The Pauper Princess and the Born Legacy, Part 2
Here's Part 1.
I'm so long-winded, even my fanfictions have chapters!
The Story So Far:
-The Mousehearts have arrived at Castle Heterodyne and have been trying to settle in for the night
-The Castle tried to be friendly, but of course freaked everyone out instead
Ah, here's some legal disclaimer stuff:
"This story is not approved by, sponsored by or affiliated with Studio Foglio LLC or Airship Entertainment."
The Pauper Princess FanFiction Theatre Presents:
The Pauper Princess and the Born Legacy, Part 2!
For dinner, the Mousehearts had brought a hostess gift, as well as gifts for Agatha's three companions from their Castle Mouseheart visit. Boxes of various sizes were carted in before dinner, the largest by far reserved for Agatha. It was the unwieldy item that had given the coachman so much trouble earlier. Mara was disappointed that Zeetha and Sanaa were not around to receive their gifts. Agatha tried to protest being brought gifts at all, but the Mousehearts insisted upon it.
Mara decided to give the others a peek at Zeetha's and Sanaa's gifts. She admitted to some embarrassment about Zeetha's gift, which was a one-size-fits-all bodysuit designed to enhance exercise by impeding movement. More effort was put into every movement, ultimately leading to greater overall strength. Mara had designed it herself and claimed that she and Kelvin had their own versions at home. Kelvin was the one who erupted into a testimonial, to her further embarrassment. She was perplexed by Agatha's insistence that it would be she who would end up wearing it, not Zeetha, but would not explain why.
Next up was Sanaa's gift, which Mara had slightly more pride in: a soup ladle. Agatha laughed.
"Oh, yes, like for your 'Pauper Princess' persona," she said. "Wait - I thought Sanaa got one from a gift shop? Violetta, didn't she already get one?" Violetta nodded.
"This was mine," said Mara. "We've retired the 'Pauper Princess.'"
"Retired? Really?" said Agatha. "So -- this is the one from your costume?"
"Yes, but it's not that special," said Mara. "No exaggeration, it's something I grabbed from the castle's kitchen when we were putting it all together. There's nothing remarkable about it. It's... a soup ladle!"
"But still, it's the one that you had," said Agatha. "I can tell you, she's going to love this! But why Sanaa, when you could make this... I don't know, a family heirloom or something?"
Mara shrugged. "Like I said, we retired the Pauper Princess," she said. "Oh, we still have contests for people to stay in the castle and 'Teatime' with one of us, but if I'm hosting, they meet me, not an exaggeration. That persona, as you say, served its purpose, for better or worse. And besides, I wanted each of you to have something, and I was quite charmed that Sanaa really seemed to be enjoying herself so much. Oh, which reminds me-" She reached into the box and carefully pulled up part of the lining. Underneath was a pin in the shape of the Mouseheart sigil - a stylized depiction of a mouse's snout and whiskers.
"It's, you know, hidden?" said Mara. Agatha smiled and nodded, and Mara closed up that box and set it aside. "I hope you don't mind that your gift will be last," she said to Agatha. She took another medium-sized gift box, wrapped this time, and held it out for Violetta.
"Nothing for me, please," she said.
"Goodness, we couldn't just skip you??" said Mara.
Violetta sighed and gave Agatha a quick Look, tore off the wrapping, then carefully tried to peek into the box, to the Mouseheart's amusement. Finally she yanked off the top quickly. Inside was a long dress made of a blend of royal blue silk, satin and a cotton knit imported from the Americas. She held it up in near-disbelief.
"Ohhh, look at that," said Agatha, feeling the material. "It's gorgeous."
"Hand-stitched?" said Violetta after a closer look.
"Ah, yes," said Mara. "We still make things by hand in Guildern. I do hope it fits? The seamstresses were beside themselves that I could only guess at your measurements. So, if it doesn't fit, you can blame me. What do you think?"
Violetta did not answer at first, but stood up from her seat and held the dress in front of herself. Agatha also stood up and fussed with the dress, to her assistant's annoyance. Finally Violetta cleared her throat.
"Er, like my lady said," she said. "It's gorgeous."
"Go try it on!" said Agatha.
"We're about to have dinner."
"There's time to change," said Agatha. "Go! See if it fits! Go, go!"
"But-!" Violetta gave up on protesting, and left the room to acquiesce to her mistress' demand.
"We didn't want her to feel pressured?" said Mara.
