Work Text:
Growing up, Bria lived a painfully boring life. Her parents weren’t rich, she had a lame childhood friend, and she grew up in crummy Latissa. The worst part of the town wasn’t how the streets stank or how there were drunken duels right outside her window every night. No, the worst part was that growing up there reminded her of how painfully average she was.
Strength was everything, and unfortunately, Bria magic just wasn’t up to par. The Glandus professors called her magic crude and boorish. How she wished she could give them a good lesson instead in the form of a rock pillar to the face.
One of her only reprieve from her dull life were the shows she was forced to watch by her childhood friend, ones where young witches found their way through the power of friendship and other outdated forms of magic.
What a load of crap. They were almost eleven, way too old for dumb kids shows.
The real interesting ones were the antagonists, the agents against friendship and sappiness and all that other mushy stuff. Witches who knew how to manipulate and pull strings from behind the scene. Girls who had a parade of willing minions ready to wreak havoc to please her. Then when all was said and done they’d just flutter their eyelashes and shed a few tears for the protagonist’s forgiveness, only to start all over again the next episode.
The antagonistic witchling on screen right now convinced another to eliminate his friend from the competition with a few well placed lies. She touched his arm just so and complimented his chivalry. The poor sap was clueless when she threw in a backhanded compliment.
Having some dumb sap cater to your every whim? And all it took to get that was some emotional manipulation?
Now that sounded fun.
“Wow,” Matt looked at the screen with awe, “she’s so cool and smart.”
Bria wasn’t strong, but she knew how to put up a good show.
“Matty,” she hugs him from behind. “You’re my coolest friend, you know.”
She pretended not to notice how he gasped in shock.
“Really?”
Too easy, maybe the dumb shows Matt liked watching were good for something.
“Yeah, that’s why I need you,” she imitated the cute pouts she had seen so many times. She decided to test the waters a bit, just to see what would happen. “By the way, my shoulder kinda hurts, can you carry my books tomorrow?”
“O-of course!”
Way too easy.
Looks like she finally found her ticket out of Boringsville into something far more interesting.
And boy was she gonna have fun with it.
In the following years, Bria honed that skill, that manipulative streak. Charming witches far more powerful than her into her group and having them serve her. She kept a rotating cast of pawns at her side, with that stubborn fool Matt always at her side. His magic had proven weak, if downright pathetic. He made up for it with a desperation to please and an unshakable loyalty to their childhood bond, a notion she didn’t return. She only kept him around out of pity of course.
She was now old and brave enough to venture further from Latissa with little issue. A chance to see new sights and start new trouble. Most importantly, scouting out for fresh meat. While Angmar and Gavin were far stronger than any other of the dumbasses she’s hoodwinked, they were also the most easily distracted. She needed someone who was strong and willing to bend to her will but focused enough to not fuck things up all the time. The next time Angmar ran off to chase some bug or Gavin whined about how his dad never paid attention to them she’d force feed them mud with bugs mixed in or something
At first Matt begging her to visit Bonesborough seemed like an utter bust. It was full of goody two-shoes who would balk at the idea of stirring up some trouble or causing a fight. Yet somehow she found herself going to Bonesborough to spend an afternoon with Matt.
It turned out to be an exciting opportunity, one she never could have imagined.
Matt led her through town, spewing out a list of lies about how “cool and accepted” he was. The whole charade was so painfully boring that she was happy that someone’s loose griffin carried off some screaming kid. It circled just above the rooftops and some tall demon watch shouted orders in panic.
“Someone save my son!” his deep voice boomed.
“I got this!” Bria immediately shouted.
All it took to solve the problem was a giant pillar and SMACK went the griffin as it collided headfirst into it. It squawked and dropped the child in its talons. The griffin recovered and started to fly off, but before it could go far, an even bigger griffin appeared out of nowhere. It chased the griffin towards the woods where they both disappeared.
Which left only the falling child.
That problem was also solved with another giant pillar.
A small red toothy face peeked over the edge and gave Bria what she thought was a smile.
“Thank you! My hero!”
Bria basked in the praise from the local citizens. Apparently Boonesborough witches were so weak that even SHE could impress them. Heck, maybe she could convince her mom to let her transfer so she could take over Hexside.
At some point, the mindless praise got boring. So Bria excused herself and dragged Matt away by the hand.
