Steven was preparing another bowl because it was the rare sunny autumn day in Brighton, which meant only one thing… softball season had begun. "Why do you keep signing up for Softball if you're not that good at it?" Steven asked Libby, who was putting on the sixteenth band-aid of the day since the game started.
"It's one of those extracurricular activities mom says I should sign up for in order to be 'well rounded' as a person." Libby explained with a sigh. "I politely disagree, but who among us can ever say no to their mom?"
"...I mean, I say no to Pearl quite a few times, and she usually ends up agreeing with me." Steven pointed out. "It's how I was able to take in Snowflake."
"Yeah, but Pearl bends over backwards for you." Libby argued. "Some of us have more stern parents."
"Pearl doesn't bend over backwards for me." Steven laughed.
"Steven, you got her to agree to give you cake for lunch every day for a week." Libby countered.
"It was my birthday that week." He justified that decision.
"You asked her to stay put, and she did…for 36 hours."
"I, ah... overslept and was in a hurry for school." That was rather embarrassing.
"You once asked for a rare flower, and she swam across the Atlantic ocean to get it." Libby brought up yet another example.
"She just… likes making me happy..." Okay, he might have occasionally asked too much of Pearl, but that was just her being… Pearl.
"And my mom just wants what's best for me… even if it means I'm stuck with the Lemmings." She sighed.
"Go Lemmings!" They turned to Molly, who had a big foam finger she was waving, a soda hat, and a t-shirt with their town turnip on it. "You can win this, easy!"
"You wanna tell her, or should I?" Libby asked.
"I almost want to let her get her hopes up." Steven sighed as he dropped the bowl. "Molly, have you checked the score?" He pointed to the scoreboard. "It's 26 to 0, Perfektborg is in the lead."
"Pfft, sure, they're in the lead NOW, but when the going gets tough, The Lemmings will come out on top!
"Three of them just knocked themselves out trying to catch a ball." The annoying Scratch pointed out.
"I'm sure… in the next inning-"
"We're still in the first half of the first inning with no outs or strikes." Libby sighed.
Molly blinked. "Wait, Libby, aren't you supposed to be on right field-" the bowl struck Libby in the back of the head.
"Don't worry, I have the first aid kit." Steven held it up as he treated her for a probable concussion. "Anyway, this is how it is. Brighton doesn't have much of anything. And that includes sports. We never win a game in anything."
"Instead of wins, we celebrate getting homeruns." Libby sided with him. "Having just one is a really, really good day."
"Makes keeping a town miserable even easier, honestly." Scratch shrugged.
"Come on, it can't be THAT hopeless! Steven is making everyone ice cream!" Molly waved to his supplies.
"Oh, I'm the Lemmings' personal support system. Basically, I make everyone ice cream sundaes so they only feel slightly bad about losing." Steven explained.
"That's why I always shove my face inside the scoops and pop out to scare them, make them drop their ice cream, and cry when it's over." The annoying snot added.
"Is that for the scare or free food?" Molly asked.
"Two birds, one stone." He tossed his empty cone in the air, hitting a bird, which fell down. A ghost bird flew up a second later.
"There's been surprisingly A LOT of dead birds lately." Steven muttered.
"There has to be something we can do to end this losing steak!" Molly tried to cheer them up.
"Invest in miracles. Because no matter how you spin it, this team sucks." Scratch pointed to the pitcher, who threw the ball… three feet.
"...I will concede that they might need some more of the… athletic variety of help." Molly admitted. "Which is why we should join!" She shouted. "You ready to play, Steven?"
"No." He responded instantly.
"Come on. Haven't you ever wanted to play-?"
"No." Steven said bluntly. "It's both boring, and unethically unfair." The only thing fun about it was seeing Libby in a cute sports outfit… something he would NEVER admit out loud.
"By my studies, Steven's throws can break walls, nevermind a catcher's hand." The aforementioned girl explained to Molly. "Plus, Andrea is on the team."
"Wait, really?" Molly veered her eyes to the field, and indeed, the Queen of Mean herself was out there. "Why is she playing?"
"It's for the 'Sports Week' section of her vlog." Libby explained, gesturing to her bully as Andrea was in the middle of posting selfies rather than trying to catch the ball that had landed right next to her. "Which means everything in this game will be posted online. And as much as I admire your optimism Molly, if the world learns about aliens, Area 51 will have a few choice words with Steven."
"Fine, fine, no Steven on the team, I can work with that." Molly smiled. "Then it's up to good old enhappification to solve this!"
