Description: Mignon had a bad time in the sewers! But then Mignon came back to her dorms, where Ninon was waiting! Ninon missed Mignon so much. So Mignon pays her back by having Ninon do so many nice things for Mignon! Mignon is the best sister ever!
Seijyun High is usually quite peaceful in the evenings compared to most dormitories. Despite the high density of the population attending its elaborate facilities the girls that live within the campus are of a higher pedigree than the commoners that comprise the bulk of Southtown's population. With the school placing a heavy emphasis on raising 'proper' young women - that is demure, well-behaved, and traditional in their values - there's rarely cause for a large ruckus.
Ninon is one of the better examples of this idealized concept of prim femininity. That she is actually a foreigner, rather than Japanese, is something of a sort spot for those who are constantly referred to her behavior as something to strive towards. On the other hand, despite her quiet exterior, the young girl has something of a black mark against her.
As the city's only only practicing witch, disregarding ofcourse the abomination that is her sister, who no one with any real knowledge of the Arts would ever call a proper example of magical talent, she tends to draw down all sorts of rumors regarding the types of activities she gets up to. Ninon, for her part, is quite happy to let these wild foolish ideas run rampant. The more people are afraid of what she can do the less likely they are to bother her. It's a pretty good set up, all things considered, leaving her with ample time to focus on her magical studies.
Today in particular is special because it is marks the last before the return of the eternal menace that is her older sister. Though the girl's return hangs imminent overhead, Ninon is intent on getting as much work done as possible in the time remaining.
As such, she's currently standing beside a small wooden table in their shared dormitory. Several flasks filled with colorful liquids sit spread out alongside boxes of foul smelling substances and sealed jars of preserved extracts. A tiny cauldron sits on a bunsen burner, frothing with bubbling foam and acrid smoke that spills over its sides in tiny rivulets staining the table black everywhere that the liquid touches.
Ninon mutters under her breath, reciting an incantation in a language few would know of and even less would understand, as she drops tiny pieces of crushed flower petals into the mixture.
Ninon was the Gallant of the Beart family.
So lets look at the 'Goofus.'
Mignon's return from her SNF fight was well known to the Seijuin High dorm, much like her leaving. After celebrating her 'trip' to China (which was held without her knoweledge), the dorm was now like a funeral hall. Nobody wanted to be around as Mignon strides through the hallways. Clutching too many bags, and pulling along another bag on rollers, the teenager moves briskly through the hall, smiling widely. She was... clean. That was the only thing good to say about her. She DID take a shower afterwards. But as she forces her way through the dorm, her presence creeps up like a knife.
She was coming closer and closer to her dorm room.
The doorknob jitters. It was like a timer, a clock ticking down to doomsday. Soon, the knocking on the door comes. A fierce, rapid rap, smashing against the door carelessly. The pressure builds, as any chance of Ninon enjoying solitude fades away. A braying yodel comes from the other side of the door, as the rapping grows more and more aggressive.
"NIIIIIIINON!"
"NIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNON!!!!!!"
The silence is almost oppressive in the room as the cauldron bubbles away, disturbed only by the soft mutters of the small witch. An energy begins to build within the air, dark and ominous, as the spell she casts gathers strength. Dark powers turn their gaze upon the doll-like girl in the mortal realm as she invokes their names in rapid succession, chanting over and over in the ritual manner which will channel that power into the form that she desires.
Almost... almost...
The twittering of the doorknob fills the empty air like the deathknell. Ninon gives a start, so entranced by her spellcasting that she didn't notice the tell-tale squeaks in the hallway as they approached the dormitory door. The bundle of shredded petals in her hand slips from her fingers in that moment of involuntary panic and with a soft 'plop' the entire mass vanishes into the seething liquid.
The destruction of the carefully wroght balance in the mixture produces immediate results. Foul black smoke belches upwards on a gout of purple flame and Ninon jumps backwards with a surprised squeal, loosing her footing and landing flat on her delicate tush on the floor. What would have been one of her best potions yet continues to bubble and foam, searing the surface of the table with poisonous gunk for a few instants and then the entire thing simply gurgles and drops down to a low simmer.
Four hours of work, ruined.
Ninon slowly turns her narrow gaze towards the door where the heavy knocking continues to hammer away with reckless abandon. Various thoughts of murder dance through her mind like little fairies for a few moments but she quickly pushes the idle fancies aside and rises to her feet, dusting herself off on her way to let her sister into the dorm.
Ninon swings the door open with deliberate slowness and stares with her patented lack of emotion at the elder sibling and her burden of packages. How on earth she managed to carry all of that through the airports is just another mystery that surrounds her.
