The Kitten Whispers and Tickle Fights End Now!

Affiliated with AskStoryKidsHQ. The strangest way you could see their codes coming together and it keeps getting weirder. There are two kinds of people and I am somehow both of them. Daughter of Fix-It Felix Jr. and Sgt. Calhoun. (Written by Destini.)

[askstorykids-hq]

Welcome to the idyllic town of Addersfield, located on History Island in Auradon, home of Illedale University.

Students here are children of some rather famous faces. And some have made fame in their own right, like King Ben or the Lady Mal. We’re proud to boast a diverse student culture and a rich history–

[–and that’s enough of THAT broadcast! Is this thing on? Hello? Can you hear me?

Good. I’ll warn ya right now, everybody– if you thought Auradon Prep was wild, you ain’t seen nothing yet! Illedale is bigger, meaner, and with the past not so distant to us, tensions can run pretty high around here.

‘Course, you probably know the story by now. When preparing for his coronation, King Ben declared his first royal proclamation to allow over 4 VKs from the Isle of the Lost to come to the city. After a whole showdown about good and evil, the four integrated into Auradon society pretty well, and then after drama at Cotillion, Mowgli rallied the Auradon people to fight for the disbandment of the Isle, sending the villains to rehab and their kids to Auradon Prep.

Catching you up since graduation, pretty much all of us ended up moving to Addersfield for higher education in Auradon’s system– cuz man, I gotta tell ya, it’s a lot better in Auradon than it is anywhere else. Well, ‘cept for all the evil takeovers, I guess.

But not everyone’s cut out for college itself. The nice thing about Addersfield is that it’s all a pretty tight-knit community based around the school itself. More of a college township, as it were. So some of AP’s graduates moved to town to work with a crowd they know well.

I can’t stay much longer, but don’t let the stuffy advertising fool ya about this place, folks! We’re a lot more than what the surface wants to pretend. I’d drop your application while you can if I were in your shoes! This is P. Warner, sending you right back to your regularly scheduled programming!]

–and enroll in your future today at Illedale University, where the story starts anew.

[shoot-to-kxll]

Open Starter: Reality is Bugged

“There’s no way that’s an actual thing that can happen in actual real life, right?” Bethany remarks to no one in particular, watching a boy suddenly seem to just appear from a human-shaped shadow on a table. “Like. This has to be another game world that I got put in that’s really buggy, right?”

[shoot-to-kxll]

Open Starter: Features

“Now, are the haunted decorations supposed to be a bug or a feature of life in the real world?” Bethany asks, watching as a plastic skeleton runs by outside slowly with her eyebrows furrowed before sipping her juice box.

[shoot-to-kxll]

ofstcriestold​:

Bethany’s glitch takes Malik by surprise. He blinks before excitement catches up with him, bubbling out of his insides and forcing a genuine smile, real enthusiasm, into his face.

“That–you–is this all an act? You are an incredible actress,” he says immediately, surprised, ELATED!, by the change that’s come over her. He isn’t accustomed to having anyone who didn’t grow up on the Isle turn so quickly from one mood to the next.

He pictures her through the columns of a many-arched corridor, an arcade, her stride changing each time the columns block her from view, now a princess and now a soldier and now a slumping thief, a limp, the peacock-strut of a rockstar. He laughs a bit and crosses his arms over his chest,, face still mystified, intrigued, enthralled.

“And how does one live in an arcade? Are there beds between the arches, or do you sleep in the rafters like so many birds comes to roost?”

“WHOA there, slow your roll,” Bethany holds up her hands, looking frustrated. “No, no, no, no, no, no. You have the wrongest idea here."

She holds up a hand. “This? Really me. Who we started on? Also really me. There’s no act in broken code, though I do love the implication I’m pretending to be all sunshine and cupcakes. It really speaks volumes to your mindset.”

Bethany scoffs. “Not sure where you got your idea of an arcade, but I’m talking about a video game arcade. Y’know, pixels and all the noises and quarters for games? See, I’m supposed to be one of those little pixeled beings you’d see on a screen. I was turned human-ish to go to school here, and it threw an entire wrench into my glitch. Which, thank you so much for bringing that up for me, while I’m at this. And for not giving me a chance to explain it in such a way you might be able to understand it before you took off on that.”

[shoot-to-kxll]

ofstcriestold​:

“Ah. By ‘made the history books,’ I must assume you only mean the heroes.”

Malik looked down, suitably chastised and disillusioned, before glancing back up and allowing himself a smile. He takes her hand without hesitation and gives it a firm shake. “Malik Mal. I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone quite like you, Bethany.

“Where are you from? Surely not Auradon, to be so…charmingly strange.”

“Well, only originally,” Bethany admits with a shrug, smiling sweetly. “Oh! I’m actually from Litwak’s Ar--”

Her voice glitches out when she does, from bouncy bubbly baby to takes-no-shit barking orders soldier girl. She blinks and shakes her head abruptly. “And that is why I don’t take the time to fraternize often. As I was trying to tell you, Litwak’s Arcade. Don’t get too comfortable with one side of me or the other, neither likes to stick around for too long.”

[shoot-to-kxll]

“And yet, despite the look on my face... you’re still talking.”

[shoot-to-kxll]

Hey, Felix. Sarg. Help me out here a little. What’s. Ah. What’s the deal with Bethany?

