Good Food and Happy Vibes Maria Leung de Almeida

Coming out of the fortune teller booth, Maria was (or wasn’t? - edit this after Eve responds to the thread) impressed with the work of the old hag in the tent. It was exactly (or not?) what she wanted to hear. She would not let that old woman know she did a good job though and had something predictably caustic to say to hide her glee.

The sun was shining bright in the sky as she was walking down one of the aisles. Doom and gloom certainly worked up an appetite. Maria was having a delightfully horrible time and she was determined to keep the bad times coming. Or was she having a great time? Honestly, with Maria it could go either way.

Her bad time that was actually good (?) was about to be ruined however, but the same disgusting redhead she had met in February briefly in France. She was trying to decide between ice cream flavors, her most favorite treat in the whole world, absolutely horrendous of obviously, when the idiot not only bumped into her but spilt his very sticky, very sugary mishmash of confectionaries all over her black dress of lace and leather.

At first she thought she was just shoved but when she looked at the mess on her dress her sour attitude skipped anger and went right to the upper stratospheres of rage. “What the hell!” She screamed at the boy, her arms displaying the now ruined clothes.

Dennis stretched his neck as far as it would go so that he could nibble, not unlike a giraffe, on the popcorn overflowing its buckle on top of his pile of treats. He was feeling better already! He was on the cusp of feeling bad all day and this really hit the spot! Popcorn, he concluded, was the solution to heartbreak. It was so good he had closed his eyes, not that he could see where he was going anywhere, the spring in his step now more pronounced.

His good vibes and great times would come to a crashing and resounding end when he hit…a wall? No, it was a person. Might as well have been a panther! He blinked and before he could apology profusely all he saw was black nails, a now tie dye dress and fury. He put his hands up defensively, his messy red hair falling into his eyes With a stick breath he tried to blow it out of his face.

“Hey, it was an accident! I’m sorry! I can clean it off!” He said speaking quickly and reaching for his wand. There was no reason for that temper, he thought indignantly. “I really didn’t mean it! Surely, we can fix it…” he said, having no clue what was going to happen next.

Sorry!? This moron was sorry? He didn’t know what sorry was yet, and Maria would teach him the definition. “Oh…you will be sorry,” she growled through gritted teeth, tears welling up in her eyes. All the fire and fury that was scratching at her surface burned brightly, just waiting for an excuse to scorch everything. If she was looking for a reason, this fool gave it to her. He drew his wand. Oh. No. He wasn’t going to be able to fight his way out of this.

Maria was quicker, as if this were a western and this was a literal duel to the death. Her veins burned red hot, her heart on fire yearning to break free. “Incendio!” She roared as if she was actually fire breathing. With a vicious flick, a spark, and a thundering blast of fire erupted from her wand as if it broke free from building up over months. How dare he ruin her favorite dress, he would pay and he would pay dearly.

Maria was in no mood to wait for him to get hit or dodge. He would not escape her. “Petriicus totalus!” She followed up in a heart beat whipping her wand around and flicking it at him again. Whoever this person was would rue the day he crossed her path.

One second. He had a single second to respond. Perhaps reaching for his wand was not the move! She seemed dead set on challenging him and the only indication things were going to go his way was her body language - not that he was necessarily paying attention to her in that way but the cotton candy spattered all over her was hard to not notice.

Instinct kicked in and Dennis did the only thing that made sense, he dived behind a booth. It proved to be the best case scenario for him as he not only narrowly avoided the most terrifying incendio he’d ever seen but also her follow up spell. This girl was scary! And even more so, it didn’t even seem like she realized the booths were flammable! What was with this chick?

“Extinguo!” Dennis said from his hiding spot, putting out the growing blaze that was developing. He scratched his head. What had he done to deserve to be in the middle of this standoff? Sure, he ruined her clothes but he could fix that. He said he could fix it!

“Maybe we got off on the wrong foot,” Dennis called out and, drawing up as much courage as he could muster, got back to his feet. “I can help take care of your dress. You can give it to me and I will have it cleaned quickly.”

Maria had never felt like this before; her breath ragged, shoulders hunched, muscles tensed and for once, she was the one in control. This boy was cowering in front of her and it was the absolute tastiest thing she had ever experienced. What a rush! Also she saw was red as the boy got to his feet. Another spell was on the tip of her tongue, but the fact that this scoundrel wasn’t fighting back took some of the hot wind out of the sails of this ship that was quickly careening toward the edge. She wanted nothing more than for his to fight back. She wanted to feel more. She wanted to make him fear her. Why wasn’t he afraid?

