Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Scarlet got herself a glass of non-alcoholic campaign and drank it slowly as she leaned against the table. She looked around the party, observing what was going on but not paying too much attention or mind. Though one thing did catch her eye. It was a white rabbit in a blue trench coat. It raised its pocket watch ,which was clearly too big for it, and pointed it at her as if telling her to hurry up. It disappeared behind the bushes as quickly as it appeared causing Scarlet to follow it after putting her drink down. She thought that she was imagining things but her curiosity kept growing to find out if what she saw was true or not. 

Meanwhile, Alice was dealing with her own dilemma. The Chattaway sisters had approached her, both wearing matching knowing grins. "We have a secret to tell you." Faith the elder sister said cheerfully. Alice raised a single brow and said "If you tell me it's not much of a secret anymore" she pointed out bluntly. "Perhaps we shouldn't" Fiona said turning to her sister before adding, "But we decided we should!"

"If we tell her she wouldn't be surprised" Faith said before turning to Alice, "Will you be surprised?" Alice was very much fighting to urge to roll her eyes annoyed, "Not if you tell me. But since you brought it up than you should," she said. "No we don't have to" Faith said before she and her sister added in unison "Actually we won't." Alice was clearly getting tired from this conversation and the secret so she decided to use a trick that Scarlet has taught her when they were younger on how to deal with situations like this. "I wonder if your mother knows that you two have swam naked in the Havershim's pond." This caused both of the sisters' demeanours to change drastically and their smiles dropped giving way to poorly masked fear. "You wouldn't!" Faith scolded Alice under her breath trying to regain control of the situation again. "Oh, but I would" Alice assured her without hesitation. Many people thought that she was the kinder sister compared to Scarlet but in reality they were two sides of the same coin that could be swapped when needed. Alice looked through the crowd before raising a gloved hand to gesture in a specific direction, "There's your mother," she said before raising her hand to wave the older woman over when suddenly Fiona blurted out, "Hamish is going to ask you for your hand!" which caused Alice's breath to get caught in her throat and her heart to start beating painfully. 

Alice than looked over at them, trying and hoping to find any expressions of trickery in their eyes and faces but found none. "What did you just say?" Before they could say more, Margaret Kingsleigh, the oldest of the three siblings, pulled Alice away from the twins clearly unhappy. "You ruined the surprise, idiots!" she said glaring at her siblings before walking away from them with Alice towards the dance floor. She did notice Scarlet nearby, walking around as if she's looking for something. Alice didn't notice her younger sister, too deep in thoughts about what she just heard. "So they were telling the truth....and that's why Scarlet has been arguing with mother for a while now...does everyone know?" she asked looking down at the floor. "It's why they've all come. This is your engagement party. Hamish will ask you today at the gazebo. When you say 'yes'..." Margaret was about to continue but she got cut off. 

"But I don't know if I want to marry Hamish. Alice halted, getting out of Margaret's grasp to look her in the eye. Alice has never entertained the idea of every marrying Hamish. She supposed she would have to marry a man at some point but she had always vainly hoped that she could escape that expectation.  "Who then?" Margaret straightened her posture looking down at Alice with a challenging  gaze of her own. "You won't do than a Lord" 

 Alice gazed over at Hamis who blew   his nose, than studied the contents of his kerchief, then it and puts it in his pocket. She than felt her face grow warm and her palms getting sweaty from the stress that this revelation came with. "You'll soon be twenty, Alice." Margaret gently reminded her sister. " That pretty face won't last forever. You don't want to end up like Aunt Imogene." she covertly gestured towards the old spinster, sitting alone by herself. Aunt Imogene was wearing a yellowing white dress that had visibly gone out of fashion, her roughed cheeks visible from across the garden. She refreshed herself with a large handheld fan, unstyled curls drooping around her face as she gazed around the garden as if looking for someone. 

