#bc they obviously set her up to be a witch with ice powers (to balance cheryl's fire)

[sybxritiic]

𝐌𝐎𝐍𝐑𝐎𝐄 𝐀𝐑𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐃 𝐀𝐍 𝐄𝐘𝐄𝐁𝐑𝐎𝐖  a  subtle  smirk  forming  on  her  lips  as  she  gazed  down  at  the  other  woman.  ❝ i  thought you would’ve  known  better  than  to  underestimate  me  by  now. ❞  it  wasn’t  like  she  had  a  history  of  violence,  but  she  wasn’t  some  helpless  damsel  in  distress  either.  she  worked  hard  to  maintain her reputation as someone who could hold her own. ❝ what's the big deal ? you've technically already said it, ❞ she pointed out, thumb gliding over spark wheel of shiloh's precious lighter. ❝ if you don't think it should count, then i'd be happy to hold out even longer──until i feel like you've earned it. ❞

"i never would have guessed." shiloh deadpanned, small grin in place. a smirk soon replaced the look, every bit mischievous as she thoroughly enjoyed monroe's dramatics. part of her wanted to argue that if the other woman got to be dramatic, she could be ridiculous - which she was fully aware she could be - but she wanted to take a different approach. "mm, i don't know, that wouldn't sound like much of a threat to me." to shiloh, in the context of them? it sounded like a good time. "a word i don't like." she stressed; as if there wasn't a multitude of occasions she could be persuaded to use it. feeling herself heat up at the entirety of monroe's next words, she cocked her head at the taller woman, smirk still lingering on the corners of her mouth. "does one word really count as begging?"

[photochoco]

First days are always the most hectic

Black Cauldron’s newest recruit learns the ropes. She hopes she isn’t in over her head!

---

Wisty had always loved sleeping late. In a world where the night was eternal, and the city had only colored lights to indicate the time, it was easy to lose track. They often would stay up until the deep purples of “night” would slowly gradate into the bright yellows of “daytime”. People more or less adhered to the idea that yellow was for doing things and being awake, and purple was for sleeping. Though Wisty had found that the city came alive during the purple hours in a way it didn’t when the lights were yellow. They themself worked better during purple hours. Ah, night life.

But if they looked out the window now, everything was just a muddled soup of values. Greys mixed together dully. Had they known this would happen, they would’ve appreciated it all a lot more. 

It’d been several weeks since they’d been cursed, and everything had changed. Wisty had tried to go on with life as normal, but quickly realized that the old “normal” was not coming back. People stared at them, whispered and glared. Creating art had been immensely frustrating. And their friends…

It had all come to a head around the time of their birthday. Wisty always enjoyed throwing a party with all their buddies, and they were determined to make this year no exception. They’d gone all out, decorating with colorful streamers that they couldn’t see, balloons everywhere, and a cake they’d made themselves. 

No one had shown up.They’d been so sure their curse didn’t matter to their friends. Apparently it mattered a lot. They had curled up on their bed and sobbed their guts out for what felt like hours. It hurt, not seeing any color. It hurt even more to know the people they’d considered their friends were so ready to just abandon them for being cursed. So what if their eyes were gaping black voids? So what if they occasionally leaked? So what if they hung out at Black Cauldron? So what if they hung out with cursed people? So what if they were cursed? So what? How could that matter so much? 

I’d love to hang out but...y’know how my mom feels about curses and...yeah, I don’t wanna argue with her-

Uh...what if the witch comes back…? They have tracking magic and stuff so...I don’t know-

Ergh...last time you hugged me, your eye goop got all over my clothes. I still haven’t gotten the stains out. Sorry but that’s just too messed up-

It smells really weird, like chemicals? You sure it isn’t poisonous? Yeesh-

The cake had been shoved into the fridge, but Wisty couldn’t find it in them to tear down the decorations. So they threw on a hoodie and went for a walk. 