"...sister."
"NIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII-"
The door finally opens. Mignon is already in mid scream, eyes wide shut. But as Ninon responds, Mignon opens her eyes. And she smiles. Pure innocence. Pure sweetness. Mignon looks so happy that Ninon had opened the door, that she loses control of herself. If she was a puppy, she would have piddled on the floor right there. Mignon was not a puppy though.
And she lunges into hug Ninon.
Hands still clutching the luggage, she drops them right the floor, after embracing her sister. And leaning in to Ninon's ear, she immediately speaks, her indoor voice being no different from her outdoor voice.
"Mignon is home!"
Those words blast directly into Ninon's ear with all the delicacy of a bullhorn at maximum volume, shooting straight past her flesh and boring themselves directly into the witch's brain more forcefully than any Word of Power a demon has ever uttered to her.
She stares dead ahead, blank eyes focused on a spot on the far wall, her expression as frozen as a statue adrift in time in stark counter point to her sister's overbearing enthusiasm. There are times when she wishes she could understand that emotion, tap into the boundless energy that seems to elevate her sibling above the petty concerns that reality attempts to impose upon her. The grudging respect that she has for her ability to simply defy the universe as if its rules are nothing more than passing suggestions is one of the few reasons that she tolerates Mignon's antics.
The moment of intense pain passes as the words shoot through her skull and blast out the other side leaving only a ringing aftertone. Ninon slowly inhales and sighs, lifting her arms to gently pat the taller girl on her back. If she doesn't get a token show of affection she'll go on for hours.
"...welcome home."
"EEEEEEE!"
That was the sound that comes from Mignon as she takes her luggage and runs to the first table she sees. Which was filled with useless flasks and vials. Bringing her luggage with her, she immediately spreads all the bags across the table, threatening to knock over flask and vial recklessly.
"Mignon has STORIES to tell!"
Babbling, Mignon hastily retells her adventures, as she begins to unpack. "Mignon fought in an Aquabottle! It smelled like Grandma! And then Mignon met a ghost lady, a wrestler, and also a cute boy! Mignon didn't really say anything to the cute boy, but Mignon fought very hard! Then Mignon fell asleep underwater! But when Mignon woke up, she was kissing a girl! And then Mignon smelled like Grandma! So Mignon cleaned up and then came back here! Mignon had so much fun!"
"What did Ninon ever do without Mignon around though?"
Ninon vanishes in a flash of purple light the moment her sister breaks free of the hug, reappearing beside the table moments before the girl's luggage comes flying at her collection of ingredients. Moving with alarming alacrity, the tiny witch snatches up as many of the rare or dangerous items as she can, managing to save her quicksilver and powdered deathblossom.
A jar filled with a bottled lion's roar rolls to the ground and shatters, blasting the room with a low rumbling growl akin to the old MGM studios introductions, but Ninon deftly grabs a fresh decanter from a nearby stand and holds it towards the air, siphoning the sound into the crystal pitcher and plopping a cork back on top. Not nearly as fresh as before but still useable. The rest, sadly, is crushed under a mountain of what Ninon assumes is dirty clothes and worthless souveniers; Mignon does so love her toys.
"...aqueduct," she corrects her sister, guessing from the inference and what little she knows about the tournament to work out that smelly water probably meant sewage. Wonderful. That means she'll have to give her sister a proper scrubdown as well. Who knows what sort of foulness she picked up from such a place. What kind of person schedules a fight in a sewer? Fools.
"...sounds like you had a good time."
Mignon begins to throw her clothing across the table.
Mignon just ROLLS her eyes at her little sister, as she makes a lion noise or something. "Ninon, aqueducts are -Roman- and I was in China!" Mignon corrects Ninon. "Mignon's little sister can be so ignorant sometimes! But yes! Mignon had so much fun!" Mignon was not lying.
She did, in fact, had so much fun.
"Mignon learned so much too! Mignon learned that you don't grab people by the chest! Mignon also learned that you can't breath dirty water! Mignon also learned that she can make bombs! Mignon became a better person in about everyway on her trip! But Mignon is so happy that she is home!" She looks at Ninon, smiling so wide.
"Did Mignon's little sister remember to make Mignon dinner!?"
Ninon just stares at her sister for a moment and sighs at the counter-assertion that aqueducts are soley a Roman invention. Even if that were true, which it isn't, the Coliseum had been built specifically to mimic the old Roman architecture so she's pretty sure her guess is still correct. Arguing is pointless, however.
