Rising Shards

”OK, I gotta ask,” Marmalade said, not expecting to get an answer. ”Who do you really have a crush on?”

She had been sitting by Michi silently as they filled another page of a big sketchbook, the two of them the only ones in the art studio. Marmalade tried to make some progress on an assignment for Tik’s class, but wasn’t making much progress.

”And it’s cool if you don’t want to answer,” Marmalade said before Michi could respond. ”And if I’m not like trustworthy enough to tell, I get that.”

”I trust you,” Michi said. They flipped a few pages back. ”I dunno about outright saying it just yet, because the reactions have been really fun so far.”

”Fun?” Marmalade said.

”Mhm,” Michi said. They put their notebook in front of Marmalade, spread out to show art of different sketches of stick figures. ”I’m workshopping my next riddle version of this.”

Michi had asked the question, ”What if you had a crush on the wrong person?” Marmalade hadn’t been able to figure out any of it.

”And what am I looking at?” Marmalade asked.

“I’ll tell you four stories, one is me, one might be about someone I know, one is some gossip I read when Tay let me look at one of her gossip tomes, and the last I made up completely. Or maybe all of them are made up and they were simply inspired by Tower of Hate and Love.”

”Well, I don’t watch that so you could trick me pretty easily,” Marmalade said.

”It’s an alright show,” Michi said. 

”I dunno about that,” Marmalade said.

”Sure, sure,” Michi said. ”You ready?”

”As ready as I’ll ever be!” Marmalade said.

Michi topped the top left sketch, which had four stick figures in pairs of two.

“Imagine someone meets someone sweet, and they start dating. But they’re not really connected. Soon after the couple gets together, one of the couple falls for someone else, and they have a secret, torrid affair with the one they’re really passionate about, but that person is dating someone too,” Michi said. ”And then that plunges them all into a web of secrets and lies.”

“I hope it’s not that one,” Marmalade said.

Michi didn’t answer.

“Is it that one? That’s really...sad.” Marmalade said.

“I haven’t even gotten to my other stories yet,” Michi said.

”I’m just saying, I don’t know you super well but that doesn’t seem very you,” Marmalade said.

”OK, next one,” Michi said, pointing at the bottom left. Three stick figures were together, with a fourth to the side. ”Someone was minding their own business when they got into some trouble. Then they were rescued by a Cani with incredible fighting prowess. But said Cani is already in a relationship or is in a very committed thing that will be a relationship, so someone doesn’t want to get in the way.”

”Hm,” Marmalade had some guesses who that one could be, so it sounded a bit more believable than the first one.

”Story number three,” Michi said, pointing to the top right, which had a sketch of two people sitting together. ”Someone has a friend that’s been in a rough patch. They start catching feelings for that friend, but don’t want them hurt after they’ve already had some heartbreak. Making matters more complicated, someone thinks that their friend not only has feelings for the source of their most recent heartbreak, but that said friend would probably be happier with that person if it could ever work out, so they’re rooting for that more than wanting the crush fulfilled.”

”Dang,” Marmalade said. She didn’t know if she’d say any of these were the ’wrong’ person, but could see how it could go that way.

”And lastly,” Michi said, pointing to the bottom right, which was filled with tons of stick people. ”Someone falls for everyone they meet, and everyone they meet all have crushes on each other, leading to a situation where nearly a hundred people are all falling for each other but are too scared to admit it.”

”OK, actually, I do know that one, because Zeta wouldn’t shut up about a Tower arc with the hundred people ship,” Marmalade said.

”Dang,” Michi said. ”I’ll have to come up with a better fourth one. One of those was actually Teensly Street, by the way.”

”OK, you cannot tell me you think Teensly Street is remotely good,” Marmalade said.

”No, but it’s a good source for crush stories,” Michi said. ”I have like twelve more sketches just of Teensly Street situations to tell people when they ask.”

”And you said this was fun?” Marmalade said.

”It is for me,” Michi said. ”People’s reactions are very interesting.”

”Huh...”

”So what do you think about them?” Michi asked.

”I don’t know,” Marmalade said. ”They all made me feel kind of...lonely?”

”See? That’s interesting,” Michi said.

”Which one is really it?” Marmalade asked.

”I’ll say if you tell me who you have a crush on,” Michi said.

”What? I don’t, pfft,” Marmalade scoffed. ”I don’t have a crush on anyone.” She flipped through her own notebook for some reason, which didn’t really accomplish anything other than making her look more suspicious.

”You sure?”

”I...well, you know,”

”I’m only joking,” Michi said. An alarm went off on their phone. ”We can talk about it some other time, club meeting time.”

”Alright,” Marmalade said.

”If you want to join the tabletop club, just let me know,” Michi said. ”We’re really good at coming up with stories.”

”I can tell,” Marmalade said.

Marmalade stayed in the studio for a bit, trying to guess which one was really true. And also noticing how red her face was from Michi saying she had a crush on someone.