It was very embarrassing when, as they wandered around with swollen red eyelids and tear streaks on their cheeks, they ran into Dex by chance. His perpetual grin slipped as he noticed their tears, and very easily got them to say why. Wisty tried to brush it off as not being a big deal, which was very obviously a lie.

An ice cream and 30 minutes later, and Dex had insisted Wisty come with him to Black Cauldron. Something about Ela wanting to speak with Wisty about something. 

What awaited them through those doors was the last thing they’d expected; a surprise party thrown together just for them. Dex, the sly nerd, had told everyone what happened. Said Wisty would not be going to bed without having a party to celebrate their birthday.

Well. After they’d managed to finally stop crying over the touching gesture, Wisty was treated to an admittedly last-minute but nonetheless wonderful party with all the Cadets. Some of them had even gone out and bought them small gifts. At the end of it all, Wisty went home happily, with a full stomach and a camera roll full of memories. These people barely knew them, yet dropped everything to give them a shotgun party. It was enough for them to finally make up their mind.

After the party, Wisty approached Ela with their answer. They wanted to become a Cadet. The new couple weeks were filled with visits to BC to meet with Ela and Harvey. Today marked the day of their orientation, and their stomach fluttered with nerves. They couldn’t really imagine themselves out there fighting yet, but the prospect of it was weirdly exciting. And it gave them something to do while they figured out what to do with their artist career. Sitting in their apartment fighting off a creeping emptiness wasn’t going to help. 

They put on their headphones, tugged their hair out from behind and gave it a flip for good measure before looking themself over in the mirror. Perfect, coordinated, adorable. Wisty adjusted their headphones and took a deep breath, forcing themself to keep looking when all they wanted to do was shut their eyes.

You are okay.

In front of their apartment complex, Wisty wrestled on their roller blades, selected some music, and took off. The breeze as they skated along eased their mind some, and their favorite tunes in their ears eased it more.

They wondered if Harvey had finished designing it yet.

---

The bustling of activity in the bar of Black Cauldron was the same as always, Cadets walking around and chatting with each other. Everyone stopped though, at the sound of something banging into the front door. A few moments later, the door swung open and Wisty practically tumbled through the threshold, a pair of roller blades in her hand. 

“Ack, sorry! Didn’t mean to run into the door like that.”

“Now that’s what I call an entrance,” Bianca giggled, giving a wave. “You ready for your first day?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be!” Wisty said, raising her arms in a stretch. “I’m like, both nervous AND excited?”

A tall mage in a bunny mask rounded the corner, a giant calligraphy pen in his hands. “Ah, perfect. I just finished the final adjustments to your weapon. Here.” Harvey held it out with both hands. Its tip gleamed of newly polished brass. Its long body was black and smooth as Wisty took it in her hands. It was-

“It’s perfect!” she squealed in her excitement. Harvey gave a satisfied nod.

“Aaaand here are your ink canisters. I took the liberty of filling them up for you already. And here are the colors in powder form, just add water. Once you run out I can make more for you. And the colors are in the order you requested so you can easily pick them without seeing the hue. There should be enough ink to last you a whole fight, but don’t y’know, go painting the entire city.”

Wisty hugged her pen and ink pack tightly to her chest like a child being gifted a new toy. “I love it I love it I love it thankyouthankyouthank youuuuuuu!!” she exclaimed, hopping up and down. She hurriedly clipped the ink canisters to the back of her belt before doing the same to her pen across her back. “How do I look?” she asked with a twirl.

Harvey’s bunny mask was stuck in a perpetual grin, but Wisty could glean from his body language that he was quite pleased with his handiwork. “You look ready for your first day! You’ll get a chance to try ‘em out today during your sparring.”

“My what?”

“Sparring!” Bianca appeared out of nowhere and slung an arm around Wisty’s neck. “You said you don’t have a whole lot of fighting experience yeah? Plus like Harvey said, you’ll totally wanna try out your weapon before heading out there, see whatcha can do!”

“Okay…” Wisty said slowly. “But who am I gonna be sparring?”