Setting her remaining ingredients into a large wooden chest, one specifically built with a very large and heavy lock on it, the witch turns to clean up the shards of broken glass before her sister manages to hurt herself on them and, more importantly, before she gets blood on all of the furniture in the process. Such a thoughtful sister, she is.
"Those things are all true, I'm sure," Ninon says while she dumps the glass into a small wastebin, her voice just full of all sorts of enthusiasm for her sister's personal growth. "What would you like?"
"So inconsiderate to Mignon!"
Those were the words that Mignon spews, as she tosses some dirty laundry on the couch. "A good little sister always makes sure that their big sister is taken care of! Thank goodness Mignon reminded you, or else you would have forgotten! But HM! What does Mignon want to eat. Mignon is veeeeeery hungry, and she wants lot of nummies right there in her tummy!"
And then Mignon squeals.
"OOOH! MIGNON KNOWS! MIGNON KNOWS! Mignon wants sweets for dinner! Mignon wants cake, and ice cream, and lots and lots of cookies! And Mignon also wants pies and chocolates! And also a salad, because Mignon is watching her figure!" And the girl gasps so loudly, not help Ninon out with her chores. "But Mignon does not want to be fat! So make sure that all those foods are very low fat and healthy, without affecting their flavor!"
"Also Mignon wants bacon on the salad!"
A completely reasonable and well thought out string of requests from her sister, as usual. It sounds like something a small child would ask for, if given free choice of their meal options, measured with a tiny hint of self-consciousness that only a girl who has become aware of her sex appeal could have. A rather dreadful thought to entertain.
Fortunately, despite her somewhat pleasant features and full figure - of which, Ninon is most definately /not/ jealous - Mignon's personality is the most potent weapon of self-sabotage the witch can think of. Infact, her sister may be the single most unpopular person she has ever met, herself included, which is an accomplishment on its own. Ofcourse, that fact simply bounces off the girl's teflon skull which leaves it up to Ninon to do her best to contain her sister's idiocy to as small an area as possible. It's just simpler that way.
So it has always just been the two of them. Even their parents were almost never around, away on business or some other outing, leaving the younger sister to be doted upon by her extremely affectionate sibling until Ninon realized that it was ten-times less the headache to learn how to do all of the chores herself rather than try to clean up the disasters that follow after Mignon's attempts at housework.
"...I'll do what I can."
Ninon vanishes into the kitchen, an area that she has marked as patently off-limits to her sister, a concept reinforced with magical wards and the threat of terrible retribution. Despite her sister's nonsensical requests, she knows that what the girl really wants is food in a hurry. Patience isn't Mignon's strong point, nor long-term memory for that matter. She'll be mostly happy with whatever she gets as long as there's something sweet to go with it.
A quick inspection of the pantry reveals that Ninon forgot to go shopping while her sister was out for the weekend, so intent was she upon trying to get some quality research time in. Fortunately, there's enough here to make due for now. She grabs some bread and some slices of cheese and sets a pan on the stove, preparing one of the most simple of meals that even the rich can indulge in from time to time.
"Grilled cheese it is."
"Thank you Ninon!"
Mignon, having unpacked half her bags, gets distracted by a magazine. Picking it up and reading it, she takes a seat on the couch, plopping by her own dirty laundry. Reading it excitely, she begins to laugh loudly. "Wowwie wow wow! Ninon! Did you know people lost an election! Mignon is always working hard to keep up with current events. That helps Mignon is sma- OOOOOO! NINON! NIIIIINON! KIM KARDASHIAN IS HAVING RELATIONSHIP TROUBLE WITH KAYNE WEST!"
"Oh Mignon loves grilled cheese!"
Mignon throws aside the magazine, turning around on the couch. "Mignon is so happy with her sister! Mignon wants to keep thin just like her sister, so having healthy foods will be good for that! Well, not thin -everywhere- like Ninon!" Mignon just starts laughing out loud. "Wow! Mignon is so happy to go home! Mignon hopes we can celebrate with all of Mignon's friends! Where are Mignon's friends? Mignon did not see them in the hallways." Mignon suddenly gasps, standing up on the couch with her boots on. "Mignon is WORRIED! Are Mignon's friends in TROUBLE!?!" And then Mignon begins to scowl.
"Or did Ninon cast a meanie butt spell on them to make them far away from Mignon!?!"
The first of the sandwiches goes into the pan with a soft sizzle-hiss as the butter she spread on its outer surface for flavor and anti-stick properties begins to melt instantly. Ninon very carefully centers the square of bread on the black iron skillet with dainty taps from a spatula that is far too elaborate to be practical. The aroma of melting cheese quickly floods the kitchen and wafts out into the living area.
