Chapter 8: My sister is lonely!
The teen witch, who seemed to be a little unusual at first seemed to be... nice enough to save Isabella was now looking at her in a new perspective. They planned to have ice cream right after they picked up the little one but for now the witch wanted to get to know her better.
"So... you walk to that daycare?" (Lucinda) asks a little curious because she has heard of the scholarship girl being broke but... not to the point she can't afford a car ride to pick her sister up.
"Doesn't your feet hurt doing this every day?" she continues. She's well aware that it probably hurts a lot, but she couldn't help but wonder if the girl has mastered pain resistance at this point.
"You get used to it and I'm just saving up what I can now. I don't want to waste money on gas... I can walk, this is no big deal." The other stubborn teen replies shrugging, looking so serious and cold.
Keep a distance. Don't get attached.
"Does your sister walk with you too? How old is she?" (Lucinda) asked with the intent to get to know her better and she couldn't help but appear being sucked in by her curiosity for ever taming the demon lord.
That was basically untamable.
"My sister is... five... She'll be moving up to grade one next year and I need money for her school play in the day care." she takes up her phone in a frenzy, searching through contacts of people maybe she can borrow a bit of money from.
However... certainly not from those loan sharks who tried kidnapping her before.
They need to find a new place... she's afraid that the loan sharks will be coming to get them next.
"You need money for your sister's play in the day care? Oh how much? I can lend you some." She quickly took out some bills from her wallet and offered it to the girl without much thought.
"This is... a lot- I don't-"
"You'll pay me back right? So no need to go all I can't accept this! Too generous- nah take it and just remember to pay me back when you're good." (Lucinda) smiles oh so widely, offering her the money. Besides, she really was thankful that this girl looked like the first human master that the demon lord served before.
Or else- she's probably dead by now.
Isabella looked at her skeptically. "You... don't want anything else?"
"Uhhh ghorl you said you needed money and like... I thought of helping. Just so you know this has no interest and like this is our first meeting so I do get why it's weird buttt you don't seem so bad. You said you'll give me ice cream later so it better be a promise." (Lucinda) hands out the hundred bill which was enough to cover the fees.
Isabella takes it, she's not a fool to not take it besides she'll be having another problem solved.
"Thank you, I promise to pay you back as soon as I can." she takes the bill carefully, folding it into her pocket.
Lucinda smiles and a lightbulb pops into her head!
"Oh yeah! Can I have your number too? You can text me when you're good to pay me back.'' She quickly takes out her phone in a rush and leans over to Isabella who didn't think of it and tells her watsupapp number.
"Right, my number is this." She shows it to Lucinda who copies it and successfully adds her onto the app as a friend. "I hope you don't mind but I'm changing your nickname into something funny." (Lucinda)
She types out 'Demon Lord's Crush probably' <3 and starts giggling to herself like a maniac because of such a good nickname she made.
"Okay...?" (Isabella) found that a little weird and decided to give her no nickname and just put in her name. Ms. Lucinda Lockheart.
The witch was screaming for happiness now that she has Isabella's number. She can show this to the demon lord and she knows she'll be pulling her favors! "Now that's over with! Let's go quickly and pick up your sister then!"
.-.-.-.-.-.
At the daycare...
There seemed to be no problem and no new crooks waiting for them to ambush Isabella and take her away- just in case though she wore her usual mask and sunglasses for protection. "Nice get up you have there but you'll end up looking like a stalker you know." (Lucinda) comments on her new accessories.
"I- um... I just can't stand the dust and the sun at this hour." (Isabella) excused and thankfully that got the witch to stop talking when she saw a cute little figure waving in their direction.
"O.M.G. Is that your little sister who looks mega adorable with that tiny smile of hers?!" she points at Emily who stopped waving at her sister after noticing she had someone else walking with her.
It was not the 'bodyguard' who said she'll protect her from any danger but another pretty lady with pink hair. "Sis!" she lets go of the teacher's hands.
Mrs. Lina, the daycare teacher laughs softly at her student who was really excited to reunite with her sister.
"Can we go home now! Mrs. Lina is nice but I like being with you more-" she stops when the secretly pink haired witch stares at her with admiration. "Who's this?" she points at Lucinda who kneels down a little to meet the plumpy faced version of Isabella and squeals.
"You... are so! Cute!" (Lucinda) not even hesitating, gently pokes the girl's plumpy cheeks feeling the bounce radiating off of her finger.
"No! Isa! Get her away from me!" (Emily) felt like her private space had been infiltrated and didn't take the stranger's advances too kindly. "Shoo! You're ugly!"
Le gasp!
"Who are you calling ugly?! Ugh you're lucky you're cute and I know you're only lying to make me feel insecure! Isabella, your sister is already a rude girl at her age!" (Lucinda) huffs putting her hands on her hips looking down at Emily.