It was then that she was lifted bodily off the ground by an enormous hand, which wrapped around her middle as easily as if she were a doll. 

“That would be me, cupcake. You should get a feel for what it’ll be like fighting powerful enemies with a lot of physical strength.”

“As ya probably know, ghouls are usually witch cronies, doin’ their dirty work. Not the smartest, but really damn strong,” Bianca added. 

“...Did you just call Pinprick stupid? That’s not very nice!”

“Oh no, cupcake, she is mostly right. Being turned into a ghoul scrambled my brains, hehehe,” Pinprick replied with a wide smile.

Wisty paused to consider this. “...Still! Be nicer to yourself! I’m fairly sure you’re not stupid.”

“My oh my, what a sweet cupcake you are! But no time for chatter, we must be off to the sparring spot!” 

“Oh cool!” Wisty looked down to be put down. “Where is it?”

“Near the outskirts of the city,” Pinprick replied as he squeezed through the small doorframe. 

“Are we gonna walk then? You don’t hafta carry me, I got functional legs!” 

“Nope! No walkin’,” Bianca said, walking up behind them and jumping onto Pinprick’s other arm, balancing herself against his shoulder.

“Rooftop hopping is much faster. Observe!” Pinprick bent his legs.

“WhaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA--”

---

“Here we are!” Pinprick chirped, setting a very windswept Wisty down on the ground.

Well, that was another form of travel she could check off the list. Bianca hopped off Pinprick’s back and tossed a bracelet to the newbie.

“All Cadets carry these bracelets,” Pinprick explained. “They’re a magic disrupter, placing them on witches or ghouls disrupts their flow of magic to incapacitate them. But of course, they don’t always do the job, so you all need to know how to fight. That one is just a dummy bracelet of course, completely harmless.”

“Oh, okay,” Wisty said, turning it over in her hands. “So I just gotta snap the bracelet on you?” 

Bianca and Pinprick exchanged a glance and a mischievous grin, with the former shoving her hands in her pockets and backing up. Way up. 

“Get that bracelet on me, and we can call it a day. Unless you get it on real quick though!” the ghoul snickered.

Wisty unclipped her pen and spun it. “Oof, you don’t have to worry about that. I haven’t done a lot of fighting, remember.”

“Chin up, cupcake, back straight! Cuz here I come.”

“Ok so what--” Her words were cut off as Pinprick’s arm shot towards her at an alarming speed. “ShiT!!” Wisty barely had time to dodge out of the way, one of Pinprick’s fingers clipping her cheek. 

Geezus, he’s fast!! She hopped backwards, trying to gain some distance between them. He lunged towards her again, arm outstretched to grab her. Gripping her pen, Wisty rammed it against his arm, knocking it off course. Undeterred, the rest of Pinprick caught up like a released rubberband. His massive hand swiped through the air; Wisty flipped out of the way in a backwards handspring, her foot kicking his claws away. They felt remarkably like rubber. Her sense of gravity was then thrown sideways as she slipped on her pen. She let out a sharp squawk as she landed roughly on her side.

She barely had time to feel even an inkling of embarrassment before she was slammed into the ground and pinned there by his other hand.

“Not a bad start, cupcake. But you’re gonna have to do better than that,” Pinprick crooned. 

Wisty wheezed. “HhHhhhffffiiiihhhhhhhhne- Le’go please my lungs ack-”

Pinprick let her go and she stood up, wincing. Dude could pack a punch.

“Impressive maneuvers! But didn’t you just say you don’t have any fighting experience?”

Wisty swung her leg out to the side. “Gymnastics. And maybe like a month’s worth of self-defense classes while I was in high school. But that’s it.” She gripped her weapon in her hands, tightly this time.

“Ready? Again.” He lunged.

She dodged and slid underneath him, bashing the end of her pen into where she thought the back of his knee was. She must’ve struck true; the giant ghoul kneeled with a small grunt. Wisty yelped in surprise as his entire upper half pivoted to face her.

“Surprise!”

