Chapter 13: Set Up
"I'm so f**king excited for this, Loony! Our first Daddy-Daughter date in ages and it's at a horse race! You're finally gonna see how sick they are and we can bond over being horse girls together!" Blitz was barely containing himself as he crossed 6 lanes of traffic on the freeway.
"Yeah, whatever. So, long as you give me the $50 at the end of this, like you said you would." Loona lazily scrolled through Sinstagram on her phone, used to all the jerkiness of Blitz's driving, "It is a little weird though. I'm not seeing anything about this event online. And wouldn't an event like this more likely take place in the wrath ring? Why would it be happening in Pride?"
"Now, Sweetie, it's not very nice to stereotype people like that. There are horse lovers all over hell. And so what if they don't have any social media accounts, a website, or even an email address? Youth nowadays clearly just doesn't understand the classiness of a good letter." Blitz swerved off the freeway.
". . . wait, what?" Loona said, suspiciously. She had assumed he had found out about this online and she just wasn't seeing it, or maybe a billboard or something. It wasn't uncommon for them to get horse related junkmail, though, so she shrugged it off.
Fewer and fewer cars were around as they got closer to their destination. Blitz threw the car into a parking spot, taking up 2 spaces. They got out of the van to see a big convention center building, totally abandoned of people. No other cars were in the parking lot, and no other people were around save for one guy in a hoodie by the front door.
"Wow, we're the first people here!" Blitz said as he marched towards the hooded figure with the biggest grin on his face.
"Shouldn't there be, I don't know, at least a sign about the horse race here? And the building looks like it's a hang out for local drug addicts. Half the windows are boarded up!" Loona was starting to get more and more unsettled by this whole thing.
"I'm sorry, I can't hear your pessimism over the sound of your soon to be equine related delight!" Blitz was happily in his own world.
"Two tickets, my fellow horse enthusiast." Blitz said, and began handing the hoodie guy a thick wad of cash.
Loona stopped him, by putting a hand on his shoulder, "Wait, Blitz. How much were the tickets?
"I will spare no expense for the opportunity to bond with my daughter over our soon to be mutual love of horses!" The guy accepted the cash, as Blitz placed his hands on his hips.
The hoodie guy's face was in shadow and their hands were in gloves, completely hiding themselves. They were counting the money in their hands, when they felt the glare of a tall hellhound piercing daggers into them, "Uhh- student tickets are half off?" came a gravelly voice as they handed back some of the bills.
Blitz, unaware of the glare from behind him, "Yep! She's a student. Totally a student in school, studying scholarly things at a totally real place. Have a nice day!"
Blitz grabbed Loona's hand and skittered inside, "Haha! We totally scammed that guuuuuyy . . . woah." Blitz stopped just beyond the threshold as both their mouths fell open, taking in the scene. Rose petals were scattered along the long walk way, muscular imp statues and giant flower pots lining the path. Pink chandeliers hung periodically from the ceiling, causing the room to be bathed in a fuschia light. All were pink save for the one in the center of the room which was three times the size of the others and sparkled silver. Beneath it was a round table, covered in an ornately laced tablecloth. A candelabra sat in the middle, and two cushion seats, their backs shaped like hearts, were across from each other.
"What ambiance! Come on Loony, let's take our seats!" Blitz happily began marching over to the table.
"Wait, isn't this, I don't know, weird for a horse race event. I've never been to one, but for one thing we're indoors, and there's only one table in the center of the room that looks like it's a tacky set up for an old married couple's date night." She followed behind him.
Loona's ear twitched as she heard a muffled voice from far away start to shout, "Tacky-?!" She quickly turned in the direction of the sound but only saw a black tinted window, with big bushes on the other side.
"Nonsense! Plenty of horse events happen inside. Usually it's a indoor horse arena, but I don't think they have many of those in Pride, so they probably just had to make do. As for the decor, well, they're obviously just setting the mood for watching muscular mares speed past us, dripping in sweat." Blitz pulled out the seat for Loona, who sat down, reluctantly.
"Please don't make this any weirder than it already is. . ." she trailed off as she peered around Blitz's shoulder to see the bushes outside rustling, unnaturally. And was that a . . . tail sticking out?
"I'm gonna . . . find the bathroom. I won't be long." She said as Blitz looked up from the menu that was on the table.
