gifTêtes En Boîtes"STUMPY?! STUMPY! THIS ISN'T FUNNY! UNDO THE SPELL!" "I CAN'T! I DON'T KNOW HOW!" "YOU GAVE HIM A SPELL HE CAN'T UNDO?!" "HE CAN UNDO IT! STUMPY, LISTEN, WAVE THE WAND AND JUST THINK ABOUT US OUTSIDE OF THE BOX!" ... ... "But you two are already in the box. If I think of you outside of the box, then wouldn't that change your appearance?" "Quack." "Right! If we keep thinking quantically, then something weird might happen! We could turn it into a giant panini with gribiche sauce or even something worse! We could create a paradox where one of you is both alive and dead at the same time!" "Quack!" "Yeah yeah, Schrödinger's frog... cat... thing!" Well, this game was certainly over before it even properly began. What was supposed to be a fun magic trick had now turned into a situation of (metaphorical) life and death: Mr. Cat and Kaeloo were magically transported inside a small box. The two of them awkwardly and uncomfortably smooshed together in precarious poses way too intimate for their liking. One would normally assume that a good kick or claw to the cardboard container would give the means to escape, but, as Kaeloo so intelligently put it, "only the one who used Smileyland's magic can undo the spell" . Ignoring the idea of magic simply being handed to any random person, Mr. Cat utterly despised this whole magic thing. Being trapped in a box was one thing, he's a cat, and he likes his small spaces. Being trapped in a magically sealed box with Kaeloo was an entirely different story. "Nutcracker, this ISN'T FUNNY!" Mr. Cat shifted in the box, pushing Kaeloo out of the way as much as he could to try and push one of the sides open. With Kaeloo inelegantly pressed on her stomach at the bottom of the box with her face against the side, Mr. Cat began to scratch and claw at the box. "OOF! HEY !" Kae shouts as she tries to hook her legs around Mr. Cat's feet to trip him. Mr. Cat avoids her legs and steps on her back, making her choke out a strained groan. "Chill out, will ya?! I'm sure if we push... up... enough.. then...!" He thinks he's getting somewhere when his claw manages to pierce through the cardboard! He gasps in excitement as he tries to rip the cardboard away, but the box reforms and forces him back down. The two now squished together, Kaeloo lying on the bottom of the box and side with Mr. Cat lying on top of her with his hips and legs pressed over her head along with his tail that flipped to the side. "Mr. Cat..." Kaeloo huffed in annoyance, growling under her breath. "Stupid Smileyland magic nonsense! What were you thinking letting Stumpy of all people use magic?!" He tried to adjust himself, pressing his hands on her rear to try and reposition himself. "Mr. Cat, if you don't move your hands..." The blushing frog grits her teeth, her hands curling into fists as she fidgeted. "Ya know, we could try thinking quantically . Nuts-for-brains out there can't do it without breaking his head." he drummed his nails on her skin, unaware of where exactly they were placed. "That's how you and him escaped prison, right?" Sparks flickered around her as she twisted her body around and kicked him in the face, forcing his body to slide off of hers as much as it could. "GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF MY BUTT!" "Ouch!" He rubbed his cheek before blinking. He tried to push himself up against the side as Kaeloo repositioned herself, now sitting up and trying to move her arms and legs comfortably. His ears twitched when he heard what she had said and flopped over on his back to gawk at her. "Aw wait, really?? Can I try again? I wasn't paying attention!" "OH!! The nerve !! You're lucky I can't --" The box began to shudder with magical energy before shrinking, pushing Kaeloo over and on top of Mr. Cat's torso. Both of them flushed from the incredibly awkward position, Kaeloo pressed up on the top, trying to keep it from shrinking further. "Ergh... STUMPY!!!" "Hey look! It shrunk! MUAHAHAHA! Wait... we didn't want it to shrink..." Stumpy frantically flipped through the SCL Magic for Imbeciles workbook. "Quack." Quack Quack ate some yogurt, stroking his beak in contemplation. "Hey Quack Quack, seems like we should try thinking outside the box! HAHAHAHAHA!" "When I get out of here, he's gonna wish he was dead..." Mr. Cat hissed under his breath, trying to get his legs comfortable. "Oh la la la la... I'm such an idiot ! I shouldn't have given him magic! Even just a tiny amount!" Kaeloo threw her hands to her head. "Yeah, no kidding." Mr. Cat tried to move his