Chapter 22 Automatic Mother

"Wha?" Larry went completely slack jawed. The stare he gave Junior was one that would be worn by the ultra confused.

Junior beamed. "Yeah! I'm making a scrapbook of all the things that happened to the family in the past!"

Larry blinked. "What's a...scrap...book?"

Junior chuckled. "It's like a history book, except with your family."

"Oh." Larry's snout wrinkled up. "That sounds boring."

"Oh, it's not! It's really not! There are so many things that I learned just by asking the others about their past!" Junior got in a little closer. "And now, I want to ask you."

Larry raised an eyebrow. "Wait, you already asked everyone else?" He sniffed. "Glad to know I'm last on the docket."

Junior glared at him. "Just because you're last doesn't mean you're least." He pulled his notebook and pencil out of his hammerspace. "Come on, let's go sit in the courtyard."

Larry let out a huff, but followed Junior regardless. As they made their way to the courtyard, Junior himself was starting to have some second thoughts about asking Larry. He seemed more than a little attitudinal right now. Besides, he wasn't going to be fully invested in this if he had the threat of Junior telling on him hanging over his head.

But then again, how else was he supposed to get Larry to talk? Mr. Grouchy Gus wasn't going to sit down and spill his life's story to the prince just...because. Yeah, this was the best way of doing it.

Junior took a seat on the bench, and Larry sat down right beside him. His facial expression was odd, that was for sure. However, Junior wasn't going to let up with this. He smiled, if for no other reason than to help his youngest brother feel more comfortable.

"Well," Junior said, "I'm ready when you are."

Larry sniffed again and focused on a bush a few feet away. "Uhh…" he giggled. "Do you want to hear about the time when I pranked Lemmy?"

Junior blinked. "Uhh…"

"It was one of my better pranks. It required me to wait until he was done in the bathroom. Now, the next part some people might see as gross, but I saw it more as an opportunity to…"

"Stop, stop, stop!" Junior said. He let out a frustrated sigh. "I don't want to hear that!"

Larry grinned. "Oh, come on! It's fun!"

Junior shook his head. "Still no." He gripped hold of the notebook. "I was think that you could tell me something more...detailed."

Larry laughed. "Oh, this prank is definitely detailed!"

Junior cringed. "Not that kind of detailed!" He looked up at the youngest Koopaling. "How about…well, do you remember the time when you and the others went on a vacation to the beach, but you had to stay in a hotel because of a tropical storm?"

Larry raised an eyebrow. "That's an oddly specific example."

Junior groaned. "I was talking with Morton about it! Don't worry; I'm not purposely trying to pry into your...I'M NOT DOING ANYTHING BAD!"

Larry snickered, covering his mouth to hold the chortles in. "That's what they all say."

Junior shook his head. "You know what I mean. Do you remember that experience?"

Larry's face fell. "I do remember that experience. Actually."

"Oh! Good!" Junior got his pen ready. "Tell me all that you remember, being as specific and detailed as possible!"

Larry flashed Junior a glare before sighing, his face drenched with sadness. "Well, it wasn't really the experience that was interesting. More so what stemmed from it."

...

I was just hanging out in the restaurant of the hotel that we were staying at. Oh, did you know? I had managed to sneak out of the room while no one was looking...oh, you know? Pfft. Well, I guess that makes my job easier. I'm probably going to have to rag on Morton a little for completely betraying my trust and tattling on me though.

What was I saying? Oh, right, restaurant.

Now, I didn't actually have any money, so I couldn't get any food. But, honestly, that wasn't what I wanted. If anything, I wanted to test out the skills I had acquired in the art of sneakiness. I wanted to be stealthy. Stick to the shadows and blend in with the surroundings. You know, be a ninja.

Man, ninjas are cool. Wonder if I could be one for Halloween?

Oh, sorry, I got distracted. So, um, anyway...what I was doing was staying away from all the people's line of sight. Whenever somebody turned away, I bolted around the corner. Whenever a customer was distracted, I hid under their table. And it was there that I remember a certain...TV show.

