Crossover Castle

The doors to the royal bedchambers opened with a loud bang. Nicole, dressed in traditional maid clothes, strode with purpose straight into the room, making a beeline for the curtains on the far side. It was morning, after all, and it wouldn't do for the queen to sleep in on a working day. Opening them let the sunlight shine in, showing how beautiful Castle Acorn truly was.

----

Nepeta Leijon smiled as she carried a deer back into town. Getting up early for hunting was always totally worth it! This one in particular was a beauty, maybe she could get a price for it at the castle? Wait, no, the queen was more of a vegetarian... Well, the markets would eat it up for sure!

Lina's mouth was watering and her eyes were wide. Yes, this was the whole reason she was here. Now it was time to take part of her 'payment' as the court wizard.

She began chowing down on her breakfast, which was a combination of various styles of cooking. It was really very good. The way she was eating, you would think she was raised without manners.

---

Altrik was actually sitting quietly in the library of the castle, which had luckily been quite filled by many books to read, and had a nice window-less side room for her to sit in. It wasn't so much that she was a large fan of books, but that she really hadn't anything else to do right now, so she was reading up on a bit of history. She had left the room slightly ajar, on a whim of one of the voices in her head.

If the noise her maid was making wasn't enough, the light that streamed into the room surely woke up the young Queen from her slumber. With a yawn, she sat up, stretching her arms out. "Good morning, Nicole," She said, blinking the sleep out of her eyes. 

She tried to recall if there was anything particularly important to do today as she got out of bed to prepare for the morning, but it didn't seem like there was. In any case, she should hold court sometime this afternoon and deal with any local problems that may crop up.

--

Vriska stared on in utter disgust at her 'teacher' guzzling down food in that black hole she called a mouth. How did she ever get talked into becoming this girl's apprentice? She was trying to sign up for a pirate ship! Not a stupid wizard apprenticeship! Goddamn that Nicolas Cage look-alike distracting her at an important moment of her life! She should have known it wasn't him. He had no plays scheduled for the local area.

The other person in the room didn't seem to share Vriska's disgust, staring on in wide eyed wonder as he set another plate of food down. "Woah!" Rin grinned at Lina, "I've never seen anyone with such a healthy appetite!"

"Reading anything interesting?" Shaco seemingly materialized next to Altrik's ear, his face almost touching hers. He scratched his chin with one hand while the other balanced a knife on its finger. "Or simply... killing time? Oohoohooeheehahahaha..."

----
In the courtyard there was a man, doing push-ups. His hair was blue, his chest muscled, his back tattooed, but covered by a crimson cape that fluttered behind him with every upward motion. He had already eaten breakfast, and was now doing his morning work-out routine. For he was the Captain of the Guard, and as such had to set a good example. A good, MANLY example.

"Nine-hundred thirteen, Nine-hundred fourteen..."

Lina glanced over at her apprentice as she chewed on something. When it came down to it, this person probably shouldn't be learning magic. But, she didn't care so long as she was getting paid. And she was getting paid well after all!

She decided to respond to Rin however, "Well when you make it this good how can I help but eat it all!" she stated happily. She wasn't going to let the weird situation of teaching a troll magic get her down, at least not right now.

-----

Altrik's head tilted away from the clown in a manner that seemed to suggest discomfort, but she didn't really avert her eyes from the book. At least, not at first. Then the voices stated speaking to her and she sighed, looking at the clown, "The funny man should beware the path he walks, for it has left the golden brick road he must travel,"

She wasn't angry, exactly, but it was clear she was somewhat uncomfortable. The things she'll say may be hard to understand, but her face gave away her emotions much better.

"Meh. I've never cared much for gold. I like walking on... darker paths. Hehehe... but then, I'm quite a dark person." 
He noticed her facial expression, and his grin widened. "Oh my. Am I making you uncomfortable, my dear?"

"Hahaha," Rin laughed abashedly, rubbing the back of his head at Lina's compliment, "Well, anyone who loves food is always welcome in my kitchen!"

The troll, however, only rolled her eyes at the display, "Gooooooood, are we just gonna sit here and eat all day? Lame," She complained, "What about the adventure or, hell, the stupid wriggler magic, I was promised! Ugh, I should just go follow that dumb lead to a treasure and forget this magic business."

Altrik narrowed her eyes, "We share darkness, though your darkness is different from my own," she said, then relaxed her expression as she looked back to her book, "That which meets my eyes is dark as well," the book she was reading still a history book, "The faraway lands weave strands of fate with hands unseen, the unaware puppets beneath the strings simply moving to match the fingers high above," it seemed she was attempting to describe what she was reading.

----

Lina gave Rin a thumbs up as she went back to eating. After Vriska had her outburst, Lina narrowed her eyes at her, "Oi, quit complaining about my magic-" she stopped for a second and blinked, something having caught her attention, "Wait, did you say... treasure?" She began smiling at Vriska, "Now just what kind of lead has my dear, sweet apprentice come across?" she said, barely hiding the greed in her eyes.

