Joe had somehow gotten himself talked into spending his afternoon with Star and Marco. Again. Ever since he had met them, he had made a plan to essentially cut off ties before he could become invested in them. They ruined that plan rather quickly. Disarming him with a combination of Marco's genuine friendly attitude, and Star's genuine sadness at missing out on a day with one of her two friends from Earth. At that moment Marco was over a stove, literally counting seconds, waiting to remove the supposedly delicious food within.
Star, after the first few days, was opening up to both of them. Slowly becoming more comfortable with both Marco and Joe. Marco took it as a positive. He had grown quite attached to Star almost instantly. If Joe had just met them, he would have assumed their mother was less than faithful. Joe had constantly expected to be blown off at a moments notice. The two were so close, even Marco's other friends apparently barely hung out with him anymore as he spent all his time with his new roomie Star, and Joe.
"Okay, it's time for-"
"Marco's Super Awesome Nacho's!" Joe looked at them emotionlessly. He had noticed them occasionally finishing each other's sentences before, and the fact that the enthusiasm was increasing each time was starting to grate on Joe already. He wanted them to just start abandoning him so he could go back to daily peace and quiet. As the pair celebrated the 'triangle food' as Star put it, a knock came at the back door.
"I'll get it." Marco said. He placed the nachos on the table as Star eyed them. She was a little skeptical, but the smell had her entranced. She was not going to wait long at this rate. Joe, who had observed the entire process, simply looked at Star, wondering how different Marco's nachos could be. He took a deeper look at Star as Marco got to the door, noticing her shift from anticipation, to a moment of fear, then shyness, before slowly getting more excited. He found it odd until Marco's cry of surprise grabbed both his and Star's attention. At the sight, Star seemed to immediately get excited.
"Oh my goodness! I-I mean, greetings Princess Ponyhead." Joe found it extremely odd that Star had changed herself so quickly, but barely dweled on it at the sight before him. A floating unicorn head. A God damn floating unicorn head.
"Greetings Princess Butterfly. It is I, Princess Ponyhead. I have come here today to check on my dear friend and make sure that nothing untoward is being forced upon you." She quickly eyed both the boys, then the room, and the nachos, before staring directly at Star. Star herself seemed to have changed drastically from even just mere moments before. Her eyes were almost devoid of personality, her posture almost painfully straight, her countenance blank as a slate. After a moment, she seemed to shake herself free of whatever it was and slumped slightly. Marco picked this moment to recover.
"Oh man. That was wie- Oh. That was, real." He was still in shock, but with magic having already been determined to be quite real, he was not knocked out from shock a second time. He got back to his feet, bouncing back and preparing to talk again, but Princess Ponyhead cut him off before he could.
"Settle down little one. The royals of the room are speaking. We will give you a chance in a moment, but for now, please remain silent." She kept staring straight ahead, looking right at Star, and for whatever reason, remaining just outside the door. "May I come in Princess Star."
"'Tis not my house to give permission to enter, and I would request we tone down the formality. While it may not be proper, this is a foreign world in which being too uptight may be seen as rude, though my host, and fellow guest, I believe are very understanding given the time I have been with them." She held her pose, her hands now grasping each other in front of her.
"While I will not mind you yourself being more casual, I am afraid I myself cannot afford such luxuries. I apologize to both you sir host, red-hoodied boy, and you as well, sir stern, for my possible rudeness." She did a mock bow and, after a moment, Marco seemed to catch what was talked about. While both he and Joe were heavily confused at the attitude of both the girls, Marco realized he had to make a few statements to avoid things getting too much more awkward.
"Well, first of all mis-"
"Princess." Star interjected. Marco for a moment was surprised, but acting on his feet, did his best to rebound on the situation.
"Princess, my apologies." He did a little bow which was returned by the unicorn. "First of all, you have my permission for now to enter my home. My parents may not be here at the moment, my father is finishing up practicing for a small art show and my mother is there to assist him, but I am certain you won't be any problem." The floating head bowed again and moved forward slightly, placing her inside the building. She went to get the door, but Marco was one step ahead, moving to close the door. Joe found it odd how smoothly he was doing all this. From a floating head of a unicorn, to the extremely proper behaviour, to the odd change in Star, who Joe noticed was getting more and more nervous by the moment. He came up with a plan of action, realizing that if this got too awkward, he may end up in a crossfire. While Marco went onto the rest of his points, he began to make his way, slowly, to Star.
