Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

About a year after Vivian and her friends defeated the Shadow Queen, she is heading back home after a night out with Ms. Mowz, who insisted on walking her home. While the Squeek’s antics and rather flirtatious nature got on most of her companions’ nerves, Vivian found that the Squeek’s kisses and never ending pit of compliments were exactly what she needed tonight, after a rather hard afternoon with Beldam. “Now, do I need to go in and slap that sister of yours, sweetie?” The Squeek asks.

“Oh, n-not at all… I can deal with it if she goes too far… I just wish she would be a bit less abrasive. Just hanging with you has made things a lot better though…

All too soon, they reach Vivian’s house in Twilight Town, and the Squeek kisses her goodbye, Vivian noticing that that kiss was even more tight and passionate then the others… She floats into her house in a good mood, but gets a bit on edge as she sees Beldam drinking from a wine bottle, with a mean glare on her face. “Um… hi, Sis…”

“‘Hi sis’?? That is ALL you can say when I was WORRIED and STRESSED about where you were at this ungodly hour???”

“I mean, it’s only 11! I told you I was going out… what were you worried about?”

“HOW I was going to get in CONTACT with you to discuss the different way you need to clean this kitchen table, you SEE?? You just scrub like THIS, “ Beldam starts scrubbing the table with a cloth, in exaggerated motions that Vivian KNOWS she did more delicately than Beldam is showing, “but you see like, the surface is still FUCKING DIRTY!!!” 

“Sis, I didn’t do it like that! Please don’t scrub so hard… you’ll break the table…”

“Well CLEARLY my PATIENCE is broken!!!” Beldam slams the cloth on the floor.

Marilyn appears in the doorway, rubbing her eyes, “Why are you so loud… it’s late…”

“Humph, whatever, I’m finished talking anyway. Now my brain needs some sleep, but we’ll talk more about this tomorrow. “

“Sure, sis…”

The next afternoon, Vivian is sitting at the dining room table with her sisters, for a family meeting that Beldam organized.

Beldam stares at her watch, and at 3:30 PM on the dot, she says, “So, I hope you both know that I’ve tried to be patient on things. However, Vivian, I don’t think you understand the ramifications when you’re out gallivanting with rats at all hours of the night.”

“Her name is Ms. Mowz, and you’d better hope I don’t tell her that you called her that!”

Beldam takes a glance at her watch, then notes, “Twenty-two seconds. Even from a defiant Shadow Siren like you, I thought you’d be cordial for a little longer.”

“Sorry, sis, but I won’t let you call my friends mean names!”

“Whatever. Continuing this meeting, I think that it's pretty clear that a curfew would do this house some good.”

“Wait, why, Sis?”

“Knew you’d be the one to dare try to backtalk. Anyway, when you’re gallivanting at all hours of the night, I can never think of your task list. I suppose I worry about you too. Henceforth, I want you both to be back by 9:00 PM.”

“I can.” Marilyn says… she tends to prefer staying indoors anyway…

“Sis, some of my friends keep pretty late schedules… besides, I’m a night owl. Most importantly, I’m an adult and can take care of myself! If you worry about me… m-maybe I can send you a text if I’m going to be out late?”

“Now, you KNOW that I don't understand the first thing about this newfangled 'texting' crap. Back in my day using 'Text' as a verb would get you laughed out of the club, and as the head of the household I'd like it if we could return to those days here.”

"I mean, I'm sorry Sis, but texting is a part of this world now, and if you’re so concerned for me, then you should learn it! It will just be a message appearing on your phone when I send it!”

As Beldam's getting her bearings after unexpectedly hearing Vivian talk back so confidently, she hears the crow, signifying that the mail’s come. “Humph, I'm getting a headache just LISTENING to you, we'll talk about this later.”

A few days later, Vivian heads out of her sister’s house excited, as she’s going to Peeka, the hair stylist in Rogueport, to get her hair redyed,   but she’s a bit stymied that she hears from Beldam as she’s going out, ‘You’d better be in by 9.” She hoped that her steadfastness in standing up for herself would make Beldam quit yelling at her... She just headed out, saying a simple, ‘I’ll text if I’m late, Sis!’, without giving Beldam time to respond, but internally, that request had her worried. 

Her worries clearly show as she’s getting her hair dyed. Peeka asks, “So will you be getting highlights today, sweetie?” 

“Sure…”

“Whoa, are you sure???”

