Twisted Wonderland Moments

Good news(Leona/Mara)(Mara Vignette part 2)

"Oh yeah, Leona. Didn't you want to tell Mara something?"

Ruggie cheekily reminded his housewarden. Mara glanced at the hyena as he grinned eagerly. She turned to Jack as he looked away from her, but with his bent ears and eyes facing down, he seemed to look sympathetic to her. As if he anticipated something bad awaited for her.

'Oh no.' She thought, reluctantly turning her eyes to Leona. The lion held a half-lidded smirk with eagerness in his eyes to tell Mara the news. She narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously, waiting for him to throw out one of his underhanded schemes.

"Oh yeah. Since Ruggie will be gone for three days, and you are the vice housewarden, I'm gonna need you to take his place for me."

"Ah. So that's why Ruggie looked ecstatic to see me." Mara remarked flatly, shooting an annoyed glare at him with her ears flattened. The second year shrugged his shoulders with his hands up.

"See with me outta a school, someone's gotta 'help' Leona out with some stuff while I'm gone. We thought about it and figured since you're vice housewarden, you be the perfect temporary helper." The second year explained casually, leaning on his suitcase.

"In your language, Bucchi, this is you taking the chance to dump the work on me? Is that right?" Mara pointed out, approaching him. His blue eyes widened alarmed, and he scrambled toward Leona, hiding behind him. "What?! No, why, Mara! I would never!" He retorted, flattening his ears submissively as Mara stared at him suspiciously.

Her golden eyes moved to Leona, waiting to see his response to it as he lounged on his seat. "If you say yes, I'll let you clean my room." He offered her, and he smiled amusingly at her ears perking up, interested. She had been complaining about his room several times.

"Alright."

"Eh?!" Ruggie and Jack stared at the cheetah in disbelief. They thought she would complain or argue with Leona, but nope. "Wait! Hold on! I clean your room all the time!" Ruggie retorted, looking at his housewarden for answers. "She cleans better than you." Leona responded casually, but that only made the hyena look at him with his jaw hanging open. "Now I feel insulted." He said defeatedly, shaking his head as he rubbed his dirty blonde hair to progress this.

"You're getting a day off. Don't overthink it." Leona added, humored by Ruggie right now. Mara giggled amusingly as Jack shook his head at them. However, her ears perked up when she remembered why she came to the dorm.

"Oh yeah! I almost forgot something!"

The boys turned their attention to her, ears upward from the sudden volume of the cheetah. Her eyes went to Leona, making eye contact with him.

"I just found out from Silver that Malleus is going on that trip to Noble Bell College."

As soon as that message went from one ear to the next, they shot up, and Leona's eyes widened. She saw a flicker of hope in those emerald green eyes. "Malleus....he's leaving? For three days?"

"Yep." Mara affirmed, catching from the corner of her eye his tail wagging excitedly. The wolf and hyena looked at each other surprised. They didn't expect a last-minute addition to the group. The two looked back at their housewarden to see what would happen next. His eyes were still big, processing what he was hearing.

"So you're telling me not only am I lucky enough not to go on this snoozefest of a trip but also Malleus Draconia himself is going on that trip for three days?" He asked to be certain. Yeah. It was last minute, but the headmage -"

"Heh heh heh...."

Right as she was gonna start explaining further, Mara's ears rose up when she caught a small chuckle escaped his lips. Even Jack and Ruggie heard it, leaning in next to cheetah to double check their hearing. Their ears were up and straight, listening closely. His shoulders were shaking as tiny chuckles slipped from his lips.

"Hahahaha!"

He lifted his head up, laughter coming out. Mara, Jack, and Ruggie stared at him bewildered by his reaction. Their fur stood up briefly as he sat up from his seat. "Three whole days without that horned jerk!" He announced out loud joyfully. He whipped his head toward Mara's direction. A huge smile was plastered on his face and his emerald eyes glowing an electric green.

The cheetah stared at him, terrified and bewildered by that look. It was the same one he had in his overblot but less mad. She suddenly felt her body become light and two arms wrapped around her waist.

Leona had picked her up in his arms and spun her around. "Great Kings, Leona!" She exclaimed, her face reddened in embarrassment to have her classmates see this. She squeaked when he threw her up in the air. Their housewarden's behavior startled them. Jack and Ruggie ran over, having their hands ready in case he was gonna drop her.

Fortunately, he set her back down on the ground, dismissing the shocked look on her face. He smiled at her wildly and, without thinking, pressed a kiss to her cheek.

"Huh?!" Ruggie stared at them both with his eyes big as plates and his mouth gaping. Jack was like a deer in headlights, ears up in surprise as his face reddened at what he just saw. He looked away, eyes darting anywhere but the cats right now, feeling uncomfortable.

Mara, on the other hand, felt her face heat up like a kettle getting hotter. Her ears burned as if steam was coming out. Her golden eyes looked up at him reluctantly, and she felt herself get hotter at her still kept that smile of his.

"Not bad, Mara! I'm gonna have to think of a way to reward you. Properly." He stated, the last word sounded suggestively before he walked away,  leaving his classmates in shock.

"Uh..." Mara tried to find the words to speak, but her mind was so lost she couldn't think of what to say to that. Jack and Ruggie looked at her and then each other and back to her. Meanwhile, as Leona started going upstairs to his room, his ears perked at Ruggie yelling out.

"What in the outlands just happened?!"

He chuckled quietly in amusement before walking off, being in a good mood for the rest of the day.