You Showed Me Love

The Band's Scheme

Two weeks ago

"I think I have a new idea!" Barb burst through the door of our band's dressing room holding a piece of paper littered in notes and blurbs. She slammed it down on the table and pointed for all of us to sit down. 'All of us' included Riff, Val, and myself. We took our seats waiting to hear this extravagant plan of hers.

"In order to take over more territory, we can weasel our way into a royal family." My brow rose and Val was the first to question Barb.

"How exactly do we just get into a royal family? All of them have guards galore." Barb crossed her arms and smiled. She picked up the paper and slowly walked back and forth.

"I don't mean getting into the castle. I mean getting into their lives." What does she mean 'get into their lives'? Can't she just do it? She's a queen too and all the nations trust us now because all we did was say sorry, which is a big mistake on their part. For the last month, we've still been trying to find ways to take over Troll Kingdom because taking the strings didn't exactly work out.

"Barb, what are you talking about?" Riff asked the question that was on all of our minds. We were all confused on where she was heading with this.

"One of you needs to start dating one of the kings or queens to gain all of their trust. They'll let you into their castle and we can learn information about their weaknesses and then we take over their land." I shot my eyes open at her plan. It wasn't a bad one but dating someone just to steal their information seems a bit harsh. It could definitely work but who would we even pick? Val seemed on board with this plan because she immediately started suggesting people.

"Techno already seems out of the question. We can't go underwater." Barb nodded and smiled at Val agreeing to the plan. She started suggesting more leaders and I may as well get on board with this too.

"Country?" I remember passing by Lonesome Flats once and quickly leaving because I saw Delta Dawn kissing the cheek of my brother who I haven't spoken to in a while.

"Off the table. Delta Dawn is in a relationship with my brother already." At least something good came from me having to see that. Riff chimed into the conversation with his own suggestion,

"What about classical?" I snorted and Val gave him a disgusted response,

"Ew, dude, Trollzart is like 50!" Symphonyville was so easy to take down last time so if we wanted their land, we could easily go back again and steal it.

"Funk isn't even an option because those two are so in love." During Barb's concert where she tried to turn everyone into rock zombies, I found out they had two kids together so they definitely weren't breaking up. Barb went to the bottom of her list and placed her finger on the last available genre.

"So I guess that leaves... eugh, pop. No offense Floyd." I shrugged my shoulders because I could care less. I was born a pop troll but found I had a love for rock. I wish I could fully classify myself as a rock troll because I don't want to be associated with pop and all their ugly glitter, but the best I can get is half pop and half rock.

"None taken. I have the same feelings." I crossed my legs in the chair I was sitting on and Barb began to tell us all the info she knew on their leader. I saw their queen at the concert and she was part of the reason why our plan never worked out. I never spoke to her or caught her name but I could just tell she would be obnoxious with all the ear worm songs she sang.

"The Queen has a brother who we never met because he stayed behind in Pop Village during that whole fiasco, so pop has a king and a queen. That means we have two options there." There's two of them? Funk was the only nation I knew of with two leaders .

"Also, I heard that both of them are queer, so...?" So either Riff or myself would have to go for their King and Val is forced to go for the Queen. I go both ways but Riff doesn't, so this doesn't affect me.

"I'm fine with it. Pretty sure that Val swings for girls anyways." Val blushed at what I said and punched my shoulder. Barb clapped her hands together and stuck the paper onto the wall with a thumbtack.

"That settles it. Val, you go for Queen Velvet, and Floyd, you go for King Veneer." King Veneer, huh? I'll probably watch him for a few days and study his lifestyle so I get an idea of what I'm getting into instead of delving in straight away. Our plan was now in motion and all we had to do was date the king and queen. Shouldn't be too hard, right? Just flirt, get into their lives, ask some questions, bring the answers back to Barb, and she can use it against them to take over their turf. Simple.

"Well, I'm off to get a girlfriend then!" Val stood up from her couch and was walking towards the door. There's no way she's gonna start dating the queen that fast. I feel like a queen wouldn't be naive enough to start dating some rando that quickly. It's gonna take at least a month.

"Good luck, Val!" Riff waved to her and turned to me once she left.

"So what's your plan?" I tapped a finger against my lip and explained my process to Riff.

"I'll study him from afar and figure out what his interests are so that way when I have a conversation with him for the first time, I can bring up all that stuff and hopefully make the whole boyfriend thing happen faster. I don't want Barb to wait too long." Riff held his hand up in a fist and I did the same so we could meet in a fist bump.

– – – – – – – –

At the mall

I hid behind a clothing rack that had a bunch of overpriced jackets hung up on it. I opened the journal in my hands and began writing notes on the green haired man that was about twenty feet away from me. So he definitely likes shoes because who in their right mind would buy a $300 pair of plain white boots? He was doing random poses in the mirror which made me roll my eyes. Pfft, what a moron.

He was asking for opinions from a bright pink troll and I can hear him referring to her as his best friend. Okay, another good note I can put down. He took off the shoes and skipped up to the front counter. I was so busy observing him that I completely missed the fact that my little brother was behind the counter.

Shit, he works here? I guess I can listen in on their conversation. The two of them were talking about my older brothers and as much as I don't want to listen, I have to in order to get info. Spruce is married? How did I not know that? I really have been gone for a while.

King Veneer left the store and I ripped the tag off of one of the expensive jackets on the rack so I could cover myself as I left the store. If Branch wasn't here, I wouldn't have to be stealing the jacket but here we are. I watched the king and his best friend leave the mall on a private Caterbus, so I guess I'm in the clear now.

– – – – – – – –

Present

It was now 4:30 PM and the concert was about to start. Apparently Val actually scored Queen Velvet last night which is surprising. I thought their queen wouldn't be that stupid but I guess I overestimated her. I haven't even spoken to King Veneer yet so Val kept teasing me.

"Haha! Look who pulls and look who doesn't~"

"Shut up, Val."

She sat down on a black loveseat and placed her Never-Break Guitar in her lap to start tuning it. While I made sure I knew all my lyrics, Val let out a gasp and stood up.

"Oh! I never told you! I got Velvet to come tonight and she made Veneer come with her. You're welcome for making your job easier." She what!? Actually, y'know what? This could help. I'm pretty sure I have all the notes I need on him, I just haven't been able to find an opening to get his attention. He's surprisingly a really busy person. I assumed he would always be shopping and sleeping in his big ass castle based on my first impression of him.

"Yeah, yeah, thank you."

So I just need to talk to him tonight and let things go from there.