Time flew by quickly, and almost everyone was getting ready for bed by now.
The game of truth or dare had been a huge success and left Kris, Susie, Ralsei, Lancer, Noelle and Berdly smiling all along.
"Good night, clowns" Lancer said to his friends. "And don't be too concerned, okay? Vice Dad already made sure that I wear my protection for tonight beforehand."
"You really are something else, Lancer" Susie said with a chuckle as she hugged her best friend tightly. "Good night, and if anything bothers you - anything at all -, my room is free for you to access."
"Thanks, Susie. Good night." The young spadeling briefly hugged Susie back before he swiftly headed towards his room to brush his teeth and get ready to sleep, with Queen and Rouxls following suit to wish him a good night as well.
Berdly was the next one to head upstairs, being significantly more fatigued than beforehand and having stayed up a little too long, or so he said.
"Sleep well, Berdly" Noelle said. "I hope I won't be there too late." She was not tired yet: interacting with her friends had made her brim with positive energy, contrary to how she usually felt back at home with her way-too-busy mother.
"Go to bed whenever you wish, Noelle" Berdly said, "after all, your bedtime is not something I have anything to say about. Who do I look like, your mother?"
"S-sorry, fahahaha! Force of habit, I p-presume…!"
"That's alright. Good night to you, too, in any case." And after a swift but well-meant hug with his friend, Berdly went upstairs towards his and Noelle's assigned bedroom.
"Good night, Kris" Susie said as she put a hand on Kris's shoulder in a friendly fashion. "It was very nice tonight with you and the others. I wish we could do this more often."
"G'night" Kris said as they hugged their friend tightly, surprising her a little.
"Aw, aren't you a sweet dork?" The teenage purple crocodile hugged her friend back. "Just like I said to Lancer just now, if anything at all bothers you, my room is free for you to access as well."
The silent teenager smiled and went to their room, where they brushed their teeth before officially tucking themself into their comfy bed.
In her own bedroom, Susie decided to wash her mouth to keep stuff simple, not bothering to wait for too long to go to bed since she, too, was quite tuckered out after a long day.
Downstairs, Ralsei and Noelle were helping Swatch tidy the main room up a little.
"Now isn't the time for energetic music anymore" Ralsei said as he changed the radio, which was still on, to a different channel, where a calm and fairly slow piano-and-guitar-only jazz song just happened to start playing a few seconds afterwards. He subsequently dusted the device off with his trusty mint-green duster.
"A lot better indeed" Swatch said when they came back after having brought the now empty snack platter back to the kitchen.
"What radio ch-channel is this?" Noelle asked.
"Radio Starwalker, most likely. It's the perfect radio channel for calm evenings and to do chores to."
"Does it s-solely play jazz?"
"No, classical music as well."
"Ooh, sounds like a n-nice radio channel to study with. If I m-may be honest, the radio ch-channels in the Light World offer nothing l-like this! I wish I could l-listen to this very channel there, t-too!"
"I'm glad you think so."
Not much later, thanks to all of the co-operation, the main room was neat and tidy again, and Noelle finally had a seat on the sofa so she could unwind.
"Aren't you tired yet?" Ralsei asked.
"Not at all" the teenage doe chuckled. "Guess t-truth or dare gave me a little too m-much positive energy the other h-hour."
"But positive energy isn't that bad. I'm only glad you're radiating it, contrary to earlier today, where you seemed so strained for most of the time."
"Ah, y-yeah… um, okay, if y-you insist…"
"I'll be heading to bed, in any case. Today has tuckered me out quite a lot, too. Good night to you in advance." Ralsei shook hands with Noelle and smiled kindly.
"Good night, Ralsei."
And with that, the fluffy boy headed upstairs, while Queen and Rouxls came downstairs instead, just having wished Lancer a good night.
"Good Night Sweet Fluffy Prince" Queen said, ruffling the fur on Ralsei's head in endearment.
"Sleepeth well, Ralsei" Rouxls said.
"Good night to you as well." Another hand-shaking and kindly smiling session later, Ralsei went to his room to get himself ready for bed.
As soon as Queen and Rouxls were downstairs, Tasque Manager also came home with her two Tasques. They all looked equally fatigued.
"Man, today was a long one!" Tasque Manager sighed as she placed her shoes at her assigned spot. "Mind if I relax for a bit?"
"Tasque Manager Oh My Gosh Hi!" Queen rambunctiously greeted her maid as she hugged her tightly. "Please Do Relax Sweetheart You Look Fatigued Indeed."
