Notes:
Hey, new update! I really enjoyed writing this chapter, I think it's a bit more light-hearted compared to what it has been recently, the characters needed this break. So did I, I have a few end notes but for now I just hope you enjoy this chapter - I think it's my longest one so far :)
Oh, and this chapter focuses entirely on the main core of characters right now.
Reviews:
SugarQueen97 - Thanks for the compliment, I enjoyed that re-work a lot more.
brody Putnum - I'm not sure what you mean about a 'confrontation about their love'. Who's love? Star and Marco? Ophelia and Matt?
The group had been riding for about 4 hours now, they ran into a little bit of an issue with Sam needing to go to the toilet, which took far longer than it should've. However, the city of relaxation, Arcanretia had eventually come into view. The group came from a forest road, the gates were about a mile ahead of them, "It's here!" Star called back to the carriage which caused a bunch of heads to flip over the sides of said carriage in an attempt to finally see civilisation. Kelly's head was nowhere to be found over the edge.
"Hmpf, honestly, kids." She commented before slumping down into a more comfortable position. Marco looked back with a judging gaze; Kelly just shrugged her shoulders at him. At first, things looked decent – the entrance gate to the city was guarded with two men in metal plating, they had swords by their left hip. As the group approached closer though, they began to notice certain things that were worrying, a few broken tents could be seen outside the walls of the city, in addition to a terrible stench from the sewer exit. Star questioned whether this city was all it was cracked up to be; Emilia seemed a little edgy.
"Halt!" The right guard called, he stepped forward, "What is your business here?" He asked, hand on sword.
"We're here to relax," Emilia replied, wearing her best poker face.
"With a carriage?" The guard asked, seemingly unconvinced at the idea of relaxation whilst drawing a trading carriage.
"We're a travelling coach." Star added on, "Feel free to check the back. We've only got people and supplies there."
"Keep an eye on them." The guard asked his friend before slowly trudging his way through sloppy mud to the back-end of the carriage. Marco and the rest of the gang arranged themselves in sitting correctly on the seats, currently, Kelly was slumped on the floor, Samantha was laid down on her back, Marco was sat cross-legged; Tom was sat normally. The guard eventually found the other side of the carriage and looked in, the guys in there just smiled and waved at him. His eyes seemed to be rummaging for anything suspicious in the back. Contempt with her search, the guard flashed a small smile before return around – "Clear!" He shouted up front, the other guard then allowed passage into the city.
"Security is heavier than it was before," Emilia whispered to Star. "Did anything happen?" Emilia asked the guard as they jogged along.
"Long story… There was an outbreak recently, we had to quarantine a lot… Hence the tents." Star skimmed the outer-edge of the town again, noticing that said tents seemed to have patches of red on them, 'What kind of epidemic was it?'
"We should find somewhere to stay." Emilia told the rest of the group, "It's not great to have to haul this carriage and these horses around."
"Agreed," Star noted.
The first district that the group happened upon was probably where the poorest lived, the houses were made out of basic straw, twigs, a few planks of wood – stood seemed to be the foundation material. They probably wouldn't survive a flood… Or even heavy rain. Star seemed taken aback by the conditions, her mouth was wide as her eyes surveyed the people. "That's just what it's like for some people," Emilia told Star.
"There's enough food and money, though right? Why do people have to live like this? We could help them—the-the King could help—"
"But he doesn't." Emilia replied, "Listen, I know you're a good kid – but it's naïve to think you could help everyone. Don't get me wrong, the bastard sure as hell doesn't do as much as he could, but it's impossible to save everyone in a country from this life." Star seemed a little defeated at Emilia's words, "Sorry." The maid continued, "I might've come off a bit aggressive there…"
"No, it's fine," Star replied, her eyes still snapping around the town.
