Chapter 16:
Marysia Okonski smiled as she passed up the hallway towards Princess Odessa's lair. Was it silly to think of it that way? Probably. The princess was holding down the three uppermost floors of this structure—a massive construction that beggared most anything found in Masia's homeland. The power and wealth that these apartments symbolized were the sort of ostentatious display that attracted the young elemental. This was the kind of patron who could take you places.
If that wasn't enough, Odessa's complex, twisted personality appealed to Masia on an instinctual level. The older woman always seemed to have some clever scheme running on the back-burner, and none of her opponents had any idea what she was up to.
The young woman savored the looks she got as she passed her master's soldiers. It was tasty to think of them wanting her and knowing they couldn't have her. It excited a hunger inside her. A twisted part of her thought of what it would be like to let them try, only to watch them burn to death in the process—to be the flame for the moth.
Standing before her master's door, the slim elemental straightened her dress one more time, as she was announced by Odessa's butler. Finally, the door was opened, and the young woman strode in, to find her master had replaced the floors with slate.
Marysia flushed. She was the inadvertent author of that, having accidentally singed the carpet near the fireplace. It was one of the little incongruities of this situation.
Hips wig-wagging, the elemental strode forward to her master, announcing, "you summoned me, my lady?" "Yes," Odessa rumbled. Masia imagined they were going to chat about the opening of the Court in the morning. She'd probed the palace, looking for ways in that she could exploit. The Candy Palace was maddeningly resistant, and she'd nearly lost herself in the swirling maelstrom deep beneath the floor.
As Marysia came within reach, the tall princess struck her without warning, slapping the young woman to the floor. "How dare you," snarled Odessa?! "How dare you risk my plans on your fucking games?!"
As Marysia struggled to clear the cobwebs from her mind, two things became apparent. Somehow Odessa had found out about her experimental foray into assassination for hire, and she now somehow had the ability to touch Marysia without burning to death.
Indeed, the tall woman jerked Masia off the floor by her throat. "You led that little bitch, Star, to my business, Marysia," Odessa grated. "I've spent the last week or so cleaning up the mess."
A glowing field surrounded the tall woman's body, telling the elemental that Odessa had been planning for this very moment. It was a poignant reminder of the danger the Masia faced from her own patron. Hand squeezing ever tighter, cutting off Masia's air, Odessa snarled, "by rights I should've just had you killed."
Gossamer tears dripped from Masia's face, splashing on the slate floor with a crackling sound. The elemental found herself straddling the fence between shitting her panties and pleading for her life. Thankfully, the pressure eased.
Throwing Masia on the floor, Odessa growled, "the phone. Give it to me." Wheezing after air, Masia drew the secret phone from her purse and threw it on the floor at Odessa's feet. "I've already made arrangements for a man to take the fall," Odessa whispered. "We'll not speak of this again."
A soldier rushed forward and took up the device in an asbestos glove, heedful of the heat. The look on his face—and the small extinguishing device on his belt—told that those men hadn't been looking at her as a way to score some ass but as someone to murder. Grimly, the soldier strode out, leaving the elemental laying on the floor in a state of terror.
Bending down, Odessa drew Masia into her arms. Rocking with her, the older woman crooned a soft melody to her. "Don't make me do such things to you, child," she whispered, as she kissed Masia's cheek.
Stroking the younger woman's burning hair, the evil grandmother whispered, "did you enjoy it?" Masia nodded, once. "Who understands you better than me," Odessa whispered? "Not even that fat whore who birthed you..."
The young girl began to cry. "Shhh, pretty baby," Odessa cooed. "We're going to be alright, yes? You'll never disobey me again, yes?" Emphatically, Marysia nodded. Releasing her, the tall woman directed her to a chair close to the fire, saying, "sit. We have much to discuss."
As the sun rose over the Candy Kingdom, Bonnie Mertens walked into the little parlor at the end of the private railcar she was using for her trip to Clusone. The train was well underway, traveling at a pretty good clip down the ribbons of metal it rode upon. With Fionna's coaching, she'd made the arrangements that would let them travel unimpeded. Others on the track would be pushed aside for her, letting the train stay at speed throughout the day.
