Olympic Mascot Neighborhood AU

Chaos at a Denny's

Bely Mishka swung open the doors of the local Denny's. He had a jolly smile in his face, looking forward to spending time with his best buddies, his fellow mascots from Sochi. Leopard was staring around, presumably with something on his mind. Zaika trudged inside with a knife, in case anything happened. She glared violently at anyone who dared look her way. Bely Mishka walked up to the counter.

"Hello! Table for five? We have guests coming later." The waitress smiled and led them to their seats. The trio sat down as they each received their menus. Zaika quietly pulled out her knife and started carving something on the wall. Leopard seemed to take notice, snapping out of his trance.

"Zaika? What are you doing?" Zaika stared back at him. "Letting out my anger, obviously." Leopard tilted his head. "Then why are you carving Zai <3 Leopard onto the wall?" Zaika panicked and covered it up. "IT'S NOTHING!" Bely Mishka turned towards the two. "Have you decided on what you want to order yet?" Leopard panicked and went back to ordering. Zaika didn't listen and kept carving on the wall. After ordering, Leopard got back to daydreaming. Zaika accidentally made a dent on the wall, muttering "Черт побери..."

The door opened, and a couple holding hands walked inside. One had short, orange hair, a matching bandana, and a sun shaped necklace. The other had gorgeous lilac hair with blue tips, a fancy baby blue dress, and a moon shaped necklace. They were Luchik and Snezhinka, Zaika, Lev and Bely Mishka's roommates. They were led to the Sochi gang's table and sat down.

"Hello, Zaika! Is everything alright?" Zaika waved unenthusiastically. "Yes, Snezhi." Snezhinka smiled. "Good to know! Luchik and I watched a movie last night! It was so romantic..." "Was it Swan Princess AGAIN?" Zaika asked. Snezhinka nodded. 

Deep inside, Zaika couldn't help but be jealous. Zaika has had a crush on Leopard for a long time, and longed to have a relationship like Snezhinka and Luchik's. They always did cute things together. They went on fun dates together. They did everything together. Not to mention, Snezhinka had everything Zaika didn't have. Snezhinka was pretty. She was smart. She was good at everything she tried. She had lots of friends. She was kind. She was funny. Nobody hated her. She was perfect. Zaika was not. If only she were her...

"Zaika? Everything alright?" Luchik said, snapping her out of her trance. "It's nothing, Luc. It's nothing." The waitress walked towards them, giving them their drinks. Zaika quietly sipped her coffee in the corner, while the others talked away.

Soon, it was time to leave, as the others sat up and paid for their meals. Unfortunately, Zaika let her knife hang from her belt out in the open, catching the eye of a Karen. Hoo boy...

"Lady, is that a KNIFE? In a FAMILY RESTAURANT?" Karen gasped in horror, shielding her child's eyes. Her child just looked depressed.

"I have a name, you know. It's Zaika." Zaika glared at Karen.

"Alright... Zaika. Why would you have such an AWFUL weapon at a family establishment?" Karen crossed her arms.

"It's for self-defense. I carry it around with me if I ever get attacked when I go somewhere. It's a dangerous world, ya know?" 

"But why do you have to expose such an unholy weapon against the poor, innocent minds of children? They could start stabbing other people!" Karen sneered, this close to calling the manager.

"It's a warning sign, KAREN." Zaika said.

Bely Mishka was trembling, knowing what would happen if you faced Zaika's wrath. Leopard tried to bring Zaika to her senses. "Zaika, please don't, let her be." Zaika shooed Leopard away. "Not now, Leopard. I can deal with this myself." Snezhinka and Luc walked up to Karen's child. "I hope this isn't too much of a burden, but if a fight breaks out, can you record it?" The kid grinned, pulling out their cellphone. "Gladly."

Karen was red in the face. "MANAGER! THIS WOMAN IS ASSAULTING ME!" The manager walked up to the two, clearly done with their crap. "Miss, you don't need to scream at me, I could hear the commotion from my office. Now, could you explain what happened here?" Karen decided to play the victim, and put on an innocent face. "This lady threatened me with her knife and tried to rob me and kill my poor, sweet baby!" Her kid facepalmed. "Again with the "poor, sweet baby" thing again? Mom, I'm 15." Karen screamed at her kid. "Quiet, darling, the adults are talking." Her kid backed away.

