𝖢𝖧𝖠𝖯𝖳𝖤𝖱 𝖥𝖨𝖵𝖤
𝐁𝐋𝐎𝐍𝐃𝐈𝐄
When she made it to the Specialist training grounds, Daphne found herself drifting over to where she saw Sky and his friend Riven watching an ongoing fight on one of the platforms.
"What do you want, a handy for taking me under your wing? I thought my friendship was reward enough." She overheard Riven ask Sky sarcastically as she brought herself to a stand still beside Sky.
"I'll pretend I didn't hear that," she interrupted them.
"Afternoon Daph," Sky grinned at the newly turned blonde girl, nodding at her hair colour. "Suits you. And Riv- it is." The blonde patted his shoulder before jogging off, towards Stella.
"I preferred the red." Riven stated bluntly.
"When did I ask for your opinion?" Daphne asked him, a small smirk on her face as she turned away from Riven as Dane's partner took him down on the platform.
She made her way over to one of the tables where several different weapons were laid out, scanning each of them.
"So, haven't seen you here before blondie-" a voice behind her broke her attention. A hand reached out to touch her wrist but she was quick to spin around and pin the body to the floor with few movements. "Woah, red? What happened?" She glared into the eyes of Thoren, as he smirked up at her. "I could get use to this position," he boasted, making her realise she was straddling him and holding his wrists above his body. She scoffed and threw herself off of him, dusting herself off.
"Seriously though, the blonde? I mean you're still hot but the red was... fiery. Fitting right?" He joked, standing over her with his arms crossed. Daphne tried to concentrate her eyes anywhere but his arms, where his muscles bulged under the skin tight black undergarments. "You don't talk much do you red- I mean blondie?"
"I don't have anything to say to you." Daphne shook her head, clearing her thoughts of his arms and really- hot body. "Maybe find another girl to flirt with?" She suggested with a snarky tone.
"Woah, no need to get all jealous blondie." He chuckled arrogantly.
"You thought I was someone else a moment ago, the moment I'm jealous of you talking to another girl, I'll stab myself in the eye." She pushed past him, weapon in hand, her shoulder hitting his harshly, causing even his tall, strong form to stumble backwards. He watched her walk away, furrowing his eyebrows together. She was different. There was something about her that intrigued him. Albeit she was hot, but aside from that... he was drawn to her.
"Thoren, hey." A girl he hooked up with last year walked up to him, eyelashes fluttering like wild. It took him a moment to register that she had her hand on his bicep, and even then after looking down at the manicured hand- much different to Daphne's chipped nails and rough finger tips- he looked back up to see she had made her way to Sky. "How was your summer?" The girl asked with a flirtatious tone. Thoren looked away from Daphne and down at the girl beside him, a smirk finding its way back onto his face. Whilst he didn't want Daphne to stab herself in the eye, the challenge of making her jealous was one he couldn't turn away from. Game on red- blondie. He corrected her name in his thoughts. Game on.
∰
Daphne found herself with a lunch tray in hand, stood in the middle of the dining hall... looking like a lost puppy. She hadn't exactly made any friends and Bloom wasn't all too delighted by her at the moment.
"Are you joining us?" Musa came up behind her with Aisha following, both of them also having trays in their hands.
"Oh, erm..." Daphne had a mental battle before nodding. "Sure. Bloom will be so happy-" She whispered under her breath.
"Nice hair-" Aisha commented, noticing the blonde in exchange for the natural red.
"Thanks." Daphne mustered a smile, appreciating the compliment. "How did you know it was me?" She asked Musa.
"You're the only person I get nothing from. You my friend, are silence. You'd think I'd enjoy it, but it can be rather frustrating." Musa shrugged, leading her and Aisha over to where Bloom was sat with Terra.
"So here's what we should do. Maybe we can make a list of emotional triggers-" Aisha began as soon as she sat down.
"Aisha, um, I appreciate what you're doing, but I can figure this out on my own." Bloom interrupted her. She was pretty good at doing that. Daphne pushed the food around on her plate, her appetite gone.
"I'm sure. I just think you might be in your head about the whole changeling stuff and overthinking." Aisha perused. Daphne shifted uncomfortably at the mention of 'changeling', but luckily no one noticed.
"So everyone knows." Bloom noted, a hint of annoyance in her tone. She glanced towards Daphne who shrugged, also in the know. Well, she had known long before the others had.
