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"If you say so~" The witch chimed, almost standing with her excitement. The music had gotten faster and while it was a catchy tune, she was surprised that Mort could still hum along. The race was so close! Who would win!?

Well, mostly likely not Belladonna. She ran off the side of the road again, which usually would have sent her shouting in anger, but the sight of the princess flailing around in dismay and the fact that she was with Mort only made it funny.
But how would Mort do? Would they end up tied?

The witch watched leaned forward over her controller as they sailed across the finish line together. Her eyes glowed with the reflected sparkles and she couldn't help but giggle at the confusion of the announcer.
"Wooooow!" She cooed as she set aside her controller. "I've never had a tie before. Hemlock wasn't the best at this game, but she always wanted to play." And Delphinium had been above video games, so it was just the younger sisters who played and often fought over the winner, regardless of what the official announcements were.
After a moment of watching the two characters race around the track together, Belladonna turned to Mort and raised her eyebrows. For a moment, she had forgotten she had suggested a bet.

"OH YEAH." She jumped up and raced to stand in front of the boil, one hand under her chin as she looked him over. "Hhhhmmmmmm." She mused out loud for a few moments. "Well, you did win one race. I guess you can have a small prize. You pick first."
As for being called 'wicked', Belladonna at least had the decency to blush.
"That's the nicest thing anyone's ever called me!" She said it softly, half-feigning bashfulness and half realizing it.

Unfortunately for Mort, that would be a terrible idea. Not only did Hemlock look nothing like Belladonna (she was tall and wispy where the younger witch was short and curvy, and they only shared a similar facial structure and hair color), she also took the fighting outside the game. She wasn't only "punk-rock" because she cut her hair short and wore lots of silver studs. She punched pretty hard and even if she concentrated her attacks on Belladonna, the zombie boil would probably be dragged into the fight regardless.
And that could only end poorly.

Belladonna paused as she watched Lanna, all but forgotten in the heat of their game. For a moment, she wondered when Binx would be back since it had been a few hours, but figured he was giving them plenty of time and space. The darling thing.
"Hhhmmm!" The witch mused again as she paced slowly in front of the boil. As much as she'd like a homework slave, her teachers would know if the homework wasn't her's. And there was certainly no way Mort could imitate her looping handwriting. "As fun as that would be, I think I'll make you be a different kind of slave." Here she punctuated her sentence with a devillish smirk before she slammed her hands onto her hips and leaned toward him a little.

"You have to wear an outfit with me." That didn't sound... Like slavery. "You have to come in for fittings and help me pick fabrics and--" Ok. That sounded more like slavery. "And help me find an event to wear it to!"
In a flash the witch was next to Mort, his hands snatched up in her's and almost pressed against her bust but she remembered at the last minute that they shouldn't skip bases.
"You see, there's this really cool style of fashion that's started recently and I really want to dress in it, but its kind of... Out there. There's all these cogs and clocks and steam and brass pieces, or gold if you prefer, whatever. And its kind of like what I normally wear, but its very intricate. And I want to try my hand at it so very badly! But... Since its a little weird, I don't really have a place to wear it and I don't want to wear it alone or everyone will think I'm crazy... Er than I already am! So I was hoping, since you like technology, that you'd wear it with me?"

She smiled wildly at the boy, her eyes big and pleading. Just say yes... It'll look so good on you! She silently willed, but only looked up at him expectantly. There was the distinct notion she was giving him the option to say 'no'.

"Steampunk! Yes! YES!" Belladonna cried out in glee we he put a name to the thing she had just started to learn about. It was such a fun aesthetic, totally over the top and eccentric. It delighted in class and exquisiteness, but also was practical, functional. And covered in pockets! And clocks and gears and hhgggnnnn!!
"Well, you'll be wearing one too. So like a matching set, just... Not too matching. I don't really believe in 'matchy-matchy'." The idea of outfitting Mort in a high-collared jacket, double-breasted, with a perfectly tied cravat... Oh, the witch needed not to think of that right now. "So the fittings will be partly for you too." Which meant all those things he had hoped for with her, would happen to him. And of course the witch was perfectly alright with that. "I figured you could handle the technology part of it too... I'm good with clothes, but I'm always lost on how to turn everyday items into... Steampunk."
The look of glee on his face had transferred to the witch and she smiled up a him, her cheeks flushed with too many sensations.

"I mean, I figured this would be a better use of a bet then to claim something lame like 'Take me on a date!'. I wouldn't want to force you into that..." The witch paused and looked down a their joined hands. "Unless you wanted to." Oh batshit, she wasn't supposed to be doing this.
OK. Honestly, that's exactly what she wanted. She wanted Mort to declare his feelings for her and to go from this limbo they had found themselves in.
But the witch knew better. She knew if she said something like what she was currently saying, it would only add unnecessary stress on the boy. So she quickly added, "But we'll think on that later. Are you a fan of long coats? Would you rather be an Airship Captain or Mad Scientist?"
The witch winced. "That was a pretty stupid question, hmm?"

