Author's Note: Here's a new chapter, I've been busy with end-of-semester exams but they're over and I feel lighter, I hope you like this chapter.
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Arco Narrativo: A new addition to the family
Episode 2: Exploring the Castle
Chapter 4: Detective, Female Stage Magician, Gothic Lolita
Plot: After two lazy days, Powder's third day at Bahamut Castle arrives. Things start to get interesting as Powder begins his guided tour of the castle led by Bruce and Mash.
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POV Narrator
At Bahamut Castle, two days have passed since Powder woke up.
The blue-haired girl has had a dream stay so far, the room she was offered is a thousand times better than anything she has ever had in her life or so she thinks.
Powder hasn't told anyone, but he has several memory lapses.
She remembers growing up in Zaun, a rough port, having a big man who took care of her, and her older sister Vi, who abandoned her for some... nebulous reason.
The more she tries to remember, the blurrier her memories become, especially the memories of the last few days before being found by Mash and Bruce.
Even though she had to stay in bed for most of the two days resting, Powder wasn't bored (much) thanks to the presence of Mash, Bruce and the many games in the room.
Mash visited the little girl with the hair many times a day and stayed with her at worst an hour, at best three hours.
During the two evenings Mash made a habit of reading the Scooby-Doo books with Powder, until the blue-haired girl fell asleep.
Mash is a warm presence who offers a smile and hugs, which put the blue-haired girl at ease.
Bruce visits Powder fewer times than Mash, but still visits the blue-haired girl at least three times a day, always bringing a meal.
Meals are followed with Bruce offering to tell some stories from his old jobs and/or introduce Powder to a board game.
In recent days, Powder, she has learned the existence and rules of simple games like Ddakji and Gonggi, followed by a more complex and strategic game like Shōgi.
Powder didn't win any games against Bruce, who prefers strategy games, but the blue-haired girl managed to put Mash in difficulty.
In addition to board games, Bruce gave Powder a brand new set of Legos, in case he wanted to play something less competitive and more creative.
Time flew by quickly, day two is over and I begin day three of Powder at Bahamut Castle.
Lego is a very simple, yet fun toy that didn't exist in Zaun or Piltover. Powder, she loved it, wasn't as cool as building a bomb, but getting her hands on and building (in progress) a Lego castle was nice for her.
The blue-haired girl's third day at Bahamut Castle started differently with a hot bath in the company of Mash.
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The bathroom in Powder's temporary room is just as luxurious as the rest of the room, just fine marble, hot water, wonderful-smelling perfumes and balms.
Powder is located in a huge oval-shaped tub set in the floor that could easily accommodate 8 people.
'This tub is bigger than my previous bath.' Powder thinks, enjoying the warm water that relaxes her entire body.
"Powder, I'm glad to see you're enjoying your bath." Mash said, walking to the edge of the tub wearing only a towel.
Mash without saying anything drops her towel on the floor, then gets into the tub.
The little girl with blue hair, due to the hot water or something else, can't help but blush and look away.
Mash doesn't approach Powder right away, she takes a floating plate and puts a sponge, hair shampoo and body shampoo on it.
"Powder, can you wash your hair by yourself or do you need my help?" Mash asks, wanting to help the blue-haired girl clean herself, but not be intrusive.
"I'd like to." Powder replies in a shy voice. Before, there was only one person who could help her fix her hair, but that person is no longer there for her, so that role is vacant.
Mash approaches Powder and stands behind her, beginning to gently wash the little girl's blue hair.
While washing Powder's hair, Mash came closer, without wanting or realizing it, she pressed her breasts against Powder's back.
"Big and soft." Powder mutters softly with a red face, not being used to being this close to a woman, but strangely liking it.
"Did you say something, Powder?" Mash asks, as she goes about shampooing Powder's hair.
"Nothing!" Powder exclaims instantly.
Wanting to change the subject for reasons he doesn't understand, Powder asks: "Why is the bathtub so big?"
"It's a long, embarrassing story." Mash said with a small blush on her cheeks.
Mash, she can't tell a little girl the reason why the bathrooms of about ten guest rooms and the most visited rooms of the castle, got a bathroom update, especially the tubs that became "little" pools.
"Group baths are quite common here, after a long day, my friends and I often end up sharing a hot bath and telling each other about our days.
So Senpai made the pools bigger and more spacious." Mash replies, giving Powder only part of the truth.
Powder accepted Mash's words without thinking much.
"Mash, you mentioned having friends in this place, then how come I haven't met anyone other than you and BB?" Powder asks in a curious voice.
"I thought it would be better for your health to be in a quiet environment. If you woke up surrounded by a bunch of strangers you would be scared and not get a good night's sleep." Mash said, continuing to wash Powder's hair.
