The man staring in the mirror tilted his head slowly to a side and observed himself, eyebrows creased thoughtfully.
He then reached up and gently brushed back what little hair he had and straightened his oversized bowtie. Better. Could be worse.
"Whaddya think?" He purred, tucking his thumbs under the lepels of his purple over-coat and spinning around to face his servant.
The sour ball blinked slowly, "Bad idea." He stated flatly.
"Not THAT, I KNOW what ya think of that! I was'th talking about my looks'th! Pretty good, huh?"
"You look fantastic." He muttered, eyeing the king's attire.
King Candy smirked approvingly and stepped out of his room into the hallway, still self-conciously readjusting various pieces of his get-up. Stopping outside of one of the large doors lining the salmon walls, he took a deep breath and knocked.
After a second, a hesitant voice called out,"...Yes?"
"It's just me, darling!~" He peeked through the keyhole, but saw only blurred colors.
"Oh!" It brightened with relief, "Well, I suppose you can come in, then."
He eagerly pushed his way in and paused, a wide grin slowly spreading across his face as he tried for just a moment to memorize the woman sitting across the room from him.
Captivating, large, grey eyes matched with her short hair, which was pulled straight over her head with a small curl at the tips. Her outfit greatly resembled his own, save a few dressy details, such as puffy shoulder pads and what would be a dress around her legs except it had been split and pulled back at her waist, revealing the exact same goofy pants and tights that the king wore.
He sighed and leaned on the door frame, "You look heart-s'thtopping, dear..."
She smiled slyly at him, "What's with the sudden displey of affection?"
The king chuckled, "I can say what I want about you, and you can't s'thtop me!~" He waved a finger at her teasingly, his mood escalating. He then stepped across the room and pulled her into a tight hug, feeling bubbly inside and just content in general.
She blinked in surprise, but wrapped her arms around his back and sighed, "Well, thanks anyway, I think I needed this..."
"It's fine, dear, I'll always be here when ya do."
"Kid?!"
During the regular hours of gaming, and a good day so far of doing so, the last thing that Wreck-it Ralph had expected was to catch view of the little president sprinting towards him just as he had finished a round.
He hastily wiped the mud off of his face and cut some of their distance by lumbering towards her, hands outstretched, "What are you doing?"
"Duh, coming to see you!" She replied, mimicking his pose.
"Why aren't you in you're game? Don't you know that it's game hours?! What are you doing?"
"Relax, muscle-man!" She hissed, "I'm the President, i've got it under control!" looking over his doubting frown she quickly explained, "I found out some really cool stuff last night, Ralph! Like, REALLY cool stuff. Also, i'm not sure if you've noticed or not, but my game's section is closed right now...I think that they're building something around it."
"Why me?" He sighed, "Kid, my game's still going! Someone could pop a quarter in at any minuet!"
"Well, when that happens, i'll go, ok?"
"No, you go now." He pointed at the blue train that lead the way to the GCS.
Vanellope pouted, but turned and headed away.
He called after her, "I'll come see you when my shift's over!"
She waved an acknowledging hand behind her.
The second that Mr. Litwak stepped out the door, Ralph headed for Sugar Rush. It didn't take long, really, besides an unnecisarily long stop with the surge protector who seemed to be in a bad mood.
Once through though, it was smooth sailing. He headed past the barrier and into the land of unlimited tooth-aches and sweets galore, eyes searching along the way to the castle for his pal, President fart-feathers.
Hearing the obnoxious chatter of her two police-donuts, Duncan and Wynnchel, he turned their way, finding them to be bragging about their motorcycle's durability along a small stretch of unfinished track.
"Uh, hey, guys?" He watched, the beginnings of a scowl forming on his face when they paid him no mind, "Hey, you!"
They continued to boast loudly, their humongous mouths flopping with each compliment to their vehicles, either unaware or ignoring his presence.
He swung his fist down on top of a nearby jawbreaker, sounding a large *CRACK* "HEY!"
That got their attention. Both of their heads wobbled in his direction and they stared, dumbfounded, at him.
"Is Vanellope in the castle?" He nearly snarled. He had never had a great temper.
Duncan nodded slowly, "Y-yeah! She's in the castle, alright...take it easy, big guy!"
Grumbling, Ralph began to walk away, only pausing when he heard one of them mutter, "Boy, what a big galute! Wonder why the President would want him around?" and a, "Shhh! He's right there!"
He considered going back and testing whether they were jam-filled or not, but it wasn't worth it. Not today, anyway.
He was about to pick up the pace when something caught his eye. The only reason that it did was because it didn't seem natural. At all.
A candy-cane tree sat there, completely free of its branches. Everty single one missing from their usual place. He moved to investigate and discovered that at the base of every branch, there were sharp marks as if they had been chipped off by something.
Giving a brief glance about, it seemed as if other trees had suffered the beginnings of the same fate.
He thought for a minuet, but could find no reason as to why this was happening. He shook his head, gave it a weary look, and continued on. He'd have to ask Vanellope, but it didn't look right to him.
When he finally had entered the castle, he found the her leaping about him eagerly, her eyes shining as she spoke, "Buddy! You're here! I made us hot chocolate, c'mon!"
Bill, who was waiting patiently behind them, huffed quietly when he heard her say that she had made it.
She led Ralph to the Royal Dining Hall and gestured for him to sit, "Just don't break the seat." She advised, taking her own.
He rolled his eyes and carefully eased himself into the chair, which bent a little, but held him up. He couldn't say that he wasn't happy to see the huge, steaming, mug, which sat in front of him.
"So, what'd you want to tell me?" He asked, pulling his drink to his lips and chugging down a few large gulps.
"Well, I was talking to Bill last night, and he told me some pret-ty interesting stuff! Didn't ya?"
"Mmmm..."
Ralph waved her on politely, thinking about his own news to tell her. It could wait, though. It might have just been the other Sugar Rush kids having some fun. They could be rather destructive at times.
"Ok, so! Here's the thing...it turns out that I had..." She stopped and glared at him, "Ralph! Put it down, would'jya?" She watched, pleased, as he did so.
"Ok! So, I had...a mother!"
He jolted in his seat, not expecting that kind of news, "What? But, how? I mean-"
"Bill told me the whole thing! It's so cool! She was like King Candy, but just a little different!"
"Hold on, kid!" He rubbed his brow, "You mean, she was like Turbo?" This didn't make any sense at all.
"No!" She slurped a little of her drink's contents, "She was just like King Candy, the original one!"
He stared at her, eyebrows arched.
"I know!" She squeaked, "Turbo didn't make him up, he was real! So, I had a daddy at some time!" Her smile began to fall a little.
Flustered and confused, Ralph sat, thinking, for a moment before turning to the green cough-drop, "Were you making this stuff up?!"
He gave an aghast, if not offended, scoff, "I don't make things up...Besides, she made me tell..."
He turned back to Vanellope, "Well, that's great, I guess..."
But she was suddenly not in the state that he had last seen her. Her head was drooping and a few tears were dripping silently down her face.
"Whoa, hey, what's wrong?" He was quick to lean forward and put a gentle hand over her back, wondering if perhaps he had done something.
She sniffled and looked back up at him, "B-but if they w-were once alive...that means that T-turbo got rid of them..." She lowered her voice, "He killed them..."