Snezhinka walked towards the manager. "Ok, first of all, Zai didn't even pull out her knife, or threaten the woman. Second of all, Zai didn't even lay a finger on her kid. Third of all, Zai wouldn't even kill someone with her knives. She would only do it in self-defense or if she feels threatened." The manager jotted Snezhinka's words in their notebook. "Got it. Now for your side of the story?" They walked towards Zaika.

"Благодарю вас. Me and my friends were about to leave the restaurant until this random lady noticed my knife and asked me why I brought one to a "family establishment". Like Snezhi said, I only carry it around with me for self-defense or if I need to fight somebody. When I told her this, the lady said that I shouldn't have it with me because I would be "corrupting the minds of children". For all I know, all the kids in this place are either watching trash on their iPads or calling people slurs on Discord. I think they're corrupted enough already." Zaika told the manager. 

The manager nodded. "Good. I think I can see the full picture now." Suddenly, one of the co-workers walked in. "Ms. Töökas! The kitchen's on fire!" The manager frantically ran. "OH SHIT!" Karen turned towards Zaika. "Great, look what you've done!" Karen's kid looked at their mother. "Mom, cut it out, I think we should just leave." *SLAP!* "QUIET! Mommy's handling this!" Looks like Karen made a huge mistake.

Zaika glared coldly at Karen. "Did you... did you just hit your own child?" Karen crossed her arms. "It's called discipline, did your PARENTS ever teach you about it?" Zaika froze. The mention of her parents brought a chill to her spine. Bely Mishka gasped. Luchik was shocked. "Oh no..." Snezhinka and Leopard turned to each other. "She did not just..." Leopard rolled his sleeves up. "Aaalrighty, that's it. Karen's getting her ass kicked." Snezhinka held Leopard back. "Leopard, no!" Zaika looked at Leopard. "Don't worry." She brought out her knife, aiming it at Karen. "I got this handled."

Karen gasped at the sight of the knife, while her child just recorded everything with a grin on their face. "Are you going to kill me with that hellish knife?" Zaika had a murderous look on her face.

"Want to find out?"

Zaika lunged towards the Karen, trying to stab her in the arm. The Karen ran away from her and hid behind a table. Zaika jumped over the table and tried stabbing her, successfully stabbing her in the arm. Karen screamed in pain, yelling "MANAGER! MANAGER!" Unfortunately, the fire in the kitchen was getting worse by the minute. It was nice knowing you, Karen. Karen pushed Zaika away from her and grabbed a chair as some form of self-protection. Unfortunately, her weak Karen arms couldn't hold the chair for long. The customers inside the Denny's were yelling "FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!".  Zaika pinned Karen to the ground. "Give up?" Karen didn't respond and just shoved her off. "Fine, that's it. We're leaving!" She grabbed her kid by the arm. Before leaving, her kid gave a small paper to Luchik and Snezhinka. "Here's my Discord tag if you need to talk to me." Karen stomped off in a huff, dragging her child with her.

Luchik walks up to the others, saying "We should be leaving, too." The others nodded and walked back to the car. Zaika looked at Leopard. "Thanks for trying to stick up for me back there." Leopard blushed. "Y-you're welcome." Leopard held Zaika's hand. "Do... do you mind?" Zaika blushed and muttered. "I don't mind, Leopard. I don't mind." They walked up to the car together.

*One week later...*

Zaika was practicing her knife throwing in her room. Her room was painted black, with weaponry hanging all over, along with some rabbit plushies Leopard may or may have not gotten her. Leopard suddenly bursted into the room.

"ZAIKA! Кролик-убийца! We have a problem!" Zaika looked at Leopard. "Let me guess. Bely Mishka lost his 20-sided die in the house again." Leopard shook his head, then handed Zaika a bunch of papers. "WORSE." Zaika read through the papers. It was a lawsuit for "assault and hate speech", filed by none other than Karen herself. Zaika looked up to Leopard.

"Oh, дерьмо."