#mina betchstein

Mina shook the metallic lock box holding their coins, making a clinking sound. “Look how much we made!” She gave the box to Hilda, who took it with a raised eyebrow.

Hilda opened the box and whistled. “Wow! You guys! This is a great help! Thank you so much!” She gave a hug to all of them, including Spike. Well, she had to force him a little, the pup did not take to physical attention as easily other the other two children. “I’m glad to see you’re putting your destructive energy to good use,” she whispered to the pup.

“All this work deserves to be rewarded!” She picked a few coins from the box and split it amongst the kids. “Thanks a lot…seriously.” She didn’t wanted to show it, but she was really touched by the gesture. She had a knot in her throat and she could feel her eyes getting glassy.

“Woah! Thank you! But we didn’t do this for the reward! We did this for the good of humanity…. and, you know… to help you,” little Mina said, referring to the possible arrival of violent extraterrestrials. “Right, guys?”

Harvey nodded. “I really like the observatory and I would be sad if we can’t get it rebuilt!”

Spike sighed. “Plus, where will the teacher take us on field trips? No field trips means more school and that sucks!” He whined.

Hilda smiled sincerely at them. “Aww, thank you! I didn’t realise you liked this place so much.”

‘One more reason to stay,’ Sagittarius pointed out in the woman’s head, making her smile even more.

“I’ll try to hurry up and fix this as soon as possible. And you’re welcome here anytime! You’re now my tiny VIPs.”

“Thank you, Miss Berg,” Harvey thanked, making sure he got the correct title this time. He tapped Mina. “Hey are you coming to sleep over tonight?”

Spike butted his head in. “What? You guys are having a sleepover?”

“Oh! Yeah! That would be so much fun! I just have to ask my mum real quick, but I’m sure she’ll say yes.” The kids said goodbye to the sky witch and headed to Mina’s. “You should come too, Spike. His dad makes fruit come out of ears!” The little bat explained mimicking the gesture of the magician.

“Your dad sounds like a quack!”

Harvey just silently prayed his sister wouldn’t make Spike a quilt.

____

Beppi shooed Hilda away. “I got this, I got this! Just go organize your stars!”

Beppi had not awaken when the children had come to visit earlier that evening, much to Hilda’s relief. Unfortunately, he was still here even after she snuck in to check on him in the hopes that he would have taken off. So she was stuck with him until his obnoxious alarm went off, sending the clown tumbling over himself in a perfect pratfall.

Hilda rolled her eyes but finally obliged, casting her cloud and soaring into the night sky to enjoy the moonlight and the quiet away from the clown. He was pleased with this and set up his equipment. It was his first shift and he was a little groggy after a nap, but otherwise happy to start his shift of being a lookout.

If he had to be completely honest, however, he didn’t expect the dragon to REALLY come back to Hilda’s tower. That was like a criminal coming back to the scene of the crime. And he didn’t know any nostalgic criminals. Still, it was something to do and bugging Hilda had been an absolute delight! Not as good as the Baroness, but she was a close second for sure.

He really hoped Djimmi wasn’t too mad at him. The genie had been under a lot of stress as of late but he didn’t really share unless the clown managed to get him to smoke some of his special pipe. He should do that when he got home. Provided Hilda and he weren’t married by that point and running a bumper car business. These thoughts soon filled his dreams as he promptly fell back asleep.

____

The skies were fully covered in dark clouds, hiding the moonlight, as night finally set upon the Isles.

Grim was not bothered by the darkness. Instead, he was trying to make himself less nervous, but he was not having much luck. He had spent hours thinking of the horrible, embarrassing thing he did earlier that day in Bon Bon’s castle, and tried to gather the courage to go out again. He wanted to recover his letter to Bon Bon that was sent to Hilda by 'fortunate’ mistake.

He kept playing in his head the awkward conversation Hilda and he would inevitably have, over and over again, until finally one of his heads got sick of it and forced him to get out and start flying towards the observatory, ignoring the rumbling of an approaching storm.

As he drew closer to Hilda’s home on top of the hill, he could feel his heart beat even faster. He so hoped the meteorologist hadn’t opened the letter yet. The storm that had been slow to approach was much closer now. A crash of thunder nearby, startled the dragon into a surprised roar, destabilizing his flight somewhat before he realized it was just thunder. He was really just too tense! He needed to hurry and get to her home so he could put this whole mess behind him. ____

Beppi was startled awake by the thunder. He looked at the tea next to him suspiciously. “Hmmmm, I wondered if Hilda drugged me…wouldn’t be the first.” The sound of a loud roar perked him up immensely and he stuck himself out of the window.

Coming toward the tower all shadowy and spooky like was a large dragon. Beppi gaped. “Wow, this IS really lucky!” He gleefully giggled and started to load his glitter cannon.

Grim was flew around the observatory, feeling sorry to see it in such a state. He looked for some lights or indication that the woman was home.

Beppi finished loading his sparkle cannon and took aim. He was still a bit too low so he reinflated his legs and he gave a happy grunt as he was able to aim more effectively. He spotted the dragon and paused.

“Huh, that kinda looks like Grim,” he mused. Then again, the dragon was supposed to look like him a bit. He shrugged and fired.

Grim heard what he thought was a very small thunder, before something painful struck his thigh. He released another, and more terrifying, growl, thankfully managing to keep himself stable in the air as a soft rain started to fall around him.

____

The time away from the observatory was a pleasant change for Hilda. It allowed her to calm down, diminishing, although not destroying, the urge to strangle Beppi. She spread the stars out across the night sky, unfortunately missing a few constellations she had forgotten in her hurry to escape the clown.

When she was done, she took the chance to fully clear her head. Taking a deep breath, she settled comfortably on her cloud and admired her work. The view of the stars on the blackness of the infinite universe helped her put thing in perspective. It wasn’t too bad that her observatory was partially destroyed, she realized. It could have been much worse. Like what had destroyed her house when she was on the bed with-.

'Oh! We should definitely do that again!’ Gemini interrupted all too cheerfully in their recognisable unison. Hilda rolled her eyes. She did agree with them that as much fun as she had with Cagney, it was most certainly a one time thing.

'What are you afraid of?’ Sagittarius tried to figure out.

“I’m not afraid of nothing!” The stubborn woman yelled, “I just…don’t feel the same way.”

'Again, you DO realize we are inside your head right?’ Tauros pointed out, rolling his eyes. 'Of course you have feelings for him. We want to kill him, remember?’ Now it was Hilda’s turn to roll her eyes as the rain started to pitter patter around her.

“Leave me alone for a moment, please! I just want to enjoy-!” She heard some kind of growl in the distance. For a second, the sound confused until her thoughts jumped on the possibility that it could be Cagney, who might have turned into his monstrous form for some reason. Though for the life of her, she couldn’t figure out why at this point.

'Well, seeing the clown in your place in the evening might be a good reason. IF he’s the jealous type,” Tauros suggested with an invisible smile, delighting himself with the idea of a possible scuffle with the carnation.

'Don’t be silly!’ Sagittarius said, “It’s probably the mirror dragon! We better head home fast! Beppi might be in danger! He is still injured, right?!’ Hilda opened her eyes widely at the thought before turning into a blimp and rocketing through the clouds towards her home. ____

Beppi reloaded another canister of glitter, noting that the first case he shot did a really good job of making the dragon really shimmer.

He was a bit surprised the mirror dragon wasn’t already glittery like it was in the circus. He started to chuckle. "Knowing how things go, it’s probably Grim!” He fired again, now smiling even wider at the thought of dousing Grim in glitter and sequins

Grim roared again at the second impact. He spiraled slightly out of control but this time he was able to see where the projectile came from. “Miss B-b-berg! Why are you shooting me!?” He managed to shout, flying closer to the window, not knowing Beppi was the shooter. “It’s m-me! Grim!”

There was a heavy rain now. Lighting and thunder filed the skies, illuminating the shadowy silhouette of the dragon.

____

Beppi scratched his head. He has about 75% sure this was not the dragon they were looking for. Then again, it WAS glittery now - granted it was probably due to him shooting it with glitter but that was beside the point.

He loaded up on canisters and shot it just above the dragon so it would explode, completely drenching it with the glitter. It was even brighter than a disco ball!

Grim growled angrily as the explosion of the glitter and sequins got into his eyes, blinding him. As he struggled to paw the material away from his eyes, Hilda advanced upon him from the skies. She spotted the flailing, shiny dragon near her home and saw red.

“The crystal dragon!” She furiously hollered. The dragon seemed like it was going to crash into her house, so she immediately gathered a small tornado and threw the spiraling wind towards it. “GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM MY HOUSE, YOU BASTARD!”

The tornado reached its target, tossing him away from the house. Grim had to do a great effort to stay in the air, and growled again, confused.

Beppi stopped firing at this point as Hilda swooped in from the sky. He cracked his knuckles. “Whelp! I’ve done my part! Time to grab a snack!”

Grim stabilized his flight, managing to clean his eyes. He looked around, trying to find where the voice came from and what it actually said, for the thunder and heavy rain prevented him from hearing and seeing clearly. He was starting to get really scared. Another thunder boomed near him, making him think it was another of the glitter bombs. He quickly spat a huge flame and turned around frantically, giving him the appearance of whirling fireball in the night sky.

Hilda was too close and didn’t have enough time to doge the attack, forcing her to quickly transform into Gemini. The twin constellation split just in time for the fire to pass between them.

“You’re gonna get it now!” Gemini yelled, creating their golden sphere and shooting projectiles towards the dragon.

Grim felt the hits and growled in pain. He decided it was probably best to flee than to confront whatever was attacking him.

Gemini saw him trying to escape and grinned. “Oh, no you don’t!” Clouds covered their bodies and Tauros thrusted with a snarl towards the scared creature and crashed him against the wall of the cliff, where Hilda’s house stood. Grim released a painful roar and sunk his claws into the rocky surface to prevent him from falling down.

Taurus took the opportunity to strike the dragon a few more times before the dragon could finish scrambling up the wall back up to the house. Grim retaliated with whip-like attacks of his tail and a few fireballs. The heavy water of the rain started to wash the dragon’s scales making him less shiny, but Tauros was too focused in his anger to realize it. ____

Another thundering shake of the observatory finally cajoled Beppi to look outside as he ate his snack. “Looks like Hilda’s taking on the dragon. Neato!” He searched through his bags until he found the long, blonde wig and fluffy pom poms he had packed in anticipation of something like this.

He climbed through the hole, put the wig on and started cheering enthusiastically. “Go, Hilda, go! Go, Hilda, go!”

Tauros was about to thrust again when he heard Beppi’s cheers. He looked up and his eyes shined with anger. “You can walk!?”

Grim saw his chance and hit the bull with his tail, giving him the opportunity to get a better look at what he was dealing with. The hit made Taurus lose his focus and transform back into Hilda, who had to immediately summon her cloud to avoid falling.

“Ok! That’s it! NOW I’M PISSED!” She yelled as the clouds started to cover her body to turn into her final form.

Grim finally recognized the woman. “No! No! Wait! It’s me, Grim!” He shouted to the sky witch. At the sound of his voice, she halted mid transformation.

“Grim!?” She exclaimed, emerging from the clouds, still in her human form. “What the fuck!? You scared the shit out of me!”

“I scared y-you!?” The dragon replied with teary eyes. It was obvious he was terrified.

“Well, yeah! I thought you were that shiny dragon who destroyed my observatory!” The woman flew closer to the dragon and pet him gently. “I’m sorry.” She looked back, frowning at the clown, her eyes still shining with anger. “Come, Grim, let’s get dry before we catch a cold.”

____

Grim and Hilda stared angrily at the clown as all three sat at the kitchen table, a tea set spread out for them. Well as best as Grim could sit considering he didn’t quite fit into the home. Hilda had to rig up a series of tents and sheets to provide a makeshift protection for the rest of Grim’s body that could not fit within the confines of the home. Grim had the suspicion Beppi knew all along it was him. And Hilda was angry to see him walking and cheering like he never got hurt, which meant all the hugging and caring he had asked from her was absolutely unnecessary.

Beppi continued to smile at both of them. “Sooooo…..how are things going?”

The two bosses were still glaring at him and he couldn’t figure out why. “I feel like you’re both upset with me somehow.” He snapped his fingers. “Oh right! One second!” He reached up and pulled off the wig. “There, you know my secret. I’m not a natural blonde,” he sighed, pouting

“You made me hug you….” Hilda said softly but in a very angry tone. “And you were just FAKING IT?!” Grim rolled his eyes and drank a bit of his tea, his body still sore from the glitter cannons and the fight with Hilda.

Beppi’s smile got a bit smaller. "Would you rather I had been seriously injured?”

Hilda felt a bit guilty, maybe she was overreacting. Again. But she didn’t like being played for a fool neither. “No! Of course not! But, c'mon! You emotionally manipulated me. That’s not cool.” She sipped her tea, trying to gulp the guilt building up in her throat.

Grim had no idea what they were talking about, and he thought it would be wise to stay out of it and wait the proper moment to state his business here. He took the chance to discreetly look around for the letter.

“Am I?”

Beppi pulled up one of his legs up to show a hastily patched long hole. It was already starting to open up again. “Comedic timing makes things hurt less,” he explained with a grimace.

The woman swallowed loudly. “I-I-I’ll help you patch that properly. L-later,” she said, lowering her voice until it was almost a whisper. She avoided the clown’s eyes and tried to hide behind her mug.

“Wow! What happened?” Grim asked, worried. “You need to go to the hospital?”

Beppi stretched and slowly got up with a limp. “No, just back to the circus is all! Give me a day or so and I’ll be right as rain. Just like this rain!” He opened the door and gestured to the rain.

They both looked looked at each other, worriedly.

