Work Text:
Agott paced the room of her study, she had a darkened look on her face as she glanced at the door. Her study had been locked inside out thanks to the woman who had the misfortune of birthing her.
The window that barely gave light was sealed shut and no simple spell or object thrown could even break through.
The teenage brimhat groaned, stopping dead in her tracks to cross her arms together. “Mother…” She gritted out bitterly at the locked door.
CRASH!
Glass managed to crack and break, causing Agott to snap her head towards the sound. What she found was broken glass and the silohuette of a familar brimcap against the moonlight.
“Coco?” She mumbled out, putting her arms down.
“Wanna get out?” The teenager in question breathed out with a wild grin, her hand extended outwards for Agott.
The raven-haired brimhat wasted no time reaching for her hat, her free hand taking Coco’s hand as the two take for the skies.
It was past midnight, yet the night sky welcomed two brimcaps soaring through the air with their sylph shoes, the green streams from their soles leaving trails in their wake. But in these midnight hours did hunger come for one brimmed witch specifically.
“Im hungry.” Coco groaned, halting her flight and instead floating in the air.
Agott huffed, stopping after flying past the darkly clothed witch. “And yet, you skipped supper earlier.” She turned with a deadpan look on her face.
The fellow brimmed witch let out another groan, her petulant look and stance making themselves known. Then, an idea came to that witch, a very great idea. “Let’s go eat!” Coco brightly suggested. There was just something eerie about how bright Coco was acting at this moment now that the bastard Inguin was far, far away from her.
The feathers in Agott’s hat rustled. She looked around, her face left completely befuddled. “It’s late, Coco,” she grumbled, her hand coming up to pinch the bridge of her nose. “Where would we find a place that is open at this hour?!”
Coco hummed as she slowly floated to her fellow brimcap. “Kalhn shouldn’t be far from here.” She replied, gently patting the moving feathers of Agott’s hat. “There’s always something open in Kalhn.”
The ruffles to the sentient feathers on her hat made Agott grunt in surprise, her silhouetted eyes studying Coco carefully. Purple eyes met green eyes at that moment. She looked at the other brimcap longer, grumbling loud enough for both of them to hear. “We can not be sure.”
That made the green-haired witch pout, her eyes moulding themselves into the most adorable puppy-eyed look she had ever imitated. “Oh, come on, Agott!” She whined obnoxiously to drive home the point. “Can’t we just go eat?”
“No.”
“We could make it a date.” She coaxed, her lips curling to a sly, knowing smile.
“Coco, since when have we done a date?” Agott grumbled back, her hand coming to pinch the bridge of her nose. “We are not some pair of sweethearts in love—”
“It doesn’t always have to be that way,” Coco mused back, her hands clasped behind her back as her face wore the best smile it could manage. “You know I missed you, Aggie.”
The flushed brimcap glared beneath the feathers that veiled her real eyes, her arms folding on each other. ‘Just go on that date already!’ One of the feathers in her head squaked, eliciting both a giggle from Coco and a tight grip from Agott.
The rest of her hat started to chirp out agreements. Wanting to shut these feathered pricks up, she huffed begrudging defeat. “You pick the place then.” The raven hat could see how quickly her… lover, ex, situationship, weird grey area person brightened like the stars. “That is, if we could even find one—”
Agott grunted as her lover(?) Took her by the hand and flew off without a second glance.
“Coco!” She yelped, the air hitting her face. She could feel the way the wind got knocked out of her lungs with how fast they were going. The damn fool was apparently a different person when hunger kicked in.
They — which was really just Coco — had gone so fast, it hadn’t been five minutes until Kalhn was well within sight.
The brimcap came to an abrupt halt; the inertia was so strong that Agott swung under Coco’s grip before she locked in and snapped her sylph shoes together, not only to float but to avoid plunging them both to their deaths.
The green-haired brimcap chuckled at that desperate save from the raven hat that held onto her tight. “Are you fine, darling?” A sly smile curled on her face as she looked down to meet her face, only to find Arklaum’s death glare.
“Are you mad?!” She barked, her voice boomed enough to shake some birds out of their tree below.
