After a while of playing the game together for a while, it suddenly reminded Tiara of a question she wanted to ask.
“Oh yeah, by the way…what was with all the callouts you did earlier?”
Keiji tilted his head, not understanding what she was referring to, “Callouts? I beg your pardon?”
“Yeah you know the whole, ‘Blood Dance!’ and ‘Ichor Bind!’ stuff,” she recalled while mimicking his voice, “You sounded like something out of an anime or fighting game. It was weird.”
“Oh that.” Honestly--Keiji hadn’t really given much thought as to why he shouted his abilities at the top of his lungs--it was merely second nature to him. “I honestly couldn’t tell ya. I guess it’s a habit I’ve picked up from consumption of human media where characters do just that.”
Tiara snickered and rolled her eyes. “Oh my god. You’re such a dork--it’s almost adorable. But seriously--I don’t think it’s a good idea.” She put the controller down and stood up to stretch. “It makes sense in a game or an anime since the viewer needs to identify the moves--but in real life, your enemies are gonna know what you’re doing next time you do that nerdy crap.”
“...” Her words cut deep, but they were right. If he continued to do such an awkward, unorthodox thing, his entire stash of abilities would be known to whoever wanted to find ways to counter them. “...Damn. I suppose you have a point. I would be terrible if I lost a battle before it began because of that.”
“Exactly,” Tiara bent over until she was at eye-level with him, and stared him right in the face, “Don’t take it to heart, though. You’re already cool enough as a freaking vampire-pony-person with a sword made of blood. Don’t ruin it with silly callouts, okay? Actions speak louder than words, ya know.” She gave him a patronizing pat on the head, ruffling his hair.
“Gah!” Keiji huffed and tried to swat her hand away, “Okay okay, quit it!”
“Hmhm!” But she had already skipped away and was walking towards the door of her bedroom. “Goodie. Now, let me go make us some popcorn so we can watch ourselves a--”
BLAM.
The doors to her room were pushed open manually by her mother who stormed in with a disheveled head of hair. “...Ah. He’s here. Good. I trust everything went well between you two at lunch earlier today?”
“Oh, yeah mom. Totally,” she replied, and turned her head to the boy, “Give us a sec, KK.”
Keiji simply nodded and leaned back in the chair once more.
Diamond Tiara took her mother outside of the room and closed the door.
“Has he tried anything funny?” Spoiled asked with her arms folded.
“No, mom. Not at all. In fact…” Tiara went on to explain what had happened earlier that day…
After which, Spoiled hugged her daughter tightly. “...I’m glad you’re okay. Seems like more and more of these crazy Equestrian magic demons are appearing out of nowhere.”
“Yeah…but at least I got a friend that’s willing to back me up,” Tiara said as she held her mother close. “It seems like he actually gets me, ya know?”
Spoiled stood upright and looked down at her daughter with a knowing smile. “Oh…does he now?”
“What?” she could immediately tell what her mother was thinking right then and there and quickly denied it, “No no. Mom, c’mon. We just met and still don’t know each other very well. And between you and me, he’s not exactly my type.”
Despite that, Spoiled continued smirking. “Mm-hmm…”
“I’m serious!” Tiara’s cheeks were turning a shade of red as she scrunched up her face in a sulky manner, “I don’t like him that way. Can’t a guy and girl just be friends for once?”
“You say that now…but over time--”
“Oh cut it out!” Tiara cut her mother off, “I don’t wanna be in a relationship. You and dad make it look like hell on earth!”
“...” Spoiled was stunned into a silence at her daughter’s words. ‘Hell on earth.’ Was that how bad things have gotten? “I…” she paused, unable to look her daughter in the eye.
“Just give it a rest mom,” the girl huffed, “I dunno what’s going on between you two but…just fix it. Please?”
“...I can’t promise anything, sweetie.”
Such a response only made Tiara roll her eyes. This wasn’t the first time she had heard that. “Whatever. Can you just have the servants send us some popcorn? Oh, and some blood sausage--mainly for him. It’s one of his favorites.”
“Okay, Tiara,” she replied with a nod, “Just let mommy go get her…juice first.”
“I heard that!” Filthy Rich’s voice called out from a nearby floor, “Don’t touch that wine closet, you hear?!”
Spoiled turned and started walking down the nearby staircase towards the first floor. “Oh shut your yap, Filth!”
Diamond Tiara simply slapped the side of her face with her open palm and groaned. “Ugh. Will you both ever stop…?” She went back to her bedroom, and promptly flopped upon the beanbag chair. “Ugggh!” she threw her head back and groaned.
In reality, Keiji had heard the entire thing. But of course, he didn’t want to bring attention to what he had just heard, so instead, he carried on like nothing happened. “So! How about that mov--”
“My mom and dad are so annoying,” she blurted out of nowhere, “Sorry…just wanted to get that off my chest. I didn’t mean for you to bear witness to all of this malarkey.”
“It’s fine,” he replied nonchalantly, “At least I got to meet you--that makes it somewhat worth the suffering,” he said with a toothy grin.
Tiara couldn’t help but smile. “Thanks--glad to know that I haven’t scared you off like everyone else at school.” But deep down, she knew that things would only get worse as the evening transitioned into the night. “Maybe their attitude will change if he’s a guest for a longer amount of time…” She looked at the boy and asked, “Hey, KK. Wanna sleepover tonight?”
He raised a brow, puzzled by such a question. “...Excuse me? I thought such rituals were only performed with those of the same sex. Would it be appropriate for a male to have a sleepover with a female? What would your parents think?”
“Don’t worry about that,” she folded her arms and crossed her legs with a surefire smile on her face, “I know just what to do.”
Moments later…
“Pleaaaase daddy?”
“No.”
“Please?”
“No.”
“Preeeetty please?”
Filthy Rich sighed as he turned away from a table filled with plants and towards her. “...Promise you’ll leave the door open?”
“Obviously--I mean, yes sir!”
“...Then I guess you can. Now run along--I’m busy working on a project for the city’s plants…” he turned around, and faced the table once more.
“Thanks, daddy!” Tiara skipped out of the room, and resumed walking normally once she left. “Perfection.”
When suddenly…
“Hey--how did it go?” Keiji asked.
She turned to face him, “He said ye--” only to stop on a dime when she realized she wasn’t at eye level with him. “Uh…KK?”
“Up here.”
“Huh--WOAH!” Tiara looked up…and found Keiji hanging upside-down beneath the stairwell that led up to the second floor.