Truth be told, the conditions here were much worse than the town near the castle – the lowest kind of lifestyle you found there was a crappy stable as a home. This was much worse, some bodies had been strewn across the street, it was hard to tell if they were dead or not. It bought a wince of sympathy from Marco. Tom kept his eyes on the floor, trying not to think about it. Kelly went about her business as usual, it seemed death didn't affect her that much: How fitting. The crew tried to keep Sam's eyes from this part of the city.
"This place though," Emilia started, "It's a lot worse than what I remember. Before, this kind of area faded into a more suitable place to live quite a while back." The group had been riding through Arcanretia for about 30 minutes now, finally, they saw what seemed to be an actual house, followed by more. A good signal that they had reached the middle-class, the people who still worked but had a way of life that didn't really on pillaging or trading bottle caps.
"How much money do we have?" Tom asked, everyone checked their pockets. Kelly had all her items stripped from her back in the cell, they didn't have time to collect them either so she was out. Tom had a few copper pieces – equal to about 3 loaves of stale bread. Marco checked himself and found pretty much the same amount of money, they hadn't packed for a long journey. Star hadn't any money – there'd never been a need at the castle for her to have it. Emilia had about 10 copper on her person, needless to say, Sam didn't have anything on her. "Well…" Tom said, "Fu~~dge…" He finished.
"We need money then…" Marco observed.
"Oh really, Captain Obvious?" Kelly remarked.
"Guys, let's not fight – we need to figure this out," Star said, turning her head back into the carriage. "Wait… The carriage!" Star said, the idea slowly crossed the rest of the group's head.
"The carriage," Marco replied slowly.
"The carriage," Tom added.
"The carriage…" Kelly mumbled.
"The carriage," Emilia said back.
The group shared in a light-hearted chuckle at the comedy of the situation. "So, we selling it?" Marco asked, "It was a short time," He said as the teen began to stroke the splintered fragments of the wood, "But you were the best carriage a boy could ask for…" Kelly smirked but looked away to keep her happiness hidden. Star just sighed at the boy's stupidity.
"We'll have to get rid of the horses too." Star said, "Without the carriage, they'd just be dead-weight." The group seemed to acknowledge this assessment and began looking for an auction house, some sort of farmer in need of horses, or just merchant in need of a carriage – anyone that would buy them.
Emilia and Samantha went scouting for an inn or something that could house the team for the night while the other procured money. Tom and Kelly left to check out the west side, leaving Marco and Star to scout the East. Emilia's team took the horses and carriage, they'd thought it best to leave the carriage with the two most sensible people there – the group agreed to meet at the same place they split up in a while.
Star & Marco
The time was about 5 P.M. the sun was approaching its set, casting a warming orange glow on the streets of Arcanretia. It was rather peaceful once you escaped the slums, most people seemed to be keeping in-doors, only about thirty people could be seen in the streets around Marco and Star. The duo had already tried their first shop, but the owner was… A little strange to sell anything too, it looked like he had a bad case of pinkeye. The two teens darted out of that shop, during their travels, they had come across: An armoury, a bakery, a bank, and a butcher. It took a lot of strength from Marco to stop Star from busting into the bakery and spending all the money they had on them. "Wow. Emilia didn't lie, this really is beautiful when you look past the… Place from earlier." Star felt a little confused as to how she should phrase what it was, knowing that Marco probably grew up in a place similar to it.
"Yeah, that was pretty bad – we could see a little of it from inside the carriage." A lingering smell of death dwelled in the air. "Looks like it's going to rain later tonight…" Marco observed, there was a large patch of low-clouds rolling in from the east.
"Yeah, we should hurry and try to find some place to sell," Star noted before the two continued their adventures.
Tom & Kelly
"Come on dude, we've got two great horses and a wagon for sale!" Tom complained at this guy who just sat behind a pod, rolling his eyes at the youngster.
"And I don't need two great horses and a wagon." The guy responded, he was chubby and his hair was greasy, it seemed to not have been cut for a while. He sat in a green shirt that was slightly too small for him, leaving his stomach exposed, a black suit and a black tie. That was when Kelly decided to use some of her… charms, to speak with the guy.
