So even though politcs are going to shit I'm still gonna get pass it! So enjoy this maybe drama filled chapter. Idk Mandy needs to chill either way.
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By next week, tracking Diamanda became impossible. Wherever she ran off to, it was pretty far.
"You think she went to Sueronia?" Brittany asked.
Arwen sighed and sat back.
"I mean that's possible, but that would also mean that she'll have the council brief her in on who she is." She said.
"The council?" Antauri asked.
"They're in charge of helping amnesiac Sueronians figure out who they are." Arwen briefly explained.
Willow nodded before Brittany stood up.
"Well I gotta practice, the auditions are still a good few months away." She said, leaving.
"Have fun." Nova chirped before sipping her drink.
Trent sat for a minute before getting up and following her.
"Trent?" Willow asked.
"I'll be...right back." He said before leaving the room.
Antauri got up too.
"Willow, it is about time for your training." He said, causing Willow to nod and run off with him.
"Don't make out too much you two!" Amanda chirped, causing the two to glare at her.
Willow pointed at her.
"Don't make me get Mandarin on you." She threatened before leaving.
Amanda gulped and shrunk back a bit. She did not want to deal with a hormonal Mandarin today.
In the training room Brittany was dancing along to one of the songs that would play in the concert portion of the auditions.
"Right before your eyes, a river is flowing. It's a vast and wide river. Even though it's dark and deep-" she sung before turning towards Trent.
She stopped and paused the song.
"Oh hey, you came to watch?" She asked.
Trent briefly nodded, but Brittany felt there was something else to his visit.
"Um actually there's something I want to ask." He said.
Brittany waited as Trent fumbled with his hoodie zipper before he paused, looking right at her.
"I want to audition for Starlights." He announced, serious.
Brittany blinked. Trent did say something about wanting to join Starlights when he watched their concert on Natulis. Even so, not that she minded the idea of him joining, there was a problem.
"Trent...you do realize that male Sueronians only join Starlights to fight right?" She asked.
Trent stepped forward.
"Yeah, but I want to sing. I want to actually be on stage, not to only protect other members but to perform."
Brittany nodded, understanding. She went up to him.
"Yeah but Trent, the Gary Stus who do want to go performing join other co-ed groups or join an all male one. Starlights have been all female for years, they may have been co-ed at some point but I don't know if they'll have it co-ed this time." She explained to him.
Trent shrugged.
"Sounds like a challenge to me." He said.
Brittany sighed.
"Alright, you can try. I don't know if they'll let you in but you can try." She said before turning to her music.
"First things first, you need to send in an audition tape." She said.
Trent smiled widely and nodded.
"Now which song do you want to use. They're really set on AKB48 songs so-?"
"Seaside Cherry sounds good." Trent chirped.
Brittany looked at him, giving him a weird look.
"Hey I love that song, don't judge me." He huffed.
Brittany rolled her eyes but smiled.
"Alright, let's get started."
---------------------------------------------------
While everyone was enjoying themselves, they felt a chill enter the room as Mandarin entered the command center. He hasn't had any sleep and his mood swings were on the search for blood.
No one moved or did anything as Mandarin placed himself near Otto, a plate filled with weird food combinations in one hand and another on his bump. Annoyed by the silence he narrowed his eyes.
"What's with the sudden silence? Afraid I might yell at someone for saying the wrong thing?" He asked, gripping the plate a bit.
Otto quickly turned to him and was about to snuggle him when Mandarin frowned at him.
"Not now, not in the mood." He said, causing Otto to sit back in his seat.
Chiro laughed nervously.
"It-it's just a quiet day today." He said, trying to get on Mandarin's good side.
Mandarin raised an eyebrow.
"Really? Is that why before I came up there was chatter amongst you?" He questioned, causing Chiro to sweat.
He frowned at him a bit more before eating, still annoyed. Chiro sighed, he was safe for now. Mandarin shivered before pushing away some olives.
"Why did I think having olives would be a good idea? I should have had grapes instead." He huffed, continuing to eat anyway.
Sprx and Gibson looked at each other, wanting to escape before Mandarin would explode at them. They began to get up and sneak away when Mandarin glared at them.
"And where are you going?" He sharply asked, causing the two to freeze where they stand.
The two slowly looked back at a now peeved Mandarin.
"What's the hurry you two, afraid that I might bite your heads off? Because that's not a bad idea given your behaviors right now." He huffed.
Gibson gulped as Sprx decided to be brave for a second.
"What did we do wrong now?" He asked, frustrated.
If looks could kill, the two would already be six feet under. Mandarin glared harder and no matter how much Otto tried to soothe him, his anger would not subside.
"You're avoiding me. Whenever I enter the room, most of you seem to leave pretty quickly." Mandarin accused.
