Propaganda: "he grandaddy of modern fansongs, Pixietricks specifically wrote it with the narrator in mind being the main character's late mother, as if singing to her beyond the grave. Songs like Soldatino and Lullaby for a Princess owe a lot of their style to Lullaby for Tohru. A true classic."-submitter
Breathe
Fandom: The Owl House
Artist: Oh Geeez
Propaganda: "It’s meant to be Gus talking to Hunter to encourage him and it even includes a snippet of dialogue from the Labyrinth Runners episode" -submitter
Pixie Tricks|| Marley, Penelope, Maple Leaf, and Regan (Chatzy)
Nothing sweeter than revenge and honey.
This stupid pixie really had it coming to her. Marley didn't even need the net this time, all she needed was the jar, a fly swatter, and the sweets Penelope had reminded her to bring. She was ready for this whole debacle to be over, and now that she knew where the damn thing was hiding-- no thanks to the broken record one they'd found yesterday, who refused to tell Marley anything useful-- and she wasn't letting it get away this time. She pulled up to Regan's apartment and gathered the supplies she'd brought and headed up the well. Penelope wasn't in sight but it wouldn't hurt to go ahead and get started. Lucky for her Ms. Carmody never left her apartment, and Erol Qin was never home to be in his, so breaking in to Regan's would be quick and easy. She was just jimmying in the pin to the lock when she felt Penelope approaching. Without taking her eye off the lock, she waved with one hand, and said, "Did you bring the honey?"
"And some other things," Penelope replied as she approached her. "Estela's sweet-tooth has some advantages." It had been tempting to pawn off the crumbs of Ana's ghastly cookies to the pixie as well, but the last thing they needed was to get the little thing upset and call them nasty tricksters. Even if it would be the pot calling the kettle black. "If she has me reported for helping you with this, it's on you to clear it up." Or officer Hultz, little as Marley seemed to like her. "What kind of bugger are we looking at?" she asked after a moment. "Does she even have a name?"
"Hell if I know," Marley grumbled, and her face momentarily lit up as the inevitable 'click!' that came with a successfully pick sounded. "I just know that she's intent on keeping my hair brown so I look like Regan, and she was even more intent on finding out what Regan is. Except Nate gave it away, and now we have no leverage to barter with the thing." Opening the door, she waved Pen inside. "Ladies first," she smiled. "And don't worry, Regan's not going to be arresting anyone. We have a few hours before she gets home, even if it's Thursday."
Penelope stepped inside cautiously. She couldn't for the life of her remember why she had thought this was a good idea. She looked a mess, and still felt just as badly. At the time it'd just seemed...that Marley wouldn't get much else out of this besides more frustration if she didn't get someone who could hold their temper better. There wasn't much Penelope was good for these days, but she reckoned that was one of them. Hopefully, at least. "Alright," she called in a low voice. "Where are you?" Were you supposed to talk to pixies a certain way? Was the little thing asleep? Did they sleep?
After a long day of messing with Faegan's life, even Maple Leaf needed a quick nap. She'd burrowed into the blanketed tissue box that was provided to her, and was about to snooze off when her nose prickled with the sweet scent of honey. Faegan must've brought more back for her. So thoughtful! Even if it was just so she could get Maple Leaf to charm Marley's hair back to a normal, boring shade of blonde. She looked sooo much better this way, and her reaction was just too funny! Maple Leaf stretched and zipped out of the bedroom, flying over to the front doorway to sample whatever sweets Faegan brought back for her, but-- "Eep! It's you!" Marley. And some other human. How many human friends did Faegan have? It was weird. Didn't she know that? Maple Leaf flew towards the ceiling for a minute, before sitting atop the fridge. The honey smelled so good... maybe if they weren't looking, she could sneak a taste or two. "I'm an honored guest here! I'll do what I want and what I want is for you to be brunette. Sorry! Bye-bye!" She waved.
Marley saw the thing zip out of the hallway and speed towards them before they even had the front door closed. "Hello to you too, you little twerp!" she growled, snatching for her, but missing by a long shot. She held the jar over to Pen and made a "give me" motion with her hand. "Lemme have the honey!" she demanded. "I'm going to get you to change my hair back tonight or so help me..." she grumbled, chasing the pixie into the kitchen where it was perched atop the fridge. "Oooh, clever. Go up somewhere high where we can't reach. Wow, I never would have suspected that to happen. I thought you were supposed to be a clever little sentient pile of leaves?" she taunted, holding up the jar of honey. "I suppose we'll just have to enjoy this honey ourselves. Or, I could just dump it all down the drain. I'm not the biggest fan of honey, never really had a sweet tooth, after all."
Penelope rolled her eyes. This was clearly off to a smashing good start. "Losing your temper is only going to encourage her," she hissed. But she let Marley have her way all the same. She had back up sweets in case they wasted it making an unnecessary mess. "Whatever your name is," she called to the creature firmly, "if you want anything good for yourself, you'll come down here. You deserve the sweets more than the drain, don't you? And it just doesn't taste very good anymore when it's been watered down and covered with grime, does it? It would be a terrible waste, wouldn't it?" It was a bratty little mite, wasn't it? Fortunately for them, spoiled creatures were supremely self interested.
