me or help me if we give up right?".
He smiled a little, "Right...".
They detached and Dave crossed his arms, "I'm sorry for laying this all out on you, again, but your parents aren't trying anymore and...sweet lucifer i hope this next one works, we don't need to worry about a cure right now, we just need to make sure we can stop it, if this stops it...then you'll be no threat...a cure can come afterwards.". Judas watched his grandfather's expression and sighed, he had an idea and spoke up, "You heard about the guy who insulted me at the ball didn't you? That's what brought this up all of a sudden...". Dave shrugged, not a shocked look on his face as if he had expected this eventually, he'd been caught., he shoulders slumped, "Don't tell your parents, but i always make sure someone is keeping an eye on you...partially for safety purposes but I never feel your father tells quite everything that happens...get the feeling he's worried i'll freak out...though...guess he's not wrong.".
"Miss going to balls?"
"A little...".
"A little?"
"Ok, a LOT...".
Judas gave him a knowing smile as the man huffed, " Look, he was insulting my grandson and if i had been there i'd have given him a piece of my mind, but since i'm out of luck. Next best thing is to show him how wrong he is...". The boy smiled, it was an easy take to tell which side of the family provided landon's current issues, though he couldn't help but find his grandfather's over-protectiveness just a little charming. "I'm sorry, your poor old grandpa here is rambling and whining and wasting your time...", he leaned on a table nearby, "I'm not the king anymore, so my priorities lie elsewhere...I was so angry when I found out."
"You know retirement should also be a big priority right?", Judas piled up the books he was done with in his arms and handed them over to a demonic librarian, who used their wings and flew off to put the books back in their proper places. "Pft, why deal with retirement when you can help your grandson show up some racist bullies?", His teal eyes watched his grandson as he leaned next to him, "I'll let you know when we get the device from our friends, if it doesn't work, well, we can't say we didn't try...".
"Well, worst it could do is shock me and nothing happens...which is..painful...but then again considering i'm the host...If i have a harder time moving so does it..", he felt his grandfather run fingers through his hair, "thanks for taking my offer, I know your folks are just protective of you...i just...you're an adult now...they can't baby you anymore...this curse is yours, and you need to be allowed to make your own decisions. Especially when it's something as dangerous as what your curse could do...".
"They're just looking out for me...but they seemed to have eased off knowing it was something that wouldn't servery hurt me...you would have done the same for my dad...", he snorted and agreed, "Yeah, guess I would've...". They sat in silence for a bit when his grandfather looked at his watch, "I better get moving, sorry for getting so upset...I didn't mean to come here and ramble so much, you were probably busy weren't you? Before I showed up?".
"Oh, no no, it's perfectly fine...we...we needed to have this talk sometime soon, before I'm crowned...", he watched his grandfather start to head out, "Right, and uh...please don't tell your parents about the "spying " thing, they're upset at me enough for even suggesting a new cure method..."
"Don't worry, i'll keep it a secret, as long as you actually take at least a little more of a break and enjoy retirement for once.", his grandfather rolled his eyes and laughed, "Never". As he was about to head out though, judas called out for him and the elder turned around, "Yes?".
"Hey, before you head out? I want to ask you...what do you think about...alternate dimensions?", his grandfather gave him a strange look and shrugged, "Why would you care to know? Thinking about other realities were you weren't cursed?". Judas nodded quickly and he continued, "I don't think they're honestly something anyone should be trying to get involved with, it's a complex system and tampering with stuff like that can change thousands of other realities, honestly it's no wonder that stuff is taboo, you could ruin billions of lives by just leaving a footprint on another world".
He gave him a strnage look and judas stood his ground, "You're not thinking of-.". The boy shook his head, "Heck no, but it would be cool to think...somewhere out there...we didn't have to worry about well...hurting me at all...right?".
The man nodded, suspicion dropping, "Yeah...it would be...".
After he left, judas fixed his sleeve and grabbed his stuff, it was lunch time and he had to meet up with the girls. Making sure he left nothing behind as he headed out the door to find the dining hall, holding his wrist the entire way.
Luna was starting to blend in rather well among the other knights in training, and by blend in she meant keep to herself and draw no attention to herself whatsoever. Quietly listening to the gossip spread among the young adults, there was little of interest. Most of it was "Teen drama this" and "Teen drama that", talking about whose dating who and whatnot. As though that kinda stuff mattered when you're training to be one of the queen's knights.