“Bria you were so cool there!” Matt gushed. “You totally saved THE Warden Wrath’s kid!”
Bria rolled her eyes. Yeah she saved that kid, and maybe now the Warden would owe her a political favor. She turned to Matt and smiled.
“Thanks! I was pretty awesome.”
“Totally,” Matt started to stroke his chin like he was stroking a beard, “though I wonder where that griffin came from?”
“That would be my work.”
They both turned around towards the voice. The alleyway they were just walking down was now mysteriously dark despite the afternoon sun.
“What the fu-” Matt started.
A figure melted out of the shadows, darkness dripping off his form and its eyes glowing a bright blue. Walking behind him was the same griffin from before, its eyes the same shade as the figure’s. She could see how its feathers ruffled as it breathed heavily. The darkness fell off the figure’s frame to reveal a witch dressed in blue.
“Oh, this motherfu-” Matt was interrupted by Bria putting a finger against his mouth.
“And who are you?” she asked.
The boy bowed dramatically. Above him letters started to glitter and glow.
The Esteemed Illusionist Prodigy
“Hey, I’m Gus. Gus Porter!” his confident smile went a bit wobbly. “What’s your name?”
“I’m Bria,” she answered. “Neat griffin.”
“Actually, not a real griffin, it's all illusions,” Gus said excitedly.
He snapped his fingers and everything disappeared in a puff of smoke, even the griffin.
“Wow!” she gushed. “Must make for some sweet party tricks. You could be a performer or something!”
Gus' eyes went wide and he blushed. He coughed into his hand in hopes that she wouldn’t notice, but Bria was well tuned to such displays.
Oh, how interesting.
Apparently Matt noticed too.
He stepped in between her and Gus, hands on his hips.
“Bria, let’s go, this guy is totally lame,” his ears were red and he looked annoyed.
Gus glared right back at him.
Then he walked around Matt and held out his scroll.
“Can I have your number? We should totally hang out!”
“She doesn’t want to hang out with lame nerds!” Matt came over and shoved Gus.
The two of them started a lame little slap fight, always sparing a glance at her, gauging her reactions. Which was a well calculated and practiced mix of concern with the slightest dash of awe.
Now this was more than just interesting.
When enough was enough, she stepped between them and pushed them apart, making sure to keep a gentle hand on each of their shoulders.
“I think we should all hang out sometime, right?” She gave both of them a sweet smile, and since Gus was new, she even threw in a little wink for him. “You guys are both so funny and silly. It’ll be fun.”
They looked at each other and then at her.
“I’d love to hang out, you seem really cool, Bria,” Gus gushed.
“Fine,” muttered Matt.
“How about next week? I wanna go to an amusement park,” she offered.
“I can buy us tickets!” said Gus. “Just tell me the day you wanna go.”
“W-well I can buy us lunch!” Matt shot back.
Oh, now this was nice. Time to see how long she could stretch this out. Being fawned over was nice. The two of them fighting over her with desperate displays was hilarious. It was like watching some dumb soap opera love triangle live.
Her heart fluttered a bit.
Next week was going to be exciting.
The second they step into the park she’s bombarded with both of their attention. She voiced out loud that she was bored and that she wanted to play some games. They practically ran over children to get through the ticket gates. Bria watched with glee as they pushed and shoved each other the entire way to the carnival game section. She even feigned concern when Gus gets tripped by Matt, she rewarded him with another wink that makes him blush again. To even things out, she brushed his shoulder as she ran past him.
One look back tells her they’re both following her like lost little palismen. It’s almost a little teeny bit cute.
“I’m gonna win you a stuffed animal,” Matt offered. He puffed out his chest a bit. “Just point me to the stall and I’ll win something for you.”
“Aw, you’re so sweet, Matty,” she cooed, internally giggling alongside Gus at the nickname.
“W-wait, I can win you something too,” Gus piped up. He waved his hands and illusioned a few sparkles around him. “I can even win you two things!”
Matt shoved Gus out of the way.
“Three, three awesome HUGE prizes all for you!”
“Four! Did you know in some human languages four is a sign of death? For each stuffed toy I’ll reanimate one cool demon skeleton for you! Four prizes AND four cool reanimated dead things!”
Bria ignored their fighting and scoped the games. She doubted that between the two of them they could even get her one medium prize. Might as well go for the most entertaining option.
“I really want that sword over there,” she pointed at a stall manned by a huge demon.
