Sorcha's angst

"Sorcha, can you do me a favor?"

"Hmm? What is it?"

"Actually I..."

Sorcha listened intently before smiling. "Don't worry, I'm sure you had your reasons. Don't worry, I'll keep this secret."

...

Sorcha let out a sigh as she recalled that conversation. "Secrecy truly has it's vices," she thought as she sat down in a salon chair and was caped. Within seconds, all her hair had been completely buzzed off.

"Ara, ara, this certainly is quite the radical makeover, she chuckled as her head, face and eyebrows were lathered in shaving cream.

Iori and Carol were gleefully filming the whole thing, all while cracking edgy jokes and bantering with Sorcha. Sorcha didn't seem to mind, and on the contrary, appeared to be happily enjoying it.  After the shaving was done, Sorcha once again had her entire head and face encased in shaving cream as she was shaved once more. Then, it was time for the wax.

"Ara, ara. Why were you two so insistent on such an extreme bald regiment?" Sorcha giggled as the barber began encasing her head in wax.

"Simple, going extreme bald is the craziest thing a girl would ever think of doing to herself. That's why it's an instant clout mine. Though  I guess shaving and waxing all your hair and eyebrows off really became a trend thanks to Astrid," Iori stated.

"Astrid?"

"Yeah, Sweden's queen of crazy. That girl bet all her hair in a loser gets punished gaming gauntlet and thanks to Leona upping the ante, Astrid ended up getting her head and eyebrows shaved AND waxed live on stream. Then the next night, she basically said "Fuck ever having hair again" and waxed her head constantly throughout the stream. Then Leona ended up accepting the challenge and went bald during an insane legendary stream of Insanity's ballad. After that, female streamers shaving and waxing their head and eyebrows became a trend. Of course, I decided I'd beat the challenge eventually, and decided to go even crazier by having all my eyelashes plucked out too and having my head lasered on the spot. Carol was down too and so as you can see, we rocked the challenge."

"So I'm getting in on a trend then. Well, I guess I've always wanted to try shaving my head once, but never did I imagine it'd be this extreme," Sorcha giggled as the barber began covering her face and mouth with wax.

Sorcha let out a muffled giggle as she stared at her wax-encased head in the mirror. She then closed her eyes as the barber titled her head back and began plucking out her eyelashes. Once that was done, he tilted her head back up.

"Yo, you're taking this like a badass. Cece n' me were moaning our lungs out when they plucked our eyelash out. That shit legit hurt more than the wax."

"Wax hurt more," Carol argued.

"Nah, shit was like a peel off mask. In fact, let's get a wax n' oiling. We're bald for life so might as well embrace the bald life. Two waxes n' head massages. Oh, and don't wax Orcha yet, do it once we're all waxed up. We're gonna sing the Zeck Oni song."

Sorcha let out a muffled laugh as Iori and Carol sat down in the chairs adjacent to her. Within seconds, the two had their heads and faces encased in wax just like her. Then, the three attempted to sing a song, but all their voices were muffled due to wax covering their mouths. However, the three weren't embarrassed in the slightest, in fact they were all having fun.

"I can't remember the last time I've had this much fun. Perhaps if I had lived a normal life, I would have had friends like these two to have crazy stupid fun with. But alas, my father had other plans- No, I shouldn't think about the bad. Enjoy the moment so it's special," Sorcha thought.

Eventually, it was wax off time. Despite her boasting earlier, Iori arguably let out the loudest scream of the three when the wax was ripped off. After a depilatory cream lathering followed by a head and face oiling and massage, the girls were done.

"Ara, ara, kyaah. I look more like an alien now instead of a fairy," Sorcha giggled as Iori and Carol gleefully rubbed her now smooth bald head. "Ara, ara. I'll admit this feels nice, but please don't siphon away all my luck," she chuckled as she got up and began reapplying her eye shadow.

"Sucks you didn't go all out like us. But I guess this place doesn't do head lasering so oh well." Iori shrugged.

"I'm not exactly an extreme streamer like you two. Though I will admit, I at first didn't believe Mizuse Niimi's claim that bald was the future of women's beauty, but I guess now I can see where she was coming from. Not to mention, sneakers really do mesh well with a shiny bald head, and they're comfy to boot. Then again, I've always been more of a sneaker girl," Sorcha smiled as she stroked her head and posed in front of the mirror.

