Chapter 3: Dance

Peach stood in front of her throne, anxiously watching the door at the end of the hallway. To her right was Princess Daisy and next to her was Prince Peasley, representing the Beanbean Kingdom on behalf of his mother. On Peach's left stood the elderly King Fret of Jewelry Land, flanked by his son Prince Pine. Peach's father was in the Waffle Kingdom in person, but it was still important that the ambassador's landing on the Mushroom Continent went well. The Waffle Kingdom was clearly populated by good people, but they were wary of outsiders, and other than the odd immigrant and the friends Luigi had brought back from his time there, this was the first time someone of any stature was traveling abroad. The experience had to be a good one, but disaster had already struck: the ambassador and much of the crew had fallen ill during their travels. The ship was quarantined, with only the replacement delegate and his two aids being allowed off, as they had apparently been sequestered in their quarters when the outbreak hit.

Peach was too grateful to be suspicious, and merely attributed the stroke of luck behind the threesome's free pass to the Stars wanting the alliance to go forward. She was still nervous, however. She didn't even know the name of the new delegate.

"Heh-hem," Toad cleared his throat as he pushed open the door just enough to let him slip inside. "Presenting the new ambassador for the Waffle Kingdom!"

All eyes turned to the end of the hall as the door was flung wide and the trio of humans marched over the threshold. The one in front was certainly a sight to see. A tall man with unnaturally flame-coloured hair and long, bluish-grey painted nails, wearing a black duster over a form-fitting green leather vest and skinny black jean-like pants, he strode into the castle like he owned the place, flashing his brilliant white teeth at the crowd, his blood red eyes gleaming. His aids were both elderly, bespectacled and robed figures, the woman in purple with shoulder-length white hair, and the man in blue with a floppy cap upon his bald head; neither of them looked overly happy to be there.

Bowser stopped at the foot of the small flight of steps leading to Peach's throne and bowed low. "Your Highnesses," he said.

"Welcome to the Mushroom Continent," said Peach. "I know the circumstances surrounding this meeting must be difficult for you, and that you – all three of you – have been put into a position you could not have anticipated."

"On the contrary, your highness," said Bowser, looking up, his eyes flashing as they locked onto hers. "I have been waiting for this moment for years."

Peach was taken aback, but in an instant, the redhead had broken his gaze and was looking around at the other royals as he continued his story.

"I've been an understudy for the ambassador all my life, just in case she ever did fall ill during one of her trips. I won't say I hoped she'd get sick one day, but I have hoped that I'd get a chance to prove myself sooner or later." Again, Bowser flicked his eyes to Peach, but playing it cool, he didn't hold his gaze. "Although, I'll honestly say I'd never dreamed that it would happen like this – so far from the land I call home."

Peach smiled, convincing herself that she had imagined whatever had passed between them as she addressed the man. "Well, for the next little while, I hope you come to think of this land as your home too, Mr. Ambassador. But… I hate to be rude but, I never did catch your name?"

Bowser's face paled. "My name?"

"Yes, I'm ashamed to say we never heard of an understudy to the ambassador until this morning, and even then, your name never came up…"

That had been on purpose. When Bowser, Kammy and Kamek had attacked the ship, they had discovered that the ambassador was a woman, Cherry Maraschino, and so Bowser couldn't simply take her name as he had planned. At the time, he was pleased: he'd get to choose his own, cool name, but it turned out to be surprisingly hard. He liked his name, he didn't want a different one, and so, everything he could think of was no good. He kept putting it off, figuring one would come to him sooner or later. But it hadn't, and while his question had stalled for a bit of time, his mind was still drawing blanks as Peach stopped rambling and looked at him expectantly.

Brownie? No, that's a stupid name. Ben Brownie? No, still stupid. Cream? No, that's a girl's name. Cake? No. Pudding? HELL no. Ice Cream? No, cream again. Whipped Cream? Still cream… but… come to think of it, maybe as a last name.

Bowser smiled up at Peach and the others. "You can call me Cream. Whip Cream."

"Whipped Cream?" Daisy raised an eyebrow.

"No, just 'Whip', y'know, like, wk-chaw," Bowser mimed cracking a whip for emphasis while Kammy and Kamek struggled to keep their faces blank. First Bowser refuses to dress up, then he refuses to choose a name ahead of time, and now he's making whip-cracking sounds. Yeah, no one will ever suspect he's not a real ambassador…

"How delightfully rustic," said Prince Pine, suppressing a smirk.

"Hah hah hah, quite," agreed Peasley, flipping his hair. "And I do so love your outfit. Is that normal formal attire in the Waffle Kingdom?"