----

Franky was walking about the courtyard, reading off a checklist that he had made while checking the castle walls, "Walls up? Check! Towers still standing without any signs of damage? Check! Battlements ready for battle? Suuuper check!" He threw his arms up in the air while making a star design with his arms on the large cubic parts that touched, "Ah, captain!" Franky smiled as he walked over towards where Kamina was working out, "Those are some suuuper workouts you're doing there!" He said, smiling as he watched, standing far taller than the man.

"What's this I hear about treasure?" said Marceline, from directly behind Vriska.

At the moment, she was currently hanging from the ceiling; wearing one of her creepier nightmare faces. She'd floated into the room unnoticed; intending to mess with the Sorceress' apprentice.

She dropped to the floor, and returned to normal. Though it was probably too late to keep from freaking out Vriska.

Vriska perked up, now this was the recognition she deserved, "Only something worth millions, maybe billions of gold. It's something worthy of a great treasure hunter like I, but I guess I can bring you along if you really wa-"

It was then Marceline appeared out of nowhere and caused the apprentice to shriek loudly. She flailed and flopped back, falling right out of the chair, "GODDAMN FUCKING RAINBOW DRINKER!!!!!!!!"

Rin, meanwhile, flicked his tail back and forth, looking between the three rambunctious girls. His expression was blank, making him look like a lost puppy, He really had no idea what to do with these women.

"Yes, I have sometimes felt like a puppet to some fickle, distant, hateful being. Perhaps we are all but the playthings of cruel gods. That's why I choose to make the most of life m'dear. Reading books all day is so... boring. But, I've stolen your ear enough. Ta-ta!" Shaco vanished. His mad giggling echoed faintly in the distance.

----
"ONE THOUSAND!" With a grunt, Kamina jumped to his feet, facing Frankie and pointing one finger into the sky. "Why yes, my workouts are super. As befitting of the super badass Captain of the Guard!" He let his upraised hand drop. "Now then, are you still in the middle of inspecting the defenses, or will you join me in some SQUAT THRUSTS?"

Lina was listening quite intently when suddenly Vriska shrieked at the appearance of Marceline, although Lina hardly noticed since she had been busy screaming as well.

After the initial shock and flinching, she straightened herself out as she realized who it was, "Oi, do you mind not doing that? Damn near gave me a heart attack," she relaxed in her chair, then looked back between the two, "But yeah, Vriska. Let me in on this treasure, huh?" she said, a still slightly-recovering expression on her face, though the greed seemed to have returned to it as well.

-----

Altrik sighed as the funny man vanished. She looked at her book, though she had become quite bored with it, and so did the voices in her head it seemed. There was one voice, though, loudest and clearest of them all that seemed to whisper from across the room, "Vriska is a bluh bluh huge bitch,"

As always, she did not necessarily understand the sayings in her mind, but such was the life of a Malkavian. Currently, she decided that she'd seek out her fellow vampire of the castle, however unlike her she may be. She stood from her seat, one last voice whispering to keep an eye out for windows, as if she didn't remember this anyway. She left the library and made her way down the darker hallways.

----

Franky made another manly pose, "I just finished inspections, and the defenses are SUUUPER~!" he then looked Kamina right in the face, "I'll accept this manly request! But lets make it interesting, and aim for TWO thousand!"

"That's the spirit! The spirit of a true man!" Kamina laughed. "So... let's see who finishes first! READY? BEGIN!" Instantly the Captain began his workout, squatting down, dropping into a push-up, and jumping back to his feet at incredible speed.

----
"Why so serious? Feeling delirious, mysterious, you're wondering, 'how does he keep stabbing us and killing us?' I think that joker is carnivorous, deliver us from evil Demon Jester put the fear in us..." Sang Shaco, strolling down a hallway. Perhaps he'd go see if the Queen actually needed anyone murdered today. He doubted it.

Sora was at the training grounds attacking a training dummy with a wooden practice sword. "Hah! Hya! Take that!" He roared with each slash and thrust he made. He then finished by hitting it with a thunder spell. He rubbed the sweat off his forehead at another successful workout. It was hard balancing magic and swordsmanship. He would go to Lina to learn certain spells from her. And then would train with Captain Kamina and learn certain Sword skills from him. "It's tough, but I can manage!" He said confidently to himself.

As the two men finished the ridiculous workout, Franky fell on his back dramatically, "Whew! Working out... with you... is always... SUUUUPER exhausting," he said between breaths. He wondered if Kamina had tired out as much as he had.

From his position on the ground, he noticed the young Sora a little ways away. Despite previously seeming so exhausted, he stood back up in a flash and gave the young lad a thumbs up, "Did you just finish your workout as well, Sora?" He had a grin on his face that hid his exhaustion.

Sora turned to Franky and grinned giving him a thumbs up right back. "I sure did Franky! By the way, Have you seen Miss Lina? I wanted to ask her about a spell I found." He asked putting up the Wooden Sword.

"Geez, someone's been getting high strung," said Marceline, grinning.