“T-the one at the death obstacle course? The one that killed at least five and a half witches?” Matt noticeably gulped.
Gus tugged at his collar, “I can do that, if poor little Matty is scared I’ll do it!”
“Shut up!” Matt straightened his slouch. “I was just asking that because I was having a stomach ache!”
“Let’s go!” She ignored the dumb excuse and started to drag them towards the stall.
After making them buy their tickets, she stood to the side and watched the two of them fumble around. She was surprised Matt made it past the collapsing ceiling part of the obstacle. Or that the scrawny and unassuming Gus wasn’t chopped in half by the giant swinging axes.
If anything, they were doing more damage to each other. Tripping and falling because they were more focused on showing off than the actual dangers of the obstacle course.
They were turning the corner to the finish line to the dissolving tightrope when Matt stuck out his foot to trip Gus, who fell flat on his face. Matt paused to laugh in Gus’ face, only for the other boy to grab both his ankles and drag him down as well. They rolled around like two feral cats fighting until they fell over the side of the ledge into a pit of slime.
“Disqualified,” mumbled the bored looking attendant.
The two boys were unceremoniously ushered out, still covered in gunk.
“Don’t worry, even if you failed hardcore you guys tried your best,” Bria reassured them. “I think you two were so cool. Bravery can make you a bit dumb and reckless, right?”
They swelled with pride, not even processing her words.
How typical.
It made her giggle.
As expected, the two of them didn’t win her a single nice prize. The most they managed were some crummy and cheap merchandise hats someone gave them out of pity.
“We didn’t even go on any rides, yet,” Bria said out loud.
Their dejection from losing so many carnival games instantly dissolved. Suddenly all their energy was back.
“Let’s go on the biggest and scariest one,” she pointed at a roller coaster so large its highest peak shot up into the sky, swaying precariously in the wind. Giant clown demons holding various weapons adorned the sides, lunging at riders as they zoomed by.
Taking advantage of their silence, she pushed them into line.
Bria finally got some peace and quiet as the two boys spent the entire wait staring nervously at the ride. Matt’s knees buckled wildly and Gus produced a few small stress illusions. Since the boys weren’t talking, she entertained herself watching the illusion clowns chase an illusion Gus around his head.
Finally, the wait was over and they were the next to get onto the ride. Before they could get on, the attendant who was less than pleased to be dressed as a clown stopped them.
“Sorry,” they paused to blow a giant bubble, “two passengers per car.”
“Bria!” Sweat poured down Gus’ brown and the illusion clowns were reaching body horror levels of scary. “If you get scared you can hold my hand.”
“That wimp won’t protect you!” Matt was several shades paler than he was when they first got in line. He reached out a sweaty shaking palm. “Hold MY hand.”
“It’s just a ride,” muttered the attendant.
“Hmm,” a very devious and funny idea formed in her mind. She tenderly took each of their hands and held them close. Bria looked at each of them and mustered her cutest smile. She interlocked their fingers and pressed their palms together. “Nah, I’m good, but maybe you two can hold each other’s hands for comfort!”
Not giving them a chance to reply, she sat down with some poor sap who was the third wheel of the lovey dovey couple in front of them. The attendant practically shoved Gus and Matt into the seat behind her. She didn’t need to look to tell that they were still holding each other’s hands.
The ride slowly started up, shot ahead into the open maw of a clown face into a dark tunnel. She laughed with glee as they plunged into darkness. The only sources of light in the dark tunnel were the clown animatronics with their glowing eyes of various colors.
The ride twisted and turned around, jerking them in every direction. Her ears were ringing, partially from the speed and partially from the screams coming from behind her.
Suddenly the ride shot straight up into the air, rattling as it went on its steep climb. They were getting so high into the air that the people below were mere dots. Bria let out a loud whoop when they brushed past the clouds.
“Isn’t this fun!” she cheered when the ride stopped at the peak for a few dramatic seconds.
All she heard in reply were a few whimpers.
Bria screamed in delight when they tipped over the peak, soaring back towards the ground at record speeds. How glad she was that she convinced them to go to one of the few amusement parks that still ignored safety regulations.
Adrenaline still coursed through her veins when everyone piled off the ride. Titan, it went so fast that it totally messed up her hair, she even lost one of her hair clips from how fast it was. She spun around in a few giddy circles with the expectation that the boys would be right behind her.
