"Dearest princess,you should please settle down and rest.."
Peach continued to ignore the calls from her advisors and such, still clutching a messy stack of papers in her hands. She did all she could to stave off the sensitivity in her reddened nose, ignoring the pounding from her head...
"I-I'm fine..." she continued,hurrying down the hall-which didn't seem like a good idea due to her fever. "I g-gotta get these meeting notes in…" She stumbled,tripped over her flowing gown and fell to the floor, the impact sending ripples of dull pain throughout her aching body.
The Princess didn't want to admit it, but she felt like shit. Somehow she had picked up a cold virus and now it was pretty much destroying her from the head up. Today she woke up with a fever and a sore throat, and before afternoon came she was pretty much sneezing through everything. Her favorite dress that she wore almost often felt like a stifling sauna now, and she hated every second of it.
She sniffled and rubbed her sore nose, pulling herself to her feet as the various Toads around her panicked as usual. Squatting down to pick up the scattered papers was NOT a good idea-she instantly got dizzy and fell to her knees again, coughing raspily as the papers fell out of her grip.
"Princess! Please, you must rest right away! These affairs are nothing compared to your health!" one Toad shouted.
"B-But what a-about the m-meeting..?" she rasped. "Let me at l-least finish out that…"
Her nose started to quiver again, much to her annoyance. She hitched silently, her trembling hands already moving up to cover her nose. It wasn't belong before she arched forward with a wet "Hii'sheew-!!", causing her arm to give out from under her as she fell to the floor for the third time today, the impact knocking the wind out of her. "Ugh…"
"I-I habe to go to *snf* t-thad b-beetigg.." she snuffled. "My atteddagce is baddatory..I habe do choice..." She shakily pulled herself to her feet, gathered up her papers and stumbled on to the meeting room, coughing all the way.
My head is killing me, the Princess thought to herself. She groaned and massaged her uncomfortably warm temples, hoping this would at least alleviate some of the tension in her head. Why did I agree to do this…? So she waited for Mario,even drifting off a bit...
"Princess Peach, you have arrived!" called a cheerful but grating voice, which seemed so close to her that she flinched and cringed at the high-pitched noise. It was a rather peppy Toad, who else? "Would you like anything before the meeting starts?"
So they brought this guy as a stand-in for Mario.. She thought. Oh how the princess longed for him to be by her side...but unfortunately his little brother had gotten sick (likely from the same virus that was tormenting her) and Mario had to stay home to tend to him. So they brought in a Toad.
"Some tea.." she rasped, her voice sounding more hoarse than she hoped. "A-And a flu mask and a tissue box...please.."
The stand-in looked concerned, but went on his way-and seconds later he returned with everything she requested.
"Thank you,kind sir.." Peach mumbled, trying to keep from adding any discomfort to her already sore throat. First she blew her nose-at this she noticed two things. The tissues actually felt soothingly cool on her reddened, irritated nose-were these the kinds that had lotion made into them? Either way,they felt like heaven. Secondly, she was incredibly congested-just blowing her nose was a major effort if she wanted to at least sound slightly healthy.
Next she sipped some of the tea she was given. Honey lemon and ginger, perfect for a sneezing and sniffling princess. She hummed contentedly as the soothing aroma of the ginger helped to loosen up the hellish blockade in her nose. It also tasted good-well,what little that she could taste. It helped with her throat,too.
Unfortunately the ginger worked too well-the steam had cleared her nose but was now tickling it. She hitched twice,managing to put down her cup of tea before snapping forward.
"Hii'tshooo-!! H-Haaa'shoo-!!" Already there was a thin stream of snot dripping down her reddened nose. Peach looked up at the concerned meeting-goers around her-who were all staring,clear concern for the ill ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom present in their expressions.
"Excuse be.." she snuffled, picking up some more tissues and gently dabbed at her nose, as opposed to just flat out blowing. The meeting was about to start, and she couldn't dare to interrupt it. But she savored the soothing lotion on her irritated nose and slipped on her flu mask,breathing in the sharp scent of menthol.
It was barely minutes into the meeting and Princess Peach was already stifling coughs. Every time she did so, about two or three of the other members turned to look at her, obvious concern on their faces.
"I-I…*snf* I'b fide, hodestly.." she slurred just before snapping forward with a wet "Hiip'tsheeww-!!" Ugh,this was getting ridiculous. She couldn't even pay attention to the speaker, and she was the one that was sick!
Sighing, she tried to pay attention. Aside from being feverish and snotty, poor Peach was also exhausted. She was grateful that her sore nose was giving her a break from the sniffling and sneezing, but now she was stifling yawns.
Her heavy eyelids fluttered and before long she had nodded off,snoring congestedly. And for about the first time today, she felt peaceful.
At least until she broke into a coughing fit. The meeting room fell silent as everyone stared in horror at Peach. But she kept coughing, unable to stop…
She wheezed in pain as she finally stopped coughing. "Uughh...I-I dod't feel very well…" she finally sputtered.
"Dearest Princess,you should rest. We can discuss these matters later. Off to bed with you, miss."
"A-Alright…" Peach sighed in defeat. She stumbled out of her chair,picked up her box of tissues and headed for the doorway,but not before suddenly sneezing into her flu mask. "H-Hiii'tschuuu-!!"
Unfortunately that was a pretty messy sneeze-and she learned that the hard way when she felt slimy snot drip down her lips. "Cad this day get ady worse..?"