Wisty barely managed to bend out of the way of his swipe. Noticing the ridges on his arm, she grabbed one and swung herself up onto his shoulders. Pinprick bucked, trying to throw her off. She impulsively grabbed the first thing she could, his hair. It was as hard as plastic and hard to keep a grip on.

“Sorry! Sorryyyyyyyy!” she yelped as she reached for the bracelet.

Her apology was answered by Pinprick grabbing her ankle and yanking her off. Upside-down, she could see Bianca ambling up to the scene, a burger in her hand.

“Howzit goin’?” she asked.

Wisty let out a loud groan of frustration. “I’ve been getting my ass kicked!! SO! I’ve come to the conclusion that I will absolutely die if I go fight anything,” she grumbled as she dangled from Pinprick’s hand. He snickered in response. 

“Hey, don’t feel too bad, this is only a baseline! Imagine how good you’ll be after me ‘n Nate ‘n Dex have taught ya!” Bianca said.

“Hopefully it’ll be a less shameful display than this,” Wisty replied as Pinprick idly swung her from side to side like a pendulum. “I kinda thought I was gonna learn how to fight. I know I shouldn’t be complainin’, it’s very nice of you two to take time out of your day to help me, but is this the best way to go about it when I haven’t ever fought before?”

“Here at BC, we believe in learning on the job!” Bianca replied, licking remnants of ketchup off her fingers. “We are not gonna let you go out there until you feel confident enough you can hold your own, so don’t worry.”

Pinprick gently set Wisty on the ground. “Ready whenever you are, love,” he grinned widely.

__

“I yield.” Wisty’s legs were far past beginning to wobble. Now she could hardly keep herself upright. Pinprick was not only stupidly fast, but stupidly powerful. He absorbed all of her attacks like they were nothing and dished out brutal counters one after the other. Wisty had been reduced to blocking and dodging, Pinprick never letting up for even a moment. She didn’t even have enough time to grab an ink canister. At least she could safely say she was better at avoiding attacks now. Her lungs burned with heavy breaths and her arms ached from swinging her pen around. Goddamn inertia.

Pinprick raised his hands again in preparation, grinning still. “We’re only getting started, love!”

“C-Could we take a break or something? I’m frickin’ exhausted and haven’t landed a solid hit on you once!” 

“Of course we can stop! After you get the bracelet on. That was the agreement sweetheart, don’t back out on me now.”

“Ugh c’moooon. You have no mercyyyyy.” Wisty forced herself to stand up straight.

“What’s happening?”

Bianca turned and gave a nod of greeting to Dex, who had strolled up to the scene and was now watching with interest.

“The newbie is getting broken in,” she said, cringing as Pinprick sent Wisty flying again. “I think she’s doing...okay…”

Dex smirked. “Sure doesn’t look like it, hehe.”

“Hey, go easy on her dude, she just started today! I’ve been watching the whole time, I can tell you she’s gotten a lot better already. Aw geez,” Bianca winced as Pinprick threw a punch that caught Wisty on her right cheek, resulting in her swearing loudly.

“Remember your safe word!” Dex shouted to her.

“My WHAT? PINPRICK YOU CHEATER, YOU NEVER TOLD ME ABOUT THAT!!”

The ghoul only cackled in response. “You never asked about it, cupcake!”

“OF COURSE I DIDN’T, I’M NEW HERE! YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO TELL ME!” Wisty screeched.

As Pinprick rushed her again, she didn’t wait. This time she lurched to meet him, slamming the butt of her pen into the ground and using it to jump up to his height, landing an impressive high-kick on his chin that actually got a grunt of pain out of him. 

“Close!!” Dex shouted. “Keep trying--oof, that looked like it hurt.” 

Pinprick had slugged Wisty full force in the torso, her pen caught in between his fist and her stomach. It seemed to absorb much of the impact, but it wasn’t enough to keep the girl from slamming into the ground hard and skidding several yards away where she collided with some boxes. Dust flew everywhere. 

