[Gift] The Uninvited Adventures of Lilith and Eve

Lilith enjoyed days like these; everything written in her planner for the day focused on self-care only. She’d brought her favorite snacks in advance, made sure all of her comfort shows were still on their respective streaming platforms and for the evening, she’d brought herself a new interesting book to read in a relaxing bath.

(And a little bathtub was ready for her precious Ryudra Lazu as well, who tended to get quite jealous if he couldn’t participate.)

This was all Lilith had planned for the day, every single one of her friends knew it—hell, there was a good chance even her neighbors knew it. So imagine her surprise when she heard a knock which could only come from one person.

Two knocks, then a pause. Three knocks followed in quick succession, a final loud knock came afterwards. Lastly, it was followed by a sing-songy “Open sesame!”

By the time the knocking tradition had ended, Lilith was at the front door. She opened it and looked at her friend through squinted eyes. “Eve, I love you, but what are you doing here today?”

Eve pouted and looked at her with eyes twinkling with what could only be called mischief. “Can’t I visit my best friend without any ulterior motives?”

This could perhaps come across as believable, if Lilith didn’t know Eve, or if the rectangular thing on wheels covered by a white sheet wasn’t there, standing ominously behind her friend. Not to mention the bag swinging in Eve’s hand where she could see some fabric poking out.

All in all, it told the story of an unexpected evening ahead.

“No,” she said dryly. 

Still, she stood aside and let Eve enter her home, already knowing with a sense of mourning that her precious day of relaxation had come to an abrupt end. Lazu would hopefully forgive her for not drawing him a bath either, because otherwise she’d be the jealous one.

By the time Lilith entered her living room, Eve had already set up in the space in front of the couch. The white sheet was thrown carelessly on the ground, earning Eve a scolding look, and revealed a blank whiteboard.

Eve stood in front of the whiteboard slightly to the side, vibrating with excitement. “My dearest, most precious Lili-bear,” Eve said in a deceptively sweet voice. Lilith grimaced at the childhood nickname. “What would you say if I told you we were going to Angora’s Fairy Masquerade?”

“I’d say you’re crazy, because there’s no way you’ve secured an invitation!”

Eve pouted again. “Rude,” she said with a sniff. Her attitude changed quickly as she admitted, “But sadly true. I’ve tried everything, to no avail. But it’s the biggest party of the year, we can’t miss it!”

“It’s also very exclusive,” Lilith reminded her best friend with a gentle smile. “I’m sorry Eve, but there is no way we are going to the ball.”

Eve grinned in triumph. “That’s only what you think! But as you know, my genius knows no bounds—” Eve took out a black marker and drew crudely as she talked— “So behold; plan A! This one involves an airplane and two parachu—”

“What?! No!”

“You didn’t let me finish!” Eve huffed in exasperation. “But fine, let’s move to plan B, where we rent a hot air balloon and get a really long ladder and—”

Lilith’s eyes widened in horror, already imagining herself plummeting to an untimely demise. “Next.”

“Okay but this has to be the one,” Eve said with squinting eyes. “It’s my last, and admittedly most boring plan. The venue of the ball has these chunky vents and one access happens to be in the alley on the opposite side of the front entrance. So I say we crawl through the vents in our bun forms until we reach an exit and BAM! We are attending the ball! So? So? What do you think?”

Lilith closed her eyes in defeat. The determined tone, the excitement—Eve really wanted to attend the Fairy Masquerade and she really didn’t want to do it alone. Probably so she wouldn’t be caught alone, but that's besides the point, no?

Lilith already knew the answer. “Do I even have a choice?”

When she opened her eyes, Eve was grinning at her widely. “Nope!”

In the bag Eve had with her was her own dress and two masks, one for each. Lilith had to get a black and red dress from the far back of her closet to match the mask.

Now here they stood; in the dingy back alley of the venue of the ball. Eve and Lilith were in their bun forms, each with a small bag in their hooved hands containing their attire for the ball. Eve was opening the vent with a screwdriver and Lilith was on the lookout for anyone that might come their way.

She wondered where she went wrong to end up here when she was supposed to be relaxing in a nice, warm bath. Probably when she didn’t hesitate opening the door for her best friend, who was very lucky Lilith loved her so much.

Her skin was crawling a bit at the thought of abandoning her careful plans for the sheer adrenaline bomb that was this manic idea, but she was sure it was way too late to back out now.

Lilith also had to admit the curiosity burning within her, wondering if Angora’s exclusive party was as grand as everyone always said they were.

A loud clatter caught her attention. Lilith jumped in alarm and turned to Eve, only to see she had finally managed to get the vent open. A wide grin was on her face as she looked back.

“Okay,” she whispered with excitement. “Let’s go and see where we end up.”

“Wait,” Lilith said with a frown. “How are we going to carry our bags when we are going to crawl?”

“Like this!” Eve took the bag handle in her mouth and went in. Lilith followed with a long suffering sigh.

By the time they had reached an exit, Lilith wished she’d chosen the crazy hot air balloon idea. The vent was dusty, not only ruining her precious black coat of fur, but making them both sneeze so often their throats started to hurt.

Not to mention her jaw starting to feel quite uncomfortable.

A light cry of triumph escaped Eve when she managed to open the vent from their side—how she did it, Lilith had no idea and she wouldn’t lose any sleep if she’d never find out.

Their journey had ended in a dark, tiny closet. It seemed mostly empty but was still rather cramped. Lilith and Eve both patted along the wall blindly in the hopes to find a light switch—which Lilith finally found after a solid minute of feeling utterly stupid.

The bright fluorescent light suddenly flooding the tiny space was harsh on her eyes. Lilith grimaced, blinking a few times in the hopes to make it a bit more bearable.

Eve burst out in loud, bubbly laughter. “Look at your fur!” she cried out between pearls of laughter, tears forming in the corners of her eyes.

Lilith also started laughing. Not because of her own fur, oh no, but because of Eves. Her pink fur was littered with dusty spots all over her front, some of them even on her face as well.

It looked utterly ridiculous.

“I can’t believe this worked,” Lilith said breathlessly moments after they finally calmed down. “I can’t believe we are actually in the building.”

“Did you really doubt me?”

“Yes,” Lilith said with a grin. “Remember your grand, idiot proof plan last year? When we ended up in—”

Eve clamped her hooved hand over Lilith’s mouth with a hiss. “We promised to never talk about this again!”

Lilith licked her best friend's hand without any shame, relishing in the sound of disgust paired with a scathing look that followed.

Then they both transformed into their equally dusty doll forms for their final phase of the plan, so to speak. Most of the dust was thankfully clinging to their clothes, but Lilith especially had to shake out her long hair with Eve’s help to get rid of the dust stuck there.

Changing in such a tiny space barely fit for one adult person was hard (“Ow! That’s my stomach!” “And that’s my foot, get off!”) but finally, they were dressed up nicely with their masks covering their faces.

Eve smiled brightly and opened the door, holding out her hand for Lilith, who took it gladly.

“Ready?”

“Ready.”