The fact that she couldn’t justify further violence left her feeling both frustrated and supremely unsatisfied. However, whatever reprieve this boy was hoping for quickly faded away. He wanted her to give him her dress…right here? In the middle of the camp!? “Excuse you!” She huffed, subconsciously gripping herself, her hands now sticky from the residue of this boy’s sticky snack foods.

Fine, if he wasn’t afraid of magic, she said, her body igniting again. With each step she stalked over to the white boy. “I,” she growled, her gate turning into a stomp. “Can,” she spat, coming ever closer to the boy, her hands clinched into sticky sticky fists. “Take care,” she hissed coming squarely up to him. “Of myself!” She yelled as she sent a fist flying into his direction, aimed perfectly at his stupid face.

Something was wrong. Very very wrong. What was it that he said? The girl who was all blackness and storm wrapped her arms around herself. What was he supposed to be excused of? He simply was going to clean up after himself! It seemed as if something broken inside the girl, as she started to walk over to him. Dennis came out from around the booth and started over to her. Perhaps this was an olive branch, it seemed she was done casting spells recklessly at him. Maybe they could even be friends! He could use a friend!

“Well, we all need-“ Dennis started to say his voice his trademark friendly sing-song cadence, the little duel now forgotten by the time they closed the distance. However, his words and offer were cut short by a fist that he didn’t even see coming. He definitely misread this situation! Fist met his jaw and if the girl had been holding back there was no evidence of it. She was strong, much stronger than he was! He had never been hit by a girl before!

His head jerked to the side and his body followed. He wasn’t even sure if he heard a crack or if it was just the impact of her first. All he could feel was pain as his hand instinctively went to up to comfort his jaw. He winced in pain.

“Scourgify,” he whimpered now that they were close enough to shake hands not that she was obviously one to shake hands! Dennis, one eye closed against the pain in his mouth, washed the girl’s clothes and before she could protest followed it up with “aer calidus,” he said drying the clothes quickly. With her clothes now cleaned and dried, Dennis stepped away from the girl, tears in his eyes, intensely hurt.

Maria smirked as she saw his head fling back and watched him stumble. She was back in control. She was…what was he doing? His wand was still in his hand, how could she have been so foolish! She braced against whatever spell he was about to throw at her but instead of being shot back or frozen, she was…clean. What was with this boy? He took a beating and he still helped her. Anyone else might have been thankful but her mind went back to that night in Macau where she was beaten and dumped. There was nothing she would have given to get her revenge and yet this boy helped her. It made her sick. She didn’t think there was anyway she could hate someone more.

And what’s more, he straightened himself and stood up to her, defiantly with tears in his eyes. Screw this guy. At least he was going to be bruised judging by how hard she hit him and how tightly he clung to the side of his face. She shouldered past him, checking him as hard as she could without losing balance. “Get out of my way,” she huffed as she stormed away, her dress freshly cleaned and no longer sticky. Forget food, forget this boy, she needed to go journal.

Maria exits.

And with that, just like a hurricane he never properly caught her name. She was there, and like an explosion, was gone leaving only the ruin in her wake. Dennis blinked away his tears and stood there stunned. All over a simple mistake. There was a time when he thought he really understood the ladies, but apparently there was a lot more for him to learn! He quickly tried to recover but how quickly everything happened left him feeling dazed and utterly confused. He was really just trying to help her…he didn’t mean to hurt her or anything.

“Well…” he said at last to himself, sighing deeply. He supposed he deserved that after having to end things with his girlfriend. At least he got the beating perhaps he secretly thought he deserved he said, nursing the side of his face. Saddest of all is all his food was ruined and wasted on that girl. He could still buy more! “Hmm…maybe the popcorn…though it might be hard to chew,” he said rubbing his jaw. Oh! Ice cream! He said happily, nearly forgetting the girl entirely.

“Yeah! I will have the vanilla please!” He said ordering the ice cream. He pressed the ice cream bowl to his face as he took a bite from the spoon, walking in the opposite direction of the panther that nearly skinned him alive. He hoped to whatever god was listening that he’d never have to cross her path again!