"Like I said before, I didn't think I'd be called upon, so I didn't have any fancy shmantzy clothes with me: they were in the storage deck with some other supplies and it all got quarantined."

The Princes' smiles faltered.

"I'm sorry to hear that," offered Peach, shooting her friends a couple warning glares. Just because Whip looked like some weird slacker kid doesn't mean they should all go forgetting who he really was.

Bowser shrugged. "These clothes are more comfortable anyway. Seriously, I don't understand how any of you can stand dressing like that every day."

Again, Kammy and Kamek resisted the urge to facepalm, but the comment went down surprisingly well with at least one of the royals.

"Yes! Thank you!" cried Daisy. "Finally! Someone agrees with me!" She looked at Peach's shocked face apologetically. "I'm sorry Peachy, but you know how much I hate this dress!" She looked back down at Bowser. "I have to wear it every goddamn day!"

"Young Lady!" gasped Fret.

"Well it's true! The Royal Council makes me wear it!"

"But you're the princess! Back home, the royals are never bossed around by their advisors… Isn't that right you two," said Bowser, smiling cheekily at Kammy and Kamek, who nodded stiffly.

"Really? Aww man, Princess Eclair's so lucky!" moaned Daisy.

"Ah hem," interrupted Peach. "Maybe we should all introduce ourselves before we compare notes on our governmental procedures – and maybe save that discussion for a more formal venue?" I.e. not standing in front of a giant crowd, she added in her head, but her friends got the message.

After the introductions were out of the way, Peach led the group on a tour of the castle, which wasn't terribly interesting seeing as Bowser already knew the layout like the back of his hand. Or, at least his old hand – his new one was still quite the novelty, what with the knuckles and tendons and extra finger and all. But the focus of the tour wasn't the castle anyway – it was Bowser. "Ambassador Whip" proved himself to be quite the character, and while many of the royals had been out off by his appearance at first, they soon found him quite amusing. Blunt and direct to the point, it seemed like he was barely filtering his thoughts before he spoke. It was clear he wasn't a real ambassador, but he had certainly done his research, at the very least, especially when it came to the Mushroom Kingdom.

For his part, Bowser was filtering his thoughts. Quite extensively, in fact. Not a single pro-Koopa word passed his lips, and he made sure to not single out Peach too frequently. He would be staying in Mushroom Castle, after all – he'd have plenty of time to woo her without an audience once the other visiting royals went home. So for now, he bided his time, making nice with the Princes and King Fret and getting along quite well with Daisy – he appreciated her spunk much more now that she wasn't using it against him at a Mario Party crashing.

Speaking of whom, Bowser was pleasantly surprised Mario and Luigi didn't tag along on the tour – it was one of few good things about it. They had been in the front row of the welcome ceremony, but the tour was for the royals and the ambassador only, so they remained behind to help with crowd control. Kammy and Kamek were off talking with the Toads and overseeing the moving of Bowser's luggage to his room – and making sure their own luggage got put away safely. In keeping with their cover, they had disguised all their spell books to look like history books, but they didn't want to risk anyone getting curious and taking a closer look.

After the tour was a grand feast, and Bowser struggled mightily to keep himself from overeating. As Kammy had repeatedly cautioned him every time he had gotten near food during the past day and a half, his human stomach was a third the size of his Koopan gut, and if he tried to eat like he normally did, he'd vomit it all back up. Plus, he'd get fat, and having grown quite fond of his lithe human form, Bowser definitely didn't want that to happen. But it was easier said than done when faced with Mushroomian cooking, and had he not known to save room for a slice of cake made by Peach himself, Bowser could have easily eaten himself into a stupor. He was actually glad Mario and Luigi joined the group of dignitaries at the head table – that way, he wasn't the only one shoveling down the meal. Kammy and Kamek winced as they watched him, but the other royals were used to the ambassador's commoner behaviour by that point and shrugged it off. And, to his credit, Bowser did remember to swallow before speaking, chew with his mouth closed, and even use the utensils properly, having been forced to practice his new dexterity by his ex-Magikoopa advisors.

In fact, he was pretty well off with all the aspects of his new anatomy, and when the feast gave way to a royal ball, Bowser didn't even pause to worry about tripping over his feet as he took the dance floor.

"He's really something, ain't he?" grinned Daisy, appearing as Peach's elbow as they watched Bowser, now sans duster, enthusiastically move to the beat of an upbeat rock and roll number.

"'Something' is right," chucked Peach.

"And cute too."

"Mmm-hmm," nodded Peach, before blushing and tearing her eyes from the ambassador to glare at Daisy. "Hey, you shouldn't be talking about Ambassador Cream like that."

"Oooh, jealous?" smiled Daisy, before breaking into a wicked cackle. "Oh, the look on your face, Peach! Lighten up! He doesn't take himself seriously."