"Second, as Star said, feel free to, as we humans say, let your hair down. While we will not judge, there is no need to be formal with us." The head merely gave him a gaze, and he quickly got the hint that perhaps, this was as informal as she got. "It's fine if you don't, as I said. Thirdly, let me introduce myself, I am Marco Diaz, you of course know Princess Star Butterfly, and this last gentleman, is Joseph Ackleman." He motioned to Joe who had made his way over to Star, hesitantly putting his hand on her shoulder. She stiffened for a moment before realizing what was happening. She blinked for a bit before visibly relaxing, still holding quite a bit of formality, but it was certainly subdued. "He is partially under my care as Star is. Finally, we were just about to have a snack, would you like to join us?" He waved his hand now at the plate of nachos, giving a small smile all the while.
"To give a more verbal response, as I feel doing otherwise is rude. Firstly, thank you for your hospitality Sir Marco, and a pleasure to meet you Sir Joseph. Second, this is as informal as I will allow myself. A princess must grace all around her with her presence, lifting them up to a higher standard. Not drag them down into incivility. I have already acknowledged you in the first point, but again, pleasure to meet you both." She bowed a bit, probably to make up for missing it on the first round. "Fourth, I must apologize, but a Princess such as myself cannot partake in such unhealthy foods. Princess Star is your temporary charge in your house so it shan't be held against her, but if any insistence is made, I must request my part be given to the Starving Orphans Fund of Galophrey in my name." Marco merely bowed a little as Joe thought about this a moment. How ANYONE could stand to have such a stick up their ass that far was beyond him, but he was certainly not going to start a fight at this point. However, with Marco looking a little dejected, Joe thought of something to say.
"Well, that's unfortunate. I thought a princess, a symbol of authority, should be willing to eat plenty of different, even unhealthy, foods while at a gathering, regardless of formalities. Seems rather rude not to at least try such a treat. And besides, what is the worst that could happen? You act like a proper guest and accept, therefore helping your people look polite and civilized? Sounds like what you want, but rebelling against niceties generously offered out of a token of goodwill is simply what the Ponyheads must do." Out of the corner of his eye Joe saw Star give him an amazed look. He had never spoken so much without having been asked a question before, and it was surprisingly proper, unlike his usual to-the-point style. Ponyhead had a different reaction entirely.
She was stunned. Caught between to decisions on what is proper. What she didn't realize was that she had several options, but no matter how prepared you are, if it's not learned, but memorized, it becomes almost impossible to make the right choice. Joe smiled inwardly as the girl started to panic. He took note as a wildness bled into her eyes. She clearly had something come to mind but before she could enact it, she stopped. She took a deep breath, and composed herself.
"While I certainly do appreciate your, advice, Sir Joseph, I still must politely decline. If I had planned myself better I would have had a lighter dinner, but unfortunately I must say I must watch what I eat. A girl must maintain her appearance after all. I will however, try one, if it would please the room." Joe immediately had a thought.
Compromise. Wasn't expecting that route. Guess she isn't as over the top as I thought. He quickly did a polite now, signalling his understanding. He figured it was best not to push any further, less he create a problem out of nothing. Star remained awestruck for a moment before composing herself, a bit of wonder on her face, while Marco, now smiling, approached a cabinet and grabbed a small bowl. He placed a few chips and a little cheese into it for Ponyhead, offering it to her kindly.
"The table will be fine Sir Marco. We can all try them at the same time." With a nod, he did as instructed, and the four of them gathered to try the nachos.
And it was love at first bite. Marco smiled proudly as his three guests moaned lightly in bliss. None of them had tasted such flavorful junk food before. Not a word was spoken as Ponyhead seemed to struggle with herself, the wildness Joe had sparked returning for a moment, as Star and Joe himself unknowingly crammed even more nachos into their mouths. Ponyhead look regretful that she had locked herself away from the nachos for the rest of the day. As they finished Marco started cleaning up almost immediately, with Ponyhead chiming in.
