The dinner party was a great big success among the attendees from Card Castle and Queen's Mansion alike.
Those from Queen's Mansion had tried Eastern Dark World foods, such as Darkburgers, Clubs Sandwiches, Hearts Doughnuts and Dark Candy, for the first time, and everyone had different reactions to them as well.
Swatch wasn't too sure about everything at first, but their utmost favourites were ultimately the Clubs Sandwich and the Choco Diamonds.
All five of the 'Skittles' immediately chose Darkburgers as their favourites, since they always loved fast food anyway.
Tasque Manager's favourite of them all was the soup with Revive Mint as one of its key ingredients, which she described as 'mouth-wateringly refreshing'.
Rolek and the elder Tasque Manager were big fans of the Clubs Sandwich and Dark Candy.
As for Queen? She simply couldn't choose between one favourite since she thought that every new food tasted good. It's a good thing that she's not a picky eater, in this case.
"Say, what are foods in the Cyber World like?" Iggy, one of the Rudinns, asked. "Or am I asking a very silly question and aren't they any different from ours?"
"Of course you're not asking a silly question, milady" Fabio replied. "Foods like ours include Tension Bits and Gems, different flavours of tea, Revive Dust, Butler Juice, Java Cookies, Pipis… oh, not to mention our Head Butler's delicious secret family recipe for Spaghetti Code… yummy!"
"Ooh, a secret family recipe? Too bad none of the people at this castle have any… you got me too curious about that Spaghetti Code! Can you at least tell me what it looks like?"
"Ironically enough, the 'spaghetti' in this dish is highly similar to linguini and tagliatelle, to make it look more like ribbons. Furthermore, it contains various coloured macarons, a sweet red sauce that kinda tastes like strawberry or raspberry jam of sorts, and little apple skin shapes as an extra topping. Oh, and by the way, that spaghetti is home-made from a specific secret recipe, too."
"So you're saying that your Head Butler has a secret family recipe for a sweet type of pasta?! Oh my gosh, that's amazing!"
"Trust me, one bite of that pasta and you'll never ever want to eat any other type of pasta again, regardless which one is your favourite."
"Aw, man! I so don't want to miss my Mum and Dad's home-made ravioli peperoncino con aglio e olio from my life! They make the best pasta of that kind! It's actually my Mum's original recipe, but Dad just loved it so much that he practically had to beg her to share the exact steps and ingredients."
"My, my, that's a whole mouthful you just said. What kind of ravioli, exactly?"
"Peperoncino con aglio e olio? Those are the Italian words for red pepper with garlic and olive oil, which are pretty yummy together, especially if you're a big fan of spicy food."
"For spicy food, you should be speaking to Lemmy and Miguel. They're ginormous fans."
"I always like to add quite the dash of black pepper, too, to increase the spiciness. As for the ravioli itself? Mum always makes the pasta dough herself, which she additionally flavours with paprika, oregano and basil, and that way, it tastes very similar to pizza! As for the filling? It's this super duper yummy mixture of creamy tomato sauce, spicy aged cheese and a pinch of pesto… so one could basically say that this is a recipe for soft pizza pockets disguised as ravioli!"
"Ooh, pizza! That happens to be one of my favourite foods! I'd love that ravioli on its own already."
"I wish I could ask Mum to make a batch for you guys, but she'd probably be working too hard that way…!" Iggy couldn't help but giggle. "But maybe I should go to that Colour Café in Queen's Mansion someday to try that Spaghetti Code you just mentioned, too! I love trying new foods!"
"Trying Cyber World-specific foods at Queen's Mansion, you say?" Cathy said, having eavesdropped from Iggy for a bit. "Ooh, sign me up!"
"I could take you there soon, if you're interested" Bowen suggested. "Just like Fabio mentioned, our Head Butler's Spaghetti Code is one of the best foods at his Colour Café."
"Spaghetti, you say? Can I kiss you with that?"
Some of those from Queen's Mansion, including Queen herself, immediately burst out in laughter upon hearing that.
