Chapter Text
How do you know when you have a crush? Is it when you find your thoughts drifting to this person you briefly met through the day? Is it when you see them in the halls and want to go up and talk to them but don’t, too nervous to even try? Is it when you feel your heart speed up when you picture their face?
…
Is it when your twin sister won’t stop razzing you about it?
“So how’s my lovely sister doing today? School going ok? Homework? Anything bothering you, anything at all? You know you can aaaaaaaaaaalways talk to me.” She was right there, right over her shoulder, Elizabeth didn’t even have to look. And she wasn’t going to look, she wouldn’t give that green sister of hers the satisfaction. She kept her hands steady, her mind clear as she brought her needle close for another…
Darn it, she dropped her needle.
“Whoa now ‘Lizzy, no need to go throwing sharp things at me.” Maria put her hands up in mock contriteness, she knew what she was doing, she knew exactly what she was doing.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Mar.” Mom wasn’t anywhere around so Elizabeth just calmly bent down to retrieve her needle.
“Oh, I dunno, you just seem a little tense today. Even making a new doll doesn’t seem to be helping.”
“Tch, like you don’t have bad day’s too Mar, like a few weeks ago when, which one was it, Milly? Got sick, and you couldn’t visit her for a week? You were so gloomy I thought your costume would turn black.”
“Oh, low blow Liz.” Maria actually took a step back at that, but her sister could tell she still wasn’t taking this seriously. “I just wanted to say that doll you were making might look nice in a good coat. A red coat, if you know what I… gah!”
Elizabeth really did throw something at that, the soft felted form of the fairy familiar thumping audibly into her incredibly annoying twins face.
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The lunch bell dings and one of several daily stampedes begins, a crush of magical girl-manity streaming toward the cafeteria in search of sustenance. Elizabeth usually let herself go with the flow, it wasn’t worth the effort to muscling against the other girls just to get there a bit sooner. Usually, but not today.
Today they were serving carrot cake.
Elizabeth was going to be first in line today, for the cake!
Oh and also to scout the room out and see if she could see the red coated girl, cause her sister had jokingly (boy, it had better have been a joke) insinuated that if if Elizabeth wouldn’t step up to this, she might get involved.
She emerged from her tribulation more jostled, but with vital sustenance in hand. Now it was time for the hunt, nay, reconnaissance, because this… was war. (Some magazine she’d read years ago said it was a good idea to try and get in the mind of your target, she wasn’t quite sure she believed them)
Now, what did she know about her target? She started thinking while nibbling away at a square of cake and pacing the perimeter of the cafeteria. Well, her target had very shiny golden hair, based on what she had been wearing both times Elizabeth had seen her she seemed to have a liking for big, fluffy sweaters (A big plus in her books). She was also… very short, and glancing out at the rolling mass that filled the large room, she realized that that fact in particular was going to make things a bit difficult.
She wasn’t going to be carrying around a big, easy to spot, flagpoll in the middle of the day.
With a frown, Elizabeth took another bite. This might require a change in tactics.
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If you wanted to know about something, or someone, at Future’s Promise, there was once place to go. There was a price, but Elizabeth was ready to pay it. Besides, her sister owed her, and she was a gossip generating machine.
Shaking off the effects of those permanently closed eyes (seriously, how did that girl see?) she reviewed her findings. In addition to her targets location, she’d also gotten other info of… varying helpfulness. Maeve’s last name was Kriemhild (probably helpful in the future), her exact height was 131cm (kinda creepy), and her favourite familiar was called Maria (hoo boy, that might cause some issues down the line). Most importantly though, her last last class before lunch on Thursdays was math, which meant she’d be coming from the east wing. Sure, it might be a little bit of a jog over there to make it in time, but it was the best lead she had.
The thought as to whether this counted as stalking came up and was uncomfortably pushed to the side as she made her way through the halls after the bell. Now, the math rooms didn’t have any special equipment so there should only be a few possible places they could be…
“Oooof!”
Oh heck, that’s what she got for paying attention to the classrooms and not all the people filling the hall, now she’d gone and walked right into another girl with… short golden hair. And… wearing a big fluffy red sweater?
Huh.
This could either be very good or very bad.
Ok, just act natural. “Oh! I’m so sorry! I didn’t see you there.” Was her voice too high? Did she sound suspicious?
“I-it’s ok, I’m used to it.” Oh no, she was looking down at the ground, avoiding eye contact, urge to hug was rising dangerously. Find something sort of distraction, quickly!
“Oh wait, I remember you. You were that girl that came to talk to me after I got out of the hospital, and that time after. You were asking about that weird monster that attacked me, did you ever find the answers you were looking for?”
“Umm, yeah, yeah I did. It wasn’t easy but…” Well, she was still avoiding eye contact, but now she was fidgeting like a cornered animal, that wasn’t good. There was clearly something else going on with that whole monster thing, but for now Elizabeth needed to redirect, fast, lest she loose her chance. She was honestly quite surprised that such a competent solo was so… chronically nervous.
“Well that’s good to hear.” Elizabeth put on her best comforting smile to try and break the tension. “But I feel so bad for knocking into you there, are you on the prepaid lunch program?” Maeve gave a small shake of her head, no longer looking like she was going to bolt, but rather a bit confused. “Oh well then let me cover it for you, its the least I can do for such a nice girl.”
“Oh you don’t have to, I…, umm, ok.” Maeve gave in. Not many people were going to fight you on paying for their lunch, and… was that the hint of red on her cheeks? Stay cool Elizabeth, this was a good sign.
“Well then it’s settled!” Keeping up the comforting smile on her face she gave the smaller a little push on her back to get her moving.
Phase 1, complete!
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It seemed like no time at all before last bell rang and then entire chromatic spectrum of girls began to pour out of Future’s Promise. Elizabeth herself was walking with a spring in her step, even as her greener half came out of a shadow to walk by her side.
“Weeeeeeeeeellllllllllllllllll?” Maria had one of her trademarked smirks on her face. “How’d it go?” Elizabeth had little doubt the question was entirely rhetorical, with how her sister was, but she was in too good a mood to let that annoy her.
And honestly, she kinda wanted to spill the beans to someone.
“It went great! I didn’t even have to look that hard for her, I just bumped into her! Then that gave me the excuse to apologize and offer to buy her lunch for her!”
“Whoa!” Maria put her hands up in mock surprise, “Who are you and what have you done with my sister? Putting the moves on someone like that, I’m impressed.”
“Oh hush you.” Elizabeth gave her sister a gentle shove on the shoulder, promoting a raspy laugh in response. “It was just an accident and I saw an opportunity. It worked out well though, she’s so nervous but once we got our food and I got her talking things seemed to go easier. Did you know she has a big collection of Team Hazmat merch because her dad works in sanitation too? Or that she has around 74 different familiars that she’s made? I don’t know of any other girl that has that many.”
“Damn, that might be a record.” Maria looked honestly taken aback by that, before shifting into another devious smile. “So, you’ve got the meet-cute out of the way, whens the first date? You’re not going to start leaving your poor sister to patrol alone so you can go snog with your girlfriend right?”
“D-date?” Elizabeth stopped in her tracks at that, thousand yard stare forming on her face. Maria actually had to stop and turn around, a look of genuine concern creeping in.
“You, you did ask her out… right? You did let her know you’re interested in her and didn’t just let her just walk off thinking you were being nice, right ‘Liz?”
A skyward scream full of frustration was the only response.