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Literature

Chaotix Underground 169: CinderTilly

At Chloe Jane's dress-up tea party at her house, she introduced her new friends (from the past 300 years ago) to her parents Cody James and Gwendolyn Grace, who shook Tilly's legionized hand without a shudder of fear. All the young girls sat at a small table in Chloe's frilly pink floral bedroom which smelled like sweet perfume. They drank various teas from around the world and ate fancy British cookies and cakes (or biscuits and pudding, as the British call them). "Tilly, are you feeling alright? You look tenser than before." Mighty was concerned for his sister. "You look adorable in that costume. This dress-up tea party is supposed to help you relax." "Thanks,I guess. But I AM relaxing. Normally I relax by kicking butts and taking names. I know, it's sounds kinda cruel, but I am a tomboy. However, my bad mood has nothing to do with my cute costume." "Then what is it? Tell me." Tilly sighed. "I don't understand how these two innocent middle-aged cats can cope with their 20-something son being a Hook-Claw. Cory Jake told me they've forgiven him, but I dunno if they'll forgive him more for keeping Cryptic Jinx a secret. The other secret is their young daughter is a Sugar-Bug and her talisman is the Egg of Life." "I forgave YOU for many things: working for the Dark Egg Legion, denying me at our reunion, and standing up for yourself and for Cream by rolling up into a ball and hitting Panic on the head. Now eat up. You barely touched your food." "I would if I could, but I'm still full from that extra-large milkshake at McCutie's. And I have to go to the bathroom for the FOURTH time since then today." "Doesn't it bother you when that happens?" "Other than that, nothing's medically wrong with me. But something is wrong with me socially." "What? No! Tilly, don't say things like that about yourself. You're my perfect sister and I love you. You're pretty, strong, smart, funny... and cool!" "If you won't eat it, I will!" Ada squealed with delight. "Ugh... I'm not feeling so good in my belly." Tilly moaned. "I need a nap." "Ooh, I know! You can be Sleeping Beauty." Chloe giggled. "You pretend to prick your finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel and fall into a deep sleep, and then wait for a handsome 'prince' to kiss you awake. How romantic!" "I can't feel the pain of pricking my finger if my arms are legionized." "It's just pretend." "And who's gonna be my handsome prince if this is a girls-only party?" "I'LL give you true love's first kiss." Mighty volunteered. "You're my brother. It wouldn't feel right." "I'll kiss you on the muzzle instead. True love doesn't have to be romantic. I've kissed you on the muzzle lots of times before we went to bed, AND when I dropped you off to school to wish you good luck." "Ooh, I know! OR you can be Snow White." Chloe squeaked. "And Mighty can be the evil prince vying to be the strongest armadillo of all." Cory Jake, who looked on with a chuckle, sighed. "A funeral is always the saddest when it's a beautiful young woman in the coffin." "What? No. I am not gonna poison my own sister with an apple." Mighty shook his head. "And there's no way I'm playing an evil prince." "Ooh! I know." Chloe repeated. "Maybe you can be Cinderella instead and Mighty and Ray can be your evil stepbrothers. Ada can be your fairy godmother and paint you a pair of glass slippers. Dmitri can lend you his golden silk scarf and you can pretend it's Rapunzel's hair." "Nyet. I paid $1,000 for that scarf." Dmitri protested. "Pick another fairy tale, like a Russian fairy tale like my mother used to read to me when I was your age, Miss Chloe. Or a ballet like she used to take me when I was your age, too." "You must be homesick for Russia and miss your parents. Have you ever regretted immigrating to America from Russia?" "Never, Miss Chloe. Spark, Gypsy and Ada are my family now. Not biologically, but in our hearts. I teach all three of those kids everything about Russian traditions and culture. See, we even made and exchanged friendship bracelets." "Nein, pick a German fairy tale." Klaus argued. "With lots of cake. I'm starving." "Snow White and Rapunzel are German fairy tales, but they have a lot of fruit and vegetables." Chloe giggled. "Oh! Tilly can be Little Green Riding Shell. She's not a princess, but she carries a basketful of food to her grandmother's house. And she falls in love with a werewolf." "Ugh." Tilly rolled her eyes. "Back in our time vampires and werewolves used to be scary. Now they're the subject of every teenage girl's romantic fantasy. It's so cheesy." "Tell me about it, niece." Uncle Butch sputtered in his key around Amara's neck. "Those fairy tales are not what you think. Cinderella's stepsisters cut off first a big toe then a heel to cheat their way into fitting into the glass slipper, then on Cinderella's wedding day birds gouged the stepsisters' eyeballs out. The evil queen first ties a corset on Snow White's waist so she couldn't breathe and then brushes her hair with a poisoned comb and finally gives her the poisoned