Chapter 13 Selling Absolutely Everything

Things went smoothly for the next couple days or so. Aria diligently and regularly went to sell more baked goods, which was something that a lot of people seemed to appreciate. In fact, Aria was willing to wager a guess that news of the bake sale spread through word of mouth. More people than she could reasonably keep track of showed up, especially the third day into the sale. It blew Aria away. It made her feel more confident, more hopeful that things would actually work out for the better.

At least, it did for a while. When she pulled away from selling baked goods on the third day, opening up her pay jar to see how much dough she had raked in, she was mightily disappointed. She had made around five hundred coins. An impressive amount… under normal circumstances. But the problem was that housing in Sparksville was, quite plainly, wickedly expensive. One needed at least ten thousand coins to get a mortgage. And sure, Aria could continue selling baked goods until she reached that goal, but that possibility presented two very big problems. One, the bake sale was exhausting. Spending an inordinate amount of time sweating in a hot kitchen drained one's energy level pretty quickly. The second problem was that Jackie didn't have a lot of time. She needed to get out of her aunt and uncle's house as soon as possible.

Which raised the question… how exactly was Aria supposed to make as much money as possible within so little a timeframe?

This question was on the forefront of her mind the day after she officially ended the bake sale. As she stirred up some instant oatmeal, her mind reached out for any solution. On some level, it felt as though she was grasping at straws, as nothing she could come up with even came close to bringing in the desired amount of cash. She actually growled and groaned, feeling the horrible effects of frustration setting in. There had to be a way! There just had to be! She didn't know what it was, but she absolutely did know that the way had to exist. Where there was a will, there was a way after all.

So, with her oatmeal securely held in her hands, she flopped down onto her couch and got to thinking about her predicament. She racked her brain as she stuck the spoon in her mouth, feeling frustration bubble over as she chewed on her breakfast. After a little bit, she got a headache. This forced her to put the bowl on the coffee table and lean back even further into the couch.

Wait… the couch!

An idea started to bloom within Aria's mind. She sat up, feeling the effects of her headache wear off as joy filled her. She looked at her couch, comfy in all the right ways. Who wouldn't want such an amazing piece of furniture? Who wouldn't pay a generous amount of cash to get a used couch in such amazing, such perfect condition?

Those questions, and the answers that came prepackaged with them, made Aria's glee increase. With a grin on her face, she went upstairs to her computer. She immediately jumped on the search engine Koople and began typing away at lightning fast speed. Specifically, she typed "how much money would a used naugahyde couch sell for?" into the search bar. And the answer she got to that question?

Eight hundred coins.

The sight of this answer, sitting on the screen of her computer like a present wrapped up with the shiniest paper and bow, actually made Aria laugh out loud. Yes! Yes, that was awesome! Such a high amount of money she could make, such an amazing amount of cash she could bring in for the sake of her sister. This was incredible!

It wasn't perfect, though. If she sold the couch for eight hundred coins, that would mean she'd have about one thousand, three hundred coins in total. Again, that would be an impressive amount devoid of the circumstances, but it was still nowhere close to reaching Aria's goal. She needed ten thousand, and she needed it right away.

This of course meant that she had to sell something else. Something that would go for more money, something that people would be willing to pay a significant amount for. But what would that be? Aria didn't have a lot of valuables or heirlooms (and she wouldn't be willing to depart with the latter even if she did have them). She thought some more until it occurred to her. The answer was literally sitting right in front of her.

She could sell the computer.

With a grin on her face, Aria typed into the search bar again. She actually held her breath as she waited for the answer to load. When it did, she squeed again. The answer for "how much money would a used laptop sell for" was one thousand coins. One thousand coins! That was absolutely incredible! Sure, it still wasn't enough to reach her goal, but it still brought her one big step forward (even more so than any amount of time selling baked goods ever could). And sure, would it be difficult for Aria to depart with her computer? Eh… maybe. She did use it for work, after all. Most of her work files were on that thing, as were most of the apps she used to track demons and keep track of all the dark magic sites she had visited.

But that wasn't a big deal. She could transfer those files to her phone, a device she would absolutely NOT sell. And it would be relatively easy to do. Aria was actually considerably tech savvy; it was a point of pride with her. As a consequence, a task like transferring data from one device to another was so simple that she could easily accomplish it in her sleep.

With these thoughts came an even stronger bout of joy from her. Oh, this was all lining up so perfectly! Sure, she would miss her computer, and considering how little she made at her actual job, it would take a little bit to save up enough money to buy another one (as well as buy another couch). But… this was for Jackie! This was for her sister, her sister who needed help and guidance! Isn't that what siblings provided for each other? Didn't sisters look out for each other (when they weren't at each other's throats)? Aria didn't know, but she did know one thing. That being, she had always wanted a sister. And because of that long held wish, as well as the unexpected fulfillment of that wish, she would go out of her way to be the best sister that anybody could ask for.