"Wanna know a secret?" Fabio said. "King and Queen tried that on their first date a little over four months ago, but they ultimately failed since King snapped the pasta string in half by sucking it up too enthusiastically!"
Iggy and Cathy were soon found howling with laughter upon hearing the short but funny story.
"The secret is actually not to suck the pasta string up" Iggy said, "but to slowly chew it up. That's how Mum and Dad oftentimes did it before I was there, or so they told me." She took the last bite of her Clubs Sandwich and dabbed some sauce stains from her mouth with her napkin. "I could use some of those Hearts Doughnuts by now. Who else is hungry for dessert?"
"I'm good, thank you" Swatch said as they finished their last Choco Diamond.
"Ooh, me!" Cathy said. "Hearts Doughnuts are the best." She and Iggy briefly got off of their seats to head towards the buffet with their plates.
It was never really crowded at the buffet, since everyone mostly preferred to remain at the dining table to have small talks so they could get to know one another slowly but surely.
"So" the King of Spades said, "you've taken quite the liking to this Dark World's foods, huh?"
"Oh Absolutely" Queen replied, "Those Chefs May Surprise Me With This Scrumptiousness Every Day For All I Care."
"I'm only glad you praise their cooking so much. They hate getting criticised, which, believe it or not, does occasionally happen."
"Among Children Yes But Not Among Us Grown-Ups."
"No, not even among children! Did you ever hear the daughter of the King of Clubs complain about the food just now?" King stealthily pointed at Clover, who was now helping herselves to some Dark Candy.
"Um…" Queen's visor briefly showed the text 'processing…', which was swiftly replaced with 'nope'. "No I Don't Think I Did."
"See? Not all children are picky eaters. There are some adults who are that way, and despite all of the negativity that the chefs say right back at those who criticise, it still seems pretty common."
"I Hope That If We Have: A Child, That They Won't Become That Way."
"We'll see about that in a decade from now, because now's not the time for children."
"Ha Ha Ha No Indeed It Isn't!"
Slowly but surely, all of the food got eaten by everyone, and subsequently, the four Rudinn Rangers who brought it all there came to pick up their empty plates, as well as the used utensils from everyone else, so that everything could be washed up very soon.
This is what made Swatch a little happy from the inside, because now was their chance to try to play the nearby grand piano, which they still wanted this entire time.
They got up from their seat after having cleaned their hands with their napkin one last time, calmly went towards the grand piano, settled themself on its stool, opened the lid of the instrument, cracked their fingers for a bit, took some deep breaths and started playing one of their personal favourite songs.
"Whoa…" Clover gasped with all three of her heads upon hearing the first few notes. "Beautiful…"
"Aw…" Aurea quietly said while blinking one tear away, "they play just as well as my son…"
"Spadehoven, huh?" the King of Spades said upon recognising the piano symphony as For Elizabeth by Ludwig von Spadehoven. "One of my favourites…!" He smiled sentimentally.
"Swatch Knows A Galore Of Classical Songs On The Piano" Queen said, "You Should Definitely Hear Them Play More Often, They Have Skills Like A Pro."
"For how long have they been playing piano?"
"Age: 5. They Already Got Fascinated By Classical Music When We Were Still Tots And They Begged Dad For Piano Lessons Ever Since To The Point Where They Finally Got Them Once They Turned 5 Too. But Has It Been: Worth It? Absolutely, And Swatch Is Very Proud Of Their Skills Too."
"Well, I must say they're definitely a lot better than some of the others around here, who only seem to be able to play children's songs or smash the keys like brainless cretins, haha!"
"Oh Ho Ho Ho!" While Queen laughed heartily, her visor showed the text 'LMAO'.
When more songs followed from Swatch at the piano later that evening, the King of Spades and Queen eventually decided to spend some time with just each other. No crowded dining hall, nobody to judge them, nobody to poke fun at them… but most importantly, comfortableness upstairs.