“Bethany is... the result of a calculated risk,” Tamara says, sighing a bit. “It’s complicated enough trying to code a kid when you and your partner come from the same game. Picking sections of your code that would be compatible is still difficult even in those cases. And having to figure out the customization is only slightly easier since the options available will be in both your taste.”

“But, in Bethany’s case, since we came from different games, Tammy and I were in completely uncharted territory. We knew that there would be a chance our codes wouldn’t even be compatible but we gave it a try anyways. We were just barely able to make it work, but we were warned multiple times as we were putting her together that things... might not work out.” Felix adds on quickly, hesitantly looking at his wife, not sure how to put it exactly.

“The facts boil down to these. Since her coding came from both of us, Bethany has both of us in her. But because we’re so different, from such different games, the code that made her up is glitched, down to the basics. We would have to completely start over to fix her glitch, giving up Bethany in her entirety, and that’s something neither of us are willing to do. So, she swaps between both of us.”

“She has a routine at the arcade that allowed her to get a handle on her glitch, the way Vanellope has learned to control her old one. I don’t know what she’s doing or how she’s learned to handle it in Auradon. But for all that she is, Bethany is our daughter, and we love her.” Felix puts the final note on it and Tamara nods, setting a hand on her husband’s shoulder.

[shoot-to-kxll]

ofstcriestold​:

And here in this one is everything Malik had always thought Auradon would be: giggles and sunshine and smiles, saturated saccharine left to melt in the sun.

Still and yet, he smiles back, relaxing his posture now that he feels better assured that he at least will not be assaulted for beginning a conversation–particularly not one in which he lain down an insult or challenge.

“Not a princess? Well, that’s quite different from what I’ve been told.”

“I thought this school was only for Auradon’s royalty–and now the riff-raff like me. Please: it behooves me to know. What is the truth of this school, if it was not before kept only for the elite?”

“It never really was, but that’s the image they projected before the barrier came down,” Bethany shrugs. “Before they started to change things, Auradon Prep’s advertising came largely from the idea of it being ideal for children of royalty. Anyone else was... extra. Really, if your family made history books, well, goodness, your kids are welcome!”

Extending her hand with a smile, she adds, “Oh, my land, where are my manners? My apologies, I’m Bethany.”

[shoot-to-kxll]

ofstcriestold​:

“Wait, I know who you are. Let me get this right: you’re a princess’ daughter, aren’t you?”

“A lovely woman gives birth to a lovely girl. It only makes sense. You must be very popular here.”

“Aw, shucks, no, I get my sweetness from my daddy, believe me,” Bethany giggles a bit. “Gosh, but that’s so nice of you.”

Getting into a routine at this school hadn’t been that easy, but she’s managing, and now more often than not she’s nicer with her classmates. Her code still occasionally isn’t happy with this new normal, though...

[shoot-to-kxll]

Open Starter: Life Can Be So Unfair

Bethany winces and ducks aside, pressing her arm up against a wall and resting her head against her arm, feeling what’s coming next and hoping she’s out of sight so no one else has to see it.

Back home, her side-switching looked like a very toned down glitch. It was a natural feeling for her and she would smoothly and seamlessly swap from one to the next.

That was... not how it works here. The transformation between her two sides could be a bit of a shock to others, and it always gave her a headache. So she really, really hopes she’s cleared out of everyone’s sight as her outward appearance... lightly shapeshifts.

Dark makeup gone, a short cut but actual hair, and her aggressive, slightly depressing wardrobe shifts abruptly into a yellow sundress. Smiling at last in spite of her headache, Bethany turns around... to see someone staring.

Oh, dear.

“Hi...”

[shoot-to-kxll]

"Hello! I'm Lyra, what's your name?" ( @pxnes-dxughter )

“Bethany,” as she barely looks over at the other girl and leaves the entirety of her response there. She neither asked nor cared. Working out her new routine to keep herself balanced was not going well, so she’d done her best to swap sides of her programming to see if the strictness of her Hero’s Duty side would help figure out a regimen.

But that sort of thing did not include “random interruptions by strangers” and it definitely was fraying on her more… delicate nerves, right now.

@pxnes-dxughter

[shoot-to-kxll]

pxnes-dxughter‌:

“…” After a tiny bit of awkward silence, Lyra smiled a bit. “I’m guessing we’re both new, so would you like to walk around the school with me? So we can figure things out together?” Lyra asked.

Bethany raises an eyebrow at her offer even after the pause, cocking her head slightly and looking the other girl up and down slowly. “Thanks for the offer, cupcake, but I’ve got some other things to handle still.”

She gives the girl another short glance. “Believe me, you’re not nearly equipped to help with it.”

[shoot-to-kxll]

"Hello! I'm Lyra, what's your name?" ( @pxnes-dxughter )

“Bethany,” as she barely looks over at the other girl and leaves the entirety of her response there. She neither asked nor cared. Working out her new routine to keep herself balanced was not going well, so she’d done her best to swap sides of her programming to see if the strictness of her Hero’s Duty side would help figure out a regimen.

But that sort of thing did not include “random interruptions by strangers” and it definitely was fraying on her more… delicate nerves, right now.

@pxnes-dxughter

[shoot-to-kxll]

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