Peach, Boojiboo and Bootilful's heads quickly turned to the sudden backhanded knock at the door.

"Peach, my dear?" Ah, his Majesty's grand reappearance.

Peach gave her friends an anxious look that asked what to do and received as good a shrug as she might get from someone with no shoulders.

He knocked again. "I know you're in here. Won't you join me for a little dinner?"

Bootiful and Boojiboo collectively pushed Peach forward, one of them offering her a tissue to wipe her eyes, which she took willingly.

"I'll be out in a moment."

"Excellent!"

"You can do it!" Whispered Bootiful, and Boojiboo nodded encouragingly.

Slowly opening the creaky door, she made eye contact with her captor, who held out one of his nubby arms. The door slammed behind her.

"There's no one else in there with you, right?" He asked despite belatedly looking over her shoulder after he magically shut the door behind her.

"No, no one's in there." She lied through the skin of her teeth, thankful that he didn't know her well enough to catch it.

"Good." He pulled her in a little closer, and it made her slightly uncomfortable, but she didn't dare protest and followed him down the grand staircase in her usual gown. Entering the foyer again, he vaguely waved his free arm, and a few candles suddenly lighted. She prayed that no one would see them - it still felt wrong to be here with him, and to be so close to him, following him to dinner. But then she remembered that no one but Boos would ever see her again, and she had to try hard not to cry once more. Trying in vain to keep a mantra in her head that Bowser would come for her eventually, but he might wait a day or two for her to settle before he attacked.

It was then that he halted his hover in front of a rather grand door, and pushed it open, giving Peach a view into the room.

"Shall we?"

Her response was a quick nod. As she went to pull out her chair it pulled itself out, and pushed itself back in as she sat down. As soon as she looked down at her plate, her favorite food appeared before her. She swore that every time she looked up King Boo's meal had changed in some way, until his plate was not only empty, but as clean as it had been before any food was on it. Apart from the strange food shenanigans, their dinner was relatively uneventful as neither party really said a word, but King Boo seemed to feed off Peach's fear more than the food in front of him.

The dinner made her wonder: does King Boo even need to eat? Did he sleep? He'd mentioned having a bedroom but he wasn't quite human, or even quite alive, but he didn't seem quite dead either. Something had to spark inside him, something that kept him alive, despite all logic pointing otherwise. She wondered how old he was.

Little did she know, a discussion was happening in the room just above them. Boos gathered round with playing cards, some playing Blackjack or Go Fish, others simply playing Snap. One Boo, an easily influenced Boo with an oddly happy outlook on life, sat on their Switch OLED, one earphone in, and the other hanging to their side. They weren't really absorbed in the main conversations (Pokemon was much more interesting) but they happened to overhear a few things anyway from a group who hovered just in front of them.

"So," began one, gulping down the last of his drink, "what do you think of that Princess then, Boo La La?"

Another flicked his arm down. "Oh please, ShamBoo, that Princess is a total pushover, and I didn't think it was possible to be more of a scaredy-cat than Booigi!"

"Hey!"

"Ha! Never heard anything more true." exclaimed a third, nearly dropping the cards they were shuffling over a rather grumpy looking Boo who hovered near to them.

"Hey, Boodacious?" said ShamBoo, gesturing to the third Boo, "I heard you got a look at that Princess up close. What's she like then?"

Boodacious continued to shuffle his cards. "I don't get what he sees in her. To be honest, I don't get why he wanted to end the invasion anyway. With the Mushroom Kingdom as his capital, he could've had all the princesses he wanted."

"Well isn't that a fair point!" Boo La La gave a brief laugh. "Maybe he's getting a little lonely."

"Lonely!?" exclaimed ShamBoo. "How many of us are there?"

The grumpy Boo grimaced at the volume of ShamBoo.

"Far too many, I'd say." agreed Boodacious.

It was then that the grumpy Boo's mind created the perfect idea. Rising up, he revealed himself to be Boovelope, still carrying his signature satchel.

"Gentlemen," he began, "that's no way to act about your king."

Boodacious stopped shuffling. "What are you gonna say, traitor?"

That pushed him over a little, but he kept his cool.

"I'm not the one questioning my king's decisions. And if I was, I wouldn't be sitting here complaining. I'd be out there, doing something about it."

Boo La La raised an eyebrow. "Like what, getting us banished from the mansion like a certain ex-scribe did?"

"My brother didn't have the support he needed. He didn't have a team, and even the biggest of Boos can't stand up to Boolossus on their own."

Boodacious put their cards down. ShamBoo looked intrigued.

"What are you suggesting?"

"My brother knows Boos outside of this mansion, outside of this valley, outside of the Mushroom Kingdom, and he knows me. I may be under special watch because of his actions, but I've got an important position here."

Boo La La sniggered. "What, royal paperboy?"

Boovelope gave him the most deadpan look he could muster, and continued. "In our positions, we could break things down from the inside, and build them back up again to our liking. All we have to do is get Bootstrap on our side, and be careful since Booreaucrat is never too far."

"As stupid as this seems," said ShamBoo, "I'm weirdly interested. How do you suppose we do this?"

"We use her. He wants her for a reason, and we can use that reason, if we're careful, and things fall into place as I think they should."

Even Boodacious took a part in listening. "What do you think will happen then?"

"I think he wants her to fall in love with him. I don't think it'll happen though - they're far too different."

Boo La La laughed again. "Oh my, imagine if King Boo fell in love with that princess first!"

"They do say opposites attract," added ShamBoo almost insightfully.

"Who even are 'they'? And who cares? Whatever little things happen, we're Boos - we can twist anything, mess with anyone. We can make anyone do anything we like with a quick show of our fangs."

The other three look impressed at Boovelope's make-shift speech. He adjusted his satchel.

"Now Boodacious, will you do the honor?"

"Hm?"

Boovelope pointed to the deck on the table.

"The cards, Boodacious. Are we playing Poker? I haven't had a good game in years."

"For that little proposal, my friend," said ShamBoo, "of course."

Boovelope held up the last of his drink. "To a future for us, the Boos of Boo's Mansion!

ShamBoo clunked his empty glass to Boovelope's. "Indeed! And to a good game of Poker!"