#Tex is funny to be because he is an amorphous blob of black ooze but also like. a frat boy.

[sugarcoatednightshade]

Truth or Dare With The Devil

D’lielaxiu groaned, obscuring its face behind a veil. “No way, no way am I gonna do it.”

“Oh, come on Li, don’t be such a bore!” Tex’s voice was barely audible over the chorus of laughter echoing around the room.

It protested without opening its mouth, still too embarrassed to show its face. D’lielaxiu didn’t even know why it’d let its mirror-kin drag him to this stupid party. It should have been at home! Studying for the upcoming exams. Speaking of which…

“I don’t even have my license! What if I get caught,” it shouted a little too loud, excited to have a valid excuse. “No way am I gonna wait another century to take the exam.”

That, at least, gave Tex pause. “They aren’t gonna catch you,” he said, though Li could taste the hesitation in his voice.

D’lielaxiu kept going, peeking out from its veil. “Besides, where would a mortal even get my summons? I don’t just give it out to anyone.” It glanced at Aingorah, who flushed. “It’s really a lame dare, if you think about it.”

It sat up straight, trying to project the air of confidence it had seen from its favorite professors. Li could smell desperate hope wafting off its shoulders, tried to ignore it. Maybe they won’t notice, and Tex’ll just choose a different dare.

Tex opened a mouth to speak but was cut off by a clap of thunder from Kha’ast. A small clap, compared to what Li had seen from their mirror-kin in class, but it loud enough to subdue Tex into silence.

Kha’ast leaned forward, “But that’s the point! The Authorities really only watch for license infractions in demons who actually, you know, have licenses. Right now, you’re basically untraceable.”

Aingorah leaned backwards in a casual pose. “Besides, I bet your record is squeaky clean. The Authorities don’t revoke permits for first time offenders.”

For the first time since the dare had been spoken, D’rheaxia spoke up. “You would know all about that, Gorah. How many strikes do you have now? Five?”

As Aingorah sputtered, D’lielaxiu studied its mirror-kin. Layers of feathers and sheer gauze, normally charmed to billow in an untraceable breeze, now lay flat. Yellow eyes, clearly visible from behind her own veil, narrowed. She looked undeniably smug, but mirror-sense let it see the hidden meaning within.

The way her feathers tilted meant question; this twisting of gauze, like a knife, meant attack; and her voice, too, allowed Li to guess at the target.

Li answered in the same mirror-code. Aloud, it continued to protest, only half caring as the argument devolved into accusations and insinuations.

Do you need me to step in, Rhea asked. It’s not a fair dare, they can’t ask you to break The Law.

He pitched his voice slightly lower, then sighed: If I decline, what then?

A hesitation in response, then a flex of talons beneath her cloak:  you don’t have to impress them.

It shuddered, then adjusted its hood: I want to impress them. To anyone else, this would have been a terribly embarrassing confession. But Rhea was mirror-kin, born of the same reflection, and nothing between them was hidden.

Rhea side eyed it, gave him a look that said without code: My friends are jerks.

It stared back in admittance: still, I want their respect. It gave her a small smile: maybe it won’t be that bad.

“Oh alright, fine, I’ll do it!” There, Li had said it. There was no coming back now. A chorus of cheers and jeers went up around the room, the demon sitting next to it knocked its cup against it’s in congratulations.

Rhea, sitting on its other side, knocked its shoulder, said “I told you guys he wasn’t a coward!” Setting off a new round of cheers and drinks.

Someone passed D’lielaxiu a sheet of parchment. Li dragged a claw across it, carefully drawing its summoning circle. Drifting swirls that represented its Name intersected with generic warding and calling and dismissive sigils. It was a symbol that echoed deep within Li’s being. It has only ever drawn it once, in the privacy of a classroom; then, the paper had been destroyed almost immediately. Drawing it here, in front of a crowd it barely knew, Li couldn’t help but feel ashamed. Was it taking too long to draw it? What if everyone thought his Summons was lame?

Several more rounds of truth or dare passed before Li finished the outline. Then, it brought a paw behind the veil and bit into it. Mixed blood and spit dripped onto the parchment, which began to glow in the fifth dimension.

Rhea glanced over, nodding politely. Somewhere within her veil, a beak clacked with appreciation.

Truth or dare finally ended. D’lielaxiu made eye contact with Tex and Aingorah, who both began making their way over to it. Only a firm claw on its back kept it from taking a step backward.

She wasn’t looking at it, but Li heard Rhea whisper in its ear, “Do not back out now.”

Then she was gliding forward, greeting Tex with a nod and embracing Aingorah with two back wings.

Aingora smiled at her before leaning around to D’lielaxiu, “Oh, this is going to be so much fun! You’ll love the mortal plane, there’s always so much going on, it’s absolutely enchanting!”

“Yeah, I’ve never actually been.”

“I know,” she said. “It’s actually way more fun than they make it sound in school. I mean, most of those professors haven’t even been there in like, decades.”

Tex chimed in, “and even then, they only ever talk about politicians and stuff.”

Aingorah nodded, “Right, it’s all about politics and rules for them. If I didn’t want a license so bad, I’d’ve dropped out ages ago, it’s so boring.”

Involuntarily, Li felt itself begin to smile. Aingorah and Tex, annoying as they were, had a kind of infectious joy about them. Li passed forward the Summoning paper.

Aingorah nodded. “Perfect. I’ll run and drop this off somewhere, you should feel a call in just a week. Make sure you take it, it’ll hurt more if you try to resist.”

“Any other advice?”

This time, Tex answered. “No, but you gotta swear you’ll let us know what’s happening before you leave.” His gelatinous form rippled, dark ooze dripping from his mouth. “I wanna be there when you get back, to help acquaint the little mortal with how things work around here.”

Li shrunk deeper into its veil as Aingorah swatted him, “Don’t be gross, Tezerix.”

Ignoring the implications, Li signaled a question to Rhea. How was it supposed to answer the summons quickly while also alerting these ones.

“I’ll give you a tug when I feel Li leave,” she said to the group.

The two shrugged.

“Works for me,” Tex said.

“Same here,” said Aingorah. For a minute, they all stood in comfortable silence, thinking. “I’m gonna go get this delivered, you have any final requests before I go.”

Li sighed, “not really, I guess. Just make sure I’m not summoned by some rich asshole who thinks he’s better than me.”

Rhea shot him a look that caused Li to wince, suddenly sure it had revealed more about itself than it was supposed to. Was I too weak? Are people gonna think I can’t even stand up to an overconfident mortal, now?

But all Aingorah did was smile before flitting away, and Tex just sent it a sharp grin, patting its shoulder before going off to talk up his buddies.

Li turned towards D’rheaxia. “Was that… wrong of me to say? Should I have not specified anything?”

Rhea looked around before pulling it in. “No, no, it’s good that you had some kind of request, it shows them that you’re taking this dare seriously. It’s more like, uhm, I guess it’s just that…” she trailed off, looking for the right words. Li looked at her and was shocked to see that she was embarrassed.

“Well now that she knows you’re really okay with this, she’ll definitely be trying to match you up with someone she thinks is your type.”

Li blinked. “What?”

~~~

Woag i hope you enjoyed this absolute brainrot i spat out in like an hour. if youre curious its based off of this dpxdc post I saw earlier today by @undercookedcatgut. it/what i wrote felt a little too ooc for danny, in any au i can think of. like that boy is waaay too nice to kidnap and marry an innocent bystander for the bit idc who dared him to do it.