Toadette's Story: Book 2

Chapter 83 - Things Are Just Rosy

Far from Rose Town, sleek tracks carried one of the Mushroom Kingdom’s most prestigious and luxurious trains. Jet black with golden accents, the Excess Express raced from the docks of Rogueport towards the elegant Poshley Heights: the first of its three-day trip.

“We’ve got a lot to do tonight,” a woman yelled in the kitchen, nearly slipping as she rushed out. “Just three more hours, guys!”

Within the dining car, a young Toad, just twenty-four years old, darted between tables, expertly laying out meals and collecting receipts whilst noting the extravagant requests of her wealthy patrons. The only marks on her apron were the beads of sweat that trickled down her brow.

The train hummed around her, the clinking of glasses and whispers of conversation keeping the place as lively as ever.

“How may I…” She blinked twice. Her customers usually tended to consist of older people or entire families, but here sat a young couple. Nevertheless, her cheerful demeanour persisted. “I hope you’re having a marvellous evening. Are you ready to place your order?”

“Are we ever,” the man said. “We’d like some of that wheat beer, some breadsticks for the appetiser, and then a single plate of spaghetti.”

“Watch this: we’re totally gonna do that movie thing where the couple eats the same noodle," the woman said, her finger intertwined with her lover’s.

“I doubt it’ll happen,” he countered. “But if we pull it off, consider yourself the luckiest girl on the planet.”

“Huh… It’s rare to have anybody ask for their entire meal upfront. Makes my job far easier,” the waitress giggled, grabbing their menus. “I’ll be back with all your food faster than you can blink.”

She merrily skipped through the dining area, her violet pigtails bouncing with each step.

Then she entered the slippery kitchen, once more almost bashing her head against the wall. Her giggling slowly gave way to the sharp, grinding sound of her teeth. She glared at the array of cutlery before her, resisting with all her might not to grab a knife. Along with the pained grunting came tears, for her mascara began to streak down her cheeks.

Wiping her eyes, she took a deep breath and proceeded with her tasks.

She twisted the cap off the beer, pouring out half of the golden poison. Half the bottle disappeared into two mugs, but it wouldn’t be enough to satisfy the customers. So, in a single motion, she undid her pants and panties, her laughter bubbling up as she filled the mugs with her own bitter concoction. Envisioning the couple later getting sick from swallowing the woman’s vile waste made her heart accelerate.

Her twisted amusement grew as she turned to the fresh breadsticks. She spat directly onto the steaming bread. A second glob followed, and she smeared it with her fingertip, relishing the idea that they’d mistake her saliva for expensive, creamy butter.

It’s exactly what you deserve.

Last but not least, the spaghetti arrived—the pièce de résistance of her culinary punishment.

As soon as it was given to her from the chef, the woman quickly grabbed a bottle of water and drenched her feet. She then pulled a sponge from her apron and scraped the rough side against the bottoms of her feet, a vile mixture of cheesy skin swirling into the noodles. For good measure, she even wiggled her toes, ensuring that whatever muck between them would apply an additional seasoning to the dish.

Don’t leave them waiting, Sofia.

Sofia carried the entire meal with a bright smile, observing the couple’s reactions closely while she tended to her other customers. Her heart continued to thump against her chest, as she knew that she’d be fired on the spot if busted.

The piss-tainted beer went down their throats without issue, the saliva-covered breadsticks failed to set off any alarms, and the foot cheese that covered the spaghetti failed to make them choke.

“I hope everything was to your satisfaction,” she said while handing them the bill, her bubbly voice just as friendly as always.

Once evening turned to night, she found herself staring blankly at the ceramic in her shower. She’d almost forgotten to soap herself, for she had several thoughts causing cerebral traffic.

Her phone then rang, and she had to get in the right headspace to answer it.

“Before you ask, everything is just rosy today, Minh-Minh,” she groaned, rubbing her reddened eyes.

“For you and for us,” a bright voice responded, that Spanish ringing familiar to the waitress’ ears. “Even though I almost got my head cut off trying to snag this treasure.”

“Yeah, right. You mentioned something about hunting some stars. Be careful: one might be sending you on a moon trip for all you know.”

“Nah. It seems I gotta go to… I’ll let you take a guess.”

“Minh-Minh, do I sound like I’m in the mood to play guessing games?”

“It’s somewhere real neon. Lights everywhere. Ain’t Mushroom City, but it’s super vibrant, alright? There’s your hint.”

“Ugh, I’d have to guess…” Sofia paused. “Actually, I’ve got no clue. You just be safe, and I’ll see you whenever I see you.”

“Enjoy your night, cousin.”

Whilst Sofia had her phone in her hand, she called up a different individual.

