Chapter 6: Day One- Part 2
TPOV:
The room held an ornate desk, and several bookshelves, I noticed, as I took inventory of my surroundings. There was a dark red carpet, a globe that showed unfamiliar land masses. I look at Bowser, unsure of what to do.
"So," Bowser began, with a puff of smoke billowing out his nostrils, "You seem like you might be a smart little girl, based on what those servants assigned to you told me. But question is, just how smart are you? You were apprehended quite easily by my minions, and didn't even notice them coming, you didn't fight back or try to escape. You haven't tried anything yet, which is more than I can say about the human woman I have kidnapped on so many occasions. If you were smart, you'd try to run, to get out, since we're just 'monsters', right? You clearly fear us, like any 'intelligent' human would, yet you don't attack. You seem polite and timid. Is that just a ruse to get us to fully trust you and remove the shock bracelet so you can escape? Since I should let you know now… there will be no escape. You can't leave. You will marry my son. But you need to be willing to talk to him, and not stutter every single time you take an opportunity to speak, okay little one?"
"Yes sir!" I state quickly, sitting up straighter in the chair I was in.
"Good. Now, Ludwig and I had a chat last night, to give you some 'ground rules' for the next couple of months. Firstly, you are not to enter Ludwig's music room. That is going to be his sanctuary where he can have alone time to cool off. If he invites you in, for any reason, that is alright, but you cannot just go in because you feel like it. Secondly, twice a week, every week, you and Ludwig will have a private outing, or 'date', to cement your relationship to one another, and hopefully at least learn how to get along. Thirdly, you are not allowed to pursue any other persons for romantic relationships; at this point, you are basically Ludwig's property, under how our legal system works. Once you marry, however, the two of you will be seen as equals. Fourthly, and this is the most important, you are not to engage in public displays of affection without consent; you cannot kiss, nor engage in copulation with Ludwig, until Ludwig officially proposes to you and the shock bracelet is removed and replaced with the traditional betrothal pendant. Is this clear?" Bowser asks, glaring down at my small form.
"Crystal clear, sir!" I said quickly and loudly. My face burns. "Um… sorry for being so loud." My voice reduced to a whisper.
"Hahahaha, it's alright, it shows you have fire in you, like a Koopa does! You might be a good fit here!" Bowser chuckled, "Now, since we have come to that understanding, why don't you head out with Kamek to get a tour of the castle. Afterwards, he'll deposit you with Wendy since she wants to get to know you and spend time with you."
"Of course sir." I state, with a relatively normal vocal volume. I step out of the door on Kamek's heels, as the old Koopa began giving me a monotonous, although informative, tour. However, every couple of minutes he turns back to look at me with a glare as he gives information. He does not seem to like me, and I do not understand why. I begin to ponder this while fidgeting with my hands, still full of anxiety, and struggling to absorb enough of my surroundings to be able to gain anything of use from this tour. However, I am pulled from my pondering as we go around a corner nearing the personal rooms of the various Koopalings and come to a halt.
"You've been much too quiet." Kamek states, "You must be trying to plan something. An escape, maybe? Well, as his majesty told you earlier, there is no escaping from here. I do not claim to understand why his majesty wanted me to give you a tour when you could just as easily be dragged from your chambers to wherever you are needed by some guards, I only did so since I was ordered. Or are you planning how to assassinate the royal family, or pull off a genocide of the Koopa species? You should be screaming or complaining, or trying to escape, not seemingly attempting to get on our good side, human. What are you planning?"
With that final question, his wand is pressed against my neck, and his glare is much more intense than it had been for the entire tour he had been giving me. I began to sweat profusely, feeling terrified. I gulp and flinch backwards, which causes him to growl at me. I take a deep breath.
"I-I know that escape is futile, sir," I say feeling anxious to the point of nausea, "It's just that I-I d-didn't want to in-interrupt the d-descriptions you were giving of e-everything, and I h-have almost n-no sense of direction, so I was trying to see if there was any m-main corridor I could try to circle b-back to i-if I ever g-get lost. A-and I don't want t-to assassinate a-anyone, or k-kill anyone either… I-I can't even kill a- a s-simple l-little spider… I-I'm s-sorry for being so quiet, I d-didn't realize it was suspicious and- and…" I was rambling out of control at this point, with my speech peppered with stuttering. Kamek stares deeply into my eyes for a moment, blinks, and puts down his wand. He takes a step back from me, and stops growling.
