"That was fast." "That's what happens when it's corona time and you have nothing to do."
Still, a fast update! Wow!
Elizabethornton: Thanks! Biana knows what's going on. Biana knows all. :)
ArrowOfTheMoonlark: Hey! Blood and Petals is a Tiana fanfiction over on Wattpad by miyuthefangirl. We really are all going crazier. Slow burns, ARGH! I guess? This one's also got a lot of dialogue. Love triangles? I have nothing either. You won't wait long! Thanks! GREATER THAN SYMBOL - THREE!
Mallowmelt: Thanks! Yay Jensi! Oh my mallowmelt, I TOTALLY agree! Hopefully the Unlocked and book nine covers look cool- WITH DEX AND BIANA!
Avai: You'll see! :P
Cary Swirls: O.o That's long. It's okay though. Congratulations! Blame COVID-19 all you want. Yeah Jensi! And yeah, Mr. Forkle. That is pretty much a direct quote. YEAH WONDERBOY! A LARGE FANBASE HATES YOU, AS A MATTER OF FACT! Biana is all of us sometimes. I guess, yeah, thanks. You're more experienced then me- and they aren't stupid! So like a pro/con list? I can do that. And chemistry? Sokeefe chemistry is OFF THE CHARTS! And I guess I need to add some for Sophitz because as of right now, they have none. Yeah, this is long, but that's okay! Not super annoying! It helped a bunch! Thanks so much! :)
Time for the chapter! Or maybe... the crowd!
Crowd: A love triangle? Seriously? Could you get any more cliche and lame?
Me: Hey, it's Shannon's fault for making one! I'm just resolving it!
Okay, now it's time for the chapter! Enjoy!
"Hi, Fitz." Sophie said weakly.
"Hey. What brings you here?" Fitz's teal eyes refused to meet her gaze, which was probably just as well. Being reminded of his beautiful teal eyes probably wasn't the best thing to do in a love triangle. Oh mallowmelt. Was Sophie seriously in a love triangle? Was she seriously becoming the annoying female lead character she swore never to be? Ugh. She better choose soon.
Or, of course, forget about the love triangle while they focused on the more pressing matter, meaning, the Neverseen.
And now she couldn't choose what course of action to take! Indecision! Ugh.
"Sophie?"
"Oh! Right!" Sophie let out an awkward laugh as she pulled at an eyelash. Her eyelash-free eyes remained focused on the floor as she told Fitz (or maybe Fitz's carpet... she wasn't sure) "We need to talk."
"Sophie. Those four words are probably the four most terrifying words in the Enlightened language. You couldn't have chosen a more... friendly premise?"
Ah, but the point of this talk is that we're not just friends, said the voice in Sophie's head that reminded her suspiciously of Keefe.
"Sorry." Still, Sophie refused to look at Fitz. That's a really nice teal carpet he has there!
The Keefe-voice snorted and said A teal carpet? Could this guy get any more vain?
Again, Sophie ignored the Keefe voice. She needed to get that boy out of her head- oh mallowmelt, did she just call him "That boy"? No! She was turning into Grady!
(Speaking of which, Sophie wondered how Grady would react to the love triangle. She resolved not to tell him.)
"Um... so, I'm sure you're aware that the 'Great Foster Oblivion,' as Keefe dubbed it, has ended. You saw the memory too?" Sophie started. Goodness, was that a speck of dust on Fitz's carpet?
"Yes." Fitz's voice was sour. "You don't need my permission to date him, Sophie. You also don't need to give me a 'Even though I'm dating your best friend, you'll always hold a special place in my heart' speech. And, if you were wondering, I'm not going to flip out on you. Or whatever you came here for, you didn't need to."
"We're not dating," Sophie exclaimed. Why did everyone assume...
Maybe because you and Keefe are meant to be?
Or maybe because Keefe was always the second choice, and everyone knows that you and Fitz broke up.
"SHUT UP!" Sophie yelled. Guiltily, she looked at Fitz for the first time. "Sorry. Not you. I was talking to myself."
Fitz nodded, though he was clearly weirded out. "Okay. I've done that. Anyway, you were saying?"
"Keefe and I aren't dating." Sophie repeated.
"Why not?" Fitz asked, raising a perfect eyebrow. Oh my mallowmelt, STOP! "I mean, as we 'recently' discovered, he likes you. And, well, you obviously like him. You probably liked him when we were dating."
"Well..." Sophie started. "Actually, I might've- but I wasn't aware of it yet. Anyway, you're right- I do like Keefe. But I also... still... kinda..." Her voice shrank so small that she doubted Fitz could hear it. "Like you too?"
Fitz snorted. "So, our lives have become a love triangle?"
Sophie nodded.
Fitz shook his head in amazement. "It's like we're in some sort of bad romance novel for teenagers. Probably written by a teenager, too." (Fourth wall? What's that?)
"Honestly, yeah," Sophie agreed, sighing. "Anyway. I just figured I should sort of... make you aware of the situation. Please don't challenge Keefe to a duel or anything. (One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, niiiine!) So, um, yeah. Guess that's it. Lovely talking to you."
"Yeah. You too," said Fitz, seemingly at loss for words that actually mean anything. "Um... take your time choosing, and, you know, if you eventually choose Keefe, than I respect your decision."
