Well did not expect to go on like this. A bit more... exposition and world-building folks. DON'T WORRY, this is last time I will be going off on a tangent like this; I just really want to explain how my world works I'm proud of it. Although I did include more then just world-building this time... I think. I can get a little caught up in this. No matter, back to the story.
"It is a great honor my lady; just don't make Penelope too jealous." Darren spoke with a surprisingly normal voice as he danced with Star as she responded giggling.
"Oh don't worry about it, I'm just entertaining one of my vassals and friends." Star danced alongside Darren as several noble boys danced to the side clearly jealous of the attention Darren was getting.
The dance of the Forest was the first 'serious' dance in Star's mind because it's the one where she was supposed to dance with those whose families her mother and father favored. She did find it a bit boring though as all she had to do was accept dances from those her parents deemed should be accepted and reach out to a few to show particular favor; and she was lucky Clan Aloe was one of them. The political intrigue wasn't the major thing for her, it was the background for her life at these occasions, but she did find it annoying how most of the boys, and some of the girls, kept on pushing to dance for her HARD. She constantly checked out of the corner of her eye to make sure Marco was ok with this… and he seemed oddly distracted with what Toffee was saying to him during the whole evening. 'Wonder what they're talking about… I wish I could join them.' Star thought to herself as she heard the bell ring bringing the dance to a close with her mother speaking up.
"The strength of our people has been planted deeply and grows strong." Star stepped back and curtseyed in a small flourish that had been practiced for much of her life. "Now let us…" Her mother and Star's curtsey were suddenly interrupted by a large thump with vibrations.
Everyone began looking back and forth in confusion with the children going back to their sitting places as the knights immediately went on high alert. After about a minute however the reason for this was made clear with Manfred's announcement.
"Announcing the arrival of King Dave Lucitor and Queen Wrathmelior Lucitor with their son Prince Thomas Lucitor of The Underworld." Star's eyebrows went up in confusion as murmurs spread throughout the crowds of nobility.
"The Lucitors!"
"They dare to come here?"
"Are the Butterflys really ok with them?"
"*harrumph* Waltzing in like nothing is wrong."
"A bold strategy, let's see how it plays out."
'Well, this is going to be interesting. Hopefully Tom is going to be ok.' Star thought to herself as Dave, the 25 foot tall Wrathmelior, and Tom (with The Wandering Hippie in tow for some reason) took their seats as Moon made to announce The dance of Steel.
SN: 30 seconds earlier
"… so The freehold of Tormund has been surrounded by The Kingdom of Mewni… for 10 years?" Marco asked this with clear shock as Toffee nodded replying.
"Yes. They voted to remain independent and, despite being severely anti-inclusive to non-Mewmans, they have maintained the economic independence to survive. They are rather small, only having roughly 256 sq kilometers of land area in their realm, yet have maintained independence. What surprises me is how they survived having alienated most trading guilds with their conservative views." Marco had to admit that was impressive as he watched The dance of The Forest wrap up.
Toffee had been filling in Marco on the remaining 'important' kingdoms after explaining The dance of the Forest while waiting for The dance of Steel which, according to Toffee, was the most important one. In that time he had learned about Rimal Bayda, the Arabian like desert kingdom just west of Ticalla jungle, and Kingdom Gorge, the nation situated in a gigantic mountain pass in the border mountains just south of the previously mentioned two nations. Both of those were valuable trading partners, especially Rimal Bayda as it controlled the non-sea trading routes to the north. Toffee had also mentioned another race known as 'The Rats' which were essentially very large sentient rats that had no nation of their own but lived under Moon Butterfly's rule. At this Toffee spoke up again.
"Now this next dance is rather important as it focuses on Mewni foreign rela-" *thump*Marco looked around in confusion speaking up.
"What was that?" *Thump* Toffee replied after a few seconds.
"I have an idea, but it's a bit of a long stretch." After a few seconds Toffee nodded to the door. "As anticipated, fashionably late." Marco blinked in shock as while he recognized Tom and The Wandering Hippie with him he did not recognize the Mewman and the 25 foot tall demon like thing. 'Hard to tell if that's a Monster or a demon.' Marco thought to himself as Manfred spoke up.