The minute she hove into view, the blond woman in the padded chair near the door locked those uncanny eyes of hers on Bonnie. Like her sister, she was having her moment with the first artificial creature she'd ever had the chance to really get to know. Knowing how Fionna doted on 'Sarah' and understanding how her grandmother had lost her physical body long ago, Bonnie had resolved to treat these antics as a nothing.
"Studying me," asked Bonnie? Minerva flushed, as her granddaughter sat down before her. "S'ok, grandma," Bonnie chuckled. "I'm just happy I had the chance to meet you." Wrinkling her nose, she added, "daddy's side of the family was always this big mystery. Now, I know."
Smiling back, Minerva responded, "well, dear, in spite of how this happened, I'm delighted to meet my two oldest grandkids." Bonnie was slowly adjusting to that, herself. A part of her would always miss Pillow World. At the same time, there was much to recommend this world, where she had a grandmother, three more brothers, and three sisters, before you even got into their very young siblings.
"What was it like," Bonnie asked? It took a moment. With a grimace, Minerva responded, "it was life, Bonnie. Same-same. The only things I didn't do that I did before was eat and sleep. I had a routine for the day, with systems to test, things that needed repair, and problems needing to get solved. You sort of just get on with it." "Kind of like our farm," Bonnie murmured. Minerva nodded. Just so.
Moving on, Bonnie said, "when we get there, you're going to stay with the train until I can sort out this Enzo character. Star says he has some soldiers. Daddy's informer thinks he might get those gun things from her ex-friends."
The machine-woman frowned at her for a moment. Then, for a wonder, she sighed and agreed, "I'm not a soldier."
Nodding, Bonnie said, "you're more important than me, grandma." "Differently important, dear," Minerva replied. "I... never liked that idea that one person was more important than another. Let's just say that we have different roles, here. It's important for our family that you come home uninjured too, dear."
Taking out a deck of cards, Bonnie asked, "do you play 'go fish'?" "My word," the android chuckled. "They had that in your world?" "Nope," Bonnie responded, as she dealt the hands, "daddy taught me." "Of course," Minerva chuckled. "Alright. You first..."
As the train carrying Bonnie and Minerva hurtled across the countryside, Jay Mertens returned from a long jog across the countryside. The grasslands where his father had grown up reminded him a great deal of the homeland that he'd lost. The scent of grass and the stronger scents of animals here and there were strong reminders of the peaceful life his family had led. Jogging up to the treehouse, he was even reminded of coming in from the fields in the spring for breakfast.
As he took in the buzzing of the 'flies' and 'gnats' of this world, he found himself wishing to spend time in his sister's memories of their homeland. Of course, there was a jarring reminder that things weren't quite the same, as he took in the sight of Annabelle standing in the doorway of his father's old home, wearing an apron.
"You look ridiculous," he rumbled. "Pregnant demon, complete with twisted horns and wings." "This is married life, sweet-stuff," she retorted. "Flannel and fat. Did you think you were going to get the good stuff for eternity?"
The tall fellow burst out laughing, as he took her by the shoulder and spun her around. Delivering a swat to her bottom, he declared, "there! I abjure you!"
Jay followed his demon-lover up the stairs to the little kitchen where his siblings' mothers had cooked up breakfast before sending them to school. Tidied up, he understood what Bonnie saw in the space. It was a little reminder of what a normal life looked like.
"What're you thinking," Annabelle asked? He was still standing at the top of the stairs, staring into space. Shaking off the melancholy mood, he said, "I understand why he turned down the crown that first time."
The demon rolled her eyes, as she turned back to the stove, declaring, "for all the good it did him." She scarcely saw the point in the games. If Finn had taken over at the start, he'd be in a stronger position now. As it was, he'd seemingly only kicked the can down the road to the point where he lost the choice.
