#although i guess bowser isn't technically in this chapter

[spikedsoul]

maid's worst nightmare - ch 27

"i'm gonna be posting more sporadically" i said a mere like 3 days ago smh anyway here

previous chapters

@sovereign-of-succ

You scurried out of Bowser’s room like a bat out of hell, without fully committing to running. Why the fuck did you do that? Well, the wine was why, but - but why? Were you just throwing the poor king a bone when you realized how lonely the poor guy probably was? Or, more terrifyingly, did it potentially mean more than what you had intended? It was supposed to just be a sweet kiss, and while you certainly understood why he froze up, why was your heart beating so quick?

Fuck, this wasn’t fair! You couldn’t get feelings for the turtle dragon king that literally kidnapped you! There was a term for that you couldn’t think of as you booked it down the halls toward the one door you’d found that led outside. But then, it’s not like he’d been bad to you really at all - so was there really much harm in at least entertaining the idea?

Immediately, you remembered that yes, yes there was: Bowser was an eight-foot-something koopa that you’d hardly known for a handful of days. Despite his apparently decent nature, it could still very easily turn into a situation like you’d had with Rodney… and you and Rodney were both human.

If Bowser had a bad day with you, he could easily kill you.

Just like Rodney tried to do.

You pushed the door open and bustled outside, slowing down only once it had closed behind you, and you hugged yourself. What was wrong with you? Beyond just the simple fact that he was a koopa and you weren’t…

It wouldn’t do you any good to dwell on it, you decided. If you got caught up in feelings while you were here, well… at least Peach would be coming for you somehow at some point. So if it turned sour, you at least knew you’d be going home eventually. Or what remained of it... come to think of it, you had no idea how things were back at the castle. You had been living in it when Bowser attacked, and the last you saw of it was the crumbling mess he'd reduced it into, so even when you got to leave, you had no idea where you'd be staying - but at the very least you'd be back with Peach in the Mushroom Kingdom. That thought was enough to comfort you a little bit.

“Hurry up, handmaid!” Ludwig shouted at you; you blinked in surprise and lifted your head to see him standing outside the garage, his hands on his hips. “You took long enough at lunch, c’mon!”

Alright, well… okay. You had more interesting and happier things to worry about now, so you’d focus on those.

“I’m coming, Ludwig, give me a minute,” you called back with a small wave. You saw him huff and a little smile snuck on your lips.

“Get with it, Megantha. Morton’s here and I have no idea how long he’ll wanna stay.” With that, the eldest sibling turned and headed back into the garage, letting the door close behind him since you were too far away to feasibly hold it open.

You rolled your eyes to yourself, but your smile grew. Megantha, huh. Creative.

“Alright, alright, I’m here,” you sighed heavily as you finally stepped into the garage.

You blinked a bit at the site of a huge, grey-skinned koopaling leaning against one of the karts, his arms folded over his chest. While not as big as his dad yet, Morton was definitely the biggest of them - while Ludwig was a few inches shorter than you, Morton was over a head taller than you. Junior and Wendy both only came up a little past your waist.

Morton looked quite different from his siblings aside from just his skin, too, almost like he was emulating the old glam rock bands from the 80s, with his white head and the grey star that covered the left side of his face. You kept that thought to yourself.

“This is the one pops stole?” Morton practically sneered. He pulled himself off of the kart and stalked over to you, but Ludwig stopped him short by putting an arm out. “She looks kinda like she rolled around in Wendy’s makeup, huh? But like, in a bad way. Like a clown. She’s not a clown, is she? Can’t believe pops is into clowns–”

“Shut up,” Ludwig snapped at his brother, thumping the bigger koopa’s chest with his fist. “I told you, we like her. She isn’t like Princess Bitch.”

“Mama Peach isn’t a bitch,” Junior piped up as he came wandering out from behind one of the karts. You almost jumped; you hadn’t seen him behind the frame. Both Morton and Ludwig bared their fangs at their youngest brother, but Junior ignored them as he came to stand much too close to you.

“Compared to the maid, she is,” Ludwig muttered.