"Announcing the arrival of King Dave Lucitor and Queen Wrathmelior Lucitor with their son Prince Thomas Lucitor of The Underworld." Marco watched them take their seats as the crowds murmured a little with Toffee filling Marco in.
"They would be the Lucitors, the rulers of the Underworld and the demons and the undead that live within it. It also has the honor of being perhaps the second most powerful nation in all of the lower lands right behind The Kingdom of Mewni itself." Marco nodded at that as Toffee continued. "With the advent of the modern Silver Bell Ball they had only taken to showing up during The dance of Steel which is the closest to how the ball was before Moon and I altered it to suit the modern day; that is before they stopped coming at all." Marco blinked in confusion at this and went to ask a question that, once again, Toffee seemingly already knew what it was. "Are you aware of Tom and my daughter's relationship?" Marco nodded as he answered.
"Yes, even the punishment Star gave him." As Toffee answered Marco had a very bad feeling he knew where this was going.
"Well after their 'breakup' many nations looked down on the Lucitors for not only not curbing their son's anger but being willing to go to war to keep from admitting it; what many claim was the height of folly. Many of Moon's family members outright said the Lucitors should do far more than just apologize and let their son be punished by Star for his actions. The Lucitor's pride, a thing they value very highly above all else, was damaged even more severally by these accusations and as such they have refused in the past five balls to come at all due to the situation. Moon has been rather busy with other things and with a tempestuous relationship between the two kingdoms stretching back centuries it has… not gone so well in healing that wound." Marco responded to that.
"Why can't everyone just call it even after all that? I know both Tom and Star have moved on from that and are good friends again." Toffee glanced at Marco replying with a deliberate tone.
"Because it would show weakness for either side to approach first." Marco stared at Toffee in confusion as Moon began speaking about The dance of Steel. "The Butterflys were wronged so they don't want to forgive too easily lest others take advantage of them while the Lucitors don't wish to lose what pride they have left and appear to be whipped curs of the Butterflys, their only real rivals." Marco took this in nodding slowly as Toffee changed topic. "But enough of that, on to more important matters. The dance of Steel is essentially what the original Silver Bell Ball was before the changes made which is foreign powers cementing their alliances with each other. In the more traditional style the heir for both Mewni and the Underworld will ask various different political heirs to dance culminating with the two of them dancing. However that has since changed so that each heir will get to choose one person to dance with before moving onto a major dance involving all of the political entities. But I am guessing we will be revisiting the more traditional style at least somewhat." At this Star got up and moved across the dance floor to a fancy looking pigeon on what looked to be a mechanical pair of legs. "And my suspicions were correct yet again." Star held her hand out to Rich pigeon, 'God what a weird name.' Marco thought to himself as Star spoke up.
"Rich Pigeon, would you care to dance with me?" The pigeon seemed to smile as Marco thought to himself, 'He hasn't spoken a single word the entire night, are these guys really…'
"I would love to princess Star." A slight gasp came out of everyone with the two pigeons looking like they were about to faint due to shock. Marco turned towards Toffee who had an intrigued look on his face as the two started dancing.
"Very interesting, they can speak a recognizable language; and Low Mewman no less. Considering his parents look like they didn't know about this I must say he trusts Star to a great degree to reveal such a feature. Maybe our alliance is going to be quite strong after all…"
"Your Majesty?" Toffee blinked as if coming out of a daze and replied to Marco.
"I'm fine, just had some interesting information piled on me. *Ahem* Regardless judging by my daughter's lack of reaction she must have known something about this so… this may be a case of playing the game well. The alliance between us and the pigeons is certainly much stronger now in the eyes of everyone even if it isn't actually that way." Marco blinked as he realized that Star didn't have a strong reaction… and neither did Alexis, Ponyehad, or that other girl with them. 'Is Star already playing this game to her advantage? Damn I have some catching up I need to do.' Marco thought to himself as the dance ended. "So if I am correct in my assumption with the Lucitors coming tonight this will either be a peace offering to the Butterflys or they are going to passive-aggressively imply they want back in and are waiting for us to ask for them to return." Tom got up from his seat and moved to ask Ponyhead to dance, which she accepted with a bit of miffed air. "And it is the later. You remember how I told you about the initial asking for the dance Marco." Marco nodded and replied.
