Chapter 2- Glitter and Gold
~T~
"Time to begin what…?" I asked nervously to Kat. Kat smiled at me deviously, making me feel very, very concerned.
"Time to begin preparing you to have dinner with the Koopa who is probably going to be your future husband, of course!" said Kat sunnily, making me feel increasingly more worried.
"Preparing me… how?" I asked, taking a step backward from Kat, my voice becoming very quiet out of fear. I had a vague idea what she meant based on the tone of her voice, but… maybe it wasn't… that. Please don't let it be that… please dear God no…
"By putting you in a pretty dress and doing your make-up Tiana-dearie," Kat said throwing her hands into the air. "And luckily for Jitt and me, we got a super adorable model here to work with! We're only going to need to do a minimal amount of make-up, and we'll get to put you in it, my favorite dress of all the ones we have cause you look small enough to fit in it, and of course we're gonna curl your hair and put some pretty flowers in it… we're gonna give you a makeover and put you in beautiful clothes! It'll be so much fun!" And… there it was. Of course, it had to be… that. It had to be her wanting to dress me up and give me a makeover. For some reason, girls really want to do that to me all of the time. They see me as a dress up doll. And there's that word again, "adorable", the word all of the girls who want to give me makeovers always refer to me as. I don't see how I could be "adorable"… I'm not pretty, not cute, not beautiful… look at all of the girls in beauty magazines, and in anime and manga and cartoons and videogames… they're pretty, beautiful, cute, adorable… not me. I'm nothing compared to them.
"Oh… um… wonderful, Miss Kat…" I said, feeling fear bubbling up within me, afraid of what they might do to me in this "makeover", what they might dress me in. Usually when people give me makeovers, they slather my face in many layers of make-up, curl my hair heavily and use hairspray to hold it in place, and dress me tightly fitting clothing that cuts down low in the front and has really short bottoms attached to it. They would force me into stiletto heels, and then tell me that I was now "beautiful" and that I looked "a thousand times better than I usually do" and that I should dress like that "more often"… they would say that and then start snickering and taking pictures which they would send to other students at our school which they would tease me about once I was back at school. I was afraid of what these Koopas might do to me. I soon learned that I had nothing to fear from what they were doing to me.
Within the next hour and a half, Kat and Jitt helped me undress and got me into a silver ball gown paired with a navy blue jacket. Which, ironically are my school colors, but I don't think those two know that. The silver gown glittered in the light, and the neck was like that of a turtleneck. The dress itself had no sleeves, and was paired with the navy blue jacket to keep my arms covered and keep me "properly covered" for being in public and being in the presence of the entirety of the royal family. The top portion fit snugly to my upper-body and accentuated my chest to show that I do actually have curves. They're nowhere near as big as the breasts that super models have, but they're at least somewhat noticeable, and compared to Kat's body, they're quite large. The dress widens at my waist and becomes a flowing skirt that goes down to the floor.
"See, I was right!" said Kat, "It did fit on you pretty much perfectly! Now, it's time to let Jitt do your hair and make-up! Oh, you're going to be so cute! Even Prince Ludwig should realize how cute you are! He might not end up liking you at first, but at least he'll think you're cute, and that will be absolutely wonderful and then you'll be able to-"
"Shut your mouth, Kat, she shouldn't know about that. Not yet." Said Jitt, before he sat me down in a chair; he turned the chair so it was not facing the mirror, and he began curling my hair, spraying with hairspray so his handiwork wouldn't get ruined. He then had me close my eyes, and he applied eye shadow to my eyes, in a silver shade, and put light pink lipstick on my lips. Jitt smiled, and then he clipped a black bracelet to my wrist.
"This," he said, "is a shock bracelet. It will electrocute you if you try to hurt any member of the royal family, try to escape the castle, or try to take your own life. It automatically shuts off if Bowser were to be defeated by someone who rescues you, but we worked so hard to get you here, we wouldn't want you run off and disappear, now, would we? So we're making you wear this as a precaution, okay, child?" Jitt said with a dark smile, holding my chin in his right hand.
"O-okay Mr. Jitt…" I said, flinching away from him and his touch.
"It is good that you understand me… I wouldn't want my handiwork to go to waste, and I want you to realize that if you try to do any of those things, try to hurt my Prince, I will do everything in my power to make you so ugly and horrid in his eyes that he'll want nothing to do with you and kill you in your sleep. I'm only helping with this since I know I cannot be with my Prince because of my gender and I'm deciding to give you a chance since you don't seem as snooty and manipulative as most girls around here that I've met… but if you prove me wrong, I'll make you disappear. Don't let me down, girl." Jitt said ominously, pushing me away from him, causing me to fall backwards onto the floor.
"Jitt;" Kat scolds the Koopa next to her, "don't say those things to her! You're scaring her! Don't worry, sweetums, I won't let mean old Jitt hurt you! I'll keep you safe and make you as pretty as possible, cause I bet you're a wonderful lady, and I'm sure Prince Ludwig will love you! You're so adorable! He's bound to fall for you eventually!" Kat said, helping me up, and pulling me into her embrace.
"Don't feed her such lies, Kat, you know just as well as I do that it is very doubtful that Prince Ludwig would ever fall in love with her or find her attractive. You're just trying to fill the world with your over romanticized ideals again. Just give it up. I'm sure the only person the Prince Ludwig probably ever loved was his dead girlfriend, and even though I hope he would love me and want to be with me, he just can't because of my gender and his status." Jitt replied, glaring at his raven-haired partner.
"Jitt, stop it! Prince Ludwig has rejected you sixteen times because he doesn't like you in that manner; he doesn't swing that way. Why not try to support the new girl instead of brooding in your romantic fantasies!" Kat said, hands on her hips.
"Fine, Kat, I will… besides, he's only going to be a regent until Prince Bowser Jr. finally takes the throne or something. No one knows what goes on in our current King's head when it comes to the line of succession. We just follow his orders about it. Once Prince Ludwig is off of the throne, he'll probably murder this girl and then marry me, anyways. So I'll help her for now, to make sure he can get to the throne. He might get put on one of the outer thrones, though, and Junior on the center throne, though. It's a possibility." Jitt said, crossing his arms.
"Fine… I don't care what your reasons are, just help dear Tiana sweetums!" Kat said, and then she grabbed my hand. "Now, Tiana sweetums," she said, "it's time for us to head off to the dining hall so you can meet Prince Ludwig, King Bowser, and the rest of the royal family."
"I-it is…?" I asked incredulously, gulping.
"Yup," said Kat, "it is!" and with that, Kat's grip on my hand tightened, and she ran out of the room dragging me behind her as Jitt followed slowly behind us glaring daggers into my back the whole way. If this was how this was all going to start, I'm afraid of seeing what happens next. These two were crazy enough. What is going to be in store for me when I meet the royal family? I thought those things as Kat and I ran through the halls. Then, she stopped in front of a large, wooden door, and she pushed it open slowly… and I was surprised at what I saw on the other side of that door, the side of it that is leading to my future.