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"Look! It's the 'Monster Kisser'!" Everyone started laughing, pointing at me. I thought my dark, curly hair would start burning from anger. Eyes darting around, scanning for who said that.
I pinpointed the person that committed the worst sin... making fun of my love of monsters. "Oh, so this why everyone's laughing. I found the joke right here," I acted like what I said wasn't an attack. Rather not get in trouble for starting a fight - again.
"What was that, pipsqueak!?"
"You know what they say about guys with small feet." People making sounds of disbelief and giggles all around us. I shrugged while trying to keep my enjoyment under wraps.
His rage would still be obvious even if his face wasn't red as a strawberry. I used a patronizing tone to continue his humiliation. "Aww, look at the cutie. He's mad ain't he." A pencil broke under the immense pressure of his clenched fist. "Anyway, Lawrence," his name slithered out like a disease. Which, to be fair, he is a cancer. "don't you have the worst scores in Magic and the practicals? Guess you're stunted in more ways than one - Oh look!! Snow!!"
I zoomed over to a window, blasting past the nuance that couldn't keep my attention for more than a minute. Icy whiteness fluttered down from the sky. Odd since it's May and it rarely snows in Winter as well.
Because of my focus on the glorious sight, I didn't notice when the meat-headed gorilla came stomping towards me and grappled my neck from behind using his arm.
"You idiot! Let go of me!" He was still physically stronger, so I had trouble getting out of his vice-like grip.
The heel of my foot crashed into his shin with as much force as possible as he immediately released me to comfort his leg. If you thought he was mad before, he was seething with uncontrolled fury.
I was actually a bit unnerved by his pure hatred and rushed over to my desk to grab a wrist pincushion. I made sure the needle and pin-ridden ball was strapped to my left hand. I just needed it in case this turned ugly.
Steamrolling towards me was not a way I thought he'd go and I'm not exactly that great against those tactics while indoors. I rapidly had to decide to pull a yellow-ball-headed pin from the cushion, his fingerless glove was overreaching for a devastating punch to my face.
Before I knew it, a figure had come between us, grabbing both of our wrists. "Lawrence! You should know not to be fighting in class, I'll be calling your parents." I snickered at his misfortune. "Oh, and don't think I forgot about you. It's the last week of school and you thought getting into your 'fight of the month' was necessary?" I clicked my tongue as Mr. Torrent shooed the class off early for lunch.
"Greg," Here we go with the fake-caring, teacher voice. "You have extraordinary talent in magic. And the principal has said multiple times not to use your Ornament in school, it's still a bit.. much. I get that you went through a lot as a kid, but you need to grow up and follow rules."
I rolled my eyes. I've heard all this before. All those idiotic 'parents' can all die for all I care. And now my teacher is on my case again. "Come on. You have to get over it eventually. You can like monsters but don't go defending them."
"I'm not defending them! Not all monsters are good, but not all of them are bad. And anyway, there's lots of adorable ones out in the world."
He sighed in defeat. "Well, could you not act up? It's the first day of May and the beginning of the last week for you. You don't have much time to rethink your plans. Becoming an Ornamental is tough, and while I truly believe you have the skills, you just don't have the experience and maturity."
After another long talk with that buzzkill of a teacher, I was sent out for lunch.
Dang it. Lunch was more than halfway over. I saw Caroline shaking her hand vigorously. A strawberry blonde with short, wavy hair. Her eyes showed the ocean itself, something I couldn't take my eyes off of-
What!? I was not looking at her that way!! I don't like her!! I began smacking my face as she trotted closer.
"Hey, Greg. How's it goin?"
I quickly stopped acting like a doofus and tried being cool. "Great, just beat the crap out of Lawrence not too long ago." I said this with a serious expression while flexing my muscles.
"You know that you don't have any muscle.. right?" I wanted to crawl into a deep, dark hole for all of eternity. "But don't worry, it's not like you need it."
It was like God gave me a second chance as I was filled with a bit of hope. But like with everyone in my generation, it didn't last. I noticed some scratches and torn parts of her skirt. "Who did this!!" Livid didn't begin to describe my feelings.
She looked at her skirt hurriedly before trying to calm me down, "Don't worry, it's nothing. But could you fix my clothes for me?" She gave off this adorable little smile that always made me say yes.
I grabbed the sewing needle in my pincushion and had its eye touch the damaged, dark blue fabric then to the cushion. As I pulled it out, an ultra thin blue thread formed. It was like I was possessed as my hand moved like a sewing god.
She was astounded every time I showed off my skill. I was quite proud of it since it was one of the things my dad taught me before he and my mom died fighting a monster. My parents were both one of the five 'Crown-level' Ornamentals in the world, but facing a Black-Queen Rank monster was too much for even them...
