Chapter 11:

"They kinda' cast a pall over things," Jake opined. Finn flushed. He'd been mortally embarrassed to have Reggie take a swipe out of the fish that Finn himself had cooked! Bananas! They had been the bane of his existence for three decades now. Finn had been certain that all Bonnie's peeps had gotten fed Fionna's special mood-improvement crystals, but Reggie was still a loon. His bodyguard was a fair bit better. Ingrid had picked him out. While he wasn't a mountain of meat like Thor, he was competent in a fight and fearless enough to go toe-to-toe against the Dipped. Unfortunately, both hanging out here together did sort of drag down the mood of what was supposed to be a bit of a vacation. Having the pair travel along in their own boat had helped, but Finn was kind of thinking the cure for his ills was worse than the disease.

Of course Jake brought his own baggage. His new girlfriend had come along, which wouldn't have bothered Finn. Trouble was TV had invited himself along, and he and Samantha mixed as well as oil and water. Finn understood it. Jake had walked out on TV's mom. Now he was with somebody Lady flatly hated. And Finn? He was caught in the middle, trying to keep father and son from being at each other's throats. The only blessing? Pearl was going back to work. With the rogue Banana Guard locked up, Riley's club was doing better. That would see TV move back into his own place and maybe stop Lady from crying about Jake every chance she got.

Crude as always, Jake cut a foul-smelling fart like he was still eighteen, prompting Finn to roll his eyes. "Don't know why you keep doin' this anyway, man," Jake opined. "'Cept the obvious..." Frowning, Finn asked, "what does that mean?" Jake snorted, "PB's got you wrapped around her finger. Plus she's letting you bone Flame Princess..." Finn laughed at him. Shaking his head, he laughed and laughed. Some things never changed.

"Actually, I do it so my bro can be retired and still chasing ass, Jake," Finn chuckled. "If I really wanted ass so much, there's plenty to get. Didn't really want what I have to be honest." He'd been happy as a clam with just he and Simone. He'd long ago accepted that Emeraude came as the price for saving Simone's sanity, but he still looked back fondly on the days where his life was simple. That said nothing at all about the current circumstance where he'd messed things up out of anger at the pair. He loved his new kids, but he wouldn't have chosen to bring them into the world this way.

Sadly, the big man told his brother, "I'm not going to be able to retire, Jake. I had to just accept that's how it's going to be..." The stretchy dog was staring at him now. With a shrug, Finn finished baiting his hook and dropped it in the water. "That's the road I found myself on when I followed my dad's dudes to finish things," Finn said. "I didn't know it, but I became the Peace of Ooo. I guarantee that you and TV can snuggle up with your girls and sleep soundly at night. I'd rather have been home with Simone, but Martin and his dudes weren't going to let that happen." Jake had little to say to that other than, "let's just fish..."

Back at the palace, Bonnie frowned in unhappiness at what Finn had left for her. She didn't want to be bothered with his castle project, and she was terribly worried about his new direction for the Army of Ooo. Of course, if she was unhappy, Nadia was angry. The tall princess was spitting mad, and only the fact that Drew had threatened to slap her kept her from jumping up and going out to find Finn and punch him. Strangely enough, Betty was the calming influence, talking them down from the ledge of anger.

"He's right, girls," said the curvy brunette. Sitting down with her tea, she said, "in my day, armies didn't fight alone. There were navies to patrol the oceans and air-wings to patrol the skies. If you didn't have fighting aircraft, your army could be decimated without even a hope of replying." Which Bonnie well knew. She'd studied every tract on history she could get. A morose Phoebe rumbled, "but he has me... that is... I lead a kingdom full of elementals." "But do you really want to throw their lives away on a war," Cherry rumbled? Like Finn, she had a way of cutting straight through the bullshit.

