With a stretch and a yawn, Dulce Corazón had stepped into the world outside her bed.
Dulce didn't like the idea of leaving her comfy bed, but she knew it had to be done. Summer break is too good (and too short) a time to waste laying around, especially for someone like her. Time away from school should be taken full advantage of - forget the weather! With this in mind, the blue-streaked sweetheart opened her blinds for her quiet morning greeting to the city of Asunción. Her face and hair was treated to a pleasantly cool breeze, unusual for the city at this time of year, but she didn't care. If anything she took it as a good omen and the perfect start to her break.
Dulce had left her room to be greeted by... nothing. No busy activity downstairs, no sounds or smells of breakfast, not even the tapping sound of her mother texting her annoying co-workers. It was very quiet within the house. It was when she had searched the kitchen that she remembered her parents saying they would be gone for a few days and it was up to her to look after their humble abode. To her that meant two things: she had finally proven to her folks how responsible she could be and (without seeing the irony of her thought) that she could do whatever she pleased without them around. Of course, she would still have to look after the family cat and make sure the house still stood but apart from that, nothing would interrupt her newfound freedom.
The eager beaver of 13.5 years of age rushed back upstairs to the bathroom. After she had showered, fixed her hair, brushed her teeth, and dressed up (choosing her new favourite outfit for this occasion), Dulce returned to the kitchen to make something she had always wanted for breakfast but could never have: unbaked cookie dough on toast with blueberry jam. She certainly lived up to her name in many ways.
While she ate her food in the living room, and enjoying it immensely, Dulce made the "mistake" of sitting on the couch with her legs stretched out across the cushions while she watched television. It wasn't long before the family cat, a three-year-old Lykoi named David López, leapt up on the couch to join his cute master. David moved towards his eccentric keeper's dusky bare feet, her lavender toenails shining in the sun, and noticed a piece of savoury beef that just happened to be wedged between her left foot's second and middle toes. Dulce pretended she didn't feel the cat's whiskers brush against her freshly cleaned foot or his nose gently tap her toes while she kept her gaze fixed on the screen, but her grin and the brief reflexes of her foot were dead giveaways. David's fur had "coerced" the offending toes into giving up their bounty, which he gobbled up without ceremony, but he was not finished yet.
It was when David decided to repay his generous master by "cleaning" the leftover juices and tiny beef bits left on Dulce's toes that the girl stopped pretending. The living room was filled with the melodious sounds of her laughter as the skin between her toes were being scoured by her cat's coarse tongue. Fortunately, she remembered to put her plate on the table before she started breaking into girly giggles; she had never been one to waster perfectly good food that way. But for her the hardest part was trying to keep still and not roll away while David López continued his accidental tickle torture.
Well, at the moment it wasn't torture to her. The girl's non-existent begging clearly showed that.
After a couple of minutes, David López had decided he had removed every last trace of beef between his master's adorable toes and ceased his licking. Since he had had his fill of meat (and Dulce was getting closer to having her fill of tickles), DL opted to just lay on the couch, resting his head where Dulce's jean cuff met the top of her left foot. Meanwhile, Dulce was catching her breath while fanning her face with her hand. After putting her cat through this charade so many times, one would think she would be used to the feeling of his tongue's rough surface. She had accepted that she would never get used to that sensation but from her point-of-view that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Her breath had been recovered but the infamous "phantom tickles" still lingered between her toes. She would've rubbed her toes with her hands or against the couch cushions, but after seeing David López resting his head on her ankle, content and at peace, she couldn't bring herself to disturb his little snooze. So she decided to leave him be and just let the lingering sensations disappear on their own. Using her right foot, which had nothing in its toes, Dulce began stroking the top of David's head and along his shoulders affectionately.
Dulce flashed another of her famous smiles, the kind that could probably light up an entire room, as she kept petting her cat with her foot. "You're just a big hairy dork, David López," she said without dropping her smile, "but you're my big hairy dork and we both know it."
For the time being, Dulce was content to lay there for a little longer and refocus on the TV while letting her cat rest by her feet. But just then, something had occurred to her.
"Dork?" she thought. "Why am I still repeating that word in my head - and not think about David López?"
Then a light bulb suddenly switched on in her head.
"Of course!" exclaimed Dulce, not noticing her outburst had woken up her cat. "I can't believe I forgot about the alien jewellery! Excuse me, DL!"
With a sudden motion she had swiftly pulled her legs out and leapt onto the floor with a new sense of purpose... for the day, at least. She would use that bracelet/alien hardware, the Macrocosmic Stone, to pay a visit to one of those "dorks" she had either crushed on within or without their respective media. It was the kind of scenario every fanboy, or fangirl, could only dream about or write in fanfiction. And this little señorita was going to do just that!
Riiiiiiight after she cleaned up the water from the flower vase she had knocked over....
Understandably, an object with power of such magnitude could be misused (in a bad way) if it were to fall into the wrong hands. That was why Dulce kept the Macrocosmic Stone within a box under several locks in the most secret of locations - under the bed. A few number punches, turned keys, and combinations later yielded in the reveal of the Macrocosmic Stone in all its glory. She fastened the bracelet to her left wrist as per usual and pressed her first two fingers on the stone's surface, activating the device. Though she never properly learned or understood whatever alien text showed up on the device's display screens, Dulce had always looked at the language barrier as her playing a Japanese exclusive video game on an emulator. Even though she could not read Japanese to save her skin, she could figure out the controls and menus through trial and error. She applied that same logic to the device itself and she had learned how it worked in no time. This is an ill-advised method to be sure, especially when dealing with reality-bending technology from a far-off galaxy, but it was fortunate that nothing terrible had happened to Dulce whenever she played around with studied the Macrocosmic Stone from every possible angle.
Once she had the device pull up the heads-up display hologram, Dulce began selecting and whisking away various holographic panels until she had found the one she had been seeking. The panel appeared to be folder that Dulce herself had set up containing profiles on various fictional characters and their respective universes, saved personally for ease of use and access. All she would have to do is select where she wanted to go and if she could pinpoint a close proximity to the character in question, tap the white circular pad on the stone's surface and presto! A warp link would be created and travel would be made possible. It would be best not to eat before transporting to different times and places, however; Dulce learned this lesson the hard way.
Innumerable doors laid before Dulce Corazón in a single digital corridor, and to her knowledge she had the only key.
Additional Information on Dulce Corazón
Personality Strengths: affectionate, cheerful, courteous, outgoing, reliable, socially independent
Personality Faults: blunt, complacent, convenience first, picky, spendthrift, stubborn
Skills/Attributes: whistling without moving lips, using the Macrocosmic Stone, maintaining an 85% average in school, fluency in Spanish, Guarani, and English (needs the Macrocosmic Stone for all other forms of communication), typing quickly and proficiently
Likes: pink and blue colours, lavender (colour), sweet/bizarre food combinations, French food, green tea, blueberry pies, horror movies, buddy comedies, video games, swimming, colouring, tickling, feet
Dislikes:yellow and green colours, Paraguayan food (ironic, yes?), sushi, iced tea, pineapple, cycling, drawing, physical sports (will try anything once
Trivia: Dulce drew inspiration for her cat's name from two sources: she named him David after David Kessler, the main character from the movie An American Werewolf in London, and the López half simply means "son of the wolf" since his breed resemble werewolves. The more you know.
From the multitude of digital files stored on her device, whom does she decide to visit first?
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