Chapter 30:
"I-I understand," stammered the Lizard Princess.
Olesia listened in silence as the Lizard Princess's conversation continued. They had been planning to go out together to buy some nice things to welcome Billy home. Olesia had finally convinced the older woman to learn how to cook, and Hamest had been excited about the idea of making Billy a home-cooked dinner to welcome him back from the far east. The whole business had gotten stopped in its tracks when the phone rang.
Olesia could see the distress on her strange new friend's face as that conversation rolled onwards towards its conclusion. The young elemental knew instinctively what that was about. She had to go home. Billy had been pretty pissed when he saw that not much had gotten done to improve the defenses of Hamest's homeland. He'd not been shy about admonishing her to fix things. If she stayed here, when the builders were on-hand in her city, he might well wring her neck!
Olesia moved in immediately when Hamest hung up the phone, wrapping her arms around the older woman's thin shoulders. "I-I have to go," stammered the Lizard Princess. Far from gloating, Olesia told her, "do what needs doing. Your place will still be here, waiting on you to return." The Lizard Princess flushed, her skin going deep-purple down to her chest. "We're two of a kind," the elemental chuckled. "On the outside and looking at long odds. I'll tell him what happened. It'll be fine."
The lizard-girl hugged her gingerly. Olesia returned that embrace. Taking Hamest by the hand, the plump girl led her back into her bedroom and helped her gather up her things. As they worked, the lizard-person see-sawed between shame and despair. With all she'd said, this girl still wanted to help her. This young woman had sacrificed a family heirloom to help her people. "I'm going to get it back," said the Lizard Princess. Olesia's face snapped up from where she'd been helping the older woman pack her dresses into a bag. The plump girl's face went hot as she realized what Hamest meant. "She's a rotten little bitch," muttered Olesia. "If she thinks it's worth something to you, she'd just try to rob you." Zipping the bag up, Hamest looked her dead in the eye and said, "I have my ways, Olesia Okonski. You're young, yet. Just you watch."
Hefting the bag with her personal items, the Lizard Princess leaned in and kissed her young friend's cheek. "She doesn't deserve to have it," said the princess. Turning to go, she said, "give him my love. I'll see you... when I can." And then she was gone, headed out to arrange a flight home. It was only minutes later that a swarm of the household servants arrived and carried off the rest of her things, leaving Olesia alone in a space that had been serving four. The plump girl sighed, feeling suddenly alone.
The airship carrying the King and his Heir arrived late in the evening, having been delayed by weather and poor fuel in Purple Kingdom. An exhausted Finn walked down the ramp, looking haggard. Billy was next, his eyes searching for the familiar sights of one of his girls waiting on him. He'd heard that Abeiuwa was on her way home. He'd at least expected Hamest. Instead, there was nobody here. As he stood there watching, Bonnie, Simone, Cherry, and Hurletta swooped in and bundled his dad into a limo, roaring out of there with him, almost like they'd forgotten Billy was there. The young prince sighed, as he started looking for a taxi.
Meanwhile, the King sat in the back of the limo getting blitzed by his wives. He hadn't been forthcoming about why he was taking a trip east. They'd only gotten second-hand information from Drew. "It wasn't something I could safely talk about," Finn said. "Baba-Yaga and the Nine-Tailed-Fox are both in possession of terrible weapons from before the Mushroom War," the King announced. "I can't talk about what those weapons are..." Turning to Bonnie, the big man said, "Talia had to erase your memories of it." "I know what it is," Simone announced. Finn's head whipped around.
With a sigh, the Ice Queen admitted, "I shared thoughts with him, Finn. I know what she's guarding." The big man nodded. Taking a breath, he said, "Katsumi is guarding something every bit as dangerous..." That was heavy, heavy news. Hurletta found herself nibbling at her newly-grown fingernails in terror. But there was another shoe waiting to drop. Staring Bonnie in the eye, the King of Ooo said, "many of the kingdoms from before the war were contacted by the aliens, PB. The aliens gave them stuff they said was good for us..." "...but it could be perverted into weapons," Bonnie rumbled. She knew there was a corner of her mind that was, somehow, blocked off. She remembered Talia doing the deed to all of them. Somewhere in that tiny corner of her brain was a secret that could shatter the world. That was horrifying enough to keep her awake at night. The knowledge that there might be other weapons out there had the Candy-Monarch ready to piss her pants.