"The Lucitors have told Tom they want Star to ask him to dance and not the other way around to imply that they are still a proud nation standing on par with them. If they were to ask it would imply that they were in some way subservient to the Butterflys and they do not want that." Toffee slowly applauded Marco's words as Star chose her next partner.
"You have learned well already, I see you have a bright future ahead of you at our side." Marco beamed at this. "Now if only everyone in our family was as astute as you are. I think you may not have noticed this but the Butterfly family itself is actually not such a 'proficient' group of politicians. Several are astute and capable and that number is on the rise due to Moon giving them a set education, can't believe we need to force that, but they are still the minority where it counts. Most of their education is about military leadership and court etiquette with the former being limited in its helpfulness even in this time and the latter mostly good for being polite and almost nothing else." Toffee shook his head for a second as if accepting the state the Butterfly family is in. "However like I said that is changing, especially since entire noble families are being slowly incorporated into the family due to marriage, bringing in fresh ideas and capable minds… for the most part. One such capable mind is a Sir Stamford Greyjoy master of the royal treasury and father to a Helsinki Greyjoy." He pointed to a balding man with a thin beard of silver hair wearing subdued and aged clothing, like it hadn't been replaced in a while, who was slim and had a surprisingly youthful look in his clear grey eyes. "His propensity for saving money and finding unique ways to produce and procure it has proven invaluable; you will be studying under him for economics as well as a variety of different tutors in various subjects in addition to your knight training." Marco actually chuckled at that feeling a bit of familiarity.
"Well I'm going back to school it seems. I hope this won't lose my interest like earth school does." Toffee nodded with a wry lopsided grin on his face.
"Oh I wouldn't worry about that. I've heard of how your school functions and Star claims that yes it is rather slow and even drull at times. I think it's a policy to insure no kid is left behind which seems rather strange, I mean everyone deserves education but there's no need to hold others back just to help the slow ones out." As they had gone on in their conversation Star and Tom had been going back and forth asking different representatives to their kingdoms to dance. "Well, it looks like they are 'Clubsnubbing' each other." Marco raised an eyebrow in confusion as Toffee explained. "It's when two nobles of a similar stature try to bait the other into asking them to dance so the one who is being asked has the advantage of prestige." Marco looked at Star seeing how she seemed surprisingly relaxed even though she snuck worried glances in Tom's direction who, by comparison, seemed rather nervous glancing at his parents constantly; specifically his father.
"I think Tom doesn't want to do this." Marco brought this up as he watched The Wandering Hippie, dressed in a large leather duster with some sort of fishing hat and his staff from the end of year school dance, whisper to Tom in a reassuring manner.
"I think you are right and judging from the way he is looking it seems King Dave Lucitor is the mastermind behind this." Marco also noticed that many people were keeping their eyes focused on Tom and Star with intrigue.
"What's going to happen?"
"*sigh* We shall find out soon enough."
'Why does it have to turn out this way?' Star thought to herself as she watched Tom dance with the princess from Rimal Bayda. She had been hoping for just a 'normal' dance but all chances of that had been thrown out the window when the Lucitors showed up. As Tom finished up his dance Star heard Ponyhead whisper to her.
"Go for Prince Kelpbottem, don't give Tom the satisfaction of winning this Clubsnubbing match." Alexis spoke up at that.
"You do realize it's his dad who's behind this issue right?" Star left going for Kelpbottem unsure of what to do otherwise as she heard Ponyhead whisper one last thing.
"Well it doesn't matter; she shouldn't let them push her around after what demon turd has done to her." Star asked Prince Kelpbottem to dance with her which he eagerly accepted.
As she danced she once again gazed around the room specifically taking in Marco and Toffee, who had gone strangely silent now, as they watched her. Sophia Rose and some of the other girls watched her with interest almost certainly finding the situation gossip worthy and her discomfort entertaining. Tom appeared extremely uncomfortable with The Wandering Hippie appearing to act as much as a bodyguard as moral support. 'Didn't know he did that kind of stuff.' Star thought to herself knowing it might be needed given how many of the young men were trying to stare him down, likely to intimidate him into not going for her hand. 'Seriously, we're not getting back together why are they so obsessed over this?!' Star thought to herself as she took in the king and queen. Wrathmelior seemed concerned over her son like she didn't want to force him into the spotlight while Dave seemed to be staring Tom down as if to say 'Don't do anything I didn't tell you to do.' She finished up her dance with Kelpbottem only now realizing he had been talking to her the whole time and was expecting a reply from her.