Sophie thanked him. "This won't change anything between us? Friendship-wise?"
Fitz gave her a movie star smile. "Nope."
"Great! Bye!" Sophie eagerly left the room and walked straight into Biana. (Straight? I think not- oh wait, this isn't Sophiana.)
"How'd it go?" Biana asked.
"Um... it seemed to go alright. He compared the love triangle situation to a bad romance novel."
"Is he wrong though?" Biana pointed out. Sophie groaned, but agreed.
"Anyway, I have to get home for dinner. Thanks for helping me with the love triangle!"
"Any time!" Biana grinned. "See you tomorrow!"
"Bye!" Sophie called, before glittering away.
Once she arrived at Havenfield, Grady and Edaline greeted her. Grady inquired as to what exactly Sophie was doing at Havenfield. Sophie, stupidly, revealed that she was talking to Fitz. As she was Grady's fists clenching, she realized her mistake and protested that they were just talking! No way would she tell Grady about the love triangle she was in... especially once he realized that Keefe was involved! Sophie shuddered, imagining Grady's reaction to his daughter considering "That Boy." After a dinner during which Edaline attempted to make pleasant conversation and Grady grumbled about stupid boys trying to date his daughter (Maybe they knew more about the triangle than Sophie thought). After dinner, Sophie went up to her room. For about half an hour, she suffered through Elvin History homework, but gladly welcomed a call from Dex as a distraction.
"Hi!" Sophie greeted him.
"Sophie. You know how I'm trying to find members of the Neverseen? Like, for instance, their technopath, who just so happens to be in possession of the caches we so desperately want to take from the Neverseen."
"Oh my mallowmelt!" Sophie yelped. "Dex, you found him?"
"I think."
"I will be right over."
This time, Sophie remembered to tell Sandor where she was going. Of course, Sandor insisted on coming. Her bodyguard told Bo to tell Sophie's parents, and Bo grudgingly agreed- although obviously they didn't like each other, Sophie trusted that the ogre would obey his orders. Then, Sophie and Sandor leapt over to Rimeshire. A snowball was Sophie's greeting- right in the face.
"Lex!" Juline scolded. "Don't hit our guests with snowballs."
"Sorry," Lex muttered, looking sheepish. "I was aiming for Bex."
"You'll never get me!" Bex yelled, nailing Lex from behind the yeti statue serving as her hiding spot.
"Ow!" As the triplets bickered and snowballs flew, Sophie tried her best to avoid the Chaos as she made her way up to Dex's bedroom.
Dex noticed the snow on her face and muttered a comment about his siblings. Sophie laughed and took a seat next to him.
"So, you're saying you found Axel?" she started.
"I think, yeah."
"Tell me what you know."
"Well, obviously, there aren't a whole lot of Technopaths working for the council. Because, you know, Technopaths aren't really important."
Sophie nudged her best friend. "Hey, don't say that. You're really important."
Dex's dimples showed as he thanked her. "Anyway, out of those, I decided to start by ruling out all the girls, since Glimmer and Blur agree that Axel's a guy. Then I just sort of started... investigating the people I found. Out of these people, this one guy is the most likely candidate. He's really, really good with his ability, about the right age range, and his inventions specialize in the kind of stuff the Neverseen use. Apparently, he's been very interested in caches recently. And, of course, his registry feeds are completely messed up a lot of the time. They'd look normal to a Councillor, but I can tell when they've been hacked. Since I myself have hacked them many times."
"That's incredible," Sophie said. "You really did all that today?"
"I asked Glimmer and Blur about him earlier, but the research stuff was all today. I haven't done any of my homework, and I refused to come out of my room. Mom brought me dinner, since she understands best why I have to keep working."
"Wow," Sophie whispered. "Thank you. That's really incredible. So, should we go find the guy?"
Both elves' heads turned to their bodyguards. Sandor sighed and Lovise shrugged.
"I don't see why not," Lovise said finally.
"We're going to see a member of the Neverseen." Sandor argued.
"Yeah, one guy!" Dex added. "He doesn't even do any of the fighting- Technopaths don't do any of the fighting!"
"You can bring Bo and Nubiti for backup," Sophie said, reluctantly agreeing to use her goblin, dwarven, and ogre bodyguards. Really, do I need this many?
Sandor let out another long sigh. "Fine," he relented. "I'll tell your parents and then contact Bo and Nubiti. But when we show up at a random guy's door in the middle of the night, demanding to interrogate him, you do the talking."
O.o Cliffy! This is also a pretty long chapter- over 1,500 on its own and over 1,900 with the A/N's! Not the longest, though- that remains at 2,222 (chapter five) (what a beautiful number). Anyway, hope you like it! I think the mix between nasty love triangle stuff and actually legitimate action is decent- though I think we'd all be fine without the triangle. Especially the Sophitz part of the triangle. Anyway, we'll see how the triangle stuff goes (I said "triangle" too many times, didn't I?), but I think I'm doing okay! Help would totally be welcomed though (hint hint hint).
LOsInG mY mInD fRoM qUaRaNtInE bUt YoU kNoW, iT's aLL gOoD!
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