apple. The prince did not kiss Snow White awake, but he decided to bring home the coffin she was in; then it slipped and fell, which caused the bit of poisoned apple to fall out of Snow White's throat; then on Snow White's wedding day the evil queen was forced to dance in red hot iron shoes to death. Sleeping Beauty's real name was not Aurora or Briar Rose but Talia, and she pricked her finger not on the spindle of a spinning wheel but on a thornbush, then a king raped and impregnated her while she was in a coma, then she gave birth to twins called Sun and Moon while still in a coma, one of which sucked the thorn out of her finger; then the king's jealous wife attempted to cook the twins, then the king had the queen and the secretary burned at the stake!" "Butch, shush!" Amara hushed. "It's our school days all over again before Bill beat you in a fight and I tended your wounds, before you and I fell in love and the four of us became best friends." "There's something else about Chloe's brother that's bothering me." Tilly said to Mighty. "He's jealous of Dina's relationship and engagement to Tristan Steele and he's planning to kill them both so he can marry Allison Seabiscuit and live happily ever after first." "He's never live happily ever after if he suffers the guilt from murdering his fiancée's best friend." Mighty snapped. "He won't get the girl, and he'll be imprisoned and then executed via electric chair." "That's too bad, because I was starting to like him." "Can we join your party?" Sonia approached them, Amy and Mina behind her. They were in pink bridesmaid dresses with flower crowns in their hair. The others gasped and dropped their jaws. "Oh, wow. Sonia." Mighty cried. "You... look beautiful." "Beautiful as cherry blossoms." Espio added. "They're bridesmaids for the wedding of Amandine Cage and Tristan Steele. Weird, huh?" Aisha, who was beside her sister, stared in wonder. "So, how do I look?" Sonia asked. But Aisha just stammered. "What? You don't like it?" "Do I like it? I LOVE IT!" Aisha sobbed with joy. "Then what seems to be the problem?" "I mean, why be a bridesmaid when you can be a bride? Ever since I first met you when you were only an infant, I've always pictured you in a white wedding dress and veil and carrying roses - even if my son isn't the groom." "Yeah." Mighty sniffled. "I was certain I was gonna marry Sonia so you can be closer to her. But Espio is my best friend. If they're happy together, I'm happy for them. After all, Espio and I both equally helped Sonia reunite with her biological mother." Aisha blew her nose in a hankie; oil splattered all over it. "I imagined Sonia to be as beautiful a bride as Queen Aleena on HER wedding day." "I could say the same about Tilly." Sonia sighed tearfully. "She'll be as beautiful a bride as you were on your wedding day." "I've always wanted to see my little Tilly as a princess." Aisha wailed. "And now my dream has come true! It's so beautiful, like a fairy tale." Cory Jake groaned with dismay. "Oh, hearing them talk about weddings and fairy tale endings is making me sick to my stomach." Still in her cute princess dress, Tilly gathered up the courage to ask him what was bothering him. She knew of his jealousy of Amandine, but she wanted to know if it was schizophrenia and if he planned on offing both Amandine and Tristan. She walked up to him. "C.J.?" He was curled up in the fetal position in a corner in the bathroom; he felt like he was going to throw up. "What do you want? Aren't you supposed to be having tea with Chloe?" "Look, I know you're envious of Dina's engagement to Tristan Steele. You're envious of her engagement, period. Tell me, what is it? Do you have schizophrenia, and are you planning to kill them both so you can marry Allison first?" He was shocked to the point that he was offended. "What? No. I'm normal like everybody else. There's nothing mental about me." "Sounds like something someone with a mental illness would say. Someone with a mental illness would deny it." "Just go away and leave me alone. I don't want you to catch my cold." "You don't have a cold. You're just making an excuse to not join in the fun. Now come out and have marble chocolate-vanilla swirl cheesecake made by your sister. She's counting on you to try it." She tugged at his hand. "No thanks. I'm trying to keep my handsomeness and impress girls by dieting. Green vegetables taste like torture, and I regret cheating on my diet with pizza and ice cream. I don't understand you girls and your sweets. Ow... Your hands are so strong they're crushing my bones." "Sorry. I dunno my own strength. And I probably never will. Anyway, it's your loss and our gain. It's in our natural instincts to love sweets and desserts. Telling a girl not to eat sweets is like telling a lion not to eat meat. It just simply can't be done." "Good point. After all, Chloe Jane is my sister and I'll do anything to make her happy." He let her help him up and followed her to the living room. "Tilly! There you are." Mighty saw his sister smile from ear to ear, so he himself was smiling. "I was starting to worry that guy put laxatives in your tea." He