Gonna Win Something {Minnie}

[Laharl Krichevskoy]

Laharl was having a bad day. Technically, he was having something of a bad week. He'd missed the whole incident at the barbecue. Apparently, he'd kidnapped the stupid guy (who was a pain in the neck) just a little too early. Because there had been chaos, some special ray thing, and desserts to fight. And then things had gotten just a little stranger. and where was Laharl?

Still normal. If anything, he was more normal than most of the people here. No special hair color, no special eyes, no demonic strength, no magic; Laharl couldn't even sword fight or punch like he used to. Seriously: it took away his ability to flippin' punch things. Clearly Fate hated him. Fate had to hate him so very, very much. Fate must love to torture Laharl. There was no other explanation for this. Even the crazy alien chick (and yes, Laharl had heard about her; Kori was hard to avoid) was beginning to glow. And what did Laharl get?

Well, he did get to kidnap nations. He supposed he technically was the ruler of Finland now. That was something. Now he was just roaming around the entertainment complex, looking for something he could "acquire" that would lend itself to distracting the guy he had locked up. Just as Laharl was staring at the closest entertainment shop, he felt something flutter against his feet. Looking down, Laharl saw a pair of cardboard tickets. Frowning, he bent low and scooped them up.

"Lotto tickets?" murmured the Overlord. The Netherworld had stuff like that. Pretty well nobody won; that was the point. You had to be an idiot to waste money on it. Yet this ticket... it displayed winning numbers and "5,000 coins." Laharl's eyes grew steadily wider as he read it. Then reread it. Then cried out for joy. Then promptly bumped into a girl.

"Hey!" snapped Laharl, turning. He still clutched the tickets. yet the usual annoyance and rage he felt was decidedly dimmed. Instead, Laharl thrust his fist at the girl's face. "See this? Some idiot dropped it! And now it's mine! Muhahahahahahahahahahahahaha!"

He really did practice that laugh. And enjoy using it. and it showed.

[Deleted]

Minnie thought she might as well explore if she was going to be here for a while, right? She tried not to dwell on her stress as she made her way around the entertainment complex. Her heels clicked on the fancy flooring as she sort of scurried about, wobbling every now and again. Her plain black pumps were much higher than her usual pair, but she'd grown taller in her new form. Where she was once a little over three feet tall, she now towered a whole two feet above that. Apparently having longer legs meant she had to recalibrate her balance a bit, not to mention the loss of her large ears made a big difference in that respect. Her long hair had made up for them in weight mostly, and her compulsive need to wear hats and bows helped a bit. Anyway, she liked to dress up, it made her feel a bit less out of control of this crazy situation she'd found herself in. Today she'd found herself in a pretty orange dress with a larger black hat to match her shiny shoes. She opted to go without ehr white gloves today which was something of a big deal given she felt a bit naked without them. She was an adventurer today, and adventurers took risks. Though she couldn't be called the most alert adventurer, since she managed to bump into a stranger as she made her way.

Oh my! Minnie squeaked. she turned and thought to apologize when a hand was rudely shoved in her face brandishing a couple of cardboard tickets. He proceeded to inform her that he had just found them and planed to keep them although they did not belong to him. At this Minnie could do nothing but blink at first, trying to process what had just occurred. Once she understood that he had lottery tickets, however, the little girl promptly placed a hand on each hip and let out a disapproving Humph!

What a rude little boy to think he could just take something that was not his. He needed to turn those in somewhere and wait for the proper owner to claim them. With a very stern look etched into her pretty blue eyes, Minnie raised a hand and gave the boy a little flick on the nose.

They are not yours, mister. she began to scold him And it's not very nice to call people names. she concluded, crossing her arms and offering him a curt nod. She may have just met him, but she wasn't about to let him get away with such silly shenanigans.

outfit.