"Oh, okay. But don't blame me if they start while you're in there." He went back to cheerily pursuing the short list of options.
Blitz didn't seem to notice or that Loona went straight back out of the building; way too wrapped up in the prospect of watching horses. Loona heard loud whispering the moment she stepped outside. It sounded like two people arguing over each other, but she didn't recognize them. She turned the corner and saw a seam down the middle of the now clearly fake enormous bush. Grabbing the seam, she tore the back half off and two people came tumbling out.
"Ow!" An imp in a jester hat shouted as he splatted on his face, "The f**k-?! Oh."
The other was crouched in a ball and looked like a big, flaming chicken? She seemed to remember him from some news article online, but couldn't exactly place him. He was most likely a sinner, and perhaps an overlord, given that he was famous for something.
"Oh, well, problem solved! She left on her own!" The jester imp said, with the same gravelly voice as the hoodie guy from earlier.
Loona picked up the jester by the collar and held him out at arm's length, "Who the f**k are you, and why are you messing with Blitz?" She growled.
"I could ask you the very same thing. Blitz was supposed to come here alone, not bring a lost pup with him. Who are you and why are you here meddling with our meddling?" the jester looked indignant, folding his arms stubbornly, in a physically impossible way.
Loona didn't let it shake her, "I asked you first!"
"You're the one showing up where you aren't welcome." the jester pointed out.
"I think you're forgetting that I'm the one dangling you in the air. I could just throw you, ya know." She grinned, showing her large sharp teeth.
"Oh, I'd like to see you try. Babe, mind showing her, who really has the upper hand?" the jester grinned as the fire rooster slowly stood up, becoming much, much taller than Loona. She had assumed he would be shorter from how he was curled up in a ball.
He picked her up by the scruff of her neck, and plucked the jester from her hands, who climbed onto his shoulder, "Hello, I do apologize for Fizz's rude behavior. We've just been planning this intervention for awhile, and we don't want to see it fall through. What's your name, love?"
The fire chicken was surprisingly polite, even as she hung in the air, "It's Loona."
"Oh, oh, oh! I remember now! This is Blitz's daughter! He showed me pictures of her." the imp named Fizz pointed at her excitedly.
"Oh, Satan, I'm sorry." The man placed her back down.
"Adopted, and not by choice. Now, who the f**k are you two clown suckers." Loona dusted herself off.
Fizz grinned mischievously, "Haha! Only one of us here is a clown sucker and it isn't me."
The other one sighed, "As I said before, this is Fizz, he's an old friend of Blitz's. And uh, you can call me Oz. We're trying to set Blitz up on a date with Stolas. The Goetian prince. Do you know him?"
"Blitz's old friend? He doesn't have old friends. Only old enemies and crazy ex's. Why should I believe you?" Loona snarled.
"Haha, well, it's a funny story, but uh, we used to be friends, then enemies, then, well, I don't know what we are now, but the point is that I want him to be happy. And him f**king up with the Prince so often has been painful to watch, so since they aren't talking with each other, we thought we'd force them together. Some good food and mood lighting always does the trick." Fizz looked back through the window. Luckily Blitz had chosen the seat with its back to them so they weren't in too much risk of being caught, standing out like this.
"Uh huh. And that's exactly why you charged him real money for a fake event." Loona looked down at the fool.
Oz jabbed fizz in the side with an elbow, "Fizzz!"
"Alright, fine. You can have it back, ya happy? Jeez." He handed back the cash, disappointed.
"I don't know if I believe all this but-" Loona stopped suddenly as her ear flicked behind her.
"What is it?" Oz asked, following her eyes.
Just then, a portal opened up, and out stepped a familiar pair of owls, dressed in casual clothes. Stolas wore a sun hat and a light green button down with yellow flowers and khaki shorts, and stood looking around, confused. Via looked as though she was pretending like she didn't know him, despite having just arrived through his portal.
"F**k! There's another third wheel? How are we gonna distract this one?" Fizz asked, looking at Ozzie, who shrugged.
"No need. I got this." Loona said, turning back to them, "I don't know if you are exactly who you say you are, but at least some of what you're saying must be true if the flock of two just showed up. You two keep doing whatever you were planning. I'll lure his daughter over here. If you do anything weird though, I'm not afraid of a giant chicken, okay? I will rip both of your heads off."