"Oh, is that why you freaked out at the Vessel? That makes so much more sense. Because that's gonna be the easiest assignment we'll have-" Terra began to ramble in a surprised voice, but stopped as Musa gestured for her to cut it out. "And I'm making it worse." Daphne could sense Bloom's discomfort with Terra's announcement to everyone.
"You'll get there Bloom-" Daphne spoke up.
"You dyed your hair?" Bloom's voice went a pitch higher as she stated the obvious. "Why?" Before Daphne could reply Stella walked over to their table with Sky following suit.
"So we have a plan to get my ring back." She laid a map out on the table.
"What's this?" Musa asked.
"It's Alfea. The little dotted line is the Barrier, and that's Crag Creek. Wind Meadow!" Terra looked at the map with excitement, clearly reminiscing as she traced her finger along the lines. "When I was a kid, I'd spend every-" Stella cut her off, saving everyone from an unneeded and unwanted story.
"Great story, Ter."
"No, it's a really good story. Listen." Terra continued to ramble. "So I use to go and practice my magic by trying to swirl leaves into this little fab cyclone thing." Daphne didn't miss the look Bloom gave Sky as he sat down next to her. And she didn't miss the look Stella gave them both either, a look of jealous and insecurity. Daphne felt a little sympathy for Stella, who kept looking over to Sky and Bloom as they had their own private chat.
"Hilarious. Erm, Sky." Stella focused back onto the tall blonde, annoyed by Terra's continuous talking. "Where do you think they're keeping it again?" Sky stood back up and Stella placed a hand on his arm, in an affectionate way. Sky glanced down at her hand, with a look Daphne could easily assume meant that it was an unusual action by Stella. With Sky's glance to Bloom, Daphne easily pieced together Stella's intentions. Love triangle, really Bloom? She watched as Bloom gave her a small glare.
"Uh, there's only so many buildings outside the Barrier they can secure a creature like that." Sky acknowledged. "There's the barn and the mill." He pointed towards the two structures on the map.
"Oh, the barn would be my bet. My dad fortified the beams because he was chaining this wounded horse there when I was little-" Terra, whist stating something useful at the start, went on to tell one of her stories but Stella cut her off again.
"So we just have to sneak in there and get my ring." Stella said as if it were that simple. Daphne's attention was diverted as she noticed Thoren standing directly opposite her across the room, leaning on a stone pillar as he flirted shamelessly with a dark haired girl. Daphne rolled her eyes as he looked up, sensing her gaze, and smirked, mouthing the word's 'jealous yet?'
"Strange how casually you're tossing about the word 'we'." Aisha pointed out.
"Yeah, sounds more like a 'you' kinda deal." Musa sided with Aisha, not entirely wanting to help Stella, who was sorta a bitch to them most of the time.
"Except I didn't lose it." Stella snapped back.
"When do we go?" Bloom stared down at the table, ignoring Aisha and Musa. Everyone sent her a shocked look, before giving each other uneasy looks. Bloom's magic was unstable and not entirely in her control, thus they didn't really trust her being the best person for the mission.
"Gonna be blunt. Sorry. Bloom, you have zero control over your magic." Aisha placed the facts onto the table. "That is, if you manage to channel it. Bad idea." Aisha spoke the truth, but she was also being slightly harsh.
"I lost the ring. I'm gonna get it back." Bloom was determined and Daphne could tell that no one would be able to change her mind.
"Guys, maybe we should take a second-" Sky started, sensing the tension brewing between the two roommates.
"I think everyone is making a way bigger deal of this than it needs to be." Stella complained. "You said the Burned One's locked up, right?" She turned to Terra.
"Oh, and subdued. I'm pretty sure my dad is distilling this oil that'll subdue it. It's... it's called Zanbaq. I could probably make some more." Terra offered.
"Thank you, Terra, for being helpful." Stella thanked the Earth fairy. "And thank you Bloom, for taking responsibility. And thank you, everyone else, for..." She paused to chuckle sarcastically, "nothing, I guess." She laughed. "Thanks for nothing. Apart from Daphne. Because we all know she can kick ass." Daphne waved as he name was mentioned.
"Let me know when you want to do it." Bloom stood up and walked away. Daphne pushed her tray away, having not touched her food, before she too stood up and left the group. She ignored Thoren and the lost-puppy fluttering her eyelashes wildly, and started to make a bee line for her dorm room. A sudden sharp pain in her head forced her to stop as she lent a hand on the wall, groaned as a ringing noise filled her ears. She stumbled and tried to keep her balance, seeing black spots in her vision.
"Blondie?" Was all she heard before she collapsed into someone's arms. The nickname not registering in her head before everything went black.