legs out from under her, awkwardly spreading them out to the side. "Maybe I can... hmm.. oh!" Kaeloo snaps her fingers before sitting up and straining. Her feline friend watched in boredom as she tried and failed to transform, her sparks fizzling out the more she tried. Annoyed, she slouched back against the box and panted from the strain. "I forgot, I can't transform when under Smileyland's influence." "Of course you can't!" The feline rolled his eyes. "I've had it up to here with this stupid world and it's stupid magic!" "Oh!! Our land's magic is not stupid!" "You're a slave to the damn world's power! How is that not stupid?" "Mr. Cat, don't throw the word 'slave'' around like that! It's insensitive!" "Oh, my bad, what should I say then? You're politely being a victim to the world's power ?" He mimicked her lisp sarcastically. The frog crossed her arms. "You don't have to mimic me." "The point is, you can't transform, the box is slowly shrinking, and Nutcracker is in control of the magic! This is hell." "Well, I for one think it's great that I can't transform! I don't wanna become a mean toad, especially in this tiny box." Mr. Cat tried to sit up so that their bodies weren't so uncomfortably close to each other. Not that he specifically minded, but he still wanted to respect Kaeloo's personal space... despite how hard that was right now. Given his best efforts, his body was still pressed awkwardly close to one another, much to both of their irritation. "Quack?" Quack Quack pointed at one of the paragraphs in the book. Stumpy took his bright pink highlighter and colored in the whole paragraph, pointing his wand at the box as he read. "Okay! Let's try this: "It dances and skips, it's read in the eyes but it cheats with the hips. If it meets its match it's easily caught, but it's worth nothing if it is bought." ... what the hell does that mean? SKLBLBLBLBLI!!" Stumpy spasmed and threw the book down. As he did so, the box levitated slightly before flipping upside down and shrinking the most that it could. Inside, Kaeloo and Mr. Cat yelped in surprise at the sudden flip of the box, sending Kaeloo to unintentionally fall over her friend. Their faces were extremely close now, their eyes locked and faces blushing. They're just stuck there, awkwardly scrunched together, trying not to look at one another and choosing to glance in opposite directions. Kaeloo was breathing heavily, extremely flustered that her crush was right below her, practically lying on top of him. "Geez, can you breathe any harder, Froggy? It's hot enough in here without your breath all over me." "Well excuse me! I'll just stop breathing altogether then!" She huffed. "Wouldn't be a bad idea." He smirks, finding her frustration amusing. Kaeloo tries to smack him, trying to find a better way to lay awkwardly, but obviously not on purpose against her crush. In her frantic movements, she accidentally knees him in the crotch and he yelps, shoving her away as much as he can as he presses his legs together in pain. "I didn't even do anything..." Kaeloo rose a brow. "Y-Your KNEES , froggy! God! Hitting below the belt is fighting dirty!" He hissed, one hand keeping her away while the other clutching between his legs. "Fighting dirty?" She tilts her head. "Ugh, you can't even comprehend fighting dirty? You're so dense!" He grumbled, trying to make some room between them. "Hey! I'm not dense!" She pushed him back, falling next to him. He tried to move around her to sit on the opposite side, only to fall on top of her instead. She shrieked and he put his hand over her mouth. "If you keep shouting like that, those two idiots are gonna think we're--" Kaeloo pushed his hand away from her mouth, glaring daggers at him. "Think that we're what , Mr. Cat?!" Not prepared to hear her counter, his face flushed and his ears folded back. "I-I ain't gonna say it! You know what I mean!!""UGH, there you go thinking with that nasty mind of yours!" "Huh... you know Quack Quack," Stumpy thought, flipping through the book out of boredom rather than trying to find a solution, "Kaeloo and Mr. Cat have crushes on each other, right?" "Quack." "Do you think they're... you know." He chuckled, pressing his fingers together. "They're in a small enclosed space pushed together after all!" The duck blinked a few times, unamused. Figures his best friend would try to find a way to make them have a "chance encounter". He was the biggest one out of the group who wished that the two would acknowledge their mutual attraction for each other anyway. Don't even