“Wasn’t that amazing? I wanna go again, what do you two think?” Bria asked.
There was no answer.
With a pout she turned around to see the clown attendant prying the two of them out of their seats. Their faces were frozen in terror and instead of holding hands they were now clinging to each other tightly. The attendant plopped them down unceremoniously next to Bria.
“Pictures to the left,” they said as they returned the crowbar to its place.
Bria pushed the two of them, still trembling in fear, to the photo stand. She pushed past the crowd sneakily taking photos so they wouldn’t have to pay for one. It took a few seconds for her to find the photo they were featured in and she let out a loud whoop.
She was smiling with glee (the guy next to her might have been crying or something) and she even got to pose for the camera.
That wasn’t the best part.
Oh no. There was something way better than that.
The best part was the dumb expressions the boys were wearing. Matt’s eyes were bulging out of his head and his mouth was wide open. His stupid bowl cut was flying around in all directions. Meanwhile Gus was the opposite, his face scrunched in on itself to a comical degree. He looked like he had just eaten a giant sour lemon candy enchanted to constrict your facial muscles from the joke shop. Both of them had tears streaking from their eyes and splatting onto the people behind them. At that point they were already hugging, cheeks pressed firmly against the other’s. If they squeezed each other any harder they’d fuse into one being.
Heck, they already did that.
She glanced back.
Titan, they were STILL doing that.
“I want it in poster size!” she told the cashier.
She reached into one of their pockets and grabbed a neat blue wallet with an illusion symbol on it to pay.
Eventually, Bria was able to coax them out of their tight embrace. In a rare show of pity, she bought the two of them ice screams. In an even rare show of mercy they spent the rest of their time going on calmer rides that didn’t feature any clowns.
The night ended on the ferris wheel in the hopes of watching the firework show from the top. As luck would have it, they ended up being two spots from the top, meaning their few was of metal and dangling feet.
“I had fun today,” said Bria, she took a warm hand in each of her own. Perhaps Gus and Matt deserved some kind of prize for all they went through for her. “We should do something like this every weekend.”
“Do we have to bring along this chump?” complained Matt. He aimed a kick at Gus which made their seat swat precariously. “He’s a boring, lame, illusionist nerd.”
“Hey Matty~” Gus said with false cheer, “you better watch yourself.”
He illusioned that the bench was a two seater and that Matt was dangling in the air. Matt let out a yelp and clung onto Bria.
“Be nice to Matty,” said Bria in a sing-song voice.
“Humph,” Gus frowned but dispelled the illusion as requested.
She continued to hold their hands and their feet swung in unison. Gosh, she was really impressed that she managed to wrap Gus around her pinky this easily. It was almost boring how fast he caved to her charm, but he made up for it in how he riled up something interesting in Matt.
Up until now Matt was just the obedient childhood friend she was kind of fond of. Willing to do anything but oh so painfully dull.
She felt giddy and she let out a little laugh.
“What’s so funny?” asked Matt.
Bria chose not to answer that.
At least not with words.
She leaned over and pressed a small peck to Matt’s cheek, who in reply let out a high pitched squeaking noise.
On her other side Gus let out a sound of protest which was quickly cut short when she pressed the same small peck to his cheek.
“I was just thinking you guys were funny and I enjoyed myself,” she said as if nothing just happened.
“Well, I guess it wasn’t so bad,” Gus looked over at Matt and smiled a little. “Matty was cool too, even though he’s a huge jerk.”
“Hey! Shut it pipsqueak!” snapped Matt. His expression softened a fraction when Gus kept smiling. “But I guess you were kinda awesome too.”
“See, isn’t it nice when we get along?” That was a lie, Bria liked it when they got into petty arguments. She just wanted a peaceful moment for non-sentimental and non-mushy reasons. “You’re both such silly guys.”
That was the truth. Bria hadn’t had this much fun in ages. Who knew being around other people could make her this happy?
It must have been how those two were such willing minions and petty enough to get into fights to please her. The warm feeling that started creeping up on her must be the rush of being fought over by two guys.
The two of them bickered as she sat and admired how the fireworks cast different colored lights across the medal. One of them reached across her to pinch the other on the arm and the bench shook wildly. Yet both of them still held onto her hand like a lifeline.
She might have been having fun outside of having a new minion, just a little teeny bit of fun.
Perhaps this was something she could get really used to.