A/N: Alright, that's all I can do for now. More soon! Maybe at the end of the week.
The plush castle was in a great tizzy today, more so than the Princess had seen in years. Their shared fear pulled the subjects into a rage of productivity, refitting the palace with everything needed to defend and plot against a menace. Skidding furniture rattled from above and below; dust and spider webs showing in the corners where long sat the niceties. She knew a hundred cleaners currently scoured the castle hunting for these blemishes, yet she could see one now as she sat in her temporary war room. In a dark slit where a vanity had been moved there was grime creeping up the candy wall. She didn't mind at all, in fact she had been almost obsessively looking at it during the proceedings that she endured from her staff, now whittled down to Singly Eota and a human soldier. Her eyes glanced over them quickly now, then tracked impulsively back to the grime. Something about it, the taboo of the dirtiness thrilled her. It prodded some repressed excitement and she suddenly knew why: it reminded her of a dark vampire she had once briefly known and now was constantly reminded of ever since the subject of the Underground was daily discourse. The vampire had once been a royal representative for that forsaken place; a rowdy young lady who had done a horrible job at settling the terms to a re-affirmation of allegiance between the Candy Kingdom and the Underground. She had, however, done a rather good job at distracting the Princess, shocking her throughout the entire hearing with incredibly inappropriate babble. In a perpetual repose in the air, the vampire would shoot out cleverly subtle jabs at the Princess, making fun of her in ways she had never even considered viable. She remembered being flustered both for the vampire's behavior and her own silent enjoyment of it. She had been a Princess for as long as she could remember, but not once did anyone have the guts to tease her for her prestigious mannerisms. This lady had come along out of the fog and smashed her entire default impression of life. She had no wits to react, no snarky retorts that she had once considered herself a master of. The vampire had made her feel a fool, but she was not mad. She felt like if only she could have reacted better, cooler, they could've become friends and she could've learned something other than the doldrums of leadership. But the moment slipped out of her reach, and she found herself back at home, stuffed into the claustrophobic routine of the palace. It was obvious just how lowly she regarded her day-to-day, as she became obsessed with the prospect of proving herself to a random vampire, brooding on it at least once a week for the past 2 years since it had happened. She was now running through the old ripostes she had created too late for their brief conversations, staring off into the corner.
"Uh, Princess?" The soldier said.
Oh yes. The war. How lovely.
Eota stepped forward.
"Princess, we were just discussing the armament of goblin forces in case the menace threatens war. We need your approval to allocate the equipment."
In case. The wizard had already claimed 42 souls across Ooo in 7 different attacks, each successively reporting an increased number of the heavily mystified 'ink monsters'.
She blinked off the film of memory she had been perusing and sat up in her chair, placing her hands on to the paper filled table she sat at. She glanced at the ironclad man that had pulled her out of her stupor with a slight frown, then quickly shot her gaze to Eota beside him.
"Yes, yes. Do it, of course. Sometimes I think you too careful, Singly. We know what's coming, don't we?" She edged it with a tinge of annoyance, although she didn't mean to be angry at the hero.
"Well, this is royal proceedings. We must follow our etiquette. 'Though our people may rest, the palace shall never, the firm grip must always be so.'" He quoted her kingdom's maxim.
The human soldier beside Eota nodded, a tight, joyless mask on his face. She realized she didn't know who he was.
"Who are you?" She asked.
He looked a bit sheepish, but quickly rolled his shoulder plates forward into attention and barked "Commander Pele, leader of the human tribe of Osfinnia, hailing from the Backcrack mountains."
Osfinnia? Always naming things weird, those humans. Still, their tribe would make for useful soldiers.
"Are you here for armament too, Commander?" She said.
"If the Princess of the great Kingdom permits," he bowed slightly.
"Very well. I look forward to seeing what the humans are still capable of. They were brave fighters against the Ghost Eater."
"So the stories go." He smiled.
"Right." She signaled for a pen, and signed the two documents with a jumble of strokes.
The three hushed as an attendant collected the papers and hurried out of the room.
Eota sauntered about, marking his way with sliding steel. He stared briefly at a wall-sized map of Ooo, marked up and down with lines and notes, then continued his walk and brought his gaze back to the Princess.
"My fair lady Bubblegum, the Kingdom has the support of the goblin tribes, the human tribe, and the Kingdom guard. However, if we have correctly assessed our enemy, we will need much more support. I have had emissaries dispatched to the Fire, Magic and Warrior Kingdoms. And, ah…" He hesitated, which caused his movement to skip in an odd way and his armor clapped.
"Yes?" The Princess leaned forward, already knowing what bothered him.
"Well, I also had an envoy sent to the Underground. Their royalty made haste in accepting the proposal for a war council." He smoothed out again after a rush of turmoil, easing up upon seeing no irritation in her. He had caught on quick that the Princess did not like the subject of the Underground
Then suddenly the pink of her cheeks flustered red and he grew nervous, thinking her enraged. Inside she was on fire, her mind racing about on hundreds of different tracks yet not a single one in focus. She wondered through it all,
Why would she still want to be a leader? No way she's still around. She probably has other stuff to do…
"Did I make a mistake, Princess?" Eota's proud face leaked worry.
She snapped back to the war room, now determined upon a path.
"No, not at all. You were right to contact the Underground, we need each other's assistance. Direly, in fact. I must attend this war council of yours."
Eota looked surprised, but he was glad; he bowed happily and signaled an aide to start the processes. Silence fell on them again and she turned her eyes back towards the corner. The war hero and the human gave each other a glance and simultaneously excused themselves from the room, trailing away with talks of mobilization, readiness. The Princess sat still behind her planning table, idly biting her lip and nodding slightly, hardly noticing the men had gone. Her head was buzzing with the adrenaline of sudden challenges. The complex problems of the war and sadness for her lost souls were pressing down on her as usual, but there was something new arising from a faraway place in her mind. She was nervous, scared, but also excited, happy… The rising thought now shadowed her anxieties of the war and suddenly her whole head became filled with the thrill of an encounter, the mysterious difficulty she might soon face- though not from the fire wielding menace. What hounded over her was the imagined moment of her getting even with a punkish, dirty vampire girl. She giggled a little and smothered her face in her hands.
Was she going crazy?