She'd rather listen to the sharpening of swords.
No wonder back home she only got involved in situations like this if it were a part of her training, it all seemed so dull, so pointless. There were so many other important things at hand and this was the kinda stuff teens wanted to talk about, as if these would matter much once they became knights.
Was this normal for Sky?
For now she found herself in their locker room, luna planning to head out as training seemed to be over and the rest of her mates were on break for lunch. She might as well go find where lexi and sky went, or perhaps use her new position to do a little digging herself. Grabbing her things, she prepare to make an exit when she heard a whistle which froze her and everyone else in their tracks, "CADETS! IN LINE!", Luna watched the locker room but their way to head against a long way to form a line against it and she immediately followed suit. This seemed to be normal for most of the knights judging by their reactions and at first she wondered if there was an emergency when something quickly told her otherwise.
The door swung open and the blonde felt herself tense at the sight of a tall woman will long green hair in a ponytail, shades, a rather large golden sword, and blue and black spiked armor. Kelly was a sight for sore eyes and she must have been very excited based on her smile. Luna stared at her, still in shock at the sight of her. She's heard of kelly before, many times, but seeing her was a whole other thing. Nonetheless she brushes it off in favor of not looking ridiculous.
"Didn't mean to scare all of you, but I heard we got a few new recruits just recently and there was no way I was gonna skip them!", the trainees talked among themselves as she pulled out a list, "don't worry it's only three, then you all can go to lunch...". She read down her list, "Joey!", a large monster lady stepping forward, and luna watched as kelyl shook her hand, admired her grip and welcomed her aboard before having her stand next to her as she called out the nest name on her small list.
"Sirius?! ", a shorter mewman with dark hair and darker skin stepped forward, rise and repeat, though his size didn't seem to matter much to kelly. She early welcomed him and he stood next to joey as kelly took out her list one last time, "Luna?". Luna stepped forward and hoped her marks were still properly covered up as the woman shook her hand, "Nice grip, I can tell you've worked with swords before...". Luna simply nodded, "I also love your eyes, full of determination, i can tell, welcome, i hope you're ready for knighthood.".
She dismissed everyone else to turns to the three cadets, " You're new so you wouldn't know it, but i always greet new recruits that way. You'll get used to it, now that jackie is finally coming back soon, more and more are signing up to be trained, but until then, you're all stuck with me...you know your schedules right?"
They all nodded.
"Good, because until jackie gets back, you'll have to attend my training sessions to set you all up and i don't suggest missing those. Now you three go get some lunch i'm going to be looking forward to working with you all, hope you all don't disappoint me...". The other two recruits left and luna followed behind, looking back as kelly nodded to her and she walked out of the locker room, lost in thought. She shook her head, she needed to focus on the task at hand, thinking about home didn't matter right now.
Finding Sky was easy enough, as she was snacking in her bedroom, galexia hanging off the side of the bed, drawing.
The girl digging through her mother's book of spells for anything of use as she chomped down on a bag of chips. Luna had already picked up a sandwich on the way here as she was technically an employee now and therefore treated to her own food. She took a seat on the bed herself, glancing to sky who hadn't really acknowledged her as she skimmed through the book.
"Mom still has her spellbook in this universe?", She looked it over then went back to focusing on her food, unwrapping it to eat. Sky nodded, shoving more food into her mouth, "I guess i'm trying to figure out if mom wrote down any secret spells or something...I dunno, i'm stumped where I even go with this...you sure we shouldn't have my mom look it over or something?". Luna's look said that she wasn't sure, but she spoke otherwise, "I don't want to be tricked by the high commission again...the wand stays...".
"Fine fine fine, so...what did you do then? I don't know a ton about what the knights do most of the time...", luna wrapped up her uneaten sandwich, slightly annoyed as she spoke, "It's not much to worry about, I just finished warm ups, spend time around the folk listening out for info, talked to the second in command for a bit. Nothing remarkable...". Sky didn't say anything in return, going back to her book, the tension in the room cut be cut with a knife and galexia's sudden words startled the other girls.