"Didn't you know? Girls and boys don't like rude people. How will you get a lover when you grow up with a rude mouth?" (Lucinda) fights off with little Emily who just stuck out her tongue at the stranger's scolding.
"Girls are mean and boys smell! Also they both have cooties and I don't want a lover! Ew! Germs!" (Emily) imitates a puking noise and expression. "Blergh..."
"Cheeky brat you have here but she does have a point. I don't want to be with people who have germs like that hottie who confessed to you a few hours ago right?" (Lucinda) nudges Isabella who rolls her eyes and decides to introduce the two to each other.
"Emily, this is Ms. Lucinda Lockheart. An acquaintance from school." she motions for the little girl to say her greetings properly and Emily bows respectfully this time.
"Hello and thank you for being my sister's only friend that I've seen. She's really lonely so please don't leave her." (Emily) bows further and her older sister is shocked, feeling embarrassed hearing all those truthful things!
Okay she might have gone overboard with her whole studying and keeping up good grades that she's forgotten how to make friends but- who am I kidding that's still lonely!
"Emily! Jeez!" she pinches her sister's face, lifting it up with a reddened embarrassed expression. "You really didn't have to include all of that! I'm sorry Ms. Lockheart-"
"Jeez now you're making me feel embarrassed there Isabella- just call me by my first name. I sound old when you call me like that and I did not go through all that hellish skincare routine to be called something old!" (Lucinda) remembers all those nightly hours she did with the whitening mascara she bought, making sure she's utterly stress free and having eight hours of sleep daily.
A good witch has to take care of her own beauty, because magic alterations has some severe consequences and sacrifices!
Excuse me? Have you ever heard of the old witches at the time, kidnapping young maidens to absorb their youth in order for them to stay young and sexy! Lucinda doesn't want any of that because it's been dubbed illegal by the court of witches.
She'll lose her license to practice any kind of magic in the future if she breaks a rule.
"Right... So um... Lucinda." (Isabella) mutters out her first name making Lucinda nod with pride.
"Yes besty~?" she says dramatically, earning a weird look from both of the sisters.
"That's not a word I would use yet but- Lucinda here is someone who saved your big sister out of trouble from school so I'm treating her to ice cream." (Isabella) pats Emily's hair and she jumps up and down by the mention of a delicious treat like ice cream.
"Ice cream! Ice cream! Isa! I want one! I want strawberry flavor!" (Emily) demanded and her older sister smiled softly at her demands.
"Okay but only one. We don't want you getting sick or anything."
Really, she can't afford to have Emily getting sick. Not only she has to worry about rent- it's best if the girl will not be in harm's way and she can't do anything about it but watch because she has no money to get into the hospital would hurt her severely.
Mrs. Lina the daycare teacher walks over after finally noticing that the conversation seemed to have calmed down. "Isabella Insley, dear. About the school play-" she manages to take their attention and Isabella's ears perked.
"If... you can't pay for now- I can cover it up for you and you can just pay me next time." (Mrs. Lina) offered to make Isabella glad that there were still kind people like her around but she managed to shake her head and take out the hundred bill that Lucinda gave her.
"I borrowed money from a friend, Mrs. Lina, so I'm alright. Thank you for thinking of me and Emily though we really appreciate it." she wraps her arms around Emily feeling really happy at the conversation.
Mrs. Lina takes the money with a little sigh. "Alright... be safe when going home and make sure you don't talk to strangers.'' She gave both the girls a warning and obviously they listened, waving their goodbyes at the kind daycare teacher.
"Bye! Bye! Mrs. Lina! You know when I grow up I want to marry you!"
"Emily shhh! Don't say things like that! Sorry Mrs. Lina!" (Isabella) quickly covered her mouth as the other parents heard of the commotion they just laughed and thought it was a funny scene.
"Bwuahahaha! Look at you! This little rascal is the most charming flirt I've ever seen! You're flirting with a married woman here be careful girl." (Lucinda) couldn't help but laugh some more while holding her stomach in.
Children are too unpredictable and hilarious!
Also add annoying demons and spans of Satan then tadah!
Well there are some children who are really quiet and nice though.
The three of them walked together and only stopped when the convenience store was near.
"Welcome to eight/twelve! The convenience store who has everything and definitely is not a rip off of some popular chain!" there was a recorded sound coming out of the store and Isabella decided that she'll buy the ice cream alone.
Afraid that once Emily tags along, she'll point at things she'll want and Isabella won't be able to say no to her demands because of guilt. "I... um... can you watch over my sister outside of the store while I get you ice cream?"