"That sounds wonderful!" The witch cooed. All the lace and buttons and ribbons! She could make herself a very pretty cog-work hairpiece. Or even a hat! A STEAMPUNK WITCH HAT. Belladonna very nearly keeled over with the idea of herself bedecked in a alternate history Victorian witch-hat next to Mort in his dashing coat and cravat. She managed to contain herself, though a tiny squeak of utter delight did slip out.
"Well, I can do a few different designs and give you aesthetics from both." She mused, a small pout forming that she could pass off as concentration and thinking, when really it was the removal of the chill from her hands. With a hand to her own chin, Belladonna stood and crossed her room until she reached her desk where she produced a sketchbook. "I don't draw well. All the sketches in here are for clothing, so ignore the wonky anatomy or lack of any actual skill. I'm much better with needle and thread, not pencil and paper."

Without really giving him a chance to look through the sketchbook, the witch flipped it open to a new page and started doodling. Her person was an abnormally tall and very thin male that she started doodling clothing onto.
"I can do a few designs and let you pick and choose what you like." She paused to look at him. "But I think, regardless, you need googles." The way she said it was so finite that Mort would be hard pressed to argue with her.
"As for cost, don't worry. I'll cover it all. Its my project, so its only fair that I pay." Here she paused and snapped the pencil to Mort's face, her eyebrows pressed down. "And no arguing about it. I have the seeds to spare." Not that she was bragging. After that she flashed him a smile and got back to work.

While she scratched her pencil against the paper and coaxed out a few designs, the witch grew quiet. It was party concentration, but a large part of it did stem from the boil's lack of mention of the date.
For Belladonna, it confirmed what she had feared. Well, it did and it didn't.
Currently, the witch thought that perhaps somewhere very deep inside Mort did actually like her. Otherwise, what was the point in kissing her?
But Belladonna also weighed the possibility of the Insanity and what affect it might have on him. Did it drive you to do things you wouldn't normally do? Besides become a recluse? She couldn't be sure.
So she only stifled a sigh and drew and hoped that maybe sometime soon he'd be alright enough to fully explain how he felt. Because until then, Belladonna would be very confused too.

"Well, obvi!" The witch said, never taking her eyes off her furious sketching. "I'll be your lovely Assistant-slash-First Mate!" If he was going to be a combination, she wanted to be one too! And she did rather want to compliment his. This was her idea, but she knew Mort must be way more into the idea then she was, so Belladonna didn't really mind having her titles be almost the same as his. Maybe she'd add 'Lady' in front of it and everything would be alright.
At the mention of adding more people, the witch's eyebrows quirked in a spasm of dismay, but she smoothed them out and laughed it off.
"We'll see how well our's go." Was all she on that, completely ignoring his comment about this Gene-person.

I rather think I won't... The witch couldn't help think to herself. She couldn't say why, but a small warning shot off in her head when he mentioned the name. There was something about it that didn't sit right with the girl, but she wouldn't mention it nor would she pre-judge someone. That would be just terrible!

And after what felt like an eternity, Belladonna finally heaved a sigh and presented Mort with two pieces of paper.
"Um! Ok! I wasn't really sure what you wanted for your's, so I just, um, I just did some sketches... They're rough and if you don't like them you can tell me and I'll change it. No problem!!" With a flourish Belladonna handed Mort the sketches of his potential outfit.



Belladonna bit her lip as he looked them over, hovering and hoping he liked them. After enough time she threw her own designs out.
"And this is mine. I really like the second one best, but I think I'll rework it and combine the second and third one. What do you think??"



In all honesty, the witch was over the moon about this project. It would be such fun. The cost wouldn't be but a drop in the bucket, especially if she told her parents how many classes she was taking. Perhaps that was a little selfish and very much mooching, but the witch felt her parents owed her something. So when Mort mentioned the cost again, Belladonna only turned to him and smiled, with just a hint of the devil in it.
"Its going to cost you a whole lot of affection, darling."

The look Mort gave Belladonna was enough to keep her somewhat silent during his perusal of the sketches. But she couldn't help but lean forward and watch his finger trace over what she had drawn, imagining his own additions. To watch someone do something like that was something the witch hadn't really encountered before, and especially not in conjunction with her own designs.
It gave her a giddy feeling, like a bunch of bats were trying to escape from her stomach.
"Of course you can mix and match! These are only preliminary designs, they're meant to be changed." She giggled and pressed a hand to her cheek. "I don't think there's ever been a design put forth that was made without any changes." But she was rambling so instead she wrapped her hands happily around his arm to look at her sketches.

"C-commission?!" Such an idea caught Belladonna off-guard and she leaned back to look at him better, though her hands still lay clasped around his arm. "Oh, well... I hadn't ever thought of something like that... But I don't see why not!" Especially if he was going to give her affection? Hhmmm. "I suppose affection will do. It'll have to be quite good, you know." The witch let him decide what that meant before she went straight into fashion talk.

"Oh, I'm glad you like the second one too! But you're right, the bottom half needs to retain the poof with a petticoat, but it needs something else. I think I'll take the bustle skirt and the little cog pieces and add them to the second one." She then pointed to Mort's. "If you want, I can keep the collar up on the second one, just make it lower so its not in your face and we can see your lovely stitches!" The witch smiled at them before she returned to the drawings. "You could always have a lab coat that you take on and off? But I think a cravat would be best... A man can get very far with a well-tied cravat."
What exactly she meant by that, Belladonna wasn't even sure.