“Oh… about what? Sorry… I was kind of distracted…”

“Are you sure you want highlights? I’m sure they’d look gorgeous on you, but you didn’t seem interested when I brought them up last time!”

“Oh! Right, sorry, no highlights please.”

“Sayyyy… is everything going alright with you? Do I need to hide in your house and slap your sister?”

“Gee whiz, you shouldn’t… it’s just, she seems to be really trying to set a curfew for me… I’ve fought it, but she still said I had to be back by 9 tonight…”

“Aww, so I do???”

“Oh, not at all!! I… thank you, Peeka, but I really do just need to be more insistent that I’m not going to stand for her mistreating me…”

“Absolutely! You’re a strong lady, don’t take any shit from her!”

After they talk about that, they make small talk on how Vivian’s life has been, and Vivian asks about if she’s still working at Westside Goods.

“Ooh… had to stop doing that, I’m afraid..”

“Oh, I’m sorry… was it a layoff? From what I hear from the crows, those have been really rough lately…”

“Nah, I narrowly escaped those somehow, just, the secret code to see Don Pianta… it’s not a secret, and everybody and their sister has been purchasing Dried Shrooms and Dizzy Dials, but really… Don Pianta has refused to see anyone since he retired, and the customers have taken their rage out on ME!!! Gosh I’ve never had to slap so many assholes in my LIFE!! Anyway… that just became too much, and I quit… Retail sucks, ya know that Viv?”

“Yeah, I understand… like just having people blame you for something that’s not your fault… can see why you wanted to get out of that…”

Vivian gets her hair styled, and talks a bit more with Peeka, and heads out, leaving a sizable tip. She hears her stomach rumble… maybe it would be a good idea to go out to Podley's tavern nearby… show off her beautiful hair… she checks her watch, uh-oh, 9:25 PM… Sis is probably already wondering where she is… Vivian isn’t exactly in the mood to let Beldam control her, after being around the intense Boo,  so she leaves a text letting Beldam know that she’ll be home after getting something to eat… No need to let on that she’s going to a sit-down tavern!

The tavern food ends up being pretty tasty, and the waitress compliments Vivian’s hair several times throughout the meal, and in fact, Vivian finds herself having to take extra care to not let her infatuation powers take hold of the restaurant. While that’s an ability she has, most of the time she doesn’t have to put effort into controlling it, but when she feels really euphoric, she has her way of moving her  body subconsciously that can let her powers out. Just to be safe, she leaves the restaurant pretty quickly after finishing eating, foregoing her usual habit of people-watching. 

Vivian checks her watch and sees that it’s 10:30 PM, so she heads back to Twilight Town, and trepidatiously heads inside her house… ‘Caw!’ Vivian sighs at the crow making a sound right at the worst time, and the sound entering the house. Luckily, Beldam seems to be asleep, and doesn’t hear it, so Vivian breathes a sigh of relief, and heads to bed.

A couple of weeks later, Vivian is looking over potential ways of being able to support herself… so many places where she thinks she may be a good fit  to work require a college degree. As Vivian sighs, Beldam enters her room. “Um, Sis, in the future, can you please knock?”

“I don’t have time for THAT, what are you even LOOKING at? Indeed? Why would you need THAT? I already provide for us, and won’t you be living here forever?”

“I mean, Sis… I honestly… kind of would like to move out sometime… With how our personalities differ, I figured you may like that… Besides, you’ve…” Vivian sighs, and admits to her sister, “You’ve been much more controlling lately, Sis…”

“Humph. I just have to make sure YOU don’t go and get yourself in any trouble, you child.”

“Sis, I’ve literally lived for over a millennium, it’s inaccurate for you to say that!”

“Maybe, but you just don’t… get stuff, all I have to say. Anyway, if you have time to do THAT, then you have time to help more around the house.” Without expanding on her statement, Beldam closes Vivian’s door.

Chapter Text

About a month later, as a sleepy Vivian hears her alarm, she’s tempted to shut it back off… why did she have it set– Oh no, that’s right, today’s the day she needs to fix everyone’s meals for the week. For a while, after Vivian and her friends defeated the Shadow Queen, Beldam respected that Vivian tended toward a later sleep schedule, and took care of meals and chores in the morning.

As the months went on, though, Beldam got tired of having to heat up her food in the microwave, and Vivian noticed Beldam passive-aggressively banging stuff near her room to try to wake Vivian so she would heat up the food with her fire magic.