"And you don't want to be a burden to mother don't you?" Margaret asked, as if to guilt trip Alice into doing what is expected of her. "No of course not. But will Scarlet have to go through the same thing?" Alice asked knowing how her sister is about marriage especially at her age. That's another thing the two of them had in common. "She has a while before she has to get betrothed herself, so she may be free for now but its likely that she'll have to go through the same thing if she isn't so stubborn about the whole thing." Margaret told Alice as she watched Scarlet walking around for a bit. "So. You will marry Hamish. You will be happy with him just like I am with Lowell and your life will be perfect. It's already been decided." 

"Alice dear," Lady Ascot appeared in front of the pair, her posture stiff. "Shall we take a leisurely  stroll through the garden? Just you and me?" she asked. "I'll you to it" Margaret said as she squeezed Alice's hand reassuringly before Lady Ascot took Alice's hand, leading the young woman through hedge garden at a brisk pace. When they were out of earshot of the other guest, the older woman asked, "Do you know what I've always been dreading?" 

Alice shock her head having no idea what the answer could be. "The of the aristocracy?" she asked guessing randomly. "Ugly grandchildren. But you're so lovely. You're to produce little..." Lady Ascot said but had to cut herself off and gasped when she noticed the roses. "Imbeciles! The gardeners planted white roses when I asked for red!" Alice cocked her head, cogs turning. She was thankful for the distraction that Lady Ascot had provided. "You could always paint the roses red," she suggested. This caused Lady Ascot to look at Alice strangely. "What an odd thing to say." As she led Alice through the squared hedges, chilling gloved hands held onto Alice's as and rambled poetically about Hamish's digestion, Alice found herself distracted and her thoughts and eyes started to wander. Her eyes trailed along the row of rose bushes, contemplating which colour she would paint the flowers. Purple perhaps since it was Scarlet's favourite colour, or maybe a pale blue. 

The bushes rustled suddenly and Alice perked up as she saw something large and white moving through the hedges. "Did you see that?" Alice asked Lady Ascot gesturing in the direction where she saw something. "See what?" Lady Ascot asked confused. "It was a rabbit, I think" Alice said taking a closer look at the bush to try and find it. "Nast things. I do enjoy setting the dogs on them. Don't dawdle." Lady Ascot rushed Alice towards the gazebo, getting impatient about the engagement. 

Alice cast her gaze back to the bushes where the creature had moved. Again, a rustle in the leaves and a small animal distinctively rabbit-shaped, darted out of the bushes and ran in front of them. "There!" Alice cried out, pointing in the direction that the rabbit came from. "Did you see it this time?" Lady Ascot was clearly getting irritated now, "See what?" 

"The rabbit!" Alice emphasised, pulling on the older woman's hand to try and follow where the creature had gone off to. "Don't shout!" Lady Ascot tugged her back harshly, straightening Alice back onto the path. "Pay attention. Hamish said that you were easily distracted. Now what was I saying" she said trying to get Alice to forget about this stupid rabbit. "Hamish has a blockage" Alice muttered to herself, parroting the few words she vaguely remembered from the conversation before. Her mind was elsewhere, scanning over the hedges looking for the rabbit as if her life depended on it. Which unknowingly to her it did, as well as Scarlet's. 

"You will have to excuse me for now," Alice said before running into the wooded area of the path to get away from Lady Ascot and from the conversation about marriage. 

Hazbin hotel

My oc

Chapter 1

It's been 10 years and both of the girls have grown up into beautiful woman. Alice being 19 and Scarlet being 18. They have grown to be very much like their father, ahead of their time and unlike what others would expect them to be. Both wanted to be independent and disliked a lot of the expectations that were put on them. However, Scarlet was more open and blunt about her opinions compared to Alice. Alice knew mostly when to keep quiet and when to not speak her mind but Scarlet struggled with that. 

Currently they were both in a carriage with their mother being driven to a party. Neither Alice nor Scarlet wanted to go because they weren't in the best mood but their mother forced them to go. Their mother was nervously fiddling with Alice's mane of unruly blond hair trying to make it look as good as possible. Alice's hair got very wavy sometimes causing it to be a mess. Scarlet's black hair did that as well but because her hair was darker it wasn't as noticeable nor did it look as bad as Alice's. 

