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Dream Factory

Episode Five: Boring Hell

Pascale found herself visiting Princess Twinkle early in the morning. It was another beautiful sunny morning, and the library wouldn't officially open for another hour so she figured why not? The castle was always so clean despite only having one servant working here. Snowflake was in fact busy watering some of the flowers as Pascale passed by her. They shared a nod but no words passed between them, for some reason Snowflake was a very private person, a kobold who preferred to be alone perhaps too much so.

Princess Twinkle was in her grand hall. A long chamber with a lot of space. In the standard castle this is where the throne room was, along with tables and chairs for any banquets, and tapestries or murals depicting the rich storied history of a castle. In Princess Twinkle's castle the only thing that matched that description was the fact there was technically a throne.

This room was lined with pink rugs, the walls with a few similar tapestries, but the walls were mostly lined with shelves, some held books, others held various knickknacks. Pink sofas and cushioned chairs were scattered about the place. Even a pink bean bag chair or two. In one corner on a large table there was a pile of Xogz, one so thick that Blue would be jealous. Nearer the throne itself there were five steps leading up to it. Princess Twinkle's throne was massive, and she was laying on it sideways on at least a dozen pillows and staring up at the ceiling. Behind the throne was a mountain of stuffed animals.

Princess Twinkle glanced over at Pascale was she lay there. "I'm so, bored!"

Pascale frowned. She knew that the Princess often felt apathetic about the castle. Even her horde of cute things were not always enough to cheer her up. That's what Pascale was for though. "Princess, is there anything I can do to help?"

Princess Twinkle looked down at her. "Hmm, maybe." She licked her lips in a way that sent a shiver down Pascale's spine, she then shook her head. "No, no, I'm sorry. You yourself cannot help me."

"Is, um, is there someone who can?"

Princess Twinkle thought about that for a moment. "Send in Snowflake. She's usually up for such things?"

"W-what things? If you don't mind me asking my princess."

"Oh, you're too young to understand. Just send her in and she'll take care of my needs. Don't worry you're cute little head about it none." She looked back up at the ceiling. "At least that will kill what, thirty minutes to an hour of time? Then I'll need to find someone else to do."

"Someone?"

"I meant something. Yeah, that one." She looked back to Pascale. "What are you still doing here? Go on, fetch me my Snowflake and do whatever it is you usually do on days like this."

Pascale snapped to attention and went about her task. She wasn't sure what Snowflake was going to do, but when she found Snowflake and relayed the orders, Snowflake gave her such a warm smile that could hardly believe it. Watching Snowflake walk away, she could have sworn there was a sway to that tail of Snowflake's. She figured it was best not to question such things. Pascale rarely enjoyed the answers she got when she did.

Instead she had a job to do at the library and she was going to do it well. Not that anyone in this hamlet really cared for higher learning.

***

It was another dreadfully slow day for Jade at the Misty Dragon: Spa and Hot spring. Jade wasn't quite sure how much longer this situation was really going to work. Sure they made enough money to scrape by and to pay what little taxes Princess Twinkle asked for, but with so few of the locals interested in the spa, the only thing making money were the hot springs. At the very least those did make enough money, but she feared perhaps this was a fools errand. She was meant for things greater than this but was forced into this lowly position in backwater no name hamlet of Pleasant Falls. How far had their family line sunk? Even if it was just her and Opal left, this was not the rightful place for them.

Jade let out a sigh. Even in her work dress, which was a very soft shade of lavender with minimalistic designs, she just didn't feel like she belonged here. The old nights filled with party, dancing, drinking, those were the nights she craved for, but those nights were long gone now. Perhaps never to return. It was enough to break her heart.

Still, she was alive. Her and her darling little sister both.

Speaking of which she caught Opal sneaking back into the lobby. White scales with spines in a rainbow of colors on her head and the back of her neck. Jade snapped. "Opal! What did I say about coming in here during working hours?"