"My, my, the main room looks so orderly, I approve of this big-time…! I surely don't regret being recruited here. Shall I take myself and the Tasques to the kitchen instead? It'd be a humongous shame if they bring the chaos in the main room back…"
"Do Whatever Pleases You."
"Would you like to have some tea?" Swatch asked as they escorted Tasque Manager to the dining table in the kitchen. "The usual flavour?"
"Yes, please."
"Queen, could I get you anything?"
"No Thank You Sweet Swatchy Watchy We're Good."
"Alright." Swatch filled the water kettle, turned it on and fetched the utensils for Tasque Manager's upcoming cup of tea.
"Couldeth I have someth, too?" Rouxls asked, settling himself next to Tasque Manager.
"Of course, my friend."
"So how hath thy day been?"
"The café is all about order and tidiness again after it closed up" Tasque Manager said, "so I'm basically doing good, as are my sweet Tasques." She scritched one of her Tasques behind their ear, making it purr contentedly. "What about yours?"
"Lancer, Ralsei and the Light Worlde worms hath played truth or dare and they hath goodeth fun exposing one another."
"Truth or dare, you say? I used to play that very often with Queen, Swatch and some of the others when we were teens! I wish I could be there, too."
"There shalt definitely be a next-eth time, worry thy not."
"Here you are" Swatch said as he handed the fresh, hot cups of tea to Rouxls and Tasque Manager. "Would you care for some biscuits?"
"No, grammercy, I art good."
"Oh, yes please" the feline maid said. "What do you have?"
"Chocolate chip, plain shortbread, or hardtack style with a touch of Revive Mint."
"I'll have the shortbread, please."
Swatch soon prepared a little platter of shortbread biscuits for themself and Tasque Manager before finally settling themself down with their own cup of tea.
"So Rouxls just said that a few guests from the Light World are staying here right now, huh?
"That's indeed true. One of them is the one who recruited us here, and three of them are their friends from the same realm. All four of them go to the same school, they told us."
"Ah, them. The one who recruited us here was named Kris, if I recall correctly?"
"True."
"It's very nice to have them all here. Where are they now?"
"All of them but Noelle have gone to bed. Noelle has gotten a lot of positive energy while playing truth or dare with the others, so I don't mind her staying up a little longer."
"I see. Well, I'm not judging her, since I used to feel the exact same way back in our teenage days."
"Speaking of which, maybe I should offer Noelle and Queen a drink and some biscuits? I'll be back soon." Swatch got up and went back to the kitchen block to prepare a biscuit platter and two drinks for their stepsister and her former temporary peon.
Tasque Manager and Rouxls reminisced back to their teenage days in the meantime, oftentimes laughing at even the funniest of memories they remembered from that era.
It was nearly 9 p.m. by now, and Noelle, still brimming with the positive energy she received the other hour, decided to spend some of her remaining 'awake time' with Queen in an attempt to strengthen and improve her chemistry with her.
The teenage doe and the cyber monarch both idly sat on the sofa in the main room, basking in the indirect evening glow that the Dark World currently radiated and helping themselves to a nice mug of hot tea.
In the background, the radio was still set to Radio Starwalker, which was Starwalker's very own radio station ever since the first Dark Fountain got sealed.
"And this has been The Thieving Tsunderplane by Gioachino Rudinni" Starwalker themself calmly announced in their zen-like voice, "and before this, you could hear Respect For Lives by BGM Channel and Take Five But It's The Song Of Storms by Imaginary Ambition. It's 8:58 p.m., and right now, you'll be able to hear the first movement of the Dark World Sonata by Ludwig von Spadehoven."
"Ah One Of Kingy Wingy's Long-Time Favourites" Queen sighed somewhat sentimentally as soon as the piano sonata started playing.
"Huh?" Noelle asked as she cocked her head, briefly being stopped from taking the first bite from her next biscuit.
"Spadehoven Of Course! He Used To Be A Great Composer Who Didn't Even Let His Deafness Stop Him From Composing New Symphonies At Some Point. Why You Never Heard Of Him?"
"N-no… I actually h-haven't…"
"Such A Shame Since Spadehoven Has Made Many Amazing Symphonies!"
Noelle simply nodded with a still somewhat nervous chuckle while finally helping herself to the Revive Mint biscuit.
The young doe did occasionally listen to classical music, but somewhat logically enough, she had never heard of most of the classical music composers who used to reside in the Dark World for many, many generations.