"Must we go? I doubt they'll notice if we arrive or not" Alice asked trying one last time to convince her mother to turn back. Neither of the sisters wanted to go to this party and have tried multiple times to persuade their mom to turn back. None of those attempts were successful. "They will notice" their mother, Helen, said brusquely as she abandoned Alice's hair to focus on her outfit. Scarlet rolled her eyes annoyed but didn't say anything. Her mother always was fussy about their appearances and today she was especially fussy about how Alice looked. Scarlet had a few ideas as to why. 

Helen re-tied Alice's waist stash before feeling for her coreset but found nothing. "Where's your corset?" she asked with a sigh already knowing the answer to that. "Mother you know very well how much we don't like them. Don't ask questions you already have the answer to" Scarlet said looking out of the window. Helen sighed looking over at her daughters who were just like their father. "Scarlet, don't start today, please" she pleaded with an almost tired look. She than pulled up the skirt of Alice's blue dress to expose her knees, "And no stockings!" 

"I'm against them." Alice said plainly, bored of this conversation and the fussing already. "But you're not properly dressed!" Helen argued back. "We are we to say what's proper and what's not? Everyone likes what they like to wear and they shouldn't be judged for it because it's not 'proper'. It's not like it's a rule of the world or something" Scarlet argued back, so that her sister didn't have to. She hated how controlling their mother was, to the way the dress to the way they talk and think. 

"Alice, Scarlet" Helen said in a warning tone. She didn't want an argument to break out between them. "To me a corset is like a codfish" Alice asserted agreeing with her sister and thankful that she said what she did. "Please." Helen implored, "Not today" she let out a quiet sigh as her daughters huffed looking away from her. "Father would have laughed" Alice said. 

This caused Helen to have a heartful expression on her face as memories of her husband flooded back. "Sorry mother, we just didn't sleep well" Alice said genially feeling upset about what she said. The loss of their father and Helen's husband affected them all greatly. Helen grasped and squeezed her daughters hands in unspoken forgiveness. Since their father's death last year, Helen has been trying to usher Alice into adulthood as a 'respectable, young woman' first since Scarlet was more stubborn and difficult to deal with. Helen always told them that she wanted the best for them- stability, a good reputation, a husband. But the two siblings reasoned that their views on what makes a good life must be different because every act of love from their mother felt more like a shackle that they couldn't get out of. 

"Did you have bad dreams again?" Helen asked knowing that their dreams kept them up at night most of the time. Each of their dreams got weirder and weirder, must be one of the reasons why they are the way they are. "We both did.  The same one as always...is that normal? Don't people have separate dreams?" Scarlet asked still not looking at her mother. She has been wondering for a long time if the dreams that she and Alice were having were some sort of weird sign. They clearly weren't normal. 

Helen swallowed not knowing what to say. She busied herself by unclasping her necklace around her neck. "I don't know darling" she said before she put the necklace on Alice. Alice looked down at the necklace and smiled a bit. "There you are. You're beautiful and you finally managed a smile" Helen said smiling as well. Alice felt herself deflate slightly as the Ascot Estate came into view. By ordinary standards it was a perfectly lovely home. Sweeping manicured lawns, occasionally dotted with a neatly trimmed evergreen tree surrounding the centre piece of the estate- the house itself.  The Ascot house was three storeys high, a wide and blocky grey-bricked building with tall, narrowed windows and stout chimneys- a dearly typical home. 

The carriage trundled along the straight, gravelled path up towards the house and Alice's focus shifted from the looming estate to the clouds leisurely rolling past in the sky. She felt a smile tugging at her face as she noticed a cloud that resembled a turtle drifting over the roof. She followed it with her eyes until her mother urged her and Scarlet to get out of the carriage. 

Helen grabbed her daughter's hands as she tugged them along, setting up a brisk pace towards the estate. The older woman hardly had time to appreciate the part itself, her heart thumping in her chest and her breath coming out quicker and quicker. She passed the lawn where gentleman were playing croquet as their wives chatted among one another. 

