Scout
"Thank you very much for attending this grand celebration," queen Delirium stood at the end of a long table, looking absolutely ecstatic. "Never before in Nowhere's history have the humans come so close to completing the living list." The Nobodies who were seated around the table stopped whatever they were doing to cheer the humans on. "As of now, they only lack two more items, then those dearies can finally go home, and when they do," a smile crept up her face. "All of Nowhere will celebrate!"
A golden chest was opened by a pair of bunny guards and balloons of all colors and sizes began to fill the room.
It was colorful and noteworthy occasion, a party most Nobodies would talk about for a long, long, time. But it was different for the humans, and while most of their injuries had healed, in a way, they were still broken. Even if they did complete the list, it wouldn't bring back Emily or Vince or Leon and Haku, time alone would never be able to heal their wounds.
"Hip hip hooray! Hip hip hooray!" There was no denying that the party was grand. Streamers, banners, and balloons lit up the entire room while mile long buffet tables surrounded the dance floor. To top it all off, a live orchestra led by Serenade and Dissonance played in the background while flying jellyfish smothered the room in a soft pastel glow, everything was so beautiful...
"The queen sure went all out, huh?" Riley laughed a little before scrunching her nose at the dress she had been stuffed into. Riley thought it looked nice, but it wasn't the most comfy thing to wear, considering they were all still recovering. A hospital gown, now that would have bliss, though all of Delirium's guests would probably end up staring. The girl was still a little sore from the witch fight, but all the health potions they had been given lately had really helped and all of them were doing much better. Lesley had even been given a prosthetic arm, and Riley thought it was pretty badass. "Lesles should let us sign his arm for good luck."
The girl laughed before reaching down to pet one of the bunny guards. It was sort of silly, but the adorable soldiers had been following Ace around for sometime now. and they followed her everywhere, it was absurd, but this was probably happening because she had caused trouble for one of the nurses last time they had to check on her. As soon as Riley tried to pet the thing, it whacked her hand away with its rifle. She narrowed her eyes at the grumpy looking balls of fluff. "Karma is totally biting you in the bum, Ace."
She looked right then left, yep, there had to be at least a dozen of these little grumps.
The girl's eyes flitted across the room. The party was in full-swing, but the queen was too busy entertaining her guests to bother any of them. Some of her friends were by the buffet tables, others were lounging around, and some were just doing their own thing. She wondered where the guides were and why they weren't mingling with the rest of the nobodies. "Hey Ace," she leaned in to whisper so the bunny guards wouldn't hear. "Maybe we should ditch these grumps and find the others, how does that sound?" It would be nice to join the others.
And speaking of mingling, she watched as Mr. Cuddles spoke to Inadi with childish gestures a huge grin.
"My, my, Inadi! It's been awhile," the eight-foot-tall bear removed his top hat and placed an arm around his former assistant. "The shop has been lonely without you! The gingerbread men really miss you and so do I. How have you been doing and..." the grizzly bear narrowed his eyes, "where are those lovely friends who of yours who promised to look out for you? I'd love to thank them for doing such a good job!" By friends, he meant Lesley, Riley, and Vincent. The bear pulled Inadi into a bone-crushing hug. "Oh how I've missed you! You know, I asked Ms. Panda out to dinner once and she said yes! My boy, we're going out on a second date during the star fishing festival."
The bear's grip on his human friend tightened and Riley couldn't help but laugh, Mr. Cuddles had always been an overly emotional softy. Hopefully Inadi would live through the giant bear's fussing and worried remarks, she didn't want her possible writing companion to die just yet.
Meanwhile, on the dance floor, a young Nobody eyed Ran rather playfully.
"Oh you must try the queen's deviled eggs, they are to die for." The woman popped up behind the man and eyed all the food. It was truly a lovely party and who knew this year's humans could be so dashing. "Two more items to go, yes? You must all be very proud." She talked to Ran about the weather and all sorts of things and came to a conclusion. He was not just handsome, but funny, and kind as well.