"Well, he should!"

Daisy made a face. "Hey, a few hours ago, you were so afraid that the Waffle ambassador was going to hate it hear and never want to come back: you should be glad he likes it here – you should be out there dancing too, and give him even more reason to stay."

"Daisy!" eeped Peach as her friend laughed.

"Well, if you're not going to, I am. Where's Luigi? I love this song…" passing off her half-finished drink, Daisy swished off through the crowd in search of her favourite plumber.

Peach shook her head and set the drinks down on the table she was leaning against. By the time Daisy reappeared with Luigi in toe, and Peasley and Pine along with him, the song had changed to an upbeat electric pop number that had been sweeping the nation all month, and Peach couldn't help but smile as the three royals, Bowser and Luigi found their groove. The rest of the dancers instinctively made a clearing around the group, clapping along with the beat and watching their almost synchronized movements. Peach clapped along too, but faltered when Bowser looked over at her. He could spot Peach in any crowd, and had been keeping track of her out of the corner of his eye all night – she spent a lot of time watching him, he had noticed approvingly, but she wasn't going to watch anymore. Making eye contact, he tilted his head forward, flashing her a grin and waving her over, even incorporating the gesture into his dance. Peach hesitated – she did like dancing and all the other young royals were out there, but there was something giving her pause. And that something had red eyes.

"Go on, dearie," said King Fret, suddenly appearing at Peach's side and giving her an encouraging nudge. "I'll watch your drinks."

Peach returned his smile, her resistance broken and she hurried forward to her friends while the crowd cheered. Bowser's smile broadened as he made way for Peach, who fell into step between him and Prince Pine as if she had been part of the troupe from the start. It was a vigorous dance, with lots of strutting, twisting and head shaking, and Peach beamed as she moved with the others, too carried away to even wonder why she had almost decided against joining them. Bowser was careful not to bump into Peach; simply having her next to him was a good enough step for now, and he contentedly watched her thoroughly enjoying herself in his peripheral vision, only letting his eyes meet hers when the dance called for them to face each other, and even then, only fleetingly. Both, in their own way, were sad when the song came to an end and the crowd around them applauded.

The six stood in a circle, and Bowser held a hand out to Peach, who took it, locking her other hand with Pine as the group took a bow, synchronized one last time.

"Oop, slow song, time for a drink," announced Bowser, releasing both Peach and Daisy (who had been on his right). "Excuse me," he said, bowing his head.

But Peach came too, leaving Luigi and Daisy to their dance as Pine and Peasley wandered off to talk to some fangirls clamoring for their attention.

"Water?" offered Bowser, rounding on Peach as he reached the refreshment table, drink already in hand.

She jumped a little. Bowser hadn't given any indication that he knew she had been following him. "Oh, thank you," she said, recovering quickly.

Bowser smirked and grabbed his own glance, gesturing towards a vacant table with his head. Without speaking the two walked over and sat down.

"Now you see why I'm not a fan of layers," remarked Bowser.

"Hugh?" bubbled Peach, chugging down the water.

"Your face is flushed. You must be hot," noted Bowser.

Peach held a hand up to her cheeks – she could feel the hat radiating off her skin. "Oh, yeah, I suppose."

"Next dance, you should wear something lighter – you'll enjoy yourself more."

"Oh, don't worry, I had lots of fun," reassured Peach, even as she finished off her glass.

Bowser smirked again and pushed his untouched glass towards her.

"Aren't you hot?" hesitated Peach.

Bowser shrugged. "It's hot where I come from: I'm used to it."

"If you're sure…"

"I'm sure," said Bowser, locking eyes with Peach.

Once more, she felt herself thrown off by the intensity of his stare. Maybe it was just the fact that he had the same eye colour, but it almost reminded her of…

"Oh hey, I know this song too," said Bowser, suddenly looking away from Peach back towards the dance floor. He turned back to her. "Hope you don't mind, but I'm gonna take this one too. I can see you're still a bit flushed, so I'll see you later?"

"Uh… okay," said Peach, wondering why her cheeks were burning as she picked up Bowser's glass.

"Now, see, if you had dressed lighter, you could come with me," added Bowser, his eyes gleaming as bright as his teeth. "Ah well, next time."

Peach nodded, returning the smile, albeit one with a shadow of confusion. She turned and watched as Bowser made his was back through the maze of tables and partygoers, the top of his head visible above all but the tallest guests. There was something about the ambassador that puzzled her, and yet, fascinated her as well. He was a strange bird, and even though the thought of having him around put her stomach in funny little knots, she had a feeling she was also going to enjoy her next few weeks.