"We could talk about other cool stuff! We don't have to talk about stuff you guys are bored by!", Luna simply crossed her arms, turning away her head, "It's not boring to talk about plans and our current mission to get back home, it's important!". But galexia shook her head, "But you guys don't talk about anything else, it's just a lotta BLAH and BLEH! Then you guys sit in silence and do nothing for a long time till your brains go all goopy and globby!."
She rolled off the bed and jumped to her feet, waving her arms around, "We could talk about other cool things! Like all the stains on the ceiling that look like animals! Or that the underworld shampoo smells like cherry blossoms! Or we could talk about the cool shocky bracelet your demon bro got!". Sky shook her head, "What? What exactly did you get into in the underworld?", the girl's eyes lit up as if she'd been waiting to be asked that all day.
"Oh that's easy, Celeste almost died because of this big ole plant! And then we got sent to our rooms but i squirted shampoo all over the floor before jumping into a pile of ripped clothes! And then we ate giant bugs and vegetables and then the purple kid was offered a bracelet an-" Luna held out her hands, "Wait, slow down, you almost died to a plant? And what now?". Then she felt the blunette next to her grab her hand, "Then she made a mess, got some new clothes, and i guess went to dinner and judas got a...bracelet...?".
Galexia nodded.
"Ok, thanks for telling us i guess..".
"You're welcome!".
Sky tried to go back to reading, but galexia just stood there, staring, "what about you guys?". They exchanged looks but the blonde shook her head, "Lexi, no offence, but some of us aren't as eager to give out our life stories, we barely know each other. And besides, it's hard enough to tell if you're paying attention or not...you just kinda seem to be doing your own thing most of the time and we just...It's actually kinda hard to explain...". The green-eyed girl simply blinked, "But isn't it better for us to get to know each other more? My mom and dad like meeting new people, they do it all the time!".
"Yes well, it's not the same for all of us, if you want to talk about yourself...it's fine, but...I want to focus on other things.". She went back to her food, opening it back up, making a napkin spread on her lap to catch the crumbs, and began eating much to lexi's misery.
"Aww, that suuuuckkssss...". She flopped onto the floor, "Finneeee...".
Now that sky was thinking about it, out of all the girls, lexi reminded her most of how her mom used to act as a kid.
She was bubbly, active, and always trying to do things simply because she'd rather have fun then do any actual work. Except this wasn't some 14 year old girl, this was now all encased inside a 17 year old with green eyes and wearing trash for jewelry.
Sky watched her mope and put the book down, making her way over to her and sitting on the floor next to the sad girl, "You know, I know how you feel...I've never really been into all the boring stuff about being queen and all that...you kinda just rather...have fun and be a normal kid...". She pulled out her wand, looking it over, "You turn fourteen, then you gotta do this, then you gotta do that...and everything then is about being queen and whatnot..".
Luna finished her chewing, "You act as though that's a bad thing, being born into he royal family is not exactly common among anyone. You both should be excited! You're given an amazing opportunity and since you are, you should be happy to prove your worth to it. Not just anyone can be queen after all, it's an honor and all you have to do is get prepared for it.". Her tone seemed oddly happy, as though she was looking back on her training with a certain fondness the other girls didn't share.
"And your somehow don't find the preparation to be remotely boring or exhausting?"
"Not if you actually make an effort, like it or not all of us were born to be the next queen. The most you can do is make sure you're the best queen you can be instead of lying around and complaining about it, that's sure not how our mother got on the throne in all of our homes...". She finished eating and collected her trash, "Just because something is boring doesn't mean it's not important or not worth listening to, usually the most boring stuff tends to be the stuff you need to listen to most."
She threw her trash into the bin with perfect accuracy, "Granted, when i'm back home what you do is your problem, but I happen to have been training to be an excellent queen since I was little . So forgive me If i don't see the problem here with training. You're going to be queens soon after all, if you don't take it seriously you're just asking for more issues.". Sky grumbled but Luna chose to ignore it, "Sorry, but that's the gist of it, we don't have time for fun and games, there are more important matters at hand.".
"You're kind've a buzzkill, you know that?".
"Well, considering back home i'd always carry first aid kits, maps, and lock picks every time kids my age asked to hang out with me, i think I've been made more then aware that i don't seem to have ever been the "Fun" kinda of person.", She summoned her own wand, "It's fine though, I've gone this long without that kinda stuff and I turned out perfectly fine. ". She suddenly used her wand to change her outfit expertly, going from her workout outfit to something nicer much to sky's added displeasure.