When Vivian called her out on it, Beldam angrily replied, “Fine, maybe I HAVE! I guess I will just KEEP doing it anyway! Considering that, maybe it’s best if we cut out the middleman and you just cook it ALL for us in the morning!”

“Ugh… I prefer sleeping late during the mornings… you know that I’m a night owl, Sis…”

“LAZY is more like it! You SEE all I do around here! If it wasn’t for MY work, where would you be?”

Vivian was too shocked by Beldam’s boldness to argue farther. Beldam did originally start the potion shop that pays for the house her and her sisters live in(of course, Vivian still has several chores relating to that…). Vivian decided to give in, while making a note to get a job herself. “Yes, I’m sorry, Sis, I’ll fix our meals…”

As Vivian tries to wake herself, she pulls her phone, and procrastinates on getting out of bed by scrolling through her social media. She then checks her email, and smiles when she finds a new message from an old friend.

From: Madame Flurrie

To: Ms. Vivian

My goodness, HOW have you been, you amazing beauty?? Time has just gotten away from me, but I just wanted to send you an invitation to my next DAZZLING show in Glitzville!!! You should come, It would be nice to see your beautiful face again!

Attached to the email are virtual tickets to the show, and Vivian’s excited to attend. She looks at the time… Uh-oh, the show’s tomorrow night, and she recalls that Beldam had a ‘very important’ chore for her to do then. Hopefully Beldam will let her do that before… Maybe if she just has something good to eat before– right! She leaps out of bed to start on meals for the week, nervous, but excited. 

After her sisters wake up and the table is set for breakfast, Vivian watches as Beldam takes a bite of the fried eggs… and breathes a sigh of relief when Beldam smiles, “Hmm… despite your many areas where you could improve, I must say your eggs really hit the spot.”

Vivian smiles at the rare compliment from Beldam, but notices that she still hasn’t gotten any coffee, “Oh! Thank you, Sis! I also made some coffee right there! I got the Cinnamon and Cream out, just like you like it!”

“Hmm, thank you– wait a minute, what foolish thing do you even want this time?”

 “Oh um… wh-what do you mean, Sis?”

“You seem very enthusiastic, normally I have to say what I’m saying multiple times for you to even hear me, and you’re always yawning. Not to mention, you know that I can tell when you’re buttering me up.”

“Oh, well in that case… there was one thing… I got invited to a show–” 

“That ‘Lameo Flurrie and the Freak-in-a-sheet’ show, I presume?”

While Vivian’s opinion admittedly isn’t too positive about Doopliss, she still yells in anger, “Sis, Flurrie’s an amazing friend of mine, don’t talk bad about her!!! Besides, what I need–”

Beldam interrupts her, saying in a cross voice, “Excuse me, did you just yell at me, you insolent Shadow Siren?”

“Yes, Sis, I did! I’m not going to let you talk badly about my friends! You know if things get too bad, we could always have a repeat of our fight at Riddle Tower.”

Beldam is momentarily silent for a while, looking down, and Vivian decides to continue, in a gentle voice, “You know I don’t want to have to ever do anything like that to you again, Sis, but you know I care a lot about my friends, and I won’t tolerate you talking bad about them. What I was wanting… I seem to recall that you wanted me to wipe the decanters tomorrow night… it turns out that this show is around the time you want me to do it…”

“I suppose that’s too bad for your ‘friend’ you wanted to meet.”

“So I was wondering… maybe I could wipe them down before I leave for the show?”

Beldam flatly replies, “Vivian, you KNOW how quickly dust accumulates on those things. Even just the smallest SMIDGE will screw up my potions, so I need you to wipe them at a precise time, and that is not up for debate.”

“I mean… in that case, maybe you could wipe them instead–”

“No, I already have enough to do."

“W-wait, Sis!! I wasn’t finished… What if I also got all of our things ready the next morning and cleared the table after breakfast?

“Hmm… That IS always annoying… especially with the mess YOU make… Fine. I’ll be a kind sister and allow you to attend your silly show THIS once.”

“Th-thank you, sis!!”

“Yeah, yeah.”

The next morning, there is a wrinkle in her plan, as Beldam comes up to her right as she opens the door after waking up… why does Sis always make her wake up early to eat… “HOLD the phone. I bet you expected me to forget about your CURFEW. For this thing tonight, you’d better be back by 9, and given when you said this is… guess the show had better end pretty quickly, huh?.”