"As they say, cute girls wear sneakers and shave n' wax their head n' eyebrows completely bald."

"More like hot take," Carol grinned.

"Says a bald girl rocking some swag sneakers."

"Who said I disagreed with your hot take? In fact, I'll add one, socks suck."

"Ara, I think I'll have to agree. There's just something far more comfy about wearing sneakers with no socks," Sorcha smiled.

"Hey, no-sock sister!" Carol smiled as she patted Sorcha on the shoulder.

Iori meanwhile began to brood and mumble about how her socks were iconic and comfy. Shortly after, the three headed out.

"Now I know this might seem odd asking this after that, but do you ever regret shaving your heads?" Sorcha asked.

"Nah. Though seein' Mimo-chan grow her hair back all majestic like kinda made me wanna have hair again. I want my "horns" n' ahoge back again too."

"Traitor!" Carol pouted as she began playfully smacking Iori's head.

Sorcha smiled and shook her head. "Unfortunately, you would need to wait until the DESPER is recharged-"

"So you DO have it?" Iori glared.

A somber frown began to form on Sorcha's face. "No, nor will I tell you who does. I made a promise."

"This part of the game?"

Sorcha went silent before lying and saying it was. Iori saw through the lie, but decided not to push any further. In her mind, she had made a mental list of all the possible Fairy league members that could be the DESPER wielder. Assuming it wasn't a grunt, that left the executive members as the likely suspects. As for Sorcha, she had now considered her less likely to be the DESPER holder, but didn't dismiss the possibility that she still could be. Most likely, her purpose was to act as bait to make Iori reveal that she had the DESPER keys.

Of course, now that the DESPER had been used, identifying it's wielder would become much harder. Iori  had one trick up her sleeve though. According to the message inside the DESPER key box, the key would begin to glow if it was within 1000 ft of a DESPER. If multiple DESPER's were detected, it would glow multiple colors. The other key thing to note is that it could forcibly activate a DESPER so long as it was within 1 ft of it. Iori had no experience with the keys though and was wary of showing her hand. She figured that making sure Pewler didn't find out she had the keys was likely the key to beating him, thus she had to be careful with how she handled them.

As Iori and Carol began to head off, Sorcha spoke up. "I know things dampened a bit when the DESPER was brought up, but I am truly thankful for the fun we had together."

"Yeah, we'd make a great trio. Get a streaming set-up and we can collab again, Smooth as Glas."

"'Smooth as Glas'?"

"Yeah, it'd be a sick username for ya. Even more so if ya decide to keep rockin' the bald look."

Sorcha let out a laugh. "Smooth as Glas, huh? I never played games or really watched any streamers before, but if a friend like you is backing me, then damn my father I say. A life of baldness and streaming for me."

"You go, girl. Well, we'll be beating your IRL chessemon game first."

Sorcha smiled and wished the two success as she waved goodbye.

...

Mimoko glared in confusion as she was confronted by an odd man. The man was clad head to toe in knights armor and was galloping along on a toy horse, singing an odd song.

"Oh I am great Sir Grobhand, knight of Grob who plays the Grob. I play the Grob and slay the mobs. Never stood a chance against my Grob. Great Sir Grobhand slays grandmasters. The Desperado's knight of Grob, he plays the Borg when stuck as black, and unable to play a double Grob. Great Sir Grobhand, slays grandmasters. A chivalrous battle to death; man, woma, or child, it matters not, I'll fight to the death. Great Sir Grobhand, slays grandmasters. The unstoppable Grob cannnot be stopped for it is chess' great killer move. Great Sir Grobhand slays grandmasters-"

"Um, could you please give me some space?" Mimoko glared as she tried to swat away Sir Grobhand's toy horse.

"Oi, don't slap my horse, woman. It's a rare breed n' needs to be treated properly. Been through a life of abuse before I took er' in."

"Uh, it's a TOY horse!"

"'Toye' you say? Oh, so that's what breed it is. Well out of the way. I'm off to reclaim a princess," Sir Grobhand scoffed as he barged past Mimoko.

...