"Listen here fat-boy, no loving, double McMuffin –"his eye twitched "-fucking crop-top looking ass bitch, you're gonna buy these horses – or I will personally hunt you down—"
"Kelly." Tom argued, pulling on her arm and dragging her to the side, "We're not gonna get this guy to buy from us by threatening him."
"Look at him Tom, he's a thug, he'll buy from us as long as he has the right motivation." She said, cracking one of her fingers.
"But we can't walk into every town, threatening everyone we see and become most wanted #1!" He cried. Kelly sighed and stepped back for Tom to go speak with the fellow again. "Thank you," he whispered, "Sorry about my friend, she's a bit quick to the draw."
"I can tell." He had some venom to his voice. Kelly seemed aggravated but let it slide, which Tom was thankful for. "Listen kid, truth is, I wanna buy those horses – but I just don't like you. Take your business elsewhere."
"If you listen for a second, I'm sure we can work—"
"I ain't budging on it kid, take it else—"
"Oh, fuck this." Kelly barged in, snapping one of the pens from the man's desk in her hand before grabbing his head in one swift movement and bringing the sharpened pen to his throat – because of her small stature she had to climb a little bit on top of the table. "You're gonna buy those horses. Aren't you?" Her voice seemed distant, cold… It was the first time Tom had seen her like this.
The man contemplated his options for a minute, that was when Kelly pushed the pseudo-knife further against his throat, "Yes okay!" He blurted, "I'll give you 5 silver for both the horses. But I ain't buying the carriage or wagon or whatever it is."
"Pleasure doing business," Kelly said before storming out the shop, leaving Tom to sheepishly apologise and dart out with her.
"What the hell was that?" He called after her, she was already stomping back to where they agreed to meet.
"I got him to buy, didn't I?"
"That's not the point, this isn't how we do things!" He cried, standing in front of her.
"Yeah, well, your way got a lot of people killed, didn't it? Maybe if you were more ruthless that wouldn't have happened." She said before stomping past him.
Marco & Star
The two had finally found a stall of a local merchant, they claimed that they were wishing to start travelling but needed a carriage – perfect! The deal went off without a hitch for the duo, the final pricing they settled for was about 3 silvers, so that'd be 8 silvers or 800 coppers between the two teams.
Meeting Point – 6:50 P.M.
Marco and Star eventually found their way back, to be honest, they might've been here earlier but the two took a wrong turn and ended up in a brothel neighbourhood, the thought of what they saw made them shudder. "Marco…" Star moaned, "There were women… But they weren't…"
"Shh." Marco said, quickly trying to change the topic "Look there's the rest of the group!"
Tom and Kelly were the first to arrive, followed by Emilia and Sam who apparently had found a nice place with attached access to a hot-springs bathhouse. Male and Female were kept in separate bath houses before Tom got any ideas, he had been known to be quite the peeper back in the old days, he thought it made him look cool in front of other guys, usually, it ended in him getting beaten up before even getting the chance.
They decided to take the carriage to the merchant first, then the shifty business guy.
Nothing eventful happened during either business transaction – the shifty guy was still a little peeved he was threatened into a deal by such a youngster; however, he had seemed a little prideful in the younger generations because of it. Take that however you will. Tom and Marco were forced to carry the belongings, luckily there weren't too many but it still made both their arms ache from carrying the stuff so far.
Inn – 8:40 P.M.
They finally arrived, the path that leads to the entrance was stoned, on either side was a patch of grass that had various flowers blooming – the sun had mostly set and so a purple light was being beautifully reflected by the windows of the building. It seemed rather large, easily passable for a dormitory. It was assumed by the team that the bathhouses would be behind the building, out of site. There was a wooden sign that was posted just outside, it had carved into it "Swann View Relaxation Inn". 'I sure hope it is.' Was a unanimous thought throughout the group.