“If you’re leaving, let me at least give you a lift!” she offered, standing up.

“Oh, or, I can take you. It’s on my way, anyhow. I just need to recover something first.” Grim said shyly.

Beppi shook his head. “Oh no thanks! I’ll just float home! I’m sure I’ll see you both later!” The clown inflated his head and slowly floated back toward the second isle.

Hilda couldn’t help but feel a bit relieved. Having the clown around was really starting to get to her nerves, not to mention the guilt! She truly hoped he would recover soon. After watching Beppi float away, the meteorologist turned to the dragon. “So what’s that something you want to recover? I don’t remember you lending me anything lately.”

“Oh… yeah.. uh… it’s… it’s about…a m-misdirected letter….” The dragon blushed.

“A let~oh! Right!” She smirked. “You mean….” She walked to the counter near the door and opened a drawer, pulling out the letter. .“..this very honest letter you wrote to Bon Bon?”

Grim turned a more intense shade of red. “Y-yeah…that one…I see you have read it…d-did you showed it to Bon Bon?” He asked, afraid of the answer.

“Not yet.” She sat back at the table. “Where did you get the courage to write and send this letter? I mean, no offense, but you don’t really strike me as the 'direct approach’ type.” She let the letter settle on the table between them.

“Uh, yeah. I had a little encouragement from a friend…and Cagney.” Grim replied, embarrassed.

“I knew I recognized this handwriting.” She pointed to the envelope. “But I don’t understand the mix up. This was obviously for Bon Bon, so how come Cagney wrote my address?”

“Well… uh… we were v-very drunk, I guess he must have wrote it b-by reflex.” The dragon decided to keep the existence of Cagney’s letter a secret until Bon Bon decided to give the letter to her. “I should g-go now. It’s getting late and I’m still sore from the f-fight.”

“Oh, yeah, I’m really sorry about that,” Hilda apologized nervously.

“It’s alright… uh.. just… one last t-thing.”

“Yeah?”

“P-p-please don’t tell Bon Bon! I d-don’t want her t-to know that I… I….”

“That you want to see how she looks without her dress?” She giggled, making the dragon very uncomfortable and red with embarrassment. “Don’t worry! I won’t say anything. But you should tell her how you feel before it’s too late.”

Grim nodded shyly and thanked the woman for the tea before taking the letter and flying back to his tower. Hilda found herself alone once more. She took a deep breath, trying to take in the peace.

'How come you never take your own advice?’. Sagittarius asked, making the woman cringe.

____

Finally, Grim got back home with the cursed letter and opened it to read its content one last time before turning it into ashes. His eyes opened wide and his jaw fell, his two other heads popped out to the surprise of the content of this envelope.

“Oh… that fucking clown….” They all said in unison. ____

Isabella agreed to let Mina go have a sleepover at Harvey’s. After helping her gather her things together, she kissed her goodnight and sent her off before finally turning on herself. She started to get ready herself, for tonight might be the night King Dice would show up.

It didn’t take long for Isabella to reach the Night Owl Club. She walked in, filled with a confidence that cleverly disguised the fact that was indeed blind. “Good evening, Isabella.” The bartender and the rest of the staff greeted the woman as she walked by.

“There has been some changes for tonight.” Oliver, the rooster who worked as a host, said, a bit worried to the bat. “Our lead singer Patricia Parakeet is back, so you will be her back-up singer for tonight.”

Isabella felt awful about this new information. She didn’t mind being a back-up singer but she was expecting King Dice to show up and get a chance to impress him with her musical talents. She would a harder time doing this if she was in the back.

“Oh! Well, that is great! I’m glad she recovered so quickly,” she lied. “Are you going to introduce us?”

“Of course, of course! She’s in her changing room now. We’ll have to wait 'till she comes out. She, ah, doesn’t like to be disturbed.”

Isabella greeted the band and sat at the bar to wait for the lead singer, drinking water with lemon. ____

Patricia sat in her dressing room, fuming. She had to share the stage. She NEVER had to share the stage before. But all of her squawking and shrieking did nothing to change Marvin’s mind. Apparently the other girl had signed a contract. Which was a bunch of bird seed in her opinion. Who just signed some girl from nowhere up for a gig? Marvin was as dense as he was short sighted.

She applied the blush heavily to her puffed up yellow feathery cheeks. "I’m should be the one who travels the world, recording records and singing for royalty!” She scowled, adjusting the boa around her neck. She practiced a few bars, applied some throat spray before smirking. “We’ll see what Daddy has to say after he gets back from his business trip!”

She finished up dressing and stepped out, her beady eyes immediately scanning the bar for any new faces. Particularly any dumb floozies that were stupid enough to try to steal her gig. There was a peahen that tried one time and, well, one of her feathers made for a wonderful decoration for Patricia’s hat. And let’s just say the beautiful feathery boar around her neck had been a delightful gift from her father after she had him remove that trio of flamingos that tried to force her to be a back-up singer.

Her eyes fell on a mature bat and she paused. This wasn’t the competition she was expecting. But bats weren’t know to be powerful singers so she confidently swayed toward the woman. “Are you the back up singer?” She asked when she got close enough, ruffling her feathers.

Isabella’s ears wiggled at the sound of approaching steps and her nose twitched at the smell of strong perfume. “Hi! Yes I am. And you are Miss Parakeet?” She guessed, judging for the expensive scent she was wearing.

Patricia smiled at the introduction. “Yes, I’m Patricia Parakeet. But you will continue to refer to me as Miss Parakeet. Not Patricia and NEVER Patty. Do you understand?”

“Of course, Miss Parakeet.” Isabella smiled. She wasn’t the first star wannabe she encountered. And she was sure it wouldn’t be the last. It was best to let her think she was in charge. “Your voice is very familiar! Where have you performed before here?” Better gather some intel, she thought.

Patricia smirked. “Ha! I truly doubt you have heard me before. I only sing at places where the patrons are real class acts. Cream of the crop, the like you wish you had a chance to even glimpse at. But you will have the opportunity to hear me tonight.” She leaned in a bit closer. “There’s a chance of a promoter coming tonight and if you screw this up for me or try to upstage me in some way, I will make life in the isles very, VERY uncomfortable for you. Do we understand each other?”

“Oh my! Coming on a bit strong, are we? You feel threatened by my voice, dear?” Isabella used her enticing tone to show how charming she could get.

Patricia snorted at the bat’s attempt. She recognized the change in tone. She couldn’t copy it, but she could recognize it well enough. “Hardly! I can’t have an amateur mucking things up for me! And if you hadn’t signed on with Marvin, you would already be gone.”

The bird started to walk away only to pause. “Don’t think you’re the only one who can win a crowd, sister. I’m not just a pretty parrot.”

“Well, I wouldn’t know about your looks, but you certainly are a smelly one if you need that amount of perfume.” She finished her drink. “Should we practice, Miss Parakeet?” she asked innocently.

Patricia had picked up a very thin champagne flute but at Isabella’s words, she snapped the stem in half. “Smelly? Figures you bats only have a refined sense of hearing, not smell!” She hissed. She patted her feathers down at the sight of patrons starting to walk in.

“I’ve already practiced, but I’m sure you could use a warm up. Perhaps in the alley attached to the kitchen? Where they throw out the dish water.”

The bat stood up and walked towards the band. "You know what? I’ll wing it,” she said, waving her delicate wings, “That way you’ll have a better chance to get noticed by the promoter.” She smirked, but got distracted and stumbled into a table with a thud. “La naiba!” the woman cursed, embarrassed, and walked slowly towards the stage.

The Lounge Lizards had just finished tuning their instrument when Patricia stepped on stage. She started to croon, not putting too much effort in as the night had barely got started. Still it earned a whistle or two from the small amount of patrons and she couldn’t help but shoot the blind bat a dirty look.

Isabella started the evening as a pretty good back singer, adapting her tone to the bird’s voice as the song required it. She didn’t overstep into Patricia’s spotlight and let her continue on, letting her become overconfident. The night just started, and the bat knew she would get her chance to wipe her shoes with Patricia’s feathers.

During the short intermissions between songs, Oliver would stop by to critique them, to say how good they looked out there and how well they complimented each other. And more importantly, if any promoters had arrived. Isabella acted humble in front of the rooster, but whenever the singers were alone, they would get right back to the fighting.

It was during one of those spat breaks where Patricia really found herself getting riled up by the nonchalance of the bat. “What do you hope to get out of this? A free ride to some of the most elite clubs? Money? You wouldn’t know what to do with class if it came and bit you in the ass.”

Marvin tried his best to ignore the women’s squabbling. At least the two could sing well even if they were at each other’s throats. He started to walk toward the bar to reorganize the stash only to freeze as the atmosphere changed.

There was no mistaking the new visitor and he turned quickly toward him, rubbing his hands together. “Aw, King Dice! What an absolute pleasure for you to visit my little club!”

The large casino house boss stepped toward the mole. “Little might be stretching it, Marvin.”

Marvin nodded, glad no debt collection was happening. “Can I get you a whiskey neat, or sour patch on the rocks?”

King Dice shook his head. “Perhaps later, I’m here for business reasons.”

“Business?” He gulped hesitantly. The last time someone from the Casino was here for “business”, a couple of arms were broken and the wall paper had to be replaced. However, none of those things had happened yet so Marvin was cautiously optimistic. King Dice chuckled.

“Well I hear you’ve got two singers that are a choice bit of calico.”

The mole brightened up. “Oh! You mean Isabella and Patricia! Yes, yes. Had you wanted to meet them?”

“I would be most obliged.” The mole lead King Dice to the stage at the sign of a break and winced as he overheard the two women bickering. “Ladies,” he interrupted, “I would like you to meet a friend of the club, King Dice.”

Isabella’s ears perked up, but she kept her cool. Finally, there was his opportunity to meet King Dice. “Pleasure to meet you, Mr Dice,” she said, charmly, taking a lovely pose, with one hand on her hips, that innocently showed her soft curves.

King Dice very subtly took in her figure. “Well hi de ho, ma'am. You must be Isabella?”

“And I’m Patricia!” Patricia interrupted, pushing her way in front of Isabella and batting her eyelashes.

King Dice smirked. “You certainly are. How long have you both been singing?”

The bat smiled at Patricia’s childish way to interrupt, for that proved she was nervous and more prompt to make a mistake.

“Well…”. She played shyly. “My origins are humble, but my hardwork has taken me far. Started singing in the lower districts in Paris when I was eight, and somehow I made my way to Germany, England, Italy…and now here.” She added a subtle sensual inflection into that last sentence, hoping that King Dice would pick up on that, and hopefully, fall for his charms.

King Dice smiled appreciatively at Isabella’s summary. “I like a woman who’s traveled. A gal who knows her onions.” He turned to Patricia. “And how about you?”

Patricia fluffed up her feathers. “Well, I’m a born natural! But daddy made sure I had the best lessons anyway even though he says that you can’t improve perfection,” She tweeted happily.

The casino employee raised an eyebrow and grinned. “Well, you ain’t certainly no canceled stamp, that’s for sure. Do you have family around here?”

Isabella shrugged. She didn’t like to talk about her Mina in the club. You never knew who could be listening, and years of hiding had made the bat paranoid. Still, she was planning on staying here for while, so he would eventually find out regardless.

She cleared her throat and recovered her confidence. “I like to travel light”. She kept smiling. “ I only bring my daughter with me.”

King Dice grinned even wider at that. “Well, that’s just sweet. So you and Miss Parakeet here? How long have you worked together?”

Patricia waved a feather, flopping Isabella in the face. “Oh she hasn’t been here very long at all! She’s a temp is all. Just one of my background singers until my career really takes flight if ya know what I mean,” she winked at the older dice.

Isabella’s nose got tickled by the feather, and the woman decided to not hold it back and sneezed on Patricia. “Oh! Dear! I’m SO sorry!” She fakely apologized. “My nose is very sensitive, you know?” She had to make an effort not to laugh.

“Well hopefully your nose isn’t too sensitive for all the cigar smoke around here. I’m from a place that caters to a certain type of clientele that values their vices, including have a drag or two.” Patricia shrieked and made a motion to strike the bat with her wing.

King Dice took Ms. Parakeet’s wing. “I’m sure you could find it possible in your incredible large heart to allow Isabella here a chance to sing as well. I’d hate to have to leave if I didn’t think things were…fair.”

Patricia was irritated but didn’t want to wreck her chances. “I suppose she could have a turn. But only ONE song. She IS back up, afterall.”

He grinned. “I’m sure that will be enough for me to determine who has the greater stage presence.” The King waved them both off as he turned around. “I look forward to hearing what you girls sing.”

“I will not disappoint you,” Isabella said sweetly as King Dice walked away. Once she was certain he was out of hearing range, she turned to Patricia. "Well, I’ll let you go first dear. I wouldn’t want to put you in the position of following my act.” she said, full of confidence.

Patricia smiled. “Yes, I can only see how appropriate that is. After all, it’s beauty before age.”

“Isn’t the saying 'age before beauty’?” Marvin asked as he walked by the two women.

“Nobody asked you, Marvin!” Patricia tweeted angrily. She strutted back up to the stage and quickly chatted with the band before approaching the microphone with a sensual smile to her lips.

“How many of you boys here want to feel special tonight?” She asked before she started to croon.

____

'She has a strong stage presence, I’ll give her that…’ Isabella thought to herself hearing how the audience cheered and whistled to the bird. 'If she wasn’t such a diva wannabe, I could learn a thing or two from her…’

The sing ended and everybody broke in a applause, including herself.

Patricia blew a couple of sweet birdie kisses to the crowd, already spotting a pile of telephone numbers waiting for her on one of the watier’s trays. She flipped her tail feathers at Isabella. “Hope you fly well because there’s no way you’re reaching the bar that I just set with that”

The bat smiled at the bird, trying to show confidence. Truth was, she was starting to doubt herself.