"And yet you made me give you a new outfit last night...".
Luna simply smirked.
"I just wanted to get under your skin a little, am I fun yet?"
Sky didn't bother to answer as the girl changed the subject, "Anyways your lesson is soon so i suppose me and galexia are going to be working together in the meantime...I know you still don't trust us but at this point I doubt you think we have plans to go anywhere...". Sky gave the two of them a once over, "Fair enough...but what the heck are you even going to do? We literally have no plans here besides just kinda sorta trying to get more info?".
"Well, perhaps that's a good place to start, working our way up, gain their trust...get more info...", the way she said it almost sent chills down's sky's spine, she just said it so naturally, as if she had done stuff like this before. Though considering how she spoke earlier about wanting to be the best queen she can be, she probably shouldn't be remotely surprised if this girl got into some crazy stuff. She could almost imagine her kissing up to a higher up to get what she needed.
"The point is, we can talk to the people here, we blend in now...just head to your classes, and let us talk around, get to know everyone...", She nodded to galexia, "I can keep an eye on her on my own, you focus on what you need to do and we do the same..". Sky twiddled her wand in her hands, don't you think that'll look kinda suspicious? You running around and asking people private questions they unlikely know about?". Luna's look was mischievous, her wand turned back into a ring, "Not if you know what you're doing..".
"You know, the last time it was just the three of us together eating, didn't quite end well...", judas carefully eyed the door of the private dining room , where the guards were still perched, hoping they couldn't listen in but speaking carefully just to make sure. Celeste shrugged, "Well as long as your creepy arm doesn't come back, i'm sure we'll be fine..". Judas frowned but Sunny gave him a reassuring smile as she took another bite out of her bug sandwich, " I think you'll be fine, I'll make sure not to run off again...".
Landon had basically dumped the girls on judas for lunch without a word, probably glad to be rid of them and away from judas considering how frustrated he was. Well, dumping might've been too much for what he did, as he indeed, had kept his distance and basically walked off somewhere else when judas took his "Shift". The girl's hadne't said anything about their time thugh whether it was because there was something they didn't want to say or there was nothing to say at all judas was unsure about.
"I took my grandfather's offer, on the bracelet, he'll let me know when i get it...", his fork played with the noodles on his plate and sunny's smile shifted, "daddy looked really worried about you, does this really happen a lot? With...you know?". He simply nodded, "They're my parents...they worry about me, i'm sure you guys have gone through similar things...". Sunny nodded but Celeste said nothing, simply eating and keeping to herself as judas kept on eating.
"I'll be fine...don't worry about me, I've been dealing with this my entire life, you guys need to worry about yourselves..", he gave a smile but sunny could sense the pain behind it, she quietly went back to eating, trying to change the subject. "So what do you guys like to do for fun around here? Well I mean, i know fun things to in the underworld but what do you guys do?", Celeste groaned but Judas seemed to appreciate sunny's attempt to lighten the mood a little more.
"Ah, well, I guess when we're not doing prince things we're normally just spending time with lucy, hanging with our parents or sky, we also i guess...play in our game room. Ping pong with our folks is honestly really fun, though since there is five of us we usually let mason ref the game a little since his big wings had knocked over the table multiple times...i don't think he minds it though. Plus me and my dad make a great team, I think at first we were worried since landon's no master at magic but mom is pretty powerful as well, so it's even to us...".
"Isn't using magic kinda...cheating?", the two demons turned towards the grumpy gal, "Like who in the heck would let you use magic to play in sports? What is supposed to be fair about that? You guys are basically just trying to out-cheat each other..".
"Well, it's not about competition much, it's usually for fun...we...well we like to mess with each other a lot...", he smirked, "At this point it's less that we actually play ping pong and more of us trying our best to frustrate the other as much as possible, when you have siblings, you know.". Sunny giggled, "Well, me and my brother are a little different, we don't mess with each other...or fight really.", she watched the boy nod along with her as she talked.
"My baby brother has always been kinda scared of stuff and prefers comfort and stuff...we're less like you and your bros and more...protective and comforting..", the boy's face turned back to his food, "Eh, you'd be surprised how protective we can be for each other, but honestly I wish we were more like that...at least I wish we got along as well as you seem to. Me and landon can kinda get on each other's nerves sometimes, i'm sure you've already noticed..".