“How about we set ourselves down?” She murmured, beginning their descent. “Wouldn’t want to give my poor scaredy cat a heart attack, no?”
“… Not funny…” Agott gritted her teeth, her hands gripping onto Coco’s for life, the feathery hat squaking back with the same energy as its owner.
Her feet hit the grass first with a slight stumble, a far cry from her usual demeanour. Coco soon joined her on the ground as they stood on the crumbled cobble streets of Kalhn, the after-hours leaving no light on to guide their way. Even with the hour, or the dark, the city was still restless, if not from the gleaming high roads but from the lurking beasts that were the slums. As cold and desolate as they were, the unfortunate streets always had at least one hole-in-the-wall restaurant in between worn-down abandoned houses or the occasional metal gateway to a ‘nonexistent’ fight club.
The two brimcaps walked along the empty slums, looking past the pitiful crimes that go on in the alleys, or the large rats that linger in the crevices of shit-stained walls and even more shit-filled streets — It was all shit really; Kalhn was just like that. The pair continued to trudge through the defecated district, past the run-down establishments that could use a safety inspection.
Eventually, they landed on the closest thing to a neat restaurant at this hour and in a place like that district, it was practically the finest one there was. It was well illuminated and had a decent amount of customers inside, the place must have been a staple among the poor and desolate here.
“This is the place!” Coco pointed at it, with a small grin. “I heard from the outsiders that this resturant stays open no matter what.”
“Coco,” Agott sighed, looking at the big ‘WAFFLE HOUSE’ sign just above the door way. “I… I’m surprised you even found a place as good as this.”
“I almost can’t believe it.”
“Ouch.” She deadpanned at Agott before looking back at the waffle house. “Do you truly trust me that little?”
Her companion huffed, the feathers in her hat bristling. “I suppose its fair,” she glanced back at the illuminated building. “Given your track history of destruction.”
Coco rolled her eyes and started trudging towards the doors welcoming them.
Agott watched Coco enter with a tired sigh, lingering outside for a moment or two before following her… lover(?…) inside.
The waffle house smelled like breakfast, from the scent of eggs, sausages, ham, and the namesake, waffles. For a place that stationed itself on the far, poor, districts of Kalhn.
“This place feels too good to be true.” Agott grumbled, crossing her arms together.
“Oh don’t be like that.” Coco coaxed, her hands coming up from behind and resting on Agott’s shoulders. “Just because its in a place like this doesn’t mean anything bad.”
Agott threw her hands up which caused Coco to detract her hands. “But this is different, Coco.” She hissed inbetween gritted teeth.
“It’s too clean, it’s too calm, it’s—”
She caught the unamused look in Coco’s face the more she spoke, pausing at that instant and letting her mouth fall shut, opting to clench her jaw and grit her teeth. “…Fine…”
Coco continued looking at Agott with a darkened expression for a minute or two, then she brightened in an instant with that wide smile. “Wonderful!” Her hands reached for the raven brimcap’s arm, dragging her to the nearest chair.
They took a seat by the closest booth that was away from the rest of the group of people that the pair assumes to be the regulars of this establishment.
Agott and Coco fell silent once seated against eachother, locked in the undoubtedly awkward stare off.
“Sooo…?” The brimhat began, her hands coming together to figdet awkwardly.
“What?” Agott grumbled back, her feathery hat bristling with squaks and chirps.
Coco shrugged. “Nothing! I was just about to ask how you were feeling?”
Her companion squinted back at her, a skeptical look making her face. “Coco, since when do you do that?”
She made a confused gesture at Agott, frowning at her skepticism. “Am I not allowed to ask about your feelings?”
“Well then it’s my fault for believing you cared about anything but you.” She grunted back, her index finger pointing accusatorily at Coco.
“Really?” The other brimcap deadpanned, rolling her eyes as her hands rested against the table. “I’m the selfish one here?”
“Self-centered is more like it.”
Coco let out a dry laugh, her hands gesturing up in pure astonishment. “How dare you—”
“Oh please, Coco, I am speaking nothing but the truth—”
The sound of a wooden chair breaking reverberated across the waffle house, stopping the sharp, cruel words out of the pair’s mouths. What followed shortly after was the sound of howled, angered words.