She talked to the band and Oliver accompanied her to the microphone.

“Evening, ladies and gentlemen. Let’s hear it again for Miss Parakeet!” Isabella spoke into the microphone. Everybody started cheering again. “She’s a wonderful inspiration to us singers all around the world,” she continued talking as the applause started to fade. “And I have to thank her for giving me the chance to prove my worth here tonight. Thank you, Miss Parakeet, for trusting in me”. She sounded sincere and elicited some admiration applause from the crowd.

The music started and Isabella waited for her cue. “Trussst in meeee…” The song began and she accompanied every phrase with subtle sensual movements of her body.

The audience grew mesmerized by her enticing tone and the snake like movements she did with her body.

It was as if a spell has been placed over the crowd - a fact that did not go unnoticed by King Dice. Even he found the bat very mesmerizing indeed. It appeared Chips and Mangosteen had been on to something after all. It would almost make up for the fact that he was going to be assigning them extra shifts for having dragged him out of an important meeting for this.

Yes, a singer like this could do very well at the Casino and he started drafting up the contract in his head already

The song ended and the public broke into an applause and cheered at the new talent. Isabella thanked them and Oliver helped her back down the stage. She hoped King Dice was as pleased as the audience.

Patricia shook her head as if she was waking up from a dream and confusedly looked around. Everyone was cheering enthusiastically and she furrowed her feathered brow in confusion. How did this happen? Was she a witch?! Not a missed note nor an accidental warble. There was no way this could have been happened.

The evening continued as normal, with both singers on stage this time. The public was very pleased and the evening got very animated.

It was time for the singers to take a break and Isabella headed to the bar and ordered a glass of water with lemon. She was starting to get worried. Patricia had a talent to change tones very quickly and it was a bit hard for her to follow sometimes. She wondered if that would hurt her chances to get picked by the casino owner.

She took a sip of her drink and tried to relax. Her thoughts shifted to her deceased lover and sadness rushed in her heart like a wave. If she played her cards right, she might get him back again.

“Tonic water and lemon?” King Dice observed as he took a seat next to her, “I respect that. It’s not professional to get zozzled on the clock.”

They could hear Patricia guffaw as she sat on a table surrounded by some of the males. “Oh you’re so funny, Charlie!” She laughed, gently hitting a bloke and taking another dip of her martini.

Her ears perked at the voice of the man and she quickly recover her charming facade, showing a sweet smile. “Some people need a bit of liquid confidence.” She chuckled. “Enjoying the show so far?”

King Dice motioned for the bartender to bring him a drink. “Quite. Any chance I could borrow some of your time for a private conversation?”

She hid her enthusiasm. “Of course. If you like, we can go to the changing room backstage. To talk. In private”. She felt like she needed to clarify. Although, he did sound like a gentleman, and it had been a while since she was handle by a gentleman. Her cheeks blushed slightly, and her heat rate started to become dormant, as it has been for years.

King Dice smiled. “You sweet bunny, I ain’t no skirt chaser.” He followed her into the dressing room and took a seat. “Miss Isabella, I am the house manager for a little place at the edge of the isles called the Devil’s Casino. I’m responsible for a lot day to day tasks, special events and tournaments, as well as the entertainment. And from what I’ve seen tonight, I think you would make a good addition to our staff. Is something that would tickle your interests?”

The bat widened her smile. “Indeed it does, Mr Dice! When can I start?” She said sweetly, feeling closer to her goals.

The dice smiled and retrieved a piece of paper. “You could start this week if it so pleases you.”

He laid the paper flat on the table in front of the bat, the raised dots on the parchment indicating the braille text. “The casino doesn’t just employ anyone off the street, mind you. That Patricia bird is a very lovely doll, but she doesn’t have the right lifestyle for a position like this. We like to employ those that have more experience, maturity,” King Dice started to explain.

He pulled out a pen and held it out to the eager woman. “An employee who knows to follow the rules because they have something…or someone to lose if they don’t,” he added, still keeping a smile on his face.

Isabella heard the warnings of the casino owner, and she didn’t like what he was implying. Still, she caressed the paper sheet with the tip of her fingers and started reading the dots on it. It seemed like a standard contract.

She held the pen nervously. She was so close to get what she wanted. Not only would she work at the Devil’s Casino, but she would have easier access to the Big Boss himself. It was just a matter of time.

She signed the contract with a lovely, well calligraphed signature, and extended her arm to shake his. “Thank you very much for giving me the chance, Mr Dice. I won’t disappoint” She said sweetly.

King Dice plucked the paper away and stuck it into his breast pocket. “We look forward to having you on board. Swing by this week when you’re ready to start.”

He excused himself and left the room, leaving Isabella alone. He made eye contact with Patricia as he walked through the bar and smiled and nodded at her.

Patricia froze, not needing words to understand what had happened. But that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to use some of her own words to express HER displeasure what happened.

“Are you freakin serious?!” She shrieked, nearly making KD laugh.

Marvin went to assuage her. “Patricia, calm down.”

“She wasn’t even here for a week!”

“Trust me, I’m just as disappointed as you are. I would have loved nothing more than for you to leave as well,” Marvin admitted.

Patricia really fluffed up her feathers and pushed away some of the guys she had attracted. She went to the bar and ordered something heavy. She would make that bat if it was the last thing she did.

———————————————————————————

“I… I don’t kn~.” Cagney pinned her down on a soft bed. She gasped in surprise as she felt him rubbing against her body.

“Is this what you want?” He asked again, grinning and with lust in his eyes. Hilda’s back arched as she felt him penetrate her roughly and released a moan of both pain and pleasure.

“Wh- what do YOU want?”  She managed to say between the hard thrusts Cagney was inflicting upon her.

The flower started to pull vines around the bed and started to entangle around Hilda’s body. She felt the vines getting tighter on her chest. She started to suffocate. She couldn’t speak or yell.

Cagney transformed into a terrifying mix of his monstrous self and the crystal dragon. He came face to face to her, and with a deep horrifying voice, he whispered.

“I don’t want to see you again.”

The need for air woke Hilda from her nightmare with a startled shriek. She remained still in her bed, laying on her side for a moment, recovering her breath. She felt something tight in her chest. She look down to see Beppi’s arm wrapped around her - the clown was spooning her.

She looked horrified at him, as he slept sweetly with a teddy bear between them, sucking his thumb. “GET THE FUCK OFF ME!” She yelled, violently pushing the clown off the bed.

“Miss Beeerg!?” She heard a child’s voice calling her. “Mis Beerg! You ok?” She recognized it was Mina. She must have seen the mess at the observatory.

Beppi hit the ground with a thud and a whine. “Honey, not now, I have a headache,” He groaned, sitting up and rubbing his eyes, still hugging the teddy bear in his other hand. He looked to see an irritated, yet distracted Hilda and sidled back up to her. “Looks like you woke up the kids,” he teased. He patted her on head. “Don’t worry, I’ll go get it for you!”

Beppi planted an overdramatic kiss to her cheek before hopping off the bed and running to open the door first before the zeppelin woman could recover.

Hilda stayed on her bed, unbelieving the clown’s boldness to treat her like that. This was already turning out to be a horrible day.  

—

Mina and Harvey knocked a few more times, paying attention to any sound that came from inside the house.

“You think she’s ok?” The little bat asked worried. They had seen the damage from the observatory from a far and she was understandably worried about the woman.

“She’s really tough,” Harvey pointed out, “for all we know she might actually be the one who broke the roof. She’s done it before.”

The door swung open and Beppi stood there, manic grin already on his face. “Hello there, children!!!” He exclaimed grabbing the two kids and dragging them inside. “I’m about to make pancakes!”

The kids yelled, terrified and tried to escape the clown’s grip. Hilda was alarmed by the shouting and ran down stairs. “Beppi! What the hell are you doing!?”

“He’s gonna kill us!” Mina yelled, clawing at the clown.

Beppi plopped the children at the table. “I’m making pancakes!”

Harvey panickedly looked toward the kitchen. “Made with flour and not children, right?”

“Wellllll I do have a special ingredient that I like to put in the batter. It makes the children really scream.” The horrified faces of the kids left him delighted. “It’s chocolate chips,” he added with a wink.

“Sorry about Beppi,” Hilda started to prepare some tea. “He can be a bit… intense.”

The kids exchanged confused looks but remained at the table. “If you’re not here to kill us… what are you doing here? Did you destroy the observatory too?“ The little b-cat asked the clown, still a bit scared.

Beppi had started making pancakes as Hilda apologized. But at the little bat’s question, he started to giggle again.

"No, no. Hilda and I just had a sleepover is all. I’m here dragon hunting!” He explained.

Harvey paled. “You’re not hunting Grim, right?”

“Nah, that would be too easy. I’m hunting the dragon from the other night. The one you blew up with a churro.”

Harvey gasped. “You mean it is still around?”

Beppi finished making the pancakes in the shape of circus animals and plopped them on the table. “Well not now, but Cagn-eh, I’ve got good knowledge that it might be lurking around this isle.”

Hilda’s eyes twitched at the comment of the clown. Harvey would certainly tell his mom all this, and it would be a matter of hours before the whole isles knew about Beppi’s sleepover.  

"Heheh! Yeah! Eh… don’t tell anyone though. It’s a secret mission!” She tried to persuade the kids, serving them more pancakes onto their plates. “If the dragon finds out there’s a hunter hiding in here, he won’t come back at all!”

“Ficrwept mifion!” Mina said with her mouth already full of pancakes. She swallowed with a noisy gulp. “How can we help?!” She said, excited. This would be a great chapter in her adventure journal.

Beppi whistled. “Wellllll, it’d be nice if we could get Hilda’s tower rebuilt so I could have a higher spot for looking out…but I’d also settle for both of you two keeping a lookout if you see something weird.”

Mina looked at the pancakes and an idea popped in her head.

“We can sell cookies! Like the girl scouts.” She said excited, looking at Harvey for his approval.

Harvey’s ears perked up. “Yeah! We can use my mom’s kitchen and we can go set up in places with a lot of people.”

Beppi waved his hand. “Feel free to use the circus. I’m sure they’ve swept up all the glass by this point.”

Mina yelled of happiness and excitement. “We will make money in no time! But we’re going to need help. We should call Spike!”

While the kids talked, Hilda sipped her tea, thinking that it was actually a good idea. Maybe she should talk to the school principal and make a whole event out of it.

Harvey nodded excitedly. “This is a really good idea!” Hopefully Spike wouldn’t try to bully them but it seemed for now there was at least an okay truce between them.

After eating a bunch of pancakes, the kids decided it was time to leave.

“The sooner we start baking, the sooner we’ll get the money! Don’t worry, Miss Berg! We will help you rebuild your observatory!” Mina said, walking towards the door and waving goodbye.

The sky witch’s heart melted at the kids’ enthusiasm to help her out. Maybe she wouldn’t have to leave after all. “Thank you, kids. I’ll take all the help I can get.”

The kids left in a hurry, heading to Spike’s house.

Hilda eyed one of the pancakes and tried one. “Hmm! This is pretty good, Beppi! I didn’t expect you to know how to do anything else but hotdogs and popcorn.”

Beppi nudged her. “My speciality is my hotdog cotton candy pancakes!” He cracked his fingers. “So what’s on the agenda for you today, Miss Berg?”

The woman made a disgusted face at the clown. “For today, I need to call someone to clear the debris, I got to talk to the mayor see if I can get some money for repairs. That baking thing might be a good idea, I may talk to the school see if we can organize something with all the kids.” She served herself a bit more tea. “What about you?”

Beppi slapped her on the back as she attempted to sip more tea. “Say, that’s exactly what I was going to do! Why don’t we go together?” He started to pick up pancakes and shove them in his pockets. “You should definitely wear that ring though. I don’t want to get smushed by an anvil because I’m walking with you!”

Beppi made her spill some of her tea. “What!? Don’t you have a dragon to catch?” She said frowning at him cleaning the spill.

Beppi threw his hands in the air. “Do you really think I’d be able to catch it if I saw one without you? I can’t exactly float very fast, you know.” The clown made sure to be even more overdramatic than necessary. Cagney did not want her out of his sight. And the last thing the clown wanted to deal with was an angry daisy AND an angry genie.

Just one of them was hard enough.

Plus, he thought as he eyed Hilda’s legs as she bent over to clean the tea spill, she wasn’t too hard on the eyes either. Since Bon Bon wasn’t working out, it wouldn’t hurt to try things with Hilda.

He had a thing for deadly women.

Hilda knew it was pointless to argue with him. He always got what he wanted, so she might as well play along. She finished cleaning and went up stairs. “I’m gonna get ready, don’t come up here.” She said, giving him a threatening look.

—-

On their way to Spike’s, Mina took the chance to explain Harvey what happened to her and Spike when they were in front of the magic mirror with the large dog that tried to come out. And how Spike had spoken fearfully that the dog looked just like his dad. “So I hope his dad is not around…”’

Harvey nodded solemnly. “If SPIKE doesn’t like his dad, I can only imagine how scary he is.”

The two children approached a shack with a fire hydrant up front. There wasn’t much to the house, a couple of big bones in the yard, but otherwise it was just a house. Harvey knocked on it hesitantly and waited.

In a few minutes, a sleepy Spike answered the door. “Hey losers,” he yawned, “What’s up?”

Mina smiled at him. “Hey, Spike! We just found out the observatory got destroyed by the crystal dragon from the carnival. We were going to earn some money to repair it by selling cookies. Would you like to help us? We’re going to need all the hands we can get!”

Spike snorted. “That sounds kinda girly but okay. Lemme just get dressed.”

