if u dont mind lol ill make the rules

SHE hated that nickname but would tolerate it from giona only if she had what she needed. cecilia never actually used her study time to study, it was normally quiet and she was able to just let her thoughts out but of course, she couldn’t control everything. so giona’s reaction was warranted even though the nickname wasn’t needed. “very, don’t call me cece again,” she told her as she snatched the paper, “last time i checked i barely tolerated you.”

          VENTURA COULDN’T SAY she saw the big issue with the paint. yes, it could be a bit irritating to have it all over you, but she didn’t think it felt that weird. perhaps she was just used to it. being surrounded by paint and other craft items from a young age did that to a person, she supposed.

          she remained silent, fidgeting, as the other wiped the paint away. she didn’t want to move forward or say anything, just in case she made the situation worse. it seemed that everything she did had the opposite effect of what she intended. all she’d wanted to do was apologise and help, but that didn’t seem to be on the table right now.

          ❝ it’ll wash off when you do regular laundry !! ❞ she insisted, knowing that was how it worked for her. ❝ hmm ?? oh, no !! i was just painting the scenery !! ❞ she gestured to her canvas, which didn’t look like all that much right now, but there were definitely discernible shapes and lines there. ❝ you read the — oh. ❞ she faltered for a moment. ❝ what — what about it ?? ❞

“ REGULAR LAUNDRY, UGH. i swear, one of these days i’m gonna learn how to do a cleaning spell and i won’t have to waste soap on this. ” energy wasn’t really the thing to be concerned about, considering how she hardly needed to sleep and she had little to no feeling in her arms so --

the canvas had her intrigued. anyone who said they painted or did art was usually not that good. giona squinted at the piece, tapping her chin in a scholarly manner. “ hm. is it abstract or something ? weird. ” she pointed at the shapes and lines. 

          ELISSIA ROLLED HER eyes and sighed. ❝ yes, that was the point. i thought that was obvious, but apparently not. ❞ she leaned against the nearby wall, folding her arms. ❝ but if that’s a problem, i guess i can always do something instead of say something. ❞

kitty perked up at giona’s enthusiasm, having gotten used to hearing angry cursing and lectures about how this wasn’t a very nice way to spend your time. “oh wonderful,” they replied, nearly vibrating with excitement as they scooped up more jello for themselves. slurping on one of the clumps they were holding, kitty watched with wide eyes as the first shot met it’s target. “that was spectacular! definitely worth a ten if this were a judged match!” she cheered, sending a clump of jello flying in the direction lumiere as he strolled past. 

the jello collided with his back with a resounding splat, and kitty watched with something akin to glee as he simply walked away faster than before. “not here usually -       auradonians get a little grumpy when things don’t go perfectly their way. they like everything pristine, you see. but on the other side of the mirror everything is so much more !”

“ oh-ho, well, thank you very much. ” giona tipped an imaginary hat at her. at the girl’s next throw, giona clapped loudly, putting on a posh accent quite similar to lumiere’s french: “ ah, how superb -- how magniqifue -- oui, oui -- also a ten out of ten ! ”

( @gionamim )

            ❝ SO. ❞ He’s not entirely focused ; no , witch’s eyes remained glued to an intricate pendant sitting on the table in his dorm , lollipop stick hanging from his mouth as he continues to work. His hands move to take the wax of a melted candle and drizzle it upon the pentagram pattern of the pendant , focused on the spell he’s attempting to cast as he speaks to the other. ❝ So when you said you wanted to learn magic , where did explain you plan on startin’ ?? Because , like , there’s a LOT. Took me a lil’ bit to get where I am now , so. ❞

GIONA just stared at ... whatever was happening in front of her. this wasn’t the kind of magic her mother taught her. then again -- not exactly. 

there was something familiar about the objects in use. the candle wax and patterns that could channel energy into something more focused. the pendants used like wands or staffs. but still, mim magic was different. 

