happilyeverbeginning | There's a strange exhilaration / In such total detestation (scrooge x magica)

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There's a strange exhilaration / In such total detestation (scrooge x magica)

Magica's fingers strummed on the desk. Without her phone, she was bored as sin. Her long nails made clacking sounds on the desk, echoing in the empty classroom. Once she got her phone back, the school would pay dearly for this. You didn't give detention to Magica De Spell! So what if she was texting in class? It wasn't like she was learning anything important. They should feel privileged she was there.

But nooo, miss whats-her-face actually reported her to the principal, and here she was. She grumbled, glaring at the clock - time moved way too slowly when you were being punished. How could this get any worse?

The door opened, and she straightened up - maybe someone had used their few brain cells and knew to get her out of there. Nope - instead, things did indeed get worse as she saw one of the teachers shoving Scrooge McDuck into the room.

Great. Fantastic. Add to her punishment, why don't you. She rolled her eyes, leaned back into her seat and propped her legs on the desk.

"What did they send you in here for?" She sneered. "Is being a buzzkill a crime now?"

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... Cute.

She hugged one of her pillows and turned away from him as best she could, given her injury. "I have an intercom for the servants. They know to come running when I call."

"Great. I'll see you later then."

Scrooge left the room and sighed. Well, he was here until tomorrow. Might as well make the most of it.

He headed towards the study to start poking through the books.

Magica laid there a while, trying to think.

"... Ratface, door."

On command, Ratface flew from his perch and walked on the floor, nudging the door until it was only slight ajar.

"Good baby. Perch." Once he sat back up, she got to work.

As if she was really just going to lay the night away! She could sleep later.

It took some effort, but first, she changed out of her clothes and into pajamas. (With the sexiest underwear she could find. It was comfy, shut up.) Then she set up the ritual.

A freshly drawn pentagram, lit candles, and she took off her necklace, replacing one quartz with another. She placed her phone in the middle, flipping until she got his picture. She then moved the chain of the necklace so the quartz swung back and forth all around the points of the star.

"Gods and goddesses, nature and sky,
I offer my energy, hear my cry,
Bind his heart to only me,
Or else these desires, leave me be!"

There. Done and done. Time for bed.

Scrooge was the tiniest bit annoyed that the book he was thumbing through's cover had made a crack due to disuse. The pages were pristine without a hint of a single soul having every touched them.

So these books were for show. Lovely.

Well, he had a homework assignment to read one of Shakespeare's plays. This collection would work just fine. Now to figure out which room to stay in...

He had several choices to stay in - some of the guest rooms appeared as untouched as the books. Footsteps echoed off in the distance - late-night maids and butlers finishing their rounds. The hallways had paintings and photographs of the proud De Spell family, and it was clear where Magica got her beauty from.

Yet, unless someone knew her, they might not guess she was in the family. There wasn't a single painting or photo of her. Oh, there was plenty of Mom and Dad, and Poe's face was inescapable. But Magica was nowhere to be seen.

Scrooge was honestly trying not to get lost. There were so many rooms here, more than anyone would ever need.

The paintings and pictures were a bit worrisome. Why wasn't Magica shown at all? Did her parents really care so little for her?

That...that was actually pretty sad.

He knocked on one of the bedroom doors, unsure if it was occupied or not.

Magica had failed to take one factor into consideration - Poe had gotten a head start on his hangover.

"Goddammit, hang on." An older voice grumbled from inside. When the door opened, there stood an older man, his black hair in a ponytail, eyes red and blurry, his clothes disheveled from partying. He yawned, suddenly throwing a jacket into Scrooge's arms. "Here. Make sure it's ironed before seven, I have another interview to go through."

There were so many servants in the Spell household, why not one more?

Scrooge caught the jacket on instinct before scowling.

"You must be Poe. I recognized you from your pictures," he said in a poor imitation of politeness.

He reached out to hang the jacket on the knob.

"Sorry but I got the wrong room."

Poe paused, having been ready to turn back around and resume... passing out. Did this wage monkey just talk back to him?

"How about you do your job the right way and do what I tell you?" He snapped - a line that could have easily come from Magica's own mouth. "I am in no mood to deal with this nonsense..." He sighed, rubbing his temples. "Get me some aspirin, before I hurl all over you."

"I would if I worked for you. Have fun with the hangover."

Scrooge turned to head farther down the hallway. Ugh, which of these doors was a guest room?

Poe blinked. If this scraggly, dirty kid didn't work here, then...

He suddenly pressed a button near his door. "Security, get on the first floor immediately."

The intercom affected the whole house, so Magica, in her room, suddenly bolted up. "Oh, hell."

"Wait, what now?" Scrooge asked, utterly baffled as he heard the words echoed over the intercom.

It was in that moment he remembered how this scenario might look: a teenager with worn clothes in the middle of the hallway with a very expensive leather bound book in one hand. He froze, unable to find words to explain the situation that wouldn't make it all worse.

Magica stumbled out of her room on her bad foot, mumbling all manners of obscenities. Why couldn't Scrooge just stay in one place!

Poe glared down at Scrooge as the shadows of burly uniformed men loomed in the background. "I hope your five seconds of snark was worth it, little man." He sneered. "I'm going to destroy you. No one takes from the Spells!"