Staring into her tea, the gangster said, "I don't like war. War cost me my husband, Phoebe. It almost cost me my second husband twice over. I'd... I'd rather let a pile of machines fight the battles than see more lives go down the drain over some asshole's greed." Bonnie flinched at every word she uttered. Rootbeer had been fighting her war. He'd been defending her kingdom. "The council will shit themselves," muttered Ragnhild. "Let them," growled Hurletta. "My fucking sister managed to kill thousands of my people fighting Wildberry's stupid war. Cherry's right. If we've voted to give a man the power to build an army, then let him get the job done. I'd trust Finn over most anybody on the council, present company included."

It stung, but nobody fired back, mostly because they knew she was right. Hadn't they all been at each other's throats? Hadn't they all done shady and questionable things? At the end of the day, they were princesses. They were all too self-absorbed and far more interested in their comforts than anything else.

Nadia got up. "I can't do this," she muttered. "Then don't," interrupted Cherry. Nadia stopped right where she was. "Do you think I enjoy what I do," muttered the crime-boss? Nadia flinched. "Cherry," Bonnie burbled. "She has commitments..." "I know what Talia is capable of, Bonnie," Cherry retorted. "I saw it myself. We all saw it. Do you think a woman who fought to keep aliens from wrecking the world will stand by and let them try it a third time and get away with it?" She was calling Nadia out, and everyone there knew it. The fierce Baba Yaga was comfortable enough with Finn that it was hardly likely she'd balk too much if he pressed the case for weapons. They were dealing with Nadia's pacifism.

"I never liked guns," rumbled Cherry. "I still don't. I'm a woman. That's been my handicap and my place in life. If I'd my druthers, I'd walk away from what I do, but this is my fate. I understand if the Grid-Face Princess chooses not to share in that world. That's her choice, but let us not pretend as if we have a choice about going forward with this. We need these weapons, lest our army be destroyed from above by ruthless creatures who'd gladly smash our world for filthy coins." Taking a deep breath and letting it go, Nadia said, "I won't stand in the way, but I can't help you. Let it be done without me." Striding across the room, she snatched her son out of the basket there and stormed out.

"We need someone with the knowledge she has," sighed Betty. "Sarah's still wrangling our food problem, and Bonnie's going to be far too busy with the council." Building the original robot army had eaten piles of Bonnie and Phoebe's time, and they were looking at expanding the numbers of war-robots to cover the entire planet plus building airborne counterparts to support them. And Finn still planned to hold his little demonstration in a few weeks. Ragnhild burbled, "wait a minute. How does he plan to do the demonstration? We don't have the flying machines yet." "Breezy," Betty replied. "Her troops will be stand-ins."

With a sigh, Bonnie admitted, "my science academy's mostly been a failure. Things got better after Fionna's... fix. But... I don't think I can give this to them." "Shoko," said Cherry. Betty and Raghnild were quick to agree. When Bonnie might have protested, Hurletta reminded her, "your daughter's not a child, Bonnibel. I think it's fair to say we all need to grow. If you're busy with the politics, somebody will have to pick up the slack..." The matter got decided just like that. Unless she had a moral objection, Shoko would be designing flying weapons. Ragnhild moved the discussion onwards. They were making progress. There were just a few of the problems Finn had left them remaining to be dealt with. It was shocking to realize just how much Finn had been carrying, and the Froyo Princess thought they hardly understood his grand plan. There were layers to his scheme, and clearly even Bonnie was having trouble understanding the depths of his planning.

Phoebe reminded them, "we still need to deal with Connie. The unaffiliated will be tromping through her kingdom soon. If any try to bring an army, it'll be war." Bonnie sighed in irritation. She didn't want to have this meeting. If it wasn't the idea of using coercion, it was the idea of dealing with the robber barons of the unaffiliated domains. They had always been trouble. Finn was playing with fire, and Bonnie would gladly have canceled the whole thing. As she was pondering just how unpleasant the response to that would be, Cherry announced, "I'll take care of it..."

