Sparkle (KOTLC) {Completed}

20

After dinner at the Shores of Solace, Janessa remembered suddenly that Kessler Dizznee had made her an elixir for her scars she was supposed to pick up that day.

"Why would you do that? That's such a waste of a cool scar!" Ro complained.

Janessa chuckled, running a hand through her hair. "Don't worry, it'll never be gone completely, I just want it to match my skin a bit better on my face. Us elves care a lot about our looks, and I won't pretend I'm not at least a little shallow." Besides, it's more important that  I finally acknowledge what happened, I think. 

"Prissy elves." Ro muttered while Janessa shook her head with a giggle.

'Kindly' (and without much choice), Lord Sencen let Janessa use their Leap Master to go to Mysterium and Keefe, who had offered to go with her but wasn't allowed by Ro since he was still injured, waved at her as she disappeared.

The city was just as grey as she remembered, and people stared at her maybe more so. She wasn't as bothered now, though, and continued walking, taking long, fast steps to reach her destination quicker. 

The brightly coloured, almost obnoxious (but in her mind just fun) store came into view soon, and she had to stop herself from running a little. 

The door farted as she entered, and she stifled a giggle. This store really makes sense as the Dizznees'. I can just imagine Dex fitting right inhere.

"Hi Mr Dizznee!" As Janessa greeted him, she then realized she'd never given him her name.

"Hey there, Nessie, I was wondering when you'd stop by!" The strawberry haired man exclaimed, smiling back at her. Janessa started at the use of Dex's nickname for her.

"You alright?" Kessler wondered over the confusion on her face.

Janessa laughed a little awkwardly. "Oh no, I'm just used to only Dex calling me Nessie, so I was a little surprised."

"Oh, well, I don't actually know your full name, Dex always calls you Nessie when he talks about you." Kessler said nonchalantly, though he eyed Janessa subtly and carefully to catch her reaction. "I can call you by your full name if you want."

Janessa felt her cheeks start to burn, and suddenly she felt too nervous to make eye contact with the man, but she did her best to force the reaction down. "My full name is Janessa, but I guess either works. It'll just take some getting used to."

Kessler chuckled under his breath. "I won't steal my son's nickname for you then, Janessa." Janessa's cheeks started to burn again just after she'd finally gotten it under control, and it was all she could do to keep in a nervous giggle. "Now, I've got your request over here at the front desk."

Janessa followed him to the back of the store and gratefully took the vials from him. "The yellow balm goes directly on the scars you want to heal, and then drink a full vial of the blue one about twenty minutes after. Do this once a day, and it should become pretty subtle in the next week."

"Thank you so much, Mr Dizznee. I really appreciate it." Janessa replied, examining her medicine curiously.

"Just call me Kessler. Anyways, you should thank Dex instead next time you see him, he's the one who did most of the work, despite being busier than I am these days." Kessler shook his head fondly, before making eye contact with the white-haired girl.

Janessa nodded, smiling a little. Dex wasn't mad at her then, or at least they were still good friends. The reassurance was nice. "I'll add it to the list of things I have to thank him for." Janessa paused for a second, before working up her courage to add, "And tell him to reach out if he ends up having any free time."

"Will do." Kessler tipped an imaginary hat to her and waved goodbye as she headed out of the store, lifting her leaping crystal to the setting sun.

As she arrived on the shores of Atlantis, she stopped holding back the flush of her cheeks. What on earth was Kessler doing? It really felt like he was implying something... No, I'm just imagining it.

When she entered Quinlin's apartment, Livvy and Amy were hard at work, as usual. 

"Hey. Anything exciting today?" Janessa asked, hovering at the doorway to the library.

"Ugh, no. Just more boring paperwork." Amy whined. Janessa laughed, shaking her head. "What's in the bag though?"

"Oh, just some stuff to reduce the scarring on my face." Janessa explained. 

Livvy frowned, feeling a twinge of guilt. "Sorry."

"Don't worry about it, Livvy, I did get kidnapped before you could finish treating me, so it has nothing to do with you. Besides, I only thought of it yesterday when I went to visit Dex." As she said his name, her cheeks heated up a little, remembering the way his dad had been acting.

Amy perked up immediately, grinning deviously. "Ooh. So, is Dex the answer to our question yesterday then?"

"No!" Janessa hurriedly denied. "I don't know, it's just... his dad kept... it felt like his dad was implying something when I was picking up my stuff today."

Livvy nodded understandingly. "That's not surprising. Squall and I have both noticed that something could be going on. We had a bet going on about which of your friends you would develop a crush on, and it seems like she's winning now."

Do I really act that different around him? We're just friends. If anything, my crush of Keefe was way more obvious, and even the way I acted around Linh when we first met. I mean, Linh is so cool and I was so awestruck by her control, people would be bound to notice that more, right? "No, she's not. As of right now, I only have friends, so no one's won yet." Janessa said sternly.

"Ugh, your lack of a love life is even more frustrating than these boring papers." Amy complained, glaring up at her sister. "Just say you have a crush on someone, or multiple people, and then we can gossip about it."

Janessa chuckled. "Yeah, I'm not gonna put myself into a love square like Sophie is, I'll wait until I know I really like someone before it becomes a thing."

Amy sulked, while Livvy smiled. "That's pretty mature of you, just don't suppress anything."

"Don't worry, I don't plan on hiding from my emotions." Janessa reassured, reminding herself at the same time. She glanced around the room, remembering that the others were supposed to be working. "I'll let you two continue working. Don't stay up too late, Amy."

"Yeah, okay, Mom." 

Livvy and Janessa both chuckled as Amy rolled her eyes, before Janessa left, letting herself drown in her calmness.