While they shambled through the hallway, one could still hear the clear, slow and gentle notes to the more recent symphony The Prince With The Fluffy Fur by the now as of three months late Claude Werewerewire, which had been written and released in honour of and for a prince who had been born in a distant castle town in the Dark World half a year prior.
They didn't even mind Rouxls and Tasque Manager racing through the hallway like crazy and laughing heartily while they did, seemingly being up to something.
"Hey, hey!" Tasque Manager exclaimed, "slow down a little! I'm not that nimble!"
"Whoever reacheth the elevator last art a slow worm!" Rouxls exclaimed. "And whoever reacheth Jevil last art a slow worm as well!" He subsequently tripped and made quite the faceplant on the floor, followed by a muffled "God damn it!".
"Looks like you're the worm now!"
"Huh" King said. "They're just planning on teasing Jevil behind his bars, huh?"
"The Best He Deserves" Queen said with a confirming nod.
"And right you are about that."
The young lovers took the stairs to the next floor, and the next, and the final…
Just around the corner of the fifth and highest floor, Queen accidentally bumped her foot against… the sole of Bowen's shoe?
Bowen himself didn't really notice anything, since he was too busy making out with Cathy.
"Get a room!" King shouted.
"Get A Room!" Queen shouted just as loudly and in unison.
Out of shock, Bowen let out a typical Swatchling scream right into his kissing partner's mouth and looked at Queen with equally shocked eyes.
"Ah, banana oil!" Cathy grumbled as she stopped kissing Bowen against her will, "fine!" With quite a big frown pasted on her face now, she and her apparently newly-recruited boyfriend went down the stairs. "Nobody's in the shared bedroom of us Hathies right now, so we can do lovey-dovey stuff there to our heart's content…!"
"So This Is Your Little Realm Huh?" Queen said when she and King arrived at the doorstep of the throne room. "Where Do You Sleep? Where Is Your Bed? Where Must I Sleep?"
"Hey, easy, easy" King chuckled as he petted Queen's shoulder. "This isn't my bedroom, silly, this is just the throne room, where the three other kings and I mostly find ourselves. It's boring, really." He then escorted her to the room just next to there. "This is where I sleep. Alone, thankfully. No cretins to bother me in the middle of the night for pillow fights or whatever nonsense."
The room contained a ginormous bed of which one would almost immediately question when it was last tidied up, a nightstand with a worn-looking empty glass and a square lamp on top of it, a spades-themed chandelier hanging from the ceiling, a painting of a young King when he was still a prince, and a plain-looking desk with an old computer on it.
"Looks Pretty Neat." Queen sat down on the bed, and immediately let herself fall down on it with her back, her visor immediately showing the text 'zzz'. "Holy Mother Of Gigantic Gigabytes This Is Just As Comfy As: A Cloud." She did jolt back up and shriek in shock once she felt some weight shift in the mattress. "Kingy Wingy Please Don't Scare Me Like That!" She then burst out in loud laughter while her visor showed the text 'LMAO'.
"Sorry, Queenie Beanie, I didn't mean to…!" King couldn't help but laugh either, being slightly surprised at the fact that he unexpectedly startled his girlfriend simply by sitting down.
"Whoa Hold The Phone Is That: A Computer?" The young cyber monarch immediately sprinted towards the nearby desk.
"Sweetheart, that's…"
"Oh My Circuits This Thing Looks Old Let Me Check: Its OS."
"What are you planning?"
That question fell on deaf ears since Queen had already turned the computer on.
"Oh Man This Thing Is So Slow It Might Need: An Urgent Upgrade."
"Any chance you're a bit tech-savvy?"
"Guilty! We Have A Galore Of Computers At Home And They're Always Up-To-Date Like They're Supposed To! Mother Always Taught Me How To Update Them And How To Properly Use Them Overall."
"But now that you'll be moving here, who'll keep them up-to-date in your absence?"
"Oh Don't Worry Swatch Was Also Taught How To Do That And I'm Pretty Sure They Can Keep That Up Just As Well."
