Tuesday. Taco Tuesday to be precise. A played out theme for sure, but it was always a part of Bowser's Castle's food schedule. Plus, who doesn't love tacos, right? Well, nobody, not even stacy could resist the crunchy goodness of the food roll.
Dinnertime was a variable in the castle. Some preferred to eat alone. Others liked to eat with their colleagues. Stacy on the other hand…
"No. I want to eat by myself."
And the Boo girl groaned, sliding down her headphones from her head. "Stace-please. We never hang out ever since you started doing all these friggin' magic studies."
The Magikoopa in training wasn't deterred. "I'm sorry, but that's final. I have to study a spell for fusion of two objects. How great would it be to have a Fire & Ice Flower! Or even a Piranha POW Block! Or even Mushroom COINS!" It seemed she was over-enthused by this. To the Nth degree.
The magenta-colored Boo would've pinched the bridge of her nose if she had fingers. Or a nose. Or a nose-bridge. So instead, she simply furrowed her brow, clearly displaying her annoyance. "Are you serious?" she asked, "What in the heck kind of practical uses could come from weirdness like that?"
"Betty, Betty, Betty," she said her friend's name in a 'tsk' manner. Shaking her head while doing so, "To create an omelette, you have to break a few eggs."
And the Boo, once again, was unimpressed. "I'm not eating whatever you cook…"
"Shh. You know what I mean, girl. Come on, we'll hang out tomorrow, I promise," Stacy said in a 'sincere' way.
"...Fine." The Boo reluctantly agreed, and the door was promptly closed in her face before she could get a word in. Only afterwards did she speak. "Jeez did someone steal her favorite paper stash again. That chick is looking like she wants to date her books."
So Betty-the Boo-moved on. Sadly, she was left to eat lunch alone. Again. Her supposed best friend was routinely skipping out on her. But Betty did not complain. After all, it was only the 12th time it had happened this week. She was more than used to it.
On her way to the Lunch Hall, she passed by a Koopa that was ranked higher than her. Larry Koopa to be precise. "Sir~"
The blue-shelled Koopaling was looking outside of a window, before her voice snapped him out of whatever it was. "Huh? Oh, at ease? What's up?"
"Do you know what's going on with Stacy?" she inquired, "I'm worried sick about her. She hasn't even bothered to join me to scare people."
Larry shrugged. "Hey, I dunno. You'd have better luck asking Kammy. She is her teacher after all. There's supposed to be some sorta…" he started waving his index claw in the air in a circle, "psycho-brain thing that connects students and teachers."
Betty sighed mentally. The last thing she wanted was to have to deal with another one of Kammy's thousand lectures on how to float properly when walking through the door. Keep your tail straight this, always stay puffy that. "Eugh...not again."
"Hey, she's a sweet old lady," Larry chided her, "besides, you're older than her techincally since you're d-"
"Don't."
"-sorry."
"Hmph." Betty scowled, before rolling her eyes. "Please, old women like to act all sweet and nice toward little fools like you." She floated over to him, giving him a teasing wink, "You're all just so ripe for picking~"
Larry pushed her out of his face. "...Ew. Uh, you do realize King-Dad would have her out on her butt if she was manipulating me, right?"
The Boo shrugged. "Whatever. I need to figure out what Stacy's deal is."
And Larry turned around, resuming his time alone. "Yeah, you do that…"
Betty shot a flirty glance at the Koopaling before making her way into the lunch hall. She was too hungry to try and rationalize a big problem like that at the current moment. Plus, the tacos were being stolen quick from the buffet table.
After grabbing a hearty plate of tacos, the Boo plopped down at a table, next to someone reading a newspaper.
"God, I'm starving," the Boo said before absorbing a few at once.
The newspaper lowered. Nathan, the yellow Paratroopa was sitting beside her. With his claw, he lowered his shades to where only a bit of his eyes were visible, giving the Boo an inquisitive look. "Is that what she calls it?" he said to himself.
The Boo nearly shrieked at the sound of a voice and when she located the winged Koopa, her face scrunched up into a frown.
"Really? Is that-are you just staring at me?"
With his shades still lowered, the Paratroopa flicked a page of the newspaper. "No. You're transparent. I'm looking at the wall."
"Grrr…" she ground her fangs into her bottom lip. It didn't hurt, because she was already-ya know. "Whatever. Just don't bother me."
"Stress-eating again?" Nathan raised an eyebrow. "Who denied your friend request this time?"
"No you idiot!" She hissed and floated right into his face. "Stacy's on another magic kick!"
The Paratroopa blinked once. Twice. Then he put up the newspaper again. "And? Let her be for once. She's probably busy."
"Busy?!" Betty growled. "For her best friend? Who she continues to break promises to?!"
And the newspaper came down. Nathan actually had a mildly concerned expression on his face. "Now that actually is a legitimate reason to feel upset."
"Ugh!" She floated back over to her plate.
Then he closed the paper up. "In all fairness, she did seem a bit awkward when she snapped at Frederick for no reason."
And the Boo repeated his words in a mocking tone. "'Uh biiiit awkweeeerd.' Of course she is, ya fool. Something's going on with her-something strange." Then she faced the yellow Paratroopa, looking dead into his soul. "And you're going to help me figure out what."
"...I see." And he yawned, looking more bored than before. "And what's in it for me?"
"Oh?" The Boo floated over to him, making flirtatious eyes. "I can think of a few things…~"