                   * //  ᴅᴇʟɪᴠᴇʀʏ ғᴏʀ ⌜@gionamim​⌟

               ᴛʜᴇ ᴋɪᴛᴄʜᴇɴs ᴏғ auroria were eerily silent past curfew.  it felt as though making the least amount of noise was incredibly important, so he took each step like his life depended on it.  toni copied his father’s best friend’s movement pattern and scurried across the kitchen floor, eyes darting back and forth from fridge to stove, from freezer to pantry.  only movement he did not expect to see caused him to stop dead in his tracks.  he didn’t know how he hadn’t smelled it before: the overwhelming scent of an overcooked puff pastry.  the legacy’s nose scrunched up in disgust, although he tried his best to wipe the look off his face as he rounded the corner to face the only other person who had the bright idea to sneak into the kitchens this late in the evening.   『 what you are doing is against the rules. 』   no matter the fact that he had been there for possibly worse things.

magic was easy enough. magic could be as easy as just focusing on the thing you want, or the feeling you need, and just doing it. like a shoe ad. but try as giona could, she knew this wasn’t easy. learning for years from a magical textbook that was literally just her mom yelling ‘tips & tricks’ at her didn’t prepare her for the surge of magic that she felt every time she was angry or distressed. she’d felt too much of that today, angry at herself for being a slow learner, for not being instantly good at something she was meant to be good at. 

so. eleven o’clock, with her notebook of spells and recipes ( edible and non-edible ), she snuck into the auroria kitchens. tonight, she would try those spinash puffs again. simple enough, but good pastry had been hard to come by on the isle, so all the ones she’d made had been shit. 

and this one, 45 minutes into her illegal occupancy of the kitchen, was no better. but at least baking and cooking was something she could forgive herself for not being good at. 

        «♡»  the  tiny  princess  mostly  certainly  hadn’t  expected  anyone  other  than  herself  to  be  at  the  enchanted  lake  at  such  an  hour.  she  had  expected  to  enjoy  her  alone  time  under  the  pavilion,  maybe  tie  some  pretty  flowers  in  her  hair  and  float  across  the  surface,  mourn  her  fit  of  the  plague  and  impending  death  —  you  know,  normal  things.  what  she  hadn’t  expected  was  for  something  (  or  someone,  perhaps  ?  )  to  start  jumping  in  and  out  of  the  water,  but  she  ignored  it,  assuming  it  was  nothing  more  than  some  sort  of  animal.

        ❝  this  poor  animal  …  they  seem  to  be  coming  nearer  and  nearer  to  where  i  lie  …  they  must  not  be  aware  of  how  utterly  deadly  this  plague  —  ❞  she’s  cut  off  by  a  loud  scream  sounding  just  in  front  of  her,  tearing  a  scream  of  her  own  out  of  the  small  girl  as  she  scrambles  to  sit  up,  to  find  the  source  of  such  an  utterly  startling  sound.

        ❝  WHAT  ARE  YOU  DOING  ?!  ❞  she  cries,  and  before  she  can  realise  or  do  anything  about  it,  terrified  tears  are  streaming  down  her  face.  ❝  oh  !  look  what  you’ve  done  !  oh,  you’ve  gone  ahead  and  made  the  princess  cry  !  oh,  deary  me,  this  is  very  upsetting  for  the  princess  !  very  upsetting  indeed.  ❞  she  sniffles,  covering  her  eyes  with  her  hands.  ❝  what  were  you  doing  making  the  princess  cry  like  this  ?  this  is  so  cruel  of  you  …  yes,  so  very  cruel.  she’s  already  dying  of  this  terrible  plague  and  you  went  ahead  and  made  her  cry  ?  ❞  she  pulls  her  feet  out  of  the  water  and  pulls  her  legs  up  onto  the  stone,  hugging  her  knees  to  herself  as  she  tries  to  bring  herself  to  a  calming.  *✧｡⋆

did lakes echo ? when she'd screamed, facing the cliffs covering the lake, she'd heard another smaller scream. it didn't seem like the kind of formation that could echo, but maybe this was some sort of dumb magical lake for mermaids or something that repeated whatever sound it --

and then the second voice kept talking, SCREECHING.

giona spun around, dripping wet. her hands reached up to unstick her hair from her eyes, and she squinted with a crunched-up nose at some figure on the banks of the lake. she caught only bits of the yelling, but she'd learned to zone out anyone yelling at her anyway.

the young witch swam through the lake with a bit of struggle, breathing easier when she could feel the ground underneath her again. and then she began stomping towards the so-called princess.