Oh, she liked this human very, very much. "So, how do you like Nowhere so far? It's a beautiful place, don't you think?"
The woman leaned in closer and began running two fingers over his chest. "Say human," she picked up a strawberry, giggled then pushed it into his mouth. "Would you like to dance with me? I'm dying to have you sweep me off my feet." She gave Ran a flirtatious wink then began dragging the poor man off to the dance floor. It seemed the human was quite popular with the Nobodies.
A few of her friends who were on the sidelines giggled and even tossed their own flying kisses in Ran's direction.
And Ran wasn't the only one, Lesley had managed to gather his own following as well. A young man in particular, was absolutely smitten by the maiden's charms. He mustered up his courage then threw out his hand and grinned.
"I'm pleased to make such a lovely woman's acquaintance," despite the cool confidence he often handled himself with, he was feeling a little nervous. It was probably the pink hair, he rarely ever saw anything like it. "Oh, where are my manners." The nobody paused to straighten up his tie. "My name is Amiel Brightenburg, perchance could I ask for your name, fair maiden? It would be an honor."
He hoped he wasn't being too straightforward. "My father is good friends with the queen, so I've been here more times than I can count. If you like, I could show you around. There are many rooms in this castle, some so beautiful," he sighed dreamily, "they just take your breath away."
"Hey Song, you sure you're alright?" Cello narrowed his eyes at the grumpy looking guide. He had heard rumors about their last mission ending pretty badly, but they weren't given the details, so he didn't really know. "Ever since you guys got back, you've been looking kind of out of it." Kind of was an understatement though, and the last time he saw Marti it looked like someone had painted her 49 shades of gray. The mermaid's rainbow-like tail had lost its color, it was sad, but he was glad that she was okay and would recover eventually.
"Hey, I haven't seen Marti around lately, has she been doing better? Oh and Brandy, want some tea?" Sure, Cello wasn't the most reliable guide around and sometimes he dumped his work onto Brandy and Songbird, but they were his friends and he was starting to worry about their well-being. His ears twitched and he rested both his elbows on the table. "You know what, I think you guys need a good vacation. Just forget about work, and y'know, chill." He signaled for a waiter to come over and told him to get two cups of tea for his fellow guides and a glass of milk for the humans on the table. Kids liked milk, yeah? It was a shame the mermaid couldn't join them.
Hmmm, maybe he'd ask Skitz or that pink-haired human to bring Marti something to eat and drink later.
"I checked the list and saw the next items was some USB, told queenie about it and she talked it out with General Isaac Romanov." He nodded his head, "pretty cool, huh? So the USB has been paid for, all the humans have to do is travel to the city of cogs and gears to pick it up. It'll be a piece of cake, you guys won't even need to go. Lt. Falkner will be in charge of security, so there's no need to worry! Pretty awesome, yeah?" He leaned over to pat Songbird and Brandy on the head. "So sit back and relax, Cello has got it all sorted out for you!"
Harper, like the rest of the lost souls had been dressed all prim and proper for the event, but it didn't seem like he was there at all.
"Oi, kid, your food's going to get cold." Cello slung an arm around his shoulder and pulled him into a friendly headlock, but he didn't get so much as a response. Instead, his hand was peeled off and the boy walked away without so much as touching his food.
A puzzled look crossed the cat man's features, "not the touchy type, huh? I guess I messed up..." he let out an embarrassed chuckle but was quick to recover and soon enough he was stealing prawns off of Harper's plate.
"Songbird, if it isn't my favorite item hunter!" The voice was shrill and excited. "It's good to see you again," a Nobody with beautiful hair in all sorts of colors appeared by their table and she beamed at both the guides and humans. "Darling, it's been far too long. Brandy, would you mind I borrowed the adorable pumpkin for a short dance." Her eyes sparkled at the thought. "What do you say, Songbird?"