Opal flinched. Stood up straight and turned to face her sister with an attempt at a smile. "H-hi, big sis. Um, you said um, not to..."

"That's right, I said not to come in here while your big sister is trying to work. Except for on spa days where you get to man the counter for a few hours-" She cut herself off when she noticed that the bottom of Opal's blue dress was burned. "YOUR DRESS!"

Opal raised her hands. "It's not my fault. The ritual went wrong and I burned the dress instead of the animal and-"

"HOW DARE YOU!" Jade shouted. "I am not going back to those witches to repair your dress this time. You'll have to fix it yourself."

Opal lowered her head. "Oh... okay."

Jade jerked a finger to the door leading to inside the house. "You know where the sewing room is. Now go."

No one ever said that raising kids was going to be this hard, honestly she felt cheated for not being not being told in the first place. Still it was just the two of them now and so long as she was still around she would do everything she could to raise Opal. Today had been super slow as it was though. She was about ready to close shop as she'd yet to have any visitors again.

The door burst open and an unexpected, and perhaps unwanted figure stepped in. Covered in mud from head to toe, Gray walked in. Her clothes were torn up, and small cuts covered her body. Her left eye even was swollen halfway closed. She looked at Jade, mouthed something that Jade would rather not repeat and then stumbled forward as the door closed behind her tracking mud and blood into Jade's establishment.

Jade hissed. "Don't you dare track your filth in here."

Gray did her best to glare at her but with only one eye it was hard. "Aww, shuddup. I need help, and you were the closest, I think."

The blood running down the side of Gray's head from a nasty gash was dripping onto her nice newly cleaned floor. "Oh come on, why are you doing this to my floor?"

Gray blinked a few times, the anger in her eyes fading. "Do, what?"

Jade looked at the floor, then back at Gray and hissed once more sticking her shoulders up and placing her hands squarely on the counter. Her claws dug into the wood work. "I should kill you, but if I did, Pascale and Blue would be sad."

Gray stared at her. "Whoa, you're like, super hot when you're angry."

"YOU! Hot spring, now!"

Gray took a few shambling steps toward the door to the hot springs, fell over onto her face and let out a groan as she lay there bleeding out. Well if Jade left her there she was just going to leave a bigger mess. Jade was forced to get up, lock the door and close shop for the day before dragging Gray over to the door, and then down each and every step. She ignored the thuds that Gray's head totally didn't make as she totally didn't smack her head into the stairs multiple times.

Once at the bottom step she stripped Gray, which wasn't hard to do considering most of her clothing was already torn to shred and rolled her over into the hot springs. For a moment she watched in glee as Gray floundered under the water. When the flailing went on a little too long it stopped being fun and she had to drag Gray out of the water and prop the naked kobold up against the shallow end's edge. Gray just sort of flopped over it and groaned. She was at the very least breathing.

Taking another look at the wounds this time Jade was a little more concerned about them. She honestly hadn't seen Gray this injured since she fought with Pascale that one time. This wasn't done by Pascale was it? No, it couldn't be, no burns, just cuts, bruises, and perhaps a broken bone or concussion.

Gray began to speak. "Jade, I hurt."

"That's because you've been beat to shit. What happened?"

Gray coughed a few times. "Weird monster. Looked, like a child."

"It looked like a kid. You got beat up by a kid you mean?"

"No, it ugh, uh, looked weird. Like. Its face was not right. No eyes, and uh, pajamas. Just... I thought it was a kid, but it turned and attacked. I... how did I get here?"

"I don't know, how did you get away from the creepy kid."

"I flew. I had to use all my strength to push her back, and then I flew away. These, things, followed me. I, I couldn't see them but they were like, changing shape, and scary."

Jade was feeling less jovial about the situation now. This sounded like some kind of horrible monster or perhaps even a demon.

Opal's voice came out from near the stairway. "Did they come out of her brain?"

Jade shot a glare at her. "Opal, that's a weird question. Don't be weird."