Harvey paused. “Do you have to ask your dad if you can go?” He asked curiously.

Spike shook his head. “Nah. He’s busy right now. Gimmee a sec.” The bull dog pup shut the door and quickly got dressed. He opened the door again, a little wider this time, allowing Mina and Harvey to see a large figure laying on the couch, snoring heavily. There was an empty jug labeled “XXX” nearby.

Spike shut the door as he stepped out. “Alright lead the way”

Mina felt sorry for Spike. Because of her mother’s line of work, she had been around clubs, and so she was familiar of the negative effects the alcohol produced in people. She decided not to address it, though, and focus on their mission.

On their way to Grim’s, Mina and Harvey told Spike about the night they saw Venus and why was important to rebuild the observatory.

“And without it, how are going to see if there’s life in other planets? Or if evil aliens come to conquer us! That’s why we have to save it,” Mina said, hoping Spike would get onboard for the long run, and not just to use them as an excuse to get away from his dad.

Spike considered it. “If any evil aliens come, I would totally kick their butts. But I guess it would nice to see them coming. So I guess I can help fix it.”

Harvey nodded. “Great! As soon as Mina is done with her flying lesson, we will get started!”

The kids reached the dragon’s tower and knocked at the huge door. Seconds later, Grim opened the door with a smile. “I was starting to t-think you forgot about our classes.”

“Hi, Grim! Actually, we have an important mission today, and I was wondering if we could make it a short class?” Mina asked, holding her hands on her back.

“W-why?” The dragon asked, curious.

The kids explained what happened to the observatory and told him about their idea to help Hilda earn money for repairs.

“Aww, kids! T-that is a wonderful idea! I would like to help. You could cook here, I got a huge oven I barely use.” He went inside his tower signaling the kids to follow him to the kitchen.

“What type of cookies should we make?” Harvey asked as they walked in.

“If anyone says oatmeal raisins, I’m going to give you such a bad charlie horse!”

Mina wondered what was a charlie horse, but knowing Spike, it was probably something painful.

Harvey winced. “How about chocolate? Or sugar cookies?”

Grim opened the oven to show the kids, and they were surprised to see they could all three fit in if they wanted to.

They had the oven, now they needed the ingredients. A sudden realisation hit the little girl.

“Uh… guys… I just realized we need money to buy the ingredients….” She said searching in her pockets.

Harvey huffed. “Darn. I didn’t think about that. We could go ask my mom if we could have some money.”

Spike scratched his ear. “Why don’t we ask the Baroness if she has the dough we can borrow?”

Even though Grim would love to go see Bon Bon again, he knew how busy her agenda was, and he wouldn’t like to bother her for something this small.

“I t-think I have enough ingredients for a first b-batch. No need t-to bother the Baroness.” The dragon searched in his pantry and tooked the ingredients. “Hey! I even have some ch-chocolate left.” He said, happily surprised.

“Oh great! We can make chocolate chip cookies!” Mina said excited.

“And while t-they bake we can start your flying lessons,” Grim added, preparing the tools to make the mix. He also grabbed a few chairs so the kids would reach the counter and help with the preparations.

They all had fun making different shapes for the cookies and finally, it was time to bake.

As Grim said before, they went outside for a quick flying lesson for Mina, who was improving very fast. The dragon thought she was a quick learner, but the truth was he was a very good teacher. He didn’t notice, but he even stuttered less when he focused on his lessons.

Finally, the time for testing the first batch arrived. They all took a cookie and ate at the same time, only to spit it almost immediately. They could only taste the bitterness of the flour and the texture was all dusty. If it wasn’t for the chocolate chips, the cookies wouldn’t have any flavor at all.

After drinking some lemonades to wash up the taste, Grim admitted it was time for professional help, and flew with the kids to Bon Bon’s castle. They landed at the door and Grim asked politely to one of the guards  if it was possible to get an audience with Bon Bon.

The Baroness was in the midst of some paperwork when one of the guards knocked on her door. She glanced up irritably. “What is it?”

“Sorry to disturb you, Baroness, but you have some visitors.”

“I’m rather busy at the moment.”

“It’s Grim Matchstick and some children.”

The Baroness raised an eyebrow. “Oh, well, that’s different.” She excused the guard and checked herself in the mirror subconsciously, patting down her hair and straightening her dress before walking out to the entrance, calm and regal.

“Grim, what a delight to see you and the little ones. What brings you to my castle? Are you having another flight lesson?”

Grim discretely wiggled his tail happy to see the Baroness.  Mina did a knight salutation with her fist on her chest.

“Hello, Bon Bon! We’ve just finished t-the lesson, but we’re here for something else.” Helped by the kids, the dragon explained the situation of the observatory, how they wanted to sell cookies to earn money to rebuild it, and the fiasco their first batch was. “So, c-could you help us out? M-maybe you have an easy recipe we can follow?”

Bon Bon’s eyes lit up at the request. “Of course. But perhaps we could do accomplish this task best in my personal kitchen? I have quite the confectioneries to work with,” she suggested, beckoning the small group to follow her.

When no one immediately declined the invitation, the Baroness led them to the kitchen. It was almost surreal. Cupboards upon cupboards of every topping and sugar and flour and cream known through the isles. There was honey and molasses and cherries and raisins. Almost too much to count.

She knelt down to Mina’s level. “So what type of cookies are you looking to make?”

Mina’s eyes widened at the view of all the ingredients. There was even stuff she never saw before. The Baroness’ question brought her back from her thoughts. “Oh! Uh, we tried to make chocolate chip cookies, but, anything will do! As long as it taste good.” She chuckled looking at her friends for their approval.

Harvey and Spike nodded, equally gobsmacked by the selection of baking supplies. The Baroness nodded and began to pull out ingredients. “Grim, can you hand me the cookie cutters on the shelf up there?”

Harvey brightened up. “Hey, do you have any star shaped ones? Since we’re doing this for Hilda?”

“Oh! Good idea, Harvey!” Mina patted the little bunny.

Spike clapped his paws together. “Oh! Aliens! Got any aliens?”

Bon Bon nodded. “I’m sure I have the stars. Grim, do you see any aliens or other space ones up there?”

Grim looked on the shelves and found cookie cutters in.the shape of stars, half moon, a couple of rockets and a planet with its halo.

“Would t-this suffice?” The dragon showed the shapes to the kids. Mina nodded excited.

“They’re going to look awesome!”

Bon Bon could easily turn out rows upon rows of cookies by herself but she knew that this would defeat the purpose of the children raising the money so she helped instruct them how to put the right amount of flour and sugar ratios.

Spike learned how to beat an egg. He was quite pleased with himself and even Bon Bon was impressed by how naturally he could do it. “I’ve beaten a lot of things,” he chuckled, much to Harvey’s chagrin.

Harvey meanwhile loved to roll out the dough, putting flour on the rolling pin so as not have it be too sticky.

The Baroness had Mina pick and choose ingredients as she saw fit, making a batch of chocolate and then a batch of sugar cookies next.

Grim was delighted to see the Baroness  explaining to the kids how to prepare the cookies. His imagination quickly drifted to a future with her. But that bubble quickly burst, realising the big differences between them. Even if they could, somehow, manage to do it, not to brag, but it would probably destroy her.

Besides, Bon Bon probably didn’t want him romantically. Sure they had fun together, and she often would pet him and stroke his head, but did she see him only as a pet?

He glanced nervously at the Baroness from time to time while helping the children to cut the shapes into the dough.

The Baroness was unaware of Grim’s inner turmoil, helping the children to get the first batch of cookies onto the tray. She went to open the oven only for her brow to furrow.

“The oven’s cold,” she realized, “The pilot light must have gone out.” Someone would pay dearly for that but until then, she would have to think of something else.

“Grim,” she called, breaking the dragon from his thoughts, “would you be a dear and help relight the pilot light?”

Grim nodded. “O-of course!” He got close to the oven and softly blew a small flame to turn it on. Mina was amazed at how easy he made spitting fire look.

“While we wait, we should think of a spot to put our stand. Or should we go door to door?” Mina asked her friends.

Harvey thought about it. “We should choose a spot to sell the cookies and maybe someone can go tell people we are selling cookies?” He suggested.

“Didn’t that dumb clown say we could use his circus?” Spike asked.

“You’re right, Spike! Oh! And we’re going to need a big sign so people can see us from far!” Mina started to get really excited and was imagining a neon sign guiding people to their huge stand.

The Baroness left the kids to work with the oven, catching the sight of a piece of paper to the side of the kitchen counter. She picked it up and read it over, her facing becoming slightly irritated. “It appears we are behind on a cake order,” she realized, “what with the pilot light being out.” She ran her surprisingly clean hands through her hair. “It’s a large cake…and I’ve set the baker home already.” This would take forever on her own, even with knowing the recipe by heart.

Noticing her irritation, Grim shyly approached her. “Em, well, c-can I help?” He said, playing nervously with his cookie dough covered claws.

Bon Bon nodded. “Yes, I suppose. We might get a bit dirty though. Let me change real quick into something a bit more comfortable?”

“Of c-course!” The dragon nodded and washed his hands in the sink. His mind drifted again and wondered what Bon Bon looked like without all those layers on. He shook his head to prevent his imagination to go further. That did remind him however, he had his letter to recover from Hilda! Maybe later tonight he could swing by and ask for it. He hoped Hilda hadn’t opened it yet.

Bon Bon departed to her chambers and quickly changed into a shorter dress and blushed. She almost felt naked with something with only one layer but she knew she would quickly overheat in her regular outfit what’s the oven going and working next to Grim who generally seemed to run hot.

She stepped back into the kitchen, pulling a book from one of the shelves. “How familiar are you with Grand Marnier cake?” She asked, trying to be nonchalant about it, even as she felt highly sensitive in her outfit.

Grim was astonished when he saw the lovely frame of the Baroness in that light dress, and could only mumble his answer. “Uh…um… eh… .”

The Baroness began to pull ingredients as she could hear the excited children making another flying saucer batch of cookies. “It’s a bit of a more difficult cake to bake but I think we could do it. Are you sure you’re okay to help me?”

The dragon managed to snap out of it and nodded. “Yes! I want t-to help. What do you need me t-to do?” He asked nervously, trying to not stare at her.

“I’m going to need you to start mixing with this while I pour ingredients in.” She gestured to a large bowl and whisk. “It gets really tiring to have to do both at once,” she admitted.

“Okay.” The dragon nodded again and started mixing.

After a few minutes Grim started to feel awkward and decided to say something about her dress. “Y-you look delicious, by the way….” He realised how horrible that sounded and quickly tried to correct himself. “I mean! The d-dress looks delicious cause…what is it made of? M-marshmallow? I-I-I didn’t mean as… you are delicious… just… eh…oh b-boy….” He started to rumble, red of embarrassment and whipping the mix way too hard and not daring to look at the Baroness.

The Baroness awkwardly laughed. Her family had been very concerned when Grim first showed up that the dragon would indeed eat her up along with anyone else on the isle.

Obviously by the fact that everyone was still alive and well that this wasn’t the case and Grim ended up being a very nice, innocent dragon. A little too innocent, she lamented to herself.

Sometimes when they were alone, she wanted to do a little more than tea and giggles. But there was no way such a shy dragon such as himself would be up for that. So she took care of things herself, imagining what it would feel like.

Bon Bon especially liked the daydream she’d have where he really would be eating her up…just a little further down is all. She realized she had turned a bet heated at that and tried to respond to what Grim said as she fanned herself. “Yes, it’s marshmallow…probably not the best choice. It’s so warm in here, I would love for you to eat it off.”

She froze. “Uh, take it off. Wait, I mean, I would love to take it off with you. Cause…excuse me one moment,” she calmly walked out of the kitchen, grabbing a glass of water. Only once she was out of sight did she splash it on her face.

“Control yourself, you’re a Baroness,” she ordered herself quietly

Grim was dumbstruck by what he heard, or thought he heard. She wanted him to EAT her dress off? He blushed heavily. He could feel his body heating up at the thought. But she didn’t really say that…did she?

He glanced quickly at the children to make sure they didn’t get any of what just happened. They seemed too focused on making the perfect shape for the cookies and creating slogans to boost their sales.

“If it rhymes, it will bring bigger dimes!” He heard the little bat chant to prove her point to the other two.

“How about, buy our cookies or else?” Spike suggested.

Even Harvey had to giggle a bit, enjoying the sugar high from working with all the baking supplies.

The Baroness cooled off enough to come back in, a smile on her face. “How’s the whisking going?” She asked. She saw how quickly he was stirring and she frowned. “Oh! Slow down a little bit otherwise you may beat the air out of the mixture!”

Mina shook her head. “Oh, Spike. Violence is not the answer for everything. Mind games is.” She smirked. “We need to make people believe they need our cookies, or their lives would be miserable.”

Grim was still very red and he didn’t dare to look at Bon Bon. He did slow down his movements and started to mix more gently. “Like t-this?” He asked shyly. He couldn’t get the idea of devouring her outfit out of his head.

The Baroness smiled at Grimm’s careful whisking. “Yes, that’s it. Not too rough. can’t be too rough with this stuff, otherwise it won’t be so fluffy. Now for the final ingredient.” With the children distracted, the Baroness withdrew a brown bottle from a discrete cupboard.

It was liquor. Grand Marnier to be exact. “We don’t want to accidentally pour too much, otherwise this will become quite a boozy cake.”

Hearing the Baroness explaining him with a gentle tone aroused him even more. He felt the pressure in his crotch and knew he had to get out of sight immediately.

“Uh! I g-g-gotta use the bathroom!” He said pushing the bowl into Bon Bon’s hands and running out of the kitchen to go to the nearest toilet.