Knowing that for her kind, power was all that really mattered, Jay ducked the bait in favor of sitting himself at the table for breakfast. "All out of baby's blood, honey," she declared, as she set a platter before him. "I'm afraid butter will have to do for the grits."
It was the same thing she said every day. It was his strange little slice of normalcy, reminding him of the way his mother would serve up breakfast to his dad. Of course, breakfast would often come with a list of things for Finn to do around the house 'when there was time'. When the kids got to an age where they wouldn't be underfoot, some of that list got handed to them.
You can teach him, Jay thought. You can teach your son to chop the wool and milk the corduroy. Ironically, where Bonnie had wanted to claim this house for herself, while Jay thought the idea stupid, the pair had seemingly swapped places. Now, Bonnie had immersed herself in life inside the palace, while Jay had retired to this little country house.
As he stirred the 'butter' into his 'grits', Jay thought of the fermented corduroy milk that so often made breakfast taste better. The scent touched a part of him that he'd thought was dead. He was home, even if he shared that home with a monster.
The shadow looming over him reminded him of that unsubtle reality. The tall fellow glanced up at her, pondering what she might be on about now. While she didn't strictly need to eat, she usually did, just to share something with him. Today, she seemed to want to stare.
"Do you ever wish you were home," she asked? It was out of the blue. Jay gave her a frown of utter puzzlement. "I'm done with wishes, babe," he chuckled. "I... I'm not good at it." Shaking his head, he said, "not sure how dad managed to win two times out of three."
"You over-think things," Annabelle replied, as she finally sat down. Still, as Jay dished up some sausages for himself, she did nothing but stare at him. "Ok," he said, "something's set you off. What's bothering you?"
"The portal's still here," she murmured. Jay stared at her in utter bafflement. "What portal," he responded? She was wavering over into one of her moods, which since she was a demon, were a fucking sight to behold.
"The one he used to enter Pillow World," Annabelle murmured. Glancing down at the table, she murmured, "I can open it." It was so soft, he barely heard her.
Frown deepening, Jay asked, "why?" "You could go home," she murmured. "Your world's bigger than some little town..." "Why would I want to do that," Jay responded? Her eyes came up to his, and he began to see. This wasn't about him, so much as it was about her.
She didn't know if he could feel the portal or not, so she was hedging her bets. More to the point, she deeply feared that he'd go.
"If that hole or opening or whatever it is still lies in this house, I want nothing to do with it," Jay rumbled. "I... I can't see those sights again." "You'd be home," she retorted. "You wouldn't be... different..."
"There's one place where my dad and I are different, Annabelle Mertens," Jay replied. "He spent the last piece of his life trying to get back to this world and t'hell with the family he had. I have no interesting in going back. I have a kid on the way, and strangely enough, I have a wife who's about as fucked-up as they come, so she needs me too. There's... there's only death waiting for me back there."
Shaking off the mood that wanted to come on, he said, "eat up. The meeting's supposed to start up in an hour. We're already running late."
As the first members of the Privy Council rolled into the courtyard of the Candy Palace, they found themselves confronted with the new lady of the house's surprise welcome. As the cars and carriages rolled up to the gates, they were greeted with an honor-guard of the Banana Guard, standing alongside the entry in serried ranks. Above, on the towers of the palace, bright, colorful banners floated in the breeze, while more guards stood watch on the former battlements.
As the august guests rolled through the gates, they found Prince Boniface Bubblegum waiting atop the palace stairs in an elegant, almost militaristic suit, with his wife at his side. As each car rolled up, Peppermint Butler announced the arrival of the occupants in a loud voice, while the Banana Guards flanking the stairs snapped to attention, raising their spears in salute.
It had been many years since the council met under such a cheerful atmosphere. The terrifying wars against the Lich and the Dipped plus the rancor caused by Princess Wildberry and her faction had cast a pall over the civilized kingdoms.
One by one, the princes and princesses climbed the stairs to be greeted by the Candy Monarch and his beautiful wife. One by one, they were escorted inside by the palace servants and brought to their places in the Grand Hall.