You see, the restaurant I had been staying at was a fancy one. I mean, it had a bar with boozy drinks and everything, plus some TVs to keep the customers entertained while the eat (probably a much better alternate than having to TALK to people. Blugh). And where I was hiding underneath the table, there was a TV situated right over it.

I was drawn into the show immediately, sucked in, I guess you could say. This was because a football game had been playing. I watched as the teams competed with one another, tearing down each other and tackling their opponents to the ground. These guys were strong. They had muscles that would make Roy jealous.

But what really caught my attention was when the game was over. A guy who had been on the winning team had ended up walking onto the stage when the game was over. Confetti flew up, balloons showered down on him, and people of all walks of life came to worship him...oh, I'm sorry, CONGRATULATE him. When he finally went up to the mic, he said something that caught my attention.

"Thank you all for all your support." His face had grown somber. "Now, unfortunately, my mother had passed away last night, so she didn't get a chance to see me win my first Koopa Bowl."

That got my attention. Oh, not the dying part; people died all the time. It was a part of life; I understood that even at the time. No, what interested me was specifically WHO had died.

His...mother?

I hadn't heard that word before then. It fascinated me. I tossed it around in my head, trying to understand it and put it into context. I was so distracted by this activity that I had accidentally wandered out from below the table. I wandered the hallways, this time not even bothering to be stealthy.

That was when Bowser and the others found me. I got quite a big yelling because of that. Something something misbehavior, something something delinquent. Nothing I wasn't used to hearing, even back then.

But still, I didn't let it bother me. Not only was I used to them yelling at me, but also because I was distracted by my thoughts. What was a mother? Was it something I could buy at a store? Like a pet or something?

That actually caused me to grin. I wanted a mother! I could have a pet mother, where I could bathe it and take care of it and all that jazz. I even asked Bowser about it when we got back to the hotel room.

"You want to get what at the store?" Bowser asked with a blink.

"A mother! This cool guy on TV had a mother, and I want one too!"

Everyone stared at me like I had sprouted an extra head. Before I knew it, they were giggling.

"What? What's so funny?" I asked, scrunching up my eyebrows to show my anger.

Bowser chuckled and shook his head. "Larry...you can't buy a mother at a store?"

I blinked. "You can't?"

"Nope."

"Then...where do you get one?"

"You don't," said Iggy. "You just...automatically have one."

"Auto-mat-ic-ally?" I asked.

Iggy nodded. "Yep. You have one when you're born."

I looked down at the floor. "Huh. Interesting."

"It is!" said Iggy. "I'll explain more about it later."

I nodded, bouncing up and down again. "That sounds great! I want to learn all I can about mothers!"

I remember Bowser and Iggy exchanging a look. It was a little saddened, but I didn't pay much attention to it at the time. Really, I was just so entranced by this cool new concept that I wasn't worried about anything else.

"A mother," I whispered. I giggled. "That's a cool word."

...

Junior felt a pang as he wrote down that last part. Mothers. That was a concept that had given all of the Koopa family a lot of trouble over the past few years. Junior himself didn't have one (he was a clone of his father), but he could say that he definitely craved the affection of one. He didn't blame the young Larry for being so fascinated by the concept. It would only make sense that he would be, since he never knew his biological mother. How could he, when his biological father hadn't wanted them?

"Junior, are you okay?"

Junior wiped a tear from his eye. "I...I'm fine." He studied the page, making sure he had all the details. Although, in all honesty, this time he didn't care whether or not he did. This story hit a little too close to home with its subject matter, more so than the story of Ludwig attempting suicide. As horrible as that may sound, Junior just had more grief surrounding mothers than...well, you know.

He turned back to Larry. "Can you...tell me another one? One that's...cool?"

Larry smirked. "Cool, huh? Well, I know I can certainly deliver on that!"