Bonnie frowned at her. "I would rather not call that marker in, Cherry," she declared. She'd known Marceline pretty much all her life, and there were moments where her girlfriend/sister couldn't be bothered to lift a finger to help her. They didn't have that bond of familiarity with Marshall Lee. This was likely the only leverage they had on the Vampire King at all.

Hearing Bonnie articulate those thoughts, Cherry put her teacup on the saucer and said, "there's no marker, Bonnie. I owed Marshall because I had wronged him. The debt was mine, and now it's paid. Now I'm going to go have a pleasant conversation with Connie and settle on an approach to passing those men through her Kingdom without causing an incident." Smiling, the crime-lord said, "I've got this, Bonnie. You worry about getting those weapons designed and built." The First Minister was shocked at how quickly Cherry's motion carried the day. She was simply outvoted. The unhappy princess delegated to Lollipop the job of putting together a travel plan for her to go and see her daughter. Then the group broke up for the day.

As his ladies headed out to go get things done, Finn and Jake enjoyed the quiet of the river as they pulled up fish to fry up later. At least Finn pulled up fish. Jake was mostly involved in pounding bark beer. It was a habit TV had picked up. He'd still been snoozing in front of his tent when Finn had dragged his brother off to the boats. Finn felt a little bit of jealousy as he watched Jake pop the top on another can. "Whyn't you havin' any," asked Jake? The big man sighed heavily. He'd sworn off drinking. He just didn't have the time to sit his ass on the couch in front of BMO and pound beer until he was hammered. Free time was a luxury, and even the little he got often got spent exercising. He wasn't young anymore.

"You're on vacation, Finn," Jake advised. "Forget them kids. Forget their mommas..." He shoved a beer under Finn's nose. With a heavy sigh, Finn took that can. Waving his arms expansively, the drunken dog opined, "can't life your live f'er them, man. I did what I could for my five, n'I still do..." Finn flushed. He didn't dare correct Jake on that score. Jake didn't have five anymore, and Finn halfway felt like Jr. might have turned out better if Jake had been more involved. Finn let it go. That was water under the bridge. Thunking his beer against Jake's, the King of Ooo said, "to dads... The guys who do it all and get no thanks in the end." Jake chuckled. Finn was getting plenty of thanks by his way of thinking. If he'd just been smart enough to wrap it up, he wouldn't have so much trouble.

Frowning, Finn asked, "what does that mean?" "You treat it like you're gettin' gold, man," Jake replied. "That's why you're always getting trapped with kids!" Finn goggled at him. He hadn't really asked for all this, but he loved his kids, even Susie. Of course that just made Jake laugh harder. "Yeah, buddy," said he. "Sam tried that shit on me, but I double-bag it, man. She ain't ever gettin' my stash. Got my retirement all locked up." Finn goggled at him. Chuckling, Jake said, "gotta' bag that thing up, Finn. Girls want money, man! They get with whoever's got it! They'll trick you to get it! Then you gotta' pay 'em!" It was a strange way of thinking. Finn loved his ladies. Hell, he loved Sheila, even if he wanted to belt her. He couldn't imagine just climbing in bed with somebody he didn't care about. It was a hangup he had, but there it was.

Naturally Jake didn't see it that way. He had a hundred different ways for Finn to get girls to 'give it up' without giving them anything in return. Finn did his best to ignore the worst things he said. Towards the end of the day, Finn paddled his drunken brother back to shore. While his bodyguard and food-taster got the boats tied up, Finn carried Jake to his tent and lay him down. Samantha, who'd spent the day sunning herself in a sexy string bikini, was fit to be tied. As Jake sat there singing off key, Finn got dinner cooked up, though he spent a little while chasing Reggie away from the meal as his food-taster wanted to taste literally everything. TV did nothing at all to help with the cooking, as he had his nose buried in a video-game on his phone. He did manage to help down the last few beers before joining his dad in caterwauling. In the end, Finn kicked his bodyguard to the curb and slipped off to sit alone in a nearby hotspring while he thought about the crazy ways his life turned.