'While my female friends and the rest of the adults in the castle may be reasonable, the girls in the castle are a different matter entirely.
For the princesses, a new baby girl would be one of the most exciting things in years.' Mash thinks, imagining how Powder would be 'mobbed' by the other girls in the castle.
"Thank you." Powder replies, slightly touched that Mash thought of her well-being, again.
The little girl with blue hair does not know and does not think about the existence of other little girls who would be happy to have a new playmate.
"Powder, you don't have to thank me, I did what any good person would do." Mash replies, believing her words.
'I'm definitely far away from Zaun and Piltover, because there, no person would do something like that. Those who live in Piltover would hand me over to the iron faces (police), while those who live in Zaun would have robbed me at best.' Thinks Powder, feeling lucky for once in her life.
"BB, she said you're a Holy Woman, I can see why." Powder said with a smile, quite confident that Mash is the kindest (and most beautiful) woman she's ever met.
A blush appeared on Mash's face.
"I'm not a saintly woman, Senpai just thinks well of me, I can do something bad every now and then too." Mash said, feeling embarrassed at being seen as a saintly woman.
"For example, what was the last bad thing you did?" Powder asks with a gremlin smile, wanting to hear Mash's "misdeeds."
Mash opens her mouth and immediately closes it, searching her mind for the last bad thing she's done.
"Last month I distracted Senpai from his work, put on a cute (and tight) dress to get him out of his office and come with me to dinner (with the doors closed).
He was working out the final details of a trade agreement with the Head of the Leviathan Family on the export and import of fine goods." Mash said in an embarrassed voice.
Powder hearing Mash's response can't help but laugh.
"Distracting BB from his work, an unparalleled evil." Powder said sarcastically.
Mash, deciding to be "bad", takes a glass from the floating plate, fills it with water from the tub and pours it on Powder's head.
"If this is your attempt to be mean or evil, you are not a saintly woman, but a harmless angel." Powder replies with an amusing smile.
"That's how you play pranks." Powder exclaims, moving his hands to splash water on Mash.
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Twenty minutes later, Mash and Powder emerge from the bathroom, the two girls wearing pink and blue bathrobes and matching slippers.
"This was the best bath of my life," Powder mutters with a relaxed, happy expression.
"For better or worse, Senpai doesn't hold back when he wants to do a renovation." Mash said, walking behind Powder.
At that moment, Bruce entered the room, carrying a picnic basket with clothes for Mash and Powder to wear.
Bruce is dressed in a Detective Noir outfit consisting of low-heeled black boots, tight black leather pants, a purple belt, a white shirt, a dark purple vest, a light purple tie, a black winter coat, and a fedora.
Among his accessories is a black wooden walking stick with a silver handle.
"Hi BB, black looks good on you." Powder greets, trying to give a compliment.
After all the kindness Powder has received, at the very least she must be kind to her... landlords?
The blue-haired girl doesn't know what to call or label Mash and Bruce.
"Senpai, I see you're wearing your classic suit, did you get an interesting case?" Mash asks, while playing with the drawstring of his bathrobe.
Even though Mash was one of Bruce's three best female friends for years, and later, with some persistence and patience on Mash's part, the two of them became lovers, she remained a rather demure and pure girl... in spirit.
The fact that Mash is only wearing a rather short pink dress in front of her Senpai makes her feel butterflies in her stomach, the presence of Powder makes this feeling worse.
Mash can't be romantic with children around, she's embarrassed.
"You just finished taking a bath and I just entered the room, as always I have the synchronization of an anime protagonist." Bruce comments amused in his own way by his luck/bad luck.
Without saying another word, Bruce places the basket of clothes on the bed.
"What did you bring this time?" asks the blue-haired girl as she runs to the bed.
Powder opens the basket and finds expensive looking clothes that attract attention.
"Princess dresses?" the blue-haired girl mutters, raising an eyebrow, as she holds up a blue and black dress in a style she doesn't recognize.
The blue-haired girl is not the type of female who is crazy about clothes, preferring instead toys or components to make machines and devices.
"It's not a princess dress, but a Gothic Lolita dress, which I find very pleasing to the eye." Bruce says, walking towards Mash.
"You and Mira are cute women when you embarrass each other for reasons that only make sense in your heads." Bruce said with a faint smile on his face, finding it cute and funny to occasionally poke fun at Mash's more sensitive nature.
Bruce leans closer to Mash so he can whisper in her ear: "Despite Powder's presence, I'm bored, I prepared a special dress for you, so at least I'll be bored in a company with cute clothes."
Bruce walks away from Mash, going to Powder.
"Powder, you are about to exit this room and receive a basic tour of my mansion." Bruce said in a stoic voice, as he strokes the blue-haired girl's head.
"Mash, if Powder is having trouble putting on her new clothes, help her. I'll wait for you two outside." Bruce said, before leaving the room, giving the two girls privacy.