A woman named Lady Ascot soon saw the trio arriving and walked over to them. "Finally! We thought you would never arrive. Alice, Hamish is waiting to dance with you. Go." she said as she pushed Alice in the direction of where her son was before turning back to Helen. Scarlet could only give Alice a sympathetic look as she walked off. She knew that her sister didn't like Hamish but there was nothing she could do currently. 

"You do realise it's well past four!" Lady Ascot told Helen off as soon as Alice was out of earshot. "Now everything will have to be rushed!" she added clearly unhappy. "I'm sorry" Helen murmured quietly "We-" she started but got cut off. "Never mind!" Lady Ascot huffed as she took her skirts in her hands as she descended the stairs after Alice. Lord Henry Ascot could only give a sympathetic look towards Helen. 

"Forgive my wife. She's been planning this affair for the last 20 years" Lord Ascot said sympathetically towards Helen. "If only father was here..." Scarlet muttered to herself. She always had mixed feelings about the Ascots. She was friends with their oldest son William but she didn't get along with Hamish at all. "My condolences Helena, Scarlet." Henry's gaze dropped. "I think of your husband and father often. He was truly a man of vison"

"Thank you" Helen replied automatically, like a robot. "I hope you don't think I have taken advantage of your misfortune," Henry continued his blue eyes searching for a reaction from either of them. "Of course not" the woman reassured him, "I'm pleased that you've purchased the company." A warm smile took over Lord Ascot's face then, a fondness in his eyes at the memories. "I was a full for not investing in his mad venture when I had the chance." Helen could only respond with a genuine smile of her own. "Father would have thought the same thing." Scarlet said with her arms crossed over her chest, staring off into the distance but still paying attention to the conversation. She wasn't really interested in the conversation or even the party but she stayed behind anyway. There wasn't much for her to do here. Lord Ascot turned to look at Scarlet like a fatherly figure would with a smile on his face. "So Scarlet have you decided or found your betrothed yet?" he asked with a raised eyebrow. He knew that she wasn't interested in marriage but she would have to marry someone eventually. 

Scarlet shock her head. "I haven't and I don't plan on finding him soon. I'm only 18, I still have a whole life ahead of me" she answered as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Lord Ascot nodded, humming in thought. "Of course Scarlet, why don't you go and enjoy the party for a bit? I'm sure there are many quiet delicious drinks to have" he offered kindly, motioning her to go and have fun. Scarlet nod, gladly accepting the offer to get out of this conversation. She excused herself before going to the drinks table. 

Experiment with feelings

Chapter 3

*Flashback*

A young girl that looked like a younger version of Lunaria was currently sitting down on the floor of a small room. The room had an uncomfortable bed and had doors and walls made from an unbreakable glass so that the people inside could be seen clearly at all times. It was her cell. Lunaria was sitting down motionless, her back full of dried up and slightly wet blood and ripped flesh. In the cell next to her was a girl that was drawing on the floor with her blood smiling and humming happily. Despite being in such a shit situation, she tried to stay optimistic by finding something to do. Lunaria didn’t look at the girl but listened to her humming. It soothed her and made her forget about what she had just gone through. It also helped her feel a bit more hopeful, a bit optimistic that one day she will be able to get out of this situation and hopefully justice will be served to her and everyone else that has gone through this. 

*Flashback end*

Lunaria woke up having fallen asleep on her desk. Her paperwork was done and she had nothing more to do which made her realise that she probably worked herself beyond exhaustion again. She rarely ever fell asleep on her desk because she was able to keep going even when she’s tired. Her dream bothered her though. It was a memory of her past, a past that she didn’t want to remember or think about ever again. Though compared to her previous memory dreams, this one was actually one of the more pleasant ones to have. Most of the time she always dreamt about the worst part of her life before the factory so this was a pleasant change. Not that Lunaria knew that it was pleasant anyway. After what happened she doesn’t know how to feel again and if anything happens she just lets it happen. She has tried to make herself feel emotions but so far nothing has worked. She has been considering experimenting on herself with colours to see if that will help. She hasn’t done it yet because she needs to figure out a way to do it without acting suspicious or potentially getting caught. The colours are heavily guarded just in case a loose experiment happens and tries to steal the colours and use it against them. Also some colours mixed together can cause a lot of damage so the factory wants to avoid that at all costs.