"I'm sure he loves you though...", Sunny's words seemed to make the boy feel a little better as he continued to eat, wrapping the noodles around his fork and slurping them down, "Yeah, i'm sure he does too...so...speaking of ping pong, you guys up for a game? With landon leaving the way he did last night, our folks just went to bed...but perhaps, you both might be interesting in playing with us, well i guess for now..er..me? You both have played before I hope?".
"Of course! We'd play sometimes back home too! But Justin gets nervous about balls flying at him so we don't really use magic or anything, so i'm not exactly used to doing the style you guys usually do.", Celeste shrugged, "Whatever, break from all the other nonsense i guess...your parents joining?". The demon shook his head, "Nah, not right now, no doubt they have things to take care of, but they may join us later, they're usually BEGGING to take a break when they're supposed to be doing other things". He leaned against one of his hands as he sat his elbow up on the table, "But if we don't have them, we're going to need to invite someone to make the teams even...landon i doubt wants to play considering last night, i'm keeping mason as far away from you as possible, and my grandparents aren't exactly an option at the moment as my grandma can never hold the paddles and my grandpa has other stuff on his mind and i'd rather he didn't get a good look at you two either..".
He bit his lip, "Sky is probably at her lessons as well and luna and galexia are probably busy over there and i don't want to get too into whatever they may be up to...". Celeste grumbled, "You guys don't have any other friends you could invite? Like, at all?". The prince only twiddled his thumbs, all three red eyes looking off in the opposite direction, "Well, it's not to say we don't have any friends, we're just not exactly hugely popular with the public a lot of the time...".
"What about that girl you were texting?", Sunny asked innocently, making judas's heart sink.
"Girl?".
"During dinner, you were texting a girl weren't you? Maybe she can come? I'm sure she'll think less of us then your relatives..".
Judas put both arms on the table now, still looking off to the side, " You mean nora? I uh...sorry, i don't think she can come either, not that i think she'll be suspicious of you it's more just as...she's not very social? and her parents have never been sure of me...the arm, you know...".
Celeste looked him over, scanning him over with one eyebrow raised, "She your girlfriend or something dude?". Judas's brows furrowed, "No, she's not thank you, she's just somewhat of a distant friend. Not that it matters, I doubt I can convince her to show up, so maybe we should do something else then..". The small demon girl took a sip of her juice and looked between the brunettes before thinking, "C'mon, i bet someone out there would hang out with you! Who else do you know?".
"Don't you dare suggest angel..."
"Landon's crush?"
"Landon might have his number, but i sure don't, plus landon is already upset enough...".
"Well do you know any other people...?".
"I shouldn't have brought it up, i'm sorry. I was hoping to maybe do something fun and i forgot we don't have a ton of people to choose from to be our fourth... maybe after my folks are off we could do something like that but for now...I guess...we can do something else.", his tone became awkward and embarrassed, though whether it was because he forgot there was three of them or because of how little of people he seemed to know wasn't obvious.
Probably a mix of both to be honest.
Sunny frowned, so much for helping him feel better, if anything she seemed to just make him feel a ton worse. She looked off the celeste who wasn't paying much attention, her eyes off to the side and playing with her food as the silence grew. "Well, we could still play with just the three of us! How about this? You and me can play and cele here can ref! Just like how your little brother does it! That way none of us are left out! We could even play in shifts!".
Judas looked up and nodded, "Yeah, sure, that could be fun...yeah, i mean, if you both still want to go have some fun together of course! I hope I didn't well, upset you both or anything.". Sunny shook her head, "It's ok, i have trouble with friends back home too, it's nothing to be sad about. I mean, we're friends now aren't we?". Celeste grumbled but the boy seemed to appreciate her words, nodding, "Yeah, I guess we kinda are by this point, i uh...let's finish eating and i'll show you where to go ok?".
Honestly he probably should go back to the mission or find some other prince stuff to do, but he finished his normal stuff, his chores, and his most important prince stuff. And yesterday had been such a fiasco in terms of working that playing a simple game sounded so much more refreshing right now. Time to just have pure fun, get to know these girls, and take some time to think on other things. He could feel the weight of everything else hammer down on him so much that he was practically begging for something like this.