Soaking in the pool, the big man thought of how he'd come to this spot. While he couldn't say every decision he'd made was a good one, he thought they were all made in good faith. Even his decision to eat dinner with Sheila had been based around the idea of playing nice with someone who could cause him lots and lots of trouble. Jake, meanwhile, had gleefully screwed a host of girls over the course of his life. A different girl every year, while Finn had ended up with a pack of them in just one. And which of them was right? He didn't know.

"May I join you," announced Pearl? Finn glanced up to find TV's wife standing there in a towel. Of his nephew there was no sign. Uneasily, Finn realized that TV had been pretty drunk himself when Finn left the camp. "Sure," he said. The tall warrior-girl barely waited for the word to leave his mouth before she dropped that towel.

It wasn't the first time he'd seen Pearl bare-assed. He'd watched her strip for her then-boyfriend at his bachelor party. As many times as Finn had been in Riley's club, he'd seen TV's wife dancing in the altogether a few dozen times. Of course, he'd been sitting in the audience fully dressed, if horny, and he'd even been a little drunk a few of those times. He was neither drunk nor dressed, and he knew very well that this was wrong with a capitol R.

The pretty warriorette's blue eyes smoldered as she stood there staring at him. She seemed almost to be showing off that beautiful body. Built like Drew but with many fewer miles on the chassis, Pearl was a delight for his old-dude's eyes. After a few days of going to bed alone, he was having a little trouble thinking straight. Seeming to decide what she wanted to do here, the tall blonde stepped down into the pool. That helped some. He wasn't confronted with those giant knobs and sexy broad hips. Silence reigned with Finn doing his best not to look at TV's lady, while Pearl stared straight at him.

"Why didn't you ever ask for a lap-dance," she asked? Finn's face went red-hot, but he fired back readily. "You're TV's lady," Finn replied. "It's not right to do that. Even if I wasn't married." Touching girls was kind of off-limits. Pearl snorted, "you're fucking around with fourteen women. Rumors say there're more." Glaring at her, Finn said, "I never touched a girl who was with somebody else. That's a line. I don't cross it."

"He's a dud in bed," murmured the pretty blonde. "You're not. I'm never going to have kids of my own..." Finn flushed to his hair. Yeah, Alex was right. Word was definitely 'getting around'. "Getting them by cheating with some other guy isn't going to work," Finn replied. "I screwed up and cheated on my girls. I'm paying for that with every crazy complication in my life right now. Don't do this to yourself. You'll regret it. And you'd have to explain to your kids someday anyway. Besides, do you really think he won't figure out that his kids aren't his? I mean... that's kind of a stretch, don't you think..." Finn didn't have stretchy-powers. TV was bound to figure it out when his kids didn't have any of his powers. Rising, the big man grabbed for his clothes and got out of there. He could only hope the rejection took. His relationship with Jake was already pretty rocky after Jake Jr.'s death. Finn feared blowing things up permanently.

Elsewhere, Rolf Kirchner, putative Peanut-Prince, walked into his quarters after a long day of dealing with the madness on his border. They had literally funneled the entirety of the badlands into his kingdom! They'd funneled every starving child and every homeless wretch into his border! His men were in danger of being plowed under. He was going to get overrun! He couldn't see how his army could sustain this continual war. He'd been considering capitulation. He'd been thinking of throwing himself on that fucking bastard's mercy and begging him to move the barrier. Now, as the demoralized warlord walked into his study, a familiar burst of perfume announced that other problems had reemerged.

Chelsea was there in the entry to his bedroom, wearing a soft, silky dressing gown that left little of her covered. He'd landed in the evil bitch's arms because his pecker had been in control of his actions at the time. A wax-person was already exotic in Ooo. Their kind rarely left their lonely, windswept island in the ocean. On top of that, Chelsea was achingly beautiful, with perfect breasts, a sultry shape, and long, flowing golden hair. She was the kind of woman that came into your world once in a lifetime, and Rolf had been proud to make her his mistress.

Until she showed him who really was in charge.