Princess Djanira offered Boniface a sweet smile. "Good morning, Your Highness," the cake-person greeted him in a sweet voice. Frenchie barely checked herself from rolling her eyes. The number of cougars throwing themselves at her husband was starting to irritate her, and she blamed a lot of it on her brothers-in-law.
"Your Highness," Bon greeted his neighbor. "I'm pleased that you were able to come in person." "It's the opening session," Djanira responded. "I'm curious to see what your father has to say." "Indeed," Bon agreed. "I expect that the agenda will be of great interest. I'm sure we'll be talking about it... later." Taking the pointed hint, the dessert-person offered him a shallow bow before stepping past.
"Well, hello, Bon," Noemi announced. The curvy woman came wearing a hip-hugging gown that showed off her big grapes in a very low-cut bodice. "Noemi," Bon responded. The tall man could feel her using her pheremones on him, and a part of him wanted to slap her. Billy was suffering bouts of madness, and she was flirting.
"Break it up," Abieuwa growled, as she came up the stairs behind her co-spouse. The Lady of the Southern Jungles came wearing a natty leopard-print dress in silk, with plenty of gold jewelry adorning her neck, wrists, and ears to show off her wealth. Coming alongside Noemi, she reminded the Purple Princess, "if we all stand here flirting with the host, we'll never get to the opening ceremony."
Chuckling, Noemi stepped off. Rolling her eyes, Abieuwa took Bon's hands, declaring, "I'm pleased to see you well, Bon. We shall have to talk about some proposals for trade." "Of course," Bon agreed. With no further word, the Jungle Princess walked through the door.
Ragnhild wasn't interested in bows. Instead, she threw her arms around Bon and hugged him before turning to hug Frenchie. "How's Billy," Frenchie asked? "Doing better," the Froyo Princess responded. "Katherine makes sure he receives his daily treatment. He's on with our kids in the evenings before bed-time. We're just trying to keep things going until Katsumi's back."
Breaking contact, the tall woman said, "I'll see you both inside." With no further word, she went in, with her son at her back, staring around him in excitement at all there was to see.
The greeting on the stairs wrapped up mid-morning, when the last of the Named Crowns had arrived. Inside, the Gathering Hall resonated with the conversations of hundreds of beings as the various visitors met in pairs or in groups to talk about whatever business they wanted.
Princess Tania Stanek was miffed and irritated that she'd been shuffled through a side-door instead of getting the greeting that the mutants had all gotten. It was another infuriating sign that the mutant-loving King of Ooo cared nothing about his birth-race.
At her side, Henrietta Kirchner rumbled, "be patient. We're working on a way to free your people from their oppressor. It isn't as though it's a simple matter." Tania's face crinkled in a frown. Supposedly those fucking cyborgs refused to traffic in weapons. More to the point, the wax-creatures' flying ships weren't allowed to land on King's Island.
"Calm yourself," Henrietta rumbled. "This is the time to make agreements. There'll be plenty of side-meetings this week. I've been working on the people from Berry Kingdom. I've also been talking to some mercenary warriors out of Oceanside. They're not good men, but they won't have any inhibitions about... matters."
The sounds of trumpets announced that it was time for the gathering to take their seats. Tania found herself sitting far in the back of the gathering, though at least they were near the aisle.
Inside the private wing of the palace, Simone Mertens adjusted her husband's tie in unconscious habit, straightening what first Breakfast, then Bonnie, and then Nadia had already adjusted. "Something bothering you, honey," Simone asked?" In spite of the many times he'd already done this, he was feeling a case of nerves. Blowing out a breath, the King admitted, "this is the first time we've done this where there wasn't a flippin' crisis." With a smile, Simone remarked, "that should make it easier, honey." "It makes some wonder why there's still a king," a familiar voice remarked.
Simone looked up to find her once-and-former niece standing there, looking natty in a light-pink chick-suit over a silky white blouse. The shapechanger declared, "nobody will be allowed to approach the dais. You will not go into the aisle. I canceled the big parade through the space. You'll go out after the cabinet is seated."
