NegaTales || Season 1 ||

THotUG Pt 4

Gladdy frowned at his cousin. "Look, I really wish I could remember, but I can't! I know it was important though.

Feathry sighed. "Dumb Murphy's Law."

"Having a negative attitude doesn't change anything, so turned that frown upside down!" Gladdy flashed him a smiled, nudging him. Feathry smirked a little.

His landlord, Jiu stepped towards them. "Well, Mr. Gander," she began. "Your payment finally came through, so that's all sorted out. But, unfortunately, Mr. Duck, your butler refused to let you have tigers, and told me to tell you that that is a very irresponsible purchase and he doesn't care if you're a grown adult." She folded her hands, frowning at Feathry.

Gladstone looked her over. And then it hit him. The thing he was calling for help for. He took a step backwards.

"What! That is totally unfair!" Feathry threw his hands up. "Bradford can't tell me what to do! He's not my secretary, or my parent. Give me one good reason why I shouldn't have a tiger!"

Jiu cleared her throat, ignoring Feathry's rants, eyes locking on Gladdy. "Something wrong, Mr. Gander?"

Gladstone had hoped he wasn't so obvious, but apparently she could read the fact that he knew all over his face. He coughed into his fist, turned pale. "Oh yeah, I'm fine!" That last word came out squeakier than he wanted.

Jiu narrowed her eyes at him. Feathry tilted his head. "Gladdy? What's up?"

Gladdy glanced between the fox and his cousin. "I, uh, just remembered something." Well, it wasn't a lie. He noticed the kids had gotten back from grabbing water, and they were also giving him weird looks. He grinned, maybe a little too much. He grabbed Feathry's wrist, stepping backwards.

Feathry didn't pull back, confusion written on his face. "I remember what I called you here for," Gladdy explained, trying to sound calm. "And I think we should leave. Nowish."

Jiu glared at Gladdy, a frown spreading in a thin line on her lips. She rose a hand slowly. "Mr. Gander, are you sure about that?"

Gladdy tried to take another step back, but a green chain formed out of no where around his ankle. He tripped backwards with a yelp. Feathry knelt to help him up.

"What's going on?"

"Well, the thing I called you here for, uh, funny story, heh. Turns out I'm prisoner here!" He chuckled awkwardly.

Louie crossed his arms."How could you forget that?!"

"Murphy's Law." Gladdy shrugged, getting to his feet.

He looked to Jiu Weihu. She held out her arms, green flames in each hand. The floor shifted into playing cards, rumbling beneath them. The family group together on a card. Gladdy's heart raced as the card they were on flew up into the air.

Jiu let her hair down and her dress fanned out, revealing nine tails, a green fireball at the end of each one. Her fur changed from red to white, and her eyes turned green. She snarled at the family, taking a fighting stance. She licked her teeth, then grinned. "So. You found me out."

"I... I was gonna ask how you figured this out, but then I realized I don't even want to know," Louie said.

Gladdy shrugged. "It involved pistachios." He looked around, realizing that the apartment complex had completely changed, and they were now suspended in the air with nothing but nothingness below them. He recognized a few of his neighbors on the faces of playing cards and frowned.