Lunaria sighed and gathered her stuff before heading to her room in the dormitory. She didn’t want to get nagged by Walden again about her sleeping habits and her overworking herself. Despite being the boss of such a factory, Walden definitely cared about most of his workers and Lunaria was one of them. Although he could just be making sure that his workers aren’t being idiots. It’s hard to find people that would actually want to work here and stay here pretty much anyway. Once you came here you didn’t come out. People had to have a very specific reason to be able to even go outside of the factory let alone go further away from it. And if you quit...then you were killed. So finding workers was hard, meaning that Walden may not actually care for them but the fact that something may happen to them and he will have to find new workers. Lunaria didn’t really care about which one it was. She wasn’t an idiot and it was very unlikely for anything to happen to her anyway. 

As she was walking by she noticed Jeremy on the way. He looked to be flirting with one of the female workers that was clearly uncomfortable in this situation. It wasn’t surprising to be honest. Jeremy would flirt left and right with anyone he found remotely attractive and he rarely ever took no for an answer. He was an egoistic prick that would never learn his lesson and fuck off. Lunaria had too many encounters like this with him and every time she had turned him down he would just come back again. Working with him on group work was also a struggle since he would always fuck something up. Or do nothing at all and just flirt. The latter was honestly a better option but was still annoying as fuck. At least than they knew that he wouldn’t fuck up the experiment. 

“Jeremy leave her alone. Walden had already talked to you multiple times about this type of behaviour” Lunaria said, making Jeremy turn to face her. “Oh hey Luns! What is a lady like you doing at this time of night?” He asked with a cocky smirk on his face. Lunaria gave a quick look to the woman he was bothering before and she left immediately after taking the hint that Lunaria was helping her. “That’s none of your business. You should either be working or going to bed Jeremy since you're not on the night shift. I know that you’re not, so don't even try to lie to me Jeremy. I know your tricks and if I have to I will throw you into the grinder or make an experiment out of you.” Lunaria said before walking away from him not wanting to be anywhere near him for much longer. “Oh you know that deep down you like me Luns~ You may act emotionless but I know that you’re not” Jeremy said grabbing her arm as she was walking. This caused Lunaria to out of instinct to twist his arm and potentially break his bones if she twisted hard enough. This caused Jeremy to yell out in pain not expecting that reaction from her. “What the fuck?!” He yelled at her before pausing as he noticed the death look in her eyes. “Do not touch me” Lunaria said sharply before letting go of his arm and walking back to her dorm. She ignored him yelling after her and as soon as she arrived at her room she locked the door. 

Lunaria sighed in relief as she leaned against the door to her room. She didn’t mean to hurt Jeremy. Yes he was annoying as fuck but she didn’t mean to actually do anything to him. She just did it because she was so used to having to do so. It was like it was wired into her and she couldn’t stop that from happening. At least the worst that she had done to him was broke a bone. She didn’t hear a bone crack so she thought that she didn’t but guess she’ll find out soon enough. All she could do now was rest and hope that she didn’t get into too much trouble after this incident. 