Entering the game room made him smile, with his soon to be crowning in the near future, he had less and less time to think about stuff like this. But seeing it again made him feel like a kid again, as it always did when he and his family played together in here. They had a ping pong table of course but there was a basketball hoop, some arcade games, Foosball, and a number of other things. His father told him some of these used to be in his room when he was a lot younger.
Sunny looked impressed when she stepped in and as the body guards positioned themselves in front of the game room door, Judas figured she probably lived in the butterfly castle and hadn't been to the underworld castle nearly as much. He suddenly found himself wondering what exactly his dad would do if he had become king of mewni. He was trained to handle the underworld but what would have happened if he ran mewni, a monster on mewni's throne, sounded rather interesting.
The citizens of mewni here were already rough enough about monsters and mewmans getting married, half-monster kids, and heck they were still rough about sky being next in line since she seemed weaker then other mewmans. How the heck did sunny's world work? Was it a utopia where everyone gets along? Sunny would probably tell him if he asked but that was probably not a good idea with the guards nearby though judas kept the mental note in his mind.
Sunny had already run over to the paddle shelf to pick out a paddle, taking a pink one out as just simply used his powers to grab a purple one. Celeste, simply took a seat nearby to do...whatever she was exactly supposed to be doing. She watched the two demons giggled as judas served, surprised at sunny's ferocity as she hit the ball back, "You were totally taught by our dad right? Though i could see ms star having some hand in this with you jumping so much."
"Hey, i'm short! Plus jumping makes it more fun!", They seemed almost about matched based on how little the ball got passed either of them, laughing and bonding quite well. Celeste was questioning when she even showed up to be honest, she barely had to even do anything at she watched them, bored. Then again, why did she want to hang out with them anyway? She barely knew them, she didn't like them. For what reason did she even have to care if they were having fun without her?
"C'mon, you gotta do better then that!", judas challenged the girl, whose three red eyes dimmed as much as his own. "Don't make me use my tail jude, that thing can pack a punch and you know it!",They kept playing for a little more when they found themselves tied and decided to end it there to let Celeste play. Celeste thought about turning it down at first, but took the paddle from judas's hands to play herself, well less took and more "Snatched", but still.
She wouldn't admit to being a bit happy to play.
Judas found himself looking to his compact in the meantime, no doubt sky was at her lessons already with her mother and there was no telling what nora was up to. He found his mind wandering a bit, sky had yet to properly tell him what angel used his compact for, just that it wasn't anything that mattered and they needed to focus elsewhere. Though he still wasn't pleased angel got his hands on the compact in the first place, he practically used his bit of kindness in letting him speak to the queen and he stole his stuff.
Granted, Star brushed him off but it still sucked.
He was going to have to keep a closer eye of it from now on, clearly his pockets did nothing to keep a spider prince's grubby hands off it. Was angel always this much of a pickpoketer now that he thought about it? He didn't see him often every since he got banned from all royal events for the trouble he caused so there was only so much he knew about the guy aside from his kingdom and how he viewed the treatment of monsters and his people.
He found himself wondering if they could've been friends years ago if things were different. They didn't exactly hate each other after all and the boy did seem to have some form of respect and care for judas oddly enough despite everything. Sigh, no point in thinking about that kinda stuff now though, clearly they both had their own things to worry about. He had his mother and judas had a plethora of problems that beat at his mind every day of his life.
If only things were simpler, like when they were all still too young to ever deal with matters like these.
He wouldn't have to be so pressured to fix his "Problem", Sky wouldn't be so pressured to be better then her mom, Nora might've had an easier chance getting to make friends, and angel could stop trying to handle matters he probably wasn't ready to handle.
His thoughts were stopped, however, as a ping pong ball directly hit his face. Right on his third eye, catching him off guard and instinctively grab onto the spot in pain. That's what he got for not paying attention like he was supposed to. Sunny gasped, running over to him, Celeste following her. Judas grumbled, knowing full well based on where he sat which side of the table had to have hit that ball, and he resisted the urge to shoot the brunette a look.