Messing with Vriska and Lina was just too easy. Vriska in particular would have been easy to troll.

"So, you going to be going treasure hunting?" said Marceline. "Cause I haven't done that since I was hanging with Mindfang..."

"Fuck you," Vriska said flatly, lifting up her middle finger to emphasize her disdain.

She was just about to suggest she and her magic teacher leave before the stink of rainbow drinker rubbed off on them when Marceline mentioned something that made the troll girl quickly turn around and stare. She blinked, her mouth hanging open before a very loud yell erupted from her, "WHAT?!"

"You knew Mindfang?! No, you have to be lying," The spider troll insisted, "My ancestor wouldn't hang out with lame rainbow drinkers."

Little did she know, as Mindfang's journals were rather vague, her ancestor had once mind controlled a rainbow drinker into her red quadrant. But that is a story for another day.

Lina was going to respond to Marceline but as she opened her mouth she was cut off completely by Vriska. "What? Who is this Mindfang?" she rubbed the back of her head, confused and feeling a little like a certain blonde she knew. Wait, when were they going to get back to the treasure stuff? That was important business.

----

Franky put his hand on his chin, "Hmmmm, I haven't seen her. What about you cap'n?" he turned and passed the question on to Kamina.

"Oh, she was a pirate," said Marceline. "She was kinda cool sometimes, I guess,"  

She considered telling Vriska some of the hilariously embarrassing things she knew about Mindfang; but decided against it. She'd wait till after she found out about this treasure to tell Vriska about Mindfang's "advice booth". 

Her reaction should be priceless.

Kamina slowly managed to stand up, his legs wobbling. He made a mental note that there were some impossibles you probably shouldn't go beyond. He was panting heavily between words.

"I... have been exercising... since dawn. Haven't seen... much of... anyone." He stretched his back until it made a popping sound. "Must eat... to regain... strength." He began slowly walking in the direction of the kitchens.

"Kind cool? Now I know you didn't meet Mindfang! She was the absolute best. She had all the coolness! Allllllll of it!" Vriska said proudly, not buying for one second that this dumb rainbow drinker had anything to do with her ancestor. Even if this world was a weird place where Mindfang's history changed a little, Vriska had all the memories she needed to know Mindfang was too cool for lame-o's like Marceline.

"Errr," Rin, who had silently watched the rambunctious women until now, spoke up, "Weren't you guys going to go on a treasure hunt? My break is coming up, I can come with you guys!" 

Vriska blinked, having forgotten the boy was in the room, "Oh, right! Silly me, I almost forgot. I dunno, I wouldn't want to split MY treasure with too many people."

"Oh, I don't want the treasure. I just want to see if there's anything really strong I can fight guarding it!" The boy grinned brightly, taking the troll girl aback.

"Uhhh, okay, whatever! Just try not to get in my way. Get whatever you need and meet me by the cove," Vriska said directing this at Lina and the demon boy. She notably ignored Marceline as she turned on her heel and walked purposely out the room.

Franky bent over, holding his gut, "Ahhh, I can definitely agree with eating. To the kitchen! Ow~!" he put his arms together in the air to emphasize his feelings on the matter... before going back to holding his gut. Seemed he was pretty tired as well, as well as hungry.

----

Lina sighed at the exchange about the ancient pirate. She's seen things like this before. She wondered which one of them would end up proven right by the time the things were said and done. 

She regained her excitement as she realized she'd be searching for this treasure after all. She wasn't exactly looking forward to sharing it with Vriska, but it didn't seem like anyone else would be taking a share in the profits. Yes, good, this was good.

"Right! See ya there~!" she quickly made her way back to her bedroom. She'd make sure to bring her magic amplifying gems for this. Maybe read up a bit on the area where she thinks they'd be going? No, she didn't have time for that, and Vriska didn't exactly specify anything anyway. Either way, she knew she had to dress appropriate for it. After all, her 'just walking around the castle' look just wasn't right for adventuring.

"Keep telling yourself that," said Marceline, smirking.

She remained quiet as Vriska mentioned meeting the others at the cove. She floated out of the room after that; probably causing the others to think she'd lost interest.

She considered arriving at the Cove earlier than the rest just to freak them out; but decided it would be better to arrive fashionably late.

Much later, Vriska sat atop a pile of rocks. Waves crashed against them, but she was high enough up that she wouldn't get wet. She was annoyed, really annoyed. Both Lina and Rin were a minute late! That was far too much time to have passed! How dare they keep her waiting?

As she thought that, the young demon boy ran up with a sword strapped to his back, "Yoooo! I'm here!"

"About fucking time," Vriska commented, then looked around, "Now where is that lame master of mine?"

"Yo!" Lina came running up almost immediately after Vriska asked, "And you should refer to me without the 'lame' thank you very much," She said as she bopped Vriska on the head, "Now, where are we going?" Lina gave the place they were at a looking over to see if there was anything of note where they were, but it didn't look like any sort of special place. Definitely this was just where they were starting out, because she's been here a few times.