[Laharl Krichevskoy]

The tweak was what caught Laharl's attention. Since meeting Flonne, he'd
learned to tune out whenever someone got that high, squeaky, lecture
type voice thing going on. The hmph hadn't helped matters either.
Reminded Laharl of his mother, which was never a good thing.
Memories of his mother either led to Laharl crying (bawling would be
more accurate) or raging. But it was that tweak, that little flick on
his nose, that caught his attention.

Laharl actually shook his
head, looking very much like a surprised animal, possibly a dog or
something. His eyes went wide, the disbelief showing on his face. He
looked up at Minnie, and yes, he needed to look up, that disbelief not
fading when she went on to explain that A) the tickets weren't his and
B) he shouldn't call people names. Laharl's mouth opened and closed in a
fair imitation of a stunned fish, before he barked out another laugh.

"Like
I  care what you think!' he said. He smiled broadly at her, barked
another laugh, and wiggled the tickets again. "These are mine. I
found them, so I'm going to keep them. That's the way it goes," he gave
the tickets a kiss before shoving them into the pockets of his jeans.
Sure, it wasn't quite as unobtainable and cool a storage as his living
scarf had been, but at least jeans-pockets worked, more or less.

"And there's nothing you can do about it," he challenged, crossing his arms and smiling in a manner that could only be described as "cocky."

[Deleted]

Minnie folded her arms as well, mimicking his stance, though a smile did not appear on her face. Instead she pushed her lips together and glowered down at him with a very disapproving set of eyes. First of all, he should learn some manners. Little boys always had a habit of causing trouble, in fact, a lot of big boys were the same way. Minnie rolled her eyes as she thought about the amount of times Donald and his three little nephews got themselves in a fix. Anyway, they might find things run a lot smoother if they cared to leave a few 'pleases' and 'thank yous' in their wake. Minnie supposed a lot of it could be chalked up to parents and the way the children were raised. Speaking of which, this brought her to the second topic on her mind. Where was this little boys parents? Minnie was not blind, even if she was taller than she once had been, she was no giant. If this boy was even shorter than her he was probably pretty young and should probably be with some kind of guardian. Oh the poor thing, perhaps he had been shifted here without his parents. Perhaps she shouldn't be too rough on him, still, she wasn't about to let him get away with such disrespectfulness. He could simply be acting out due to his current distress, still, the best course of action Minnie could see was to scold him and then perhaps try to get down to the real matter of the issue. First things first, he needed to surrender those tickets.

Not a few moments after he'd uttered his last words, Minnie dropped the lids of her eyes and shy with just a hint of pity. Then, without warning she grabbed at his ear with her right hand, pinching it tightly and using it to pull him toward her.

Just because you found them does not mean they're yours, young man Minnie scolded. She held out her free hand in hopes that he might give in and give them to her. Let's turn them in so the rightful owner might find them. She said sternly.

[Laharl Krichevskoy]

For a moment there, Laharl was totally reveling in his victory. He had totally shown this girl a thing or two, just like he'd shown every other girl he'd encountered since coming here a thing or two. Soon, the females of Tenebrae would learn to fear the name of Laharl. He was just about to burst into his manic laughter when Minnie's hand flew out. Laharl, who seemed to constantly be getting bullied by girls only slightly bigger than him, didn't have much chance even if he hadn't been naturally weak to powers that generally belonged to mothers. As it was, he soon found his ear seized by the girl, and he yelped as his entire head tilted sideways. Needless to say, he was not smiling any longer.

Then came the scolding. Laharl heard it, despite having an ear twisted into what he was certain had to be some unrecognizable shape. He hissed and generally flailed, which mostly made him look like a pinwheel as opposed to actually accomplishing anything. "They're mine!" he insisted. More flailing, and he tried to aim to actually hit Minnie at some point. "I found 'em and I'm gonna use 'em! Finders---owww! Leggo of my hand already, wench!"

Because he couldn't think of a better insult, really. And who doesn't want to read about Minnie being called a wench?