“Evening, Grandmother. I didn’t check your voicemail, so what have you been calling me about? You know I’m…” Sofia’s eyes widened. “Jazz what?”

***

“Penelope ran away?” Toadette asked, only now just stepping out of the shower. Her steps were slow to prevent the wound from re-opening. She hadn’t even gotten the chance to lotion herself before hearing the words slip from Captain Toad’s mouth.

“She must’ve escaped a bit after we left for Rose Town,” he sighed, looking through his messages from his mates. “The worst possible time to be playing around: when neither of us is present."

“Maybe she’s headed this way. We could scoop her up on the road.”

“At this hour I’d run her over.”

“She’s a small girl walking by herself,” Minh said, sitting cross-legged on the inn bed. “Someone is gonna find her.”

“But is the right person going to find her?” Toadette let out a groan. “That child is a pain.”

“We can’t waste energy worrying about her right now,” Toad yawned. He turned to his side as he made himself comfortable under the blankets.

“Easy for you to say,” Toadette said. “Always men.”

“We always what?” He looked over at her. “Cat got your tongue?”

Toadette waltzed to her own bed away from Minh and Toad, bundling herself under the sheets before giving her answer.

“Bad with kids. Either you want nothing to do with them, or you’re just careless.”

Toad smirked. “Considering you got your ass whooped all your life by a woman, I wouldn’t be so quick to dismiss all of us.”

“Fuck you.”

“Look, you girls tend to think too emotionally that you never consider logic. Obviously I want Penelope safe. But after being worn down by two ninjas, I know not one of us is in the best shape to look for her. Let’s sleep it off, hope one of the castle guards finds her, then deal with this tomorrow.”

Toadette kept silent, with Toad taking her non-response as a sign of agreement.

Minh leaned back on her pillow, opening the messages on her phone. Her breath stopped.

Suddenly she shot up. She sprinted to the table where the keys to the truck lay, hastily snatching it whilst simultaneously putting her boots onto her feet. Toad repeatedly called out to her, yet all he heard was her murmur under her breath. Eventually he jumped out the bed and yanked her arm.

“That’s royal property. You’re not taking that truck anywhere without me in it.”

“Jazz is missing!”

“What the hell is going on?” Toadette yelled. “Christmas presents are supposed to bribe you to be good, not run away the next month.”

“Penelope being on her own is bad enough. Jazz… Oh my God.”

“I mean, she wasn’t hard to track down the first time she ran away,” Toad said. “Worst case scenario, her sister is gonna ask me to search for her again.”

“Oh, so you know the little one too?” Toadette asked, her voice being the quietest.

“It wasn’t the nicest introduction—”

“She already knows,” Minh interrupted. “Look, we need to go find her.”

“We’ve got way too much on our plate,” Toadette whined. “First these stars, now Penelope, and now your cousin…”

“At least we already know why Penelope ran away: that convention.” Toad looked at Minh. “It’s anyone’s guess why your cousin is acting dumb. Unless she’s just sick of hearing Sofia’s voice, in which case, heh, can’t blame her.”

“But Sofi’s working right now. Jazz is with our grandma, so…”

“We’ll deal with them tomorrow, Minh.” Toad took the keys. “Get back in this bed and try to sleep it off.”

“I can’t…”

“He’s right, Minh.” Toadette’s tone softened. “We wouldn’t be useful right now.”

Unfortunately Minh would have no choice but to exercise extreme patience.

“I take it you’re not in the mood for a threesome anymore,” Toad quipped.

***

It wasn’t uncommon for Sofia to stroll around the Excess Express after her shift. Even in her pyjamas, she managed to appear classy and fit in with the upper echelons of people. Instead of going barefoot on the carpeted floor, she slipped on her slippers as she headed toward the rear of the train.

She had expected to find a certain someone on duty, guarding the cargo hold at night. However, when she reached the back, nobody was there.

“Guarding from the inside tonight, are we?” She knocked on the door quickly. Then she leaned in to look through the glass. “I can see you.”

Eventually the door swung open.

“At least you didn’t break the glass this time.”

“Hey, I still paid that out my own pocket,” she chuckled, barging into the room.

“I swear you don’t know your own strength sometimes.” The train’s conductor, who kept an eye on the luggage while the engineer drove, had known Sofia since she began working here. The black cover over his cap, which only left the red spots visible, helped him to stand out from the average passenger Toad.

He spoke with a softer tone, almost on the verge of whispering at points. Yet here he was, locked in a room with someone whose voice always took centre stage.

Sofia plopped on the set of boxes that had the conductor’s imprint on them, crossing her legs and inviting him to join her.

He moved slowly so as not to risk dropping his large s’more.