Agatha waved her hand. "She loves it. I know her. Oh! Is it my turn?"
"It is indeed," said Mara. She and Kelvin left their seats to, on a count, yank off the covering from Agatha's gift. Agatha had been acquainted with it before; she laughed and clapped her hands. It was the air purifier that she had deliberately fixed wrong while visiting Castle Mouseheart, setting off the chain of events leading to Mara's rebirth as a Spark.
"Puri," said Mara, "Stand up and meet your new mistress."
"Standing up," it said in a mechanized version of Mara's voice, and shifted from a boxy air purifier into a short, humanoid clank, albeit with no head.
"It just needs to calibrate to your voice and form," said Mara, "And it's all yours."
Agatha knew how that worked, and busied herself giving it a voice sample and posing for a body scan. She gave it some practice commands and was satisfied. Mara's only request was that, while Agatha was free to make improvements, the clank not be weaponized. Agatha happily agreed to it.
Violetta returned to the room, now wearing the blue dress. She gave "Puri" a curious look as she passed by. The dress fit well but needed some very minor tucking in a few spots. Other than that, she was a stunning vision in blue. Agatha made her turn around to show all sides before letting her be reseated. Violetta's cheeks were their own special shade of violet as she scooted back in.
"...Thank you," she said, her gaze darting from one Mouseheart to the other.
Mara's smile was bigger than any she'd managed as the Pauper Princess. She put her hand on Kelvin's. "It's our pleasure," she said.
"It looks fantastic on you," said Kelvin.
"Uh, yeah, well," she said, tucking her napkin at top, "Let's hope I don't stain it all tonight."
Mara had no response for her, but glanced at Agatha, who mouthed "She loves it!" to her before tucking in her own napkin.
*******************************
Over dinner, Kelvin was finishing his description of some of the changes that his wife had made to the kingdom of Guildern.
"-and finally, when the music stops, all the clanks return to their locations and shift back to their original forms! As though nothing had happened!" he said. Mara was smiling as humbly as she could, but could not hide any of the blushing.
"Oh, that sounds great," said Agatha. "We should make a return trip some time. Mara, stop being so coy about these things in your letters."
"Well, I'm... not really doing anything that technologically impressive," she said.
"Dear, your additions and improvements have single-handedly doubled the visitors to the kingdom," said Kelvin. "Take the credit; you deserve it."
"It sounds like the Sparks have returned to Guildern," said Agatha.
"Uh, well..." said Mara. "Not entirely. See, we managed to spread the news about work for Sparks. And we did hire some, and I did try very hard to work with them. But..."
"But...?"
Mara sighed. "There were always, shall we say, creative differences. I don't know how Lord Mouseheart did it, so long ago. He managed to get all sorts of madboys working towards the same goal: fun and safe entertainment for visitors. But the ones we hired kept trying to 'improve' my designs, which in their cases usually meant offensive weapons, or totally ignoring the safety measures I incorporated, or going completely offtrack and wanting to... perform medical experiments and such."
"Oh, that must be so frustrating," said Agatha. "But I know the feeling."
Mara sighed again. "Thank goodness, it's not just me, then. I'm sure that, eventually, I'll find the right people to work with, but for the time being, I've been on my own, other than the team of mechanics. I definitely need them."
"Hear! Hear!" said Moloch and Snaug, raising their goblets. Mara smiled.
"I really dislike firing people, but I've had to so often. And of course they all vow vengeance on me and insist that I'll fail without their genius to guide me. But I showed them," she said, then lowered her voice and glowered. "I showed them all."
Agatha and Kelvin traded looks. Kelvin patted and rubbed her shoulder, bringing her out of her sudden brooding. "Yes, you did, darling," he said. "You show them every day."
She took his hand. "I just want people to enjoy themselves there," she said. "To be happy."
"Yes, that's what everyone wants," he said. "You-"
"Oh, but enough about me!" said Mara. "Agatha, Violetta, all of you: please. What's going on with your lives? How are things?"
"Oh," said Agatha, trading uncertain looks with Violetta and her staff, "Great, for the most part. Oh, you know, last week was the anniversary of the Doom Bell. And it lasted for a week. That was pretty fun. A lot of music and dancing in the streets. A parade to start it off. Lots of drinking. And fighting. There was quite a lot of fighting, now that I think of it. But, you know, that's the Jägers for you. Right now it's just down to cleaning and repairwork. You didn't have to steer around a lot of rubble on the way, did you?"