Sorcha began to frown as she heard the clanking of armor. "So he's decided to act," she thought as she turned to face the approaching Sir Grobhand

"Hail, princess! I've come to return thee to the land of Ire. Though thee may be shed of hair, I recognized thee," Sir Grobhand stated.

Sorcha let out a sigh. "Must my father be so pushy? I'm 23 years old already and can live my own life."

"NAY! Thou art to be wedded to me, knight of Grob."

"A shame a fool like you has immense wealth. I don't love you, nor will I ever."

"Then I shall take you to the king by force. He is waiting hither," Sir Grobhand stated as he whipped out a pair of shackles and slapped them on Sorcha's wrists.

He then proceeded to tie a rope to the shackles before whipping out a piece of cloth and gagging Sorcha with it.

"It truly is a kidnapping now. I only hope people take notice of this, but then again, if he's here, the others have likely been bribed. I sure hope at the least she didn't sell me out for helping her," Sorcha thought as she was dragged away.

...

Scharlachrot scowled as she sat before a mountain of cash.

"Why the scowl? You said this was good," Heather pouted as she fanned herself with a stack of cash.

"Should have been more. Damn moneybag was too cheap."

"T- Too cheap!? Sorcha's an invaluable minion! Yet you shut me up and took the cash. Now you're saying it wasn't enough!?"

"Oi villainess, I'm saying he ripped us off."

"T- Then-"

"No, we ain't going after him... We can't..."

"'Can't'?"

A rare look of sadness bubbled up in Scharlachrot's eyes before she concealed it by pulling her hat low. "Damn it all. I'll destroy that damn league," she mumbled under her breath.

...

A large man with a wild orange beard clad in formal Gaelic attire scowled as he noticed Sir Grobhand and Sorcha approaching him.

"Hail, my king. I have brought the princess," Sir Grobhand stated.

"The hell ya playin' at? I didn't ask ye to bring me some hairless rat!" the man snarled as Sir Grobhand removed Sorcha's gag.

Sorcha attempted to disguise her voice, but the man saw through it immediately and descended into fury.

"YOU DAMN GIRL! YOU TRY TO DECEIVE ME!? Grobhand, she's all yours. Just continue your financial support and you can play all you want with her," the man scoffed as he began to walk away.

"Lol, we got a scandal on our hands," a voice snickered.

The three darted their heads around until Iori and Carol emerged from behind a wall. Turns out they had been secretly tailing Sir Grobhand after Iori noticed him back when she was leaving the barbershop. The fact that they were here immediately caused tears to well up in Sorcha's eyes.

"I was wondering why you two suddenly dragged me along, but it seems you made a good judgement call," Mimoko stated as she emerged from behind the wall.

Her presence immediate;y caused the man and Sir Grobhand to go on guard.

"You, I saw thee on my ride!" Sir Grobhand shouted.

"Tch, so you were here," the man scowled.

"Horse slapping-"

"Mimoko Inoue."

"HUH!?"

Sir Grobhand was completely dumbfounded that he had walked past Mimoko without even recognizing her.

"I take it you're Desperados then?" Mimok glared.

"That we are, and we need to get rid of ya. Which is why... I'm challengin' one of yer hairless friends!" the man shouted as he whipped out his DESPER.

"You challenging me?" Iori grinned.

"Yes, now if ye lose, ya die."

"And if I win me n' Carol get to regrow our hair, eyebrows, and eyelashes back to where they were before they got shaved off."

"Iori-chan! Have him send us home!" Mimoko shouted,

"'Home'? Ah right. In that case, ye win, you and yer friends will be warped to yer bunaidh home," the man growled as he gazed at Carol.

"Sure, now let's begin Mr..."

"I be Ireland's taoiseach, Muirchertach Glas."

"Figured you were a big shot. In that case, you lose you die. You cool with that, Orca-chan?" Iori asked Sorcha.

Sorcha let out a resigned sigh. "So it's come to this. Very well, he has himself to blame."

"I'm a betting man. Now Mimoko, ye in fer spectatin' and going home if yer friend wins? If she loses ye won't suffer any penalty. Same for yer friend," Muirchertach stated.

Mimoko nodded and accepted the conditions as did Carol before Muirchertach nodded and activated his DESPER.