Misunderstanding

Reassurance and Dinner

The day went by rather slowly after that, as Peach found herself moping around her room again, not wanting to go back outside. The realization that her family did something so...so horrible to Bowser's...it was too much. She couldn't show her face, not without feeling ashamed. She laid in her bed, under the covers, wishing to be home. At least there, she could be ignorant and be fed a story of triumph to make the war seem less disgusting. She had never been one to believe warfare was the best answer to political issues, but when the story was dressed up in a nice way, the idea was at least a little easier to take.

After a while, she heard a knocking on her door. She sat up in her bed and looked down at herself, checking to see if she was decent. A pair of light blue pajama pants and a white t shirt. Good enough. She allowed the knocker in. It turned out to be Kamek, who was coming in to inform her that Bowser was inviting her to dinner yet again. Her stomach clenched and she felt a lack of an appetite, but she agreed to go anyways. She figured that maybe Bowser could distract her from her discovery that afternoon.

As Kamek left, the maids that had dressed her up before rushed back in, a little disappointed to see that she had washed away their makeup job and taken off their old queen's dress. They thought the look had seemed quite lovely on her. Now, though, they had a new idea in mind. Instead of a regal look that would be more suitable for a ball, they wanted to dress the princess up to make her just a little more than presentable for their king. They were just dying for a new queen in the castle.

Peach looked at them sadly. She wondered how many of their family members her family had killed. She wondered how many members of her kingdom's families they had killed. It took one of the maids clearing her throat to get Peach's attention.

"Oh, I'm sorry, what did you need?" Peach asked, embarrassed at her apparent lack of coherent thought.

"Well, y'majesty, we were kinda hopin' that...well..." the unofficial leader started quietly, her voice sheepish and her claw behind her head. "We were hopin' we could dress ya up again."

The thought of being in another one of the former queen's dresses made Peach sick with guilt. She couldn't stand the feeling, but she couldn't help it. The Darklands being left to flounder around like a fish without air, all because of her kingdom. It was driving her mad.

One of the maids cleared her throat again, snapping her back to attention once more.

"Would that be okay with ya, y'majesty?"

"Of course," Peach lied.

She was ushered into the bathroom yet again by the excited maids and she got lost in thought yet again. As they applied thick mascara and dark lipstick, all she could imagine was these maids as little girls, crying themselves to sleep because their father or brother would never be coming home. She almost started crying at the thought, but contained herself. She didn't want to ruin their fun.

When they were done with their work, she looked in the mirror. This makeup was a little more subtle than before, though it still consisted of mainly dark colors. It also seemed much more...sultry than her last look. She couldn't quite place how, but the way her blue eyes stood out and her lips glistened, it almost seemed like she was ready to break the hearts of men all over the world. She giggled at that thought, glad to have something to take her mind away from the more dark subjects she had been obsessing over the entire afternoon.

Once her mood picked up, she was a lot more open to whatever the maids wanted to do. When they brought in an exquisite ombre dark red and black dress with a skirt that glittered like the stars themselves, along with jewelry decorated with large rubies and a tall pair of red velvet gloves. The dress itself was sleeveless and the top hem stopped just above the top of her breast, and tied tight with a corset around her waist. The sleeveless element of the gown made Peach feel a little embarrassed. She felt exposed and strange, having never felt so much skin out in the open while being in a dress. She felt like an adult and it felt odd, and she became even more embarrassed that she would let Bowser see her like this.