Gray coughed again. "Y-yeah, they did."

Opal was holding something. A glass bottle of the healthy-refreshing drink, Heala-Cola. Now with limited time star caps on select bottles.

Opal walked over and knelt down forcing the bottle of Heala-Cola into Gray's mouth. As Gray drank it the wounds on her flesh began to knit themselves back together. Just one bottle wasn't going to heal her completely but it would mean the clean up would be a lot easier to deal with. It also helped Gray sit up and finish off the drink. She set it down and let out a belch.

Opal giggled but Jade only glared, at the both of them. "Opal, where did you get the bottle?"

"From our fridge."

"That was meant for emergencies, you can't just give that out to anyone who comes in."

"I didn't, I gave it to your friend, because it's an emergency."

Gray looked up at Jade. "Hey, relax. I'll give you a whole box of them as replacements if you want. The Doc has them in plenty."

Jade sat down on the floor. "Fine... anyway. You're safe now." She glanced at Opal. "You will take those disgusting rags that Gray was wearing and toss them out."

Gray reached out. "Hold up, don't just throw my clothes away. I don't want to be naked all day."

Jade shook her head. "I won't let you be naked all day. I'll give you a spare dress."

"A dress, noooo. My coolness is going to die. I'd rather be naked."

Jade glanced over at Opal, whose eyes were staring at a particularly exposed part of Gray's chest. "Opal, if you keep staring at them, I'm going to ground you."

Opal swallowed, her cheeks turned a bright red and she turned sharply away. "Um, a-anyway, that was probably a dreamer you saw. D-don't try to fight it. Um, I'll go clean up the mess upstairs."

Opal must have realized how thing Jade's patience was if she offered to clean without any prodding to do so. At least that took care of one job. Now back to the important part. "You, I still need to bandage you up and get you into a dress."

Gray groaned. "You just want to suck the cool out of me."

"There are things I want to suck, and none of them should be cool, hot maybe, but not cool. Now shut up, turn around, and let me wash your wounds before you get an infection."

Gray remained pretty quiet after that. The rest of that little event involved cleaning up Gray, forcing her into a dress and then sending her off. She did ask where she found that creepy dreamer girl, but Gray had no idea. She just stumbled upon it in the woods some good distance away. In fact, it was almost twenty miles away. If not for Gray's insanely fast flying speeds she probably wouldn't have made it there or back in time to get help. That last thought had scared Jade, as much as she fought with Gray, she didn't want to lose her.

Just before Gray left, Jade wrapped her up in a tight embrace. "Don't do that again, okay."

Gray moaned but hugged her back. "Fine, moooom."

"I didn't lay your egg, so I'm not your mom. But, if you ever need me I'm here for you. Stay safe, you hear me?"

Gray pulled away. "I hear you. Now I just gotta get home before anyone seems me like this. Ugh."

Gray flew away. As Jade stood there watching her, with a cleaned lobby behind her, all she could think of was just how crazy things could be for their little Hamlet. Sure it was boring most of the time, but perhaps boring was good. Because boring was safe.

Of course, boring was still at the end of the day, boring. It was time to go out, get some fresh perspective on things. Piss off some less mentally damaged kobolds. Bother the scales out of her friends. So she went back inside, got dressed up in a fancy white dress, pink scrunchies on her wrists and tail, and even put on a flower headband. She grabbed her lavender purse and left.

It was with some regret that she became strikingly aware of the fact she only had four friends. So she decided to pasture the nearest one, since she was quite done with Gray for today. They'd hugged they could still be friends. No, it was time to go and bother Blue.

It was a bit of a walk down the old dirt road toward Blue's place. She still had to stop at the lift which was currently coming down with a few of the farmers on it. They nodded at her, and she at them as they passed each other. One of them even whistled at her, to which she politely rolled her eyes. It was polite because her first response involved punching them. If they could put up a worthwhile fight, she might go on a date with them. Problem was she wasn't looking for a date, so she'd remember to hit him up later. Possibly with a blunt instrument, and assuming he survived they could have a romantic evening together.

