POMEGRANATE, addams

𝖝𝖎𝖛. 𝖍𝖊𝖑𝖑𝖋𝖎𝖗𝖊 𝖆𝖓𝖉 𝖍𝖔𝖑𝖞 𝖜𝖆𝖙𝖊𝖗

"My what?!"

◇ ◇ ◇

The four boats float at the starting line, ready and eager to take off. A crowd of students and teachers stand cheering behind them, although a certain pair are surprisingly absent. This thankfully goes unnoticed by the other teams who are too focused on the competitors in the boats next to them. Some are a little too focused on their competitors...

Enid gives Ajax a shy smile as they lock eyes. He is glad that his chalky face paint hides his sheepish blush as looks down bashfully. Their moment is interrupted by Addams sibling sitting behind the blonde. "Focus." She hisses, before she also locks eyes with someone from the clown-faced boat: Xavier.

"What do we have here?" The taunting voice of Bianca rings out. "The runt of the litter." Her lips are painted black and she has fierce gold and black pigments decorating her eyelids. Her face, which remains smug, also shows hints of discomfort as she fidgets in her seat. The rest of her team also appears to be having the same problem, although some of them are scratching at the material of their costumes.

Wednesday chooses to ignore the previous comment. "For the record, I don't believe I'm better than everyone else. Just that I'm better than you." She pauses for a moment to let her words sink in before adding, "I bet your team are just itching to start." Bianca's eyebrows scrunch before her face falls.

Weems' voice booms across the crowd as Enid leans back in her seat to whisper to Wednesday, "What did you do?"

Wednesday turns away from Bianca. "Technically, it wasn't me," She explains truthfully. "Persephone has become quite adept at growing poison ivy. Some of it may have slipped into Bianca's team uniforms." Enid lets out a small snort, already loving the angry expression on Bianca's face.

The two girls tune back into their surroundings as Weems announces, "Let the Poe Cup begin!" A gun is shot into the air as the boats are pushed off and the teams begin to row.

Meanwhile, Hades and Persephone are waiting on the shore of Raven Island. Hades is peering through his binoculars, watching as the boats edge closer to the island. Persephone had refused to wear the cat ears but had given up trying to argue against Enid about not wearing the costume. Hades was a blushing and stuttering mess when he saw her in the bodysuit, he could barely string a proper sentence together (Enid made sure to get photos of his reaction to send to Persephone). He was bitterly disappointed when he was stuck on lookout duty, as he would much rather spend his time admiring the bewitching angel perched next to him.

"Woah! Weds is about to get decapitated by an axe!" Hades gasps in a delighted tone before sighing in disappointment, "Never mind... She ducked."

"She needs to survive if we want to win the Cup." Persephone reminds him with a roll of her eyes. Hades groans at the hint that he has to make sure his sister stays alive. "Any signs of the sirens' sabotage yet?"

"If you count a boat being mysteriously pushed off course and being forced to crash as 'siren sabotage'... then yes, there are a few signs." Hades drawls monotonously.

"They definitely did that last year." Persephone complains. The sirens really weren't creative in their tactics. "I could forgive them for the sabotaging if they just changed it up every now and then."

"Love, are you critiquing their style of cheating?" Hades laughs, removing the binoculars from his face to look at the girl.

Persephone immediately shoves his face back in the direction of the race. "Keep watching, binocular boy!" Hades smirks at the fact that he can get under her skin, before obeying her orders and focusing on the race once more.