So, with a smile on her face, she went to the social media platform known as Shellbook. Within no time at all, she found the part of the site where people sold their possessions and put her couch and laptop up for sale. The second she finished typing, she sat back and got into a relaxed position. The wheels had been put into motion. All she needed to do now was wait.

…

Two days later, in the common room of Bowser's Castle, Ludwig was right in the middle of the most serious kind of activity one could possibly engage in. It was an activity not for the faint of heart, an activity that required one's utmost attention and commitment. Bonds were broken in this grueling task. Lives and friendships were shattered, all for the sake of coming out on top and showing everyone everywhere that you were the absolute best.

The task was, of course, playing a game of Mario Party Superstars.

"Okay," Ludwig said as he got out a dice. "Hopefully this will work." He crossed his fingers, feeling his heart beat pick up. He bit his lip as he hit the button, thereby stopping the dice. His heart sank when he saw that he got a five. Why? Well, they were playing Yoshi's Tropical Island, and the five that Ludwig had just rolled landed him squarely on an unwanted happening space. A happening space that switched Toad and Bowser's positions on the board.

"Crap," Ludwig said as he watched the animation. He was currently on Cantaloupe Island, the same place that Bowser now occupied. So, if his luck betrayed him (as it so usually did) that meant that he wasn't going to get a star in the next few turns like he hoped he would. A huge bummer for him since he was currently in last place.

"It's okay," Wendy said, trying to stay positive and friendly even in the throughs of an intense Mario Party match. "You'll get a star eventually."

"Yeah," said Roy as he rolled for his turn. "Just be thankful Larry isn't playing this time around. He'd never let you hear the end of this if he was here."

Ludwig snorted. "Ain't that the truth." He turned toward Morton, gripping at his controller as he watched the screen. "And hey, if anything, at the very least I'm thankful I didn't lose two stars during chance time like Morton did."

Morton sniffed when he heard that. "It's too soon to remind me of that; the scars from that incident are still fresh."

Ludwig chuckled to himself, going out of his way to give Morton a hug in the process. When he let go, he watched the screen once again. He didn't know whether to be relieved or disappointed that all Roy got was a blue space on his turn.

Whatever. At the very least, Roy's turn finishing meant that the minigame time was upon them. And luckily for the Koopalings, they got a really fun one this time around.

"Bumper Balls!" Wendy exclaimed, staring at the screen with shimmering eyes. "Oh, this is great! I love this game!"

"Me too!" Roy said. He snickered. "It helps that the name is one of my favorite in the game, if you catch my drift." He wiggled his eyebrows before winking and making a clicking sound with his tongue, making it clear to everyone in the room exactly what he meant by that.

Wendy shook her head. "You're disgusting."

"Indeed," Ludwig said. "In fact…" He stood up, placing his controller down on the floor. "I think that is a more than perfect excuse for me to take my break."

"What?" Roy exclaimed as he looked up at his brother. "Oh come on Luddy! Why do you have to be like that?"

Ludwig flashed him a glare. "First off, don't call me Luddy." He smoothed out his cloak. "Second, we played two thirty turn games in a row. A break is more than warranted."

Morton gave him a raised eyebrow. "And how long will this break last, exactly?"

"Dunno. Haven't decided yet." Ludwig got his phone out of his hammerspace. "It's going to be a long one though."

Roy shook his head. "Killjoy."

Ludwig shook his head as well. "Whatever you say, Larry 2.0." With that, he exited the room, not even caring about the way his siblings groaned. There was only so much Mario Party a guy could take in a day, you know? And Ludwig was getting close to his limit. Sure, he was willing to return to the actual game soon (a fact that he didn't tell his siblings for the sake of… well, intentionally being an asshole and letting them wonder), but after he did that, he wasn't going to look at or think about Mario Party for a long damn time. He felt that that was his righteous karmic reward for dealing with two thirty games in a row!

With these thoughts in mind, he walked over to the courtyard, feeling that now would be the perfect time for him to get some much-needed fresh air. When he got there, he took a deep breath. The sulfuric smell so often associated with the Koopa Kingdom was present here, but it was also muted a little bit thanks to the scent of the grass and the flowers. He gladly took a seat on the bench, appreciating everything about this little piece of Heaven that Bowser's Castle managed to miraculously capture.

It was after a little bit of sitting around that Ludwig decided to check his phone. He scrolled through the apps, checking everything. There were no new videos from any of the channels he was subscribed to on WarpTube. His Instagoomba notifications lay pretty much barren. This mostly just left his Shellbook account to check. He logged onto that, scrolling through the various posts…

Only to see something that made him do a double-take.

"What the hell?" He squinted at the screen, reading the post that had been made by Aria two days prior. "Selling a used couch and laptop?" Ludwig's jaw dropped. "Why in the world would she sell…?" He sat still for a little bit before shaking his head. "Okay, something is definitely up." He turned off his phone and put it in his hammerspace. "I'm going to go to see what's going on."

So, completely forgetting about the game of Mario Party, Ludwig rose into the air and flew to Sparksville.