You Know You're Friends When...

The young cat magician had only just finished serving a family their room key when a short beep on her watch notified her that she was about to have another guest enter the hotel. 

And by guest, she meant pest.

Hana’s defense system was immaculate as always—even if Mana had to request and then persuade her sister to turn off the instant kill mode of the program—as the orange menace quickly zipped through the front doors of her hotel and straight up to the front desk, eyes a tad frantic even if he was grinning like the lunatic she knew him to be. The young feline only had a second to raise an eyebrow at his behavior before the boy grabbed her by the shoulders tightly.

“Mana, my man, my cat, my loan shark,” Whip called in a hurried tone. His devil-may-care grin was marred by obvious nerves that were only shot further as the said loan shark’s expression dropped into a colder glare. “You think you can help a friend out?” Without even giving her a chance to reply, he jumped over the desk expertly, ignoring her cry of protest. “Awesome!” he yelled as he began tucking himself into the empty space between the desk and the floor, kicking over the dumb trash can that was taking up precious hiding space. Mana could only manage an indignant yell of the thief’s name that asked just what the troublemaker was doing when he grabbed the knocked over container and placed it upside down in front of him to hide himself.

“Don’ttellthemI’mhereTHANKS!” 

The feline stared incredulously at the boy’s shenanigans, Mizumaru twitching in exasperation. She was about to grab the rabbit by his goggles and ask him what on Mobius was he doing, but a different notification sound on her watch informed her of the incoming guests to the hotel. Figuring she could postpone the bloodbath for just a moment, she put on her best welcoming smile as a dark green inkdrian with sizable horns walked in.

“Hello!” she began, tipping her hat in salute to the newcomer. “Welcome to the Mystic Ruins Hotel, my name is Mana, how can I help—”

“Hey lady,” the inkdrian growled, slamming his hand on the counter and leaning over to tower over her. Mana resisted the urge to jump and narrow her eyes at the assumed man, her more trained instincts taking into account that he was tightly gripping a spear in his other hand. “Did you see a dumb-looking orange rabbit run in here?” The inkdrian rubbed his bare shoulder in irritation, and his gradiented eyes began to glow a bright, radioactive green to emphasize his anger. “He took something that didn’t belong to him and I need to teach that punk a lesson.”

Mana couldn’t help but narrow her eyes ever so slightly, not so much at the inkdrian, but moreso in exasperation at the rabbit she could feel cowering under her desk. Of course he would get himself into this kind of mess. 

Still, while she never endorsed Whip’s kleptomaniac tendencies, she was still wary of the man in front of her. She didn’t take kindly to people bringing weapons into her hotel, nor did she appreciate him threatening the rabbit, no matter how justified his anger might be.

“Not sure if I’ve seen him today, but he does tend to be a bit of a troublemaker,” she stated dryly. Exerting her best I’m-super-helpful-and-you-definitely-want-to-trust-me aura, she tilted her head and offered, “I might be able to help you find him though with some more information. Do you mind telling me what he took?”

The inkdrian rubbed at his shoulder again irately, and Mana couldn’t help but ponder the gesture. She watched as the lancer paused, noticing as she did the habit, and he used that hand to slam on her desk once again. Mana briefly felt her eye twitch at the abuse of her poor desk as he growled, “What does it matter what he took!? Have you seen him or not?!” 

A warning beep on her watch reminded her to have patience with the man’s behavior. (Not because she had set her watch to remind her to take a deep breath, but moreso because her sister had also installed an Anti-Rude Guest protocol that was undoubtedly ready to destroy any guest should Mana reach Hana’s patience level and decide smiting her guests was okay.) Mana clasped her hands in front of her and stared the inkdrian down unflinchingly with a smile.

“Well, sir—if I may address you as such—I only asked because I do happen to know where that rabbit is.” At her admission, she felt the trash can below her tremble in fear and indignation. “I don’t know what my friend was thinking, deciding to steal a coat—” The inkdrian flinched in surprise, letting Mana know that her guess was right on the money and giving her the right to smirk a bit. “—but I’ll be sure that it will be returned to you. If you could just wait outside—"

“What?” the man interrupted. “Hey, that’s not what I asked, lady.” Growling, he stabbed his spear into the carpet as he leaned over her counter threateningly, and Mana felt her smile drop off her face. Beneath her, the trash can shuddered from the sudden drop of temperature. “If that you and that punk think he can get away with just stepping over me and stealing from me…” He grabbed his spear and raised it towards her. “Know that I’m not afraid to make myself clear.” 