'I'm finally getting out of here, I wanted to see what the rest of BB and Mash's house looks like.' Powder thinks, she is thrilled to receive this tour.
'Senpai, what kind of dress have you prepared for me? I hope it's not one of the special dresses I use for our... night meetings.' Mash thinks with red cheeks, not knowing what could be going through her Senpai's head.
His beloved Master is a person without modesty, shame or hesitation.
'If it's something too daring, I refuse to wear it, I don't want to be a bad example for Powder.' Mash thinks, watching as the blue-haired girl is pulling out her Gothic Lolita-style dress.
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Bruce stands in the hallway with his arms crossed and his back against the wall.
The Lord of the Castle has been waiting for ten minutes for Mash and Powder to leave the room.
Bruce's face is a perfect Poker mask, but inside his mind there is a discussion going on between multiple magical entities.
'Aniki, can I go out? I want to go eat.' Said a deeply bored female voice that seemed to have a lot in common with Garfield the Cat.
'No, Vritra, you have to stay inside me, once I finish the tour with Powder, you can come out and go to the kitchen.
Mash insisted that we keep the more occult or extraordinary things out of Powder's sight for the time being.' Bruce responds through his mental connection.
'Aniki, this is nonsense, all the people inside the castle are magical, not to mention the huge amount of arcane objects and literal monsters patrolling the corridors.' Vritra replies, voicing her disparaging opinion of Mash's will.
'Vritra, you don't have to tell me, I know it's a foolish thing, but it doesn't cost me much to do as Mash wants. She's been supporting me for years, I do the same.
After years I have learned that in a relationship you have to give and you have to receive, now it's Mash's turn to receive.' Bruce replies, sharing Vritra's opinion, but for Mash's sake he will play by her rules.
'The question remains ridiculous to me. I just want to eat a ton of hamburgers and gulp down a barrel of fizzy drink, am I asking too much?' Vritra asks, moaning worse than a pregnant woman.
'Vritra, take a leaf out of Lovecraft's book, she lies dormant inside me, waiting for the right moment to pull out her tentacles and devour the chocolate she loves so much.' Bruce replies out loud in his head, chastising Vritra who wants to follow her stomach and not her brain.
Vritra's voice no longer responded, instead three different voices appeared in Bruce's head.
The Lord of the Castle once again feels that his body has become a kind of hotel for exotic entities who use his mind as a kind of forum.
'Master, what do you want to do at the end of the tour?
Will you tell the child about her nature as a Planeswalker and the Color Magic she can learn?' asks Sora, Bruce's first Sentient Grimoire.
'Highness, if Powder magic lessons begin soon, I would like to attend as your female assistant, I wish to assist in the education and training of a new Planeswalker, it would be an honor and a privilege for me.' Declares Ilias, Bruce's Second and final Sentient Grimoire.
'Meister, I am always at your disposal, if you want to cut off someone's head I am the best tool you have, if you want to teach someone the art of the sword my contribution will be the same.' Judecca declares with a calm and cold voice.
Judecca, she is Bruce's Sentient Sword, the one who closes the Trinity, of the Seven Sins Magic System, one of the "magical schools" that Bruce learned to use.
'Sora, Ilias, Judecca, I understand that you want to help me and see how Powder develops, but we need to proceed calmly. We can talk later, the girls have finally decided to go out.' Bruce communicates through the mental connection to his artifacts.
A few seconds later, the door to the room opens, the first person to come out is Mash.
Mash wears clothing that can be described as female stage magician.
Mash wears purple heels, thigh-high heels, a dark black leotard with a low neckline, a purple bow tie around her neck, a dark purple female stage magician jacket, black gloves.
Finally, on the head there is a black top hat decorated with a purple ribbon.
"Mash, do you like the dress I gave you?" Bruce asks, having an extra reason for giving away such a dress.
"It's cute, I could have done without the cleavage, but it suits me." Mash said, placing her hands on her hips and moving her legs.
This sexy dress may be considered daring, but Mash has worn much more scandalous or strange clothes. Therefore, she does not feel embarrassed.
"Yes, as always, you are a beautiful woman in everything you wear." Bruce said, not complimenting, but expressing his opinion on Mash's aesthetic.
Bruce's compliments make Mash blush and she can't help but smile.
"Do you have a reason for giving me a dress that makes me look like your personal female stage assistant?
I mean, I'm more or less your female assistant, but this dress isn't to your taste." Mash said, knowing her Senpai's taste in clothes and aesthetic preferences very well.
"No Magecraft in the house, so let's bring Stage Magic into the house." Bruce said with a stoic tone.
Mash's smile grew smaller, realizing that the dress she received could be interpreted as a small protest or a joke from Bruce's strange sense of humor.