Sexy fun times were for later though. Now it was time to not be bored in less potentially compromising ways. She'd already made that mistake with a man once before, and even if she valued the gift form it more than life itself, she was not just about to do that a second time. Assuming she even could, what could she say life got complicated sometimes and one just had to roll with the punches and be more glamorous than what life dished out.

Once the lift was all the way at the top she stepped off it and found her target. Blue was wearing her usual green dress with a red flannel jacket tied around her waist. She was wearing a sun hat today as well, as she bent over and examined some of the crops. Jade snuck up behind her, not quite wanting to get the jump on her just yet. No the timing had to be perfect.

Blue frowned as she stared down at the carrots. "Hmm, I think the pipe isn't letting out enough water. I'll have to re-pressurize the whole system and hope the sapphires don't crack in the process. I'm not sure we have anymore and I think Princess Twinkle might get upset if I ask for another one."

Jade put her hands to her mouth, cupped them and sucked in a breath. Just as she was about to scream Blue turned and looked at her. "Gray I know your- oh, J-Jade. It's you. You smell like Gray." Blue's eyes narrowed and her right hand twitched, slowly moving to her shin. "Why, do you smell like Gray?"

Oh, this got complicated far sooner than she thought it would be. "I found her half dead in my Spa, darling. I fixed her up."

Blue smiled and her hand went away from her shin. Just in time too as Jade saw something holstered down there, and she really didn't want to know what kind of gun it was. Now there was another question that Jade felt she probably shouldn't ask, but she just had to know. "Is, there perhaps a reason, I shouldn't smell like her?"

Blue turned to face her plants once more. "N-no, just... you shouldn't."

That was a vague answer, in fact one might even consider it to not be an answer. This was going to be stupid but Jade was bored, so she could take a risk or two. "What if I wanted to smell like her?"

Blue stood up far to quickly for her taste. Still facing away from her, Blue asked, "Why would you want to d-do that?"

"Well, she is quite the fighter. An admirable quality in a kobold. Her figure is also somewhat lean and muscular. Not exactly a bad one to look at." Jade snuck up closer to Blue. "Just to name a few reasons."

Blue's right hand was twitching. "She's imp-p-portant to me. You w-wouldn't do anything um, rash would you?"

Jade wrapped an arm around Blue's shoulder and down over her chest pulling her into a one armed embrace. Her head grazing the side of Blue's and she spoke in a near whisper. "Oh, the only person I'd be rash with is you my darling. Should we be rash?"

Blue leaned back into her embrace for a moment. Jade smiled inwardly. Yes, this could prove to be a real useful distraction. Blue's hands reached out and grabbed onto Jade's arm gently. Yes, just like that. Blue's entire body shifted position and before Jade even knew what happened she found herself being thrown forward, up and over Blue and then onto the ground hard with her breath being taken away. All she could do was lay on her back and stare up at Blue who looked just as surprised as Jade felt.

Blue put her hands to her mouth and took several steps back. "Oh no, I'm so sorry. I just, you um, and we were, this isn't the right time for such, um ,you know?"

Jade got the picture very clearly, and painfully as she rolled over and did her best to ignore the rising fight inside of her. Now her rear end and the back of her dress were all dirty. "I understand, and I forgive you. Maybe next time."

Jade walked away, forcing herself to walk as normal as possible despite the pain. Once on the lift and going down she sat down hard and let her body just ache the whole trip down. It was clear Blue was not in the mood for such things. No, Jade would need to go bother Pascale now. After all hadn't Pascale been looking for some kind of partner recently? That could be fun. If not that, she at least could bug her and tease her until Pascale broke. Perhaps breaking her would be rather exciting.