[Deleted]

Minnie held fast onto his ear despite his desperate flailing about. His childish nature, although inconsiderate and relatively nasty, warmed Minnie's heart in a way. Minnie had a huge soft spot for children. It had been drawn into her nature to be motherly love most everyone with that of a mother's heart. Even the most terrible villains she had met could not weaken her kind resolve. She was determined to find goodness in all beings and she'd managed to always do it, even if she couldn't always convince others that it was there. Here this little boy was not anywhere near the most evil of the wicked things she'd seen, so finding light in the dark was as easy as watching him struggle against her grip. She could see the passion in his angry eyes and mused for a moment how that fire might be better surved. Perhaps he could take up sports, or, who knows, maybe this one could be a dancer. With that thought in mind, Minnie let a little giggle escape her lips, only to have it interrupted when one of his swinging arms traveled dangerously close to her face.

Letting out a small gasp, she leaned back a bit, but kept a hand on his ear all the while. Oh nononooo! She sputtered a bit. The shock soon passed, however, and she regained herself enough to put on an expression of disapproval which only hardened when he uttered the word wench. Rude. She put her free hand on her waste for a moment and both leaned down and pulled his head up so they could meet in the middle with their sight lines.

Not until you give me the tickets, Mister! She demanded.

[Laharl Krichevskoy]

Laharl's ear was really starting to hurt. It clearly wasn't made for this much twisting, and he hadn't exactly gained back his impressive abilities to endure loads of damage. The endurance he'd managed to build up since Shifting to Tenebrae only went so far, and it most certainly didn't extend to covering the intense, nearly professional grade, ear twisting Minnie was doing now. In fact, Laharl could almost feel moisture beginning to develop in his eyes, not that he would ever, ever cry.

"Not until--- are you crazy!" snapped Laharl. He twisted and kicked, trying to figure out which fighting move he should be trying now. It was just that flailing out at Minnie already felt... wrong, like hitting your mom or something. Though, if Laharl stopped to think about it, he probably would hit his own mother given a chance. She was an awful, heartless woman, just up and leaving him alone like that. Dying on him.

"They're mine!" insisted Laharl, sounding twice as petulant as normal, which was easily four times the average. He moved to try and stamp on Minnie's feet, figuring that should work. Failing that, his hands were already latched at her hand, attempting to pry loose the fingers. This did leave his pockets unprotected, because Laharl wasn't quite used to having storage areas that someone else could access with ease.

[Deleted]

Minnie was feeling a bit proud of herself to be honest. She felt that she was handling this quite well and couldn't help but feel a bit arrogant over the fact that she could retain this boy just by pinching his ear. She didn't like punishing children by any means, but she was allowed to feel confident about her parent skills, wasn't she? Minnie had never actually had a child of her own, which was tragic considering the way she was created to love them so. Still, Minnie always believed that it was this way so she could love other children as if they were her own. She barely knew this boy, sure, and she didn't quite love him, but she certainly felt fond enough of him to want to teach him right from wrong. In fact, she felt morally obligated to at least teach him some manners. Considering how well this was going so far and, assuming he was just about to give in, helping him learn a few lessons beyond this one should be easy enough. Except that he didn't give in and Minnie suddenly felt the pressure of her foot being stamped on.

Minnie let out a squeak in pain, and pouted her lip for a moment in fear that she might cry. It was such a pitiful yelp, it was not unlike something you'd hear from a wounded kitten. She let go of his ear to cover her mouth with both hands to prevent any further sounds from issuing forth. She blinked away the water from her eyes as quickly as possibly as the pain subsided and sniffled a bit before turning her expression back into one that was better suited for scolding. Actually, her expression was far less motherly than her stubborn faces previously, and closer to one of actual annoyance. Being a bit childish herself, Minnie lost her mother goggles and acted on an impulse and her determination to get those tickets. Without a second thought, Minnie dove at the boys waist with the clear intent of knocking him to the ground. Being that she was a good foot taller than him, she imagined she would not have too much trouble and with a quick hand she dug a hand into his pocket and fished out the tickets as they fell.