Furthermore, due to the mass amounts of flower, that dreadful stench of death had somewhat been circumvented by the pollen and other sweet-smelling aromas. Samantha happily took a deep breath.
The team crashed through the door, surprising the receptionist at the number of people entering. "Oh, Miss Emilia, is this the rest of your party?" She asked, the woman seemed to be mid-late thirties, wore a professional black dress, had very dark – almost black hair in a bun, and had a few ink smudges on her left hand from smudging the papers she'd been writing on.
"Yes, how much did you say it was for a night?" Emilia asked.
"About 25 coppers per room, dear."
"TWENTY-FIVE?!" Kelly blurted out.
Marco nudged her and whispered, "I mean it does come with the bathhouse so… you know…" Kelly still seemed unconvinced at the humongous price, usually, you'd expect a room of this quality to be 10 coppers, if alone, without the added access to the bath.
"Okay, we'll take 3 rooms." Kelly was about to question that decision choice but Emilia beat her to the punch, "I want a good night sleep, okay. We've got the money right now; I think we could all do with a bit of peace and quiet from each other."
Nobody except for Kelly had an issue with that spending of the money. "How will we decide who sleeps where?" Marco asked.
"Simple," Emilia replied. "We'll sleep in the groups we went out in today." She finished, smirking at Marco who didn't really catch the ball and let it fall.
"Yeah, okay." He said, "But man am I hungry, can we still get food this late?" He asked the receptionist who replied with a smile.
"Of course, the kitchen is just down the hall and to the right, they should still be serving dinner, but it might just be leftovers."
"That's fine by me!" Marco cried back, already leaving with Tom and Kelly in tow.
Emilia sighed, pouring a silver piece into her hand and giving it to the receptionist who exchanged it for 25 coppers. "Sorry Star," Emilia said.
"Ah, it's fine. I'm sure he'll figure it out sooner or later, come on let's go join them for dinner." Star said, grabbing Sam by the hand who was happy to get some food after a long day's trek.
Dinner was a mediocre supplement, some soup that had gone a little too thick for anyone's liking, but it was at least very nutritious, there had been some rather soft bread to go with it which was a nice change of pace from what they ate as a snack on the road. It was certainly a change of pace for Star who had never had anything less than exquisite meals. They were usually leftovers of the feast at dinner-time back in the castle, Glossaryck used to bring her the scraps he got from the servants.
Sam was the first one to perk up afterward, "Let's go to the bath!" She cried, I think everyone was ready to clean all the dirt off them, it was amazing how much better you could feel after taking a nice, steamy bath. Everyone seemed to agree with that, even Kelly who was usually reserved about things like this was looking forward to letting the water wash away her troubles for a few minutes.
Firstly though, everyone unpacked in their respective rooms and changed into some provided garments, simple tunics that they could wear until their old clothes had been washed. It was an extra 5 coppers for that service but seemed worth the money.
The main issue was, the room had 1 double bed. Marco blushed when he saw the sleeping arrangement, the last time they slept together… Was it the night they went out after Markus' confession? Or was it after Kelly kidnapped Star that one time in the wine cellar? Aghhh! He couldn't think. Star knew what she was doing though, this was her plan, with a smirk on her face she pretended that she knew nothing of the arrangement.
Star and Marco left their room and headed for the bathhouse; the rain had begun to pour down now. "Ah… That's a bummer…" Marco noted, it was still quite warm outside despite the rain, and the bathhouses were indoors so it didn't stop them from going there. Just made the team break into a small jog to get there. Eventually, there was a fork in the road – the women baths were to the left and the men to the right. The duo said their farewell and went to their respective establishments, nobody else was in the changing room except for Marco. It seemed that you had to put your clothes into a basket and change into a towel that they provided. Huh, neat.