Betty rumbled, "it fits. There were a lot of... stories back then. Sightings of strange lights in the sky. There was almost a cult about it. People thought we were finally going to be contacted. Like out of Star Trek... out of a story... Nobody ever thought that the aliens would be contacting us for something... evil." "From what Kat had to say, they hit everybody," Finn muttered. "Everybody got something they thought was good... but it was something they couldn't really control. Kat fears that maybe Bandit Princess has found out about some of it... Somehow she knew there's a weapon under Shiyan Village."
Bonnie shouted, "w-we have to take over the village! We have to get control of it!" The pink princess was almost frantic now. Cherry caught the terrified woman's hand, twining her fingers in the older woman's fingers. The effect was mesmerizing. Bonnie deflated, calming down almost as fast as she'd wound up. "We know about it now, honey," said the gangster. "There's men feeding that bitch information. Has to be. It'll take me a while, but I'm going to find out who's trading in dangerous antiquities..." Her voice was calm and steady, same as always, but there was a note of finality there. Some men were going to die for spilling deadly secrets and digging up stuff that should have stayed buried.
Moving on, Finn said, "there's more, PB. There's shit under every princess's palace. You've all got something ugly. We're... we need to..." "...make an accounting of all of it," Simone agreed. "I'll go first. There's... I think maybe one of our alien artifacts is under Wizard City. There's a strange device down deep there in a space that looks like it was once built up in concrete and steel. It's... It does strange things, and I think it might be responsible for the forcefield that cloaks the city." "Who has access," Betty asked? She hadn't known about that at all. "Only the Grand Master," Simone replied. "The doors won't open for anyone else." "Safe for now," Finn muttered, "but it bears looking at by somebody who's..." "Not crazy," Simone agreed.
Moving the conversation onward, the Ice Queen declared, "I had Lollipop pack a couple of bags for you. You got back just in time for Aerwin's wedding." Finn groaned. He'd forgotten. He'd been so worried about the issue of the weapons that he'd forgotten. That would have gotten Breezy in hot water with her peeps. Fortunately, Simone had things squared away. "Thanks, babe," he sighed.
Indeed, the limo didn't stop at the palace. The driver rolled onto the crosstown expressway, bound for the train station. Arriving at the station, they found Lollipop waiting with the baggage next to a private car. No rest for the weary, the big man thought, as Simone's bodyguard opened the door. The King clambered out of the limo, following Bonnie's round butt, joined moments later by Cherry, Betty, Simone, and Hurletta. Striding up to Lollipop, the King thanked his wife for handling business while he was away, showering her with kisses that left her giggling. Of course, the moment he did that, he found himself facing three anxious faces.
Drawing Peebles to him, the big man fastened his lips to hers slipping his arms around her narrow waist. Yeah, that big butt was definitely a good bit bigger after three kids. Immortal Bonnibel Bubblegum had a little middle-aged-spread going on, but he liked it. Bonnie's face was flushed when he stepped back. Yeah, still there, in spite of all the angst. Betty was next. Though they were certainly 'out in the open', she was a little bit flummoxed to be kissing Simone's husband in front of her face, but she warmed to the business very quickly. She was breathless when Finn let go.
Moving on to the pair who'd be accompanying him to Bee Kingdom, the King of Ooo leaned down and fastened his lips to Cherry's, kissing the little gangster-girl as if it was the first time. Lollipop almost expected her lips to smoke when he got done. Nor did Simone lack for attention. The tall wizard was rocking on her heels like an eager little girl, practically vibrating. Finn pulled her to him and kissed her like he was a schoolboy. It made Lollipop giggle. Indeed, she motioned for the bodyguards to grab the bags to give them a little more time. As the guards headed for the private car at the end of the train, the King stepped off, putting his hands on those two round butts in familiar fashion. Yeah, that felt right. None of them noticed the expression on Hurletta's face as she watched the big man walk away.
Back at the palace, Billy walked into a darkened suite to the sound of echoes from his own footfalls. He'd been expecting to at least see Hamest here. Where was everyone? Crossing their little parlor and kitchen to the doorway of the Lizard-Princess's room, the big man stepped inside, looking around him. The place was the tidy of an unoccupied guest-room, and he found his heart sank. Where was she? "She's been called home," announced a voice. Billy spun around and found Olesia standing there at the entry to her own room. Olesia who made glass threads look winsome. Olesia the plump, with titties for miles.
