Work Text:
The Silver Eve.
Coco was at The Silver Eve.
In her hometown, she’d been to small fairs and tight-knit parties but they were far and few between—snatches of fun and excitement spent hand and hand with her mother and over before she could blink.
But never before had she been to a festival. And not just any festival, but a festival for witches.
If she had had a chance to come here when she was little she would’ve vibrated out of her skin in happiness, but as it was… she was desperately trying to ignore the fact she’d trade this moment in an instant to see her mother alive and well again.
Luckily, the festival came with a lot of distractions.
Their schedule for the evening was packed, so they had the morning to roam and do as they pleased. Though they tried to stay as one group, it soon became unrealistic. Faced with four excited kids diving in seperate directions, Qifrey and Olruggio were eventually forced to take the head of different groups.
Qifrey and Coco formed one. Olruggio, Tetia, Richeh and Agott formed the other. How that came about, Coco still wasn’t quite sure, but if Olruggio was displeased by the arrangement he didn’t show it besides a slight press of fingers to his temples before letting himself be pulled to wherever the girls wished to go.
That left Coco with Qifrey and the free reign to do as she wanted until they all met back at the tent.
Coco did her best to look happy, peeking curiously over each stall, gazing in awe at every show of magic, pouring thoroughly over trinkets and gadgets. She truly tried to soak in the festivities. To have fun. But it was less out of a pure desire to do so and more an attempt to ignore the pressing thoughts in her head—the fact that she was experiencing all this wonder without her mother. The fact that even beautiful magic was difficult to enjoy when one knew its origin—its cost.
She swallowed hard, the smile on her face turning more forced by the second.
Then she saw it.
Hanging from one of the stands was a plushie of a brushbuddy. A massive brushbuddy. It was the biggest prize in the stall, placed as the centrepiece for everyone to admire.
Immediately, it was all she could see. She felt her worries slip away, mind focussed instead on the brushbuddy plushie and how she was going to obtain it. She wondered if it’d be as soft and fluffy as the real thing.
Each of them had been given some gold coins to enjoy the festival and she felt for hers in her pocket, figuring she had enough to spare for a few tries. Even though there were probably a thousand better things to spend the money on, this was a giant brushbuddy plushie. She couldn’t pass up the opportunity, even if she had to lug it over the entire festival. But luckily that wouldn’t be necessary—she just had to get it back to the tent for sake keeping.
“Um, Master Qifrey.”
He turned to her immediately. “Yes, Coco?”
“I want to try to win that plushie,” she said, pointing over to it.
Following her finger, Qifrey’s eyes widened briefly before his face broke into a smile. “I think that’s a wonderful idea.”
Encouraged, she approached the stall.
“Good day to you miss,” the attendant greeted from where he leaned against the counter. “Care to try your luck?”
“Yes please,” she said politely.
“You here for the brushbuddy plushie?” he asked, jerking his thumb behind him. When she nodded, he said, “That’s what I thought. But fair warning, it’s no easy task to win that big bugger. You still in?”
Unfazed, she determinedly nodded again. The attendant launched into an explanation of the rules of the game. There were some specifics about time limits and where to stand and a strict no magic policy, but the gist was this: throw the ball into the beaks of five fake myrphons in a row.
Though Coco suspected there was more to it, it sounded simple enough.
After listening carefully to the instructions, she stood atop the marked spot and took aim.
Her first try was a complete failure, the ball hitting the side of the myrphon’s head.
Her second was much like the first.
Her third try was when she knew she had good reason to be suspicious. Despite throwing the perfect shot, the ball headed straight for the centre, something about the angle of the beak caused the ball to ricochet off and away.
“This might be impossible,” she huffed, aware of her limited coins.
“Give it another shot,” Qifrey said.
“But if I don’t win, I’ll have wasted so much money…”
“You’ll win, so don’t you worry about that,” Qifrey said, sounding so certain Coco couldn’t help but believe him.
Her fourth go of it was better than the others. At the very least, she managed to get the first ball in. She celebrated with a whoop and a double high five with Qifrey before completely failing on the next toss.
Another three tries later, her pulse raced as she got the first ball in, then the second, then the third and fourth.
Until there was only one left.
The attendant gave an impressed nod, but overall didn’t seem too concerned about losing his grand prize. Ignoring him, she focussed her attention on the beak of the last myrphon.
She hefted the ball into her palm and, testing its weight, took in a steady breath. She could do this.
The throw felt perfect off her fingers. She watched the ball curve towards the beak, just as it had before, and was sure she’d done it. She’d won the brushbuddy. She could practically feel its fluff beneath her fingertips. But at the last second, the myrphon shuttered an inch to the right.