The small witch focuses on these small details, putting a rather unusual amount of focus into the task of preparing such a simple dish. She does this because the other option is to listen to the nonsense spewing in an unending tide from Mignon's mouth. The older girl's comment about her figure causes an almost impercepible twitch at the corner of her eye but it lasts only a moment.
"...they're studying... I guess," she replies with a neutral tone. As if she'd ever need to use magic to accomplish that.
The cooking is done in short order, grilled cheese being one of the easier dishes to make. Not wanting to dirty further dishes, Ninon makes half a dozen of the sandwiches, setting aside one for herself. Then she sets to the task of carving off the crusts from the other five. Like a child, Mignon only likes the tastiest part of the foods she's given. Fortunately, a little ingenuity can turn even her sister's picky eating habits into something productive.
Collecting the strips of crunchy crust, she withdraws a small container of melted butter and soaks each of them liberally in the golden liquid. The now-gooey sticks are then coated with a liberal dusting of chocolate flakes and a quick simmer in the still warm pan melts the dark brown into a solid layer. Tada, instant cookie sticks.
Piling her sister's meal neatly onto a plate, after cutting each sandwich in half diagonally for easier eating, she lays the modest feast out on their oversized dining table along with a pair of glasses of milk. With her sister's meal set upon on end of the table, Ninon takes the far side. This prevents any potential (guaranteed) messy eating habits from spilling onto her clothes and also puts a buffer between herself and her sister's voice. If she's going to shout anyways, might as well avoid the worst of it.
"...dinner is ready."
Mignon gives a skeptical eye towards Ninon.
"Mignon doesn't know if she believes you! Mignon knows how you are a master of black magic, against Mignon's own skill in white magic! Mignon thinks you turned them into yucky toads or even icky bugs!" Mignon thrusts a thumb towards her chest, puffing it out as she stands on the couch. "Mignon will vow that if you turned them into icky yucky stuff, that Mignon will go and use her white magic to save them all! Mignon is a good girl, a hero person of all things, and Mignon won't let you, Ninon, go and-"
"YAAAAAY DINNER!"
Mignon jumps off the couch, running to the table. Squeak squeak squeak. Every step comes with the same squeaking sound. "WOW!" She exclaims, tripping over the chair in front of her grilled cheese. Collapsing on the ground, she flails around wildly, struggling to stand back up. Righting her chair up, she rubs her hair. "Mignon can be so clumsy sometimes!" Sitting at the table properly, she just begins to stuff the sandwiches in her face. "NOM NOM NOM!" She cries, swallowing hard an entire sandwich half. And as tears sit in her eyes, she looks across from the table at her sister.
"What was Mignon talking about again, Ninon?"
"...you were saying something about challenging my magical talents... I guess."
A wry smirk breaks the normally placid mask of emotionless disinterest that Ninon prefers to display to the world and she takes a dainty bite of her lone sandwich, chewing quietly and savoring the flavor of the exotic spices and herbs that she added to her own meal. Even a humble meal can be enjoyable with the right skills. Such subtle tastes are well beyond her sister's ability to appreciate so she doesn't bother wasting the ingredients on her when more simple fare will suffice.
"...do you even know the spell to turn someone back into a human after they've been cursed? You'd probably just make their situation worse somehow."
Mignon snarfs down another sandwich
"MUAAGH Maugh amaahamgh?" She mumbles, food spraying from her mouth. Fighting hard, she swallows the sandwich again. "Mignon was saying, that Mignon was right to challenge your magical talents! Mignon is the best witch, after all! Mignon's amazing white magic is the strongest!" She pounds her fist on the table.
And then Ninon questions her ability further.
"OOOOOH!" She exclaims, flipping her plate, the grilled cheese sandwiches falling on the tablecloth. Kicking her legs on the table, Mignon throws her arms around. "Of course Mignon knows a spell to fix them! Mignon just... Mignon.... hmmmmm." Mignon stops her tantrum, and works VERY hard to think, to imagine. "Mignon just needs to remember it! And look in her spellbook! And..." Mignon begins to frown, tears forming in her eyes. "And Mignon needs to also find her spellbook..." Mignon begins to sniffle. And then, she begins to cry.
"WAAAAAAAAAAA!"
Throughout the tantrum, Ninon sits quietly and nibbles at her sandwich, her devilish smirk refusing to fade. She stares at her sister with a cold intensity as the pink-haired ditz spews boasts and bits of cheese in rapid succession (see, there's a reason she's over on this side of the table), her gaze never drifting from her elder sibling's face. She wants to watch every moment of this, wants to savor the humiliation and sadness in Mignon's face when she realizes her own inferiority compared to the true magical talent in their family.