Many of those composers were especially loved by Ralsei, who, too, listened to classical music in his free time: from (of course) Gioachino Rudinni to Ludwig von Spadehoven, and from Johann Sebastian Bloxer to Joseph Hathy; he knew almost all of them from memory.
"Kingy Wingy Also Loved: Antonio Virovirokundi And P.I. Tasquekovsky A Lot" Queen continued. "He Was An Avid Lover And Listener Of Classical Music When He And I Were Still Together Many Years Ago."
"I see." Noelle shuffled for a bit to put her now half-empty mug on the nearby coffee table. "Is that 'Kingy Wingy' your, um… ex, if I m-may ask, since y-you're… well, 'the' Queen? S-sorry if th-this is a rude question, b-but…"
"Yes He Is, You Guessed: Correct. Don't Feel Guilty For Asking That BTW I Can Deal With It Well Enough Nowadays."
"Th-thanks, I guess…"
"No Problem At All Noelle Dearie. Pleasure To Be With You Tonight."
"Y-yeah…! I think it's nice to be w-with you, too… I mean, I want to get to kn-know you better… now th-that I'm no longer y-your… peon?"
"Oh Sweetheart My Sincere Apologies For Doing That In The Midst Of The Internet Down-Time, I Did Not Mean That. Whenever The Internet Is Down I'm Always Notorious For Going: Berserk, Which Is Entirely My Fault Trust Me."
"G-good…! Also, no, I'm n-not angry at you, because o-otherwise, I wouldn't even b-be here with you…!"
"Oh Ho Ho Ho! Neither Am I Angry At: You! You're Too Sweet For That!" Queen's visor showed the text 'true', while Queen herself ruffled Noelle's hair a little.
"Oh, th-thank goodness… fahahaha…!"
"Now May I Ask: What Kind Of Music Are You Into? I'm Curious Too."
"Ah, y-yes! I usually l-listen to lo-fi when I s-study… but th-this music is also p-pretty fitting for studying, in m-my opinion…"
"Lo-Fi Huh? Those Songs Are Quite Short If I May Give: My Honest Opinion."
"That's true, b-but I usually have a long p-playlist of them in m-my online audio l-library… and I l-listen to them on sh-shuffle, too… variety is a g-good thing, right…?"
"Shuffle Is Always A Good Thing, As Is Indeed A Big Variety Of Different Songs."
"Yeah…" Noelle simply nodded as she listened to the still ongoing piano sonata that seemed to fill the rest of the main room with nothing but peace and serenity in the meantime.
"Me I Like: All Sorts Of Music. But This Radio Station Offers Some Of The Best Songs Yet, Even Those That You Usually Only Find On MyTube Or Any Other Music Source That's Not: The Radio."
"Th-that's nice..." A little while of silence. "Say, Q-Queen… may I, um… well, ask you a q-question?"
"Ask Away."
"Y-you know, this question m-may sound kinda dumb, b-but… I'm kinda c-curious about your… um… past w-with, um, King? Are y-you willing to tell m-me a little about it, or, uh…?"
"That's A Good Question Noelle Sweetheart." Queen thought for a bit, and her visor showed the text 'processing…' while she did.
I hope I didn't ask the wrong question, Noelle thought to herself as she felt her heartbeat increase a little. What if she gets angry at me, or worse…?
After a little while, much to the teenage doe's relief, Queen's visor showed the text 'yes', and Queen herself smiled confidently and kindly at the same time.
"Of Course" the cyber monarch said with a kind smile, "I Mean If You're Curious And All Ears I Shall Tell You All About It. Plus It's Not Dumb Of You To Have Asked This Why Would It Possibly Be?"
"I, um… I thought I'd m-make you angry with it, a-and I don't want to s-see you… angry, y-you know?"
"Ha Ha Ha Why Would I Get Angry At: Your Curiosity? It's Not Evil Or Anything Silly Girl." Queen smiled, ruffled Noelle's hair once again and gently pinched her cheek as well.
"A-alright, thanks for n-not thinking I j-just asked a dumb q-question…! I'm indeed c-curious about th-that, so please t-tell whatever you w-wish…!"
"Are You Ready? Be Wary Though For It's A Long Story So You Might Get: Tuckered Out."
"Y-yes, Queen…!" Noelle chuckled in both nervousness and anticipation. "I mean, I c-could use some tuckering out a-anyway after playing t-truth or dare the other h-hour…!"
"Alright Sit Tight For I Am Initiating: My Life Story About My Relationship With: The King Of Spades. Now This All Started: Nearly 15 Years Ago, I Was Aged: 18 Back Then."