After changing, Marco followed the direction signs to a room that once the door had been opened – a wave of warm steam caressed his face. It was a little difficult to see due to the opacity of the water vapour, but he managed to find the bath eventually, it was large enough to fit about thirty people comfortably so there wasn't a lack of space. In fact, that was an abundance of it as it was only him and Tom inside the bath right now. "Aha! Marco, I've been waiting for you." Tom pointed toward the teen.
"What is it, Tom?" Marco asked, sighing as he said it, he finally laid his head back against the stone wall and began to relax his muscles for what seemed like the first time in ages.
"We're going to peep!" He claimed; very loudly might I add. If there had been anyone else in the changing rooms or the immediate vicinity to the bathhouse, it wouldn't even be debatable on his words. Hell, if it wasn't for the harsh pitter-patter of rain, the girls would've most likely heard it.
Marco choked slightly, his grasp on the underwater stone bench slipped too and he fell slightly under the water. "Tom… Are you really this much of an idiot?!" Marco shot back, "I don't want you looking at Star…" He said, a little bit defensive. "And Kelly would literally snap your neck if she found out!"
"Don't worry my boy." His tone had gone a full 180, he had boldness to his voice. It was as if another personality escaped whilst he was talking about his plan to peep on the girls, "I will not look at the Princess or Samantha – the precious angel she is! And Kelly will only snap my neck if she finds out."
"I don't think you get what the main problem is…"
"Marco." His voice returned to normal, but it was serious. "There comes a point in every boy's life, when he must become a man. Do you know why women get in public bathhouses?" This doesn't look good.
"No Tom I—"
"It's because they want to be seen!" Marco's face couldn't be easily explained, it was confused beyond belief. He had to stroke his temples to keep calm.
Breathe in… Breathe out… "Tom—"
"I mean have you seen Emilia's curves? Those pants she wears are just a perfect fit!"
…
"I mean… It has crossed my mind, once or twice back in the Choosing but that's not the point here – we can't. That's beyond illegal and rude, disrespectful…"
"Marco, buddy, you could be dead tomorrow. Not even God knows whether you'll be happy tomorrow, so you should at least be happy now."
"…" What the fuck is with that logic? It's so… Not right, but… Not wrong…
"You mean to tell me you're going to pass up the opportunity to get an eyeful of heaven, because of some self-righteous views you have?!"
Marco began to fall into a chuckle, laughing at the stupidity of the situation he found himself in, "If I go will you stop bothering me?"
"That's my boy!" Tom cried before jumping out of the bath and drying himself off. Marco joined him, there was a voice in Marco's head that kept crying out for him to stop, it wasn't right. At the end of the day, he was still a teenager – they live and breathe hormones.
Female Bathhouse
"Ahhhhhh…" Star cooed, letting her body fully absorb the minerals in the water. The girls had covered themselves the best they could with towels while still remaining comfortable. Emilia tapped her feet in the water a little bit before fully entering and releasing a similar moan to Star. Kelly just dropped herself in, keeping a stoic look on her face – it was always hard to get a read on that girl.
The girls of the group had been chilling for a few minutes, Sam began to kick the water and swim across from side to side in light paddles. "Wow, this so good," Emilia said, leaning further back into the water. Kelly just hmm'd in agreement, closing her eyes and trying to let her drift off into unconsciousness. It seriously felt like any of them could just drift off into a peaceful sleep, the water seemed to take away most of their weight. Leaving them in a sense of euphoria, Star had been doing good recently. Glossaryck only crossed her mind a few times i.e. At dinner, or when they were walking back from talking to the merchant. It still made her sad, but she was starting to smile more at the memories he made with her.