Chapter 3

Meanwhile with Scarlet, she was still looking for that rabbit in the waistcoat determined to find it. She eventually bumped into Aunt Imogene who was still seated in her spot waving her fan back and forth, looking as if in a trance.  Scarlet did tense up for a split second, thinking that it was her mother or someone else going to bother her, but breathed out a sigh of relief when she realised who it was. "Aunt Imogene! I think I'm going mad. I keep seeing a white rabbit in a waistcoat," she said starting to believe that she's hallucinating things out of bored or because she was crazy. "How very strange. What kind of waistcoat?" her aunt asked but it was clear that she wasn't paying much attention, stuck in her won little world inside her head. "Brocade, I think. What does it matter? It's a in a waistcoat!" Scarlet replied trying to think of a reasonable explanation herself. No one here had a pet rabbit and if they did they wouldn't let it run around the garden with Lady Ascot around. Aunt Imogene shrugged proving that she's not fully in the conversation, "I haven't seen your fancy rabbit. I'm waiting for my fiancé, that should be here somewhere and arriving soon. Perhaps the fancy rabbit is my fiancé" she said looking out into the distance as if in a dream. Scarlet gave her aunt an uncertain look. "You have a fiancé?" she asked sarcastically knowing that it wasn't true but at the same time she didn't want to upset or offend her aunt. She than noticed the white rabbit dart by and quickly followed it not wanting to lose sight of it again. 

"He's a prince." Aunt Imogene continued her story unaware that Scarlet had already left. " But, alas he cannot marry me he reclaims  his throne." The woman laughed dryly before letting out a sigh. " Isn't it tragic?" Scarlet was just faintly able to hear her and that only confirmed her thoughts about her fiancé being made up. Though she did genially feel sympathy for her aunt and could only hope that she didn't end up the same way. 

However both Scarlet's and Alice's pathways crossed with one another as they both followed the rabbit. Though instead of finding the rabbit they found something that would break Margaret's heart, Lowell kissing Hattie, his 'friend'. Scarlet was beyond pissed seeing that. "That guy has the goddamn audacity to cheat on Margaret and think that he can get away with it." she said as she marched over to him and punched him in the face the moment he and Hattie stopped kissing. Lowell grunted and grabbed his face in pain, he stared up at whoever punched him and immediately got scared when he saw Scarlet. "Scarlet, Alice" he started as he stepped towards both of them whilst Hattie ran off. "We were..." he fumbled not knowing how to explain this without getting another punch in the face. "Hattie is an old friend." Alice and Scarlet were obviously not buying that. "I can see that you're very close." Alice spat in distain, looking up and down at her brother-in-law. 

"Oh yeah definitely a friend. Last time I checked friends don't kiss each other on the lips for that long." Scarlet said ready to throw another punch at him if she needed to. "You won't mention this to Margaret would you?" Lowell asked worried about what would happen if they did. This caused Scarlet to pause in her tracks and wait for Alice's response. "I don't know" Alice said stepping back, setting her brow defensively. "I'm confused. We need time to think" she said causing Lowell to have some hope that this incident will be forgotten about. "Well, think about Margaret!" he countered immediately. "She would never trust me again.  You don't want to ruin her marriage, do you?" he reached out fingers brushing against Alice's cheek. Scarlet slapped his hand away knowing that he's only saying this to save his own skin. "You're the one who's becoming a man around town kissing girls whilst being in a relationship already. Alice please hold me back before I slam his face into the bloody dirt where he belongs." Scarlet said getting more and more agitated. 

"There you are!" Hamish's voice could be heard as he put a hand on Alice's shoulder, causing her to spin around with a gasp. The proposal. She almost forgot about it. Head spinning with images of Lowell kissing Hattie, of how Margaret would react to the news, of their mother crippled with shame and the burden of two unwed adults to take care of, Alice allowed Hamish to lead her to the gazebo. 

The whole crowd had gathered on the small lane and Alice felt her heart skip as she felt all of the eyes on her as she ascended the short few steps up to the wooden gazebo. Her breath began to shorten as she noticed the string quarter, now housed discreetly in the shadows, bows positioned to play. At the front of the crowd stood an artist with an easel before him, his gaze altering between the delicate brushstrokes on his canvas and the scene before him. Scarlet watched her sister get dragged away before giving Lowell one last glare. "Be glad you lucky little bastard" she said before walking away from him to cool her head. She didn't go to the gazebo knowing that it wouldn't help her calm down and she was very much against the engagement anyway. 

Hamish dropped to his knee and held Alice's hand in his. "Alice Kingsley" he started but got interrupted by Alice saying his name. 

Rainbow factory masterlist

Experiment with feelings story