One thing that Jade had to admit, the library always had a really unique design to it. Whatever mad man or mad woman created it was perhaps a thematic genius. Pascale's home and local library was essentially three floors, each floor styled to look like a book on the outside. So it ended up looking like three books, but they weren't perfectly tacked on one another, so the symmetry was a bit off. It still looked amazing on the outside and even if she was only ever allowed on the first two floors, the insides looked perfectly normal as well.

Going through the front door she saw Pascale behind her little counter reading a book in one hand, and writing things down with the other. Pascale was so lost in her book as it were that she didn't even notice as Jade approached. Once near Pascale, Jade peaked over to look down at what she was writing. It was a series of mathematical formula that made Jade's head hurt to try and understand. The book Pascale was reading was in fact a children's story about talking mice living in a giant abby and fighting off an evil horde of rats.

Jade had to ask. "What on aether earth are you doing?"

Pascale responded without missing a beat. "I'm measuring the dimensions of the abby as well as the secret entrances to see if they'd be realistic. You see, I want to recreate this abby as a sort of castle one day. Perhaps with less Martinez the Warrior though. As cute as that would be, I'm not a fan of martial warriors or swords."

"Huh, such an odd thing to do. I guess you're a fan of the series."

Pascale jumped back and dropped her book. "JADE! When did you get here?"

"Delayed much? Well, that's okay, you seem to have some developmental delays anyway, darling." She leaned over the counter on her arm and wiggled her hips a little. "I could help speed up some of those developments."

"I am not developmentally delayed. I was also never locked in a basement for a year. What made you think that?"

"Oh darling, stop talking nonsense, and let's get you laid."

"But, I don't want a flower necklace. What if I'm allergic to it?"

Jade could feel her headache forming from the stupidity of the conversation. "There has to be some way to get this through your thick adorable skull... oh, I know. You asked for a partner recently right?"

"Yes, and since no one would partner with me, I ended up partnering with Princess Twinkle. Honestly I should have just asked her first, she as amazing."

Jade's jaw dropped. "With, but, isn't she like your mom?"

"That's what makes it even better."

Jade honestly couldn't see herself being able to match whatever delicious feelings the likes of Princess Twinkle could offer. Still she was bored and teasing Pascale was fun, especially if it somehow landed her in a position to have more intimate fun. In order to help make her point, Jade picked up one of the nearby pens and made sure to make eye contact with Pascale as she opened her mouth and ran the length of her tongue over the pen. She slowly slid the pen into her mouth and pulled it back out drawing a line of saliva between her mouth and the pen.

Jade offered as seductive a look she could. "Does this turn you on?"

Pascale's eyed narrowed and she loosed a growl. "You just shoved one my pens into your filthy mouth! What is wrong with you?"

Jade blinked in surprise. "I'm sorry, what?"

"Leave!"

Jade pulled back from the desk. "W-wait, this was supposed to arouse you."

"Oh you aroused me alright, you aroused my anger and wraith." She grabbed the pen and yanked it from Jade's grasp. A pink energy wrapped around the pen and it turned to ash before Jade's very eyes. "You owe me a new pen, and I want you to leave."

Jade lowered her head. "I'm sorry, I thought it would be sexy."

"You're a disgusting person who slobbered all over one of my favorite pens, now leave before I shadow ban you."

Jade's eyes widened and she quickly began back peddling to the door. "Okay, I understand. Please don't do anything rash, I'll leave."

Only once outside did she let herself take a breath. Hearing the door lock behind her only to be followed by the curtains closing, did she realize she might have crossed a line. It only then occurred to her that the big fight Gray and Pascale had was also over a pen. Perhaps she didn't think this through very well.

Passion wasn't meant to be thought about though, it was just supposed to happen. Something to consume you, to drive you, to make you do unthinkable things. Unfortunately this had backfired though, as passion so often times does. Perhaps in the future she could try a different tactic. For now she was almost out of options for people to pester.