The paralysis drug had worn off after several hours–hours where she'd kept him a prisoner for her entertainment. She'd done anything she liked, from using him as a living platter for her food to riding his cock when she was taken with the hunger. He'd threatened to have her killed, and she'd shown him the skin of his favorite pet, taken from his home and gutted. The implications of what she could do to him–or his family–had not been lost on Rolf. He'd sworn loyalty to her out of an abiding terror. "Evening, babe," she greeted him in her smoky voice. "Chelsea," he replied. Hips swaying sensually, she strode towards him, letting him peep that body. The sickening thing was that he was still resolutely in lust with this woman. She'd 'made it up to him' for hours after poisoning him, fucking him under the table. The harlot.

Reaching up, the evil witch brushed his chin as she loosened his collar. "Relax, babe," she said. She gestured to the full table, reminding him that he hadn't eaten at all. Food was shockingly scarce in the kingdom, and even his soldiers were getting a little lean. Knowing her rage and how easily aroused it was, the would-be prince went along to the table like a good boy. As he sat himself, he pondered if there might be poison in the food. Almost immediately, he discounted that. She didn't need to poison him that way. She could simply have one of her agents make him disappear, like his pet had vanished.

As they worked their way through supper, she peppered him with questions about 'how things were going'. The plump peanut found himself at once angry all over again and terrified of how she would perceive things. He hadn't extracted much in the way of concessions from Finn the Human. The Tesla Barrier was only open in one place, and that place was on the far side of his kingdom, funneling all the hungry masses hoping to reach the King of Ooo's protection fighting their way through his lands.

"Don't call him that," Chelsea muttered. "What," he babbled? He could see in her eyes that she was moments from plunging the steak-knife she'd been eating with into his heart. "He's not the King of Ooo," growled the murderess. "He's a murdering, lieing dog." "Of course, Chelsea," Rolf burbled. "I... I meant no harm. It's... That's what he calls himself." Nodding, Chelsea allowed, "for now. He can call himself that all he likes for now. You and I know what he is, right?" Rolf nodded obsequiously. Coming around to his side of the table, the murderess climbed into his lap. Snuggling in against him, she said, "we're going to fix this up, babe..." He knew better than to argue. Sliding his arms around the little beauty, he said, "of course..."

Moments later, with dinner only half-eaten, she led him to the bedroom. Knowing better than to argue, the hapless prince performed on command. He gave her everything she liked, going down on her for a long twenty minutes, while she squealed and moaned–and clawed at his scalp with nails that were often coated in poison. He tried not to lose his erection as the terror of being inadvertently murdered filled his mind. With Chelsea, inadvertent could quickly become intentional.

Later, as she sat perched on his hips, the murderess stroked his ample belly. Out of the blue, she announced, "I need you to go south." Sitting up, he frowned at her in puzzlement. Running her sharp nail around his belly-button, she said, "I need you to make a move to take control of the Wildberry Kingdom." Rolf replied, "but my army's in danger of being overrun." Truth be told, even if there were no teeming masses of the wretched at his gates, he wouldn't have invaded that dark land of cannibals on a bet. "There's no danger," Chelsea replied. "I'll simply order them south and east towards the Lizard Kingdom." Rolf sat bolt upright. Chelsea fastened her lips to his and tried to tongue out his mouth. When she let him come up for air, the vile creature said, "my associates and I have power over those people. They'll go when and where I tell them. You just worry about how you're going to take Wildberry Kingdom without Finn the Human hearing about it..." "Y-yes, dear," he replied.

Morning found the Mafia Princess climbing aboard a train at the Candy Kingdom train station. It felt a little strange to be doing it without Thor. At the same time, the world had moved on, and her new son-in-law had moved with it. She was happy for him, and she was happy for Star. They called each other and talked every other day now. The younger woman was dazed and almost giddy with the news she'd gotten. Twins. She was going to have twins. Thor was sharpening his swords and doing his best to figure out what to do when men inevitably started looking at his daughters.