"Have you ever even played softball?"
"Have I ever played softball? No. Have I ever been interested? No. Am I gonna do it anyway? YES!" She exclaimed.
"It's gonna fail." Scratch replied.
"Not today! Molly McGee is gonna join the team, and she, through the power of enhappifying, will bring this team to victory!"
========================================================================
Libby watched the scoreboard. "Wow, we might get through this through sheer numbers at this rate." She said, watching as the number ticked to 0-67. "I thought there was a limit to how high the gal had to be."
"They got rid of that rule to discourage 'discouragement." Steven looked through the rule book. "I mean on the one hand, more chances to show off." Steven muttered. "On the other hand… it feels even MORE hopeless."
"I'll eat to that." Scratch snickered, munching on a hotdog. "It's a lose lose, the best kind of situation."
"...How did this happen?" Molly gasped as she crawled back to the dugout. "Even for a newbie, I shouldn't have been that bad.*
"You threw the ball backwards seventeen times, and swung your bat so hard it flew out of your hand and into the stadium."
Steven glared. "Did you have anything to do with this?"
"Nope! Molly is just that uncoordinated." The ghost laughed rudely. "Sometimes misery is best sowed when you don't have to lift a finger."
"It's okay Molly, nobody here expected to win anyways." Libby reassured their new friend. "The scent of victory would've been too jarring on people who've only smelled loss."
"But… we shouldn't be fine losing." Molly pouted. "We should strive to win!"
"But they can't." Steven pointed out. "The Lemmings don't have any athletic players. No offense."
"None taken, I'm a master of books, not field." Libby admitted.
"And even if I could, I'm better at drawing a baseball field than running on one." Steven explained.
"Sorry Molls, but that's how the apple crisp crumbles." The ghost picked up a gallon of ice cream. "Best part about today, everyone was too depressed to take home their ice cream, so it's all for me!" Scratch shoved about five cups into his mouth… and immediately became red. "AHHHHHHHHH! WHO PUT JALAPEÑOS IN THE ICE CREAM!?"
"I put one in it for when you jumped inside, a little trap door." Steven smirked smugly. "I'm surprised the mustard in the other one didn't kicked in first-"
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
"Never mind." Her oldest friend laughed.
"You know, I really don't remember you being this sadistic when we wrote fanfiction about supervillains." Libby noted.
"When I realized about six to ten years of pain were caused by one jerk, one tends to take pleasure in the little things." Steven kept laughing. "Ahhhhahahahahahah, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I can't help but enjoy this… AHAHAAHAHAHAAHAHAAHAHA-!"
POOOF
A big blue cloud appeared in front of Steven. "Shoot!" He shoved it down under the bleachers. "No, no more crazy powers." He growled to the cloud.
"Haven't seen one of those since last Hanukkah." Libby noted.
"Aww it's a tiny little cloud of happiness." Molly cooed as she poked it.
"His most annoying power, for sure." Scratch groaned, washing his tongue with a toothbrush. "I want to spread misery, not joy."
"Hahahabababanaab-so sorry about that-ahhahahahahahaaha!" Molly laughed as she took her finger out of it. "Wow…" Her eyes widened. "Steven… your weird powers are JUST what this team needs!" Molly slapped her hands together as she jumped on the cloud.
"I'm surprised she's not affected by the clouds." Libby observed.
"She is. The sparkles are like, thirty percent brighter than usual." Scratch said, putting on shades.
"Molly, I fail to see how inducing laughter would make people better at softball." Steven scratched his head.
"Think about it! This team keeps losing because nobody here believes in themselves! They expect to lose, so they are bound to lose! But with this cloud, we can enhappify the team and raise their spirits! With better attitudes, we're bound to win… or at the least lose in a less embarrassing way."
"Molly, Steven's powers never last forever." Libby pointed out. "You'd have to keep him bursting with laughter every game no matter what. Sure, Scratch's pain may have started it…" Concerningly enough, they should probably talk about it when alone. "But he would need to keep laughing and having fun to activate it."
"Oh Libby, Libby, naive, young Libby." Molly patted her back.
"I'm sure I'm older than you by a few months." Libby noted.
"You haven't known me long, but making sure people have fun is kind of my jam. I once made a polar bear, an emo, and a rule abiding wizard smile. Ironically, the emo was the easiest to get a smile out of. All I needed to show her was some princess pony comics…" The girl muttered.
"Also… Andrea." Steven pointed to the field, where Andrea was standing on the homebase. "No powers, remember?"