"Oh um…" Kelpbottem chuckled a little bitterly at this as he responded.
"It's ok, it can be distracting when your ex just waltzes in uninvited; even though he technically was." They parted with him kissing her hand.
As she went back to her seat she heard her mother's voice in her head, a spell that her mom could use to deliver a few words but not much more. 'Next time you step up, ask Tom to dance. We need to heal rifts despite our pride.' Star sighed and glanced at her mother before sitting down as Alexis and Ponyhead had just finished an argument with Alexis finishing up.
"… so we should not hold King Lucitor's actions over Tom." Ponyhead shrugged nonchalantly as she replied.
"Eh, he's still a turd for what he's doing." Star spoke up at this.
"Will you stop it with Tom, I don't think he has a choice here. It's like how we don't really have a choice when our parents tell us to do things for this dance." Ponyhead shrugged again.
"Eh, this whole 'political thingy' is overrated anyways. Why can't we just talk to each other and sort out our crap there?" Star rolled her eyes knowing exactly what her dad would say if he heard that.
She looked up as Tom got up and started walking across the dance floor towards the princess from Kingdom Gorge. As she waited for her turn to go up Tom seemed to suddenly slow in walking across the floor as if making some snap decisions. At this small action everyone went quiet and watched him as Tom closed his eyes and inhaled and exhaled slowly as his feet turned at the last second and took his last few steps… to stand right in front of Star.
"Princess Star Butterfly, would you care to dance with me?" The silence was so palpable that a pin could be dropped and everyone would hear it. Star practically laughed as she felt some of the tension suddenly leave her as she accepted his hand and stood up replying with a smile.
"I would love to Prince Tom." Star practically swept Tom up onto the dance floor as Tom followed along almost stumbling. "Sorry about that, but man it's actually a relief to see you here again." Tom chuckled as glanced over shoulder and replied.
"Yeah, it's nice to be here with you again." As they turned in their dance Star saw the varying expression everyone was watching them with surprisingly bringing her some relief.
The Hippie had two thumbs up was a big grin on his face while Wrathmelior was practically weeping with relief as she watched her son relax as the tension in the room dissipated with The Butterfly family chucking amongst themselves. Everyone else was relaxing… except for Dave Lucitor. Star could see a look of absolute disappointment on his face as he looked away from his son. 'Well that can't be good.' Star thought to herself as she spoke to Tom.
"So, your parents told you to Clubsnub me?" Tom nodded as he replied.
"Well somewhat. My extended family was a bit divided on whether or not we should even come with many of them telling me to Clubsnub you so that either you would ask me to dance or we would still be standing proud despite not dancing with you. I… decided it was time to end this idiocy and just make nice despite the potential cost. In fact a surprising amount of my family will support me in this choice, mostly my younger cousins and the really old guys." Star smiled as she spoke up.
"And your mom, she seems happy about this." They both chuckled as the dance wrapped up with her green eyes meeting his blood red ones. "It's nice to have you as a friend again Tom." Tom leaned over and the kissed each other on the cheeks as he responded.
"Likewise, I hope Marco doesn't get jealous."
"Oh he's better than that." They parted ways with Star stepping lightly over to her side most of the girls were looking at her wide eyed. "What?" As Star stepped down Penelope spoke up.
"Are you and Tom… well…" As others giggled Star blushed realizing what they meant.
"Nononononono, not like that. We actually sorted things out a while back, we're just friends now."
"Well if you insist." Star wasn't sure who said that as most of the girls giggled.
Star groaned rolling her eyes at this as she looked at the boys across the room who were casting jealous looks at Tom. 'Ugghhh, it's not like flames and butterflies were dancing around us with every step like the first time at this Ball when we were a couple! Seriously!' Star glanced back up to Toffee and Marco as Moon rang the bell again with the two talking to each other. 'I really want to go up there and talk with them right now.'
"So let me guess, The dance of the Butterflies is next?" Toffee nodded as Moon ended the Dance of Steel early.