get him started on the little doodles of Kaeloo and Mr. Cat she has as a bookmark for his Mr. Coolskin comics. "Quack quack quack.""Hahaha! Yeah, they probably aren't even trying to get out anymore!" Getting annoyed at his friend's lack of care, he took the grimoire and sat down with the highlighter. If there's anything Kaeloo taught him about the magic of the world, it's that the magic of Smileyland comes from the heart... the heart of whoever is wielding the magic. Since his friend was the one wielding it, perhaps he could find a way to get the wand from him... Seconds turned to minutes with the two now boredly laying on the bottom of the box. Kaeloo had slid off of him the best she could, sitting criss-cross and trying to brainstorm a way out. Mr. Cat had his arms crossed, his legs stretched as far as they could go (which wasn't much) and his tail flicked in irritation at the small space. "So... what did you do today?" He tried to spark up some kind of small talk. "Tried to teach Stumpy how to make a clone of a box with his new magic kit." She tapped her knees as she tried to think of a way to get out. "And look at where we ended up." He stated flatly with a flick of his tail. "Are you just gonna sit there and point out the obvious?" "What else do we have to talk about, froggy? We're stuck in this stupid box from this stupid world with its stupid magic!" "I wish you'd stop calling our home 'stupid'." She shook her head and gave him a leer. "What should I call it then? a "sanctuary" where "anything can happen"?""... It'd be more accurate." The box hums softly with the magic energy as the inside is still and quiet. The two of them are as relaxed (well, as much as they could be given the circumstances) as they can be with their bodies pressed uncomfortably close together. Mr. Cat's tail swishes against the cardboard, Kaeloo is tapping her fingers on her arms as she tries to meditate the time away. "...Why do you always meditate?" The cat breaks the silence. Kaeloo whines as her concentration is broken and she peeks at him. "It keeps my mind quiet.""Your mind is always loud?""Sorta." "Interesting." He strokes his chin. "I wonder what you think about sometimes." He pondered aloud. "Remember when Stumpy found a door to the inside of his desolate mind? Sometimes I wonder if there's one that leads into yours." Kaeloo goes quiet, trying to meditate deeply and ignore such an inquiry. The last thing she wanted to think about was the things she kept hidden in her mind. "...Ey, you hear me?" His toe tapped her knee. "Yes, Mr. Cat, I can hear you." She sighed. "Alright, then is there a door that leads to your mind?" Kaeloo huffs and shakes her head, getting rather frustrated."I don't know! I don't know everything about the universe and what laws the world makes up! I only know the bare minimum: the basic rules of the world, the population of every single sheep, tree, rock, flower, the way the continents are formed from the world's heart, the..." She notices that MC is just staring at her with wide eyes. "What do you mean you "only know the bare minimum" ? Someone knowing all that would be kinda like, I dunno, some god or something." He scratches his cheek in stupefied confusion. "Oh heavens no! I'm not a god, don't be silly!" She giggles and smiles, "I'm the guardian of the whole Pays Trop Mignon world!" "Guardian? As in, you're responsible for everything ?" The cat gawked at her as if she was truly insane. "H...How?" "Oh! Well, one day I just... walked in here and the world was so pretty and happy and clean. It felt like home, kind of like I was meant to be here. Next thing I knew, I was just kinda was given the role." She shrugs. "But by who?" Mr..cat scratches his head, beyond confused. "I dunno. I just felt this need to kinda... protect it.""...You're 13.""Yeah, and?""How long have you been here, Froggy?""Um... let's see..." Kaeloo thinks for a moment, counting on her fingers. "Five years.""You've been living here for four years??""