Chapter Text
Do you want to serve? Be part of something bigger and better than yourself for someone better than yourself?
Do you feel like living an unusually long time? Not forever, mind.
Well, good for you and looky-loo.
I, Faybelle Thorn, am looking for a sidekick. A Second in Command.
REQUIREMENTS:
- Magic is a must, though a concentration in Dark Magic is not required. You could never be on my level there, so why bother?
- Confidentiality is a must. Be prepared to listen to thought trains if I feel you can handle it.
- Offer feedback on ideas - the right feedback. It’s not like I can be wrong, but one more confirmation that i’m right won’t go amiss.
- Must be able to come up with plans and schemes, and aid me in them.
- You must be subject to conditioning. No sidekick of mine will spill my secrets through magical means of torture.
- Will make sure my wings are in the best light during my important speeches.
You will not be paid. Your payment is the glory that comes from standing in my shadow.
Faybelle tapped the poofy end of her pen to her chin, staring at the draft in her dragon-skin clad notebook. Not bad, but something felt ... fake about it.
When you sent out a public want ad for minions, you got riffraff. Goody two shoes desperate for a job that wasn’t turning tricks at a wishing well, or waiting for someoe to see you every seven years in a dusty attic. Her mind wandered and she remembered, quite clearly, someone her mother - The Dark Fairy - had hired when she was young. She didn’t care enough to remember her name, it was just a cleaner.
A pixie had tried to lift a Thorn family heirloom - a simple brooch, a thing her mother hadn’t even liked - to pawn on the black market, something Faybelle knew her mother had her hand in. Even so, when she came across the offending hire trying to make past the security enchantments, The Dark Fairy had turned the pixie into a foul, inky smoke and trapped it into a bottle within moments. Then, she had shipped the bottle back to the hiring agency with a curse upon the accompanying letter. Faybelle never figured out what the curse was, but the message was clear.
Even with the hassle of having said pixie’s union involved and the resulting media circus, Faybelle was always mindful of having the proper help surround her.
Countless mental revisions later, and she still wasn’t satisfied. Faybelle circled her bullet points and closed the book, shoving it into her purse. She clawed for her Mirrorphone as she fluttered in the air, tapping the screen a few times, and calling the last person in her log.
Leaving her room, Faybelle whacked a few small first years passing by with her wings as she dialed a number - “Beat it!”. She turned to assess them for damage as the phone buzzed - if the light even gleamed through them wrong, there would be spell to pay - and was answered.
“Fay?”
Faybelle grinned with relief; She wasn’t in one of her all-day dance classes. “Duchess! Where are you? ....The Castleteria ? Why in Ever After would you be there ? Whatever after, stay there, I’ve gotta ask you something. Grab me a juice? Thanks, hun.”
She made sure the phone was securely in her bag before speeding down the hallway.While it could not have been later than ten or eleven in the morning, she found the crowds annoying. “Do any of you have a life? Just standing around in school ?” Faybelle said. Unless she was about to perform some evil magic or a cheer routine, dealing with the happy, do-gooder crowds of Ever After High was not her style.
A group of princesses turned to glance at her and then quickly looked away in fear when they realized who was talking. Faybelle smirked. At least they know what's up. Reaching a window, she unlocked it, pushed the panes outward, and sat upon the sill, facing the hallway. Without a word, she pushed off and fell, wings first, into the sky.
“Did you see that?” She heard a faint voice yell. “That’s crazy!”
Faybelle cackled. You bet your wishing well it’s crazy.
It was a weak sun today, but that only made her wings sparkle in a demure, ethereal fashion. The tall, arched windows of the Castleteria also reflected the light, and Faybelle controlled her descent, a balance between an ugly crash onto the ground and making sure the lucky students out this early could see her in her glory. The warm breeze threatened to float Faybelle over the bridge and into the Enchanted Forest, but the fairy cut her show short, pointed her wings down, and touched down lightly on the grounds.
She couldn’t help breaking into a cheer and short routine.
“C’mon people, let me see, if you can rule the skies like me!”
Even with no one in the vicinity, Faybelle smirked and basked in her accomplishment. There were no bad winds, only bad fliers.
The Castleteria was not quite busy; It was a weekend, and plenty of students had traveled home for the weekend or gone into Book End for more edible fare. A few students idled by; The Three Little Pigs rooted through the compost bin. Nina Thumbell flew around a high plate of fruit. Dexter Charming and Hopper Croakington III laughed over pizza.
Duchess sat by a window, picking at her pondweed salad, flipping through several hextbooks. She didn’t look up when Faybelle took a seat across from her “There’s your juice.”.
Faybelle grabbed a thin, glass bottle of blue juice with a super curly straw and took a sip. “Could be colder.” She teased.
Duchess rolled her eyes. “Shut up.” She looked up, flipping a book closed. “So, what’s going on?”
After a quick dig through her purse, past emergency bottles of wing care products and lip gloss, Faybelle took out her journal and flipped to her mock-up ad.
“I’m looking for an evil hench person.” She said cheerfully. “Someone to offer a different perspective on my evil plans, be my second in a duel - not that i’d need them there, of course! - and do the very few things I might not be able to.”
“And...were you about to ask me?” Duchess cocked her head to the side, expression unreadable.
Faybelle knew about her best friend’s fluctuating loyalties, smoothly dodging an awkward bullet. “What are you, nuts? You’re a princess, destined to be a queen. Somehow.” She added under her breath. “And, no offense, but turning into a bird and walking on water isn’t really evil .” She finished, though they both knew she was only pretending to be sympathetic.
Smiling, the Swan Princess took a bite of her salad. “So, why are you showing me this if there’s nothing I can do about it?”
“Now, I didn’t say that .” She slid the book over. “Proofread that. Does that sound like everything I should ask of someone?”
After glancing over the notes, she girl rolled her eyes. “Well, how would I know?” Duchess replied shortly. “I’m not evil!”
Faybelle sighed. “We just went through this ten seconds ago - you’re right. You’re not evil. Got it.” Sometimes, Duchess could be really touchy. She stood up, taking back the book. “I should probably go ask Raven.” she said, hovering in the air, ready to fly.
“Probably should.” Sniffed Duchess, taking a drink of water.
"Even though she is a traitor."
"Good luck." Said Duchess pointedly. A moment later - “Fay - multihex tonight? It is date night...”
Faybelle thought about it before nodding. “Totes. I’ll bring the straws, you bring the spitwads. Those cutesy couples won’t know what hit them.”