"Indeed. Now this dance in a bit unusual as like its name suggests it focuses on The Butterfly family itself. The idea of this dance is to get family members of the Butterflys out and involved with foreign nobility and higher ranking nobility of our own nation. It can come across as a bit egocentric to the Butterfly family but with the way things are progressing it makes a little too much sense." Marco nodded as he watched the young members of the Butterfly family get up as well as said nobility. "Now this one in terms of practicality is where some of the more important bonds are formed between the Butterflys and their prominent allies. If the other family members allow you to dance with Star herself it's a sign that we favor you to the extreme; and I have no doubt people will try to push Montague towards Star here." Marco sighed in annoyance as he watched many guests get asked by Butterfly members to dance with Star stepping up towards the center.
"So this is a combination of several other dances except revolving around the royal family?" Toffee nodded as the dance started with a figure being pushed towards Star almost immediately. "Who's that?" Toffee smiled slightly as he spoke up.
"Perhaps t's time I finally talked about the Archduchy families as this is where they feature very prominently. The one you are seeing now is Penelope Spiderbite of House Spiderbite, a close ally of ours amongst the lords. Their history is… unique as not 10 years ago they were an independent nation nearly equal in land to ours. However when sentiments to join Mewni's new age began rising up they took one look at what was going on across the continent and decided to just accept their demands whole heartedly making the best of it." Marco watched as Star seemed to enjoy dancing with Penelope who seemed to be a good friend of hers. "They almost immediately sued Moon for them to join with Mewni knowing she could handle people batter and had the resources to help them out on the condition they were made an Archduchy family. Moon of course accepted and everyone went home happy." Marco smiled at that as a blond, ruddy skinned, and purple eyed boy wearing regal purple and gold clothing stepped up and gracefully asked Star to dance.
"Who's that, he seems very important even compared to your family members?"
"That would be Duncan Miner of House Miner who has the distinct privilege of being not only the oldest of the Archduchy families but the richest with access to many gold, gem, iron, and the largest Adamantium mines in the Lower Lands. They are one of two Archduchy families that survived The War of Moonlight Shadow and there is ample reason why. They are adaptive and a shrewd business group more than anything else insuring their power with connection to guilds as much as their mines. They are a very prominent family and everyone works with them even if we do not count them as 'friends'." Marco nodded taking in their dance as Duncan while a fabulously skilled dancer had a detached nature about him as if this really was nothing but a business transaction dancing with Star. 'Then again, technically stuff like marriage and positions of land and power were business transactions in medieval times.' Marco thought to himself as the next dancer stepped up, one he was very familiar with.
"I am sure you know of Alexis Avarius of House Avarius, one of Star's closest friends?" Marco nodded as Alexis and Star danced ore to have fun than anything else even though they got a few disapproving stares from people. "House Avarius got its position not a few months after Alexis was born as a peace offering to Monsterkind, to show them that Moon's promise of equality was not just empty words. Originally a Monster clan set up by Crescenta the Eager to control Monster-kind they now serve as an important bond between The Monster clans and The Kingdom of Mewni until Star ascends to the throne and also stands as a sign that Monster clan leaders are viewed as equals to Mewman nobility." Marco nodded smiling as someone else stepped up after a short while when Alexis was almost forcibly taken away. This boy had flowing shoulder length green hair, pale skin, and deep green eyes to compliment his white and green clothing as he asked Star for a dance.
"That would be Aaron Forest of House Forest, the largest and second oldest of the Archduchy families. They specialized in Forest craft, hence their name, and before the war were the lowest amongst the Archduchy families due to their humble origins as peasantry and being the youngest of the Archduchy families at the time. However their fortunes changed when they supported Moon during The War of Moonlight Shadow early on gaining a safe foot hold in the future. With the new tide of revolutionary change they not only survived but thrived in this new world. Our relationship with them is also rather close as a member of their family is the mother to Alexis Avarius." Marco nodded taking that in as he watched their dance finish.
Strangely enough though after this point few people actually stepped up to dance with Star as the rest of the family seemed to be acting like a distracting shield of sorts. At this point Toffee also fell silent almost as if he was waiting for something before continuing. As Marco watched the dance floor he began to realize why as his memory pulled out the rumor he had heard straight from the man himself. And that man, Montague Hatter, was slowly becoming the last non-Butterfly dancing in the room. As Marco was about to comment on this the information Toffee imparted on him began to come back as well, making him realize an important detail; Montague wasn't being forced towards Star she was being 'pushed' towards him.