It messed up the trajectory completely.
She was going to miss.
She barely had the time to think about how unfair it was when a burst of rain erupted from above them, somehow angled to reach inside the stall and so heavy it forced the ball into the beak of the last myrphon and down its gullet.
“I did it!” she squealed, barely paying attention to the rain and how, just as suddenly as it appeared, it dissipated into a light patter.
“That’s—that’s not—“ the man spluttered.
Coco reached for her prize.
“Is there an issue?” Qifrey asked.
The attendant began choking violently on his spit but, too focussed on reaching for the plushie, Coco didn’t see why. She spared a glance but nothing looked amiss, at least from Qifrey’s end. He was smiling pleasantly as usual.
Eventually the attendant stopped coughing long enough to cut down the giant plushie. “Goddamn witches,” he muttered under his breath.
“Thank you, sir,” Coco said when he handed it to her.
“You’re welcome,” he gritted out and cast a glance at Qifrey. “Enjoy the festival.”
And then she had the giant brushbuddy in her arms. She immediately spun around with it and pressed her face into the fluff, humming in delight.
She heard an amused huff. “Glad you’re happy with it.”
“So so happy!” she said, smiling into the fur. It didn’t completely wipe her mind of all her worries, but it definitely helped. It was hard to be miserable with a brushbuddy around, and even harder when that brushbuddy was fifty times its usual size. She just hoped Puffpuff wouldn’t get too jealous.
There was one slight issue.
Obtaining a giant brushbuddy meant carrying a giant brushbuddy, and though she had a tent to store it in, she still had to make it to said tent. She wobbled her way there, trying her best to keep it upright enough so that its bottom wouldn’t hit the dusty ground. It came with the unfortunate effect of obscuring her vision, forcing her to navigate through the busy streets with only the few peeks she could achieve behind a wall of white fluff. More than once she almost tripped over her feet or ran into some poor passerby, but Qifrey gently redirected her every time, making sure she didn’t fall completely flat or knock over any innocent civilians.
When she tripped over her feet for the dozenth time, Qifrey offered, “I could hold it for you, if you’d like?”
“No thanks!” she responded, determined to carry it on her own. As soft and fluffy as a real brushbuddy, she wanted to hug it forever.
“It’s as big as you,” Qifrey said, an amused lilt to his voice.
“So?”
“As you wish then.”
Despite not being able to see a thing, she didn’t feel like she was missing out on the festival too much. Qifrey took the time to point out interesting sights and displays around them and describe them to her in detail. Her mind floated with thoughts of soaring animals and dancing spoons and forks and the host of interesting people filling the streets.
After Qifrey described the sight of a little boy playing with a dancing teddybear, Coco’s mind flickered to a familiar topic.
“I can’t wait to show Agott,” she said wistfully.
Qifrey paused before asking, “Is that right?”
She nodded, though the movement was partly impeded by the plushie. Of course she wanted to show Agott. It would give her another opportunity to talk to her. Though recently there’d been plenty of those.
More often than not Agott would listen to Coco’s rambles and queries and general chatter without complaint. If Coco was lucky, Agott would even respond in kind, revealing some snippet about herself that Coco clung to and treasured like something precious.
Coco loved talking to Agott—could talk to her all day if she was allowed to. So she couldn’t miss this chance, no matter how menial or silly it was.
She wondered what Agott would think of her winning the plushie—how she’d react. If she’d be impressed or proud…
It was a silly thought.
Coco and Qifrey had almost made it back to the tent when a sharp but wonderfully familiar voice rung out from behind her. “What on earth are you holding?”
Coco spun around. “Agott!” she cried, her vision only meeting white fluff. She rummaged her way through it to snatch a glimpse of Agott.
Coco’s breath caught.
Agott looked…
She was staring right at the brushbuddy, her face slack with wonder. Her lips parted slightly. A light pink painted her cheeks. But it was her eyes that truly stunned Coco.
They sparkled.
Wow, Coco thought.
Before she could process what she was doing she was shoving the brushbuddy in Agott’s direction and saying, “Have it. I won it for you.” Even though she’d done no such thing.
Agott blinked, the shine in her eyes clearing for just a moment to look at her skeptically.
“You won it… for me?”
“Yes! And I would like you to have it. That is, if you do too!”
Forget the hour she’d spent lugging it around. Forget her daydreams of cuddling it to sleep. Forget how soft it was to the touch.
If giving it to Agott would make her eyes sparkle like that again, she would give Agott anything.
“You can’t be serious.”
Coco cocked her head in confusion. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
Agott levelled her, eyes roving over Coco’s face.