"Thank you sir Marco. It is good to see at least Princess Stars guide knows how to treat a lady." She glared at Joe for a hot second before resuming. "Now then, I would like to see this domicile of yours, as was my original intent. I hope that, at the very least, my dear friend is comfortable and i simply can't take any of your words for it. I do hope you understand." Marco politely responded.
"That is fine your highness. Please, come this way." He lead them out of the kitchen, proudly showing off his family home. First stop, dining room.
"This is the dining room, connected with the living room, and has stairs leading towards the second floor, which we can get to in a moment." Ponyhead inspected the room, coming up with a question on the spot.
"How did you light this chandelier? I was informed there was no magic on earth." Star looked questioningly, never having the courage to ask. Marco, with only a moment's hesitation, answered.
"Oh, we use electricity."
"What's that?"
"It's like lightning, but much less powerful and made by machines."
"How do you control it?"
"Wires and some complicated engineering. Not really sure on the specifics."
"If you don't understand it, why use it?"
"It's very convenient."
"How so?"
"Just about everything here runs on electricity. All the lights, the A/C, the T.V., and a ton of small little doodads."
"A/C? T.V.? What are these, doodads?" Ponyhead was clearly confused. Unable to comprehend the different words and items.
"Ohkay. Well, A/C is short for Air Conditioner. It is a device that allows you to control temperature and humidity throughout a building. T.V., short for television, allows you to see and hear various things, like news or entertainment shows, from around the world. As for little doodads, there are plenty of things, the most important one is probably the computer, which allows us to do a lot of things more easily, and allows us to share basically all of our knowledge with each other, instantly, across the entire planet." Ponyhead simply floated there, looking shocked at the knowledge. "Well, you need a computer to access it, but still, it's allowing us to progress at a far better pace than ever before in human history."
"...So, you're like, a hyper advanced society?" Marco took a moment, than nodded slightly. "And you mean to tell me that your species does all of this, without magic?" He nodded a bit quicker this time. "Well, while I can't truly believe that, I will take your word for it at the moment. Please, continue the tour." The tour was, for the most part uneventful, though the idea of the toilet being commonplace through her for a loop. Then, we reached Star's room.
"You are making Princess Star stay in a room so dreary and bland? What sort of civilized people would make royalty stay in such a room?" Star immediately responded, halting Marco's own response before he could even think of one.
"It's not like that Princess Ponyhead, this is my room from Mewni, recreated here magically with my wand."
"Princess Star, a princess must surround herself with what is expected of her. This room feels dark and gloomy. Regardless of how we feel, we must at least create a welcoming, if neutral environment. We must suppress individuality in ourselves for the betterment of others." Joe, who had remained silent since his previous comment noticed an immediate shudder from Star, and a surprised reaction from Marco. As Star began to shake a little, Joe responded.
"That's hardly true Princess Ponyehad." Ponyhead turned her attention to Joe, venom on her tongue ready to be spewed, but Joe was a step ahead and kept going. "Individuality is a powerful tool of all people, in all walks of life, and in all positions. Without individuality, you cannot grow."
"Individuality leads to risk. Risking her people's safety for some change is not worth the risk."
"Risk is equivalent to living. If you aren't willing to take a risk, you cannot grow, you cannot better yourself, you cannot better others, and you certainly cannot live. Just as how you cannot live without risking dying, you cannot move forward without risking failure. If you fail to understand that, then here is another one; which would you drink from, a flowing river, or a stagnant pond?" Ponyhead moved to respond, but Joe cut her off. He was on a roll and even though he could catch himself, he realized that it would be worse to shut up than to keep going. "The answer is the river. Stagnant water allows the growth of less than desirable things. Sure, you can purify it, but at the end of the day, you merely treat the symptoms of the problem, not the problem. We have seen it countless times in human history. At one point we had a group of people who every monarch put great trust in, and those people determined that knowledge that let people to question them was too dangerous, so they destroyed that knowledge. A few decades later, when that knowledge was lost, a great plague swept through the civilized world, killing over a third of the population, peasant and noble alike. If they had not tried to stagnate, people would have lived, and we could have technology far surpassing what we have now. But because someone wanted to convince those in charge that stagnation was good, for their own benefit, the world at large took a blow so massive it took over a century to get back up from the damage done. So, to take this back to the pressing matter, if Star were to abandon her individuality as you suggest she do, than she would be no better than either a puppet on a string, being used by someone else for their agendas, or she would be merely maintaining the status quo, waiting for something to come along and do something that she isn't prepared for, causing the wrong decision to be made. Rulers need to think on their feet, and that is part of 'individuality'. And being even a little unpredictable, is a positive. For the final example, in a battle, it's easy to plan around an enemy who will pick very specific attacks and defenses, wouldn't they?"