"Are the rest of Star's family…" Toffee nodded understanding what Marco was implying.
"Yes, it seems they wish for Star to ask him to dance instead of the other way around; a small thing but with that rumor going around it will make a world of difference." Marco blinked in confusion as he spoke up.
"But wouldn't that make House Butterfly look… subservient to House Hatter?" Toffee chuckled a little darkly as he replied.
"Perhaps you should hear a bit about House Hatter. Those other Houses that I claimed were 'close' with our House were mostly close to Queen Moon with several family members who support her closely; like Helsinki and Willow. Everyone else tends to be a bit 'indifferent' towards them and their support of Moon's revolutionary nature; House Hatter on the other hand a bit opposite of that. With the Milatary reforms making a standing army, The Senate being founded listening to only the commoners, the judicial system put in place to interpret laws indifferently, and the Houses Spiderbite and Avarius being appointed many more conservative noble houses, including many of Moon's own family, began protesting that they were not getting proper representation higher up. In a move to placate them Moon elevated one of the houses of their choice, House Hatter, to be an Archduchy family. They are what you would call the 'far right conservatives' and sometimes devil's advocates of higher up policy making. And while they do support us and convince many nobles to support us their support is mostly bought for a price. And that price is insuring that the nobility remain the ones in charge despite the Senate and Judicial systems meant to check and balance them out." At this point Star had finally conceded to asking Montague to dance with him looking overjoyed with fake surprise and Star looking rather uncomfortable.
As the family circled around the duo backing away respectfully Star shot Marco a glance saying 'I'm sorry' as she danced with him. 'No need to be, I think this was planned behind Moon's back.' Marco thought to himself. A quick glance at a stone-faced Moon confirmed his theory making him annoyed at the family in general. He glanced back at Toffee with his monotone face revealing nothing as he continued.
"I do believe this move is meant to show everyone that House Butterfly counts House Hatter as very close; with the rumor of their engagement adding to it. I do also believe this a farce by the more conservative members of our family to show that Moon's reforms are not, as they would put it, going 'too far' in the minds of many. *sigh* This is why Moon needs to crack down more on these nobility before they pull a…" But Toffee's words fell short, as did everyone else's in the room. At that moment when the dance was about to conclude Montague dipped Star down and kissed her full on the lips.
"…"
"…"
"…"
The shock was palpable even with those who seemed to support it although it was an overjoyed shock. Time seemed to slow down for Marco as he watched Montague not just kiss but also rub his hands over parts of her; conservatively but he was still basically molesting Star. He felt a white hot anger begin to build up as he watched Star being taken advantage of by Montague… only to have cut off by a painful grip to his wrist. He glanced over to see a monotone Toffee, with anger all to evident in his eyes, speak to Marco softly.
"Cold as ice. Cold as…" Yet again Toffee's words fell short as suddenly Star slapped Montague across the face to detach him from her and then uppercut him hard enough to send him flying on his back several feet away.
The shock had increased in the room with no pleasant tone to some at this point, only simple shock. Star stared at Montague her eyes a red-veined yellow as blood dripped from the claws on the hand that slapped him. Montague held his bleeding face in shock looking up as if the idea of Star beating him back and slashing his face for kissing her against her will was completely unexpected. Star's other hand had reached behind her dress where Marco knew she kept her wand and now felt fear for Star. She was in panic mode right now and he had no idea if she would just start blasting at Montague for what he just did; it would be deserved but in this area it would be bad. As he watched however Star's eyes went back to normal and she pulled out a handkerchief to wipe the blood almost daintily from her hand before wiping her lips of the smudged lipstick before speaking.
"You forget yourself Montague Hatter. You do seem to realize that rumor of our engagement was just a rumor right?" She turned and walked off as Marco swore he heard Racheal Patten's 'Fight Song' playing in the background. He also heard a few cheers from some of the nobility, although that may have just been Ponyhead being herself. At that however Montague stood up growing red-faced in anger as he yelled at Star.
