"1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6." Sig said, moving his ladybug piece across the board. "Uh… what does that space do?" He asked Silvana with the rule book.
"'The bug spray has been sprayed, you run 8 spaces back and drop everything you're currently carrying.' Yikes."
Vento laughed. "Ha! Wow, S! That's gotta be the worst thing this game has ta offer."
"Ribbit, Ribbit." Donguri confirmed and emphasized.
"Can we stop playing?" The bug lover requested to his date. His human hand held his red one. "The bugs in my arm are panicking."
"Is that cool with you guys?" Donguri had no objections. He had the urge to eat the player pieces anyway. Vento wasn't as cool with it.
"What, this game's awesome, P! We just started!"
"Says the guy who flipped over our last game when you landed on three snakes in a row. That's it guys, next game!" Sil patted Sig on the shoulder.
"Geez, if you two wanna have fun then just make out." Vento bitterly mumbled.
"We don't make out." Sig managed to beat Sil to the punch.
"See? That's why you lame-os don't have fun. I'm gonna go train." The upset magic stuntman left.
…
"Who was that girl again?" Sig asked.
Chapter 54: Sil's Jewels
Vento walked back. "P! Someone's at the door to see you."
"Okay, I'll be there. You guys can keep on playing."
"Can I take your place?"
"…Only if you play nice, Vent…"
"I will."
At the end of the hall where the door was, she saw a sight. It was Raffine, with a weird looking magnet?
Walking towards the Pinkhead Sil found herself in shock to be attracted to her. "Woah! What the heck!?" Raffine was surprised too.
The two stared at each other, Sil angerly, Raffine a bit befuddled. "Uh… Oh, yeah, you have essence… Of a Pearl it would seem…" *Puff.* Raffine was disappointed. She saw the circus field had a vast amount. And this clown had the gall to be not only born from a pearl essence but also disappoint her by being the first essence holder she caught.
"LEMME GO!" Silvana missed a spell. "I'M OKAY!" She yelled at the gamers inside. Raffine flicked a switch and Sil was released. "What's that thing?"
"Only something Daddy gave me for my Birthday." Raffine hugged the magnet and brushed it with her hand. "It's a state of the art jewel locator and retriever, tailored to find pearls for my new earrings~ Emerald Pearls~" She pulled an 'I'm superior to you' face. "But if you're an unbelievable amount of pearls, that sours pearls for me. I'd rather have mud encrusted… Something on my ears."
"Oh no…" Sil sarcastically shook her hands. "The pearls in my collection are too big for to be worn as earrings anyway. You've seen Amethyst Pearls. They're the size of crystal balls."
"Hm…" Raffine's ears tickled at a few words. "Amethyst Pearls! A whole collection?!" She beamed. "Oh, La-Ti-Da~ Pierrot. We bargain. Now!"
"Huh. Ug. Hmmm. Dang it." 'Should've kept my mouth shut.' "No, I'm keeping them." She stood her ground.
"Punk." Cleverly retorted.
"Pfft." Sil smirked. "Does your Dad approve of your taste in music? Does he even like it?"
*Heats like teapot* She did her best to be tranquil about this. "I've come to bargain, I wanted an Amythest Pearl for a while! Show me your big pearls now, I'll pay a high price!"
Sil's eyes widened, turned her head to the side, put her fist on her mouth hole, and blushed…
"What kind of an expression is that? All I… DAMMIT!"
Silvana laughed. "Hahahaa! You need to pay me to shut my mouth."
"Ehehehe." Raffine sarcastically tilted her head back and forward in accordance. "How much?"
"I want 9999 Credits for my circus, your firstborn, and your dignity and then we'll talk. I got a maid outfit as you know, I thi-"
"Not wearing that." 'Not for you anyway.' "My social status is too high to be degraded like that."
"And dressing like a rockstar isn't?"
"Rockstars are geniuses. You plebs listen to it, like it, but don't understand it like I do."
"Dude, I'm not a pleb." Sil was not in the mood for that discussion. "I'm an elite, thanks to my monopoly. If I didn't care about my staff I could buy that mansion next to yours and live like you if I wanted. How come that I have that I, an artificial human, have more empathy than you?"
"WHY WON'T YOU LET GO OF THEM!?"
Sil kept her cool with that shout. "My essence is made of them them. My life force is tied to it." Sil lied. Somewhat. It's more like it's a magical blood transfusion for her should she lose a lot of essence. Not preferable since essence straight from the source is a blank slate, Sil's body can't just write herself on it. "You're not that naive to not know these things are little corrupters right? I keep them locked so Magpies like you ca-"
*Flick*
"Wah!" Sil tried to struggle free until she gave up. "Okay, Raffine, you can have a pearl or two if you meet a few conditions."
*Stares*
"I'm serious this time! I swear! Just lemme go first!"
*Unflick* "Tell."
"Don't use them. Keep them under a dome. Don't show it off to everyone. And certainly don't make something sentient out it! For the love of everything good that's good in the world, don't make anything sentient out of it."
"Not show it off?… High demand, Pierrot. Very well." Raffine made a cup of her hand. "Gimme!"
"Hang on."
"What now?"
"I want my lifelike mask first. Then I'd maybe even consider you giving more. Or you could keep searching around for other pearls but I think my home will keep you off the trail. Sorry." *Shrug.*
Raffine still had people in search of one. "I'll double my efforts." She begrudgingly accepted the terms and conditions.
"Come back tomorrow. I can give you one in advance." Silvana offered, somewhat thankful. "I got guests. Bye. Thank you. Oh, and I'll know when one's missing."
Back inside. "What did Raffine want?" Sig asked Sil a while later after they became one unit on the board.
"She wants to fondle my big pearls." She said deadpan with a smirk as she rolled the dice, looking at the others as well. "Two."
"Oh." He moved their piece.
Author's Notes:
Puyo Puyo Champions came out today and it has some name changes for characters we've known for years. And regardless of my feeling on it (I like them mostly). For the sake of consistency, any names I've been using like Langus and Seriri (should they reappear) won't be Ragnus and Serilly. This fic started outdated, and it will end outdated dang it!
Now that's not to say I won't be using anything. Anything I haven't already used will be using the new names.
Hohow Bird became Hoho. Don't care about that. It's basically the same. I'm just glad I didn't give him a legal name (Hohow Bird (Pink)) last chapter. It makes me feel relieved. Hoho is just his name now and not his species. I don't feel pressured to always call him Hohow Bird now.
TaruTaru will still be TaruTaru and not TarTar in this fic for all the good it will do with how much he exists.
Surpringly I haven't directly called Strange Klug Strange Klug in-story. This was because even I must have figured that's not a name. He's now called Possessed Klug now. Which I do like more. But I won't be directly calling him that either.
And now Oshare Bones. Or Dapper Bones. I might use this one… Clearly neither of them are his real name. Even in the games themselves.
I haven't name dropped Black Popoi, now Evil Popoi. But that's because like Possessed Klug, that from has no real name in-universe. They're onsight descriptions, they're for our benifit to identify them. Red Amitie doesn't go around calling herself Red Amitie. Nobody would call Dark Sig Dark Sig. But should I name Popoi's Shadow form I'll call it Wicked Popoi. Shout out to JelliPuddi, that's an awesome name and way better than Evil Popoi.
Next up: Arle and Silvana go to Smile Curry at the same time.