Hips wig-wagging, the plump woman walked towards him. "It was sudden," the elemental murmured, "or she would have been here... to take care of things one last time." His face went red hot at the implications of those words. It helped not at all that his eyes had been immediately drawn to those knobs. Back in civilization with plenty of access to grub and O was still as skinny as she'd been when Ingrid had been basically working her to death. That skinny waist of hers made those knobs stand out all the more. That fucking body made his pecker want to crawl its way out of his pants.
While he was wool-gathering, the plump woman stepped into his space. She was 'danger close' for an elemental–practically sharing his breath. "I've been guilty of dodging around this," she said. "Guilty of being kinda' creepy, really." The big man tried to deflect that by pretending that he didn't know what she meant. "The staring, William," she whispered. "Every time you were with her or one of them, I stared at the pair of you. Like a hungry wolf, I guess." As she made that deadly announcement, the young prince noticed something he hadn't noticed before. There was no heat. He didn't feel as though she were going to scorch him.
Olesia stepped closer, forcing him to back up. "I sort of did the same things Tom does," she said. "Lieing to myself... Holding out for something I well knew I couldn't really have. In the courtship game, I've been kinda' on the outside. I scoffed at my cousin for her... infatuation. I laughed at her like all the rest for her folly in giving so much–even to risking her life. Yet, she's got the man, and two beautiful kids, and me? Well, I've got nothing." "Y-you took the meds," Billy gobbled, just before he tripped over the edge of Hamest's bed and went down.
Olesia pounced, straddling his hips and sitting down on him. He could feel her warmth now. He'd been close to Phoebe after her change, and he knew what that felt like. It felt a lot like this. Leaning down, Olesia pressed those surprisingly firm knobs into his chest. Rubbing her snatch against the length of his boner, the plump girl, said, "I don't have a kingdom to rush home to..." "I-I," he stammered. He wasn't supposed to be doing this. He was supposed to be getting Nieve pregnant. He was supposed to be a married man. "A married man can have a mistress," Olesia reminded him. "A man of means can have more than one..." His blush deepened at the implications of what she was saying.
More to the point, he knew his arguments were utterly absurd because he'd been bangin' Hamest like a drum. Olesia knew that as well as anybody. He rationalized it. The girls had told him to make nice with her. The truth was that was supposed to be for the time he was in Lizard Kingdom fighting off an army and protecting their flanks. And, of course, he had no excuse at all for Katsumi. After his stepmom quit hassling her and finally went to bed, Billy had sneaked over to Kat's place and screwed the shit out of her half the night. He'd banged the fox-girl every way from Sunday. He'd hit it from behind. He'd made her ride his pecker, cowgirl style. He'd even banged her in the shower, riding her hot little body up and down his dick like she was a fuck-toy.
While he was wool-gathering, Olesia continued to rub her pussy against his dong, straddling him there, and that was really starting to take a toll on him. He'd be lieing if he said he didn't want to fuck her. Honestly, he'd thought she was cute enough to fuck the first time he laid eyes on her. He was his father's son. Plump, skinny, big-knockers, and flat-chested waifs... He liked them all, and he was man enough to say it. Now, having dumped a pile of weight, Olesia was just as fucking smoking hot as her cousin was. When the plump girl pressed those smokin' (literally) lips to his, his hands grabbed a big, double-handful of that fat-bottom and squeezed. With those big knobs pressing into his chest, that hot snatch rubbing against his crotch, and the girl trying to vacuum out the inside of his throat, he popped in his pants.
"Oooh," complained Olesia. "That was a waste." Standing up, she reached out and unfastened his jeans. As Billy stammered half-hearted complaints, she rolled them down to expose the soggy mess in his boxers. His pecker was still hard as an iron pipe. It was sticky when she eased it out of its hiding place. "Let's take care of that," said Olesia. Producing a nomex condom like the ones that Finn had been gifted for his encounters with Phoebe, the plump elemental rolled it down Billy's pecker, managing to get his goo all over the condom and her hands in the process. "Now," said she, "no worries over accidents."