Fuck… Vivian was hoping that she could come to the topic of her curfew by talking to Beldam when she was in a good mood, and asking if she could be out late, if she just texted Beldam to let her know where she was at. “Um, Sis… aren’t you hungry? Maybe we can discuss this after I heat up our breakfast and we eat!” 

“Yes…” At Marilyn giving her agreement of that plan, Vivian gives her a nod thanking her.

“Humph, when did YOU get here? I’m a bit too hungover to argue for now. Fine. This subject is not over.”

As hard as Vivian worked to heat the food she cooked yesterday up as fresh as she could, she still notices a grumpy look on Beldam's face when she takes a bite, “Humph, this isn’t salty enough, honestly, I TOLD you how I like my eggs when I’m hung over, Vivian.”

“Sorry sis, I cooked them yesterday… I didn’t know you’d be drinking last night!”

“Whatever, pass the salt right now.”

Breakfast ends up not doing much to improve Beldam’s mood, but Vivian realizes that she needs to get this over with… “So Sis… I’d imagine everyone will want to get supper after the show, so I may be pretty late getting home… I’ll try to text you if it gets really late.”

“I THOUGHT you knew that your curfew wasn’t up for debate.”

“Sis, come on! I know you worry about me, but I work hard here too, and I’m an adult and I deserve to get to live my own life!”

“Whatever, you’d better get your work done, that’s all I’ve got to say. I’ll get a migraine if I spend ONE MORE SECOND arguing with you. Anyway, there’s decanter cleaning to do.”

“Yes, sis. Gee whiz, you really have me do that a lot, don’t you.”

“You get that.”

Vivian decides to work as hard as she can to clean them, and also help around the house, to hopefully put Beldam in a better mood… Beldam didn’t really come to a definite conclusion on her decision about Vivian being allowed to stay late… Guess this is what Goombella was talking about when she said, “Let’s just ask for forgiveness instead of permission!”  when they were going to wake General White up.

That evening, before she heads out, she asks Beldam, “Hey, Sis, I’m about to head out… do you want me to fix you an Ice Pop smoothie before I head out?”

“Hmm, I suppose it IS pretty warm, especially with YOU here… Go ahead.”

Vivian figured she wouldn’t get a thank you… at least Beldam’s sweet tooth seems to be working for the moment, and hopefully she won’t be too mad when Vivian stays out late.

Vivian finds herself relaxing on the blimp ride to Glitzville, and she has a light, relaxed feeling in her heart. She finds herself reflecting on the past year…

Chapter Text

As Vivian is flying on the blimp to Glitzville, she takes the time to relax a bit. As her gaze lowers, she notices her beautiful diamond necklace, and she smiles broadly. That necklace brings back a lot of memories of when she first saw it... It also happened to be the first time she met Goombella...

About a year ago, in the Boggly Woods

Vivian is kind of trying to stay in the background as Beldam brags to their adversaries about how they will be destroyed… She did suggest, when Beldam said that they’d need to do away with that Mario guy, possibly just asking him for the treasure map instead, but that just resulted in yet another reprimand from Beldam. She opted to not talk back, and tried to improve her mood by admiring the gorgeous necklace she found in the grass.

An idea pops into her head; maybe if Vivian veils away, she can just admire her necklace in solitude and not have to fight. No matter what she does, Beldam will find a reason to punish her anyway… She feels a renewed sense of frustration at how she was blamed for losing the sketch of Mario, and decides that she may as well have a bit of fun.

As she starts making an escape plan, she hears a confident voice, “Oh, right, I think that’s the necklace we’re supposed to return, Mario!” Vivian then notices Goombella staring right at her, with a determined look, and Vivian takes off her necklace and gazes at it wistfully as she tries to ask, “Oh, it– it is… so someone lost this–”

Before Vivian can get clarity, Beldam yells, “Vivian! That is NOT relevant. What is relevant, however, is that your days are numbered. We are…”

“The three…”

Vivian’s still trying to understand the situation fully, but hardly gets any time before Beldam angrily whispers, “Vivian, it’s your turn. Hurry up.”

“Oh! Sh-shadow Beauties!!!”

Vivian, regardless of hearing Beldam groan loudly, can’t help but focus on the Goomba as a cheeky grin appears on her face that's actually... really cute... “The three Shadow Beauties?? Well that certainly describes you, I suppose! In any case, you all seem like you’re kinda evil, guess we’re kinda not getting that necklace without a fight, huh!”