Simone blinked. When she opened her mouth to speak, Jake Jr. declared, "this is not negotiable." Several of the pretty faces there looked as though they might complain until the shapechanger's eyeless face turned towards them. "We'll talk," Simone offered. "No," Jake rumbled, "you'll talk, but this isn't going to change. The King and First Wife will not go parading past a bunch of back-stabbers."
With the music playing to announce them, the others scooted out of there, leaving Finn and Simone alone in the hall behind the dais.
Out in the hall, the King's cabinet came down a cross aisle, with Bonnibel Bubblegum in the lead. Behind her came Hurletta and Nadia. Behind the Minister of Finance and Minister of Science came the Ministers for Sustenance and Minister of pair at a time, the King's cabinet came down the aisle while the Privy Council looked on. Tania turned to Henrietta and whispered, "isn't that the bitch who tried to screw us?" She meant Odessa. "Odessa plays her own game," Henrietta responded. "She's neither on his side nor ours."
It was a terrifying epiphany. They'd opened themselves to this woman. "She met with us, Tania," Henrietta reminded the terrified human-girl. "Her hands aren't clean."
Staring around her, Tania asked, "where's the King?" "Wondering that myself," Henrietta responded. "I would have expected with all the ceremony, he'd have been in their little parade."
As in response to the question, moments after the last of the cabinet was seated, the door behind the dais opened. Out of that door came a slim, humanoid form with long blonde hair, dressed in a form-fitting pink pantsuit. Stiletto heels click-clacking on the tiles, the slim woman came to the middle of the aisle before the dais and stood, with her arms folded.
Moments later, the King and his Queen appeared, dressed in full formal regalia. Crossing to the dais, the pair climbed the stairs, looking somewhat grim and nervous. "Bodyguard," rumbled Henrietta. When Tania glanced at her companion, the older woman remarked, "that girl... she's a bodyguard."
Standing there on the dais, with Simone's hand in his, the King greeted the gathered royals with, "good afternoon and welcome. I'm delighted to have you all here for the first formal gathering of the Privy Council. It pleases me to have us here with no crisis facing us."
Muted clapping greeted those words, bringing a smile to Finn's face. Moving onwards, the King said, "my secretary, Princess Breakfast, has provided an agenda. You should all have copies of the agenda in the packet attached to the seat in front of you. We'll have four afternoon sessions this week. Mornings will be open session, where you will all be allowed to form committees and work on business that affects relations between neighbors. In the afternoons, we'll discuss matters affecting the kingdoms as a whole."
The big man paused to wait for that to sink in. Moving on, the King declared, "I'd appreciate it if you'd provide Princess Breakfast with your requests for committees and side-sessions at the close of business today, so we can post those meetings for all to see and arrange rooms for you to meet in."
With that, the King gestured for Breakfast to begin, as he and the Queen sat themselves. Stepping forward past the slim woman below the dais, Breakfast announced in her melodious voice, "I now call the Plenary Session of the Privy Council to order. First item on the agenda is the matter of the Ark."
Climbing to her feet, Nadia declared, "as many of you are doubtless aware, there was a conjunction of worlds last year. This great conjunction caused disruptions in our reality."
There were some chuckles at those words, with some of those gathered glancing up at the figures sitting in the gallery above the hall. Stoically, Jay Mertens, the architect of the angst, met those glances with a placid expression, though Roselinen wore a pinched, unhappy expression.
Moving on, Nadia declared, "what many may not be aware of is that one of those disruptions was the accidental teleportation of the Ark's governing artificial intelligence to the throne room on King's Island."
Whispers of fear now made their way through the crowd. Nodding, Nadia said, "at this time, the Ark appears to be functioning on the backup control computers. However, those computers were programmed to follow a course out past the moon and back, following the last instructions the AI gave... Is there a question?"
Crab Princess demanded, "if magic brought this calamity, then why cannot the Ice-Queen teleport the machine back to the Ark?" Finn stiffened. That 'machine' was his mom, and he wasn't excited to have Minerva referred to in that way.