Star scratched one of the scars she had just above her left breast, it was horizontal and a few inches long – she remembered it well because it was the first time Ophelia every tried anything against her. The psycho got a knife from the kitchen and tried to stab at Star – pretending they were sword-fighting. It took Glossaryck to come and lift 'phe from Star's body before the knife went any further in. She had multiple scars on her back from the times her father used to come in her room: Sometimes for the most redundant of things, for example, one time he came in after another King and Queen left from their stay because Star accidentally dropped her toy down the stairs and went to pick it up, only to be seen by them. She was only 10…
In her mind, her father was still the worst piece of shit – the scars he left would never leave her. But she had been getting better at not letting those scars dictate her life; especially after meeting Marco and the rest of the group.
Emilia noticed a few of those scars but decided not to say anything, too scared that they might bring unpleasant memories. "I know!" Emilia said, catching everyone's attention, "Let's play the word-association game! I'll start… Bath."
"Fuzzy," Star added afterward, relishing in the warmth of the water once more.
"Fluffy!" Sam said next.
"Unicorns," Kelly said, causing everyone to turn and give her a questioning expression, even Sam who thought Kelly was like the devil. "What? I'm not allowed to like unicorns?" The rest of the group just went back to their own thing.
"Fantasy." Said Emilia.
"Ghosts."
"Jeepers!" Samantha cried, that was when a crack could be heard from the wooden wall – before it caved in to reveal a foot by a foot sized whole which two teenager heads could barely fit through.
"Peepers," Kelly replied with nonchalance, the rest of the girls squealed and Emilia got up to go punish the two guys.
"No, it's not what it looks like!" Tom shouted. Marco just pushed against the wall, trying to bring his head back through, but it was no use – the fact that Tom and Marco were pushing different ways only made their heads collide and get further stuck, Emilia was essentially on top of them now, before she crouched down and clicked her fingers – wearing a face that could probably match what Kelly wore when she interrogated – I mean bartered, with that shifty guy earlier.
"Oh yeah?" She said before grabbing the two boy's heads and looking them dead in the eyes, "Hey Kelly, what do you think we should do with them?"
"Oh no no no!" Came a wave of pleas from the boys, Kelly stood up – mind you all the girls were still covered in towels. "No no no wa-wait-wait!"
"I say we cut off their balls," Kelly mentioned.
"Good idea."
A tsunami of high-pitched gasps came from the two boys, they had lost the ability to speak rationale words. "You two sorry?" Emilia asked, both profusely nodded. "What do you girls think?" Samantha was still a bit confused at the action the others took against Marco and Tom but she didn't question it, she got the impression they did something bad.
"Yeah, let 'em go," Star commanded, she was blushing and hid everything but her face under the water.
"But you two try anything like that again," Now Kelly was next to them, "And I'll break every bone in your pathetic bodies."
They just kept nodding before Emilia pushed them through the wall with a loud crack.
"What a bunch of creeps," Kelly said.
Outside the Bath House
"Well, that went great," Marco admitted, dusting off some of the debris from his neck.
"It did!" Tom shouted, "When Emilia pushed us back through, for a split-second I—"
"Nope. We're done here." Marco commanded and shut up Tom before dragging him off, the Diaz was pretty embarrassed – STUPID! Why'd you do that shit?
Later That Night – Star and Marco's Room
The two entered the room simultaneously, Star had been in the bath a lot longer but Marco needed to grab a few things from reception so they ended up meeting on the way back – the walk was rather silent. "Are you mad?" Marco asked.
"I'm not mad." She replied.
…
The girl was preparing to get in bed, Marco decided to run around the other side of the bed. "You sound mad…" He pointed out again.
"I'm not mad." She replied once more. "Just a little disappointed you'd stoop to that level…" The two still didn't face each other, Star refused to face him and Marco couldn't bring up the courage to face her. The Butterfly was patting down one of the pillows before hopping in and facing away from him. The boy returned the favour and blew out the candle before getting in and facing the other direction.