They're not yours!

(hope the actions here are k)

[Laharl Krichevskoy]

The squeak made Laharl bark a laugh, and he quickly scrambled to put distance between himself and Minnie. That gloating, confident smile soon stretched his features, and he looked about ready to laugh as he took a good look at Minnie. However, it was as he took that look that Laharl's gloating faltered slightly. She looked... well, she looked like that had actually hurt her. Laharl was rather used to people letting whatever he did roll off them. Nobody in the Netherworld really reacted that strongly to the teasing and such that happened. Well, sometimes Flonne did, but you had to be really mean then, and that felt... well, not unlike looking at Minnie now felt, come to think of it. Laharl had to fight to keep his gloating expression, and the faltering made his face look rather odd, to say the least.

Then Minnie acted. Laharl probably wouldn't have been able to dodge even at his fullest, since he was most certainly distracted to a great degree. As it was, he certainly couldn't handle the flying tackle. He felt her collide with him, and he fell to the ground shortly after with an "umph." What followed was a flailing and what felt like hands exploring parts of Laharl's body that he definitely felt should not be explored.

"Hey! Stop that!' he insisted, flailing in Minnie's general direction. He'd turned a bright red color, and he could feel the heat of that flush rolling over him. "And those are mine! I found them! They're the spoils of conquest!"

And Laharl lunged for the tickets, determined to snatch them back before Minnie could take off. He needed them, and he certainly wasn't going to let Minnie win.

[Deleted]

Minnie struggle to hold Laharl in place as he kicked and flailed about. He was making it extraordinarily difficult for her searching hand to not end up in places she had not intended. Still, Minnie had an all business attitude stuck in her mind and managed to dig the cardboard slips out of his pocket with only a few bruises. Perhaps if Minnie had actually been a mother, she might have not tackled him. Better yet, if she had been at least the size of a normal human adult she might not have tackled him. Having always been small, however, her attacks were limited and, not to mention, she carried an ever present childish streak that shoved itself forward more often than not. This particular physical outburst had been brought on by a sore toe and a gloating little boy. If he wasn't going to do what he was told, Minnie was going to have to make him. Some kids just needed a little tough love, though that didn't mean she wasn't already hoping she hadn't hurt him. She wanted him to learn some manners, not end up in the hospital. still, this was no time for apologizing. She had to keep a straight face if she was going to sell her resolve. This, however, was proving more and more difficult by the moment. Not because she her fear for his health was starting to show, but because Minnie Mouse was very ticklish.

She kept her free arm and most of her body pressed down on Laharl in attempts to keep him still while she held the tickets high above their heads. Unfortunately, all his squirming about set butterflies aflutter in her stomach. No they're not! Minnie insisted, though she had to quickly clear her throat since the words were hindered by a string of giggles. In a momentary lapse of attention, Minnie let up her pressure on him and the boy, naturally, sprung forth toward the tickets. Panicking, Minnie rolled off him and scurried into a standing position to keep them out of his reach. She kept her hand with the tickets high in the air. There aren't many in the world that she could keep things from in this way, but poor Laharl was a good bit smaller than her, thank goodness. Feeling a bit proud, Minnie let out a little Humph! before a bit of sympathetic curiosity caused her brow to furrow.

Didn't your mother ever teach you any manners? She asked, placing her free hand on her hip again. Where was his mother anyhow? How could he have grown up to think taking other people's things was okay? He needed help. There was no way this boy was a bad child, just a troubled one. She could fix that.