It had taken about 2 minutes before the computer was fully and properly booted up.
"Why The Beep Do You Still Have Windows 95 On This Thing?!" Queen's visor showed the text 'bro?' while she spoke. "You Know This OS No Longer Receives Updates Right?"
"How am I supposed to know that? It's that smug King of Diamonds who purchased our personal computers in the first place, and he did this ten years ago when he only just got coronated by his old man on his 18th birthday."
"Then I Might Somewhat Understand Since That Was When That OS Was First Released. But That King Of Diamonds Doesn't Really Sound Tech-Savvy In This Case."
"I second that opinion. Is there a quick way to upgrade 'this thing' that you happen to know of?"
"Let Me Just Check My System Memory For That." Queen had a seat on the surface of the desk, and sat as still as a statue while her visor showed the text 'processing…'.
"And you're not sure that you're not a computer yourself?" This statement fell on deaf ears as well.
30 seconds later, the young cyber monarch perked back up.
"The Latest Version Of Windows XP That I Know Of Does Not Correspond With: The Version Of Windows XP That The Computers In My Mansion Have. Tomorrow On My Moving Day I Shall Upgrade These Settings And Then Your Computer." She jumped off of the desk and could feel her core start beating faster and becoming pleasantly warm. "The Thought Of Moving Here Makes Me So Happy!" She then playfully tackled King, who still sat on the edge of his bed, into a playful hug.
"Haha, where did that come from?"
King's question went unanswered, and he soon felt Queen's lips press against his own, as well as the pleasant temperature of her core against his chest.
Oh my goodness, he thought, this must be one of her ways to express happiness and love…
The young card monarch gave in to kissing and hugging her back, even letting his tongue explore the inside of Queen's mouth, which currently had an interesting taste.
Giggling softly, Queen let her own tongue caress her boyfriend's, and felt her level of serotonin increase dramatically. At the same time, her visor showed two large beating heart icons, the rhythm of which perfectly matching the beating of her core.
The two pairs of lips refused to let go of one another for many minutes, that's how real the love between the two monarchs was.
Nobody knew how long it exactly took, but at a certain time, King and Queen had stopped kissing and both sighed in relief and a romantic afterglow.
"That Was Awesome…!" Queen brought out, not wanting to stop hugging King while her visor showed the text 'zzz' once again. She did feel pretty sleepy by now, too.
"I second that…" King mumbled as he gently started caressing his girlfriend's face with his thumb. "You look sleepy, Queenie Beanie…"
"You Saw Right Through Me Kingy Wingy…" At the same time, Queen got a message from her own system which, unfortunately, snapped her right out of her trance. "Oh Dear My Battery Power Is Depleting."
"Your what…?"
"My Battery Power Sweetheart, Where Is The Nearest Socket?"
"Right next to my nightstand. It's okay if you unplug the lamp."
At the same time, King found it a little peculiar how Queen apparently required to have her battery charged every now and then, but on the other hand, he learned something new about her today, which, in this case, was only a good thing.
With some of her remaining battery power, Queen had a seat next to the nightstand before swapping the plug of the lamp with her own, in response to which her visor immediately showed the text 'charging', which, contrary to most of the other texts she usually shows, was now coloured green instead of red.
"So Much Better…" the fatigued cyber monarch said, instantaneously sinking back into her trance with a matching smile.
"Say, how long is your cord, if I may ask?" King asked, "or is that a rude question?"
"Unfortunately It's Only 10 Inches Long So I Feel Bad For Not Being Able To Sleep With You Tonight Because I Want That So Badly Right Now."
"Aww, that's indeed unfortunate. But I don't mind having the bed for myself still, since I can at least sense your presence in the room, which is a very pleasant one."
"Plus I Don't Think Dad Would Approve If I Already Slept With You But A Pox On That."
"Exactly…!"
King and Queen were both laughing again. Nothing could possibly stop them from loving one another at this very point, which wasn't even the peak of love just yet.