Chapter Text
Cold, distant, and shallow. Three words to perfectly describe the ruler of the high peaks of the mountains. Kind, caring, and gentle. Three more perfectly fine words.
Jimmy had no idea why, but he hated the thought of Scott actually being that way. However, so many of his friends tell him stories of the invulnerable king of Rivendell. How he’s helped them with building and trades. Or just being there for them in general.
It always set an uneasy feeling in the cod hybrid’s stomach, though, he never really understood why. He never interacted with the elf outside of discussing trades at meetings, and they didn’t even associate with each other at balls. Scott always dancing with Shrub of the Undergrove or one of his other allies. Or just hanging by the punch table.
Jimmy didn’t have much room to speak though. He usually hung out with Pix, his sister stealing dances with Joel most of the time. Maybe one or two dances here or there with Jimmy.
He was snapped out of his thought when he felt a nudge on his arm, now realizing that he had completely zoned out. Right. He was at House Blossom.
What were they talking about?
“What are your takes, Jimmy?” Katherine asked sweetly, smiling ever so kindly at Jimmy. It made him feel bad for not paying attention. Lizzie leaned close beside him.
“We’re talking about a ball here at House Blossom.” She whispered in his ear. Jimmy, with the new found information, still stared blankly at Katherine.
An awkward silence filled the room, and Jimmy shrunk back in his seat. He honestly didn’t like discussing balls for some reason, he always got uncomfortable, yet he still tries to break that feeling. To no success of course.
“It sounds alright, I guess.” He breathed, trying to keep his voice from faltering.
Lizzie patted his shoulder comfortingly. He gave her a small smile in return, still a little sunken in his seat.
He could’ve sworn Scott looked at him for a solid second - a look of amusement plastered on his face as Jimmy sat straighter on his seat - before looking away again.
He brushed it off. He needed to get his mind off of the elf man. He’s been thinking about him a lot more then what he likes for the last little while.
“Great! The ball is on then! We still have some more details to go over such as things like: decorations and theme, when, and what everyone will bring.”
The rest of the meeting went by smoothly. Jimmy made sure he didn’t zone off too much and kept up with what was going on.
The most memorable things were that it was gonna be fall themed seeing as it was going to be held on the first day of fall - September 21, in 2 weeks - and everyone had to dress in something either related to fall or had something to do with colors associated with the season. They decided that you didn’t need to bring things, however it would be appreciated, but it was a masquerade ball.
However, this time, it wasn’t ‘where a mask that represents your kingdom, empire, or city,’ it was ‘make it seem like it’s not you. Don’t be conspicuous.’
Jimmy didn’t know how he was exactly going to do that. Being conspicuous was a thing he did unintentionally, and he didn’t really have anything that hid him well.
All his headgear were cod heads, his masquerade masks all having something to do with cod, and his clothing was all either made of net or was covered in slime.
——
Nothing had happened in the week and a half Jimmy stressed over the day. He wasn’t even close to ready and he always hated asking others for help. It made him feel vulnerable and incapable, and not to mention a burden.
This time, however, was different. There was only three days until the ball and he still hadn’t come up with anything.
So, sighing in defeat, he grabbed his elytra off of the table it was set on, and headed outside before he equipped it.
As he was tying the string around his neck to secure it, he heard soft footsteps behind him, but when he turned around, he saw nothing.
Going back to adjusting the wings so they weren’t crooked, he heard the footsteps again, soft and quiet. They didn’t even sound like footsteps they were so quiet.
But once again, he saw nothing when he turned around.
“It’s probably just one of Mythland’s ravens again.” He grumbled as he waved his hand pushing away any other thought. To be perfectly honest, that’s what the steps sounded like.
He stood on the dock ready to set off, rockets in hand and elytra equipped, when he heard actual footsteps coming his way. He paused. The other must’ve sensed his hesitance because right then, a big gust of wind nearly pushed him into the water.
He quickly spun around and looked at the sky, but whomever was there, was long gone.
He waited around in his Empire - well, more like a city - for a little while longer, just to see if the winged thing would come back, but there was nothing. He eventually set off, remembering why he was there in the first place.
——
Eventually, the pink live coral roofs of the Prisma Palace took form. The bright white of the towers shining in the sun.
Jimmy landed on the tallest tower, and, judging by where the sun was in the sky, figured that Lizzie was feeding her many axolotls.
Heading up the bubble elevator, Jimmy made his way up to the room. Looking around a bit, he found Lizzie in the little geode smiling wildly and humming softly.
Taking this as a perfect opportunity, Jimmy tried his best to swim quietly up to her. Key word: tried.
Of course, Lizzie being Lizzie, turned around right before Jimmy could make the move, spooking him.
Lizzie started laughing histarically, hitting his back.
After the laughter died down and both had caught their breath - Lizzie from laughing so much and Jimmy from getting winded when Lizzie hit his back - Lizzie beamed.
“What’re you doin’ here, Jim?” She asked in her usual preppy voice.
“Well, you know how the ball is in three days?” He asked sheepishly.
Lizzie titled her head to the side. “Yeah? What about- oooh.” She cut herself off, “Don’t tell me you don’t have something to where.” She said, more of a statement then a question. Jimmy nodded slowly, looking away.