[Laharl Krichevskoy]

While Laharl kept squirming, his scheming mind desperately fought to work up something of a plan. He'd been in situations like this before, after all. True, they usually involved a little more mortal peril... okay, they had. now they mostly involved Laharl getting brutally beaten by a girl. Thankfully, Laharl wasn't about to let that get to him: they had the advantage, after all. They were used to being human. But back to studying his opponent: the ever scheming Laharl took note of the fact that Minnie seemed to be particularly weak to certain types of attacks... the kind often known as tickling. She looked to be nearly on the verge of giggles as it was.

So Laharl was determined to switch to that tactic. Yet Minnie was proving her height and slight weight advantage: she had him pinned down with the help of gravity. Then came a bit of giggles that let Laharl know that he was onto something. Just as he was about to smile that cocky smile and begin attacking with greater fervor than ever, Minnie scurried away. Laharl was left stunned for a second ,before quickly scrambling up. This led to his attempting to stretch and get the tickets. Minnie, while hardly a giant, was at least a head taller than poor, short Laharl, and that added further fuel to his rage.

He was just about to move to aggressive tickling, his hands even held out with fingers working, when Minnie spoke. The word "mother" reverberated in Laharl's mind, sinking in and forming a cold stone in the middle of his chest. However, Laharl knew how to shrug that off. "My mother's dead, you stupid fool!' he snapped, his anger taking over. He moved to tickle, but his anger took over, and instead he wound up essentially jabbing his fingers into Minnie's sides. While Laharl wasn't exactly the full out demon Overlord he used to be, he still had some strength: a lot when fueled with the anger he had now. "NOW GIVE ME BACK MY TICKETS!"

[Deleted]

Minnie could see the growing anger in the boys eyes as she held the tickets above him. She didn't mean to be a tease, she just couldn't think of a better way of keeping them from him without running away. She wasn't just going to leave him here without a responsible adult and her dress hadn't any pockets she shove the bit of cardboard in. Plus she thought this boy was likely to fish them out again anyway like she did to him just moment ago. She needed to find a way to calm him down or get him to listen. He obviously wasn't interesting in learning any manners at the moment, all he could focus on was the fact that she'd taken the tickets he had found. She had heard the saying 'finders keepers,' but Minnie only really applied that to change less than a quarter as a rule. These tickets could be very valuable and it's simply not okay to take something of such worth from someone else. Although she was certain this boy didn't understand at the moment, he was stealing something that could be causing someone a lot of grief to have lost. Speaking of grief and loss, Minnie had in no way expected the answer to her question asked out of slight annoyance.

Minnie only had enough time to exhale in distress as she took in Laharl's growing rage and he advanced. She could see his eyes heat up in a way that they had not previous to this moment. She was sorry to realize that she had struck a sour note in a sentence that was meant to act as nothing more than a mild scolding. He had no mother. It explained so much to Minnie and she instantly forgave him for his behavior even as he dug his fingers into her side and caused her to let out a squeal in pain.

The little girl backed up a few steps and brought her free arm around her waste as she bent forward slightly in hopes of reducing the hurt. She still kept the tickets as high as she could in the air, though her grip had tightened around them severely. Her next few breaths hurt to take in thanks to her newly bruised ribs. Tears welled up in her eyes as she turned her head up at Laharl, but not just because of her pain. She felt such an extreme tugging at her heart to have been hit with the news of his mother's death, as if she had known the woman. How tragic it was that he should be left alone in this world without a mother to guide him. The poor thing! Oh my, she would have to take care of him, that much was certain. Suddenly Minnie advanced on Laharl with her arms outstretched and enveloped him in as big of a hug as she could muster. She squeezed him so tight that her ribs cried out, but she refused to release for she was quite sure he wouldn't enjoy her affection at first. He would probably struggle, but Minnie planned to hold fast.

I'm sorry. she chirped quietly I'm so very sorry.