"Exactly." Scratch chimed in. "No joyful games, just plain old regular games."
"Hey, new girl." They turned to see the opposing batter. "I gotta say, love how pathetic you were. It lets me see how bad the team is as a whole." She snickered, walking back to bat.
"Forget regular games, the only one who insults Molly McGee is me!" Scratch shouted.
"...Is that what really gets you motivated?" Steven muttered.
"Who cares? We have a plan brewing!" Molly whooped. "Scratch, you and I will focus on keeping Steven happy, and that will make him create more clouds, making the other team motivated, making sure we win!"
"Better idea: You do that, I'll focus on making the ball fly in a straight line." He argued… wait-
"Ooh, sounds like a plan!"
"Molly, that sounds like cheating-" Libby began.
"And altering emotions with superpowers is mind control, but Molls is doing it anyway!" The ghost flew off.
"...I don't feel sure about this plan..." Libby muttered.
"Eh, honestly, it can't be any worse than what usually happens." Steven shrugged. "I've been making this town miserable for ages. If Molly says I can make it happy… isn't it right to do so?"
"..." The idea of cheating didn't sit well with Libby, but the idea of Steven wanting to make people happy… how could she refuse something like that? "Alright, we can give it a shot, but keep an eye on Scratch. If we're going to cheat, I want it to be controlled cheating at least."
"Don't worry. I'll be keeping an eye on him. I'm never gonna let him do anything that would hurt you." He promised.
"I know.." Libby smiled.
"Seriously, you two, kiss already, the sappy build up is getting to be a bit much."
"More ice cream?" Steven offered a bowl.
"Oh yeah, super delici-HOT HOT HOT! Forgot you spiced it!" He cried out.
========================================================================
Andrea snapped another selfie. Another one for sports weeks on her fashion vlog. She might not be much of a sports girl, but the outfits were surprisingly cute and comfortable. Plus her daddy was sponsoring the team, as if she wasn't going to show it off.
Such was the life of a vlogger: Staying on top of the trends, going through life to gain popularity as a stepping stone for the rise to fame. It was even worth the little sweat she was actually sweating, being in shape was crucial to her brand, after all.
Of course, the lack of victory was a bit of a buzzkill… but it's not like Andrea had anything riding on this game. Win or lose, as long as people liked her vlogs, she was good.
And people did! Even if the new girl Molly was here. Andrea didn't hold a grudge, but for some reason, the school was calling her Andrea and she was 67% sure it had something to do with her. Of course, she didn't really have a reason for why entering a classroom caused her to black out and wake up on a stage to begin with… but stress and worthless worry were worthless in themselves.
Speaking of which, the new girl was calling in some team meeting or something. "Come on Lemmings, let's not get down in the dumps so quickly, not on the second day of the season!"
"You mean our last game of the season." One of the other kids groaned. "We're three games in already, and we lost every single one of them. When you lose four, you're out for the season."
"My parents are already setting up the 'you tried your best' banner as we speak." Another threw their thumb over their head. "It's the same one from last year… and the year before that."
"Honestly, it's probably for the best." Another kid sighed. "Better to lose early on than lose when it's important."
"None of that!" The new girl exclaimed. "For we now have a new weapon in our arsenal!"
"Talent?"
"A new player?"
"A machine gun?"
"Nope!" The girl grinned. "We have... a fog machine!" She presented some really beat up, broken looking machines.
"...How's that supposed to help us?" One of them understandably asked.
"It makes us look cool!"
"And?"
"And when you look cool, you increase your chances of winning!" The girl cheered.
"...Eh, makes about as much sense as trying anything else." Andrea shrugged. "And a fog machine WOULD make me look better for selfies." She turned it on, moving her phone to get the perfect camera angle-"Hehehehehe." She chuckled, feeling… more bubbly than usual. "Hehehehehe.." She... felt… lighter… brighter... like... like she actually ENJOYED being here!
"Andrea, you alright?" One of the other kids walked into the line of the fog. "Hahahahaha wow! Wow! I feel like I just had coffee for the first time! It feels great!"
"Like I said, fog just makes you cooler!" Molly McGee jumped in the fog, somehow sparkling brighter. "Now tell me Lemmings! Do you feel like losers right now!?"
"Heck no!"
"Do you want to be losers right now?!"
"Heck no!!"
"Then let's go out there and be winners!"
"Heck yeah!"
And out onto the field they went. "Ready for another home run, girly?" One of the opponents asked.
"Oh no! I'm going to give you three penalties and get my team the touchdown!" Molly vowed.