“Well you understand things, despite what this DITZ is saying.”

Before Vivian knows what’s happening, her adversaries are getting ready to attack. She realizes she needs to back away as Goombella aggressively marches toward her, however she soon backs into a tree and panics before she remembers... Right! She can just veil out of the way—

*BONK! BONK!*

Before she can veil into the shadows, Goombella is able to land a double headbonk on her.

“Ah!! So we’re… um f-fighting, I guess…? Um… S-sorry about this…”

Vivian tries to punch Goombella, but before she can connect, Goombella rolls out of the way and launches into another headbonk on Vivian.

Goombella then says, as she's growling lightly, “Hmm… like all I really need… FUCK that necklace looks really cute on you, but we will get it back.”

“It… it does… well honestly… I do like this, but if someone lost it… I want to give it back… I just thought someone didn’t want it anymore… anyway, here you—”

As Vivian’s trying to give the necklace back, she’s interrupted by Beldam, “VIVIAN!!!! What are you even doing? Have you forgotten how bad your punishment will be if you lose this??” 

Vivian then flinches a bit at her sister’s fierce threat, and she says in a panic, “S-Sorry, Sis!” Remembering her loyalty to her sisters and Sir Grodus, she focuses inward, and quickly casts a fiery Jinx on Goombella, but the instant she sees the Goomba wince in pain, she can’t help but flinch a bit herself, in guilt… This Goomba looks so caring, and seems to actually care about how Vivian feels…

She hardly gets any time to reflect, however, before Goombella quickly counters with a punishing headbonk. Despite the pain from the attack, Vivian can’t miss the sympathy in Goombella’s eyes as she’s battling.

Vivian, exhausted after the attack, breathes out, “Whew… you are… really strong… I have to… defeat you… for Sis…”

Immediately after she says this, she flinches upon Goombella whistling loudly. As Vivian prepares to veil into position to attack, she can’t help but notice the cute sheep on the field…

As she’s admiring them, she finds herself yawning, her body feeling heavier and drowsier by the second. She tries to focus on her mission, however she finds herself unable to muster the energy to move her body into the shadows, then crashes into sleep.

The next thing she sees when she opens her eyes after the snooze, is Beldam’s angry face. “Finally, you’re actually UP again, you lazy nincompoop! We LOST, thanks to YOU!!!” 

Vivian, who’s still waking up, yawns as she tells her sister, “I m-mean Sis, it’s just– AAAAHHHHH!!!” Vivian yells in pain as Beldam hits her in the chest with Ice Shards, “Don’t YAWN at me when I’m lecturing you! I hope that woke you up a bit!”

“Sorry, Sis… it’s just… Goombella was stronger than I expected…” As Vivian tries to explain, she feels for her necklace, but can’t find it. “I guess you… t-took my necklace as punishment…”

“That’s Another thing. I WOULD HAVE, but you let that Goomba bitch steal it off your neck, you ditz! Now I have to think of an even WORSE punishment!”

Vivian can’t help but feel a sense of relief that Goombella was able to return the necklace, despite how beautiful it looked. As Beldam continues her seemingly never-ending tirade, Vivian eventually gains the courage to veil away when Beldam isn’t paying attention.

She focuses on how her body feels… Her chest probably feels the worst, after Beldam’s punishment. Luckily, though,  her head already feels like it’s healing up, even after Goombella’s strong blows… she expected Goombella to just keep headbonking her when she was asleep, after how she attacked… Vivian remembers the sympathetic look in Goombella's eyes, and surmises that she must have mercifully spared Vivian after she fell asleep.

She goes to check her purse, just in the unlikely case she has any healing items remaining… whenever she has to fight with her sisters, Beldam never hesitates to steal her Mushrooms to heal herself. She’s a bit shocked when she sees a fresh Super Shroom next to her purse, which even has a note attached.

She munches on it as she reads the note, which says ‘You can do better than those jerks. - Goombella’ 

She finds herself crying a bit as she reads it through a few times… Out of everything that would happen in the battle, least of all did she think that another person would care about what Beldam did to her… Most of the time, even when Grodus caught wind of Beldam abusing her, he ignored it and moved onto their mission plan… Goombella, though… even after Vivian tried to attack her, she’s still being kind, and still seems to care about Vivian’s wellbeing…

Petalburg Inn

The morning before the final battle with the Shadow Queen, Vivian was getting her makeup done for a friendly hangout at the Juice Bar with Goombella.  When she exited her room, she was shocked to see Madame Flurrie at her door, who said, "Good MORNING, Vivian! You're certainly looking majestic as always!"