Lizzie groaned pinching the bring of her nose. “Jimmy, you couldn’t have come to me, like, a week ago?” She questioned, taking her hand away from her face to stare at him.
“I felt bad?” He replied, shrugging. Why did it sound like a question? It wasn’t supposed to be a question.
Lizzie sighed. “Do you still not have a tailor in that little empire of yours?”
“For starters, it’s not ‘little’, it’s a decent size, and two no I do not..” He trailed off.
If there was a world record for how many times Lizzie sighed in one conversation with someone, Jimmy would hold the title.
“Alrighty then, Mr. Codfather, you can see if my tailor will make you something. When you get on the lily pad, she’s in the bottom right corner.”
“Thank you, Liz! I knew I could count on you!” Jimmy called out, already going on his way out the top of the tower.
——
He didn’t know why it took him so long to find her tailor, maybe he didn’t listen to her instructions? No, she said bottom right hand corner, right?
After looking around a bit more, he finally found it tucked away in a bundle of trees and behind another stand.
He walked up to the bored looking clerk, and smiled brightly. “‘Ello!”
That seemed to get the clerk’s attention. “Oh! Codfather? What are you doing here?” They quickly fixed their posture, standing straighter and doing a little bow of respect.
He looked at the sign hanging from the front front of the stand. “Well, as you might know Louise, there’s a ball in a couple days, and I don’t have anything to where for it. Queen Lizzie sent me down to see if you could possibly fit me in.”
“Oh, of course!” Louise replied almost instantly. “I can put you in right now if you want. Or whenever works for you.” They rambled on as they pulled a book and quill from behind the counter.
“Right now works just fine!” Jimmy smiled.
——
Jimmy followed Louise into a little hut behind the stand, and down the ladder that was in it. It lead into a much more spacious room.
Dressing rooms and mirrors lined the walls, the mirrors reflecting the blue rays coming from the ceiling light, and the seaweed curtains giving it a more oceanic feeling.
Louise walked over to the further left hand corner, and grabbed a few supplies of the desk. Things like a measuring tape and a pencil.
When Jimmy looked to his right, he saw a wall with different measurements on it. From width to height, head size and even shoe sizes.
“Alright!” Louise piped up, walking over to the wall he was just staring at. “Could you come over here so I can take your measurements?” They asked ever so sweetly.
While she was making his adjustments, they stood in a more comfortable silence, Jimmy was just awkward. To make him feel a little better, he tried to strike up a conversation.
“Sooo..” he trailed off, not knowing where he was exactly going.
“Louise, she/they, bisexual.” Louise said casually, not looking up as they kept their eyes on what they were doing.
Noticing his confused silence, she continued. “People try striking up a conversation whenever we’re taking measurements. It’s always a little awkward. For some reason people usually ask things like my name, sexuality, et cetera.”
“Oh. I was gonna head more casual, like, do you have any pets, but that’s good to know!”
“Oh! Well, in that case! I have a dog and two axolotls! The dog is named Percy, and the axolotls are Selina and Charles. Me and my friend are trying to breed them. The axolotls I mean.”
“That’s so cool!” Louise didn’t realize they were rambling until Jimmy said that.
Chuckling nervously, Louise pulled away, done taking his measurements. Jimmy wondered how she did all that so quickly.
“Alright. That should be all the sizing done. If you could describe what it is you need I can hopefully get it in by tomorrow or the day after!” They said, walking over the the table in the middle of the room.
“Ok, well, I need something that isn’t me.” He thought for a moment, walking over to the other side of the table where a sketchbook laid, blank papers spread around.
“I’ll need some more details.” She replied calmly tapping the end of her pencil to the book a couple of times.
“Right! Well, what I usually wear is netting or browns and greens. Most of my clothes also have slime all of them so preferably not that. The ball is fall themed, so hues of red and orange? Maybe yellow? Whatever you think would suit me best.”
“Ok..” Louise trailed off. “How’s the form of them?”
“What?” Jimmy asked, baffled by what they meant.
“Like, how do they fit? Do they fit tightly? Loosely? Do they have any specific details I should watch out for?”
“Oh! Well, most of the time it’s looser, more comfortable in my opinion, and for the details, there’s not really anything that I can think of besides, again, a netting sort of design. And cod.”
“Alright, ok.” They scribbled down a couple notes and tapped their chin with the pencil. “Is it masquerade?”
“Yeah.”
“Mk, what are your masks usually like?”
“They usually kinda look like stereotypical masks superheroes where. Where the edges are pointed, but in this case, they have little cods poking out the edges. However, they’re always a little too tight for what I like.”
“Sounds good.” They scribbled down some more notes, and looked up at Jimmy. “Will a parrot message work when I’m done coming up with a design?”
“Definitely!” Jimmy grinned. He wasn’t gonna lie, he was honestly super excited to see what Louise came up with.
“Alrighty! Then that should be everything! Until next time, Codfather.” Louise bowed their head.
“Jimmy, and no need to bow.” He patted their shoulder as he left.
And as he flew home, he couldn’t help but grin wildly.
‘No one will know what the suit is gonna look like! Not even Lizzie!’ He thought as he landed by his humble abode.