Sprx and Gibson knew they were dead. It was true, his mood swings were getting worse and the two wanted to be as far away from the mess as possible. Tilamat said it was going to get worse before it would eventually edge away. His advice? Wear helmets and lots of armor.
Sprx and Gibson backed up a step, really not liking where this was going.
"Pray tell, am I annoying you? Am I overbearing, terrible to be around, moody, crazy?" Mandarin snarled.
Amanda got up, attempting to save Sprx and Gibson.
"N-now Mandarin settle down I'm sure that's not-" she tried to calm him but with one glare Amanda clamped up.
"You stay out of this."
Amanda closed her mouth and nodded, sitting down. Gibson huffed and placed his hands out in defense.
"Look, we don't mean anything hurtful by it-"
"Oh so you admit you're avoiding me."
Gibson closed his eyes.
"What I'm trying to say is that whenever you get angry recently, you tend to um..."
Arwen kept mouthing him to shut up, trying to save his skin.
"Tend to what?"
Gibson felt his throat dry as everyone began to back up.
"Tend to um...unleash your rage at everyone and act just the tiniest bit irrational." He said, causing Arwen to groan and turn away.
He was so dead. Gibson may be smart, but how to deal with Mandarin's mood swings he was very tactless. Mandarin's fists tightened as the others hid behind their chairs.
"Irrational? Irrational?!" Mandarin demanded.
Gibson backed up, knowing that he's really done it now.
"Sprx please-!" He then saw that Sprx was already gone.
Gibson blinked, mouth open.
"He-he abandoned me!" He thought as he saw a long shadow cover his line of sight.
Gibson didn't want to turn around, because if he did he would have to face the storm that was about to hit him.
"Do you have any idea what it's like to be me right now?" Mandarin demanded, sounding both angry and hurt.
Gibson gulped and slowly turned to a very upset Mandarin. He shook at his glare.
"You try to get sleep with something kicking your stomach every night, you try dealing with feeling much heavier than before, you try dealing insane cravings that either disgust you or is actually pleasing, you try dealing with these mood swings by yourself! Mood swings that have somehow made everyone hate you! Do you not understand how that feels?!" Mandarin finished, realizing that tears were now forming in his eyes.
He quickly wiped them and turned.
"I'm done! Clearly all of you want nothing to do with me and quite frankly I don't blame you." Mandarin huffed before going to the transport tube.
"Mandarin that's not-!" Arwen tried to say but he was already gone.
A tomb like silence fell over everyone as they came out of their hiding places. Chiro gulped as Gibson froze, still shaking. How many months left till Lazuli was born? Four?
Arwen closed her eyes and exhaled.
"You couldn't have handled that better?" She asked, remembering a situation like this when she was pregnant with Willow.
Gibson shook.
"Come on Arwen, give him a break." Chiro said.
"I-it's just whatever we would say, he would still get upset. Gibson just couldn't win." Amanda defended.
Arwen turned to her and crossed her arms.
" Even so Amanda, he's having a difficult time right now. His hormones are really stressing him right now and we all need to be there for him. Not avoid him, that's how this whole mess started." She said, causing most of the others to look down.
Otto raised his hand.
"I haven't been avoiding him." He said.
Arwen's eyes softened.
"I know Otto, I know you've been trying to help him. I'm talking about some of the others."
Otto nodded and looked to where Mandarin left.
"I'm gonna talk to him." He said, getting up.
Arwen nodded, wanting to go too.
"We'll be back, find Sprx because all of you need to talk about this." She said, following Otto.
Most of the others agreed as the two left. Gibson was still frozen before he fell over, wheezing.
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Otto peered into the base, since Mandarin no longer lived in the storage room. He was prepared to give Mandarin some of his cookies he made last night, but Arwen advised not to give it to him right away. The two looked around until they heard sniffling and shuddering. Otto perked his ear at the bedroom door, guessing that Mandarin was in there.
"Mandy? You in there?" He asked, already knowing the answer.
"Leave me be." Mandarin's depressed voice came through the door.
Otto smirked and clawed at the door.
"What are you doing?" Arwen asked.
"It's a thing I've been doing lately whenever he gets like this." Otto whispered before turning towards the door.
"But sweetie! I wanna smooch your face!" Otto cooed, still scratching at the door.
"Not when I'm like this, all moody and gross." Mandarin sniffled.
"You're not gross! You're cute!" Otto chirped.
"No I'm not."
"I disagree! You're so cute I just wanna cuddle you forever!"
Mandarin's sniffles heightened and so did Otto's clawing.
"Please open the door Mandarin. I have cookies!" Otto said lovingly.
The door then unlocked and Otto smiled. Arwen blinked but smiled, maybe using the cookies right away was a good idea.
