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“Let’s go egg some Mafia buildings sometime, yeah?”
Leaning against the white brick walls of one of the many buildings the Mafia had half-destroyed and half-repurposed into, well, whatever this was supposed to be- a quick glance at the mess of barrels stacked on top of the wobbly shelves and propped up against the walls implied it to be some sort of wine storage area, and she scoffed because of course it was- Mustache Girl had started feeling a little… stupid.
Stupid for proposing that idea. Stupid for expecting anyone, much less a girl who probably had a family and a home waiting for her somewhere, to go along with it.
Hat Kid was supposed to be here at sunset to wreak some havoc around town with her. That’d been about an hour ago, and Mustache Girl had spent that entire hour standing by the gaping hole in the wall, waiting for her while fat drops of ice-cold rain lashed at the earth and wind bit into her skin. She’d shivered as she scanned her surroundings in hopes of seeing that weird little girl’s top hat pop over the horizon- she couldn’t have gotten lost, because this was where they had met, right?-, but she hadn’t shown.
Now, that feeling of stupidity churned in the deepest pit of her stomach like some sort of vortex, a sucking feeling both literally and figuratively. Mustache Girl hated that she felt that way, but more importantly, she hated that she didn’t know why.
What did she care if that kid didn’t show up, anyways? If Hat Kid didn’t want to participate in some good old-fashioned Mafia sabotage, that really wasn’t her problem. Mustache Girl could be a part of the rebel squad all on her own, thank you very much. It wasn’t like she hadn’t already been the sole living member of it since the Mafia had arrived or anything like that.
Sure, it was nice to have a friend again, but she didn’t care. Not really. They’d only known each other for a few days, after all, and Hat Kid hadn’t even really done anything, only stalked her and kicked some Mafia butt for her one time. She’d clearly been preoccupied with finding her weird little nerd collectibles, anyways- in fact, that’s probably why she hadn’t shown up tonight. She was probably out on some grand, big adventure trying to find those dumb little things while Mustache Girl had wasted an hour of her life that could’ve been better spent doing anything else standing in the cold. She’d be more pissed than she was if she wasn’t so co-
“Boo!” A familiar voice shouted out of nowhere, grabbing Mustache Girl by her shoulders. She flinched, whipping around, and there stood Hat Kid in all of her… well, hat-wearing glory, strands of wet hair framing her face.
An impish grin crept across her face, and she looked proud of herself. A little too proud for someone who Mustache Girl had spent way too long waiting out in the cold for. She shrugged the taller girl’s hands off of her, folding her arms. “There you are. What took you so long?”
Hat Kid shrugged wryly, silent as she rocked back on her heels before taking off her hat, revealing a… carton of eggs, balanced perfectly on her head despite her continued rocking.
A carton of eggs that, logically, had no way of fitting underneath her hat.
Weird.
Cool.
Her sour mood melted away instantly as she reached up and grabbed the carton from the top of her head. “I was going to steal some, you know,” She began, opening the carton just enough to peer inside. She could make out varying dark, speckled eggs of varying sizes. They sure didn’t come from anything that lived on her island. “Where did you get these?”
Hat Kid put her hat back on before adjusting the sleeves of her raincoat. It was a garish-looking thing, really, all bright yellow and slick with rain with mud caked into the creases, matching the ribbon on her hat. It didn’t really suit her. Red, on the other hand, might be more her style. It’d really liven things up a little.
Plus, then they could match. Rebel squad and all that.
Mustache Girl’s eyes flitted from the eggs to Hat Kid’s face, waiting for an answer, but when she met her eyes, she just… stared at her, oddly thoughtful as she held her gaze. Mustache Girl held it until her stomach started feeling funny and she looked away.
Hat Kid was… weird. If she’d learned anything about her in their few short days of friendship, it was that Hat Kid was weird- like, really weird- and that Mustache Girl was better off not thinking too hard or asking too many questions about it.