Curious, the two brimcaps peered from their booth to find one of the regulars trying to go over the counter to get to the staff. The said staff members on the otherhand, looked completely desensitized to this, one of them even began grinning ferally.
“Oh you want to go?!” They seem to shout out with too much enticement. “Then we’ll go!” Was the last words they said before hopping over the counter, gripping the angry man’s collar.
That was in all honesty the last thing the two could audibly comprehend before all went loose. Fists flying and chairs launched from the regulars.
One chair even went flying just above Agott’s hat causing the feathery bastards to start chirping and creaking in distress, as the chair meets the wall, breaking in that instant, Agott let out a long, exhausted breath of frustration.
“See, Coco, I told you this place was too good to be true!”
“Well I’m sorry that the resturant in this district goes through brawls like all the other places in this city do!” The green-haired witch pulls out their pen and a piece of thread, drawing a spell with haste as a piece of a frying pan gets thrown towards her.
The spell activates in that instant, threads shooting towards the pan and capturing it before it could make any damage. “I just thought it would be nice to spend some time with you!” The thread then swung with enough momentum to be thrown back at any unlucky fool in the way.
“There are better ways to spend time with me you utter fool!” Agott shouted back, standing up with a piece of paper to blast someone’s face with fire at point blank. “And none of those include going to a resturant like this at Three in the morning!”
Coco rolled her eyes while drawing another spell on another piece of fabric she had brought along, it was as long as the last one she used. “Well forgive me for trying for once—” She felt her head get gently pushed down, Agott’s hands most like.
She heard the sick crunch of bones behind her, making her turn around to find her partner and her free hand that happened to be on fire. The brimhat turned to the otherside, finding a man bleeding on the floor.
“You’re not hurt, are you?” Agott murmured, looking at Coco for any possible injury that could’ve happened.
The green-haired witch shook her head, her kooky gold eyes looking at Agott’s sudden gentleness. “No…”
“Good.” She sighed, unclenching her flaming hand, dispelling the fire spell tattooed on. “Now how about I summon a construct for us?”
“I would appreciate that, Agott.” Coco sighed, closing her second spell, making the thread cut into small wire like strings enough to pierce and cut any unfortunate soul trying to bring people down in this impromptu brawl.
Agott nodded, flipping through her palm quire until she found her construct, closing it in that instant, enveloping the resturant in thick smoke while wood began to creak and crack unnaturally. Gone was the table when the mist dissipated, in its place was a small cylindrical wooden humanoid holding a bat. The construct started patting the bat, making a distinct tung sound with each knock.
Upon looking at the sight, the construct did not hesitate to jump into the fray, batting away at the many participants in the angry brawl.
Coco looked down at the eerie wooden humanoid, blinking curiously at the sight. “… Did you ever name them?”
Agott remained quiet for a good minute, flipping through her palm quire, her pen being held with her teeth. “They said ther nae wahsh thrihle ti.”
“… What?”
“thrihle ti.”
“What are you saying?” Coco chastised as a piece of her fabrics started tying people up in the background
She huffed angrily, glaring back at Coco beneath the raven feathers of her hat. “I saih ther nae wahs tihheh ti—”
“Take out that damn pen in your mouth!” The brimhat cried out, her arms spreading wide to match her outburst.
Agott groaned, her hand taking the pen out while her free hand pinched her nosebridge. “I said they named themself ‘Triple T’!”
“Triple T?” Coco repeated, looking back at the humanoid wooden piece beating the daylights out of a poor drunkard. “Thats what they named themself?!”
“Yes, Coco.” Agott breathed out, pinching her nosebridge one last time before dropping her hand. “Do I look like someone who would name my constructs ‘Triple T’!?” Exhausted purple eyes glared at the Child of Hope for answers.
Her hands awkwardly fidgeted while she leaned to the side. “Of course not, my love.” She began, her eyes flitting to the fight beyond them and her lover. “You would’ve named him Mr Snuggles—”
“No I would not!”
“Thats what you named the last one, and then you named the last one Mrs Dairy.”
“Thats not—” Agott paused, her hat blinking rapidly at Coco while she put the pen down. “… How do you know that last one?”