Mina kept thinking out loud. “Hm… if your day sucked, take a bite back… hm… if you want to help Berg… buy our cookies, you turd!” She chuckled.

Bon Bon blinked in surprise at Grim’s rapid departure. She placed the bowl down and started to add the liquor. “Huh, maybe he was overheating too?”

Grim locked himself in the bathroom. It was a service bathroom, for the kitchen staff, so it wasn’t as impressive as the ones reserved for the guests, but it was good enough for the heated dragon.

He immediately opened the sink and splashed his face with fresh water and looked at himself in the mirror. “K-k-keep it together, Grim! You’re not an animal!” He scolded himself, feeling embarrassed and ashamed of his natural impulses.

The pressure between his legs started to turn from irritating to painful. He knew he wouldn’t be able to hold it much longer.

He looked around desperately and noticed the bathtub. Maybe a cold shower might calm him down. It would be weird to explain to Bon Bon why he was taking a bath in the service restroom.

He ground his teeth and decided he would worry about that later, and opened the water to fill the bathtub.

“C'mon,c'mon, c'mon!” He whispered while the water painfully filled the tub at a slow rate. He held his crotch to make sure his piece would stay put, but it only made him want to rub himself against his own hands.

“Enough!” One of his extra heads popped out alarmed. “Shame on us! You’re in the Baroness Von Bon Bon’s castle, you perv! And there are kids and everything in here!”

“I knew this was gonna happen!” The last head interrupted. “We should masturbate more often! I keep telling ya! This is not healthy to bottle it all up!”

“Guys! Not the b-best time to argue who’s right.” Grim pointed down at his now erect penis.

“Quick! To the bathtub!” Said the first head, and Grim obeyed.  The tub was too small for the dragon, but he managed to fit his rear in, spilling half of the water all over the bathroom.

“Oh, for Christ sake!” All three heads spoke at the same time. They looked down to see if the cold water was doing its job, but their piece stood there just as hard.

“Okay… let’s get this over with.” The second head broke the awkward silence. “We gotta do it.”

The first head looked at him horrified. “You want us to masturbate? Now!? Are you insane!?”

“Well, it’s either a quick relief or go back out there with a fourth head. You think she won’t notice THAT?” The second head said sarcastically.

Grim sighed. He was starting to think he was right. Since it had been so long since he paid any attention to himself. It was be quicker to just do it and go back like nothing happened.

“You are disgusting! At least let’s fly back home….”

“Yeah… haven’t you noticed the big red flag we’re hoisting?”

Grim shushed them. “K-keep it down!” He whispered and looked again at his crotch. “Maybe if I hurt myself will g-go away.” The other heads looked at each other, worried.

Grim drew his tail to his mouth. “Okay…just a little b-bite would do.” His tail was now between his teeth, but he was too scared to close his jaws.

The third head was tired of waiting and pushed Grim’s jaw roughly down, causing all three heads to growl in pain. They stood silence for a few seconds to hear if somebody was coming.

They didn’t hear anything, and now they were hurting in two parts, not just one.

“Well, that was pointless. Can we, please, just, touch ourselves?” The third head started to get anxious. “We already have the material to work with,” he smirked maliciously.

“Ugh! Fine! I still think this is filthy and we WILL regret it!” The first head said, blushing, thinking of ‘the material’ the other head was referring too. Grim blushed heavily and looked away from his crotch.

—

The Baroness was starting to become concerned when Grim didn’t return within a few minutes. She thought about trying to find him however, she didn’t want to leave the children alone with the high powered furnace. Luckily, she spotted one of the Jelly Bean Bakers walking by and quickly called him to attention.

“Watch the children while I locate Matchstick,” she ordered, keeping her voice stern and authoritative.

“Yes, Baroness, of course. I believe I saw him near one of the service washrooms.”

“Thank you.” She paused as the Jelly Bean approached the children with oven mitts. Why on Earth’s name would he be over there? He knew where the guest restrooms were. Maybe he was looking for a glass of water?

She poured a glass from the bottle next to her and quietly walked out of the kitchen to find him. She didn’t hear anything as she approached the washroom and was about to consider that her servant had been incorrect when she picked up the slightest of groans.

She approached the door, the groaning continuing, now a little bit louder and heavier. That sounded like Grim. Was he having a stomach ache? Perhaps he’d eaten one too many of the ingredients they were using. It sounded like he was trying to talk to himself, maybe to make himself feel better?

“Hmm, what did she say again? She wants you to eat her dress off… yum!” He said, slowly licking his lips with his long pointy tongue.

Grim reached down slowly and twitched at the touch of his hand against his very sensitive part. He delicately wrapped his hand around the tip and started stroking very gently. They all bit their lips at the pleasurable sensation.

“Ohh… this is so wrong,” the first head said nervously. "We better hurry up, they’re right next door.”

“Hey, hey, calm down.” The third head whispered. “Focus on Bon Bon’s delicious marshmallow dress.”

“Probably melting with the heat in the kitchen.” The fist one added innocently. He was just stating the fact, but realised how Grim was stroking a bit more vividly at the thought of the melting dress.

“I would have t-to lick all of it.” A silly smile grew on his face.

Lick all of what? The bowl with the cake mix? Bon Bon was puzzled. 

Licking the bowl would just get him sicker if he was having a tummy ache. She can hear another voice now speaking and realized it was one of his heads. Goodness, he really wasn’t feeling well if those two had popped up.

“Oh yeah! That’s what I’m talking about. And we would help you out! We cover the north… and you go aaall the way south.” The third head smiled widely, feeling the more rhythmic strokes Grim was giving to himself.

That, that didn’t sound like baking. If she didn’t know any better, Bon Bon would have almost thought he was talking about…

The dragon heads all tried their best to moan as little as possible, but it was hard to keep themselves from groaning after a long time of neglect.

“I would….” Grim continued. “I would stick my t-tongue all the way inside her. I wonder if she tastes as sweet as she smells.” Even in cold water the dragon was really hot. He let his tongues hang from their heads, panting softly.

The sound of the dragon moaning made the member of royalty stiffen. Bon Bon turned as red as a tomato as the image of cute little Grim shattered as the dragon managed to purr out such sensual words.

She stifled a gasp with her hand as his words triggered a needy twitch within her abdomen. Her eyes darted around worriedly for any other witnesses but there was none.

“I want to give her so much pleasure,” the first head spoke this time, delirious from the good sensations.

"I want to bite every part of her delicate body.” The other head added breathing heavily.

BonBon sent her fingers on her lips trailing down against her neck and the suddenly very tight feeling of the hem of her dress.

Who was he talking about that had the dragon so worked up? His heavy panting and the lack of other servants emboldened her actions, the free hand having dipped further so it was needing her now very sensitive breasts. She entertained the idea he was lusting after her and a desirous thrill made her body shiver with the thought.

“I want to show her how much I love her….” Grim said stroking his piece more violently.

The Baroness froze at that line.

Grim was in love with someone? Her mind raced with thoughts of who it could be. She had always thought that the dragon had a crush on her, but hearing him like this, learning about a side of him that she had no idea existed, she wondered if she had been completely wrong about that.

Sure, the dragon had asked her out, but perhaps it had been friendship? He never said he liked her or anything. Guilt and shame began to press in, small during the desire that had sparked up at hearing him speak like this. She was the one who pressed little kisses to his cheek, not the other way around. And there were times during summer where he disappear for days, even weeks on end sometimes in the summer… Was he seeing someone else?

Without realising they had an audience, Grim and his heads all started to moan and groan a bit louder. “I want her… only her…. I need her to scream my name!”

Bon Bon felt so foolish. She backed away from the door and took a shaky swig of the water, only to nearly choke as she realized should accident report herself a glass of the Grand Marnier liquor. It burned as it went down her throat, and she quickly hurried down the hallway, stifling a cough and perhaps the beginning of an unhappy sob.

Grim could feel he was pretty close to climaxing. He kept imagining the delicate frame of Bon Bon under his hungry tongues, dipping inside her as deep as they could reach, feeling her twitch and moan his name.

“Oh, Bon Bon!” All three heads growled climaxing releasing a heavy load. He tried to recover his normal breathing, caressing himself slowly while his erection, finally satisfied, softened away.

"I can’t believe we just did that….” The first head said, embarrassed.

“Wow, we REALLY needed that!” The third one added. “Maybe next time I suggest something, maybe you’ll listen to me, huh?” The first head rolled his eyes and Grim was still in the blissful afterglow to pay any attention.

He stood up, emptied the bathtub and washed himself. The fresh water was very welcome. Now that he was relaxed, the other heads returned to the body and he started to get ready to come out again.

—-

As a future explorer, Mina was very observant, she figured out something was wrong between Bon Bon and Grim and now that they both left she dared to ask.

“You think Grim and Bon Bon had a fight? I feel like something is wrong between them….”

Harvey looked around, realizing that Mina was correct. Both the Baroness and Grim were gone. “Maybe we should go look for them?” He suggested.

The kitchen doors opened abruptly and the children jumped up in surprise. The Baroness had walked in, looking slightly just shoveled. Upon realizing she was being watched, the woman straightened herself out, placed an empty glass she had been carrying on the counter, and coolly smiled.

“I apologize,” she began, “I was worried that Grim was having a stomach ache.”

Spike laughed. “Haha, that sucks.”

Harvey’s ears drooped. “Is he okay?”

“Yes, I’m sure he’ll be joining us later. Let me see how your cookies have come out.” She wiped her eyes and approached. Spike sniffed the air, slightly confused. "You kind of smell like my dad right now,“ he noted.

She appeared taken aback. "Does your dad smell of sugar?”

“Not exactly…nevermind. Look at my alien cookies. This one is eating Harvey’s astronaut cookie.”

—

After a few minutes, the dragon got out of the bathroom, still blushing of embarrassment, but much more relaxed. He took a deep breath before entering the kitchen, waving his hand to the kids.

“H-hey! Sorry about that. I had a t-tummy ache. Probably from the first batch of cookies we made.” He smiled awkwardly.

“Oh! You feeling better?” Mina asked, worried.

“Uh, y-yeah, don’t worry! I’ll be fine….” He turned even more red. “Are t-the cookies done baking?” He asked Bon Bon, playing with his fingers nervously and avoiding eye contact.

Bon Bon swallowed, pushing down the last of the bile in her throat and appeared very calm. “Yes, the first few batches are done. I think the kids will be ready to go sell in an hour or so.” She made sure to also not directly look at Grim nor touch him at all, not even a brush with her shoulder.

Harvey hopped up and down. “I forgot, where did we say we’re going to sell these?”

“We could try next to the third isle bridge. A lot of people pass by. Or near the balloon tree,” Mina proposed.

Spike whistled. "I haven’t been to the third isle in a while. Plus, if they don’t buy a cookies, we can throw them over the bridge!”

“I am going to pretend I didn’t hear that last part,” Harvey muttered starting to pack away the cookies for transport.

Grim hadn’t noticed Bon Bon’s cold shoulder for he was still thinking of what he had done minutes ago, and that made him lose focus on what was going on. He did hear the Baroness and he nodded.

“G-good, good….” He wanted to leave but leaving the Baroness alone with the kids would be kind of rude, so he decided to stay until the batch was done. “Eh… what about your cake, Bon Bon? Anything else help with?” He asked looking for the bowl they were working on.

Baroness hardly heard Grim initially. She realized what he had asked and that a response was probably necessary. She looked at the half finished cake batter and shrugged. It had been whipped too harshly, she doubted it would rise. She probably could have saved it, but the idea no longer appealed to her.

“No, that will be all. Thank you, Grim,” she responded politely.

“O-okay.” Grim answered, starting to suspect something was wrong with her, but he shook his thoughts, thinking it was probably him being paranoid. He helped the kids to finish packing up all the cookies and they were soon ready to go.

“Thank you very much, your highness.” The little bat bowed to Bon Bon. “Thanks to you we will save the observatory!” She smiled at her, truly grateful for her help.

“Yeah, t-thank you very much, Bon Bon.” Grim smiled and forced himself to look at her, turning really red, afraid she would see through his eyes to see what he did earlier.

The Baroness politely nodded. “Of course. I’m afraid I don’t have the type of dough that Ms. Berg could really use, but my kingdom would like to help in any way that we can.” She motioned for one of the jelly bean guards to approach.

“I’ll have you escorted safely to the bridge when you are ready. I would hate for somebody else to just steal them away before you get a chance to sell them.”

When they were at the door, Grim said goodbye to the kids who left with the escort Bon Bon had assigned them.

The dragon gathered the strength to talk to the Baroness. “S-say.. uh… t-thank you again for helping…  hmm… I was wondering… if you’re not t-to busy, perhaps … you would like to come by later? I bought this new forest t-tea blend I think you might enjoy….” He said shyly, smiling trying to sound normal.

The Baroness almost instinctively said yes but stopped herself. Knowing that Grim was involved or at least romantically interested in someone else, it would not look good for her to continue her frequent visits to his home. People would talk, especially if any of them had spotted Grim’s beau.

The last thing she needed was to tarnish both her and Grim’s name with people thinking they were engaged in something sordid.

She shook her head. “I’m sorry, but I have some delegations I need to attend to. Perhaps another time?”

Grim dropped his ears sad to hear that. “Y-yeah, whenever you’re free. Uh… I’m gonna g-go now…. t-thanks again… .” And with a couple of powerful flaps, the dragon flew away to his tower.

—-

Amoury sat in front of a wounded and tired Carlos. They were in a simple hotel room, and at the door there was Francis and Connor, the gorilla and toad who were assisting Carlos in recovering the cargo.

The spider was furious, but you could only tell by the deadly look he gave to the cat, for he didn’t spoke a word to him. In his hand, he held a glass of brownish liquor, making a tinkling noise with the ice hitting the glass.