"I wasn't taking anything! I was just finding a place to settle in and read! I was gonna put it back before I left in the morning!" Scrooge protested, gently setting the book down on the floor before raising his fists to defend himself.

His odds weren't good. Laying out a jock was one thing, but these guys were trained professionals.

"Right, I'm sure." Poe sneered, taking pleasure as the silent men grabbed Scrooge by the arms, ready to drag him off -

"STOP!"

Magica was leaning on the wall, face flushed with how fast she'd gotten there - her leg was now throbbing in pain. "Poe, stop it! Leave him alone! He's... he's with me!"

Poe raised an eyebrow. "Come again?"

Magica gritted her teeth - her ankle hurt so much! "He... I twisted my ankle when I was put on garbage clean-up. He helped me get home."

Her brother looked back and forth between the two - noticeably not giving a damn how much agony Magica was in - before bursting into laughter. "Oh my god! Magica... is this a booty call?" He laughed even harder as Magica stared in horror and humiliation. "Oh, man... I knew your taste was bad, but this is a new low, even for you."

Scrooge, however, did notice, yanking his arm out of the confused guard's grip. He then went over to Magica to give her someone to lean on.

"You couldn't be more wrong, you supercilious spendthrift! I asked to stay in one of the guest rooms since we were on the last bus to get her back home, and I didn't have cab money. We weren't even going to be sharing rooms!"

"Is that right." Poe eyed Magica, weighing his options. "You let him in, so he could get his sticky fingers all over our goods... or all over your goods." He snickered, thinking this terribly clever.

The usual bitchy, loud Magica appeared to... shrink, under Poe's intense gaze. His insults were nothing new, but now having Scrooge see this, hear this... it was more than she could bare. "Poe... please don't tell mom and dad." Her voice was weak. Almost a whimper.

"And why shouldn't I?"

"... Please. Please." the proud Magica de spell. Begging.

He glowered at Poe, wishing that Ratface would show up to scratch up that pretty little face with claws and beak.

When that didn't happen, Scrooge channeled his noble ancestors and pointed towards one of the guards, speaking with authority, "If you're just gonna stand there, make yourself useful. Her ankle's shot and she needs to rest. You don't want your master and mistress being upset with you not taking care of your young mistress, aye?"

He then turned back to Poe, lifting his head just enough to give the impression that he was looking down his beak at the young man. "Thank you for your hospitality, but I won't be staying after all, so that should solve the problem quite nicely." He then gave a sneering smirk. "Though I'd suggest you keep in mind for the future this little turn of phrase: 'Beer before liquor, ne'er sicker.'"

Edited 2019-03-24 00:58 (UTC)

One of the guards blinked, and then started, before stopping, almost forgetting who was in charge here. Magica whipped her head around, startled. "Scrooge, it's late! You'll freeze!"

Poe didn't care for Scrooge's attitude, and his smirk turned into a sneer. "Enjoy rhymes, do you? here's one. Stick with the slut, end up in the rut." He snapped his fingers. "You heard the boy. Get sissy here back to her room, and show our guest out."

With their commands, one lifted Magica up, although she protested, while the other made for Scrooge, intending to lead him out - possibly with a bruise or two.

"I can walk, thank you," Scrooge said with haughty politeness, "but I appreciate the escort. This house is a maze, and I'd rather not get lost."

He looked to Magica. "I'll be fine. You just look after your ankle, lass."

He then looked up at the second guard who'd gone for him, acting as if Poe was no longer even in the hallway. "Well, shall we?"

Magica turned her head away, ashamed. She doubted this would be the end of it. No, with her and Poe, this was only the beginning.

The security guard growled at Scrooge, but said nothing else. He intended to follow Scrooge all the way out past the gate, just in case. As for Poe, he had a hangover to deal with, so he slammed his door to get some rest.

"Hope that gives you a nice spike of pain, idiot," Scrooge muttered under his breath.

He didn't deviate from the route back to the main gate. Before passing through it, he glanced up at the guard.

"Thank you," he said with a much more honest politeness than what he used in front of Poe. "You have a good night."

With that, he left the premises, wrapping his arms around himself. It really was cold, and he didn't have a jacket. Even worse, he had to cross the city to reach home with no cab money and no cellphone to call for his family. Not to mention he lived in the worst part of town where you definitely didn't want to be out after dark.

But he had no choice as he kept walking. Despite trading shots with Poe, he felt humiliated.

Two days later, Magica returned to school. Her leg still had a bit of a limp, but at least it wasn't the grapefruit it was yesterday. Her eyes were death - even her close friends knew to stay away. She was in no mood to be trifled with.

She didn't say a word for most of the day. When teachers asked her any questions, all they got in return was hell fire. When the final class ended for the day, and even the teacher had packed up and left, she stayed behind, sullenly laying on her desk. She didn't want to go home. or be there. Or anywhere.

The smart thing to do would be to leave Magica alone...

"How's your ankle?"

...but Scrooge did feel at least partially responsible for the bad weekend she'd likely had.

Magica took so long to answer it would have been easy to assume she was ignoring him.

Yet she finally mumbled.

"Fine."

Then, after another moment, "Did they do anything to you." They being her family, anything being... well. Anything. Charges, a lawsuit, threats.

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