“Excuse me, boys, but why did you all need to see me so urgently?” you cut in as politely as you could. Probably you should’ve been offended, for several reasons, but it was a little endearing to hear the boys interact with each other.

“Don’t listen to Morton, Handy,” Junior stated while totally ignoring your question, “You don’t look anything like a clown! I should know - I kinda paint them professionally!” He puffed his little chest out proudly, smiling smugly up at you.

“Uh–” Your brain stalled. What?

“That’s actually true,” Morton muttered.

Junior nodded firmly, staring intently up at you as if to make sure you were paying attention. “In fact, I’m the one that upgraded all our karts to make them better. And I build any robots papa needs!”

What the hell? Wasn’t this kid, like… he had to be like five or six, right? You shot a confused look to Ludwig, who just sighed and shook his head a little in disbelief.

“He’s not lying. Anyway, we thought it would be fun for you to be a referee for a practice race tomorrow - but also let you choose our karts for us to keep things fair.” Ludwig reached over and grabbed Junior’s ponytail, gently dragging his youngest sibling away from where he’d been practically crowding you.

Briefly, you were worried, but Junior didn’t look any worse for wear so you let it go. It seemed to be a normal enough occurrence that the little koopa was totally unbothered, despite stumbling a bit.

“While that’s very nice, I’m a little wary of those flash blizzards you get here,” you said gently, sure to smile gratefully anyway.

“Oh yeah, you almost died. Well, the track will be in use, so it’ll cut a lot of the lethal wind and cold, but I guess we’ll make sure you have blankets and stuff just in case,” Ludwig sighed. He waved for you to go look at the karts. “C’mon, at least choose these for us, even if you decide to pus… er, to back out of refereeing.”

Morton snorted quietly as you stepped toward the karts to give them a good look-over. “Heh… you almost said pussy,” he muttered quietly to Ludwig. You heard Ludwig thump his chest again but ignored them - you really didn’t understand their dynamic well enough to decide to involve yourself. However, you did quietly appreciate how Ludwig had refrained from using that word with you.

“Is Wendy invited to this race?” you asked as you walked between the varying karts available. Some of them were bigger, and some smaller, with probably all sorts of differences that you wouldn’t have a clue how to measure.

“I guess, if she wants to join,” Morton replied. “Sometimes she does, sometimes not, but she was too busy to join us this morning so I guess that’s on her that she doesn’t even know. Takes a while to look like a clown I guess, huh. Uh… this time I mean her, not you, M… Meg… uh… Miranda. I mean, she always walks around with her face caked in makeup, and it’s always overdone if you ask me–”

“No one asked you, Morton,” Junior huffed.

“Boys, please. Wendy was doing my makeup this morning so that's why she missed out on this important meeting,” you sighed softly. You pointed to a midsized kart. “Junior in that one.” Next you pointed to a smaller kart. “Morton in that one.” And finally you pointed to one of the bigger karts. “And Ludwig in that one. If Wendy decides she wants to race, I kinda wanna see her in whichever one your dad usually uses. Hey, um… is there possibly a tablet or computer I could use to check up on news?”

The three boys glanced at each other, apparently surprised at your random request, and then Ludwig pointed to a door at the far end. “There’s a computer back there Junior uses to order parts.”

“Thanks. Um… sorry to rush out, I just haven’t heard any news about my home since I got here,” you said softly. “Hey, Morton?”

“What,” he huffed.

“I just wanted to say before I left that I think the star on your face is pretty cool. Do you do that yourself?” You smiled.

To your delight, Morton blinked in surprise, totally caught off guard by your comment and question. You were hoping it would help him be less defensive. The others had warmed up to you quick enough - but then, you’d been able to sort of figure them out a little more quickly. Wendy with her makeup, Ludwig by making him feel heard, you could probably bond with Junior over his love of all things mechanical, but Morton was harder for you to read.

“Uh… yeah,” he grunted. When you glanced at him, his tail was flicking side to side stiffly, like he was trying to keep it from wagging. “Yeah, I do. Pretty good, right? I make sure it’s perfect, but I don’t use a lot of paint or anything. I don’t wanna look goofy, like a certain sister of mine.”