"...What?" The batter blinked.
"I don't play softball, I'm still learning the rules!"" Molly reared her arm back and threw the ball… as it seemed to soar through the air, swirling around and avoiding the bat, hitting the glove.
"Strike One!" The mask guy shouted.
"Way to go, Molly!" One of their teammates cheered.
"Lucky throw, McGee!" the girl glared as Molly threw another ball… this one seemed to curve not once, but twice, making the girl miss again.
"Strike two!" The umpire called out.
"Two strikes…We made it to two strikes!!" Another teammate beamed. "We don't suck! We actually don't suck!"
"I will end you!" The girl shouted as McGee threw the ball… which stayed in the air.
She swung at it rapidly, missing each time. "Strike three! Four! Five six seveneightnineteneleventwelve!" The guy shouted in rapid succession, now panting. "Man, kids these days. That's four outs! That means the Lemmings are in!"
"What-no!! That is NOT how that works!" The girl protested.
"Look, we want the game to be over as quickly as possible, that's how it goes." The umpire shrugged. "You're already ahead seventy nine to zero, just take the change in field, will ya?"
"Grrrr! You're going to get creamed for this, McGee!" The girl sneered.
"Do you two know each other, or something?" Sweater Girl asked Molly. "She seems to be taking it a bit too personally."
"Never met her before in my life. Guess the spirit of competition is just strong with her." Molly shrugged. "Way to go, team! We finally made it to the second half of the first inning! This is our time to catch up!"
"My brain is telling me that's impossible, but my heart is telling me to believe what you're saying blindly with needless optimism!"
"Yeah!" Molly cheered. "Come on Libby, fog up!"
"Oh no." The Sweater Girl that hung out with the gloomy boy waved her hands. "Me and happy cloud-I mean cool fog, don't exactly go hand and hand. Or sugar, trust me, it does things."
"Come on, it can't be trusted that bad." Molly rolled her eyes playfully as she dragged Sweater Girl towards the fog. "A little enhappification is good for everyone-"
"Wait, Molly don't-" The sweater girl was pushed in the fog, causing her to freeze, her eyes widening as her pupils dilated.
"... Ahh… Libby, are you-"
"LET'S TAKE ON SOCIETY!" The girl exclaimed. "For too long we, the underdogs, have been oppressed!Now we shall rise! First the Softball Little Leagues, then the Softball Big League, then, the WORLD! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"
"...Yeah, I should have warned you about that..." The Reaper bit his lip-huh, when did they get here? "Libby's default is shy and mopey about life. Unfiltered joy kind of replaces it with a rebellious, down with oppression streak… the results are always a bit messy."
"Is she going to be okay?" Molly asked, side-eyeing the now maniacal laughing Sweater Girl.
"I will strike down this fearsome object and send it flying into the heavens!" Libby shouted at the top of her lungs.
"Let it ride out for a minute, this is probably the first time she's never been afraid of the ball." The Reaper recommended. "...Just keep her away from government buildings… and Andrea." Wait, why was she included in that short list?
"Alright, you fiends, unveil your fury, and I shall unleash hell!" Libby yelled to the pitcher.
"I swear, everyone's crazy today." The pitcher rolled her eyes, tossing the ball…
SMACK
Which Sweater Girl smacked hard enough for it to catch on fire. "..." The reaper blushed as the ball was sent flying into the atmosphere.
"Oh, this is bullshit!" The pitcher called out.
"Penalty for cursing!" The umpire shouted. "The other team gets an automatic extra run!"
"Fuck that!"
"And that's another run for the Lemmings."
"Wow, this is getting easy." And if her team won, that could increase her follower count!
She looked over to the Reaper kid as he just stood on the side, watching and scooping ice cream, looking… actually happy… It was oddly... nice to see him smile- "What are you looking at?" The Reaper looked at her with an unimpressed stare.
"Oh, sorry, I-I didn't mean to state, I-I just-I'm just surprised you're hanging around here, That's all." She feigned innocence.
"I'm supporting Libby." The Reaper responded as he looked to the girl, who had just crossed Home base.
"Yeah, you guys seemed really close..." Andrea stated.
"We have to be. Hard to make friends when the entire school shuns you." The Reaper responded as he continued to scoop ice cream.
*Come on, I doubt that the whole school shuns you…" Andrea stated.
"...Are you serious?" The Reaper glared "Did you of all people just say that to me?"
"Well… yeah." She nodded. "That McGee girl seems to like you."