Ponyhead just, floated there. Trying to find a hole in his statement. She thought she found one, but she realized that such a thing was already answered. Individuality, was it really so, bad? Was it really- Her thoughts immediately zeroed out, taking a deep breath, the slowly frazzling princess returned to her previous demeanor, a rehearsed answer flowing from her lips.
"Individuality of others is not a concern. The princess's job is to make her kingdom sparkle. Not to make it grow. That is the efforts of the nobility, which the princess is to control when she one day becomes queen, making sure to pick an appropriate king to rule alongside her and give her an appropriate heir, preferably while also making blood ties to powerful allies, ensuring assistance in times of need. Individuality is not needed in any of these matters."
"So a princess is a tool of others? Letting them decide the flow of the world? A princess, and a queen, are the heights of authority. They should seek counsel from others of course, but far be it for them to be puppets on strings. Nothing is easier to control, than a person running purely on logic." The two stared each other down, an unspoken argument raging between them before Joe realized that the conversation was done. He couldn't make any further points right now, and he had just fought with the head for quite a bit of time. He couldn't afford to keep it going, so he decided to defuse the situation, and let it go before he pissed off everyone in the room. Unknown to him, Star was looking at him from the corner of her eye, wonder again filling her being. "But, you do you I guess. Words have less value than experience after all." At this, the conversation was done. The tour wrapped up a little later, and Ponyhead, while doubtful of Joe, was convinced Star would be fine with Marco around. Without any extra hassle, Ponyhead disappeared into a swirling portal, giving a pair of scissors to Star as she did. Joe didn't pay too much attention, rather done with talking or trying to understand anything more that day. As the swirling portal closed though, Joe felt the need to ask a question to Star.
"So, Star, what was up with her?" Joe asked. The question shook Star from her overly proper state and she turned towards him, Marco taking a seat on the living room couch that they found themselves near after the tour.
"Well, you see, um…" Star was clearly nervous, and Joe couldn't bear the sight of her stuttering around, nervous all the while. It felt like looking at a feminine version of himself from back THEN. Before he could say a thing, Marco jumped in.
"It's fine if you don't want to Star. We understand not all stories need to be told." He shot a momentary glare at Joe, and a moment later, he was himself confused. Sure Joe had nearly made a mess of things twice today, but he did it from a good place, right? Marco became lost in his own thoughts as he tried to understand what he had just felt as Joe, meanwhile, silently ticked a check mark in his head. He had fully expected it to happen eventually, and honestly, he wasn't impressed. He had a journal at home and he felt like this was going to be an easy middle of the road answer. Star on the other hand…
"Well, i-it's okay. I don't really think it's my business to talk about it either way, but let's just say what happened to us, it was awful." He wasn't really sure how much she was underplaying it. He hadn't seen eyes that dead in a long time, but he also never saw her hate him. She didn't know him long enough he had assumed for the usual, but after everything he said to Ponyehad, her supposed friend, he had expected it to go a bit faster, even if she had a resistance to it. But it didn't matter. So long as he didn't ruin it himself, it would all be fine. At least, for now. However, it was now only a matter of time. And he found himself dreading that day, growing surprisingly attached to Star.