“ what -- ? why -- ? why are you talking like that ?! there's literally nobody else here, are you literally talking about yourself in the third person ? unless this lake has the ghost of a secret invisible princess that's somehow dying of a plague or whatever -- didn't the plague already die, like, a billion years ago ? ” she didn't pay attention as the girl hugged her knees, only stomping closer until she was finally right in front of her, still in the water.

van’s lived in auradon a long time, like a long time - two whole decades, and not once did he get lost. all those hours he spent trapped in a hedge maze during his youth taught him a thing or two. okay, so maybe he did get lost. but it’s been at least six years and even then he didn’t need a map. “i might look it, but i wasn’t born yesterday.” he quipped, contorting his face when he realized what little sense it made. “these are fake, aren’t they?” quickly grabbing one from the other’s hands, he opened it just as fast as if to catch her in the act. “oh. they’re real. whatever, still not worth the ten bucks. you eventually find your way out, or fairy godmother comes to your rescue. what’s with the vk discount?”

giona furrowed her eyebrows, looking him up and down make sure she could see all of the stranger. he definitely looked like he’d grown past his teen years at least. “ aw, poor baby, ” she pouted mockingly. when he grabbed a pamphlet, her eyes flared. “ HEY -- you can’t just TAKE IT--” she reached forward to try and grab it. 

“ what, you think i’d spend even more time and effort making fake maps ? they’re real. realer than you, manboy. ” she snorted at the mention of the fairy godmother. “ oh, she’s just on call 24/7, huh ? and you never, ever question discounts. it’s on a need-to-know basis and you don’t need. ”

( @gionamim said, ❛ you’re are depraving some village of their idiot . ❜ )

          ELISSIA LET OUT a small hum as she turned around, an eyebrow raised. she slid a few steps over so she wasn’t blocking the way anymore with a smile that was a little too sweet. ❝ my bad, i didn’t mean to hold you up. wouldn’t want to deprave them of their idiot. ❞ she waved behind her, towards where she assumed the other was going.

Len raised an eyebrow, sure he recognized her, but ignored it. There were so many people here that they were all starting to blend together. Maybe he’d seen her already? Who knows.

“How much for a map?”

He was tired of getting lost, anyway.

Thank the Gods, finally. Giona flashed her best customer-service smile, raising her arms to show all the pamphlets to the boy. She took one look at him, sensing something familiar, but she wasn’t certain. 

“Depends,” she hummed. “There’s a lot of news about this museum stuff, how’d you feel about that? Good answer gets you a cheaper map.”

          VENTURA COULDN’T SAY she understood the thinking process of the girl in front of her, if only because she didn’t see why paint was gag-worthy, even if it could feel a little weird when you weren’t prepared for it. she didn’t know what recycling had to do with anything, but she did know that she felt terrible. what she did about it was entirely up to the other, though.

          she listened intently to the demand, immediately rummaging through her bag for the tissues she kept at the bottom, a habit she’d learned from jiminy, who’d told her to always be prepared in case she came down with a sudden cold or the like. fishing them out, she handed the entire packet over. ❝ i don’t know if there’s ten in there, but it’s all i have !! i’m really sorry !! ❞

"IT’S SO DISGUSTING, it’s so -- eeewwwwww --” it certainly did not warrant such an exaggerated response but now that she had the pity of the stranger, she was going to milk it. giona waved her fingers, waiting for the tissues, and sniffed dramatically when they finally appeared. “ ugh, i guess i’ll just have to make do. ”

she took one tissue and started wiping and while most of the paint was gone, there was still a yellow stain along her arm. this served to confuse her more than anything -- and the whining act fell. giona sniffed the paint. 