Maple Leaf 's eyes darted between the jar of honey and the drain. Honey or safety? Honey or safety? A tiny bead of sweat rolled down her temple. "I do deserve them..." Maple Leaf said, crossing one leg over the other as she stared down from the fridge. "Hmmm... I'll come down if you tell me a funny joke! I need to be entertained while I eat, and since Faegan said I'm not allowed to make your hair red, it has to be something else."
At least Regan had done something good here. Marley grumbled. "A joke? Really? Thats--," she started, but paused. Probably best not to egg the stupid thing on. She scrunched her nose. "Fine, a joke..." she crossed her arms and tapped her foot. "What do you call a sleepwalking nun?"
Maple Leaf blinked. "What's a nun?"
"Fuck me," Marley growled. "Pen, you know any good jokes a pixie would understand?"
Penelope snorted wryly. This wasn't the right direction to go in. "Do I look like the kind of person to know anything about---" she huffed. "Look I only remember one, and it's not exactly--" In good taste, she wanted to say. But maybe the pixie wouldn't care. Besides, they were out of other options. She worked her jaw, already a little irritated and tried, "Why did the vampire's lunch give him heartburn?"
Maple Leaf leaned forward, her fingers curling against the edge of the fridge. "Why? Tell me why!"
"Because--" Penelope winced, "It was a stake sandwich."
Maple Leaf bowled over, giggling wildly as she gripped her stomach. Maybe not all humans were horrible. At least this one knew a funny joke! She still didn't like Marley though. That human was looking at her like she wanted to rip her wings off. Maple Leaf raced down from the fridge and hovered over the jar of honey, letting the sweet smell fill her nostrils.
Marley grit her teeth and the fly swatter in her hands. No, no, don't do it. Don't hurt the thing, Regan would be so mad, but god it was tempting. "Wow," she said through clenched teeth, "that was so funny, right? Enjoying your honey?" she asked, trying to keep the pixie distracted as she motioned for Penelope to get the jar ready.
Penelope shook her head. She had no interest in being the one to win the pixie's bad graces. Besides, it wasn't her revenge, was it? "It's very good, honey, isn't it?" She said encouragingly. Distraction. That's what she could do. Marley could get her own bloody hands dirty. "What other sweets do you like? Are you fond of chocolate, perhaps? Or cakes? There's a place that has a lot of those things not too far from here, you know."
Maple Leaf nodded enthusiastically as she gorged herself on the honey. She decided she liked this second human; she had a nice voice. When she had her fill of honey, Maple Leaf plopped herself on the table; she leaned against the woman's forearm, brushing her cheek against it as she counted sweets on her fingers. "Oh, I like chocolate, and cake, and strawberries, and pudding, and caramel, and chocolate pudding, and caramel pudding, and strawberry pudding, and vanilla pudding! But they don't grow on trees, so I steal from a man's kitchen! There's this super serious police officer who leaves his window open all the time."
Marley silently grabbed the jar as Penelope preoccupied the pixie with talks of sweets. If the two wanted to make friends, that was fine with her, she just wanted the damn thing to change her hair back, and this was her third attempt already. Once she had the jar, she came up next to Penelope and found the pixie leaning up against her arm. Well...it was now or never. She tapped Penelope's shoulder and second her arm was out of the way, Marley slammed the open end of the jar down on the pixie, trapping it. "HA!" she exclaimed, grinning at the trapped creature. "Now who's laughing!?"
Penelope only turned for a second. She didn't know what she'd expected from Marley, but that near-maniacal burst of satisfaction hadn't been it. "Alright, you've got her," she said firmly. "Now get your hair back and let her go again." Oddly enough, she didn't find anything particularly wrong with the little pixie. She seemed nice enough, for a spoiled brat the size of your thumb at least.
Maple Leaf slammed against the sides of the jaw in frenzied bursts, trying to break free. She should've known better than to get that honey, but it just smelled so good and-- "Let me go!" She could barely hear the voices from the opposite side of the glass, and she knew her little voice was almost definitely entirely drowned out by it. She flew to the bottom (now acting as the top), continuously slamming against it, but she was as good as trapped. Humans never led to anything good. Maple Leaf wasn't ready to give up yet though.
Marley tapped on the glass. "Having a rough go of it?" she asked in a mocking voice. She looked over at Penelope. "Don't give me that look, I'm not hurting it," she muttered, looking back down at the pixie. She kneeled so that she was eye height with the glass jar and the pixie inside of it. "You know what you have to do to get out of there," she spoke a bit loudly, making sure the thing could hear her enough. She motioned to her hair, the other hand still holding the jar down. "Change it ba--" she started, but the door suddenly opened and a panicked voice sounded. Oh, fuck.
