𝒲𝒾𝓃𝓉ℯ𝓇 𝒲ℴ𝓃𝒹ℯ𝓇𝓁𝒶𝓃𝒹： 𝒯𝒽𝒶𝓌 ℴ𝒻 𝓉𝒽ℯ ℱ𝓇ℴ𝓏ℯ𝓃 ℋℯ𝒶𝓇𝓉

𝓞𝓹𝓮𝓻𝓪𝓽𝓲𝓸𝓷 𝓢𝓽𝓮𝓪𝓵 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓢𝓱𝓸𝔀: 𝓒𝓱𝓪𝓹𝓽𝓮𝓻 3

*
Lumikuinen Dorm - Lounge

"Wait, WHAT?! ME?!" Ruggie widens his eyes as his ears flattened from shock.

"Wouldn't that be even easier to spot than magic?" Grim exclaimed.

"Not for Ruggie," Leona smirked, vouching for the hyena. "He's got sticky fingers and the skills to back it up. Besides, it's not like the queen's got the tiara stowed in her inside jacket pocket or somethin'. It's sitting right on her head, out in the open, just beggin' to be swiped," he says.

"That makes this way harder, actually!" Ruggie sweat dropped.

"Oh, I get it! So that's why you wanted to bring Ruggie instead of Jack," Kalim then realized. "Jack does tend to stand out in any crowd. Ha ha," he innocently laughs. "I can't think of anyone better suited to this plan than Ruggie. I'm on a board with your idea, Leona,"

"Aw, geez...Are you guys serious" Ruggie deadpanned.

"There, there," Y/n says, using her wing to pet Ruggie's head since he was the closest to her. The hyena obviously leaned into her touch with a goofy grin as his tail wagged.

"Hmph," Leona huffed a bit, a tiny bit jealous. "So, Ruggie. How many seconds do you need to switch one tiara for another?" he asked.

"Hm..." Ruggie hummed, thinking about the lion's question. "Accounting for the size of the tiara and the kind of surroundings we'll be in...I'd say about fifteen seconds," he answered.

"He says ten seconds," Leona suddenly says.

"You shaved five seconds off my estimate!" Ruggie exclaimed in disbelief.

"Yeah, because I know you," Leona grinned. "You added some breathing room, didn't you?"

"Tch. You got me," Ruggie sighed. "Either way, I'm gonna need the queen distracted the whole time for this to work at all," he pointed out.

"So you need ten seconds of full distraction," Jamil mumbled. "How would one draw attention at a Fairy Gala safely, and without raising suspicion?"

"Well, this party is supposed to celebrate the arrival of spring, right? What better way to celebrate than with a parade?" Kalim asked, looking quite excited. "We could throw a big, fancy one that leaves the queen totally star-struck! We could wear dazzling costumes and bring music troupes!" he grinned brightly.

"Ah, the classic Kalim solution: throw money and bodies at problems to make them go away," Ruggie muttered, sweatdropping a bit. "Did you forget about our limited supply of fairy dust?" he asked the reminder.

"Actually..." Isfrid mumbled. "I think he might be onto something. The Fairy Gala's centerpiece event is a fashion show, right?" he asked.

"Yup," Kalim nodded. "Anything goes on the runway, apparently. Dancing, singing...It's all fair game as long as it celebrates spring! According to Sam, it's a really glitzy show. It sounds like a ton of fun!"

"That's our angle," Jamil stated. "Myself, Kalim, and Leona will draw the whole venue's attention at the fashion show. While the queen's distracted, Ruggie, Grim, and Isfrid will switch out her tiara," he explains. He also knows full well that Y/n would be in the audience so obviously he wanted to show himself off.