Coolly, Bonnie responded, "I'm not a fan of magic. It's unpredictable and unstable at the best of times. I'd rather depend on concrete science that we understand rather than one being's whimsy. At my behest, a gathering of the civilized kingdoms' greatest minds has created a man-rated spaceship based on the successful work of Princess Blargetha in the Coca Kingdom. We'll use this ship to reach the Ark, allowing us to take control of the backup computers. With the Ark back under our control, we'll be able to move it to a more stable orbit around Ooo."
Turning to Nadia, the bubblegum princess said, "pray continue, Your Highness." Nodding, Nadia turned back to their audience. Said she, "we have plans in hand..." Another impertinent participant rose, declaring, "how do we know this rocket will work? We know the computer from the Ark was teleported here. Why can't you have the same magician teleport...?"
"The magician is a wishmaster," Jay interrupted, as he 'popped' into the space before the throne. "The wish was mine, and the wishmaster perverted it to her own ends to cause destruction. I don't think you want to try that again, Your Highness. I learned that the hard way."
Rising, Tania said, "the Ark belongs to my people. If there's a way to return to it..." "There isn't a way to return to it," Nadia muttered. "Not for a million souls. The Ark was abandoned because its life support is failing. We can support a few dozen folks working to restore orbital control. That's it. Moving on..."
Brushing off further interruptions, the curvy cyborg laid out what was being done to prepare for the launch to the Ark before concluding her remarks. Much to Finn's delight, the fractious folk before him allowed Beeps to move the conference onward.
One by one, the items that his family had put on the agenda got laid out on the table, with one or the other of his wives briefing the gathering on what was going on around the kingdoms. Fionna and Abieuwa jointly apprised the council of the state of the Nuke Fuel storage, while Bonnie discussed the agreement with the Glass Peeps for their knowledge of ancient technology.
In spite of the earlier bobbles, the meeting was going very well as the day drew to a close. Returning from the toilet after the last break of the day, Finn slipped in past Jake, giving her ass a squeeze as he went by. Simone stroked her long blonde hair, much as she used to do when their relationship was aunt and niece. Talk about mixed metaphors, thought Nadia, as she passed the shapechanger.
Falling in behind the cyborg, Jake Jr. resumed her place before the dais. Finn couldn't help wondering how her legs were holding up. She'd been there all afternoon in those heels. While he liked the look of that ass and those legs, he thought she'd be pretty wiped out at the end of the day, when they had three more days of this to get through.
Breakfast moved to the lectern before the dais, announcing, "we will now cover the last item on the agenda." Frowning down at the paper, she rumbled, "Princess Blargetha has a report on efforts to harvest the technical functions of the Ark to support the human colony..."
Moving to one of the microphones in the asile, the plump woman declared, "I have been researching the construction of the Ark, using access to the former master control computer..."
Finn glanced at the representative of the humans of New York. Bouncing between being an airhead and a troublemaker, the young woman was nothing like his daughters. He hoped that Blargetha's words would get the New Yorkers off his back. More on point, if they could find a way to salvage some of the equipment from the Ark, that was less stuff they had to build or buy.
Drawing a control device from her pocket, the curvy woman clicked a few buttons, causing a hologram to appear. Finn had seen this particular picture before, when he'd discussed this idea with his mom.
The two reactors at the forward end of the chain were the ones which had been used the least. As his mother had explained it, there had been leakage of radiation there that made folk sick. They'd been emptied of fuel to support the other six to keep the Ark going over the centuries. She thought they could harvest a lot of the machinery and return it to Ooo.
Tapping a key on the remote control, Blargetha caused the image to subtly change. The giant rock sprouted antennae, guns, missiles, and even several of the boxes Finn associated with the machine-army.
Beside him, Bonnie shot to her feet, as Blargetha declared, "I believe that it would be a serious mistake to harvest the asteroid of its equipment. Instead, I propose that we rebuild the Ark's propulsion systems and arm it with miniaturized versions of the weapon system in the Desert of No Return. This would enable us to mount a more effective defense against a potential alien warship like Martin's..."