Climbing up on him once more, she hiked the soft glass threads of her skirt and eased the crotch of her transparent panties aside. Billy groaned as he felt her hot oven engulf him. There was a momentary hitch as he felt something give way inside, and then she was sliding that steamy-hot goodness down his pole. "O-o-olesia," Billy gasped, as he realized what had just happened. He'd just popped her. She was too busy savoring her first time to reply. It had hardly hurt at all. Indeed, she was just getting warmed up. The gooey mess on his pole was helping that a lot, and she began to ride him like a prize horse. It appeared that complaining of this wasn't going to help him. Having come here to get a piece of Hamest, he wasn't really sure he should be complaining. And he wanted to see those knockers. Olesia had the second biggest pair he'd ever seen, eclipsing even his mom and grandmom. Only naughty Nadia's were bigger.
Reaching up, the big man unbuttoned the front of the plump girl's dress, slowly baring those heavy globes to his greedy eyes. When he reached her belly-button, those heavy tits practically jumped out at him. "Glob," Billy gobbled, as he got to grips with those mega-knockers. "Yes, honey," Olesia moaned. "Touch 'em. Play with 'em." Her wish was his command! Pulling her closer, the big man wrapped his mouth around the one on her left, causing her to squeal at the chill feeling. Nipping and sucking at her knob insistently, the young hero slipped his hands under her dress and got to grips with that fat-bottom of hers, squeezing and stroking her. That ass was just as amazing as he'd imagined. At the same time, her snatch was so hot, it felt almost painful.
It was crazy to think that his dad was banging Phoebe–that he had two-half-elemental siblings. Of course, more sobering thought, Phoebe was on drugs. She was likely to be on drugs basically forever. He didn't know that it was right to expect the same of Olesia. He was conflicted and worried, and, at the same time, kind of crazy into this. Rolling the plush girl on her back, the big man went after those titties as he began to screw her. Bottoming out in her hot box, the big man took his time, teasing her–working those hot knockers over and even playing with her joy-button to make her scream.
He soon had Olesia wriggling around on the bed, her ass shaking and her body thrashing, making the fat tips of those big knockers a constantly moving target. The plump girl clawed at his shoulders, singing his shirt a little, and she clawed the bed, back arching as he plugged her insistently.
And the screaming. Glob, did she scream.
Rolling on his back, the big man let her rest there against him for a few minutes. Then, he began to slowly bounce that beautiful, hot body up and down his big dong, causing her to scream again. Wailing, Olesia went over again and then again, as he worked her knobs over with his cool, wet mouth and plugged her snatch over and over again. It was so fucking good, it was taking willpower to hold out, though, having banged the shit out of Katsumi ironically helped out there. Stopping again, the big man held the plump woman to him.
"W-why are you stopping," she breathed? "D-don't you like it?" Stroking her back and flanks, the big man whispered, "I'm a dude, O. My pecker's not ever complaining about getting good pussy." That nasty compliment made her blush. At the same time, his strong arms around her and his hands on her hips felt so good. "I want you to enjoy it," he told her. "A girl should enjoy her first time. This moment doesn't ever come back." Olesia goggled at him. The big man wrapped his hands in her burning-hot hair and pulled her face to his, driving his tongue into her mouth. He began to slowly fuck her again, winding her up. Pressing her face in against his shoulder, Olesia screamed. The big man kept her blood boiling, making her climax again and again, making her scream until finally he lost the battle against her squeezing snatch. Clutching the plush girl to him, the big man shot off.
Olesia lay limp against him, her breathing telling him she was pretty thoroughly wiped out. "I don't think we should do this," he murmured. Olesia yawned a harumph at him. She felt a little sleepy after all the exertion. Seeing that she was perilously close to going to sleep on him, he shook her gently. They needed to talk about this. Like right flippin' now. "Olesia," he hissed. "What," she yawned? "I don't want you taking meds... not for me...," he rumbled. "Who says I'm taking them for you," she retorted? Turning the tables, she pushed him over on his back and fixed him with those knowing red-orange eyes. Primly, the plump girl told him, "I'm a fatty, and I've been dumped on... a lot. I'm like twentieth in line for the throne, so I've pretty much got no chance, and I'm not even worth marrying for my name. My destiny is to be a cheap, easy fuck for some nobleman or rich business tycoon..." It was a horrific self-assessment, and he rushed to refute that.