“I’ll go get the nurse bed ready,” Bianca sighed, turning to head back to Black Cauldron. “Hey Dex, if it looks like Pin is getting a bit too into it, make sure he doesn’t punch Wisty into nonexistence. He’ll feel horrible if he accidentally hurts her really bad.”

Was Pinprick just that strong? Or did she just suck that bad? Wisty coughed on the clouds of dust filling the air and tasted the sharp tang of iron in her mouth. She spat onto the concrete, a gob of red. She could feel more on her tongue and dripping from her mouth. Her pen hadn’t broken, (thank you Harvey), but having it rammed into her gut fucking huuuuuuuuuuuuurt. What if she couldn’t get the bracelet on? What if she never got better at this? Her vision swam and she felt ink dripping from her face again. 

Wisty grit her teeth and bit back a snarl. No. This was her first day. She’d get better, she’d get way better. And she was going to get that fucking bracelet on! She could do this!

“So...hff...that’s how it’s gonna be, huh…? Fine. Fine. You want me to play rough, I’ll do that.”

She reached behind herself to her ink cartridges. One, two, perfect.

“Yo Pinprick! Did you kill ‘em, man?!” Dex called to his comrade.

“Ahoho, I certainly hope not, we were having so much fun!”

Before he could say anything more, though, a thin jet of orange ink fired from the dust cloud. The instant it made contact with the ground, a huge explosion blossomed outward.

“HOLY MOLY!!!” Dex hollered as Pinprick skidded backwards, blinking in surprise.

“Oho, it seems the newbie has a few tricks up her sleeve! Good, good!” he laughed.

The dust was settling, and now he could see Wisty standing with her shoulders hunched and her face twisted with a determined scowl. Black liquid was oozing from both her eyes, making her look quite frightening. A canister full of green liquid was clutched in her hand, Dex and Pinprick watched as she tipped it back and took a swig of the ink inside before wiping her mouth on the back of her hand and grabbing another canister. This one she shoved into her pen. 

But she didn’t make a move yet, panting. 

“Oh come now love, you can’t be that tired already! You’re leaving yourself...wide! Open!” Pinprick sprinted forward and thrust his left arm out. Wisty swiftly jumped to the side, his right, and he attempted to grab her again, this time with his right hand. She ducked again, resulting in both Pinprick's hands smashing into the wall, sending pieces of brick flying.

Wisty took aim with her pen, and fired. Black ink streamed from the tip and coated Pinprick’s hands. His first instinct was to tug--

And they didn’t budge. The ink was like tar.

“What in the--” White ink spattered the wall and a blinding light filled his vision. He grunted and squeezed his eyes shut against the stinging illumination. When it faded, he swiveled his head round looking for Wisty-

And caught her out of the corner of his eye sprinting towards him. With a mighty heave, he wretched his right arm free of the ink to deal another devastating blow-

In the blink of an eye, Wisty had taken a mighty leap, vaulting herself upwards using Pinprick’s shoulders. As she shot up into the air, twisting, she aimed the nib of her pen downwards into his face.

“Boom.”

Orange ink streamed. Pinprick was caught in a huge explosion. Dex shielded his face as the heat wave slammed into him. 

“Jeezus God, what the hell did Harvey put in those inks??” he muttered to himself.

As the smoke cleared, he could see Pinprick, still standing, his hands free from the black ink, but looking significantly more banged up. 

“Yeowzers,” Dex trotted up next to the ghoul to get a closer look at the damage. “That was pretty awesome. Might cause some property damage, though.”

“But really, when don’t we cause just a little property damage?” Pinprick pointed out, dusting himself off. 

“Wait...where’d Wisty go?” 

“Hmm...did she get blown away from the explosion…?” Pinprick mused. “She was right--”

A stream of bright yellow ink hit his back, and his entire frame spasmed as electricity coursed through him. His body was knocked to the ground as Wisty dropped down from above onto him. Dex barely managed to jump out of the way with a squawk. 