"Mash, why isn't Powder coming out?" Bruce asks, seeing that Powder isn't leaving the room.
"I'll get right to it, Powder is a little embarrassed by her dress." Mash said, entering the room again.
A few seconds later, she walked out, taking Powder with her.
The blue-haired girl now has neatly combed hair and wears a beautiful black and purple Gothic Lolita dress.
"Powder, you're cute, you look like a high-quality doll." Bruce states, affectionately stroking the blue-haired girl's head.
"I feel ridiculous, when I looked in the mirror I saw a Piltover princess." The blue-haired girl states, feeling embarrassed.
She has never worn a dress or a skirt until today, much less a skirt with a lot of frills.
"Don't be ridiculous, Powder, you look like a lady-in-waiting." Bruce said, not being able to see like a princess in a thousand years.
The Last Master of Chaldea has seen and met so many people belonging to royalty, nobility, aristocracy, that he can distinguish an elitist from a commoner with a glance.
"Lady in waiting?" Powder asks, she's slightly confused, having never heard that word before.
"A lady-in-waiting is often a noblewoman of lower rank, and her duties, quite distinct from those of the servants, vary from court to court." Bruce explains the meaning of lady-in-waiting without going into detail.
"Do I look like a princess's henchman?" asks the blue-haired girl, looking at the floor, she's sure she looks ridiculous.
Even though the dress is cute, Powder, a girl from Zaun, has an image in her head of a street dog wearing a dress that's too cute for her.
"Senpai, you made Powder uncomfortable." Mash declares loudly, chastising her beloved Master who makes missteps like everyone else.
'Women and children always so sensitive and always ready to misunderstand my words.' Bruce thinks, realizing that he must solve the problem he has caused himself.
"Here's the facts from my point of view. Powder is a cute little girl, yeah. Powder, she looks cute in this dress, yeah." Bruce states, starting with the positives.
"But no one who frequents the "higher levels" will mistake Powder for a princess.
She lacks grace, elegance, manners, jewelry, confidence, and everything else that is cultivated in a lifetime. That is not an insult, but a statement of fact. Powder, you are not a princess." Bruce said, exposing the "negative" things for what they are.
"Got it, I'm a mess." Powder comments, remembering only the "negative" things.
"No, you're a cute girl in a cute dress, just don't try to be a princess, you don't have the aura and attitude for it." Bruce said, trying to be helpful.
"Senpai is a person who doesn't hold back his sword-sharp tongue, which leads to a lot of misunderstandings. But he never lies." Mash said, trying to comfort the blue-haired girl.
for better or for worse.
"Do you two seriously think I'm pretty?" Powder asks, still looking at the floor.
"Yes, without a doubt, you are an adorable little girl." Mash said, hugging Powder from behind, gently pulling her towards her.
"I hate to repeat myself, but I'll do it this time. Powder, you're a cute little girl, like a wild flower blooming in an unwelcoming environment." Bruce said, starting to show the positive effects of his sharp tongue.
"In my vast experience with women, I am confident that once you grow up and receive the proper care, you will become a beautiful woman," Bruce said, not joking when he talks about his experience with women and how their bodies develop.
"Are you serious?" Powder mutters, having a hard time believing that in the future he will go from an ugly duckling to a beautiful swan.
"What do I have to gain by lying to you?" Bruce asks, putting an end to this pointless argument.
"Nothing." Powder replies, ceasing to look at the floor, convinced that Mash and Bruce think of her as a nice, good little girl.
"If we're done with the idle chit-chat, we can begin the guided tour of my mansion. I have a lot to show you before lunch." Bruce said, before grabbing Powder's left hand.
"Powder, if you get tired or want to go to the bathroom or just get some fresh air, don't be afraid to ask." Mash said, grabbing the blue-haired girl's right hand.
Powder looks at the two adults holding her hand and her heart is filled with a warmth she rarely felt in Zaun.
"Come on, I want to explore this place, how big is it?" Powder asks, having no idea what kind of place he is in.
A ghost of an amused smile appears on Bruce's stoic face, while Mash holds back a laugh.
The two adults began walking down the corridor, carrying a little girl between them.
Powder, attracted by the novelties, moves her gaze left and right, wanting to see everything of Mash and Bruce's house.
Before the guided tour could begin in earnest, the trio passed through a large mirror hanging on a wall in the corridor.
Powder saw for a moment a family of three, all three dressed in black and purple.
'What am I imagining? BB and Mash are just nice to me, Mash is basically a saintly woman.
Plus, BB and Mash are both women, they couldn't adopt me even if they wanted to.' Powder thinks, feeling very mixed feelings inside her.
The poor blue-haired little girl has so many things to learn.
First the real sex of BB, then that he is in a huge Castle, finally how things work in the Bahamut Duchy.
Continues ...