"Yes, you are, and you know it," Penelope scolded. "Do you honestly think taunting is going to be a productive policy? She might have been bribed with something else, you know." She let out a little huff, hands on her hips. No use crying over spilt milk. They couldn't let the little thing go without it all being a waste now. "Just be firm and plain. Nastiness is only going to make her want to retaliate in some other ghastly way. "Listen," she called to the pixie, "There's no getting around this. You have to put Marley's hair back the way it was. I'll put some pudding in the deal for you if you do it without any more--" The door suddenly opened. "--fucking hell." she hissed. So much for no more fuss.
Two cases of liver failure, one homicide victim, and one heart defect later, Regan was seriously craving a peaceful night back at home. It wasn't until she was right outside the door, and she felt that weird, invisible tug, that she remembered her current guest. "Great," she muttered to herself, fishing her keys out. With any luck, Maple Leaf wouldn't be chatty tonight, and they could resume discussion of putting Marley's hair back to normal tomorrow. The door opened, and-- voices. Two figures. She quickly identified the intruders as Marley and Penelope-- the latter of whom she hadn't seen in ages, and instantly opened her mouth to yell when she saw what was in Marley's hands. "Marley! What on earth do you think you're-- put her down! Now!" Regan rushed over to the table and knocked the jar over, freeing her trapped friend. "What gives you the right to-- I know you don't like her, but you can't just go around trapping people under jars when you're mad at them and-- hi Penelope."
The jar toppled from her hands and thankfully didn't smash to pieces on the ground-- but the pixie rushed out as soon as the opportunity allowed it and Marley nearly cried out in frustration. "Regan! I wasn't hurting it-- her! I was just trying to make it change my hair back and stop impersonating you online!" she protested, taking a step back and snatching the jar back up, setting it back on the table with a bit more 'oomf' than was necessary. Her eyes searched the apartment, but the pixie was clearly hiding out somewhere. "I almost had it, too!" The frustration Regan was felt was shared by Marley, and Penelope's irritation at the entire situation wasn't helping anything either. And yet, it was with a quiet realization, that Marley realized the two people standing in this room were the two she shared connections with, and were the two main reasons she was feeling extra obstinate at the moment. Her jaw locked. "I didn't hurt her, she's obviously fine."
Penelope 's insides clenched when Regan burst in. It was a relief to not be sucked in as an instant culprit as well, but that didn't exactly warm her feelings. "Hello, Regan," she said. Perfunctory politeness, the best she could manage. This whole thing was already a blooming trainwreck. Marley wasn't very likely to get her way in the manner she'd wanted to now. "Marley, you never said, does she have an actual, proper name we might try to call her with?" Marley's chances were low, but maybe she could dump the rest of her sweets with the little pixie before she ducked and ran.
"Her name is Maple Leaf," Regan said with a glower, "and there are other ways of getting her to make your hair blonde again than trapping her in a jar." If her completely unscientific, baffling senses were to be believed (which they probably weren't), Maple Leaf was back to hiding on top of the fridge; for once, Regan hoped she stayed there, at least until Marley left. Penelope too, if she'd been roped into helping, which seemed to be the case. "Look, you can try to bargain this out with her another time. I think she's suffered enough trauma at your hands for one night."
Marley gaped a little. "Are you serious?" she sputtered. "You're taking her side?" If it wouldn't have made her to look like a pouting twelve-year old, Marley would have scoffed and stomped her foot. But she was more controlled than that. Instead she just gave a heavy breath, challenging Regan's defiance for a moment before deciding it wasn't worth it. Besides, they did really look like sisters now, even if Marley was too irritated to admit that maybe, just maybe she liked that thought a little. She threw up her hands. "Fine. Fine. We'll leave. But next time she hijacks your computer, don't expect me to help," she stated, even though everyone seemed to expect her to be the one to clean up Regan's messes, anyway. She turned and headed towards the front door again-- looks like she was going to France with brown hair. Ugh. She could only hope she wouldn't have to get used to this forever.
Penelope nodded briskly. "Maple Leaf," she called. "These are yours. The pudding isn't until after you undo your little trick on Marley." She put the chocolate candies on the counter-top and wiped her hands of the matter. "Marley, shall we go, darling?"
Penelope dumped her candies on the table and headed towards Marley, who gave another glance at Regan. The girl had her arms folded firmly across her chest and Marley sighed, joining Pen at the door. She opened it and gave one last glance back as she stepped out the door. Bested by a pixie, again. What a great week. Well, at least she'd be out of this hell forsaken town for a bit starting tomorrow. "Yes, fine," she muttered begrudgingly. "I'll be back later, Maple Leaf." And shut the door behind them.
I FOUND AN OLD BOOK SERIES I READ WHEN I WAS LITTLE AND IM GONNA GET THEM FROM THE LIBRARY IM SO EXCITED. If any if you are curious, the series is called Pixie Tricks and it's by Tracey West :)