“You--little--” Pinprick hissed through gritted teeth, but the girl had a firm grip as she snapped the bracelet around his neck, fighting against her shaking arms as the shocks spread up them. 

“Friggin...got it...Geezus…” she huffed.

She slid off Pinprick as he straightened himself up, wincing, yet looking very pleased.

“Well well well, color me surprised, cupcake! What a way to show off what some of those colors can do.” 

“Hehe,” Wisty grinned sheepishly, her legs quaking. She tried to take a step forward, but stumbled, opting to lean on her pen for support.

“Tell me, what was that green ink for?”

“Healing. It -huff hff- can heal wounds if applied topically like a- hff- salve. Or you can drink it to- help with something internal.” Her smile looked a little pained. “I guess I’ll be using it a lot, eh?” 

Pinprick suddenly looked rather worried, his smile dropping and his brow creasing. “Oh no...I must’ve hit you a little too hard, huh? I’m sorry about that, sometimes I can forget my own strength.” 

“D-Don’t apologize! It was really hard, sure, but it was necessary right? You said it yourself, ghouls are scary strong! So if I was able to take you down, then I should be okay with practice! Plus, y’know,” she scratched the back of her head. “I did kinda electrocute you. And make you explode. Twice.” 

Pinprick had to nod in agreement with that, his grin returning. “You were quite clever to coax me into getting my hands stuck to the wall. And that light! I couldn’t see a thing.” 

“I know I got here like halfway through, but you were pretty impressive out there, rookie,” Dex piped up. “Pretty fast, too. And usin’ your opponent’s size and physical features to your advantage with those twisty moves? You might give even witches a run for their money with smarts like that. But for now, howsabout we call it a day? You look like you’re gonna collapse. Your cheek ain’t lookin so good either.”

Now that the adrenaline was wearing off, throbbing aches began to make themselves known all over Wisty’s body. Her right cheek really, really hurt, and she gingerly pressed her fingers against it, wincing as the swollen flesh protested.

“You two got pretty banged up. How about we head back to BC to getcha patched up?” Dex jerked his thumb back to his bike, which was parked nearby. 

“Do forgive me for goin’ so hard on you cupcake. Needed to make sure you were prepared; out there, it could be even more dangerous.” Pinprick reached out and ruffled Wisty’s hair, wiggling her whole head back and forth.

“Oh c’mon Pin, I’m a hugger! Gimme one!” 

Pinprick chuckled and picked the girl up with one arm, giving her a squeeze.

“You did very well today! See ya back at BC, cupcake. And you too, Dex,” Pinprick wiggled his fingers in farewell.

“Awwwww C’mon Pin, aren’t I a cupcake too?” Dex asked, his puppy-dog voice belied by the shit-eating grin on his face.

“Absolutely not! Go on now, I’ll see you two back there!” With a mighty leap, Pinprick was off, hopping from roof to roof with ease. Within no time at all he was out of sight. Wisty slumped.

“Urgh, I barely hurt him at all. Look at him doin’ parkour shit while I can barely stand--” Right on cue, her legs buckled. She was saved by Dex, who swooped down and grabbed her under the arms. 

“Tracy will get you all fixed in no time. Pinprick only went so hard on you because he felt you had potential you were holding back. His method of bringing it out is to hit as hard as he can, hehe. You seem promising, rookie. I’ll have to be extra careful when we fight.”

“You use GUNS.”

“In the field! Sparring I use blanks. And my lithe body.”

Wisty burst out laughing as Dex helped her to the bike. “You guys are merciless! I don’t wanna do anything until I’m not hurting everywhere.” 

“Nothin’ a lil magic n’ a hot bath can’t fix. Aight, get on the back,” Dex said, turning the key in the ignition. “DeeDee likes to go fast, so you might wanna hold on.”

“Okay...uh where…” Wisty hesitantly gripped Dex’s shoulders. 

“Here we go!” The bike flared to life and Dex squeezed the handle.