When the two entered the room, Mandarin was on his side holding a pillow. His face was red and tears were streaming down from it. He quickly hid his face with the pillow.
"Don't look, I'm a mess." He sniffled.
Otto darted towards the bed and hopped right on it, setting the cookies aside. He tried to get the pillow away so he could kiss him but Mandarin wouldn't budge.
"Okay! I'll just kiss your tummy instead." Otto said, crawling down to his bulging midsection.
He began to kiss Mandarin's round belly until he felt a tear stained pillow hit his head.
"Stop it, that's weird." Mandarin snickered, sniffling still.
Otto smiled and crawled up to him. He laid on his side and held Mandarin's face.
"Don't." Mandarin whined, crying again.
"You don't have to cry, I don't want to see you sad." Otto said softly, wiping his tear stained face.
Arwen stood back, letting Otto comfort him.
"I'm terrible." Mandarin grumbled.
"No you're not, you're just really moody." Otto chirped and Arwen thought that would set him off but she was surprised when Mandarin snickered.
"Like that is really helping." Mandarin huffed, smiling.
He then rested against Otto and continued to weep, silently. Otto rubbed his head.
"I know, the mood swings are terrible aren't they?" Otto said, letting him weep.
Arwen felt the depressing aura Mandarin had before shift. Thank goodness. Otto smiled, every time one of his mood swings went haywire, he'd always be there to dry away Mandarin's tears. And give him food too, that also helps.
Mandarin wept a bit more before sighing.
"When I have Lazuli I'd better be back to normal." He huffed, wiping his eyes.
Otto snickered and kissed his head.
"You will be, don't worry." He said.
"I better, otherwise we will go into debt over tissues." Mandarin grumbled.
Otto snickered and Mandarin raised his head to kiss him. Otto smiled as he kissed back. They pulled apart and Otto stroked Mandarin's head.
"You're awfully cute when you cry." He complimented.
Mandarin sniffled and huffed.
"No I'm not, it's embarrassing." He huffed.
Otto snickered and kissed his tear stained face.
"Well I still think you're cute."
Mandarin smiled weakly before continuing to snuggle with him.
"I'm sorry..." Mandarin muttered.
"Hey now, you can't control your mood swings. So you don't really have to apologize that much." Arwen said.
Mandarin looked up at her sadly.
"Still, if they weren't so bad the others wouldn't avoid me like they do." He said.
Arwen sighed, oh the team were so gonna get a talking to.
"Well that's something you need to talk to them about because they shouldn't be avoiding you. You're clearly hurt by it." She said.
Mandarin looked off to the side. Maybe a little.
"Look when I was pregnant with Amanda and Willow, my mood swings were terrible too. So I know how stressed you must be feeling, especially since this is your first child." Arwen said, sitting on the bed.
Mandarin sniffled a bit, listening as Otto stroked his head.
"But you know what happened? I had them and each time, the mood swings just faded away. Yours will too, you just need lots of support right now." She said.
Mandarin grumbled, slightly agreeing. He still felt he needed some control over them but that is what he needed right now. Support.
"I guess..." He sighed.
Otto smiled and kissed him again. Mandarin held onto him as the two kept kissing. Otto then gave Arwen a look that said they needed to be alone for a while. Arwen nodded and left the room, letting the two kiss and snuggle for a while. Otto deepened the kiss before letting go and holding one side of Mandarin's face.
"You don't have to worry, you'll always have me whenever you get crazy." Otto said.
Mandarin stared at him for a second, then tears welled up in his eyes. He quickly began to wipe them.
"Awww Mandy!"
"I'm sorry! This keeps happening!"
"No it's okay!"
"You and your honey filled words!" Mandarin huffed as Otto kept kissing him.
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"So Mandarin flipped out again?" Willow asked.
Amanda sadly nodded.
"Yeah and he is upset over a few of us avoiding him. But he's been so scary lately it's kinda hard to talk to him without him getting mad." She said.
Willow bit her lip, his mood swings were getting pretty bad. He didn't get angry around her, or at least not as badly as the others were getting. Still she did understand why he was so hurt by it and why everyone was scared of him.
"What should we do? I mean I know we gotta do something but if we avoid him anymore he's only going to get even more upset with us." Sprx said.
Gibson nodded, fully recovered from the angry rant he got from Mandarin earlier. Antauri then looked towards the others.
"I advise, whenever this happens we shouldn't take his outbursts personally and should be patient as they'll go away soon enough." He said.
"Though Tabithian pregnancy mood swings happen throughout the entire cycle and get worse towards the end." Gibson explained, fear in his voice at the end.
"Still, we should at least be more understanding."
"So double the patience and double the understanding." Nova suggested.