Her new bodyguard, as fierce a specimen as could be found in the halls and holdfasts of Warrior Kingdom, was quick and easy with her luggage, helping her up the stairs with one hand, even as he juggled several bags of baby-related gear. This was a quick trip, and Drew had been gracious enough to manage Van and Birch, but Cherry still had Honeydrop to look after. Her little darling was much too young to be left alone like that.

Her bodyguard led the way down to a private compartment and got her and the nursemaid settled inside before retreating to his own cubicle next door. As the train lurched into motion, the little woman settled back in her seat and stared out the window, her mind far away. It had been a long, long time since she had the capacity to dream of anything other than vengeance. The fingers of her left hand toyed with her wedding ring absently. Finn had needed the time off, and she'd been one of the loudest voices insisting he take it. At the same time, she thought they could all use some time off–time to grow together as a family. She'd been puzzling at that almost since the day the undead were figuratively buried, and now the matter had an added urgency. The world no longer seemed to be lurching towards disaster, but they were, collectively, in danger of losing the bubble on this strange, shared life.

The train quickly gathered speed, lulling the diminutive gangster, and she soon found herself sleeping. The nursemaid took the baby from her and let her snooze there in the corner of the compartment–at least until the baby began to cry. Then she helped her mistress with getting her blouse open so the little girl could feed. In spite of Bonnie's lectures about creating perfect formulations of milk for the children, Finn had more or less insisted the kids were getting the real thing, and strangely for Cherry that had become a delight. She felt connected with her baby, and she enjoyed these moments. When Honeydrop had drunk her fill, they got her changed, put her to bed, and then wrestled the twin cots down from the wall to sleep on.

The Mafia Princess lay awake for a long, long while as the train clattered down the track. Finn had often tossed and turned during their mad courtship. At first Cherry had thought it was her or rather the ugly ultimatum he'd lived under with her. He'd confessed that he'd become used to sleeping with two, and he didn't sleep quite the same with one missing. Cherry was starting to know what that felt like. As often as not, she shared her space with Lollipop. They did nothing more than sleep, but both women had become used to that. When Finn was home, they often went round-robin with him sandwiched between whoever was home at the time. Cherry had slept with pretty much all of them, Bonnie included, starting the night the Thief King stole the Ice Tiara from the Vaults. In the end, exhaustion won out, and the leader of the underworld finally found herself staring at the insides of her eyelids.

With the morning, the train came rolling into a sleepy town on the border of Engagement Ring Kingdom. They'd been rolling all night, stopping only briefly to pull water from a trackside tank or to drop off and pick up passengers. Now, Cherry found herself staring out the window at the unfamiliar sights of Connie's far eastern border. The place was picturesque, and she wished she could get the family here for a break. They needed the time off, all of them. As the train rolled in, the little woman caught sight of a sinister black train sitting on a siding all by itself. Her host was already here apparently.

Gathering up their belongings, princess and servants left the train, stepping off into a sheltered gallery. Almost as soon as they did, the train began to roll out, bound for Purple Kingdom to the east. It would be passing through the bad lands, and likely it would get boarded once or twice as bandits fleeced the passengers of their money. Some of that money would make its way back into her pockets–tax on the proceeds from fencing the stolen loot. In the right now, the Mafia Princess found herself staring at a literal black cloud that seemed to hang over the boarding platform.

"Marshall's doing," Cherry surmised, as she began walking. She would have worried about that if she didn't know Theo was locked up. Marceline had confessed that she'd never tested the breadth of her power because she'd always feared losing herself. Cherry couldn't help thinking of how Theo would have helped that along. Now she strode down towards the deepest darkness in the gallery, knowing who would be waiting there. Behind her, the terrified nursemaid stood staring at her back until the Princess's ernest bodyguard seized her by the arm and stepped off after their mistress.