"Oh my goodness, th-thank you, and likewise, Flurrie!"

"You are just too kind! I was thinking... you know, hopefully we live to tell our heroic tales, but in case we don't... I just could not BEAR the thought of not getting to see you in this gorgeous necklace! If you wouldn't mind, would you please do me a favor and try it on, sweetie?"

Vivian almost thought that she was dreaming, getting to try on the necklace she's admired for so long... "Um, s-sure, if you want! Thank you!" She puts on the necklace... and looks at the mirror... Wow!! This does complement her skin so well! 

"GOODNESS GRACIOUS!! I could NEVER have imagined that you would be SUCH a beauty in that necklace!!! More beautiful... than me, I must admit."

Vivian blushed, "I... wouldn't go that far, but thank you!!"

"Oh ever so modest... I can see why you admired this necklace so much!"

"Yes... it's so gorgeous... you noticed?"

Flurrie then chuckled, "Now don't think I haven't seen you taking glances at this, sweetie! Now, please understand, this necklace has just meant the WORLD to me, Vivian. This is the first necklace I was ever able to purchase with my money as an actress… but I can see how much you admire it… Would you like to have it?”

“I… are you sure? It’s a really nice necklace… but if it means that much to you… I see why you’d want to keep it and cherish it…”

“It is true… but, Vivian sweetie, if I entrust this necklace to you… I trust that you will bring the love to it that it deserves?”

“Oh! Absolutely!! I… it’s so beautiful--” Mario and Koops then exit their rooms,  the latter saying, "So, um... I heard yelling... Everything's alright here, right, ladies?"

"BETTER than alright!! You SEE how GORGEOUS this lady is with this necklace of mine I've bestowed upon her??" Vivian imagined that it was every bit as hard for Mario and Koops to not burst out laughing as it was for her.

Goombella fell out of her seat chuckling when Vivian finished telling the story. "So, like, let me get this straight!! After going back and forth through those annoying Piranha Plant-infested woods numerous times, she just.... REALIZES the necklace would be best on you?? Sure wish she would have realized that earlier— OK, I don't, because we probably wouldn't be as close, but you get what I mean!"

"I totally do! So the Piranha Plants are what you remember being the most threatening, huh?"

"Of course! Now don't get me wrong, Viv, you're a strong lady, especially recently, but Piranha Plants have, like, scary teeth that are kryptonite to a headbonking Goomba like me!! Compared to that, a Shadow Siren's cute witch-hat covered head is a lot more manageable!"

Chapter Text

As Vivian is thinking about how she met Goombella, and how much the two of them grew close during their adventures, she realizes she should probably catch up with her…Goombella reached out a couple of weeks after the Shadow Queen was defeated, to come by and see how things were going for everyone, and Vivian happily agreed and let her sisters know. Marilyn seemed happy about that, but she noticed Beldam scowl for a second before saying, "Oh erm, OK, Vivian." Vivian hoped that was just a brief unpleasant memory of Goombella headbonking her.

After the meeting, Vivian couldn't miss the skeptical look on Goombella's face after Beldam promised that she wouldn't be mean to Vivian again, and Goombella said that Vivian could feel free to call her if her sisters tried messing with her…

At first, things with Beldam were alright, and Vivian felt free to live happily with her sisters. While Beldam occasionally still misgendered her, she apologized whenever she did and corrected herself, and Vivian felt she would get better about that. As the months went on, though, Vivian noticed that it actually increased quite a bit in frequency. Beldam was also much more terse with her, especially when she was drunk... During those times, it was almost inevitable that Beldam would find something to chide Vivian about. Vivian started noticing herself watching for if a wine bottle was out, and avoiding Beldam during those times. She tried talking to Beldam about how her drinking hurt her, but Beldam didn't really seem receptive to cutting back. Luckily, Marilyn let Vivian know when she saw Beldam drinking, and offered her room to share if Vivian needed it.

As Vivian thinks on how Beldam's been, she realizes that this is probably the kind of thing Goombella would want to help with, and she decides to give her a call. She then pulls out her phone, and checks her contacts… ‘No Contacts found.’ Right! She remembers she got a new phone a month ago, and hasn’t gotten around to updating the contact info. Hopefully Goombella will be at Flurrie’s show and she can get her number there… or get it off her own phone, if her sis didn’t throw away the charger… As she’s thinking, she feels a poke from Stewart, the conductor, who says, ‘Ma'am, we've arrived at Glitzville!"