“Amory… I know I… kinda messed up things… but it wasn’t all my fault. The guy wanted to check the cargo! Mc Crabbe didn’t tell him about our… arrangement… and this masked cat, popped out of nowhere!” Amory hold a hand to signal him to stop talking, and took a sip of his glass. Carlos rolled his eyes. He knew Amory had a taste for the dramatic acts, but this ‘silent type’ was starting to get to his nerves.

“You said you were ready for the job, Buenaventura.” Amory said calmly.

“You can just call me Carlos.” The cat smiled. “Buenaventura is kind of a mouthful.”

The spider didn’t find anything amusing in his comment, and glared at him with his five eyes. Carlos gulped. “Buenaventura sounds fine!” The cat quickly added. “And, again! I was ready! just… I miscalculated… I should have listened to my mamá and stayed in school.”

Amory left the glass roughly on the table with a loud thud. “Three quarters of the cargo, Buenaventura. Three quarters, gone….” He kept that disturbingly calm tone.

Carlos dropped his ears. “Well, let’s stay positive! Thanks to Francis and Connor here….” He pointed at the two at his back. “We recover one quarter! That’s better than nothing! … right?” He forced a smile but it erased from his face when he noticed one of the spider’s eye twitch. “Mmmkay… I’m going to shut up now.”

The spider finished his glass with one gulp and left the glass softly on the table this time. “You will keep an eye on Sullivan Wells, and you better pray that this… masked cat won’t interfere with our business, Buenaventura. I can get us out of this one, but we won’t be so lucky next time.” He gestured the cat to leave. “You have two days to recover. Then, come see me here.”

Carlos nodded and, with a bit of difficulty, he stood up from his chair and left the hotel, heading toward Cagney’s garden.

—

Cagney had probably had one of the worst sleeps he had ever had in his life. Grim hadn’t really been up to taking visitors, so he kind of made camp at the edge of his garden. But the city kept him up. All the loud noises and screams from Beppi’s circus kept jostling him awake. And he could have sworn he heard fireworks coming from the third isle.

So, he was irritable, a little more than normal at least. He was tired, sore and maybe just a tad pent-up. He did have quite a few lewd dreams with Miss Hilda that he would have greatly enjoyed except for the fact he was getting woken up every 30 to 45 minutes.

As he crossed the bridge connecting the second and third Isle, he can hear the whistling of the boat coming into harbor and could smell the salty air. Plants weren’t so much a fan of the ocean water, due to its high concentration of salt, but Cagney could appreciate any form of natural thing in this part of the industrialized Isles.

He was close to Rumor so now he was starting to run what he was exactly going to say through his head. If he could even get an audience. The bee was a peculiar one. His mind was so preoccupied, he hardly noticed the orange furry cat darting to and from between nearby shipments on the dock.

—-

Another day, another heist. Hopefully. Although this one was slightly different than Amber’s normal targets. According to Sully’s charts, this was a honey delivery. But not just any honey. Royal jelly honey. The premium stuff, the top shelf stuff, the stuff that they kept locked behind the counter to avoid people like her getting her paws on it.

Oh, not that Amber should probably touch that stuff. She could only imagine how sticky it would get her fur, and how much it she’d have to groom and bathe herself before would finally come out. But, it was worth a lot, and considering what a bust last night had been was losing the rest of the weird magical exploding gems, it was a risk she was willing to take.

Actually, it was probably a slightly greater risk as she was doing this in the afternoon. Trying to steal when the sun was up at any point, was never the best idea. But if at night, people with guns were going to shoot her, she was willing to deal with a possibility of getting spotted rather than getting shot..ted.

She watched the dock workers carefully unload the stuff and noted the absence of bee guards. Amber would have thought the cargo of this quality would result in the Queen Bee’s own guards standing guard but it didn’t appear to be the case.

Amber sidled a little closer to the boxes of honey, holding in her hand a sturdy flask. Even one glass at the stuff could net a hefty sum and would have her rolling in catnip for weeks if she so desired.

—

Sullivan had just started his shift. His coworkers kept asking him questions about last night and he  started to grow tired of the attention. He tried to focus on his schedule for today and he sighed tiredly. Royal Jelly for Rumor Honeybottom. He hated to deal with the bees. They were all very pompous and spoke down to him, even though he was the one making sure their cargo was safe.

The big boat arrived and Sullivan order people around to get the crane’s ready for the unload, while he went to the shack to notify the bees of the arrival of their honey. The corkers did as they were told, and carefully stacked the boxes at the dock, next to many other bigger ones hiding them from simple view.

“We will send our people immediately to pick up the honey.” A male’s voice answered on the other side of the line that Sullivan dialed. “Please, take good care of it! And in the name of her highness Honeybottom, thank you, once again, for your service and we apologize for our delay.”

Sullivan rolled his eyes. “Its ok, Gary, you don’t have to be so formal with me.”

“Actually, I do!” The voice whispered. “ Our beloved queen has ordered to do an inspection in all sectors of the hive. Her majesty wants to do 'adjustments’ on the personnel.”

“Adjustments? What do you mean? Like fire you?” Sullivan couldn’t help but ask.

“No… her graciousness prepared a program to turn every bee who’s not working 100% into a model worker. Robert got busted resting his eyes for a minute after a ten hour shift, and when he came back from the program…it wasn’t the same Robert. If you go tonight at the joint, I’ll tell you more about it.”

“You’re just exaggerating!” Sullivan grumbled, “Robert is a lazy ass, and you’re no better either. You should have been here forty minutes ago! I bet the program is just a friendly reminder of your obligations as workers or something like that,” Sullivan tried to rationalize. “Now hurry up, we’re running out of space and we’re still waiting for more shipments.”

They both said goodbye and Sullivan hung up, picked up some more papers and got out of the shack walking back to the honey cargo.

—

Cagney watched the dock workers unload whatever shipment they were getting in next. It didn’t really concern him too much and he was about to keep walking toward the hive when the flash of brown caught his eye.

He looked again to see a familiar looking feline lurking near one of the isolated boxes. He felt himself tense up, but stopped himself. He had literally attacked two other mammals in the last week in a case of mistaken identity. he shouldn’t just be jumping through violence whenever he thought he found the burglar.

And then he saw her take out a bag and slip on a mask and start to dig a hole in the box and realize that this was her. He grinned, realizing this was her and he was well within is right to beat the ever living shit out of her.

—

Amber had just about punctured the box when she felt something tap her in the shoulder. She froze. She had counted the number of workers, there was no way she missed one. It tapped again and she turned around to find herself looking up at a large carnation.

“Hi there,” he greeted.

“Hey-?” Quick as lightning, he backhanded her hard enough to send her flying over the honey box and crashing into a pile of boxes.

Sullivan’s team just finished unloading the last box when something passed flying the boxes. A couple of workers turned their heads where they thought they flying thing landed.

Amber grunted painfully as she sat up from where she had been slapped. Pieces of wood chunks lay everywhere. She wondered how she wasn’t more seriously harmed, until she realized she had crashed into a box carrying several large bags of flour. It looked like Rumor wasn’t the only Royal resident expecting a shipment of something.

She didn’t have much time to thank her lucky stars as she saw the carnation bearing down on her. Amber’s eyes widen as she realized where she have seen him before. He was the flower from the observatory. And he looked pissed enough to kill her. “Woah, woah, wait,” she started, “listen, I only took one thing, I’ll bring it back!”

“There is nothing you can do to bring back Hilda’s dome!”

“Hilda’s…dome?” Amber was really confused. She hadn’t stolen any domes. “Wait, Mr. Flower…”

“It’s Cagney, dammit!” He snarled, lunging for her.

She struggled to escape, but her foot was stuck under heavy bag of flour. And when flight was off the table, that only left one other option.

Before he could grab her, she grabbed one of the bags of flour and smacked it down on his petaled head.

Cagney saw stars and white powder as he reeled back from the surprise attack. He blinked unsuredly before growling and opting to swing around wildly instead, hoping to make contact with something

The workers around the flour shipment saw the giant flower get hit with one of the precious cargo.

“Hey! What’s going on!?”

“Somebody’s fighting!”

The crew mates started to gather around the carnation.

Amber freed her foot just in time to take an acorn to the gut, sending her rolling backwards in a clumsy somersault. Cagney dizzily pulled out another one, shaking his head to regain his senses. “Next one’s going for the head!”

Amber scowled. “If that’s how it’s gonna be, then fine!” She picked up the acorn, climbed up one of the rafters and chucked it at his face, smacking him hard in the nose.

Cagney drop the other acorn and grabbed his nose. “Argh, you bitch!” He couldn’t stretch up after her but he still had his thorns. He wrapped his thorny stem around the rafters beam and squeezed tightly, sending the pole shaking as he sent cracks up and down the sea soaked wood. It wavered dangerously close to the edge of the water.

Amber hissed, her fur raising. She crouched and pounced on the carnation, latching onto his hand and clawing him with an angry yowl.

Cagney squealed, unwinding himself and tried to shake her off by slamming her into things but the cat had sunk her claws in nice and deep.

Amber went to pull out something from her bag, loosening her claws. Cagney saw his opportunity to yank her off and slammed her in the ground, breaking through the bottom of the deck of the porch. The cat clunk desperately to his green fingers and looks down fearfully at the cold choppy water underneath.

She scrambled up the length of his arm, back on top of the shipyard, before clinging to his petals. the Carnation tried to pull her off, but this time she wasn’t letting go, biting at hands that got too close. “Get off me, pussy!”

He head-butted the rafter once more, hoping it would just dislodge her, but it only made both of them dizzy. Amber hissed and yanked a petal. “Thought you were tougher than this, I’m going to prune you, you dumb daisy.”

He flinched at that comment. Hilda liked calling him a dumb daisy. It is much as he dislike the term, he hated that anyone else would dare to use it other than her. A burst of vindictive rage finally allowed him to pry her off despite her biting and scratching and he held her aloft by the scruff. “I’m a carnation, you flea-ridden rat!” He pitched her at a box and she hit it with a thud.

Amber felt around for something to use, only for her paw to touch something sticky. She looked down to see she had touched honey. Where the hell was the honey coming from? She turned behind her to realize the honey was leaking from a small hole in the box. The force of the carnation’s throw must have led to her accidentally puncturing the box. It was only a small hole though and just one of the boxes… Amber realized at the site of one of the insignias stamped on the box, but this was the royal jelly box. She panicked but tried to remain calm. As long as nothing else hit it, the leak could be fixed and the box could be saved.

At the sight of the carnation approaching, she realized the flower was oblivious to how weak the honey box was, so she held out her paws. “Wait, wait, the honey, hold on!”

Cagney stared at her in disbelief before snapping.  "My name’s not honey, it’s Cagney!“ And with that, he slammed both his fists down toward her.

"No, you stupid-!” She didn’t even finish her sentence as she couldn’t quite move in time, splintering the box open behind her with a loud snap. Honey gushed out, coating the combatants in its sticky yellowness.

Cagney slipped and fell to the ground when he tried to keep his balance and Amber screamed angrily as she looked at herself.

“Do you have any idea how long is going to take to wash out of my fur, you stupid carnation!?” She hissed, leaping on the fallen flower. “It’s going to take weeks! Weeks!”

“Weeks?! Do you even know how long it’s going to take Hilda to rebuild that dome, even if she had the money!?” Cagney snapped back, trying to push the sticky feline off of him. At least her claws were pretty much useless with amount of yellow gunk covering them.

“You broke it!”

“After you broke in her place!

"But you broke it!”

“Shut up, I know!” Cagney angrily admitted, “and I’m ruining everything I had with her trying to fix it, you dumb bitch!”

Amber paused slightly at that. “Wait, you and the meteorologist…?”

“Not anymore!”

“I didn’t know.”

He finally managed to get a scruff on the slippery cat.  "Of course you don’t! You’re a thief! You don’t care at all!“

Amber felt something inside of her that she didn’t normally feel at that. She didn’t know what it was, but she didn’t like it. So she hit Cagney a little less hard. Still hard enough to cause bruises if he was an animal.

"I’m going to fix this,” Cagney continued, “beating the shit out of you is going to make me feel a lot better about it!” He tried to toss only to have her stick to him even more.

Sullivan was on his way to the honey containers when he saw a bunch of working bees and some guards arriving in their trucks. He greeted them and took to their shipment, only stop abruptly at the view.

A few of the priceless royal jelly boxes where cracked and leaking the precious amber product all over the docks and into the sea.

In the middle of the mess, Sullivan recognized the giant flower, struggling to stand up, and somebody else was with him. He got closer and recognized the voice.

.“..Amber?” He said in disbelief.

Amber cocked her head at her name and looked around only to stop in her place as she saw Sullivan staring right at her. “Uh…hi Sully?” She managed, “this looks bad but…”

Cagney managed to catch the cat off guard and smack her into one of the broken boxes. “Didn’t see that coming, didja you bi-hey! Hey! What the hell are you doing?!” His attention turned toward the guard bees who had appropriately swarmed the flower and were in the process of trying to restrain him.

Amber likewise managed to pull herself out of the honey only to get pinned to the ground next to Cagney with an indigent yelp. “Hey! Watch where you’re putting those antennae, you perverts!” She hissed, struggling uselessly against the guard

“What the…! .” Sullivan dropped his clipboard and got closer them. “W-wait! This is a misunderstanding! A-a-an accident! GET YOU HANDS OFF HER!” He wanted to pull one of the guards away from Amber but was violently restrained by another bee.

“This is Royal business now, Mr Wells,” the big bee holding him said in a deep voice. “And you better watch it, or we will take you too.” He threatened him.