Eventually she asked, “What makes you think I’d want it? It looks like a burden more than anything.”
Despite Agott’s words, her expression betrayed her. Her gaze had found its way back to the fake brushbuddy and lingered there. Coco suppressed a smile. She could read Agott well enough by now to know that, despite the suggestion to the contrary, she really really wanted that plushie.
She could be honest and list out all the times she’d caught Agott being a total softie for animals, but she didn’t want to scare her off. Instead, she shrugged. “Just a hunch.”
Agott’s jaw clenched, a telltale sign she was thinking deeply about something. “Well… if you really don’t want it,” she said casually.
Coco’s heart thumped as she once again proffered the plushie. This time Agott took it and though she didn’t look outwardly happy, Coco was pleased to see a pink flush to her cheeks.
“Is that all?” Agott asked curtly, “If so, I better head back and find a spot to store this damned thing.”
Coco opened her mouth to reply but Agott had already turned to storm off. Coco accepted that that would be the end to the matter when Agott’s pace staggered to a stop.
A pause.
Then, without turning around to make eye-contact, Agott said a soft, “Thank you,” before marching towards the tent, giant brushbuddy plushie in her arms.
Coco watched her go, feeling warm and bubbly all over. Agott accepted my gift, she thought.
She heard a rustle of movement and remembered that Qifrey was still beside her and had witnessed the whole thing. He was shooting her a look that made Coco duck her head. “I know I shouldn’t have lied about winning it for her,” she said.
“I wasn’t planning on reprimanding you, Coco. Only…”
She looked up. “Only what?”
He didn’t answer her. He was staring off in the distance, a strained incomprehensible look in his eyes. She followed his line of sight and found Olruggio, who was doing the best he could to make it back to the tent with Tetia on his shoulders and Richeh clinging to his back.
When she looked back to Qifrey, any strain had faded. In its place his usual kind smile.
“Come on, Coco,” he said. “Let’s enjoy the rest of the festival.”
When the two of them returned to the tent, Agott wasn’t anywhere in sight. Tetia and Richeh were in the corner rummaging through their haul of bought goods and Olruggio looked flustered, muttering to himself. His shoulders relaxed a tad at the sight of Qifrey.
Tetia brightened when she saw Coco too, immediately launching into a tale of their morning antics, Richeh butting in every once in a while to correct some of Tetia’s embellishments.
Once they’d talked themselves out, Coco wished to tell them of her morning as well, but something more urgent weighed on her mind.
“Where’s Agott?”
“Oh, I know!” Tetia said. “She went to put away her plushie. Have you seen it yet? It’s a massive brushbuddy! I wanted to touch it but she wouldn’t let me.”
“She wouldn’t let me either,” Richeh said.
Coco warmed. She’d hoped that Agott liked the plushie, and her prickly protectiveness of it proved that she had.
“I have seen it, but I… I better check in on her.”
She felt bad for ditching Tetia and Richeh so suddenly but she desperately wanted to see Agott.
It took her a while, but eventually she found her.
In the back portion of the tent, Agott was squeezing the goddamn life out of the plushie, her eyes crinkled and her smile softer than Coco had ever seen it.
She felt like the wind had been knocked out of her.
So determined to be an adult, Agott rarely let herself divulge in her urges or wants. She scoffed at the idea of dolls and toys, preferring to dive headfirst into a textbook instead. She was ruthless in her pursuit to achieve greatness, and as such she stripped herself of any immature desire. She expressed happiness of course, but this was different.
Arms still wrapped tightly around the plushie, Agott buried her face into its soft fur and let out a contented sigh. Her smile was only just visible amongst the fluff.
Never before had she seen such childlike joy from Agott before.
Coco didn’t think she’d ever forget the sight.
Not wanting to disturb her, Coco crept backwards and headed back to the others. After all, Agott deserved to be a kid sometimes too.
When Agott returned, she looked completely unaffected. Coco could’ve convinced herself that she’d made the whole thing up if it weren’t for how vividly Agott’s smile had seared itself into her brain. Coco acted normal too, not wanting to embarrass Agott by revealing what she’d seen.
They were beginning to prepare for the rest of the festival when Coco noticed it.
Sticking to Agott’s dark curls, was a piece of white fluff.
If anyone else saw it, they wouldn’t think anything of it. But Coco knew what it meant. That Agott loved cute animals and soft things and that she especially loved hugging them.
Coco couldn’t help the sudden wave of endearment she felt for her, the warmth spreading further as she imagined Agott walking around the rest of the festival with that piece of fluff in her hair—proof of her inner softness.
Huh, Coco thought. Maybe this festival will turn out better than I expected.