You smiled a bit; good, maybe the key to him was building him up. He was receptive enough to the simple comment, despite his long-winded explanation of it. Although, it wasn’t quite like Ludwig going in depth about something he was interested in.

“Well, you’re rocking it,” you assured him, and then you gave a little wave to them. “Alright, I’ll see you all later, okay? And Junior, don’t forget you still owe me.” With that, you turned and headed for the room you’d been directed to, a little anxious to see anything about the Mushroom Kingdom. You hadn’t even really thought about it until your walk over here; with any luck the news would help you get over yourself.

Behind you, you could hear the boys quietly chatting, and listened in until you couldn't anymore.

“Why do you owe her?” Ludwig asked.

“Papa was trying to kill me with snuggles,” Junior mumbled.

“Okay, I change my mind. I do like her,” Morton stated.

Ludwig snorted softly. “No shit. Hell, that’s basically heroic around here…”

And then the door closed behind you, cutting off anything else they were saying to each other. It was time to check in on your home.

[camprell-art]

Oooooo your latest art is so cool!! i love all your designs (the count is such a pretty man <3)!! Care to elaborate them a little more? Like, what does the "Beginning" and what the "Ending" mean here? :O

;V; Thank you!!!!

"Beginning" would be when they met each other (not exactly, it's mostly when they started living in the castle in this case) and "Ending" it's how they were before the events of the end of the game (chapter 6 or 7 I guess?).

So...

Bleck was a person who wanted to give purpose to others and practically bring abandoned people together, although it can be argued that the decision is technically the book's and not his. Initially he had this affection for everyone, even with ulterior motives, but over time he became sadder and more bitter to the point where he distanced himself and stopped being so kind, he didn't disrespect anyone, but he could no longer have extensive conversations or even be in someone's company. It can be said that he was already dead before he was even defeated in the end. (Bleck is getting old and he doesn't stop being handsome, it's the burden he has to carry asdjh)

(I was thinking about Nastasia's backstory last week but didn't elaborate a lot on it yet, so the things I'm saying here can change) Nastasia was quiet and insecure, she wore those dresses because she was educated to be like this, her mother raised her to marry, so she had no personality, to be able to be something other than a bride, she started to drown in reading and learning, because she knew that being just a housewife with many children would not be enough, however (as I inspired her in those times that science and knowledge was not really a woman thing) she was exiled, and locked in a cage for punishment and example to other women who might make the same "mistake". When she met Bleck he let her know that those were not mistakes, not hers at least, and then feeling a lot better about herself and with a new passion, she got a personality of her own, still a bit repressed as certain things are hard to change, but quite authoritative and even independent now, as the Count leaves many decisions in her hands.

Mimi was this really sweet girl with a love for pretty things, Nastasia was the one educating her, so most of her personality formed over how Nastasia behaved, Count Bleck is also a very formal man, so she didn't really have a "bad example", but later she started being a mean girl all of a sudden (I say all of a sudden but Dimentio is actually the reason why this was awaken in her), greedy and vain, she really didn't care about what people felt and would absolutely steal or ruin their things if she felt even a little bit of jealousy or envy.

Dimentio didn't .Change. At. All. The guy is frozen in time, he has no personality other than the "performance" he does, never says anything about himself, and is faceless, as if he isn't even real or natural, so that's why he's the only one who didn't change anything since he started living with them (which means it's been years that he has this same "face", and the same fashion sense and the same personality). But to make up for the fact that he didn't change anything, he made changes in others, even if minimal for some. (I ended up being inspired for a new drawing, yay)

And O'Chunks is still as traditional as he always was, he just started being less pretentious with his looks (and how he sees himself too) he keeps demanding himself to be better and better and ends up getting hurt for it. The armor he wears in the "Beginning" is the formal one. (now he kind of thinks that formality is supposed to be shown in death, that's wy he wears that when he fights with Bowser in the end).

That got really long aksdhsad You asked me to elaborate and I decided to write an essay