She was lost. Lost, that was, in utter contentment. Writhing in the mud pits made her feel the closest to home more than ever before. She had grown up deep in the woodlands, her quaint hometown village located about half a mile from a swamp. Some of her fondest childhood memories had been when she ventured out into the murky waters of the wetlands. Reliving these recollections was comparable to experiencing pure bliss to her. As soon as Lux had mentioned "mud pit", she had already decided to participate in whatever activity was currently happening. He had then said something about five hundred dollars and someone named Victoria, whoever they were, but she had hardly listened to him.
Someone swung and her. She artfully dodged the blow, pulling off a backflip in the muck. "What was that for?!" she exclaimed, but it seemed whoever had tried to hit her had found something more interesting to do. She blinked, attempting to figure out why she would be the object of an attack.
Suddenly, a pair of strong arms pulled her up. A mud-soaked Hon was pulling her and Hoom out of the pit. She began to wonder why he would try and spoil her fun, when suddenly, someone yanked on the back of her bra, causing her to fall back and drag Hon with her. Hoom dropped down as well, landing gracefully on two feet while Melody herself fell flat-out on her bottom in a messy heap. As she pushed herself to her feet, she noticed Hon wrestling with several females, trying his hardest to grab at some muddy lump on the ground. She cocked her head in confusion. "...What exactly are we supposed to be doing here?" she asked Hoom.
"Lux said that whoever wins this match will receive a five-hundred-dollar gift certificate to Victoria's Secret," the Houndoom said matter-of-factly.
Melody's eyes widened in horror as she blurted out, "...Excuse me?!"
Before Hoom could answer, Hon stumbled forwards, dragging a rather unfortunate-looking guy behind him. After somehow finding a way to grip onto both Melody's and Hoom's wrists, he scaled the mud pit's walls, successfully pulling the three gijinkas out. Everyone took a moment to stare at each other in silence. Those seconds were all that was needed to get all of them guffawing with laughter at their predicament.
A sharp smell reached Melody's nose. She abruptly remembered that she had cooking duty, and her lighthearted mood shifted to her feeling humiliated beyond measure. Her undergarments were brown with muck; she was almost positive they would be ruined. She was supposed to be catering for the dance, but had instead given in to her childish desires. She felt so embarrassed and guilty, she almost wanted to cry. "U-um," she stuttered nervously, "I need t-to go. I totally f-forgot that I-I needed to fix t-ten more dishes." She extracted some pure water from the mud and used it to wash the group's clothes and skin. After ensuring everyone looked sparkly clean again, she sent the water back into the mud pit, hurriedly pulled on her dress, and jetted back into the kitchens without a word of goodbye.
Andreas, who was trying to come up with a way to best decorate his heavily-burnt vanilla cake, nearly jumped when Melody ran into the room, slamming the door behind her with tremendous force. "Eh?" he inquired, observing her heavily flushed face and ashamed expression. She ignored him, instead focusing her energy on starting up another dish of food. "Stupid me," she muttered to herself. "...Victoria's Secret... mud pits... should have been cooking instead... I hope nobody got angry with the lack of fresh food..." She diced a pile of mushrooms with more speed than necessary and flung them into a cooking pot.
Andreas raised his eyebrow at her mention of Victoria's Secret, but decided against questioning about it. "Surely whatever it was wasn't that bad...?" he asked. When he received no response other than a deepened frown from her, he pressed further. "I think you might be overreacting a little. Maybe it's best that you should take a break from the extreme stress of fixing food and enjoy the party-"
"I'm not leaving the kitchen again for the rest of the night. I refuse to humiliate and shame myself further," she shot back, cutting him off. Andreas sighed and turned back to his sorry excuse of a cake. "Suit yourself," he said, "You'll likely miss out on some good fun..." His voice felt distant to himself, for he was focusing on one thought.
Hon, you better not have done something...
Continue?
Melody.
---
Leave it to Melly to get all worked up over nothing. But if you work in these equations, it makes more sense:
Melody + hard work in order to make others happy = satisfaction and her own happiness
Melody + neglecting hard work in order to make others happy =/= fun
Melody + neglecting hard work in order to make others happy = BIG GUILT TRIP
...That should break it down for ya. XD
