Twisted Wonderland Moments

A Hesitant Hairstyle (Leona/Mara)

Takes place during the Fairy Gala event

"You gotta stop doing this."

Leona cracked one eye open, spotting a spotted tail moving around and a pair of black boots. His ears twitched at the bushes above him rustling, and a ray of light hit his eyes, forcing them shut.

"Hey! Was that necessary? Why is Vil sending you to bother me and not Ruggie?" He complained, letting his eyes adjust to the sunlight. He narrowed his eyes at the cheetah beast-woman who smirked at him in amusement.

"Because Ruggie deserves a break. Also, I volunteered to do it." She answered, her smirk growing when he groaned in annoyance. She watched him get up on his feet as her eyes grew big. "And I was having a good nap until my face got smacked by sunlight." He added, though Mara had to admit with the dorm freezing, it was hard to sleep.

"Yeah? Was it worth getting leaves in your hair?" She asked, struggling to control her chuckleling.

"Huh?" He raised an eyebrow confused at her. She pointed at his hair, and he glanced down. Instead of meeting brown hair, he met green. There were leaves that stuck to the strands of his hair and even some on his braid.

"Great..." he mumbled sarcastically, shaking his head to try to get rid of leaves of his hair. The cheetah chuckled amusingly, finding it slightly entertaining to see him show the more beast side. It reminded her of their wolf friend, honestly.

The lion sighed in annoyance, stomping past the cheetah. Mara, however, sped forward and was right in front of him. For people who just met Mara, they would be startled and probably trip and fall. But for Leona, who has known her longer, he had gotten used to it.

"You not gonna clean those leaves off?" She questioned as he looked at her nonchalantly. "Vil's the fashion expert. He can fix this for me." Leona explained, proceeding to walk, but he started to get irritated when Mara blocked his way again.

"Vil's already hard on you in dancing. Do you really want another punishment added to you because of bad hair?" She reasoned, raising an eyebrow to question his thinking. He was cunning, yes, but sometimes he underestimated some small details.

However, she did see him consider her words, and his eyebrows rose. An indication she learned meant he actually agreed on something. The cheetah was feeling good that she had convinced the stubborn lion. That is until he glanced at her and smirked, ears up. She narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously. Mara's reasoning might have offered another idea.

She backed away startled when he leaned his face closer to her. "Take them off." He commanded, getting a bewildered yet ticked off look. "No way! You did this!" Mara retorted, but Leona had another surprise that he knew would make her surrender.

"Alright. Then I'll go to Vil like this, and who knows, maybe you'll get in trouble for not stopping me. Your choice, Mara." He suggested, grinning at her as he saw her ears perk up, and she started thinking about that outcome.

On one hand, Mara did not want to give Leona any satisfaction for anything. But on the other hand, Vil was quite terrifying when he's in control of something. The cheetah snarled in anger, especially since her idea led to this. "Fine. Hold still." She ordered, getting to work on his braids.

Leona chuckled amusingly, and it he was further amused when she growled at him. Mara got the leaves of his braids and proceeded to the top of his head. It actually amazed her at how still he remained. They were doing pretty well until she noticed more on the back of his head.

Her hand settled on the top of his head and were about to push his hair back. However, she wasn't sure why, but the moment her hand got to the top, he suddenly became alert and moved his head away. That earned a confused look from the cheetah. 'Maybe I pulled too hard.' She thought and went to do it again but more gently.

But Leona moved his head away again, growling annoyed. At this point, the cheetah was getting bothered. "Hold still!" She demanded, her hands shot to his braids and pulled hard.

"Ow! Stop!" He retaliated, grinding his teeth from the pain that shot up to his head. Mara took the chance to run both her hands down his hair to try and clear out the leaves. "See? That wasn't that bad." She reasoned as he shot a glare at her.

"I regret letting you do this. Can you take your hands off me now?" He demanded, but seeing his hair pushed back made Mara notice something.

"Hey Leona...."

"What?" He responded, annoyed. Though Mara put that aside. She wondered if that was what made Leona act this way. He was behaving well until she went to that particular spot, so she might as well test that theory.

"By any chance, does pushing your hair back..." she hesitated, watching his face carefully. His eyebrows scrunched in confusion, finding the hesitation from the cheetah pretty odd.

"... remind you of your overblot?"

In an instant, she saw his ears shoot up and eyes getting huge in a second. Mara swore that she saw a flicker of fear in his green eyes. But he quickly changed it and glared at her. Leona grabbed her wrists and forcefully removed her hands away from his hair.

"And where did you get that dumb idea?" He retorted, letting go of her wrist and storming off. His tail moved sharply, cutting through the air. Mara rubbed her wrist, checking to see if a mark had been left over from his iron grip. She shot a glare at him as she followed suit.

But she did feel some sympathy for the lion. She didn't consider that a small detail like a simple hairstyle would awaken bad memories from the overblot. Once the gemstone has been retrieved, she was gonna have to talk about it with him and fix it.