Everyone agreed to that, despite the fear they still had. They all agreed on the number one rule, don't ignore him.
They then heard a loud woosh and saw the three back up. Otto was on Mandarin's chest plate, kissing his cheek while the orange monkey nibbled on cookies.
"Otto no, I'm eating." Mandarin groaned.
"But I wanna kiss you."
"Otto no."
Arwen tilted her head towards Mandarin.
Everyone looked at each other, then at Mandarin.
"Erm Mandarin listen we-" Sprx began but Mandarin placed a hand up.
"No don't. If I was in your position I would hide from me too." He sighed.
Arwen looked at him, kinda confused at his response. Everyone else was confused too.
Mandarin crossed his arms.
"I mean I haven't injured anyone yet, so that's at least a plus. Still I can understand why you've been avoiding me." He said.
Willow leaned forward a bit.
"But you're still hurt by it, right?"
Mandarin pursed his lips and averted his gaze.
"Mandarin, you can admit it. You can admit that you're hurt." Antauri said soothingly.
Mandarin looked off to the side. It was really hard for him to admit any sort of feeling, unless it was really forced or a mood swing meltdown like he had earlier. He just couldn't admit to them any sort of vulnerability. Otto, Antauri, and even Willow of course were special cases, since they were closest to him but the others? Nope, not possible.
"M-maybe a little." He grumbled finally.
Jinmay but her lip, feeling bad for him.
"We didn't mean anything mean by it, but you were getting so terrifying lately we...we knew anything we would say would set you off." Chiro said.
"That and a buff guy like you having pregnancy mood swings is terrifying." Sprx wheezed.
Mandarin nodded slightly, that was a bit true. He was getting testy over everything.
"Still it was sort of...upsetting whenever I enter the room and everyone leaves." Mandarin huffed.
Gibson felt a twinge of guilt in his chest. He felt like Sprx and he really didn't like it. It wasn't just him either. The others that have been avoiding him, Sprx, Chiro, Nova even though she doesn't avoid him as much, and Amanda started to feel guilty too. He must have felt so lonely whenever they avoided him, and now they realize the error of their ways.
"W-we're sorry we made you feel that way." Gibson apologized, causing the others to nod.
Mandarin bit his lip, trying to avoid as much tears as he can.
"And I apologize for my behavior as well. However, know that you're not the only one who is suffering from this." He said, causing everyone to nod.
Sprx sighed, knowing that the mood swing drama won't end here. As Gibson said, it was only going to get worse.
Otto nuzzled him.
"Besides, seeing you cry is cute."
Mandarin glared at him.
"No, no it isn't!"
"Yes it is, it makes you sensitive."
Sprx snickered.
"It is nicer than having you being violently angry with us." He said.
Mandarin glared at him too.
"I'm not violent whenever I have these mood swings."
"Tell that to the kitchen table!"
Most of the others laughed but before Sprx and Mandarin continued to argue, Trent and Brittany came back up.
Brittany looked around, holding a cd in her hand.
"Um what did we miss? We heard yelling before." She said.
Mandarin sighed.
"It's long and stupid and I don't feel like talking about it anymore." He said.
Otto patted his face, assuring him that it wasn't stupid.
Brittany blinked but shrugged.
"I'll be taking this to the post office." She said to Trent before leaving.
Trent nodded and sat down, his voice now feeling a bit sore.
Nova looked over at him.
"What was that about?" She asked.
Trent looked around, holding back a smile.
"Nothing."
"Then what was with that cd Brittany had?" Chiro asked.
Trent looked around again.
"What cd?" He questioned.
Willow raised an eyebrow.
"Trent." She began, knowing he was lying.
A smile slowly grew on Trent's face.
"Well...I may have decided to audition for Starlights." He announced.
Everyone was frozen before a mix of reactions exploded.
"Wait! Wait! Since when?!" Amanda asked.
Trent shrugged.
"Since I found out they were taking auditions."
Willow blinked, not sure how to feel about this. For one it was amazing that he wanted to join a band he was so in love with but...it was all female wasn't it? That and if he does get in, he will have to be so far away.
Arwen's mouth dropped.
"Are they making it co-ed again?" She asked.
Trent shrugged.
"I dunno. I mean if I get in I guess that means they are." He said.
Arwen closed her mouth and nodded.
"Well if you have any questions or help with practicing, I'm available." She said.
Trent smiled widely.
"That would be amazing!"
Sprx laughed and placed his head on his hand.
"Wow, Trent is gonna be a pop star. Who would have thunk it, right Willow?" He looked at Willow, who was drifting off into space.
She blinked and turned to him.
"Oh! Yeah." She said, sounding happy for him.
When really she was worried for him.
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Ah Willow, why are you so worried? Hmm anyway thanks for reading!