It wasn’t like any of her questions were ever dignified with a response, anyways. Hat Kid was weird and she was also quiet, and half of the questions Mustache Girl asked her were disregarded with the same wry shrug of her shoulders that she had given her now or an impromptu staring contest that always made Mustache Girl’s stomach turn in the weirdest way. It always felt reminiscent of butterflies and their wings, actually, fluttering, only butterflies were pretty and light, and this feeling in her stomach was anything but.
“I wanted to steal,” Hat Kid said finally. Mustache Girl blinked, her mind elsewhere, and then her response clicked.
“Well, we could’ve stolen together. The Mafia has plenty of things for us to steal, and it’s for the greater good, anyways,” She shifted before adding, “It’s a good thing I was late, or I would’ve been waiting a really, really long time for you,”
“Why were you late?”
“Buh- I was surveying the island, duh! Preparing for our night of Mafia sabotage?” She said, sounding almost incredulous as if what she was saying was obvious and not a complete lie she was spinning up on the spot. “I was trying to figure out the best place to use our limited supply of eggs. Unless you’ve… somehow got more hidden underneath that hat of yours..?”
“Nope, just those. But there’s always next time,”
Mu raised her eyebrows. “Next time?” She echoed.
“Well… yeah! If I’m gonna be a part of your ‘rebel squad’, I’d better go in all the way, right? I’ve spent a lot of time today brainstorming on how to mess with those Mafia goons, and I’ve got some pretty good ideas!”
“Oh, do go on.”
“One word: mud.” Hat Kid paused for emphasis, a smile creeping back onto her face. “I’m sure you already know this, but they’re completely terrified of it! I tripped and got covered in it, and practically everyone who saw me was running around, crying about me being a ‘slimy space alien’!”
Mustache Girl couldn’t help but snort. “You are a slimy space alien.”
“What!?” Hat Kid gasped melodramatically, clasping her hands over her heart. “I’m not that slimy!”
“I beg to differ. I mean, look at your coat!”
“That’s water and you know it!”
“Slime or ‘water’ aside-” Mustache Girl said with heavy finger quotes. “I’ve gotta give it to you, that is a pretty good idea… buuut it’s not good enough. Our ultimate goal is toppling their empire and driving them off of the island completely, not making them run around like scared little kids. You’ve still got a lot to learn about Mafia sabotage,” She explained, adjusting the carton of eggs in her hands. “Lucky for you, I’m an excellent teacher, and tonight’s your first lesson!”
“Right!” Hat Kid said with a quick nod, excited. “So, what are we egging, anyways?”
“Have you seen that big ol’ black tent of theirs? It’s… hard to miss, and they’ve always got some dumb brute standing guard,” She began. “It’s their ‘black market’, and I’ve got a hunch that they’re up to some pretty bad things in there.”
“What kind of things?”
“I don’t know, but we’re gonna find it out and shut it down, and these babies are gonna help.” She patted the carton. Hat Kid nodded, clearly thinking as she furrowed her brows, and then she perked up.
“Oh! That black market! I know a shortcut!”
“Do you, now?”
“Yes! Come on!”
Before Mu could make some snide and probably uncalled-for remark about how she knew the island like the back of her hand and didn’t need to be shown a shortcut, she found her arm in Hat Kid’s shockingly cold and even more shockingly tight grip, yanking her out into the rain as they ran down the brick paths of the island.
She was going entirely in the wrong direction, but...
Well, Mustache Girl could hardly focus on that through everything else that had suddenly invaded her senses: how close they were to each other; how Hat Kid smelled like dirt and rain and adventure, somehow; and how the butterflies in her chest and the fuzziness in her head had completely replaced that sucking feeling that had been so prominent in the pit of her stomach a moment prior.
So… sure, they could take the long way there. She didn’t mind that much. With Hat Kid’s arm on hers, she suddenly felt like she had all the time in the world.
It was strange how that weird little girl had a way of making the smallest things seem so inconsequential and big at the same time.