Coco leaned even further from where she sat, looking away from Agott. “… I guessed?”
The raven-haired brimcap stood completely befuddled in the mix of the resturant’s wild haze. “Are you stalking me again?!” Her finger started pointed and poking Coco in rapid succession.
“No im not.” She yelped, her hands coming up to try and calm the angry raven down. "You know well I wouldn’t try stalking you again—”
“You liar!” Raven feathers bristled, looking at Coco with disdain as its owner continued to point accusatory at her star-crossed lover. “Just admit that you are stalking me again, Coco, it isn’t that hard to admit.”
A man crashed onto the space their table once was before Triple T gripped them by the ear and dragged them out of the space to beat them down, stopping the two from errupting into another argument.
“Strange,” Coco began, holding a hand out to their surrounding area. “He would’ve been cut in half.” Her hand gently rested on long wires from her spells that formed a protective, invisible dome that would cut down any brute charging into their space. “I must’ve missed a spot.”
“Can we just leave?” Agott grumbled, putting a hand on her hip as she watched Triple T continue his fight. “We will never get our food at this rate.”
With a heavy heave, Coco nodded, grabbing a small portion of the fabric that looked like was the mother thread for those sharp strings, cutting it with a pair of scissors she had kept on her person. With the spell cut in half, the wires fell limply to the floor.
“Thank you.” The Arklaum reached for Coco’s arm, holding and slowly dragging the Child of Hope towards the Waffle House’s exit. “Come on, Coco. Half of these people are creeps anyway—”
“Hey lady! I can surely treat you better than your partner gripping you over there!” One of the brawling men jeer, red faced from some alcohol they must’ve brought themself.
Agott stilled, letting go of her grip on Coco to let her hat’s eyes glare back with a dark, dangerous look. “She’s mine.” The brimcap hissed before a fire dragon was launched towards the man with great speeds.
Agott reached for her cloak by the entrance and quickly covered Coco along with her as the dragon suddenly exploded in the resturant, blowing many caught in the crossfire away in a fit of black smoke and fire.
Once the smoke cleared, the waffle house only left some of the foundations crumbling in its wake, while some of the survivors were caught in the fires that remained. One of these poor survivors slowly crawled through great pain, only to be met with Agott, purple eyes surrounding them at every turn.
“Pathetic.” The whispered voices croon, eerie and condescending, yet the Arklaum remained still and quiet, if it wasn’t her speaking, then who… “It’s utterly pathetic, are you even worthy to live?”
The whispered voices laugh, low and amused, “Pathetic.” they repeated amongst the laughter, “Of all the souls that could’ve lived it was you?”
“Haha,” it echoed and intensified with each second. “What a wreck.”
The poor survivor cried, their hands on their ears in their pathetic attempt to block out the voices.
A minute passed before Agott, started to step away, letting her arm get looped around by Coco.
“Talk about harsh.” She remarked, watching Triple T slowly follow after them and grip onto Agott’s cloak.
“I did what had to be done.” The raven-haired brimcap replied monotonely, “They tried to take you from me.” dusting off the ash from the explosion. “You’re not hurt, are you?” Agott repeated again.
Coco shook her head, adjusting her lover’s cloak around her shoulder. “No, I think the spell on your cloak actually warded the explosion.”
“Of course it did.” Her hand came up to dust some ash from her shoulders. “I made sure of it.”
Silence passed between the two as they turned back to the blown up remains of the waffle house, smoke pouring out as people started coming out of their wretched homes to get water, help, anything for a situation like this.
Coco sighed, leaning against Agott’s shoulder with a downcast look. “We never even got our waffles.”
She turned her head towards Coco, her mouth slightly agape. “… I blew up the Waffle House and that’s your problem?”
“You know what they say!” The brimcap retorted defensively. “Bread tastes better than key.”
The Arklaum teen paused, “Why am I in love with you?”
“What?”
“Nothing.”
She sighed, her free hand rubbing her temple in an attempt to soothe her aching head. “Let’s just stop by a tavern, those are always open.”
“Preferably one away from Kalhn.” Agott added, letting the green-haired witch drag her away. “It smells like shit here.”
Coco chuckled lightly at the jab on their beloved nearby city. “You tell me.”