Cherry felt the darkness gathering in around her, and it felt rather like she was pushing her way through a modest breeze. She felt a chill around her, but she ignored it, pressing ahead. This was good. It was all usable stuff. Let the bandit-lords dare to come across the border and face this down. "You're very brave," murmured the Empress as she suddenly appeared before the Mafia Princess in all her glory. "Connie," Cherry greeted the Vampire King's consort. The Empress licked her lips as she took in the sight of Finn's nasty little paramour.

Looking around her with a frown, the Mafia Princess asked, "is Marshall here?" "He has business elsewhere," Connie replied. "How may I help you?" With a shrug, Cherry replied, "more to the point, it's how I'm going to help you." The vampire frowned at her, but the gangster was moving on. "Let's get someplace where we can talk," she said, as she glanced around her. It was just as Marshall had said. It was rather like she thought she'd come in here and just tell you how it was going to go. But Constance was game for the challenge. Stepping off, she headed back towards the stairs that led to her train's platform, her feet never touching the ground.

The strange pall followed them as they went up and over the tracks and down the stairs on the other side. As they walked, Cherry explained what was going on, now the Dipped were done, and what Finn expected of them. "We're supposed to be neutral," Constance reminded her little guest. Nodding, Cherry replied, "that's sort of the point, Connie. Your neutrality is a help here. Yours is the one vow of neutrality that nobody'd be dumb enough to break." That took the Empress by surprise, and she actually stared at her little guest.

"Ok, wait a minute," said Constance. "You... you're not trying to get us to come in on your side?" "No," said Cherry. "Let's just say that I value Marshall's immortal soul more than I value a few more filthy coins." They were at the train now. Cherry motioned for the vampire to step aboard. There was little point in risking death after all. With a muttered swear-word, Connie stepped inside. "Connie," announced Candace. "Did you meet the gangster?" "Candy," Cherry greeted Marshall's nasty little second wife.

Candace flushed. She'd hardly come down dressed for meeting one of the in-laws. Jerking her robe closed, she stepped aside as the little group came up the aisle. Cherry chuckled, "seen it all before, kiddo." Seeing another woman naked meant nothing at all to her anymore. Constance led the way into her private dining salon where Candy's mother sat staring at a book of all things. She hardly struck Cherry as the type. Sitting herself, Cherry motioned for her little entourage to sit themselves down out of the way.

"These men are trouble," said Constance, as she fished a bottle of wine from one of the cabinets. Settling it on the table, she popped the cork and poured herself a glass. Cherry found herself staring at the bottle in unhappy memory. New body and no more addiction–just the ugly remembrances of when she'd been a drunk. Tippling at the glass, Connie turned it from a vibrant red to a dark pink. "Why is he inviting them," the vampire demanded? "Money, Connie," said Cherry. "Those men have money, and the civilized kingdoms are broke. Wars are expensive." Finn was going to relieve those men of the burden of their wealth.

Connie put her glass down and stared at her visitor. Cherry chuckled, "not what you expected from your old boyfriend?" "Not from a man who was dumb as a box of rocks," Constance allowed. "I... Alright, so what did you come for? Clearly this isn't what I feared it was going to be..." "We're going to frighten them," said Cherry. "We're going to make the idea of bringing soldiers across the border so terrifying that they're liable to have desertion in the ranks if they suggest it. Right now, I have some... associates... releasing a series of video clips... We ginned them up out of Sarah's memories of things Marceline's done in the past... A little editing, and it'll look convincingly like you and Marshall tearing up a bunch of Berry People." Constance let out a gasp.

Resting her face on her right hand, Cherry said, "you and the girls here will conjure up a few skeletons... Maybe you do that thing you did with the cloud..." She ladled it on good, conjuring up a campaign of terror that would have had Connie scared shitless. It was a plan so good, Constance thought those men would never cross her border again. She'd been wondering how to deal with that. This could be good for both sides. Nodding, she drained the glass at one go, announcing, "done!"

Always good to see the dysfunctional side of the Finn family for a little perspective... Meanwhile, the girls are moving' out and getting shit done.