"Uh..." said Kelvin, looking at Mara, "We don't recall seeing any of that. But it was dark by the time we got to the city."
"I saw a statue with no head!" said Isabel. "It looked funny."
"That was the least of the damage," said Violetta.
"We've had crews working day and night," said Moloch. "They might get done in time for the next anniversary."
"And they're doing a great job, as always," said Agatha.
"Now..." said Mara, "If I recall correctly, you wrote that the 'Doom Bell' had to do with announcing your installation into the castle? Is that correct? Why call it 'Doom,' then?"
"You'd know why if you heard it," said Moloch. "It's somethin' else, that's all I can say!"
"Ah. Well, perhaps someday!" said Kelvin with unconvincing enthusiasm.
"I wonder if we should have more festivals in Guildern?" said Mara. "Er... minus fighting and property damage, that is. What do you think, dear? Something themed to the seasons, or... something historical? Oh! Why don't we have clanks acting out Lord Mouseheart's story! I think it's time for people to remember his work, don't you?"
"Whatever you think people would like, dear," said Kelvin. "You've been right so far."
"Welcome to the world of living with Sparks," said Moloch.
Agatha stroked her chin. "I seem to recall that staff reviews are coming up soon."
"And it's the most wonderful way to live," said Moloch.
"It's my dream job," said Snaug.
Agatha smiled slyly, then was startled when Mara slapped the table.
"You promised you'd tell us more about the castle," said Mara. "Please? Just being here is giving me so many ideas, but it would help to know better about... well, how does it work? How complex is the AI? How do you power it? How integrated is it with other systems?"
"Oh!" said Agatha. "It would take hours just describing the neural clusters-"
"Please don't," Violetta muttered under her breath.
"Anything you could convey, we'd really appreciate," said Mara.
" 'We'd?' " said Kelvin.
Unfortunately neither lady got the hint. Agatha was off like a shot, describing the intricacies of the castle's systems, from its foundation, or "bones," to its integrated neural systems that as closely approximated a human brain as a mechanism could, to its power from the River Dyne itself, to its integration with the city. Each section she described began at slightly high-level, then more and more detail were added the more she went on. She also spoke faster and faster until her speech was a blur of "technobabble" (to a non-Spark's point of view). Mara's rapt attention and frozen, awestruck smile only encouraged her to keep going. Mara understood every word and did not need to take notes to remember it.
Five minutes were as much as Violetta, and then Kelvin, could tolerate. The rest of the dinner party fought fatigue or were flatout sleeping. As their respective ladies waxed technical, Violetta and Kelvin each tried to get their attention. When various attempts to tug at sleeves, nudge arms, and tap on shoulders failed, Violetta held up her fists and mimed to Kelvin to do the same. She then made a silent countdown, and on three, they both slammed their fists down with all their might. The collective WHAM was enough to wake up the two mechanics, who were used to catching Z's even during major construction. Meanwhile, the two ladies slowly realized that a loud sound had occurred. Their dialogue died away, and they looked around.
"Did you hear something?" said Agatha.
"Oh, just something off in the distance, my lady," said Violetta. "Also: HEY! You realize there are non-Sparks here, right?"
"Yes. Why?"
Kelvin put his hand on Mara's arm. "Honey, let's just say we won't need to tell the children any bedtime stories tonight."
She looked around the table and saw the rest of the Mousehearts, including Daphne, sound asleep. Kelvin went to the business of waking up their nanny.
"Oh, I've been thoughtless," said Mara. "I wasn't paying attention to how tired everyone is. We should get everyone to bed. Agatha, we haven't kept you and the others up, have we? Kept you from any business?"
"Us?" she scoffed. "We don't keep 'normal' hours at all. Sorry that you're so tired, but you did have a long journey. I was hoping we could move to the den for some wine and more chatting."
"Oh, I'm not tired," said Mara. "I'd love to join you for drinks, but... I'm...." she leaned in to whisper in Agatha's ear, "Nursing."
"Dear, you go on with them," said Kelvin. "Daphne and I can handle the children."
"It's no trouble, my lady," said Daphne, yawning and picking up baby Silas.
"But I still--" Mara turned to the other women and held up both hands. "Ten minutes," she said. "May I have ten minutes? Please?"
"Of course," said Agatha, scooting from her seat, as did the rest of the dinner group. "We'll be right next door. Ask the castle if you get lost."
Here's Part 3.