Legal Disclaimer: I own my stuff, but not the original source material. That belongs to whoever. Also, the opinions and interpretations I use here may not reflect the same in said whoever that owns the source material. Look, I'm just a poor college librarian. Suing me isn't going to get you anything but tears.
Warning: This work may be offensive to some readers. Only other thing would be toddlers disrespecting personal boundaries and lingering feelings of unease due to supernatural things. Feel free to back out if need be.
Author's Note: Here's some fluff to soften the blow of the next two oneshots that I have completed.
Submitting Info:
Stacked with: Quidditch League (Post S10); Hogwarts 2.0 (Term 01); RAVEN (2023); MC4A (Wi-Y6)
Individual Challenges: There Wolf (Y); Cloud Puff; Red Instead (Y); Straight Outta Myth; Condiment Shelf; Missing Link; Pet Food; Vegetable Broth; Coupons; Gift Wrapped; Fruit Stand; Quaffles; Bludgers; Purple Scholar; Feather Head; Colors of the Sky; Magical MC; New Fandom Smell (Y); Cinematic; Binger; Alpha & Omega; Feathers & Such; Small Fry [x2]; Tossed Chum; Nonhuman MC [x3]; Shifter MC [x3]; Ethnic & Present; Neurodivergent; Rian-Russo Inversion; Short Jog; Bucket Listing; The Story Goes On; Eating Cake (Y); Exchange (Y); Greatest Gift; Green Ribbon; Two Cakes (Y); Crack Addict; Fuzzy Socks; Booger Breath; Lunar Era; Rainbow Connection; Finders; Hold the Mayo
Hogwarts House: Ravenclaw
Assignment: Term 01-08
Subject [Task (Prompt)]: Arts & Crafts [Task#3 (a puppet show)]
Other Hogwarts Challenges: Gather [Barbabrian (Beast)](Werewolf)
Post Season QL Challenges: Bingo [E3](Friendship)
RAVEN Challenges: Colors [69](Iron); Items [24](Cardigan); Settings [136](Theater)
Other MC4A Challenges: Chim [Bugwort]("The Anonymous Ones" – Dear Evan Hansen; Turned Left Instead AU; Race Bend); Fire [x3](Scented); Garden [Zinnias (Azure); Aya's Hexadic Blend (Fluff); Remember (Car); Bait (Fusion/Crossover); Moar Tropes (X Needs a Hug); Network (Flower)]; Harvest [A&B (Driving; Yanking); C&CT (Younger than 5yo); Descriptions (Curly; Dry; Tall); Items (Vest); R&E (Parent & Child; Siblings); Tropes (Race Bent)]; Hang [Phrase1](n/a); Soup [F (Frog); R (Red); I (Innocence)]; Shop [R&E (Native/Indigenous)]; Swap [Tops (Graphic Tee Shirt); Bottoms (Strawberry Romper); Accessories (Sunflower Bandana)]
Representation(s): Mieczysław "Stiles" Stilinski & Cora Hale; Talia Hale; Jewish Stilinskis; Wintu Hales; Omegaverse AU; Puppet Show (Setting)
Primary & Secondary Bonus Challenges: Esbat; Hot Stuff; Second Verse (Ladylike; Not a Lamp; Persistence Still; White Dress; Nontradional; Spinning Plates; Unwanted Advice; Brooms Only; For the Vine; Trickster's Union; Most Human Bean; Dog Star; Inky Shadow; Under the Bridge); Chorus (Endless Wonder; Odd Feathers; Pocky Pockets; Wabi Sabi; Bee Haven; Machismo; Peddling Pots; Rediscovery; Mouth of Babes; Tomorrow's Shade; A Long Dog; Larger than Life; Creature Feature; Abandoned Ship; In the Trench; Surprise!; Piper Mix; Turtle-Duck; Sitting Hummingbird; Getting On); Demo 1 (Over the Hills); Demo 2 (Misshapen Pods; Gingersnaps)
Tertiary & Generic Bonus Challenges: T3 (Toad); SN (Rail; Spare); O3 (Ox); SHoE (Brood); War (Sanctuary; Ennui); TY (Ntaiv; Enfant); Mea (Ennui; Rampant); Share (Ameliorate; Dragoman; Augur); DP (Yearn)
Space Address (Prompt): FaB [1B](Full Moon); Set [2A](Variety Show); Wi [3A](Gold); Vocab [4C](Notice);
Word Count: 1248 words
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Frog Facts
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Mischief was four the first time that he met Cora Hale.
His parents had taken him to the Puppetry Institute. It was a small shop crammed in between the theater that showed only old movies and a thrift store. In addition to the puppet shows they put on at locations around Beacon County, the Institute also had workshops on puppetry for various age groups. Sometimes the students in the workshops put on shows to demonstrate what they had learned.
A workshop for older kids was putting on a show of The Princess and the Frog for preschoolers. There was twelve of them scattered about the thickly padded rug in the performance room of the Institute. Mischief recognized some of them from the park that his mother took him to several times a week, but he only knew a few by name.