"I'm sorry." He mumbled about 10 minutes into the awkward rest. "I don't know what came over me, I just… I didn't think – and when I did think it was too late, and I – I haven't been thinking right the past while. I've just…" He had to take a minute to think, "I've just made a lot of mistakes and when Tom came to me all enthusiastic, I couldn't help but go along with it, you know... The truth is, I'm just… Really empty right now." Star reacted to this and turned the other way to face the back of Marco's head. "I feel really empty and sad. And I don't know how to get rid of this pain in my chest, I can't stop it – it keeps gnawing and me. At first, I put it off with thinking 'It was for the good of the kingdom', 'It wasn't your fault', 'It was Ophelia'. But the more I think, the worse it gets… It was me that got them all killed, maybe if I wasn't there… Sam would still have her auntie." This was the first time Star had heard that Sam's auntie had been killed in the raid. She didn't realise that Sam was a constant reminder of what happened, it must've really hurt. "So, like I said I'm sorry if you felt attacked or anything."
…
The conversation ended in silence after that, but Star eventually grabbed onto his shoulders in acceptance, "It's okay Marco. I wasn't angry, and I get it – you think it's all your fault." Hearing someone else say it made Marco feel even greater pain in his chest, "But I'm still here because of you, hell knows what would've happened to me had I stayed there, now that Ophelia's got a suitor they really didn't have a need for me."
…
"It's okay Marco, you can cry. It's fine to cry once in a while, it means your human still." A few moments later and a few sniffles could be heard from the lump, she smiled sympathetically and held onto his back. "I'm here."
"I just… I wanted to save them… I thought I could, I didn't think it would go down like that – or maybe, maybe I did! Maybe I knew it was a suicide mission but I went thr-…" He choked on his words, the tears starting to create a barricade of communication between the two. Hearing her friend sob like this started to put emotional baggage on her too, it reminded her of how she was back when he first met her. Lonely, sad, feeling like it's your own fault…
"It's okay Marco…" She repeated.
"It's not, Sam—"
"Sam's a strong girl, she'll get through this."
"Marco." She repeated softly, holding on to him tightly, feeling his body vibrate in shakes of crying.
"It's my fault." He whimpered.
"Shhhh," Star whispered, "it's not your fault. It never was, they knew the dangers and still went."
The boy whipped around now and held back onto Star which caused her to be a little shocked, suddenly, this brown-haired fluff was attached to her chest, tightly holding around her body and whimpering into her tunic. It made her feel sad: Damn, it was contagious that thing. Even a few tears of their own began to leak through Star's eyes.
It took about 10 minutes for the crying to stop and Marco's heart rate to return to a somewhat steady pace. He left Star's tunic, it was mostly covered in wetness now, "Sorry." He said.
"Don't worry about it." Star replied, "I can go get a new one." Marco didn't respond, he was already passed out from the chore of today and yesterday. "Sleep tight Marco…" She said before placing a kiss on his forehead and leaving for the bathroom to grab a new tunic.
End Notes:
Sleep tight Marco. There we go, not too bad eh? I have a few notices: Some of you might think "Wow, has this turned into a comedy?" The answer's 'no, not really'. But I'd like to think life isn't a single or two genres, it's a mixture - it has ups, it has downs, but the cast has finally got out of that stuffy castle. They can finally be teens once more, Tom is a teen who group on the streets; man's a player! I say that jokingly, he's an baboon when it comes to things like this, similar with Marco. I think the characters needed this to unwind, but make no mistake - Kelly's threat was real. XD
Was it too far with the peeping? Eh. Teens will be teens, Marco is pretty easy to influence right now, and Tom seems to be focused on getting some of those Emi tiddi pics xD Which is... him, these characters are pretty OOC (Out-of-character) anyway so I just threw in the tid bit about him being a peeper and the rest just wrote itself. I enjoyed writing the comedy of this chapter a lot, it was refreshing for me and I hope it was for you to read too.
Who knows, after this story I might write an adventuring story set in some sort of fantasy world with Star being a priestess, Marco being an archer, Kelly being a rogue or something - that could be fun. Either way, that's all from me for now, see you soon :)
Thanks,
vK