Finn groaned. Why, oh why had he decided to let Blargetha speak by herself? Knowing her severe lack of social skills, he should have expected this.
"Princess Blargetha is not in order," snapped Bonnie! Indeed, there were all kinds of rumblings of discontent. The young human woman that Finn had hoped to appease shot to her feet, shouting, "the Ark's ours! You can't take it! I demand you fuckers give it back to us!"
One of her seat-mates urgently tugged on her arm, getting her to calm down, as Breakfast struggled to get the meeting under control. Turning to Bonnie, Simone said, "this is not how debate is handled, Bonnibel. Sit."
Looking pissed enough to chew nails, Bonnie sat herself with exaggerated care. She'd gone immediately into squeamish mode. Finn understood, because he knew Talia was watching these proceedings. He'd invited her.
Striding into the aisle, Sarah declared, "this wasn't what was agreed on! You forget yourself, Blargetha! We're not here to indulge your obsession with weapons and killing!" "This hasn't got anything to do with me," Blargetha retorted.
"Doesn't it," the android-girl snapped! "You were the first to violate the Peace of Ooo when you turned ancient weapons on your own people!"
The council already knows about my crimes, Sarah," Blargetha interrupted. "Your pardon, but what the fuck does that have to do with the issue at hand?"
The android glared at her. "My sister has a point," Hurletta opined. "This isn't about what she's done, though I'd gleefully skin her myself. You want to strip the habitat, but we still have a primordial monster buried in the heart of Ooo—one that outside forces covet. If they come back, we're looking at fighting for our lives against an unknown force to prevent the extinction of life as we know it."
Sarah's mouth shut with a click. Given space to speak her mind, Blargetha sighed and muttered, "yeah, I'm a felon, but I'm right. We weren't ready for the last invasion—the one we actually knew about..."
As Blargetha spoke, Bonnie began to squirm. It wasn't widely or commonly known that Martin Mertens had been to Ooo scouting for a previous invasion.
Continuing to speak, the lush slime person declared, "Martin's mysterious employers sent him here three times to steal the Devourer from Ooo's heart. Only by chance did he fail the first two, else none of us would be here today. We're not much better off now. We have some defenses in place, yes, but they have an edge that none of you are accounting for..."
The evil princess stared the councilors in their eyes, one by one. Glancing back to Sarah, she said, "they don't need Ooo to exist. They only care about the monster." It was a horrific sentiment espousing an absolutely horrifying idea. Still, it had the cold, hard ring of truth, and Sarah knew it.
Silence reigned for a few moments as if the whole of the room were holding its collective breath. Finally, clapping snapped everyone out of their shock. Odessa crowed, "bravo, Princess Blargetha! Well argued!"
The plush woman frowned. She wasn't sure she actually liked receiving support from this woman. Turning back to the King, she said, "I'll... I'll agree to table my proposal, Your Majesty. I understand the political ramifications..."
Finn grimaced. The way she said that, she might've been talking about inviting that awkward dude from school to the party instead of a world-shaking decision that would piss off a lot of dangerous folk.
Folding her arms atop her lap, Odessa glanced at the King, declaring, "these words resonate, Your Majesty. I'm constrained to point out that you are technically Warlord Finn. The whole purpose of your place on that throne is to defend us from the wrath of outside forces. If there is a method that reduces the risk on our fair world... surely you should be considering it..."
Those dark eyes burned into Finn's, telling him that his most troublesome council member was up to something. With no idea what her scheme was, he was at a loss as to how to deflect her. Instead, he declared, "the matter will stand tabled until the learned members of the Council study Princess Blargetha's proposal. This is a matter that affects many stakeholders. We'll put this on the agenda for a sidebar with all the interested parties."
Another longish update. Masia learns a valuable lesson. Don't shit where you eat. Meanwhile, Jay's mental health improves. And Blargetha has the chaos well under way.