Week 4B: Toast
Sailor Raspberry
295 words
A very important, yearly conference was approaching. It was tradition – at least, it had been for the past hundred or so years – that the Neo-King and Neo-Queen host a place for all the prime ministers and governors and people of the sort to discuss issues across the land.
And as much as the two royals loved getting together with old friends and talking about worldly events, they both highly disliked one thing.
Giving the annual opening toast.
Each year, every year, they forced themselves to stand in front of a group of people and talk about peace and tranquility and world happiness. The repetition of it all made them sick.
And every year, they squabbled and fought over whose turn it was.
They could never come to a conclusion, no matter what they did. Rock, paper, scissors. Video games. Thumb wrestling.
Once, they even had Mercury set up a virtual battle field so they could duke it out. But it had failed miserably and ended in charred hair and a smoke-clogged castle.
"Here's an idea." Mars said as she rested her chin against the heel of her palm. "Why don't the two of you both give the toast, and spare the rest of us the trouble."
Endymion unbuttoned his cufflinks and rolled up his sleeves. "Absolutely not." Across the dinner table, Serenity stuffed the rest of her mashed potatoes into her mouth. "We'll have to settle this the old fashioned way." And then, while his wife dabbed the corners of her mouth with a napkin, he picked up his plate and dumped his peas down the front of her dress.
Serenity jaw fell open, and with an angry flush, she took her half-glass of red wine and dumped it on his pants.
It was war.