The worker bees tried their best to fix the leaking boxes while the guards took Cagney and Amber to their truck. Sullivan struggled to get loose. “No! It’s a misunderstanding! They’re not even supposed to be here! Please! No! AMBER!”

But the guards ignored him and drove their sticky prisoners to the hive.

———————————————————————————

—

As the flyers finished their stretches, Hopus moseyed around the Second Isle’s stores, browsing the selection of stuff. It would be really nice if he could find something for his wife. She was a real trooper, managing the home while he had been putting in the overtime.

King Dice had been especially demanding as of late. Something must be going on to get the house manager all worked up but Hopus preferred not to know what it is, preferring to keep his head down and work.

He was aware of residents furtively glancing his way and he realized he was wearing his bow tie. He would have taken it off but the rabbit wanted to stop by the circus real quick, check out the damage.

Maybe have a talk with the clown.

Hopus walked into the carnival and let out a low whistle. “Wow,” he admired. There was broken glass and embers everywhere. He carefully walked around the bits and pieces. Looks like Harvey and Hannah had a very good time last night. He should let them go out more often.

He could hear the familiar voice of Beppi and casually walked over to see the clown sulking, holding a piece of broken mirror.

“Hello, Beppi,” Hopus greeted casually.

Beppi froze for only the briefest of seconds before looking at Hopus with a humongous smile. “Heya Hopus! I haven’t seen you in a while! Not since your buddies dragged your beaten butt back to the casino.”

Yes, their last interaction hadn’t ended on the most pleasant of circumstances. Not that Hopus minded as much. Or at least was not showing that he minded.

Hopus kept the same grin. “I could say the same. Looks like they stitched that arm back on really well. Could hardly tell it had been torn off.”

Beppi gestured elsewhere. “We can thank Djimmi for that. You haven’t seen him, have you?”

“No?”

“Darn. I’ve been trying to call him on day but he’s not picking up.” Beppi held up his “phone” to prove his point.

Hopus looked at it. “That’s a piece of mirror.”

“Magic mirror. That Djimmi made,” Beppi clarified.

“You could always walk to his home?”

“Nah. This is more fun. I’m hoping that if he picks up, his face will be all warped because of the mirror… And he won’t be too mad that a lot of the mirror’s got broken last night.”

“Yeah, I can tell.”

Beppi looked at him more closely. “Ya know, you don’t happen to have mini versions of you running around, do ya?”

“That’s a queer question.”

“Two of the little kids from yesterday were rabbits is all. Looked a lot like you, minus the sharp pointy teeth ya know?”

Hopus played dumb. “Huh. I’ll have to check around and make sure I didn’t conjure up any by accident.”

Beppi tried one more time with the mirror but gave up. He checked with Hopus. “Did you wanna ride the bumper cars with the rest of your buds?”

“Oh nah, just wanted to…rest of my buds?”

“Yeah, Mango and Chips are on them now. Isn’t that why you’re here?”

“Not exactly. Just wanted to check things out. But I’ll head over there and see how the guys are. Good luck with your phone call.”

“Thanks. Hopefully it doesn’t reflect too badly of me if I can’t make it ”

Sure enough, Mango and Chips were at the bumper cars, ramming into each other over and over again. They spotted Hopus and waved. “Hey, Hopus!” Mango yelled, “Care to join us?”

“Not now, just visiting with my family. You two having fun on our days off?”

Chips grinned. “Hell yeah, we just saw the most amazing siren!!”

–

The Baroness stifled a giggle at how enthusiastically the flyers were shouting. Hopefully Grim’s booming voice wouldn’t alarm any townsfolk. It had before but by this point, everyone was quite used to his volume and just carried out with their daily lives.

“So what’s the next step?” She asked curiously.

Grim looked at the tower. “I g-guess we dive? T-that’s how I learned.”

“By jumping off towers?” Mina asked, very worried.

“Actually, it was a m-mountain,” The dragon clarified.

“Ah! Me too!” Isabella chuckled. “I even broke a leg.”

“I broke t-two, and my tail!” Grim replied, strangely proud of it. Isabella whistled in admiration.

Mina looked curiously at her mother. "Who taught you how to fly, mama?”

“Hmmm. It was this friend of Madame Butterfly. I remember he was very nice with kids…until we found out he was a pedop~!” Isabella bit her lip, remembering there were kids present. Grim and Bon Bon looked at each other nervously.

Harvey raised an eyebrow and scratched his head. “A pedo what?”

Knowing her daughter, it was best to give an answer, or she wouldn’t rest until she figured it out herself. The woman cleared her throat. “ A pedooo…dactyl!” She finally said, hopping that would be enough to satisfy their curiosity.

“A pedodactyl? You mean pterodactyl?” Mina asked, confused.

“Ah! Yes yes, that’s it! Haha! Me and my awful English!” The bat laughed nervously.

“Pterodactyl…as in a dinosaur?” Mina insisted.

“Mmmhmm.” Isabella affirmed.

“A 65 million years old dinosaur?”

“Oh yes, he was quite old. Probably dead now.” The woman tried to sound convincing. “But enough questions now! Let’s go diving!” She kneeled in front of her daughter so she could climb on her back.

“Actually, can I go on your back, Grim?” She asked innocently with big puppy eyes “I always wanted to ride on a dragon!”

Grim couldn’t resist her cuteness and nodded. “Sure! Hop on, k-kids!” He said, lying on his belly so they could climb on him. “And leave some r-room for Bon Bon.”

Baroness Von Bon Bon seemed surprised. “Oh! Am I riding too? Will that be too much for you?” She asked as Harvey and Mina were already climbing into the flopped dragon.

“Well, y-you won’t see m-much from down here,” Grim blushed, embarrassed. Truth be told, he really wanted to have her near him again just like this morning.

“Hop on! Hop on!” Mina said trying to encourage Bon Bon.

Isabella listened to their interaction, trying to catch any hint of subtext that would confirm Goopy’s gossip from last night. This was going to be fun for her too.

“Well, if that’s going to be all right by you, let me me board.” The Baroness climbed on top of Grim and made sure to securely hold onto his scales. She didn’t ride Grim that often, but if she treated it like riding a horse bareback, she could manage it.

A large horse that is, she mused, glancing down at the ground.

Harvey patted Grimm. “Okay we are all on now!”

Grim shivered slightly feeling Bon Bon on his back and when he was sure everyone was settled in, he spread his wings. With a powerful flap, he lifted from the ground. He started to fly in circles around the tower as he climbed altitude, making sure his back would stay as horizontal as possible. He didn’t want to let anybody fall.

Isabella followed, keeping her distance to avoid getting hit by Grim’s wings. Mina started giggling and yelling out of excitement. She was riding a dragon!

Noticing her enthusiasm, Grim roared to make her experience more authentic. Mina tried to roar as well, only to release the cutest kitten meow. She covered her mouth and lowered her ears, embarrassed.

Minutes later, they reached the top of Grim’s tower. The dragon softly landed and laid on his belly to let everybody down.

“That was amazing!!!” Mina said, lifting her arms in the air. Isabella landed as well and smiled at her daughter’s excitement.

Harvey hopped off. “Holy cow! That was amazing!”

The Baroness slid off, running her hand along Grim’s back affectionately. “Yes it most certainly was. Is it Mina’s turn now to fly?” She asked, winking at the B-cat.

The kids enthusiasm made Grim feel more confident, but it quickly faded when Bon Bon slid off him, sending a delightful shiver all over his spine. He turned his head away pretending he needed to scratch his nose to hide his blushing.

Mina smiled at the Baroness and nodded. “Yes! Today will be the day I conquer the skies!”

Isabella smiled tenderly, sitting on the edge of the railing and crossing her legs. “That’s the spirit, my little îngar!” She cheered.

Grim recovered and cleared his throat before speaking. “Let’s begin!” He got closer to the railing where Isabella was sitting. “The easiest way t-to start flying is by catching a wind. Did your mother t-talk to you about that?”

“Oh yes! I kinda manage to do it when I glide, but I can never use it to lift myself,” The little girl said, a bit sad.

“It’s alright, nobody gets it on the first t-try” The dragon tried to make her feel better and Mina smiled shyly. “It’s very easy, you just have t-to dive in, heads first, and keep your wings closed” the dragon showed with his wings the correct position. Mina tried to imitate him. “That’s good!”

Isabella clapped “Yay, Mina!”

“And then, ” the dragon continued “you open your wings slowly, k-keeping the right angle.” He demonstrated again with his wings. “And then, you k-keep going until you’re horizontal. Questions?”

Mina didn’t seem very sure. “Could you demonstrate, please?”

“S-sure!” The dragon nodded and threw himself from the tower doing the movements he had described until he caught up to a wind. To return, he decided to show off a little, and did an elegant swirl before landing in the tower again. “Tadaaah!”

Harvey clapped enthusiastically. “Mina can totally do that! She’s the best!” He cheered helpfully.

Grim did some small bows with his head in appreciation. The bats clapped in admiration as well. Well, mostly Mina. Isabella clapped when she heard everyone doing so, although felt a bit sad she wouldn’t be able to enjoy the show.

The Baroness winked at Grim. “Maybe float by her if she needs a pointer or two?”

He nodded at Bon Bon and turned to the b-cat. “Ready to d-dive with me?” the dragon asked.

Mina hesitated, looking how far up they where, but she nodded at the dragon. She stood on the railings, spreading her wings.

“On three,” Grim said showing Mina the starting position. “One. Two. Thr~!”

“I can’t do it!” Mina panicked at the last second. “I-i-It’s too far! Too windy! Eh…the sun is on my face!” She tried to made up an excuse.

“Oh! Don’t be afraid, draga mea!” Isabella approached her. "You have to trust your wings. You were built to fly!”

“And I’ll be flying right next t-to you! You’re not getting hurt on m-my watch,” the dragon said, pointing at himself with his thumb.

“You can t-try to close your eyes, it helped me on my first flights.” Grim suggested.

Mina tried to go a second time only with her eyes closed, and even if it was better, she didn’t dare to take the leap. She started to feel nervous and a bit ashamed. All this fuss and excitement just to back down like this. What would Harvey think of her now?

“Mina.” Her mother put a hand on her shoulder. “Every great journey starts with a small step.” She smiled tenderly. “Sure! It can be a very scary step, but think of the wonders that await you after! You will explore the world, you will conquer the skies, and if you put your mind to it, you will discover the wonders of the universe itself! Aaaall that…from a small first step.”

Mina looked at her mother, charmed by the idea of becoming an explorer, and looked back down with renewed determination. She took a deep breath and got into position. Grim prepared himself as well to jump next to her.

The little bat closed her eyes and imagined she was about to jump into a pool full of cotton candy. She slowly let herself get pulled by gravity until it made her fall. Isabella had to fight her motherly instinct to jump to her aid when she heard her small child screaming.

The floor was getting close at an alarming rate, and Mina started panicking and flapping her wings, scared.

“Head first!” Grim said, flying next to her with a smile. Mina looked at him relieved that he was around, and tried to get into position. “That’s right, you got this! Now, you have the speed, time to ride! Change the angle on your wings.” The girl did as she was told but the speed made the air too strong around her tiny wings and she couldn’t get the right angle.

The impact was imminent but Grim softly grabbed the b-cat in the air and with a swirl he flew back up to the tower. Mina clung to the dragon’s skin, breathing heavily and full of adrenaline. “That was…hhh soo…hhhh scary!” She managed with a smile.

“First time always is” Grim chuckled not feeling the feline’s claws. “At least you didn’t break any bones.”

“Oh! My dulceata! I’m so proud of you!” Isabella clapped.

Grim was an excellent teacher; he was very patient with Mina. He didn’t mind repeating himself, and he really had fun correcting Mina’s knowledge about dragons.

Isabella was very grateful for his help. She felt a bit sad she wasn’t able to teach her herself. But the bat was very aware of her limitations, and as the years passed by, she learned to accept it, and take help from others. She was happy to know her little girl was going to fly soon.

The flyers kept diving from the tower and Mina was making progress. At some point she managed to catch a wind that carried her to the limits of the garden.

“That was really g-good, Mina!” Grim said, getting close to the tree she grabbed on to. “A bit more practice and you’ll be flying in no t-time!” The little bat smiled at the dragon, panting exhausted.

Isabella, who was flying next to them, noticed her child’s fatigue. “I think we had enough for today” she chuckled. “We’ll take over again next week.”

“Oh no! Can we continue tomorrow?” The little b-cat asked.

“Dulceata, we can’t be bothering Grim all weekend! He has a life too, you know?”

“It won’t b-be a bother at all” Grim hurried to answer. “I’m really enjoying it, you can come by when ever you want!” This was helping him to be way more confident, and he liked that feeling. If this kept up, he might almost have the courage to ask Bon Bon out. He turned red at the thought.

“Aww! that’s very nice of you, Grim” Isabella used her enticing voice this time, confusing the dragon.

“No p-problem,” he had very little experience in terms of love, and he thought she was actually hitting on him. He got nervous. “I-I-I’m gonna go pick up the others,” he said, flying towards the tower.

Isabella smiled. He was a sensitive dragon, and she found that adorable. The bats flew down to ground and Grim reached the tower, slightly blushing.

“C-classes are over, let me t-take you down.”

–

“You saw her at the club, you say?” Hopus confirmed.

“Yeah, well until that fight broke out and we all had to leave. But KD sounded very interested. Ya know, when he was done yelling at us.”

“Best part is, she’s blind! Mango totally have a shot at her since she can’t see his ugly mug.”

“Buzz off, Chips!”

Hopus scratched his head. “She sounds an awful lot like the mother of Harvey’s friend.”

“Ah, what? She’s a mom?!”

“She’s still hot.”

Hopus jutted a thumb toward Grim’s place. “They’re having a flying lesson right now but maybe we can head on over in a few just to be sure.”

