Grape tapped a finger to the top of her scepter. "Hm...That woman; she was still inside the theater."
"Madame Grape, is something the matter?"
It was Sheldon. He was Grape's current second-in-command, and tended to butt in her business a bit. She understood it was because he cared for her, but it did tire her.
"Nothing's the matter, Sheldon. However...Some Bunchlings have returned, reporting of a 'pink devil' who ruined their performance. I'm curious to see them for myself, but I mustn't intervene quite yet. I need to see if they persist."
"I come with great news, Madame Grape!"
And that was Mason. He was excitable and loved to bake. He insisted on being a menace in the Pastierre plays. He always thought anything was good news, and hardly anyone had the heart to tell him that some things were not.
"Mason..." Grape said. "If it's one of those situations where we told you to 'sit and think before you tell...'"
He left quickly, then returned with a person, tied in rope. "Nope! I captured somebody trying to sneak around!"
Grape floated to the being. Her hair was thick and round, and she smelt faintly of fungi. Her small beady eyes reminded Grape of the Bunchlings a bit, but her eyes were black rather than glowing red. She was also short, with no visible legs, and shoes taking up the entire bottom half of her body. She seemed to like pink, since her dress was pink as well.
Grape picked up a bit of her hair with her scepter. She examined it, released it, and poked it with the stick end of her scepter.
"What is this? Is this the troublemaker? She certainly is pink..."
She kicked Grape's dress. "Let me go!"
Grape backed from her. "What disrespect. I can see that she's certainly not the one we're dealing with."
"Can I have a go with her?" Randolph said. He was usually...somewhere else during missions. Most of the Sour Bunch agreed he was a bit...to put it nicely, insane.
Grape motioned for the Sour Bunch to stand down and back away. "Let me handle this."
Grape slammed her hand against the table. "Answer all of my questions with honesty, and you'll live. Failure to do so, and your story will end in quite the tragedy."
"Like I'd answer to you," she snapped. "You tie me up, drag me into the basement, and expect me to listen? You must be out of your mind."
Grape summoned herself a seat, and the guest one as well, and sat at the table. "Now, although I despise your hateful attitude, I think you'll be of some use to me."
"Who are you?"
Grape scoffed, hiding a chuckle. "Now, I do believe I said I would be the one to ask questions here. But I will entertain you and answer a few of yours if you, too, answer mine. I think we can come to that simple agreement. And since you seem so fond of knowing your current...imbroglio, I suppose we'll start with some introductions."
She blinked. "Im...what?"
"You know...predicament." Grape tapped her hand to her brooch. "My name is Grape. The ones who captured you were my delightful helpers, my Sour Bunch. And welcome to our theater. I was thinking of giving it a new name. Sparkle Theater is far too off-putting for me. A name like Dark Theater would do nicely." Grape motioned her hand towards the guest. "And your name is?"
"Why do you think, in a million years, I would tell you that?"
"I dislike the disrespect. And as I said, failure to answer my questions will result in you being killed. I wouldn't risk it, if I were in your place."
She sighed. "Fine. My name is Toadette."
Grape pulled a plat of cookies closer to the center of the table. "Want something to eat? I don't want you going hungry while I need you."
"I'm good. I'd rather not eat anything you give me. It could be poisoned or something."
"Oh, alright."
Toadette watched as her hair glew and a dark orb appeared under her mask. She shoved the cookie against the orb. A few crumbs fell and her hair returned to normal. She swiped the crumbs from her dress and rested her head on her hands.
"Alright, so now that we have introductions out of the way...What are you doing at Dark Theater?"
"Going to a play, obviously."
"Hm. You're going to cause problems on purpose, aren't you?"
"Haven't you already done that yourself? Taking over a theater? Seriously, how low can a villain get?"
"Villain? I think the correct terminology is 'witch,' Toadette."
Toadette rolled her eyes. "And you're just another magical villainess. Trust me, we've run into a lot of those."
"Madame Grape. A word." Flynn entered the room, bowing.
"Go ahead. There's nothing personal in this conversation."
"The Swordfighter play on the first floor has been cleared. The perpetrator is moving to the ninja play as we speak."
Toadette smiled. "See what happens when you mess with the Mushroom Kingdom? Oops."
"Mushroom Kingdom?" Grape asked. "Flynn, thank you. Is that all?"
He bowed, tapping a hand to his chest. "Yes. The Sour Bunch will do its best to stop her where she stands."
Grape returned the bow, still seated. "You may leave."
Toadette watched the Bunchling leave.
"The Mushroom Kingdom...That must be where you and that...rat are from, hm? Perhaps I will pay that place a visit next, once I'm finished here."
"Why take over a theater anyway? If you're a real villain, you'd try a kingdom or the world...Heck, one of them tried to take over the multiverse!"
"Oh, I plan on reaching far with my plans eventually. I just needed somewhere small to practice. And since I've always had a weakness for theater, I came to the conclusion that I should try here first. And with my productions coming along so excellently, I may be able to wipe smiles off their smug little faces in no time." She scoffed. "Happiness disgusts me."
"Why? Aren't you happy that you're ruining plays for no reason?"
Grape chuckled. "Oh, so innocent. My dear, I'm only happy when my Sour Bunch is happy, and the same goes for them to me."
"What...?"
"But others? They only pretend. They act as if the entire world is a stage. They put on fragile masks that say they are happy. But I know that's a lie. I've seen through those masks many times before."
"But you're actually wearing a mask..."
She tapped a hand to her mask. "This is not a mask, you ignorant fool. This is my face. If you were observant of your surroundings, you would have noticed. You have no clue, do you? That I lack a body?"
Toadette looked at her missing arms. "Villains with no arms is a pretty common thing. I wouldn't have noticed if you didn't point it out."
"I'd be pretty surprised if other villains have Darkle. It's a rare ability. You need to help me contact these people, Toadette!"
"I'm not sure you want to do that. One redeemed himself, and the other one's insane. Dimentio was a handful and nearly cost us the multiverse."
Grape huffed. "I see your ruse and it's not going to work. You're trying to stall! But I won't fall for your sweet-talking any longer."
"You want information, right? So you'll listen to me. Even if you don't think the information is helpful, you might find something in there, right?"
"Hmph. I don't appreciate your awful attempt at trickery." She rose from the seat. "And I still don't like your attitude." She grabbed Toadette by the hair. "And until I need you again, until you cooperate properly, I'll put you in a special little room where I can keep an eye on you!"
She tossed Toadette into a room and slammed the door shut. Toadette heard the door lock.
"Ugh, where am I now? I want to help Peach, but how can I do that when I'm all tied up?" She sighed. "Well, it won't hurt to look around, right?"
She hopped to her feet and looked around the room. There was a small bit of light inside, implying that it was sunrise. Toadette figured it was sunrise based off the fact it was night when the theater was taken over. With a bit of squinting, she saw that blinds were drawn. She waddled over to the window and grabbed the rope by the shades with her teeth. She pulled them back as hard as she could and released it.
She could see a bit of the door, and went over to it. The handle was too high to reach, but she could hear faint voices. She put her ear against the door and listened very closely...
Author Note: Grape's stupid big vocabulary will be the END of me I swear-