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There was something rustling behind him.
He turned to look, only to be tugged back by a firm yet gentle grip on his hair.
“Stay still, Soos,” Pearl chided him, twisting a section of his shoulder-length hair into another braid.
Gem laughed somewhere behind him. “I’m just packing the last of the cookies, Sausage, relax.”
He automatically began to nod, before remembering he had to stay still and aborting the motion. “How much longer is this going to take?” Sausage whined lightheartedly, fidgeting. Pearl snorted.
“The less you move around, the faster I’ll finish. You’re the one who asked me for Helianthian braids, dummy.” Her words were harsh, but her tone was cheerful, a lighthearted joke between friends.
A brush scraped through his hair, gathering another handful of strands for braiding. He winced as it dug into a scar on the back of his neck, Pearl making an apologetic noise.
Gem walked into his line of sight, her usual green dress replaced for a violet gown split in the front to reveal a white silky underskirt, simple lavender dancing flats peeking out from under the hem. Her usual purple shawl had been switched out for a sheer green capelet pinned at her neck with an amethyst dragon brooch.
She was resplendent, perfectly dressed for the festivities. Gem had tackled proper attire for the Mythic Summer Festival the same way she studied magic, with pure determination to master it beyond anyone else’s ability.
He himself was simply dressed in a sleeveless gold tunic with pale red ruffled hems at the neck and shoulder, darker red embroidery decorating the fabric with flowers and birds and simple patterns all over. He had forgone pants in favor of a burgundy floor-length skirt, this one with long panels of brighter reds and golden silk lining the bottom and shimmering with each step.
Around his neck, he wore a choker set with two gemstones, one a bright redstone ruby, the other a shimmering emerald. One for each of his partners, in keeping with Codlish tradition to wear a close-fitting cloth around the neck to show that his life was for his partners, each one symbolized by their jewel. In his right ear, a pair of earrings set with the same stones, to match Grimlands traditions, that he would listen to the advice and love of his partners, also set with their jewels.
And set into his lip, a pair of close set rings, the Mythic tradition for partners, a promise that he would never speak ill of his loves, and that his voice would be used to show them love and protect them from harm.
fWhip and Jimmy had yet to don piercings for him, but he didn’t blame them for it, even as his heart squeezed at the thought that they weren’t as committed as he was. He deserved the doubt, after all he had done under the demon, betraying every ideal that his piercings dictated.
A pat on the head brought him back to reality, Pearl stepping back from him with a satisfied smirk.
She had chosen to wear a short sleeveless gold dress reaching to her thighs, paired with long boots that reached to her knees and a sheer black long-sleeve underneath the dress. Her hair matched his newly-braided locks, looped around and pinned in a wave of braided glory cascading over her neck and back.
It was a very old traditional battle outfit in Helianthia, and Pearl had altered it to honor her empire and her title as a warrior queen, while still being gorgeous for the festival. Sausage very much approved.
He stood, walking over to the nearby mirror to look at the completed outfit. The braids fit perfectly, the jeweled pins matching his clothes with garnets and citrines as well as being studded with brighter emeralds here and there.
“It’s amazing, Pearl!” Sausage spun in a circle to make his skirt flare out, his hair rising a bit with the motion, the weight of the braids keeping it down for the most part.
Pearl beamed, reaching over to tuck a loose strand of hair behind his ear. “You’re going to start a new fashion trend with that hair, mate– Mythlanders everywhere with Helianthian braids, it’ll be wild!”
He laughed, a genuine giggle like the sun peeking through the treetops and dappling onto the ground. Out of his sight, Gem and Pearl exchanged pleased looks.
Gem closed the last package of cookies, tying a ribbon over the top to keep it closed with a flourish. Pearl picked up the stack of boxes easily, handing a couple to Gem and Sausage.
The Summer Festival was Mythland’s favorite holiday, normally celebrated in winter for most of the northern empires. Mythland was unique in choosing to have the holiday in summertime.
It celebrated the triumph of light over darkness, the longest day of the year spent partying and eating and dancing with friends and strangers alike from dawn to dusk. The entire empire partied today, streets filled with people dressed in their finest, giving gifts to their closest friends and family and handing out baked treats to everyone else, regardless of whether a friend or a stranger.
The sun was barely peeking over the horizon, and Sausage knew everyone in Mythland was already spilling out to party while he prepared with Pearl and Gem.
Dressing for the festivities was a intimate event, usually saved for people to do with their partner or partners alone, but Sausage had been too apprehensive of asking Jimmy and fWhip, even though it had been an entire year last week since his corruption had been cured and he had begun to repair his alliances, mending his relationship with fWhip and falling in love with Jimmy.
What if they still hadn’t forgiven him for everything he had done? What if they were just waiting for the right moment to drop the ruse and tell him how horrible and evil he was, that he didn’t deserve their love or companionship, that he should have stayed dead instead of returning from the Spirit Realm, that–
Pearl snapped her fingers in front of him, blinking him out of his thoughts. “Empiria to Sausage, hello? Gem asked if you’re ready to go.”
He shoved the thoughts down. They had agreed to come to the festival with him, that was enough. He would earn the right to have them help him prepare, to have Jimmy braiding his hair in Codlish styles and fWhip wrapping treats they baked together.
“Yeah, let’s go!” He said aloud, smiling at his friends. Pearl gave him a searching look, but dropped it and simply kicked the door open, stepping out and beckoning Sausage and Gem out after her.