“Sounds like a plan!”

–

The Baroness applauded the way Grim was patient with the little bat girl. As she brought her hands down, she couldn’t help but feel something poking at her from the side. She peeked at it and spotted an envelope.

Oh yes, the strange letter. Normally she wouldn’t be one to open personal mail outside of her castle but it seemed harmless enough and everyone else was enthralled with the lesson. She pulled it out and carefully opened the envelope before removing a bright sheet of glittery paper.

Her eyes glossed over the body of the letter and she turned as red as a cherry. “O-oh!” She couldn’t help but gasp, quickly folding the letter shut.

Harvey heard the gasp and looked over to see a very red faced Baroness. “Baroness, are you okay?” He asked, hopping over to her.

The royal woman swallowed but her throat was dry. “Oh, I uh, I’m fine!” She tried to say.

Harvey pointed out the letter. “Did you get a letter?”

The Baroness had no words.

Grim noticed the Baroness was slightly more red than usual as he landed. “Y-you’re ok, Bon Bon?” He asked, worried.

Harvey bounced up and down as Grim approached. “The Baroness got a letter!” Harvey cheerfully pointed out. He looked up at the dragon with a smile, “How did Mina do? Are you guys going to practice again tomorrow?” He asked, distracting the dragon.

The Baroness took another moment to reread the letter whilst the dragon was distracted. She had been so caught off guard she hadn’t finished reading it:

‘You are one of the most frustrating, stubborn women I have ever met and I cannot imagine a day without hearing your annoying stupid voice because hearing your voice makes me so happy that it drives me insane. And I can only imagine how your voice would sound when it’s screaming my name while I pollinate and dominate you dumb, sexy, amazing, silph. Sincerely, Cagney’- CAGNEY?

She turned even redder. The crass flower from Isle one had sent her a love letter. Oh God, the very thought made her stomach twist. Sure, there could be something very, very, VERY small about him that might be charming (and that was really pushing it) but she in no way reciprocated those feelings.

Bon Bon’s mind swam. How long had he felt this way? What would she do next time she saw him? She realized there was more and quickly read on:

'PS I wish I hadn’t broken that tiny pot because it means so much to us and I love you but i gotta puke because Grim pours heavy absinthe…’

Tiny pot? She never made a pot when she was younger. A trebuche, yes. But not a pot. Now she was even more confused. But Grim was mentioned. Perhaps the dragon would know more. She looked up to see the dragon still around. “Grim, may I speak with you privately?” She asked, trying to keep her tone even.

Grim nodded. “Sure! Just, let me t-take Harvey down real quick.” He helped the little bunny hop on his back and swiftly flew down the tower, leaving the bunny with Isabella and Mina. He quickly flew back to the top of the tower. “Is everything ok, Bon Bon? You f-feeling sick?” The dragon asked worried.

The image of Cagney pinning her down and deflowering her DID make her nearly gag, but Bon Bon swallowed hard instead, trying not to shudder at the thought of that plant getting anywhere near her privates. She presented the letter to Grim. “The post delivered this letter this morning. I, well, perhaps you would know more about this than me? I’m rather disturbed by this.”

The dragon froze. He completely forgot about the letter. That’s why she was weird! She must think he’s a disgusting pervert! This was going to be the last conversation he would ever have with her.

He reached for the letter with a very shaky claw. “Eh! B-b-baroness! I-I-I can explain… I….” He looked at the writing and realised this wasn’t his very exquisitely calligraphy handwriting. It was Cagney’s!

“Oh! Thank God!” He yelled in relief. He noticed Bon Bon’s look and quickly explained himself. “I mean~ t-this isn’t f-for you. It’s for Hilda!” He showed her the scribble at the beginning of the letter. It was actually a bit hard to read. “Cagney came b-by a few days ago and we t-talked and… well, we kinda drank a bit,” the dragon said nervously.

Then it hit him, if Bon Bon had Cagney’s letter, then that meant…

The Baroness immediately let out a huge sigh of relief. "Oh thank God. The thought of doing anything remotely sexual with that plant sounds rather unpleasant.” She looked at the letter. “I, should I deliver it to Hilda? It IS addressed to her, I suppose, but did Cagney even mean to write this?”

The thought of his beloved Baroness doing something remotely sexual with anyone, made his blood boil… even more than what was natural. But at the mention of whether or not the letter should be delivered made his blood turn cold.

“Oh no! Nonononono!” He shook his head and clutch the letter. “C-cagney was really drunk and, let’s face it, t-this is a horrible letter.”

“Oh! We should make a better one!” They both turned their heads at the very pleasant voice. Isabella had managed to fly silently towards them and was now hanging from one of the spires. “I just flew here to tell you we were leaving, but this is so much fun! Let’s do it!” She said excited. “Let’s give a little push to those love birds.” She smiled, holding her hands together. Grim looked at the bat speechless.

The Baroness looked at Isabella a bit confusedly. “This is a fairly adult letter,” she managed to finally admit, “but at the same time, I can’t imagine Cagney otherwise willingly admit any form of romantic feelings unless under duress.”

She crossed her arms, “Then again, tampering with the mail is against the law…it should be delivered to its intended recipient…. what do you think, Grim?”

“I d-don’t know…” Grim hesitated. “It’s still a bad letter…Hilda might kill him for this.”

“Wait a minute!” Isabella flew down to the floor. “Let’s deliver it!”

“B-but-!”

“Wait! Listen, listen… you say the flower has trouble expressing his feelings, but this letter express them pretty well.” She chuckled. “So we deliver it to Hilda, she gets pissed or, who knows, maybe she likes this kind of language… either way, she will go confront him. They will both be forced to talk about their feelings for each other, and they will realise how much they love each other, and they will live happily ever after, if they work on their relationship.” She added quickly extending her arms with open palms. “What do you think? Good plan, right?”

Grim looked at the letter worried. “I d-don’t know. Besides Bon Bon, Cagney is pretty much my only friend, and we’re not even that c-close. If he ever finds out I didn’t take back the letter, he will never speak to me again….”

Bon Bon folded the letter and put it back in the envelope. “I will call an audience and deliver it to Hilda then. If Cagney inquires about this letter or if you had any involvement, you can just deny any knowledge.” The Baroness smiled and patted him on the arm. “It’s not like you wrote a letter or anything,” she reassured him, hoping her words would soothe the large dragon.

Grim gulped. “Hehe, y-y-yeah, ” he laughed nervously, trying to think for a way to recover his own letter.

“Yay!” Isabella clapped excited. “Oh please, you will have to tell me about Hilda’s reaction.” She said to Bon Bon before diving from the tower giggling. 'Goopy is not gonna believe this.’ She thought to herself.

Mina’s mother had nearly landed on the ground as Harvey grabbed Mina’s claws. “How was it? What was it like flying? Did you have fun?”

“It was amazing!” Mina yelled, happy. “It felt so weird to be carried by the wind like that! Oh man! I can’t wait to actually fly! And then I’ll carry you around with me! It’s gonna be so much fun!” She kept rambling about how awesome having wings was until Isabella reached the ground.

“Ok! Great class! Now time to go home and eat! I’m starving! Harvey, would you like to eat with us?”

Mina’s eyes opened wide. “Oh yes! Please! Stay!”

Harvey had just opened his mouth to agree when he heard his name being called. “Harvey!”

He turned to see his dad walking toward him and he wasn’t alone. Two of the other casino employees were alongside him.

Grim was about to fly down with the Baroness when he noticed all the people in his garden. He shrouded nervously. “So m-many people… you want me to take you home directly?” He asked Bon Bon.

The Baroness looked down and her eyes narrowed. “Those are casino debtors, Grim. What are they doing here?” She didn’t realize she had started holding him a little tighter and pressing herself against him worriedly.

It felt really good to have the Baroness so close, but Grim knew her well enough to notice she was concerned. “We don’t have t-to go down right away. We can go inside and have tea?” He dared to ask blushing heavily. “O-or I can t-take you home! T-they won’t see you on my back.” The dragon offered, hoping she would choose to stay.

“Tea sounds like a really good idea,” she decided,  unwilling to admit that even though they had beaten the debtors, their presence still made her uncomfortable.

The dragon wiggled his tail discreetly and opened the floor gate to enter his tower. He was going to let Bon Bon come in first, but he remembered he didn’t had much time to clean after the night with Cagney, so he ran in first, picking up things that were on the way.

“I’m sorry f-for the mess!” He said, sitting on a chest full of weapons to force it to close.

The woman gave the dragon a reassuring smile. “This is just fine. Thank you. Can I help you get ready?”

—

Harvey recognized the two adults with his dad. "Hi, dad! Hi, Mr. Steen. Hi, Mr. Bettigan,” he greeted politely.

“Shucks, boy, Chips is just fine,” Chips called out. He and Mango stopped when they spotted Isabella.

Hopus paid them no mind. “How was the flying lesson, Mina?” He asked of the little girl.

Isabella wiggled her ears paying attention to the people accompanying Hopus.

“It was fantastic! I almost flew on my own, and we even got to ride on Grim!” She explained happily. “And we were going home to have lunch. Can Harvey come, please?” The little b-cat asked sweetly.

“Is that okay?” Harvey hopefully asked.

“Should be okay with your mom and I-,” Hopus started to say.

“IT’S THE DAME FROM THE CLUB!” Mango finally squealed, startling everyone.

“Ah man, you got quite the voice on you!” Chips yelled. “We even called the boss to talk about you!”

Hopus looked startled. “The boss? You mean, the boss, boss?” He asked.

“No, no, God no. KD.”

Hopus hesitated. “That’s not…how are you both still here?”

“Oh my!” Isabella said, startled before releasing this could be an opportunity. “Thank you, darlings, it’s always a pleasure to meet fans,” the bat said with her delightfully enticing tone.

Mina understood her mother was working her magic and she thought it was best to let the adults talk. “Harvey, let’s go climb those trees!” She said running through the garden away from the adults.

Harvey didn’t quite understand what Mina’s mom was up to, but he could see the way his dad was eying his co-workers and thought a tree climb sounded like a really good idea. “Race you to the top of that one!” He yelled, bouncing after her.

Mangosteen and Chips hadn’t realized the children had left, their attention focused solely on Isabella. “Yes, helluva show!” Chips agreed.

“The fight at the end really took the cake!” Mangosteen chortled.

Chips nudged her. “Ya ever think about working in a casino, beautiful?”

Isabella didn’t appreciate their closeness but she was very interested in their proposition.

“A casino? Hm… I don’t know… .” She pretended to have doubts taking the opportunity to pose innocently with one hand on her hips and the other on her chin, very softly touching her lips with her index finger. “Big crowds can be frightening, even for a blind dame.”

“Nah, it’s real classy joint,” Chips chuckled, “we got a great house manager too. Keeps things nice and tidy and neat, ya know?”

“And if someone steps out of line… Well, it ain’t just their money they could lose,” Mangosteen suggestively hinted.

Hopus had to step in. “We all work at the casino on the fourth isle,” he clarified to the bat. “There had been talk about maybe getting some new entertainment, try to draw in new blood.” The rabbit looked at his coworkers. “Is that why you two are here?”

“Sorta. Thought we was gonna be seeing some other dame last night but this one is much better.”

“Aw, you flatter me, boys.” Isabella said shyly. “I’ll be at the Night Owl club again tonight. You think your boss could come see me then?”

“Does anyone hear someone screaming?” Hopus asked glancing behind him.

Mangosteen grinned broadly, ignoring the rabbit. “That’s just the thing, he’s still on the fence, ya know. He might swing by, he might not. That’s KD for you. But I can tell ya he’s interested.”

“So keep singing them lovely tunes! You’ll know him when you see him.” There was a pause. “Uh or not. You’ll know when it’s him.”

The woman chuckled. “Well, if he doesn’t have the time to see me, you can tell him I can always swing by his casino and show him what I got.” Isabella was excited, but she kept her cool. She already knew a bit about King Dice. If she could work for him, her plan would be on track.

Hopus saw the look of absolute delight on his co-workers’ faces at the thought of bringing the woman with them to the casino and stepped in. “Oh, well Isabella has a lot of responsibilities here. But I’m sure King Dice will head this way soon enough, especially if you two keep getting into trouble,” he hinted to the two debtors.

Chips glanced around. “Oh yeah, ya got a kid. Say, where’s your kid, Hopus?”

“He was just here a few minutes ago, wasn’t he?” Mangosteen realized.

Hopus pointed toward the kids. “They’re over there playing.”

“I’ll be waiting impatient for him.” Isabella said sensually before calling the kids to take them home.

Hopus gave a sharp whistle, calling over the children. “Well it was nice to see you boys outside of the casino. I’ll see you back at the grind on Monday, yeah?”

“Sure will.”

Hopus pulled out his own wand. “Now Miss Isabella, if you can hold little Mina tightly and Harvey you go ahead and hold on to me, I’ll get us back to your friend’s house in time for lunch.”

Isabella did as he said not really sure what Hopus was going to do. Little Mina held on to her mother and looked at Hopus, excited.

Hopus made sure to get a good grip on Isabella and Mina before fishing out his wand. With a quiet chant, a wave of his hand and they disappear in a poof, reappearing at the entrance to Mina’s home.

“And we’re here!”

Isabella held tight to her daughter wiggling her ears in every direction. She was very lost but the familiar sounds and smells indicate her they made it home.

Harvey looked at his dad who seemed a bit tired. “Dad, you okay?”

“Yes, yes,” Hopus assured him, “Just a little tired after doing magic like that.”

Mina’s excited shrieks stopped the conversation after a little more chit chat, the kids and the bat said goodbye to Hopus and got inside the house to eat.

———————————————————————————