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I sigh as I plop onto my seat, finally reading the last of the three girls poems. (“that was more tedious than I thought…”,) I mumbled softly.
Me and Alastor leisurely sat near the end of the classroom, she wrote something in her notebook, meanwhile I eavesdropped on Lucifer and Vox exchanging sheets of paper.
The room fell silent as they gingerly traded poems, both of their expressions gradually faltering for every second that passed.
Lucifer's eyebrows furrowed in frustration; Vox grinned painfully, as if to stifle her laughter.
(“What's with this language…?,”) Lucifer mumbled softly, although it seemed like she WANTED Vox to hear her.
Vox loses the smirk quick, puzzled as she inquires, “Uhm, what was that?”
“Oh, it was nothing.” Lucifer dismissively sets the paper on the table. “I guess you could say it's fancy.”
“Ah… Thanks.” She squints in tandem, “Yours is… silly.”
“Silly? Did you completely miss the symbolism or something? It's clearly about the feeling of giving up! How could that be silly?”
Vox rolled her eyes, reluctantly trying to stay humble.
“I know that… I just meant… the language I guess. I was trying to say something nice.”
Lucifer crossed her arms and grimaced, head tilting back to meet Vox's eyes (who unsurprisingly, wasn't making any effort to keep eye contact.) “You mean you have to try that hard to say something nice?” (huff) “Well thanks, but it really didn't come out nice at all !”
Vox stared at the wall behind Lu’ for a moment.
“Well… I do have a couple of suggestions--” She was rudely cut off by another huff, “If I was looking for suggestions, I would’ve asked someone who actually liked it !” The taller girl parted her lips to argue, but not before getting cut off by a prideful chuckle. “Which people did, by the way.”
She pointed her thumb in the general direction of the others, “Alastor surprisingly liked it! And M/C liked it too!” Lucifer was more than happy to set her hands on her hips in triumph, “So based on that, I'll gladly give you some suggestions of my own.”
She picked up Vox’s paper again, and traced the first stanza hastily.
“First of all--!”
“Pardon me ‘Your Grace’…
(Her tone was… soft? )
“I appreciate the offer,
(Wait, no, sarcastic.)
“But I've spent a long time establishing my writing style...” Her hands gently cupped Lucifer's as she slipped the paper from her hold, earning a light blush from her.
“I don’t expect it to change anytime soon, unless of course I come across something particularly inspiring…” She bitterly glanced at Lucifer’s poem on the desk, “Which I haven’t yet.”
“Tsk…”
“And M/C liked my poem too, y’know” she swooned as she batted her thick 2D lashes, “She even said she was impressed by it.”
Lucifer suddenly stands up (not quite reaching Vox's height as she seemed to intend.)
“Oh? I didn’t realize you were so invested in trying to impress our new member, Vox.”
Her smug grin fell, her TV head tucking towards her shoulders defensively as she babbled nonsense.
“Eh-? That's not what I-I… ughh… You’re… You’re just-!”
She grumbles as her back bends to close the distance between them, “Maybe you're just jealous that M/C appreciates MY advice more than she appreciates YOURS!”
“Uhh huhh… But how do you know she didn't appreciate my advice more?”
Lucifer prodded her finger into Vox's chest, eyes trailing up and down her body in a flawed attempt to intimidate her.
“Are you that full of yourself?”
“Hah! No! If I was full of myself…” Vox returned the action, drawing a wince from the petite girl, probably not expecting her nails to be that sharp. “I would deliberately go out of my way to make everything I do overly quirky!”
That one comment seemed to drive her off the edge, looking hesitant as she drew her hands inwards.
“Oh yeah? Well y’know what, 'flat face'?”
The mocking motion of her palms was delivered as theatrical as ever, repeatedly starting at her own smaller chest and stopping a foot away from her body.
“I wasn’t the one who’s boob’s magically grew a size bigger after M/C started showing up!!!”
“Wah… HUH?”
Alastor suddenly butted in from behind them, striking her blinding smile despite the tension, “Ah- Lucifer, that's a tad bit--”
“This doesn't involve you!,” they both shrieked.
The club leader dropped it just like that, the situation clearly unsalvageable.
Vox readjusted her posture, towering over the other with a scowl, giving up on her performative modesty. “Taking out your own insecurities on others like that…” Her voice was now slightly drowned out by static, eyes twitching as she spoke.
“You really do act as young as you look, Lucifer.”
The short queen hurriedly shifted onto her tippy toes, not wanting to give her more ammunition, voice going an octave lower. “Me?! Look who's talking you wannabe, spiffy bitch!!”
“...Spiffy?” She sounded very amused, “Sorry that my form of conduct is too much for someone of your mental age to comprehend!"
Lucifer disregarded her terribly hidden superiority complex, frustratedly tugging at Vox’s blazer.
“Oh brother!! You're just proving my point!”
She shoved Vox to sit on the table beside them, just to make their forbidding eye contact easier to hold. Lucifer then set her hands on Vox's royal blue thighs, using them as a prop to push herself higher.
“Most people learn to get over themselves after they finish middle school y’know.”
“If you want to prove anything, then stop pissing everyone off with your bratty attitude!,” she began to ‘speak out loud’, as she described earlier, thoughts gushing out like a nicked artery.
“Do you really think you can drown out your foolish personality just by playing with those-,” she tore Lucifer’s gold duck pin from her blazer and wiggled it in her pale face, resulting in an abrupt flinch from ring master, “rubber ducks? Or saying silly shit like, ‘oH BRoTHeR!’ ??!!”
She seemed fully confident in getting the last word, her final insult smoothly rolling off the tongue.
“The only silly thing about you is how hard you try.”
Shockingly, that didn't deter Lucifer, who dramatically shot away from Vox as if she'd burnt her.
“Woah-o! Be careful or you might cut yourself on that edge, Vox.”
Lu willfully paused, tilting her head while making a big ‘o’ shape with her mouth, as if she just had some sort of epiphany.
“Ohhh, my bad… You already do, don't you?”
Vox reacted strongly, crossing her legs shut by instinct it seemed, her hands wavering in shock before slamming into her own chest (as if to say: “Who, me?”)
“Duh… Did you actually just accuse me of CUTTING myself?? What the FUCK is wrong with your head?”
“Uh huh, yeah, go on!,” she drawled tauntingly. “Let M/C hear all about how you really think!” A gold strand of her hair was tucked behind her ear as she fiddled with her cuticles, "I'm sure she’ll be head over heels for you after this~!”
“W-wait what…?”
Vox suddenly turns towards me, as if she suddenly realized I was sitting here.
“I- M/C…!”
Her face loses its grim demeanor, now looking a lot more modest as she stands abruptly. The corners of her mouth pulled upwards and back, it almost looked like she was baring her fangs rather than smiling.
Vox let out a short wheeze that was meant to be a laugh.
“Shes- she's just trying to make me look bad-!”
“Yeah, no, that’s not true!” She points an accusatory finger at her. “She started it!”
“...”
(“HowdidIgetdraggedintothisinthefirstplace?It'snotlikeIknowanythingaboutliterature!ButwhomeverIagreewiththey'llprobablythinkhigherofme!Soofcoursethatsgoingtobe ee eee…")
[Lucifer.]
[Vox.]
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♫
“…”
A wry grin clouds my vision, its owner looking a bit pensive.
“...”
“...?”
She darts her doe eyes away from mine, “Hey M/C…”
Her signature crimson umbrella finds its way to my back, lightly guiding me towards the door (where exactly are we?)
“Why don't we step outside for a bit?”
♫ ♫ ♫