“Another busy day for you folks in the restaurant,” he noted, taking a bite. “Surprised you’re not dying to sleep right now.”

“Um, my perfect grades? After a while, you get used to running on just four to six hours of sleep.”

“Seriously, where were you when I was struggling in college?”

“Not like I could catch any sleep right now anyway. My darling sister has just run away.”

“Really? Where to?”

“Hell if I know.” Sofia kicked off her slippers and rested her feet on them. “She mentioned something about a convention way out west, but I don’t have that kind of travel money.”

“Could always take a cheap flight.”

“I’m not riding an airliner unworthy of my status, Casey.”

“Status be darned if it saves me a ton of coins.” When he tried to speak again, an excessive amount of chocolate dribbled out his mouth. He wouldn’t have cared about a stain on the floor, but when he looked down, he saw that the melted fudge had landed on top of Sofia’s right foot.

Sofia’s jaw dropped.

“I’m so sorry,” Casey rushed to say, wiping his mouth on a napkin.

“You’re gonna die.” After an uncomfortable silence, Sofia poked him and burst into laughter. “Relax.”

“Don’t scare me like that!” He playfully punched her shoulder. “I can’t fully trust you after seeing how you’ve reacted to a little bit of spilt wine.”

“White clothing is the big difference.”

Sofia scrunched her toes to keep the chocolate from dripping between them and getting on her slipper. She then lifted her foot, giving Casey a view of the bottom.

“Heh. A very clean foot, aside from the chocolate,” he noted.

“And super soft too,” she replied, thinking back to her recent exfoliation. “I hope you’re the type of guy who appreciates it when a girl goes all out in keeping her feet impeccable.”

“Oh, I definitely do.”

Sofia wiggled her toes slowly. “What? You have a thing for feet?”

“Nah.”

“Seriously?” Sofia was taken aback by how quick and calm his response was.

“I mean, I appreciate feet, but appreciating them doesn’t mean I have a fetish, right?” He smirked. “We’re adults, Sofia, so you can use the grown-up words around me.”

“Fair enough. I just had a talk with Minh-Minh about it, so I guess it’s fresh in my mind.”

“You would be someone’s dream girl if they had a foot fetish, though.” Casey poked the middle of her sole. He found himself surprised at just how soft yet firm it was.

“Now, can we please stop this chocolate from oozing between my toes?”

“Certainly.” The conductor grabbed his napkin and flipped it to a clean side. “But gosh, it’s driving me crazy having to waste this."

"You don’t waste a crumb, do you?”

“The hungrier you are as a kid, the more you learn to appreciate every bit of food.”

“Hmm…” Sofia smiled. “If you were some random guy, I’d be grossed the hell out. But since it’s you, how about you just lick this chocolate off my toes?”

“Wait, what?”

“Yeah. Like, I’m not gonna be bawling my eyes out if you say no, but if you don’t want this going to waste…” She spread her toes out. “It’s just some fun for the night.”

The conductor took a moment to think. Sure, it was all in good fun, but dragging his tongue along any part of Sofia’s body was a step beyond friendship. But perhaps Sofia didn’t see it that way. After all, they grew up in different cultures; perhaps licking toes was just seen as a harmless, childish activity in her family.

Loosening up, he took hold of her ankles.

“You do have a fabulous foot, that I will say.”

“Aw, thank you. I try.”

Casey now ran his tongue along Sofia’s big toe, lapping up the thick layer of melted strawberry fudge.

Sofia gritted her teeth.

There is chocolate and licking involved! This is totally romantic progress! Just endure it!

She didn’t expect Casey to lick her toes with such fervour. He swirled his tongue around her big toe various times before sticking it in his mouth and sucking on it. Of course it was simply to savour the chocolate from the innocent man’s point of view. But from Sofia’s perspective, it was as if she was receiving a form of foreplay. Awkward foreplay, but it was a wind-up nonetheless.

And though nobody should have interrupted them at this hour, the fact that anyone could peep through the glass was a touch bothersome.

Casey went up and down on Sofia’s big toe until all the chocolate had disappeared. Then, chuckling, he traced his tongue along the top of her foot, finally daring to explore the spaces between her toes. Het let out a grunt; those tight crevices combined with the fresh stickiness meant he had to apply more force. Who would’ve guessed that cleaning toes would require their tongue to have had a workout?

But the cleaning didn’t stop there. Sofia had been holding her foot up for so long that some of the chocolate dripped all the way to the ball of her foot.

“Heh, just go to town,” she giggled, embarrassed. “This is so weird.”

“Should’ve kept your slippers on.” He licked her sole. “At least your foot hasn’t tainted the chocolate.”