...Yes? I don't know what's so strange about it." Mr. Cat just tried his best to piece things together. He places his hands in front of himself, trying to map out the timeline or information he is being given. "You've been here since--""Since I was eight, yeah.""Why? How did... how did you even get here??""I told you! I found one of those interdimensional doors, opened it, and boom! I stumbled into this world.""So... are you a god ? Are you THE god? Are you mortal?""Of course I'm mortal! I'm not some weird deity that just came to be because I found this place first!" Mr. Cat looked down, trying to understand what she was telling him. "Well, that isn't the whole truth." Kaeloo put a finger on her chin as she thought. "I was running away from my family and then I found one of those interdimensional doors." Now that was a story that sounded all too familiar. He remembered when he left his home to take control of his own life when he turned ten. Escaping the torture of his mom's iron grip and his brother's abuse. He hasn't looked back since he arrived in Smileyland. "Oh!" She clapped her hands at a memory. "I do remember that I couldn't speak to the other one all that well, so I would talk to flowers." "Yeah? I knew you were a tree hugger, but a flower talker?" He found a bit of charm in her words. Of course, to his delight, she didn't understand the insult and took it with stride. "Kinda! It's when I found out that I could influence the world. See, before Quack Quack arrived, I would spend the days talking to nature around me. When they couldn't say anything back, I would pretend to be the flowers and talk to myself." She laughed, rubbing the back of her neck nervously. "It was a bit embarrassing..." Mr. Cat listened intently, partially curious yet also feeling for his friend. He knew she was not mentally sound given her issues with unreality and her identity, but feeling responsible for an entire world ? That can't be easy. "I didn't know you were so lonely." Mr. Cat says, his fingers slowly brushing against her fingertips. "It must've been hard leaving your family and--" "Can we not talk about it, please?" The frog interrupted him, her gaze focused on the limited space between their fingertips. Her brow furrowed with an unknown emotion. He knew that type of response. That was the, "it hurts too much to talk about" tone of voice he sometimes replied with. That semi-shaky voice that trembled on the brink of a flashback mixed with the irritation of speaking altogether. Choosing to drop it for now (as much as he'd welcome it, he wouldn't want to risk being crushed by the toad), he kicks his feet out in a relaxed state, both legs pressed against Kaeloo's right side as she huffs in annoyance. "I will say though," the feline began, flashing a fanged smirk, "you're surprisingly comfy." "What're you talking about? My skins all moist and damp!" She counters, not accepting the compliment. "Exactly! That's because-- gAH!" "OH! I THINK I ALMOST GOT IT!" Stumpy shouted outside the box, watching as it flipped over again. Inside, the cat and frog were tumbled upside down. Kaeloo now on top of Mr. Cat again and bodies pressed much too close for their comfort. Despite their shyness, the cat put his hand on the frog's back, supporting her. "I was saying," he grunts as he tries to sit up, their faces way too close, "it feels nice because you're like a cooling pad." "A-A cooling pad?" The frog tilt her head. "Yeah. You cool me off with your skin. I'm sure I'm way too hot or prickly because of my fur." "N-No actually... You're very..." Kaeloo swallows dryly, shakily putting her hands in his chest and supporting herself. "Soft. And warm. Soft and warm." Their faces unknowingly inched closer, the spaces between them being lessened more and more. Both hearts racing as the two crushes kept their eyes locked on the other, one clawed hand tenderly holding onto her back while her hands massaged his furry chest, and their breaths heavy with feelings of suppressed desire and affection. They never got this far, never got to be so close. They were starting to notice the little things in each other's faces: Kaeloo's faint freckles, Mr. Cat's thinner whiskers on his upper lip, Kaeloo's eyelashes, Mr. Cat's precisely sharp striped markings on his cheeks... ... Until they were suddenly flipped over a few times and the box that contained them poofed away, sending them falling in a jumbled heap of limbs on top of each other. "WOO-HOO!!!! I DID IT!" Stumpy shouted in elation, running in circles around Kaeloo and MC. "Quack!" Quack Quack exclaimed in happiness. "Oof... My head..." Mr. Cat rubbed his head and glared at the squirrel. "Nutcracker!! You're gonna pay for this!" Kaeloo stumbled to her feet before quickly running over and yanking the book from his hands. "I should've known better than to let you play with the world's magic, Stumpy!!" "Sure, you guys can be as mad as you want, buuutttt you two were on top of each other!" He cackled. Both faces turning red, the cat and frog exchanged curt glances before turning away and exclaiming in unison, "No we weren't!"