"Yeah, and you tried to shun her too, I wonder why I'm friends with her." The boy rolled his eyes. "Look, I'm really trying to keep a positive attitude here, so either have some ice cream, or stand somewhere else."
"...I'll take ice cream." She grabbed a cone. "Ice cream selfie." She licked some while taking the pic-ow! "Hot, hot… man, that's funny." For some reason she didn't even feel bothered. Just happy. "Nice joke."
"Oh, ah... thanks." the Reaper blinked, like he didn't expect that. "That was actually meant for someone else, he... likes spicy ice cream."
"Spicey ice cream, talk about your oxymorons." She chuckled. "I'd love to post about it, mind if I do?" Permission was key to getting the best pics at the best time.
"...Uh, sure..." The Reaper allowed. "...Uh…Good luck Andrea."
"Thanks Reaper, I'll be sure to use it."
"..." For some reason the boy frowned again as he turned his back without saying another word.
========================================================================
Molly was so excited! "We're one point away from winning!" She squealed. "We're doing it! Positive attitude is winning!"
"Yeah… that and Scratch cheating.." Steven reminded her.
"Hey, that only accounts for the pitching!" Molly corrected.
"Nah, I possessed your softball bat too." The ghost admitted shamelessly. "You lost the real one after one swing."
"I did?" She picked up her bat... only to realize it WAS Scratch. "...I thought my bat felt too goopy, but I didn't want to say anything."
"Do you know anything about sports in general?" Steven asked.
"Does Quidditch count?" Molly asked. "Or foosball! Wait, wait, wait, what about that one thing you do with a little rubber ball that's tied up with a paddle?"
"Paddle ball?" Steven asked.
"Yeah, that! Those are the most sporty things that I know about!" Molly grinned proudly, before pursing her lips in thought. "Though I did meet a Sasquatch that was really good at basketball."
"You really have friends all over the country, don't you?" Steven asked with a smirk.
"Of course. There's no other choice BUT to make new friends when you're in a new town." Molly sighed fondly.
"That wasn't my thought..." Steven sighed as he leaned on the fence. "I lived in Korea until I was seven. I didn't meet many people back then, and when I moved to the US… it… it was just… overwhelming." The boy huffed. "It was too much change at once… I couldn't take it."
"...Sorry you had to leave people behind." Molly knew what that was like.
"I'm more sad about the people I never got to know." Steven answered. "I felt so afraid of my powers, I didn't want anyone to get close. All I had was dad, Pearl, art, and K-Pop."
"Ooh, Darryl's a fan of K-Pop too. He really loves Atomic Pink." Molly recalled. "Which bands do you listen to?"
"Eh, this Huntrix one was really popular over there, but sometimes their songs can be a bit aggressive… I do like What It Sounds Like though." He smiled. "And Golden was super relatable to me at the time when I heard it."
"Niiice." She approved his good taste in music. "Alright, it's my turn to bat. I'm gonna bring her home, right gals!?" She shouted to the team.
"Riiiiiiiight." The team, which all had bags under their eyes, raised their arms.
"Wow, I know we were playing hard, but I didn't think we were playing that hard." Molly remarked.
"No, that… that doesn't seem to be it." Steven looked over the team suspiciously. "They're still happy… if they were tired, they wouldn't still be smiling."
"Hm… maybe we need to up the happy fog dose?" Molly suggested. "Give them that extra boost of enhappification?"
"I dunno, I finished my knock knock jokes book, don't think there's anything left in the tank…" He muttered.
"Hmm… oh, I know what'll make you happy!" She took out her emergency backpack. "I have the limited edition Vegan Bacon Vennie Crying Breakfast Friends figurine!"
He gasped. "I never thought I'd see one in action!" He gushed, more clouds popping out of his body.
"I'm gonna have to scare so many people to make up for this." Scratch groaned.
"Admit it, Scratch, you loved working together." Molly grinned. "You, me, Steven and Libby, working as one united front! As the Ghost Friends!"
"...No." Scratch and Steven denied it at once.
"If we're hanging around each other, we're not calling ourselves that."
"You're right… it needs alliteration. The Heroic Hangouts?" She offered.
"We'llworkshop it later, we have cheating to get back to!" Scratch rubbed his hands in anticipation.
Molly ignored that as more clouds were made, and they were spread all over her teammates. "Let the enhappification flow!"
The cloud spread over to the team, causing them to- "gahhahahahab-*cough*-*hack*-cough*" Everyone began coughing.
"Ah, they're coughing, they're coughing, why are they coughing!?" Molly yelled in dismay.