"Of course, take your time and I want my ice cream to be flavored coffee by the way." (Lucinda) takes her phone out and starts taking pictures of the scenery. "I got your little demon spawn here so shoo. I got everything under control." with an assuring promise, but not really. Isabella swore to take less than a minute buying that ice cream.
Lucinda shrugs and decides to keep an eye out for any suspicious humans but they seem to be alone which was good.
"Hey you." (Emily) calls out to the pink haired girl who replies a little lazily. "Yeah?"
"Is your hair fake or real? Why is it pink? It looks cool." it appears that her childlike curiosity got the best of her and couldn't help but ask where did she get such cool hair?
Lucinda on the other hand was really amused. She wanted to see how naïve this human child was. "Hmm... I got it from eating too much pink cotton candy. To the point I had my hair change color into what it is now. Isn't it pretty cool?"
Emily's eyes widened and believed the witch with her confidence. "S-So if I eat blue haired cotton candy! I'll get blue hair?!" she yells out and Lucinda nods happily. Oh dear! Tricking children is always the best hobby there is for a witch!
Just look at the main star in the Hansel and Gretel story- never mind, it's actually not that much fun of a story since the witch died trying to eat those two but still!
"Mm! Mm! If you eat so many of them! You'll get awesome colored hair like me!" she continues to spout nonsense as the little child believed every word of it. "Why blue hair actually?"
"Mrs. Lina likes blue!" (Emily) answers confidently and that only made Lucinda even more curious and she felt even more... perhaps to say happy because literally she's witnessing a little girl's dreams go down the drain for liking a married woman.
"Oh the teacher? Jeez quite a romantic one aren't you! But remember! She's a married woman and you know what that means?" (Lucinda) asks and Emily doesn't follow. "She's off the market young lady. Just pick on someone your age."
"But I like... Mrs. Lina."
"And I like cheese but I'm lactose intolerant. There's no happy ending to this kiddo. I'm here to let you see reason and give up while you still can." (Lucinda) indeed gave the little one some tough love and Emily really thought of it through.
"Also Mrs. Lina is a girl so she definitely has some cooties like you said before." she continued but Emily's mind wandered off.
What's the meaning of marriage?
"What do you mean by married?" (Emily) asks completely out of the loop and Lucinda regrets ever explaining.
"You know what kiddo- true love it is! Go on to fulfill your dream of crushing on a married woman only to look back at that memory and cringe at how embarrassing it was. Don't tell me I didn't warn you in the future though." (Lucinda) crossed her arms, tapping her foot impatiently looking over the convenience store glass trying to find Isabella who was still waiting in line for the ice cream.
"Now that I think about it. Your sister really has no friends huh." she sighs looking back at her phone looking at some pictures.
"No! Well... she did introduce me to someone who told me she'll be our bodyguard. She's really pretty." (Emily) decided to tell the story of how she met the most coolest looking yet beautiful lady she's ever met who made her sister panic that day.
In Lucinda's mind however, she's just wondering how many people will die at the hands of the demon lord if she knew how many people have been trying to fiddle with her bride.
First Jake and now some random girl who's been telling them that they'll be their bodyguard?
Jeez, this girl is a magnet for trouble.
"Oh really? Your sister is really popular."
"Hmm... now that I think about it. The pretty lady had really cool eyes. Like a cat!" (Emily) remembers how the two of them met and she can't believe her big sister never complimented the pretty girl's eyes.
Lucinda stops scrolling on her phone and puts her attention fully on Emily. "Did you just say she had eyes similar to a cat? Mind telling me what color were they, kiddo?" (Lucinda) quickly pulls out the picture she took from the demon lord's home when she broke the vase and whatnot.
"Hmm... green?" (Emily) wanders off in her mind, trying to remember what the pretty lady looked like.
"Does she look like this?" (Lucinda) shows the picture of Azel still in her cat-demon form. Emily gasps realizing it really is the same person but with some realistic cat filters on!
"Yeah! That's her! Do you know her? My sister wanted to find her and ask her out for dinner!" (Emily) yells and Lucinda is certainly hearing the sound of victory from this new acquired information.
Cling! Cling!
The store door opens and out comes Isabella with her perfect timing as always. The two looked at the door and saw Isabella with a small happy smile, "Here is your coffee ice cream and your strawberry ice cream as promised."
"Yay!" (Emily) rushes over to her sister quickly taking the cup and the wooden spoon of it happily scooping out the delicious treat.
"Thankies~" (Lucinda) takes her share and begins wondering if she should ask Isabella about the demon lord to get the full story.
Eh! What the heck? Let's do it but actually- after eating the ice cream she'll do it.
"Mmm... I'll ask later. Free food tastes good as always!" (Lucinda)
Thank you to my patreun!
Platymage