Leaning down, Olesia Okonski snuggled in against him, pressing those big knobs of hers into his chest and said, "or... I can be your cheap, easy fuck. And you're kind of pretty." "Don't say that," he pleaded. Ignoring him, the younger woman said, "I fit with you and your needs, William. Those three will be forever tied up in their kingdoms, and that nasty bitch they made you marry... someday she'll have to hold her nose and let you do the deed, but you're not going to get a lot of love and affection out of her. Princesses... They've got issues, and we both know it. But you've got me. I've only got my name, and a little money. No prospects of anything more than being a mistress. But I'm loyal. I'm good around kids. We're going to have a nice time together." Billy sighed. Yeah, he was his father's son, because he seemed to be forever falling into situations like this.
The Royal Train pulled onto a siding in the wee hours of the morning. Simone and Cherry awoke to find their husband in the salon, working away. Looking out the window, the Ice Queen found herself staring at a bustling railyard in the middle of nowhere. "Where did this all come from," she asked? "Dudes from Engagement Ring Kingdom built all this," Finn replied. "Bees bring their stuff here from down in the forest. It gets put in vats up there on the hill. When there's enough to ship, the ERK dudes pump it down to vats on trains and haul it away." Cherry goggled. That was a vast amount of narcotic honey! With a shrug, Finn said, "they're selling it over the ocean in Tequila Kingdom now." Ramona was experimenting with using it in mixes with her tequila. The bees were making bank.
It was a shock to the two women that so much had happened in the few months that the civilized kingdoms had been at peace. Finn shrugged and uttered, "greed..." Closing down the little computer he was using, the big man rose and headed for the shower. Moments later, the two women were rushing after him. After a few moments of ass-grabbing in the shower, the trio dried off, climbed into clothing suitable for visiting a foreign head of state, and clambered down the stairs at the end of the car.
The forest in front of them was foreboding. Finn had been here a couple of times, but he'd had to walk for miles, and he'd been nearly snatched up by patrols a couple of times. "How do we...," Cherry burbled? Simone found herself wondering if she'd have to fly the pair to Breezy's home. "There's a tram," Finn said, as he motioned for them to follow him. The bees had warmed to the idea of making piles of money, and nobody on the council wanted one of their partners getting him or herself stung and left for dead by some itinerant peasant wandering the forest. They'd put some of their own money into building a tram that went all the way from the railyard to the capitol in the heart of the forest. Arriving at the station, the King rang for the tram, and the trio settled in to wait.
Back in the Candy Kingdom, Billy came out of Hamest's bedroom to an amazing sight. Olesia standing there before a mirror, putting together her wardrobe for the day. Rags, Abeiuwa, and Noemi had to do it the hard way. O was definitely a lot skinnier. At the same time, she still had that fucking amazing ass. As he watched, she opened a box of pale, white sand and a second box of bright-red sand. Waving her fingers, the plump girl caused a stream of sand from both boxes to drift up. Swirling around each other and then around her round ass, the two streams flowed into threads, creating a pair of transparent, hot-pink panties that hugged tight to O's big butt.
Next, she conjured up a heavy-duty bra in hot-pink to support her big boulders. It was a lot easier than the weird drill his mom, grandma, and sister had to go through. Leo had told him about the hilarity of watching Lina pulling on a bra one morning when she was tired. He'd eventually had to help out. Now, as Billy watched and savored the sight, his would-be 'mistress' opened a box full of black, volcanic sand and conjured up a natty little-black-dress, with a semi-transparent cleavage-window over her big titties. His pecker was halfway down his leg at the sight.
When she was done, the big man walked up behind her and slipped his arms around her middle. Laying his head against her shoulder, he pressed his cheek in against hers, feeling the heat of her hair–like threads of iron on a warm day. He was in love with that feeling. "Mmm," she sighed. "This is nice." "You bet it is," he agreed. Turning to face him, she murmured, "what shall we do today?" Taking her hands, the young hero thought about that for a moment. With his dad away at Aerwin's wedding, he would be holding down the fort, dealing with all the bullshit that came with the ugliest job in the world. Bonnie might be looking for him as they spoke. "Let's go for a long walk in the gardens and talk, O," he said.