"Suit yourself. We all have our problems, some little, some big, some temporary, some eternal. We will all have some, some will have many. I just hope you don't bottle them up too much. While we may not be the choice you make to talk to, make sure to let it go." She nodded, however, it was obvious, she was bottling whatever it was up. Not that he expected her to share anything if this was real. They only knew each other for a few days. Trust is not that easy to earn. He looked at a clock and sighed. It was getting late for them. He was originally supposed to stay the night in Marco's room, but that would be awkward now. He couldn't afford that. He really wanted to see how long it would take Star to begin the path like Marco had, and making Marco explode quickly would simply speed that along.
"Well, it's getting late guys. Probably best to start hitting the hay. Marco, no offense, but mind if I sleep on the couch? Think it may be a bit weird for me, you know?" Marco, realizing what Joe was referring to simply nodded. Star meanwhile, yawned, signaling a complete end to the night. The three did their nightly routine, and headed to their seperate places to sleep. When they were out of sight, and out of mind, Joe started to think to himself. He couldn't do his usual nightly activities in someone else's home, that would simply be rude. He wasn't tired, he rarely if ever actually felt tired. He couldn't go for a walk, if he did, he may give his hosts a scare. He couldn't read, the Marco's parents might get the wrong idea and he couldn't hide it by pretending to be asleep as it was too dark to read without a light. He could think, but that could be put on a back burner. He tried to think of some more things, but a sound disturbed that.
Looking around, he spied Star, standing at the top of the stairs, in what he assumed was a light blue nightie with a design on it. The little light that hit her made him again remember his thoughts from when he first saw her. She was gorgeous. He quickly pushed them out of his head though, no reason to gawk at a girl he had known for barely a few days. Wouldn't work out anyway. He ripped his eyes away from her and to a nearby clock. It was past 1:30 A.M. Glancing at the door, he noticed that an umbrella was sitting near the door that wasn't there earlier, he must have completely missed the parents returning home. A fact that startled him, until he heard Star coming downstairs. He looked to her, and it seemed she noticed at last that he was awake, growing sheepish immediately.
"Sorry, didn't mean to wake you, I'll-"
"Don't worry about it Star. I haven't slept. Truth be told, I don't sleep much. Haven't in a long time. You okay?" Star seemed to jerk a bit at his little confession. She clearly hadn't expected it, and Joe was slightly shocked that he had said anything beyond 'it's okay'. She recovered and asked the first thing on her mind.
"You, don't sleep? Um, may I ask, why?"
"Not really. I don't know you well enough." Star seemed almost, sad. She seemed though to bottle that up too, relating it to not knowing her well enough yet. For whatever reason, this made Joe feel like, talking more. He redirected it though, not understanding why, or even what, he wanted to talk about. A quick glance at Star, now that his eyes were focusing a bit better, revealed her to have dark bags under her eyes, with just a bit of make-up trying to cover them. "So, you having trouble sleeping lately, or just sleeping in general too?" She perked up, a momentary grin on her face before it fell.
"General sleeping issues." She sighed. "I, haven't slept good in a long time. Just, thought maybe a glass of water would help tonight. It sometimes does."
"Bad idea." She looked at him quizzically. "Poor sleep with late night drinks leads to accidents." She blushed a bit. "Better to just, start dreaming."
"But, don't you need to sleep to dream though?"
"Nah, not really. At least for me, I will start a scenario in my head if I am not tired and, before I know it, I'm being woken up by an alarm." Star looked at him, interested. She also seemed to have lost a bit of her melancholic state, seeming more, relaxed. Joe found it odd. Usually when that happens, things are already going bad, but the other usual symptoms weren't there yet. Maybe she was skipping a few. Wouldn't be the first time. Best to make a note of it.
"Hmm, that sounds like a good idea actually. Maybe, maybe I'll try it. Thank you." She smiled wide, almost engulfing even her heart-shaped cheek marks, and it stunned Joe. He had not expected to be the cause of the first genuine smile he would see from her. She almost looked like she wanted to bound over to him, but instead, quietly made her way back up the stairs she had started down. Stopping only for a moment at the top. "Thanks again Joe, good night." With that, she disappeared, probably reaching her room and falling asleep. Joe merely stayed there for a moment before deciding to go to sleep, just to avoid worrying her in the morning. Just like the first day he had met her, it was a dreamless sleep. Lead by a single thought at the realization of why he was heading to sleep.
Not again.