There was a tense moment of silence as Mana took in his threat, and she felt the trash can beneath her begin to move, as if it had gain a conscious.

She, however, moved a lot faster.

The inkdrian’s spear was ripped from his grip and sent flying into the air with one powerful and magically-imbued palm strike from Mana. He stumbled backward from the force, and without giving him a moment to react, Mana leapt over her counter and directly onto his chest, using his taller build against him as gravity helped her send him crashing into the floor.

The veteran ninja and mage casually plucked a card from her sleeve and activated it, pleased when shadowed chains were summoned into existence, binding him tightly enough to cause him to grunt in surprise. She stepped off of him pleasantly, unable to help her wicked grin as she caught his spear.

“You know, here at the Mystic Ruins Hotel, we really pride ourselves on serving our guests to the best of our abilities~” she declared. “But I’m afraid that we also hold safety of our guests to be our top priority.” Irately, she used the blunt butt of his spear and pressed it against her carpet, willing her magical hotel to heal itself from his completely unnecessary abuse. Mana’s good humor dropped, and while the man had previously wielded a spear, her words were sharper than his weapon. 

“Whip the Rabbit is not only a guest, but my friend. And I will not tolerate anyone threatening them.” The feline removed her hat and reached into it, ignoring her friend’s startled cry underneath her desk as she pulled out the boy’s stolen coat. “Even if they may be in the wrong.”

Carelessly, she dropped the battered fur coat onto the inkdrian and she pulled out another card. Smiling an icy grin that would have made Hana proud, Mana happily began to wave at the man as her trusted dragon’s vines wrapped around him forebodingly, causing his eyes to widen in surprise.

“I hope you enjoyed your stay here at the Mystic Ruins Hotel,” the magician sang over the angry and confused cries of the inkdrian. “Have an excellent day!”

As the doors closed and she watched the inkdrian scream as Black Rose Dragon took the skies, Mana turned around and put her hands on her hips, glaring at the rabbit that had popped out from behind the desk and was now grinning like a mad loon. 

“Honestly Whip,” she drawled, unable to help the smug smirk on her face, “would you have some courtesy to not drag your baggage across my hotel floor?” The rabbit’s grin grew even brighter.

“Why? It’s not like you can’t handle it.” He jumped on top of her desk once again before dropping into a crossed-legged position. His canines were brightly shining in order to really sell the picture of mischief as he said, “After all, what’s some loser inkdrian against some kind of crazy ninja king mage, am I right?”

Mana rolled her eyes in exasperation, making her way back to the hotel desk, for once using the easily accessible gate that had been rudely ignored for most of the day. “What kind of thief steals a ragged coat, anyways?” she countered. Said thief narrowed his eyes at her, and she raised her hands in playful surrender. “Hey, all I’m saying is that you seem to be losing your touch, Whip, if you thought that was worthwhile loot to pick a fight over.”

“Hmph. Yeah yeah…” he said, picking at his ear, but grinning nonetheless. “So what do I owe ya, Loan Shark?” At his question, Mana couldn’t help but quirk a grin at him as she playfully socked his shoulder.

“Lucky you, it’s on the house~” she sang, taking only a small amount of sadistic pleasure at Whip’s muttered whines of pain as he rubbed his newly bruised arm in attempts to soothe it. Her grin called him a baby, but out loud, she instead promised, “You can always come here if you’re in trouble, Whip.” Her grin turned a little softer, and that quiet sincerity in their relationship that they seldom addressed painted the air with comfort and acceptance. 

“I’ll always have your back,” she confirmed. Holding up a fist, she tilted her head at him, dark brown eyes sparkling. “We’re friends, after all.”

Her obnoxious friend had the audacity to look somewhat surprised, but she gave him the benefit of the doubt in that their friendship was usually just full of so much vitrol that kindness usually probably translated to a warning that she was going to going to do something cruel to him right afterwards. Regardless, he seemed to be willing to tentatively accept the temporary cease fire, as his large grin returned as he bumped his own fist against her own.

“Yeah, friends!” he chirped pleasantly. The two shared a grin before Whip’s turned decidedly sly. “And since we’re friends, we can totally forget about the damage I’ve done to the hotel in the past, right?”

Mana cackled at his question, finding it too adorable not to laugh at. “Oh Whip,” she began, smiling brightly as the boy’s ears drooped in fear.

“Not on your life~”