Two-hundred miles away, Thor sat fumbling out a message on his phone. "They look cute," announced his irritating 'partner'. Thor nodded absently. With a soft sigh, the vampire rumbled, "I wanted to have a daughter..." Marshall had shut the idea down. They weren't going to be making vampire-babies. He wasn't even sure it was possible. They were undead. It had taken Bonnie's science and a lot of help from Dr. Princess to bring Marshall into the world. Death had never intended his undead predators to replace the very life he was aiming to destroy.
Thor found himself grimacing. She made it hard to ignore her. That was key to this whole thing. He wanted to keep her at arms length. That made it easier to tell Star that everything was kosher and above-board. Conversations like this humanized the monster, and that was a problem. "Thanks," he muttered, as he hit send. "I guess you miss them," she said. Thor glanced away. "Why are you treating me so mean," she asked? "I'm trying to be nice..." Glaring at her, he said, "I'm a fuck-up. I cheated on the best thing that ever happened to me. I let myself get caught up, and I cheated on the great love of my life. I don't want to be hanging around with another woman. I wanna' be home with my girls..."
Candy glanced away. "You don't have to be a jerk," she said. "I'm... This isn't easy for me, either. I leaped into sex with a boy I hardly knew. I had stars in my eyes, and I didn't even think about any kind of protection. I got pregnant, and my dad kicked me out of the house. I didn't feel like I had much of a choice but to get married." Turning to face him, the vampire said, "I had sex too early. I got married too early. I want to live it up, but now I'm married... I'm a housewife, with a kid, and I hardly get to do anything!"
"Living it up is overrated," Thor muttered. He was staring out the window at the ruined old castle that was the target of today's fun. Candy stared at him. "I've had a hundred girlfriends," he rumbled. "I could still have a girl in every town I pass through if I wanted it. Partying and fucking around is old news." The younger woman stared at him in shock. That wasn't how her mom and grandmom always talked about boys. She'd always thought that boys just wanted to screw everything with a heartbeat–that you had to basically shackle them up to make thm useful. When the big man would have gotten out of the car, she stopped him. "I'll go," she said. "You're known to them..." Which had been ugly, chilling news. It said something about what shade of no-good these dudes were up to if they were looking out for him. The vampire became invisible before opening the door. As she stepped out, she said, "your wife should cut you some slack. Men who don't get sex are vulnerable to those bitches' pheremone attacks..." The men of Purple Kingdom jerked off frequently to prevent... problems. Thor found himself staring at the door, long after she'd shut it.
Back in the Bee Kingdom, Finn the King stood on the palace balcony, staring out at the forest canopy's bare-branches in a state of worry. Behind him, a raucous party was in full swing, celebrating both the arrival of the King of Ooo and the upcoming wedding of the kingdom's princess to one of the leading lights of the noble class. His ladies were circulating through the crowd, pressing the flesh and making friends. There was just one problem.
Breezy wasn't here.
He'd finally met Barton. The King of Ooo had finally met the Royal Consort of the Bee Kingdom. He found the other man to be oily and even slightly sinister. Though Finn had put on a good face, he found himself thinking that Barton was the kind of dude who did in his wife and swept the whole thing under the rug. He'd investigated a couple of ugly incidents like that in the Candy Kingdom long ago. Much as Bonnie had done her best to tame the ugly impulses of her subjects, there was always that ugly impulse buried in every living creature. The only difference was that the typical candy-person was neither devious nor careful enough to truly get away with murder. But Barton was no candy-person.
The story was that B was sick. She was flat-on-her-back sick and laid up in bed. It was a definite possibility. This was the closing stages of winter, where there was always shit floating around in the air. Add to that the fact that the Queen Bee had been doing a lot of traveling, organizing for Aerwin's wedding and inviting foreign royals to visit. She'd even invited Marshall and his family. When you added in the fact that bees didn't much like cold weather, there was a lot of room for Breezy to get very sick very fast.
And yet, Finn felt uneasy about the whole business.
It wasn't rational. He knew that. Yet, he felt that his old pal would have crawled to see her daughter's wedding. Breezy had little love for her husband, but she loved those kids, just as much as Finn loved Bill, Fi, and Star. It didn't seem right that she wouldn't be here.
