I realized after I wrote and posted Wild Love that I missed a golden opportunity. That is now rectified. :3
Bog smothers his urge to laugh at the scene before him as Sunny attempts to get ready for his own wedding. Even Dagda is restraining himself as well if the twitching whiskers on his face are anything to go by.
It's not as if the male elf was getting ready alone but the fairy king's personal valet looked ready to knock the fidgeting youth unconscious just so that he could finish dressing the prince-to-be. Legios fixes the rumpled green-embroidered white short-sleeve tunic for the seventh time before firmly forcing his nervous charge to sit down again and this time, smacking the wandering four-fingered hands and ordering the pouting Sunny to quit touching the gold buttons before turning around to retrieve the matching cloak.
"What did I say!" Legios growls, his eyes still on untying the cloak's gold laces.
"No touching," Sunny mumbles, lowering his hands.
"If he's this bad then I'm surprised we haven't heard Marianne yelling out in frustration from dealing with Dawn," Bog mutters.
"Hey! You got it easy, Bog, and it's completely unfair!" Sunny whines.
"He does have a point," Dagda murmurs, eyeing the male goblin's cooler attire with envy and adjusting his own tunic's high-collar while his valet has his back turned. "Although, I'm quite sure your formal wear was different the last time I saw you wearing it."
"No one would have been scared all these years if we knew male goblins wore skirts," Sunny snickers.
"It's a kilt!" Bog growls, correcting for the hundredth time since he arrived. "It's traditional formal wear for all males that become fathers and since we did officially adopt Puck, that includes me."
"So that's not just Dark Forest royalty's attire?" Legios questions before tugging on Sunny's pointed ear. "If you don't sit still and let me finish, young prince, I shall tell Princess Dawn that you are too nervous to marry her today."
"I'll behave!" Sunny swears, becoming rigid.
"The only difference between my clothes and the other males of the Dark Forest is the white stones on my vest and on the kilt belt, which only Dark Forest royalty is allowed to wear, and the amber jewel on the sporran's flap, which only ruling royals are allowed to wear, " Bog explains, motioning to the mentioned items. "Other than that, all males in the Dark Forest wear either a tunic or a vest for their formal wear, no matter their status. Once they become fathers, the kilt and the sporran are added to...uh...well, to signify their successfulness. Males that become grandfathers wear a great kilt, which is just added fabric that extends from the kilt to be worn over the shoulder."
"Is there a reason for the odd pattern?" Dagda asks. "It's probably great camouflage with its dark green, black, light green, white, and purple but I've never seen a design with crossing colors like that in any of the other kingdoms."
"No reason at all. Except maybe as most female goblins will say, it looks pretty," Bog chuckles.
Any more questions are stopped as the chamber door opens slightly and a formal-dressed Puck scurries through the opening to peer around before chittering back to the other side. The cause for his action is revealed as Marianne slips into the room herself wearing a very appealing dress.
The gold-embroidered magenta ankle-length dress is not the tempting dress that teased him nine months ago during that fateful Wild Hunt fight but it is just as alluring with its thin golden band just beneath her nursing breasts and accents her enlarged stomach despite how the fabric flows loosely. Before Bog can really appreciate her enticing appearance, Dagda stands up to quickly block her from his view.
"Marianne! It's bad luck for the bride and groom to see each other before the wedding!" Dagda chides.
"We're already married and this is just a formality," Marianne deadpans. "Besides, I need to talk to Bog and you need to calm down Dawn."
"Wedding jitters as well?" Dagda chuckles, pointing to the statue-impersonating Sunny as Legios makes the last adjustments.
"Not quite. Blossom brought bad news," Marianne murmurs. "Plum disappeared sometime this morning."
"What! But Plum said that...well, she didn't actually say that she'd attend but, but...ah, dung beetles!" Sunny groans.
"She'll probably show up tonight right before the party ends just to annoy you and Dawn with a very, very, long speech full of embarrassing anecdotes," Marianne remarks.
"Yeah, she probably will," Sunny mutters before laughing. "She won't be Plum if she doesn't bring up the dragonfly incident. That's like her favorite story."
"The dragonfly incident?" Bog repeats, getting curious as even the serious fairy valet snickers.
"Well, since you'll be going back to the Dark Forest shortly after the party starts, I guess it's okay to tell you right now," Sunny laughs. "It was right after I turned seven autumns old and I thought that I was old enough to be a dragonfly racer like my eldest brother, so I borrowed one of my dad's dragonflies."
"Borrow suggests that you had Morris' permission, which you didn't. As proven the day before when he told you that you were still too young," Marianne points out.
"Tattle-tale," Sunny mumbles. "Anyway, I accidentally picked the new breeding male that Dad had just traded for from the Shallow Cove, who had never actually been ridden before. He just looked too much like my brother's racer in the pre-dawn light."
Bog cringes and covers his face with his hand. This sounded too much like some goblin young ones back home and he already knew where this was headed.
"How many bones did you break?" Bog questions.
"Surprisingly, none," Marianne chuckles. "He kept a good grip on the saddle when the semi-feral dragonfly took off but that was also a big problem. The Shallow Cove breeder didn't name him White Lightning for nothing and it took the male less time to span the distance from Bulrush Stream to the palace than any of Morris' racers. Sunny's screaming had alerted the guards to the problem but when they managed to catch White Lightning, Sunny lost his grip and fell right into Plum's arms."
"Good thing she was heading to the castle just then or I would have been Sunny Squash. Although, at the time, I figured that I was safer with the crazy dragonfly than with her because the first thing she said was, 'Oh look, it's raining elves! What will they think of next?'," Sunny laughs. "I couldn't tell them who I was or where I was from since I was still shaken-up by everything, so Plum brought me here."
"And he's been sticking around ever since," Dagda teases before turning his attention to Marianne and Bog. "Well, since you two plan on talking to each other, check to make sure everything is ready while I go calm Dawn."
"Not so fast, Your Majesty!" Legios growls, looking pointedly at the elder king's rumpled collar.