"I don't know, my clouds have never done that before!" Steven cried out.
"Steven… you… need to…" Libby fell to the ground, unconscious.
"...Libby… LIBBY!" A massive blue wave came out of the boy, and while Molly only felt a slight chill up her spine, everyone else…. was curled up in a ball.
"I can't… I can't stand!" One of the players cried, falling to the ground. "I hate this game!"
"I had thought we would win this time, but I just don't want to be here at all now! I'd rather ponder how meaningless life is!"
"Whoaho ho! Now this is a party!" Scratch cheered. "Looks like whatever you did only made Bluey's misery wave worse!"
"What-no-I didn't-I didn't mean to…" What just… "...I did this." She sighed. "I forced everyone to be happy, and it nearly got everyone hurt."
"Now you see that misery is the way to go…" Scratch said. "Side note, I've got a scare quota to fill and the jerk on the other team seems perfect~"He floated off.
"Libby, tell me you can breathe! Tell me you can breathe!" Steven blurted out as he held onto Libby's body.
"I… can… breathe… just… a little… tired..." Libby coughed. "Being happy... all the time… is… exhausting..."
"...The clouds weren't making people happy, it was inducing it." Steven slapped his face.
"We were exhausting everyone 'cause it was by force..." Molly grumbled. "I… I don't want the Lemmings to have hope at the expense of their health! I... I just wanted everyone to feel happy."
"I can't make people happy." Steven muttered. "I just make them sad." And everyone began crying in earnest as the world got even bluer.
"...I... I didn't... I didn't mean to…" …No… it didn't matter if she meant to… she... she did this… and… and now everyone else was worse off for it… she made everything worse.
========================================================================
Scratch was swimming in the air with glee. What started out as a slightly uneventful day turned into a great one! Ever since Molls came into town, he thought it would be harder to get his cut of misery, especially when she befriended Bluey, but it turned out he just needed to wait! The boy fell into a self made blunder and was spewing out misery like nothing else!
The ball game didn't even matter at that point! Everyone on every side was feeling bad, even Molly! That was nearly impossible, but Scratch made it happen! "So, I'm thinking Caramel dip for the soft pretzels. I always go for chocolate, but Caramel feels more appropriate, you know?"
"Yeah, Sure, Scratch." Molly… barely registered he was there.
"Come on Molls, you tried, and you failed miserably. Life goes on." He waved off. "Heck, I've been failing all week, but now I succeeded!"
"I'm not upset that I failed, Scratch, I'm upset because I failed Steven, Libby, and the rest of Lemmings! I failed them!" Molly turned her head. "You wouldn't understand. You don't have anyone in your life to disappoint."
…That… stung for some reason. "I mean... I wouldn't go that far, exactly." Scratch weakly defended himself.
"Come on, you've told me that you don't like anyone." She rolled her eyes.
"Well, yeah, but that doesn't mean there's people I can't disappoint." He revealed. "Like the Ghost Council."
"Do you even like them?"
"...No, but that's besides the point!"
"No, that IS the point, Scratch.." Molly sighed. "I really wanted them to feel better… I really did… and now… now they might never believe in themselves."
…Why… why was this making him feel bad? "Molls… I…" A portal opened up. "I'm being summoned! AAAHHH!" He cried out as he was sucked through the vortex and dumped back into the Ghost World. "Gaah… would it kill you to invest in pillows?"
"Yes, because then ghosts would think we actually like them." The pink one snorted all snobbish like.
"Onto Business, Scratch. You have, somehow with all the cards in your corner, managed to slip up in what is supposed to be the most miserable place on the planet." The blue one glared, pointing to the scare meter… which was actually getting closer to the aquamarine than he was comfortable with! Molly affected the meter THAT much?!
Shoot, shoot, shoot … "Just a tour swinging by. You know how it is with modern pop stars and all the jazz, right?" He lied nervously. "I mean, once they were out of the way, it was just a matter of one big scare. Look at the needle, it's starting to go back down, right?" And indeed, it was moving, albeit slowly, back to the full red zone. "See, it's all good!"
"Do we need to stress the importance of this assignment, you slobbish miserable welp?" The green one sneered.
The Chairman stared down at him. "I remember! I remember very, very well. Make people miserable, I'm on it, no prob, Bob!"
"No one in this council is named Bob." The purple one glared.
"You sure? You strike me as a Bob." They continued glaring. "Right, got it, misery. I'm out!" He portaled away… not telling them anything about the girl cursed to him, forcing joy… damn it all, he was starting to go soft.