"What's up, dad," Marshall murmured? Finn looked up to find his son there. The son he hadn't known about. He'd been denied the chance to bond with this tall, handsome stranger. It was one of the many regrets of his life. Turning, the big man shocked the younger man by hugging him. "B-breakin'... the... ribs...," Marshall wheezed. The big man stood there staring at him, when he finally let go. It was an odd mood, and it sort of creeped Marshall Lee Abadeer out. "I... uh... just thought I'd say hi," he said, as he turned to go. "Stay," Finn murmured. The word rooted the thin fellow to the spot.
Meanwhile, across the room, Simone stood chatting away with her erstwhile 'daughter-in-law'. She thought of Connie that way because she thought of Marshall as a son. She'd always tried to offer the young fellow love because he was clearly getting none from his birth-mom. Marceline had been a wreck of a person almost from day one, and she carried a thousand years of emotional baggage everywhere she went, making her a poor choice for a mom. Like everything else in her life, having Marshall had been a lark, and it showed in every unpleasant and ugly incident in the young man's upbringing. Much like Finn, Simone had tried to step in to nurture a child who'd spent his formative years teetering on the edge of the abyss.
Much like her husband, Connie was 'going through stuff' because she was managing two hellions as sister-wives who were having trouble coping with what it really meant to be ageless, eternal vampires. It wasn't enough that the pair were equally reckless in their personal dealings. It wasn't enough that Candy was tempted to fuck around and cheat every chance she got. It wasn't enough that Davina would do odd, disturbing things like wandering around naked. The pair seemed to be self-destructing with Candy disappearing for days on end and Davina bouncing back and forth between manic bouts of activity and depression. And it was taking a toll on Marshall's fragile psyche and doing nothing good for their kids.
"I don't know how you do it," Connie confessed. "I don't," Simone retorted. In calm, even tones, the Ice Queen remarked, "I have the certain knowledge that Finn isn't out there stirring shit up, Connie. He's not out there fucking around and acting as if he can do whatever he wants. He behaves like the father and husband that he still is. He's there with the kids as much as its possible for a man wearing a crown to manage. He's sometimes there with Jewel more than I am. He's attentive to me and Emeraude and everybody else in our extended family, even when he'd rather be doing anything else.
"That's the first piece of the pie–a husband who's actually being a husband. I think you've got that piece covered. The second is that I admit my own failings and the part I played in getting us to this place. That's up to and including my decision to embrace polygamy. I can't very well turn around and get upset about the whole thing now, can I? Regret isn't going to help you, dear. Life's like an hourglass, glued to the table. No resets."
Connie winced and gave her a rueful look. She'd leaped in. She'd had... reasons for wanting to do that. She'd had reasons well outside of Marshall's kids and even his peace of mind. She'd had no idea just how hard it was to make something like this work. "You need to have a heart-to-heart with the knuckleheads," Simone said. "That's the third piece of the pie, dear girl. They're fucking up, and that needs to stop. My family is under no illusions that our family is a machine and must be maintained like any other well-oiled machine. That means that any piece of the machine that fails to work will be jettisoned. Finn told our biggest offender that to her face, and the rest of us stand ready to make that stick."
Just then, one of the councilors approached with two of Breezy's kids at her side. Simone looked up at them with a frown. "Months ago, an offer was put before you by the Queen," said Councilor Mogg. "We've had no answer. Since Your Highness is here, and you are the chief negotiator for such matters, we should like some of your time." Connie's eyes flicked to the Ice Queen, wondering what the matter was about and what the Ice Queen was going to do about it. "Watch and learn, Connie," Simone said, as she climbed to her feet.
The Ice Queen insisted on having Cherry summoned, and then the little group retired to a private chamber to have a nice, private conversation about the Bee Kingdom's inane proposal. As the group slipped out of the ballroom, the Royal Consort stood on a platform above the center of the room with his chief bodyguard, wearing a sinister smile. Part one of the plan was in motion. The blowhards would have the wizard tied up for hours. That left him with plenty of time and space to put the rest of the plan in motion. If everything worked out, he would have either a massive scandal that would damage the King of Ooo's rather tenuous coalition and governing mandate or the King's head itself on a silver plate.
Lots of ground covered this time. Bill and Olesia finally get it on. Thor and Candy both learn vital life lessons. And Barton puts his plan to take care of Finn in motion.