He followed Pearl, taking a deep breath of the early morning air, fresh and cool. He could do this. It would be fun. Everything was going to be okay.
~~~
fWhip fiddled with the rings in his lip, the fresh piercing stinging a bit at being jostled. He ignored the twinge, wiggling it around a bit more. “It’s so weird.”
Jimmy looked up from the other side of the room, matching piercings glimmering at the side of his mouth. Ruby for fWhip, citrine for Sausage, and emerald for himself.
Getting lip rings made out of solid gemstone was rather expensive, but they weren’t emperors for nothing.
“You get used to it,” Jimmy replied absently, digging through another chest for his vest. He had put it somewhere here, he was sure of it because he remembered seeing it draping out of this corner of the room three days ago when he was looking for a pencil. “I still don’t get why you people need to stab pieces of metal into your bodies to show your devotion. Just get a necklace, it’s so much easier -”
fWhip snorted. “Necklaces can get lost. Who’s going to lose something literally attached to your body?”
Jimmy’s ear fins swiveled on his head, flattening for a moment before flaring back out to their normal setting against the side of his head. His two earrings dangled from the bottom of the fin, the piercing itself a memory Jimmy would never forget.
Ear fins were much more sensitive than ears, especially when someone was stabbing a burning-hot needle into it.
Jimmy had almost attacked the piercer from the shock, and then promptly passed out right after. It was not a fun afternoon.
fWhip had been completely unfazed, getting the piercing done smoothly and then continuing to chatter with the assistants about burn salves as if he hadn’t just been stabbed by a very tiny sword that had left a piece of metal embedded in his skin. Humans and their piercings, honestly. You’d never see a merling do something so insane.
Ignoring the fact that he had done it not just once, but twice, for the Grimmish earrings and the Mythic lip piercings. The things one did for love.
He finally located the vest, pulling it out and shaking a bit of lint and some shed scales off of the pale brown fabric. Once it passed the sniff test, he shrugged it on over his long sleeve green top, the sleeves poofy and ruffled like a overdramatic Grimmish undershirt.
Paired with a set of cozy black leggings and some dark brown boots, Jimmy thought he looked quite fetching. It wasn’t exactly traditional Mythic style for a festival, but Jimmy didn’t like wearing skirts. Sausage understood, and it was close enough anyways, even missing the skirts.
fWhip had also forgone a skirt, but he had replaced it with a silky crimson cape that draped over him and highlighted the black of his suit and the white of the actual overdramatic Grimmish undershirt, the ruffles peeking out of the top of his waistcoat.
A couple black and silver rings highlighted the red nail polish fWhip had just dabbed on a few hours ago, when they had first started getting ready for the festival in Jimmy’s home. The Cod Empire was closer to Mythland than the Grimlands, so it was the obvious choice for the dressing and packing gifts and all.
fWhip chewed on his lip, winced when he accidentally bit into the lip piercing, and continued on regardless.
“We look good, right?” fWhip twisted his fingers in the edges of his cape, resisting the urge to nibble on a nail. His polish was much too perfect to ruin with teeth marks. “The piercings are a good gift for Sausage, he’s been waiting forever for the official courtship traditions and whatnot, this will all go well-”
Jimmy cut off his anxious rambling by walking over and taking one of fWhip’s hands in his, smiling softly at the shorter man.
“It’s going to be wonderful,” Jimmy reassured him, rubbing the inside of fWhip’s plan gently with his thumb.
fWhip nodded, leaning into the Codfather for a hug, which Jimmy gladly returned.
The Summer Festival had already started probably, Jimmy knew the tradition was to go from sunrise to sunset. The sun had risen a little ago, just hovering over the horizon as it climbed the sky.
Pulling back from the hug after a few long seconds, fWhip grinned up at Jimmy, anxiety melted by the hug and reassurances and returned fWhip to his usual cheerful, mischievous self. “Let’s go surprise Sausage now, shall we? I swear, when I see him I’m just going to full on throw myself at him and let him catch me, it’d be so funny-”
Jimmy choked on a laugh, fWhip’s giggle joining his wheezing as they walked out of the cozy cabin into the emptier-than-normal streets. Everyone who could go had already crossed the border to enter Mythland and join the festivities, one of the first few times the two empires had celebrated together since the Great Disc War and the demon had happened.
It had been a long few years of war and battle and stress, and Jimmy wanted nothing more than to go to the festival with his two partners and enjoy the peace and joy that was gradually replacing the rationing and militaries and wartime doom and gloom.
The wall was fast approaching, the lack of traffic allowing Jimmy to walk at his normal speedy pace, fWhip almost trotting to keep up with his longer steps.
It was like entering another world, walking into Mythland. The streets went from being quiet and abandoned to full of light and color and a riot of people, dancing and chatting and eating right in the streets, spilling out of houses and parks into the roads, people carrying children on their shoulders to let them see, partners twirling each other through the crowds, stands of food and small trinkets and all kinds of bits and bobs yelling to be heard over the celebrations.
People laughed and cheered and sang along with the bards scattered everywhere, hats flowing with tossed coins from all the people as they strummed their instruments and shrieked out their lyrics gleefully, some of them shouting louder and louder to try to be louder than their neighboring minstrels.
Now to find Sausage, Gem, and Pearl in all this chaos…