“Yeah, I don’t consider it a handout if all of your money you got because of a scam,” Imogen said, putting emphasis on the last word. She had seen the information booth a few blocks back and put the pieces together.

If this were the Isle, Imogen would have likely pulled some sort of weapon. Instead, she just dug her hand her pocket and looked for a weapon that wasn’t there. The emptiness reminded her that she was supposed to be doing good now, that picking fights and trying to scam a scammer might not be the best way to go about things. God, she really was going soft. “Look, just stop trying to sell these pamphlets okay?” Imogen asked.

She would have likely left quietly if another pamphlet had not hit her in the face. It was personal, now. “I’m not gonna ask you again.” 

“Yeah, but I worked hard for this scam,” Giona frowned, looking more like a pout. She crossed her arms over her chest tightly, hugging the bag of money closer but also trying to control her arms. One wrong word and she was ready to just shove Little Miss Mother Gothel backwards and probably run away just to avoid her if she got nasty. 

And honestly ? She probably shouldn’t have thrown the pamphlet. 

Just looking at the the girl’s face, bossing her around, made Giona’s lip curl with annoyance and disgust. It made her want to bite the girl’s head off just so she’d stop looking at her. “ Seriously, it astounds me -- who do you actually  think you are ? You think just because you’ve got a villain for a parent you’re hot shit ? Newsflash for you, all our parents are villains. ”

giona watched and waited as the vks filed out of the remedial goodness class, but her attention was only on one particular person. the only one, in that shitty morning class, to make the same face when the fairy godomther asked the question about the undead. the only one, in a handful of people, that she felt a familiar vibe with. or maybe, it was the fact that neither of them had proper human vibes at all. could the undead even have vibes?

“ PSST -- ” she hissed, catching up to him once they were all out of the classroom. “ don’t make eye contact. they’re gonna think we’re conspiring. just keep walking ahead, ” she whispered harshly, looking around at the other students as they walked down the hall. “ i’m gonna ask you just one question, dude, and it’s really simple. are you also ... dead-not-dead ? ”

giona sniffed, a petulant and utterly childish look on her face as she tried to look as unexcited and bored as possible. she had her arms crossed over her chest, having just finished setting out all the ingredients for the thing they were going to bake today: cheesecake. only her eyes betrayed the eagerness to get the lesson started, looking from stella to the ingredients -- and she was also bouncing on her heels slightly, impatient to start.

                 blanche couldn’t help but roll her eyes at the little mim girl. this little s h o w of hers wasn’t for giona. she tilted her head, hearing the table immediately next to her repeating the same thing she had just said, checking with each other to see if they had heard her correct. she looked back at her friend, narrowing her eyes and hoping gigi could see what blanche was trying to do here.

                 ❝ it’s new information, d a r l i n g. things you should know about the going-ons around here and people to look-out for. what kind of friend would i be if i didn’t tell you about some suspicious characters ?? ❞ her voice still carried around the room. she let it soften as she began speaking to the other girl in EARNEST. giana was one of the few people who actually got to know blanche’s r e a l opinions. ❝ and we all know that everyone dying isn’t really an issue for YOU. – i’ll tell you something though: if whoever is responsible messes around with my mother’s spellbook, i will be the one who does something … . fucking awesome, as you’ve said. it doesn’t belong to them. ❞

it took her a while to get it. blanche somehow always had something up her sleeve, and giona was somehow always five steps behind her. and honestly? she didn’t mind.

“ ah, okay, i getchu, ” giona grinned. “ god, i feel SO MUCH BETTER now that i know what’s happening, i was SO LOST and SO HOPELESS. ” they did an exaggerated wink towards blanche, eager to help. as soon as blanche leaned in, so did giona, wide-eyed and intrigued. the comment about death made her sniff a little bit, but she just nodded, showing she understood. 

oh, shit, god, it was the evil queen’s spellbook. how did she think there was another spellbook owned by another ‘evil queen’ ??