glared at Cory. "And you. You've got a lot of nerve showing up." "This is MY house." Cory Jake grunted. "At least it WAS my house until I moved away with Allison. I miss my childhood and the smell and taste of my mother's home-cooked meals." "How do your parents cope with your dark secret as an ex-Hook-Claw?" "How does your sister cope with her lonely childhood in an orphanage, being a Robian, and later being legionized? How do both of you cope with your parents' dark secret as thieves?" "Our parents were also saints! They stole from the selfish, greedy, rich people to give the the poor. They were selfless, kind and gentle. My mother and aunt are daughters and granddaughters of gypsies and my father is the son of a pirate captain and cabin girl - Redshell and Four-Eyed Babs. My grandmother was called that because she wore glasses." "When we were babies, that was when we first met." Aisha ate a piece of cake. "When I was five, after my sister was born, I caught Redshell's pet monkey stealing shiny trinkets from the market where my father worked. And that was my first memory of your father. I chased that monkey to Redshell's pirate ship and ran into six-year-old Bill, who apologized for his pet monkey's behavior." Aida's tambourine rattled. "I was a survivor of a cruise ship sinking and pregnant with Aisha when Captain Redshell and Four-Eyed Babs rescued me. I was clinging to a large piece of driftwood for dear life, and they found me and fed me, clothed me and kept me warm. They reunited me with my parents and my husband. Soon after, Aisha was born in my traveling show wagon. Baby Bill was there." "Could you believe it? I was only FOUR HOURS and TWENTY MINUTES old when I first met my future husband!" Aisha cried. "At least that's what Rose Quartz told me in my childhood. She was a matchmaker who told romance fortunes. Amara's jaw dropped with skepticism when Rose Quartz predicted my sister was going to marry Butch the school bully. Destiny, I guess." "Lucky." Cory Jake scoffed. "You're so lucky to know each other for that long. I can't remember my first meeting with my beloved, but my first memory of her... wasn't so happy. We were fighting because the Sugar-Bugs and Hook-Claws were natural enemies. She was a jockey and I was a jock. Before I knew it, I was secretly in love with her, and she with me." "Your boss must've wiped your good memories of her clean off your mind and kept the bad ones." Tilly said. "Why'd you fight all the time?" "To see who's the better master of illusion - or delusion, in my case. Ali Boo Boo has the power to create sweet dreams and make these dreams come true. In contrast, Jinx can turn these sweet dreams into nightmares and make these nightmares real. See, kid, that's why I've never liked fairy tales. We live in a harsh reality, so harsh it's scary." "That's exactly why people invent fairy tales with happy endings - to escape from that harsh reality. Is it really that bad in both the real world and the furry world?" Cream asked. "Mr. C.J.? Hello?" But he ignored her. "Grrrr. How do you expect us to eat if you're hovering over us, squirt?" Aleksandr shoved Cream aside, annoyed at her nosy behavior. "Look, little lady, my first meeting with Spark, Gypsy and Ada wasn't so happy either. The other kids picked on Spark and Ada for their orange hair and unusual lightning and paint powers. My sister and I were lonely and needed friends, so we joined in the laughter until I realized I was in love with Ada and decided to stand up to the others for her. Just for that, my original sin was causing an earthquake and a thunderstorm out of rage and critically injuring a boy. That's what I get for giving in to peer pressure and standing up for myself. That was 12 years ago and I'm not sure if the boy I hurt has forgiven me. I could've killed him." "If he dies, serves him right for stealing both our special pendants given to us by our late grandparents." Kirai scorned. "He's responsible for the notch on my brother's ear. And now that notch has disappeared from my brother's ear, I've forgotten about that traumatic experience." "Wow." Cream and Tilly eyed the"special" pendants around Aleksandr's and Kirai's necks. "Sparkly. Shiny." The rubies matched their red T-shirts. "It's the color of lipstick or blood or bright red apples and cherries." Tilly gasped. "Like Celeste's dress and high heels." "Ruby!" Aisha blurted. "Another member of the cult of armadillos named after the gems their shells were made of, like my grandparents and Rose Quartz. There were others, like: Emerald, Sapphire, Pearl, Garnet, Diamond and so on. Your ancestors must've known Ruby. These are genuine shards of her shell carved, smoothed and polished before they were framed in bronze." "You've met them all?" Mighty cried. "What were they like; can they do magic and stuff?" "Too many questions at once, my son. Save them for tomorrow. Right now I need to relax my full stomach." With that they said goodbye to Amandine and her friends. Tilly put a powerful Chronos Emerald in her flying saucer and hopped on, ready to go home. "C'mon, you guys. Let's go home to our own time." she said.