"Sorry sorry sorry...", Sunny looked him over, "I missed the ball! Are you ok? I've had my eye hit a few times too and i know it's painful...". Judas brushed it off, "N-no no...it's fine it's...ah...", he briefly caught a lash of light as sunny handed him an ice pack, something she probably conjured from her wand, he mumbled a thank you and put it over his eyes, enjoying the relief it brought. "Man i'm gonna have to stop hanging out with just the two of you, seems i get injured for it a lot.", he let out a weak laugh and though it was meant to be funny, sunny still seemed upset.
"Is your eye going to be ok?", The demon nodded, "I've gotten worse then this...not the first time my eye has been hurt either...". Celeste mumbled an apology under her breath and stared off to the side as sunny acted like the protective sister she was, showing she indeed probably had a brother back home she comforted and cared for. He could easily see her doing this for him, though since judas was still a stranger to her she held back just a little, not entirely sure of her limitations.
"Hey, no need to fret over me so much, just give my eye a moment and we can play again, i'll get cele here back with some...proper ping pong butt kicking." He shot the girl a challenging look, "You guys play pretty well, I haven't played proper ping pong in so long i almost forgot what it looks like.". He removed the ice pack, eye feeling a bit better as it opened, "Ah, That's better, thanks sunny, does my eye look ok to you guys? Just to be safe?"
Both girls nodded.
"Good, c'mon, time for some payback!", He got his hands on sunny's paddle and happily took his spot on the other side of the table as Celeste made her way over to hers. She was making a face, not wanting to feel intimidated by him. He was right though, she didn't stand a chance against him. Though part of her blamed his probable half demon strength for how easily he was able to score points against her more then anything. She felt so tempted to cheat, use magic, how did sky put up with this smug looking dude anyway?
As another ball zipped past her, she found herself thinking of something. Maybe she could distract him somehow? Though would he even fall for that to begin with? She put on her best face as she picked up the ball from her side. "So, your brother...i'm gonna assume by the sappy love song he was playing he has a crush on someone?". She served but Judas kept his focus on the ball more then what she was saying, waiting until he scored another point before answering her question.
"What's it to you?"
Celeste picked the ball up and tossed it to him to serve, "Just asking, is that a problem?". She found his eyes staring her down, skeptic of what she was doing, "I think Landon wants to be left alone right now, yesterday got him really upset...". He had to assume mason was probably still bugging him with dating advice on top of everything else, and at this rate his brother wouldn't date till his was 80. Sunny's ears twitched, looking at him with innocent eyes, "How come, did something happen?".
"My brother's just not well...a very social person, i mean granted, i'm not always the most social either but between the three of us he's always had a harder time talking to people and making friends...crushes are no exception.". He put down the paddle and ball, "He and sky are the same age you know, and he's just dealing with things. Then again, we're all dealing with things...I guess it's just harder for him in some ways...". He look a better look at Celeste, making her cross her arms, "You seem about their age too now that I think about it? Sorry, i don't think I've asked either of you that."
He was met with silence, making him change the subject.
"Are we gonna play or not?", the mewman grumbled, fiddling with her paddle. The boy raised his eyebrow again, "Are you sure you still want to play, it's not any offense to you it's just you haven't scored a single point yet and game should be almost over soon, we could just stop and come back later if you want?". The girl simply shot him a dirty look, "Don't tell me we're done, we're done when we're done. Serve lucitor, i'll kick your butt and then you'll be sorry..".
She was feisty, did she get that from his mom, or star?
It didn't quite feel like either of them.
At least, he hoped not.
The girl looked like them, but she didn't feel like them. Bright clothes or not her eyes seemed fiery instead of the bright ones the boy was familiar with in terms of his mother. Guess in retrospect she was not exactly in a place she could be super happy but at the same time he wondered how she could store up so much anger in that little body.
But then, before he could think about it, he could hear yelling from the other side of the door, followed but grunting and yelling. He felt a sudden dose of urgency, and he almost attempted to try and shield the girts in case it was an attack. But then the noise stopped, and there was discussion heard outside of it. Was something else going on out there?
Then the door opened, almost casually, and judas was almost prepared for a dozen of different people to enter. Sky, his parents, his grandparents, perhaps his brothers, heck he even could've expected angel to pop in for some odd reason. What he didn't expect was the sight of a familiar green flying ponyhead trapped in the arms of two demon guards.
His heart dropped.
"Loki?"
