TROUBLE TRIO (au drabble)
Finn didn’t know how she got into the mess that she did.
Some random prince had thought that just because she could do magic that she could somehow magically turn straw into gold. How did that make sense? How do you go straight from pulling a rabbit out of a hat to spinning straw into gold? It didn’t make any sense. The man was crazy. He probably wasn’t even a prince.
She was just going to not do it until the so called prince threatened her with death otherwise. Which was incredibly rude, for the record, but it did get her attempting to spin the straw, though she found the task as impossible as she had thought it would be. Only after she had given up did a man mysteriously appear in her room, smirking down at her.
She chucked a shoe at him. Not her proudest moment.
He offered her a deal: he’d turn the straw to gold but he got half. And she owed him twice as much once she was out. She was skeptical, but agreed, and was shocked to wake the next morning to a room full of gold. She didn’t think it was possible. He may have been a better magician than she was.
The next day the prince was back again, demanding twice as much be done before morning. That night, the mysterious man was back again, but this time with a hat. She liked him better without it. The same deal was offered: he’d turn the straw to gold but he got half. And she owed him twice as much once she was out. Once again she took the deal, not really in the mood to die, and once again the straw was done by morning.
The third day, same deal from the prince, and the third night, the other man was back again, this time without the hat. He offered her the same deal he had the previous two nights, but this time, she was ready with a counter offer.
“How about you get me out of here and we take all the gold with us instead?”
He stared at her, then blinked out of the room. Two minutes later he returned, but with another copy of himself, this one wearing a hat. Finn only then realized that she had met two different men instead fo the same one all three nights. Nice. She’d never suspected a thing.
She told them so, and they seemed pleased with themselves. It was another thirty minutes of discussion before they agreed on who exactly got what, but they made it work. Every one of them seemed pleased when they shook on it.
They took more than just the gold from the prince on their way out. Their partnership was born that night, but it lasted for many, many years after. Nick came too, just not to the eventual honeymoon.