"YOU DARE TO SPURN ME! DO YOU REALLY THINK YOU CAN DO ANY BETTER THEN ME YOU FILTHY MUD BLOOD!" At that everyone did a gasp as he had just hurled the worst insult you could give a hybrid right at the princess, making her stop in her tracks. Marco felt the anger return only to have it dissipate when Star began chuckling and turned to look at Montague with a smile on her face as she replied.
"Of course I can, watch." She marched promptly over to Manfred and held out her hand. "Manfred would you care to dance with me." There was absolute silence as Manfred responded in disbelief while being pulled out onto the dance floor by Star as he hesitated.
"My word… I never thought… I would be chosen. I-I'm dancing with the princess herself." Manfred continued to babble a little as they danced with Montague watching them in disbelief… before suddenly turning towards Marco red-faced again in anger with everyone else looking at Marco in shock.
"You think that's funny?" At that Marco realized he had been chuckling at that and didn't even realize it. "You think that's funny?!" As he advanced towards Marco he glanced at Toffee who was giving Marco a pained expression making it clear Marco had inadvertently just dug his own grave…
"Dang… anger issues man, maybe you could help him out now that you've helped me." Marco and Montague both looked at Tom as The Hippie responded to him.
"I don't know, I can deal with you but this seems like it's beyond my abilities."
"Oooooohhhhhhh." This came from multiple people in the crowd watching this unfold with an additional surprise as another peal of laughter came out. Montague turned red-face again but this time almost immediately paled in shock as it turned out Moon was laughing at him. Toffee joined in with her making him double take as did multiple other nobility. More nobility joined in the laughter quickly, starting with Star's friends, followed by the knights acting as honor guard with Marco laughing as well. Montague was soon faced down just moments after what was to be his greatest moment of triumph with the worst humiliation he had ever faced in his life. Trying to save face he turned and went to walk out only to suddenly have his ear be grabbed by an elderly looking man who spoke up with a short bark.
"That's enough out of you ya pathetic toddler!" He pulled Montague's head down and bowed towards Moon with the laughter dying down. "My sincerest apologies your majesty; I have no idea where those rumors of engagement came from or how my son was swayed by them." Moon rang her bell making everyone fall silent before she replied.
"I understand Archduke Hatter, children can be full of themselves; I was one such child at one point." Everyone chuckled at this in a more good natured fashion. "Please do direct your son towards a better path in life so he does not make such mistakes in the future. As my punishment towards him for his 'presumption' he shall be permanently barred from courting my daughter… unless if he can prove himself a changed man to me and my husband." Moon added that last bit reluctantly as if she didn't believe he deserved that chance with Archduke Hatter wincing as he bowed accepting it.
"Very well your majesty; we shall take our leave now and I shalt punish my son as well." He began pulling Montague out with him. "Now come on boy, you have a lot of stables to clean out." As they left Moon rang the bell again, this time to signal Star and Manfred to stop dancing speaking up.
"I do declare that this Silver Bell Ball, despite a few interruptions, shalt be considered a success. May peace forever prosper in the lower Lands."
"Long may the peace last and long live The Queen." Everyone spoke up at that as Toffee motioned for Marco.
"At this point I'm giving you an order to go down and personally see to my daughter's well-being. Oh and do enjoy the rest of the evening. Lessons are over." Marco smiled and saluted Toffee before he walked down to the dance floor heading straight for Star.
"Hello there Sir Shadowslayer." Marco turned and swore he saw a Mewman version of Star with blond hair, blue eyes, and no heart cheeks speak to him. "Might I ask where you are going in such a hurry?" At this a crowd of giggling girls came up around him almost as if in ambush. 'Oh boy.' Marco thought to himself.
WH: Tiem once again for...
Audience: Guest Reviews.
Shiranai Atsune: Well here's another one.
The Book of Eli: enemies, frenemies, rivals, friends, allies, etc. so many around him so little time. And now Marco's lesson is officially over.
The Opinionator: Thank you, I honestly was not sure how well i did the exposition here... or in this chapter. would it shock you to know I've never seen that movie but I have seen a clip with that joke? As for your questions: 1. Potentially, I'll see what I can do. 2. I'll have to keep that hidden for now. 3. This chapter already answered that question, as in Tom only. Thank you for commenting and the reasons for why you love reading it are many of the reasons why I love writing; I say the show and I saw additional possibilities. This is what happens when you let imagination rule the day.