Lydia was sitting with her knees folded primly beneath the skirt of her azure dress. She had a bandanna with sunflowers embroidered on it over her bright red hair. She was very prim and proper, a tiny queen kneeling on the floor in what would likely be the best spot for viewing. It was nothing like the way that curly-haired Cora sprawled out on her stomach on the side of the rug farthest from the adults. Mischief didn't see his friend Scott (who had also been missing from the last few visits to the park), so he decided that sitting next to the dark haired girl in the royal purple romper covered with strawberries was a good idea.
He was wrong.
He was so, so wrong.
Mischief had barely sat down when the girl had turned towards him and leaned into his bubble to take a very loud sniff of his neck. He frowned at her rudeness. Mama had always been very insistent that sniffing people without asking permission was rude. That was even before the fact that she was in his bubble. No one should be in his bubble without asking. That was Daddy's rule.
"Stop," Mischief said, leaning away and hoping that one of his parents would notice. The girl just followed him, even when he toppled backwards. "I said stop. You're supposed to stop. I don't even know you."
"I'm Cora," she declared as she laid down on top of him. She tucked her nose into his cheek when he squeezed his shoulder into his neck. "You smell weird. Why do you smell weird?"
"Your face smells weird!"
She sat back up. Now her weight was on his stomach, pinning him to the ground. Mischief shoved at her to try to make her move. It was not very effective.
"That doesn't even make sense." Cora squinted her brown eyes at him, like he was a puzzle piece she was trying to decide to eat or not. Mischief whined before trying to squirm out from under her. "But you don't smell right. Are you sick? Does your alpha know that you're sick?"
"Cora, what are you doing?" The woman who asked the question was just as dark as the little girl, despite towering above them. She was wearing pretty iron gray dress with black vest on top and a matching cardigan over all of it. Around her tan neck was a leather cord with a silver pendant with a trio of hooked lines on it. When her dark eyes settled on him, Mischief felt something cold and slimy slither through him. For a brief moment, it seemed like those eyes had a crimson glow to them. "You can't set on strangers like you do family."
"He smells weird, Mommy," Cora declared without moving from her spot on Mischief's stomach. "I think he's sick!"
"I'm sure that his parents can handle it if that's true," the woman said in a dry voice. She knelt down to wrap an arm around Cora's middle before tugging her off of Mischief. He immediately scrambled back to his feet. "But you still can't roughhouse with other children like you do your siblings."
"But Derek never lets me pin him," Cora complained. She crossed her arms. Her pout was directed towards him. "He won't even let me lay on him while he's reading 'cuz he's a meanie."
"Daddy lets me lay on him when I'm reading sometimes," Mischief offered hesitantly. Cora's eyes lit up at that so much that they almost seemed golden for a moment. Mischief fidgeted with the bottom of his Batman shirt. "He works lots, though, so it's not all the time."
"You can read," Cora said, sounding very impressed with that. She turned towards her mother. "He can read, Mommy!"
"I heard him just fine, Cora," she replied. Her tone was a bit strange, but Mischief was used to that from adults other than his parents. He knew that most didn't believe he could actually read. Mama said not many kids his age could and that he was very special because he could. "The show will be starting soon. Do you think you'll be able to sit calmly without tackling anyone?"
"YES," Cora shouted. Mischief's eyes darted around the room. Everyone seemed to be looking at them now. Cora distracted him by grabbing his hand again. She dragged him a few feet away before forcing them both to sit back down. "Derek's controlling the frog prince. He's been working all summer."
"Frogs are nice," Mischief said. She was still sitting in his bubble, but it was better than her sitting on top of him. It was still annoying, especially since she still hadn't let go of his hand. "Did you know they use their eyes to push their food down their throats?"
"That's weird," Cora declared. Mischief squinted at her. "Why don't they just swallow?"
"They don't have the same muscles that we do," Mischief answered. Cora gave him a grin that reminded him of his neighbor's husky when it was happy. As they waited for the show to start, Mischief continued to tell the little girl everything that he had read about frogs when he had learned they were coming to this show. While Cora seemed to call everything weird, she never got bored.
By the time that the frog had transformed into a prince, Cora was leaning heavily against Mischief's side. She was also rubbing her cheek against his shoulder. Not once had she let go of his hand.
Maybe it was just because she had used the word so many times, but it felt weird when she finally let go to run over to a boy who looked like he was ten. She didn't look back at him, not once. It made his stomach get all twisty and icky.
Thankfully, Mama let him hide his face in her shoulder as she carried him back to the car. She even sat with him in the backseat while Daddy drove them to the bakery that had hamantaschen all of the time instead of just around Purim and Hanukkah. Neither of his parents said anything when Mischief couldn't stop a few tears from escaping, even if he didn't understand why he was crying.
Mischief decided that no matter how good a listener Cora had been, she must be secretly evil. It was the only explanation. He had to make sure that he remembered that she was evil if he ever met her again. He promised himself that he would not be taken in by her again.
It was a promise that he couldn't help but keep breaking.