"Greg? Greg, you okay?" I was snapped out of my thoughts quite literally with Caroline's in my face. I had finished fixing it as if noting ever happened.
"Yeah, of course. Why would I not?"
"Well-"
I interrupted before she got any ideas out, "Now who did this to you!?"
In the end, she still didn't tell me. I'll need to make sure I watch carefully... But for now, I was excited going out to see the snow. It was insane. It wasn't just a layer of snow, almost hills were forming. "Incredible!" I was swirling around the whimsical, white wonderland with the stinging-cold snipping at my skin.
At first, my enthusiasm dulled my feeling, but it seemed to get even colder. I didn't notice when everyone else was called back inside for a snowstorm and freezing temperatures.
I swiveled, heading back to the school until I caught something from the corner of my eye. It stood proud on four snow-white legs. Eyes shone like jewels on top of a grand mountain of fresh snow. I was completely mesmerized by its enchanting presence until I finally got back into realty. Still need to get of my habit of losing focus, I hate when adults are right.
When our eyes met, a defensive anger was released as the falling ice crystals became rushing daggers.
It was hard to keep balance on the snow and I couldn't tell exactly what the surroundings were in this blank vastness, so I couldn't use trees to escape. But at the same time, this was chance to get a monster. For years, people have made fun of me, 'You can't get a monster.' 'Monsters are just that, monsters, why would you like them?'
Well guess what? I'm gonna be the first to tame a monster!
The problem was that this wolf was incredibly powerful. "Come on!! Cold manipulation!? What are you!?"
I had to quickly figure out a way to capture it safely. The giant wolf uses long-ranged manipulation attacks, powerful, flexible, definitely intelligent. Probably a Bishop Type. But it doesn't seem set on killing me, just increasing distance. If that's the case...
I finally backed up near a tree and hopped onto one of its frosty branches. Pulling a blue-headed pin from the cotton ball on my left hand and quickly fired it into one of the beast's powerful hind-legs.
A pair of floating, green scissors and a large sheet of white fabric appeared as I quickly began cutting at the thick, fluffy material. I could sense the monster's hostility with the pin stuck in its body as a large wave of magic created sharp spires of ice in the desolate snow arena.
After cutting, the shears left like they never existed. The problem was trying to use my needle and thread to sew a wolf plushie together while leaping into the air. A freezing, pointed edge had sliced through my leg. Crimson had stained the once pure alabaster, but at this point, two things I've realized. First off, this thing is impossible for me to defeat one on one without a miracle, and second, it just makes me want it even more.
I can't wait when I can touch it's soft fur maybe play fetch. Do wolves fetch..?
But like always, I got distracted again and was slit on my face while still in midair. Both injuries were deep and I won't be able to run in time to get out of the monster's wrath. I really hope this works, 'cause I've never actually tried it...
I landed pretty well on my feet, but my right leg gave out due to the splice it endured. I furiously began to work on finishing the stitches, all the while feeling the insane power rushing towards the beautiful, yet admittedly terrifying anomaly. It was unbelievable. There must have been hundreds of blades of ice being formed, all on standby, and pointed at my weakened body.
There's no way I can dodge all of those, even if I was in peak condition. I had finished the sewing of the flat wolf and just needed one last element - it needs to be filled with my feelings. People might think this is a stupid power, but that's why I hide it and usually use it in people I hate. So this is a VERY different thing for me.
The frigid razors were hurled and I could only hold on tight to the stitched together fabric. The impending doom creeping quickly. Only one thing broke past my fear-
It had been a few moments and I was still alive... at least I think I was. The cold had finally gotten to me. I probably couldn't tell because of the adrenaline, but.. I.. don't kn-
——
Jolting awake, I find myself in a small patch of green within a blizzard-ing world. The precipitation blocked out the sun almost completely, leaving only the small area i was in illuminated. Something warm and fluffy was moving slightly from behind me. I turn in astonishment with calm, regal eyes staring back.
The empty fabric I once had was full of cotton and soft to the touch. My baggy eyes were filled with life like the new doll I had. I jolted on top of the furry monstrosity and began petting it furiously and marveling in its majesty.
In my moment of bliss, I felt something hard in its fur. I touched to have instantly realized it was one of my two blue pins. Pulling it out slowly, not losing eye-contact with the adorable and freakin awesome monster in front of me. It was a dream come true. And it was when I finally stopped to marvel at the creature in front of me, did I notice it's sheer size as it stood. Probably six-foot to its shoulders and could easily carry three people.
I heard a mysterious, deep but smooth voice calling to me, "Are you going to pull that thing out anytime soon?"
Umm, excuse me?