This Thing Don't Look So Tough

[Clownpiece]

Clownpiece couldn’t help stare, open mouthed and starry-eyed, at the picture that Renko brought up. A giant, spiky, lizard monstrosity. How absolutely hellish. Everything else came second to how it looked. The fairy didn’t care if such a thing might actually have been as threatening as a stuffed bunny, or an unstoppable force brought about by the wrath of some angry god. Such a thought didn’t even occur to her. It looked big and scary, and that was the important bit. But no matter how big, scary, and spiky it was, there was no way it’d be any match for her, Dane, and Yuuka! The others would help too, she supposed.

“Good job you two!” Clownpiece cheered, buzzing away from Yuuka’s side, fairy wings fluttering as she came up to both Renko and Myst. She gave both of them a quick pat on the head, though for the college student, in her fashionable hat, it was more like a pat on the forehead. “I knew it was a good idea to pick you!”

“Eh... it was Dane zhat-” Myst tried to say, but Clownpiece the hell fairy wasn’t listening.

“Alright!” She cheered, whipping out her phone. Quite an anachronistic and unexpected sight, given the fantastical nature of the fairy. “I’ll text Dane and tell him to meet us at the exit! Just need a picture of the Tar... Tare...”

“Tarrasque.” Renko finished the word for her, already looking down into her own phone seemingly without a care in the world, already recovered from Yuuka’s scare. “I’ll send you one real quick.” Though she said that, it was already too late. Clownpiece cheerfully flew over to the nearest flat surface, namely the windowsill of a nearby house, and slammed a piece of paper and a few crayons down onto it. She sketched vaguely what she remembered with fury, a childish scribble that looked absolutely nothing like what the Tarrasque actually looked like, but something she took pride in nevertheless.

“So you’re Clownpiece’s friend, huh?” Off to the side, Renko started to make conversation, wanting to do more than just wait around while the fairy scribbled with wild abandon.

“You could say that.” The flower youkai spoke with her usual calm, vaguely menacing tone. “And who might you be?” She smiled serenely, red eyes glancing between the two girls. Whether she actually cared, or was simply getting formalities out of the way was up for debate.
“Renko Usami,” Renko answered. “Your friend and her friend sorta picked us up over in the Greens.”

“Je m'appelle Cassandra Myst,” the vampire introduced herself as well, voice thick with a french accent. “Ze new person.”

“Renkoooo?” The lunatic fairy suddenly called out, floating back over to the group, phone in hand. She’s already finished her childish sketch of the Tarrasque, and had been ready to send a text to Dane, telling him about it and telling him where to meet up, but had hit a certain snag.... “What’s this place called?”

“Darkshire.” The college student sounded thoroughly unamused by the fairy’s antics.

“No, not the city here. Like... this world?”

“Pale Moors.”

“Got it! Thanks!” The star-spangled child cheerfully responded, and proceeded to spell it entirely wrong in the text. She sent that and, after a moment of deliberation, decided to send one to Cirno as well, with the same picture attached. The ice fairy would love a challenge like this. With both of those squared away, she tucked her phone away again and turned back towards her group, now four strong instead of three. “Alright, we’re meeting Dane at the exit! Follow me!” Without waiting to see if anyone actually would follow, Clownpiece spun around in the air and floated off. With little choice in the matter, it only took a few seconds for the group to follow suit.

---

“What the hell did you do?” Clownpiece’s voice betrayed a barely-concealed rage. Deep purple eyes shot an accusational glare at Dane, and the fairy slowly lifted herself up off the dirt, small arms wrapped protectively around Afrátos. The china golem shivered in her grasp, hugging her even tighter as its grasp of the ground disappeared.

“I didn’t do anything.” The swordsman replied casually, slowly sauntering up to the group. “We got attacked.”

“Really?” Her expression didn’t change, still as incredulous as ever, still hugging her pet protectively. Dane’s chest heaved as he let out a deep sigh. He didn’t have the energy to deal with Clownpiece at the moment.

“Here, let me show you.” He stared at the child with his deep brown eyes, and already she could feel him probing at her mind, preparing her for what he was about to unleash. In an instant, visions began to flash through the fairy’s mind, her senses of sight, hearing, touch, all fading away to make room for her friend’s thoughts. A bar. Dane asking for possible leads while Afrátos ate a steak. Locals getting scared of Afrátos. A fight breaking out. Afrátos and Dane both getting hurt in the brawl. Rapid teleporting away. The exit to the Pale Moors proper, where they were now....

And suddenly the dark and dreary background of the Darkshire snapped back into Clownpiece’s mind. The subdued greys of the sky, the earthy smells, the dull, echoing miscellaneous conversations from deeper within the city, all replaced the fervent din of the bar fight. She blinked furiously, her eyes were already naturally adjusted to the light, but her mind didn’t fully realize it. For a few seconds, she couldn’t do anything but stare blankly at Dane, still clutching her much larger pet protectively. Slowly but surely, her bearings returned to her.

“And you just let him get hurt!?” The hell fae exclaimed, pouting as she hugged Afrátos just a bit tighter.

“Sorry about that, kiddo.” Dane apologized, ruffling the blonde child’s hair. She wasn’t able to tell, but his voice wasn’t all that apologetic. Just his usual sort of appeasement so he didn’t get in trouble.

“Sorry isn’t gonna cut it!” She said back in her usual, high energy voice, leaning a bit into his hand even as she didn’t accept his apology. “You said you’d lose an arm before you let him get hurt! You broke your promise to me!”

“I know, I’ll make it up to you, I promise.” The swordsman casually lifted his hand from her hair, his face almost expressionless.

“You better!” Clownpiece answered grumpily, floating up a bit more so she was at eye-level with her friend. “And you better apologize to Afrátos!” Carefully, she pried the golem off of herself. As much as the shivering beast didn’t want to let go, he had no choice but to acquiesce to the star-spangled fairy’s demands. She held him out, forcing him to look at the one who had caused him this trauma. Afrátos tried to curl and shrink in on himself as much as possible, babbling incoherently.

“Alright,” Dane sighed, knowing better than to fight the fairy while she was in this sort of mood. “I’m sorry, Afrátos....” Upon hearing his apology, the monster looked up hesitantly, his incoherent mumbling letting up, his shuddering growing slightly weaker.

“Master’s Friend says-says he’s sorry?” the beast babbled, wiggling uncertainly in his master’s grasp.

“Yeah, don’t let it get to your head.” The swordsman responded, shifting uncomfortably on his feet. His brown eyes flicked over to Clownpiece. “That good?”

“Hm....” A frown crossed the little girl’s face, her eyes narrowing. She seemed... unsatisfied. “Fine...” She mumbled, “But you still owe me for breaking your promise!” Once again, she hugged the frightened china beast close to her, looking around his side to stare at Dane.

“Sure, sure...” He gave an entirely non-committal answer. “So what’s this about a monster?” He turned to the rest of the group, assuming that Clownpiece wouldn't give him a straight answer.