“My feet don’t taint anything they touch.” Sofia curled her toes slowly. “They bless them.”

Casey nibbled on the ball of Sofia’s foot. He then licked from side to side among the underside of her toes, repeatedly swallowing the chocolate.

Fortunately Sofia’s foot smelt of sweet lotion versus anything malodorous. The feminine scent drove him to lick between her toes again, this time with a quick flick of his tongue.

Sofia let out a giggle.

Casey grinned. “Should I go faster?”

“I wouldn’t recommend that.”

“Okay.” He slowed his pace down. But just three seconds later, he ramped up the speed, using his fingers to tickle Sofia’s foot.

The waitress went from quietly snickering to full-on laughing. She wormed around for several seconds before giving Casey a hard kick to the mouth, sending him to the floor. Once the ticklish sensation left her body, Sofia strutted over to him.

“I warned you.”

“You didn’t have to kick so hard, though.”

“And this is why I’d rather be the one doing the tickling,” she laughed, lifting her slightly dusty foot above his face. “You happy you didn’t waste your chocolate?”

“Indeed.”

Sofia pulled him up. “Now dry my foot with that napkin.”

“Sure thing.” After removing his hot saliva from her foot, Casey set it on his lap. “A very interesting night.”

“You’re telling me.” Sofia licked her lips, inching closer. “Um…”

A sudden knock made her jump to her feet. Casey dashed to the door. Moments later, he turned to Sofia.

“Medical emergency. Looks like one of our passengers has had one too many a drink.”

“I’ll check it out until the doctors are ready,” she said, a twisted smile forming across her face. “Hasta mañana.”

As she stepped out, she collided with a colleague—one of the train’s housekeeping staff.

“Hello, Alice.”

“Evening. You mind seeing to that emergency until the doctors…?”

“Already on it.”

“Thanks a ton.” She glanced past Sofia. “Oi, Casey. Could you step on my back for me? You know, the usual.”

“By next month we really need to petition that they hire a chiropractor or a proper masseuse on this train," he laughed, giving Sofia a final wave before shutting the door behind Alice.

Sofia’s smile turned into a scowl as she stomped on the carpet. She let out a muffled scream into her hands, took a deep breath, and then marched onward to the passenger whose night she had certainly ruined with her urine beer deluxe. While making her way, she quickly snuck a phone call in.

***

“You fools!”

Back in Diamond City, Kat and Ana knelt with their heads lowered. The dim lighting in the meeting room highlighted Wario’s figure and, most alarmingly, his look of displeasure. He didn’t even have to be staring at them for them to feel his menace. The hits he delivered to his punching bag were evidence enough.

“The mushrooms didn’t even fight in coordination, and you still couldn’t beat them?” he growled, his teeth grinding against each other. “And not only that, but we’re still short a radar?”

“With all due respect, sir, have you seen this Toadette girl?” Ana replied.

“You’re supposed to be warriors,” he shot back. “She’s just a stupid mushroom.”

“That’s what I thought, too,” Kat said. “But maybe not all mushrooms are weak.”

Screaming, Wario delivered a punch so grand that it caused the punching bag to burst. Kat and Ana shrieked at the display, whilst Mona looked lovingly at the force on display.

Wario turned his head to Waluigi, who let out a cloud of smoke right in front of the ninjas as he walked past them. The lankier man leaned against the nearby wall.

“To be fair, and I’m not trying to say I told you so, but it always was a gamble sending in kids to take down big girls,” he huffed. “And let’s not forget what this Toadette girl did in Mushroom City. She’s no match for us, but still, we can’t treat her with baby gloves.”

Wario kicked the sand in the punching bag aside. “So now Peach and I are tied in the number of stars we’ve got. We need to snatch up the others before she can collect any more. Where to?”

“Seems the flower girl grew a few new brains,” Mona said. “She’s giving out hints rather than direct locations.”

Wario snarled. “Try me.”

“Somewhere with a bunch of neon lights. Could be anywhere, frankly.”

“Neon Heights, all the way in the northwest! I’ll bet a hundred coins that’s where the third star is,” the potbelly man cackled.

“We’ll be there as soon as you give the order,” Kat piped up.

“Absolutely not! Clearly you both need more practice before you’re ready to tangle with these menaces. And the same goes for you, Mona. I’m better off trying someone different.” Suddenly he lit up. “That geeky little convention is taking place there tomorrow, and 9-Volt has been there for days. It’s perfect!”

“Well, well, well. We’re risking it on another kid?” Waluigi asked.

“I won’t have to cover travel costs, so yeah. Unless you’ve got a problem with it.”

“No, of course not.” Waluigi blew out his cigar. “Just grab me some popcorn so I can watch the chaos unfold.”