"You seem to be telling the truth. I still do not trust you completely, human, and I advised against his majesty bringing a human here to be Prince Ludwig's bride, but he does not always listen to me. However, if you do anything to make it seem that what you just told me is a ruse, you will regret ever being born." He then sighs, and points down the hall. "The white door with pink diamonds on it is Princess Wendy's room. Since the tour is now over, you will be in there with the princess as his majesty stated you would be." I nod when he finishes, and I walk up to the door, and knock on it.
"Like, who's there?" I hear a female voice say.
"Um, Tiana, the, um… h-human girl b-brought to m-marry y-your brother L-ludwig…" I stutter out nervously. I hear a clattering noise and the door opens, and the Koopa princess is smiling at me.
"I am like, so totally excited to meet you! Since you're, like, marrying my brother and all, that, like, totally means that we'll be sisters, right? Like, I only have brothers and I think it would be totes amazing to have a sister!" she rambles excitedly.
"I, um… yeah, I think that's how it works…" I state uncertainly. She then grabs my arm, and drags me into her room, closing the door behind her. Everything in the room is in shades of pink, white, and gold. There's a vanity and a television, a game system and massage chairs, a giant bed covered in blankets and pillows, a fluffy rug, magazines piled in the corner and shelves of nail polish. There are shoes in racks, and an open closet holds hats, dresses, and boxes with lids askew holding jewelry. There's a large window overlooking the garden in one of the castle's eight courtyards. Yes, you heard that right, there are eight courtyards. There's a balcony attached to the window, and there is a delicate table along with two chairs, and a parasol sitting on the balcony. The table holds a couple teen magazines, a pitcher of pink lemonade along with two glasses that have bendy straws, a boom box, a guidebook for the maintenance of the karts used in Mario Kart, as well as Wendy's own wand. She drags me to the table and sits me down on the chair closest to the window entrance to her room, and she sits on the far side. She picks up one of the magazines, and a pen I hadn't noticed was sitting there.
"Alright, like, the first thing we need to do is to, like, discover if you're a pretty pastel or seductive shadow." She says to me.
"A… what or a what?" I ask, confused.
"It's to figure out your clothing and flirting personality, and how to, like, improve upon it! It will, like, help you be more confidant in who you are, and maybe Luddy will, like, be impressed by it! I wanna find this out so I can, like, help you and Luddy get together and be happy together, and I think this should help! It seems to in all the movies! And the quiz will give me, like, an idea of not only how to start doing that, but it will also, like, help me get to know you! And then you can, like, ask me the questions, and you can get to know me, and it'll be, like, and fun and stuff!" she is genuinely smiling while rambling. And the rest of the afternoon and evening are spent like this, chatting and giggling, taking quizzes from teen magazines and watching movies and drinking pink lemonade, playing around with make-up, and just being teenage girls. It was nice, and seemed to help melt so much stress from my arrival at the castle away, and it was something I had not expected to have happen. I have never been much of a girly-girl, but I enjoyed this anyways. I felt sad to have to part ways with her at the end of the evening when Kat and Jitt walked me back to my own room. I think I may have made a friend today.
And with that thought, I snuggled into my bed with a smile on my face, glad that I had a good day, even if I was still technically held captive here. Maybe, just maybe… I'll like it here.
There are only 89 days left.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I am so, so, so sorry that it has taken so long for me to update this story! I have been drowning in all of my coursework for my first year of college (which I just finished) and was so overwhelmed and never had any time to do anything, least of all write any more for this story! I hope this summer will end up being productive, but I will make no promises as to when any chapters will be posted here, other than I will be trying to write and post more, and I will finish this story eventually, but because of college it may take a lot of time. At least I don't have classes again until September!
Thank you for the reviews, seeing your opinions on my writing, especially those who have enjoyed it and asked to me to continue this story fill me with determination! I'll be trying to make chapters longer from now on, to make up for how hit-and-miss updating is going to be for me, since I will not be able to hold to any sort of schedule. Thank you all so much for reading, and I hope you all like the chapter I just posted.
Also, the calculations for how many days are left that will be put at the end of each chapter is basically equating 3 months to being equal to 90 days, making each month 30 days long. My belief for this story, at least, is that in the world of the mushroom kingdom each month is 30 days exactly, so each year is exactly 360 days long, which is a little different from Earth, where we're from, huh? Just thought you all might want to know my thought process on that bit.
I'll see you guys next time!
-aeschtunesfan June 21st 2017, 11:23 pm