The jester snickered, and was bopped on the head by Oz, who himself held back a grin, "Yes Ma'am, understood."
"Wait, what are you going to-?" Fizz started, but Loona had already left and was walking over to the goetians who looked very much out of place in the dingy area.
"Hey, you two!" She called out and they both turned to face her.
"Loona?" Stolas looked at her confused.
"Loona? Loona!" Via said, and quickly adjusted her clothes, hoping she looked like she had put in enough effort to look nice, but not so much to look like she craved validation, something that all teenagers did, "What are you doing here?"
"I could ask you two the same thing." she said rather cheerily, not something she was known to be, "Are you here for the uh, uhhh. . ." she trailed off, realizing that they probably wouldn't have been lured here by the same horse trick that had worked so well on Blitz.
"The gardening convention?" Stolas helped her finish the sentence as he glanced around nervously.
"Yeah! That! Obviously." Loona stuck her hands in her pockets.
"Yes, we are. Um, you wouldn't happen to be here with Blitz . . . Would you?" Stolas almost whispered the words, like he was trying not to manifest the thought into reality.
Loona rolled her eyes exaggeratedly, but also genuinely, "I have a life outside of Blitz, you know."
"Ah, yes, of course. I didn't mean to imply. . . anyway, I'm glad to see we share a hobby, Loona dear." Stolas said.
Loona simply raised an eyebrow at him, and he continued stuttering, "Well- I, uh, what I mean to say is that I'm glad that the younger generations are partaking in the gardening culture. Most of the gardeners I know are all of a certain age and it's nice to see that the community will continue to grow and be passed on to others, as it were. You know, it's very important to get off our devices and go outside too-"
"You ready to be done, yet?" Loona placed a hand on her hip, shifting her weight.
"Oh, yes please." Stolas was visibly sweating.
There was a moment of uncomfortable silence before Via started the conversation up again, "Well, should we all go in together? Since we're all here?"
"Actually, I was hoping to steal you away for a moment. There's something cool I found around back in the area where they're prepping the . . . gardening displays . . .? Since you're here anyway, may as well show you. I think you'd like it." Loona looked up at Stolas and nodded towards Via, "You don't mind if I borrow her, do ya, your highness?"
It took Stolas a moment to realize she was talking to him, ". . . Oh! Yes! Well, actually, I don't know. It depends on if she wants too . . ." he trailed off as he looked at her very excited face, that totally wasn't that excited, it was just a cool, older friend of hers showing up unexpectedly and whisking her away to unknown places. No big deal, happens all the time to cool chicks like Via.
Stolas smiled knowingly, "Alright then, I'll buy our tickets and head inside. You two have fun. Be sure to text me and we'll meet up later."
"Yeah, yeah. Come on!" Loona grabbed Octavia's hand and the two ran off to the side of the building.
Stolas sighed to himself. He was hoping to have a Daddy-Daughter day with Via, but it was alright. It was good she was making friends, even if it was with a sort of ex's, sort of daughter. They would still probably get to spend some time together, later. Most of the expo would have probably bored Via, anyway. Still, it was a quite unexpected turn of events.
Who knew Loona had a green thumb?
Author's Note:
Vik again. If you're wondering why Loona doesn't recognize Asmodeus right away, I did it not only for the funnys, but also because Loona doesn't seem to recognize Bee-lzebub in the Queen Bee episode. Maybe I'm wrong, but that's how I interpreted it. Loona doesn't exactly get out much, or have a quality education, so I thought it would make sense. Honestly, I feel like she'd be more likely to recognize Fizzarolli as we've seen his face is all over different cereal boxes, posters, and things throughout hell. But to that I say, if you were walking down a busy street and met Tom Holland in a Spiderman t-shirt, you probably wouldn't recognize it was him due to your brain not expecting him to be there. Plus, guess what? It's a fanfic. It's all imagination.
I really wanted to get this chapter absolutely right, since it's the lead up to, and part of the chaos that will be unfolding. So I hope it turned out okay. Special thanks to my dear editor who had patience with my stubbornness while reading to them the first half. And to my biggest supporter and number one fan who helped me edit the second half. They may not understand the context of the show at all, but they still try to help when my dear editor isn't available.
Come back next time for Stolas and Blitz actually interacting, in person, for real! Something that hasn't happened in this Stolitz fic since the first chapter lmao.
Byyyyyyeee
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