There was one left, but she wasn't sure how well that one would fair. Only one friend she had left, and not one she was as familiar with as she'd like to be. She swallowed as she looked toward the castle. She figured it was time to go visit the princess for once.

The castle wasn't too far away from the Library so it was a pretty quick walk. The main entrance to the castle itself was almost never opened, but rather everyone typically used a little side entrance off to the side which connected to a long hall. Just inside and watering the fern near the door was Snowflake, the white scaled kobold wearing her maid outfit. The outfit was a little uneven and one of the buttons wasn't buttoned all the way. Yet she was wearing a rare smile and had a bit of a dance to her movements. She was clearly in a good mood despite looking disheveled. She wandered what happened, but the slight scent of musk was pretty telling of exactly what happened to make her so happy.

"Snowflake, how are you doing?"

Snowflake hummed as she turned to face her. "Oh I'm doing wonderful. Oh so wonderful. It feels like life is just so cute."

Note to self, have sex with the princess immediately, it must have the same after effects of a dose of LSD. "Where is the princess?"

"Oh she's so cute! Or um, I mean she's in the throne room."

Jade nodded and left the elated servant behind to enjoy her own existence for awhile.

Going through the castle she found her way to the throne room and was instantly hit in the face by all the pink. It was so pink that she might have misunderstood it for a teenage girls room instead of the room belonging to that of a princess who was well over a hundred years old. On the throne itself lay Princess Twinkle. She was looking even worse than Snowflake, with her lipstick smeared and her clothes barely hanging on. As Jade walked in, Princess Twinkle lazily turned her head to Jade.

Jade smiled. "Princess Twinkle."

"Jade," She said with a smile. "You came to visit little ol' me, you never come to visit me... there's not some horrible thing going on is there?"

"Oh there is, it's just the worst too. It's boring, it's sooooo boooooring."

The joke must have landed. "Teehee, oh, Jade. I completely understand. It's dreadfully quiet today in this little peaceful hell we call Pleasant Falls. Still it's nice enough I would surmise. And the last hour was spent having very much fun, but now I am quite exhausted."

Jade let out a sigh. Defeated by physical exhaustion. "I see. I shall leave you be then, my princess."

Princess Twinkle sat upright and gave a much more serious look to her. "I have a question for you, if you don't mind."

"Of course not, your highness. Anything I can do to help you, I shall."

"You love your little... what is she to you again?"

"My little sister, Opal."

"Right, you love her dearly do you not?"

"Of course I do. I would sacrifice anything for her." Not to mention the sacrifices already made, sacrifices that Twinkle already knew about.

Princess Twinkle leaned back in her throne, her legs spread open just enough to reveal that Princess Twinkle was in fact not wearing panties. Looking over at the pile of stuffed animals behind the throne, Jade found them. Princess Twinkle clicked her claws together. "What would you do, if she had turned out to be... dangerous? As in very, very dangerous, perhaps enough to threaten or even hurt you."

Jade was confused by the question. "She's my, my little sister. I don't understand what that would have to do with anything. Even if she did hurt me, I know it'd be by accident, and I'd still love her and do my best to raise her."

Princess Twinkle nodded. "That's how I feel too. But some people might consider their own daughter's to be a monster if they were dangerous enough. I respect your answer though, so I will offer you a prize. Is there anything you want that I can give?"

Jade licked her lips. "Well... maybe one thing. Could you help me pass the time and not be so bored? I'm sure we could do something fun together if we try."

Princess Twinkle grinned. "Oh yes, yes there is. And I have just the thing to make you happy. Follow me to my room."

Jade followed the Princess, with high hopes of something fun, private, and very adult happening. Instead what she ended up doing was playing tic tac toe for an hour. It wasn't not exactly what she had in mind, but somehow the conversation and the game were both captivating. At the very least, she wasn't entirely rejected for once and had found something to do to pass the time. The question still lingered in her mind, was Opal really dangerous? No, she couldn't be. Even if she was, Jade would stay by her side forever. After all, they only had each other anymore.