The inertia as they took off was unexpected and Wisty had to momentarily throw her arms around Dex’s middle to keep from tumbling off the back. But soon enough her hands were back to his shoulders as they drove along, buildings and power lines passing by in a blur.

It was exhilarating. 

“Not too fast for ya, newbie?”

“It’s awesome! I love going fast!”

“Heh, hang on then!”

Wisty closed her eyes and took a deep breath through her nose, lost in the feeling of the wind as they drove along. This was giving her an idea for…

She opened her eyes.

Ah. Right.

What she would’ve given to see what this all looked like in color. The blurred buildings. The bright moon. Dex’s scarf as it fluttered and danced behind them. He had told her it was red, but what shade of red? What shade were her inks? What if she forgot the colors she knew? Her mouth twisted as tears again stung her eyes. Not that any would fall, the wind was drying them up. 

“Hey just so ya know, you might wanna actually hang on to my middle or else you’ll fall off!” Dex called over his shoulder.

“What?” Wisty shouted back right before they went over a bump. She yelped and clung to Dex again. He snorted.

“Soooooo, have you thought about partnering up with anyone?” he asked her.

“Uh...no, not really.”

“Would you like to? Newbies usually tend to, though I don’t think Alphus ever did, heh.”

“I dunno. I mean, I...” The truth was, she’d love to partner up with someone. Like Bianca and Pinprick. They’d been the ones to save her, and she’d gotten pretty attached to them both. After she’d been cursed, it felt like everyone she once had in her life had left. Her friends abandoned her, people she’d known for years. Even now, it was a stubborn ache in her chest that wasn’t going away yet. And BC...the Cadets had taken her in immediately, even when she wasn’t yet sure if she wanted to join. They accepted her, curse, quirks, all of it. They’d given her friendship and comfort.

She wanted to partner up with someone. She’d known these people for such a short time, and each of them had undoubtedly gone through their own horrible shit. Some of them more so than others.  Ghouls weren’t seen as people. People without souls were surely damaged and sad to others. People whose eyes reflected no light and oozed black ink were creepy. 

Her grip tightened. If Dex noticed, he didn’t say anything as he rounded a corner hard, tires screeching. 

“Y’know, you should really wear a helmet, especially driving like this!”

“Naaahhhh, I’m too cool for one!”

“No one is too cool for head safety, my dude.”

“This hair is!”

He weaved easily in and through the crowd. Wisty could see people staring as they flew by. What a strange pair they must look, a boy with glowing white eyes and a girl with black voids for hers. If they could even see them. A couple of freaks, huh?

Couple of freaks. 

Those weirdos at Black Cauldron...you’ve been hanging out with them? They’re all freaks!

A smile suddenly found itself creeping across Wisty’s lips.

All freaks? Huh? Well if we can accept each other regardless, then I'll be a freak too.

“...Hehehe.” 

Wisty stood up suddenly, her arms spread wide.

“Whooooooo!!!”

“Wisty SIT DOWN! You’re gonna fall off!”

“My balance is really good!” 

Luckily for her, and Dex’s blood pressure, a street lined by trees with low-hanging branches forced her to remain seated for the rest of the ride. Her little burst of excitement had sapped the last of her energy, and Wisty rested her cheek against Dex’s back. She felt really tired. Happy. Veeeeeery sore. She closed her eyes, listening to the sounds of the city as they whizzed past. 

Tired...

“Alright, we’re here. Hopefully Bianca has that nurse bed ready.” Dex came to a smooth stop in front of the staircase leading up to Black Cauldron. “Let’s get you to Tracy.  ... ...Hello? Kiddo?” 

He now became aware of Wisty’s weight slumped against his back. He twisted his head round to look back at her. She was fast asleep. 

Dex sighed and chuckled to himself. “Damn, you’re really gonna make me carry you up all those stairs? Guess this is what I get for teasing you about the safe word. Hyup-” 

With no small amount of effort, Dex hoisted the sleeping teen onto his back and began the trek up the stairs. Wisty let out a soft snore.

---

Unexpectedly, it's a kind of future like that.