*Yes, yes, spiral down into the darkness, dear sister. Realize the truth: that you could never hope to compete with me. Even a simple little question like this and you can't find the--*
Then she has to go and ruin it by crying. Ninon's smirk sours at the overwhelming outburst of emotion and she sighs, setting the remnants of her sandwich on the expensive plate. The problem with prodding her sister like this is that it's hard to get the actual point into her thick skull. Instead of realizing her deficiencies and making the necessary corrections, she just bawls or gets mad and then does something stupid.
Hoping to nip this in the bud before she gets the chance, Ninon gestures at the air and mutters a few words under her breath. Several seconds later, the door to her bedroom swings slowly open to reveal... nothing? No wait, down there on the floor.
A short doll, perhaps a foot in height, wanders out of the room. Dressed in a frilly black dress of gothic design, the doll looks almost frighteningly similar to its owner, complete with short white hair and pale skin. The little golem strains as it slides out into the room, shuffling backwards and dragging a comparitively enormous book behind it. The leather-bound tome proves to be a challenge for the delicate thing but it manages to pull it all the way across the room until it rests at the side of Mignon's chair.
"...you can have my spare... I guess," Ninon says, sipping at her milk as if uninterested in the entire ordeal.
The tears begins to dry.
"N-n-Ninon is so mean to her big sister!" Mignon sniffles, wiping her eyes. Mignon didn't understand why she felt so bad. She couldn't even remember why. Mignon just remembered that Ninon did something unreasonable and mean. Mignon would have to teach her a lesson at some point. Moves her hands from her eyes, as the incredibly creepy doppleganger walks in with a book.
And how does Mignon react to the doll?
"Wowwie wow wow! Dolly Ninon!" Mignon claps her hands gleefully, looking at the little creature. "Can Ninon make dolly versions of Mignon! Mignon would love to have a whole family of Mignon's like that!" Mignon reaches out for the tome, ripping it out from the ground. Mignon was squealing, impossibly happy. Standing up, Mignon runs over to Ninon, and hugs her chest against her sister's face so much as she squeezes her. "MIGNON IS SO GRATEFUL! MIGNON LOVES NINON SO MUCHY MUCH! MIGNON WILL MAKE HER DOLLS!"
"In fact, Mignon can do that right now!"
Mignon clutches the book so close, opening it swiftly. She strides away from the mess she had left at the table. "Mignon will be able to make all the dolls! And then! Mignon will be able to have the best parties! Mignon will be number one!" The teenager runs off towards her room, finally leaving the common area for good...
But of course, doing nothing about the mess that she had left.
"...I didn't make it," she starts to protest, still not paying attention. "It was a present from Grandma, you know th-"
Suddenly there are boobs in her face! Ninon sputters, eyes widening slightly as she is engulfed in the bouncy softness of her sister's bosom. With the glass of milk still in her hand, she can't afford to flail around or try to push the taller girl off from her seated position. Even if they were a match in physical strength, she'd just make a mess in the process of dislodging her. She can't speak a spell clearly like this either and she's not foolish enough to try and channel her power without the guiding barriers of a properly formed magical construct. The last time she'd done that she set the whole room on fire.
So the little witch just goes limp, relinquishing herself into her sister's tight embrace and waits for it to end. As always, such things are blissfully short; Mignon's attention span atleast has one up side. When the hug ends, Ninon sits back in her chair and frowns slightly, smoothing out the front of her dress as her sibling tears out of the room in enthusiastic glee.
"...if only she could direct that energy to her studies... I'd have a decent elder sister... I guess."
The next few minute are spent finishing up her dinner and cleaning the mess left behind, mostly Mignon's. The little doll helps as well, scraping up the bits of half chewed cheese and bread from the table's surface, and together they manage to leave the place sparkling like new in short order.
Picking up her doll, Ninon cradles the thing in her arms against her stomach, almost child-like herself in how she carries it. As the one thing left to her by their Grandmother before her passing, she's inclined to allow herself this one foolish habit.
Her gaze drifts towards Mignon's door as she heads to her own room, more than ready to turn in for the evening. What manner of nonsense will she manage to be assaulted with next? Could her sister actually work out how to animate objects? Impossible. Such delicate magic is well beyond her, surely. Only time will tell.
With a sigh, Ninon slips into her room and crawls into bed, haunting visions of an army of tiny Mignon's keeping her company throughout the night.
Log created on 01:46:41 12/14/2014 by Mignon, and last modified on 21:15:48 12/14/2014.