[Laharl Krichevskoy]

Laharl watched with some smug satisfaction as the girl backed up. Served her right, stealing from an Overlord. He was half tempted to fold his arms over his chest and start laughing. If he wasn't still panting with rage, the heat of it bubbling up inside of him, he likely would have done precisely that. Yet he felt that anger shift, almost sliding about lopsidedly in his gut, as tears welled up in Minnie's eyes. Oh, she still held the tickets up, but it seemed to be more of a reflex. She was just... bent over like that, looking miserable.

"Serves you right!" snapped Laharl. He felt something warring with the anger, and it colored his cheeks. "That's what you get for daring to steal from the great Lahar---errggh!"

The last came out as something of a strangled yelp as Minnie attacked him. Her arms laced about his much smaller frame and he soon found himself enveloped in the worst possible maneuver imaginable. For Minnie pulled him into that hug, and Laharl nearly felt his skin begin to burn. "What the hell is wrong with you?" he snapped, flailing his arms. He didn't move to hit her though... that just... didn't feel right. "I'm a demon! I don't care about you! I don't care about anyone! I just want my money!"

He flailed his arms again, then made a grab for the tickets. Except he couldn't seem to quite figure out where they were, and mostly kept grabbing at air. Seeing no other course of logical action, Laharl began squirming, trying to slide out from under her grip. Man, she was weirdly strong for a thin little girl...

[Deleted]

Minnie closed her eyes tightly shut as she struggle to endure the aching her sides went through as he flailed about in hopes of breaking free from her loving arm lock. He began to yell too, but all Minnie heard was the cries of a lost and hurting child. She could hear the grief in his voice weather it was acutely present or not. To could have imagined it, but to Minnie it was real because that was how a childless mother should sound. How long had he known her before they were ripped apart? Hoe long had he been along in this world burdened with survival all by himself? Sure he tried to push her away, how long had he been doing that both physically and emotionally? Could he just be afraid of losing anyone he gets close to? Oh how it broke the little mouses heart to think what he has been through. So much so, in fact that she could hardly stand it between the stinging of her ribs and the tearing of her heart. Tears began to roll down her cheeks and, although he would not see them, her voice sounded watery when she spoke.

I won't let go until you stop she insisted stubbornly, raising her voice to be heard over his despairing shouts. She kept her hands locked together behind him, the tickets sandwiched between her palms. She'd almost forgotten about them, except for his insistence that he just wanted his money. She may feel terribly sorry for him, but she still wasn't going to allow him to steal. If he needed money for food or the like, Minnie would be happy to either cook for him or buy him a thing or two. She had charged herself with his care, after all, he needn't be motherless after this day. Weather he liked it or not, she meant to keep him out of trouble and teach him love the best she knew how.

[Laharl Krichevskoy]

"Well, I'm not gonna stop till you let me go!" demanded Laharl. He had kept up his squirming, and it didn't diminish any at Minnie's insistence. Though it was likely all in Laharl's imagination, he could feel the waves of emotion rolling off the girl, especially that skin-crawling sensation of love, acceptance, and all that crap that Flonne and Laharl's mother had always been preaching. Despite his best efforts, Laharl could feel the moisture gathering around the edges of his eyes. Stupid human body was definitely the problem.

"I'm a demon!" he yelled again. his hands flailed for a moment, but he seemed determined not to hit her. Hitting people seemed to hurt a lot more here than it had back home. wait, hadn't she reacted poorly to the tickling earlier? It was that or begin licking, and Laharl was seriously afraid of tasting tears or something. So he moved his hands into position, the fingers hovering above Minnie's sides for a moment. "Leggo, or I'm gonna tickle you till it hurts!"

To prove that he would, he skittered his fingers over her sides, moving with spider-like precision. While tickling was generally considered the weakest of forms of the early demon combat, it was still something that they practiced from a young age. Laharl had actually been encouraged, and he could certainly recall his mother tickling him. That particular memory was bubbling dangerously close to the surface, and might have explained why Laharl was perhaps a little more enthusiastic than he likely would have been otherwise.