"Oh, sorry, thank you! Have a nice day!" Vivian hurriedly says as she rushes off the blimp... OK, whew, it's still only 6:55 PM, still time to get a drink before arriving. She takes a quick trip by the Glitz Pit, where Mush is refereeing a match. Vivian's excited to see Scrappy, the Mini-Yoshi they journeyed with, battling some Kooptrols. Admittedly, him and Vivian didn't exactly start off on the best footing, with Scrappy being pretty suspicious of her joining the party, but after Vivian snuck him a Power Punch, they were basically the best of friends!

The Kooptrol charges up, and Vivian winces almost instinctively veiling over to where Scrappy is to veil him out of danger, but then remembers... right, she shouldn't interfere... luckily Scrappy summons a stampede that makes quick work of the Kooptrols, and everyone, along with Vivian, cheers. Vivian is shocked to find, however, that Scrappy has more people to fight in his next match. Seeing that it's 7:10 PM, Vivian decides to head to the theater, as she hopes to get some time to chat with her companions who may already by there.

She notices Koops, Bobbery, and Ms. Mowz in seats nearby, so she smiles and makes her way to meet them.  As she does, Ms. Mowz glances in her direction, and loudly announces, “Hey sweeties, another cutie has arrived!!” Vivian smiles and says, “Oh my goodness, hello everyone! It’s so nice to see you all again!”

She catches up with everyone, then looks at the clock, which says 7:17 PM, 13 minutes before the show is supposed to start… She decides to ask, before it starts, “Um… s-so… have any of you heard from Goombella lately?”

Koops answers, “Oh, ‘fraid not… last I heard, she’s been really busy with her last semester of college… I did see Frankly at the Petalburg Store, and he at least informed me that her head wasn't literally glued to a book! She's apparently been away this summer doing an internship investigating the Dry Dry Ruins. Oh! She was also accepted to grad school, I heard! She’s a smart cookie, huh?”

“Wow, that’s awesome!!” Vivian smiles, not all too surprised that Goombella has been really productive… if only she could have… Wait, she still can! Ever since she noticed that her sister was returning to her old ways, she made steps to gain independence, and finally got over her fears, and applied to Petalburg U, to study Sorcery, in hopes that her magical abilities could help her live away from Beldam.

She hopes to herself that her application to Petalburg U gets accepted… luckily the person she interviewed with seemed to like her, and didn’t just look down on her for being a Shadow Siren. In any case, she starts feeling like she can’t go and bother Goombella about Beldam being mean to her, when she’s already so busy… One thing she came to learn about Goombella, is that she’s very passionate, and if Vivian told her how Beldam was treating her, she would likely just immediately help, not worrying about how much she already has on her plate… Vivian doesn’t want to overwork her, so she decides that she should do like she planned, and just fight back if Beldam is mean… yes…

As she’s thinking, a strong voice interrupts her thoughts, “Yo!!! Would have been here earlier, but took a bit longer than I would have liked to beat my last opponent up! So what’s happening??”

After Koops and Bobbery talk with Scrappy a bit, Vivian decides to tell Scrappy, "I saw you battling in the Glitz Pit just before I came over here! I see you're as strong as ever, 'Great Gonzales Jr.'!"

"Hell yeah, you know it! Thanks, Viv! Gotta train all I can for when The Great Gonzales and I have our long awaited rematch!"

As the conversation drifts, Vivian’s suddenly surprised when Scrappy addresses her, “So, Viv, what’s up with you? Those jerk sisters of yours had better not be messing with you again!!!”

Vivian can’t help but flinch a bit at thinking back on how Beldam was, but immediately says, “Oh, n-not at all!! Everything’s fine, don’t worry! Beldam knows better than to try messing with me, hm hm!”

“I’d imagine, you’re a tough lady who doesn’t take any shit! Ya know, I will admit we didn't start off on the best of terms, but nowadays, when I'm faced with some rough opponents at that Pit, I just think of you, and how you fearlessly stood up to Beldam back at Riddle Tower! Now THAT was bravery on the level of the Great Gonzales, Viv!! Not to mention...”

As Scrappy boasts about Vivian’s courageousness, she starts feeling more confident that she doesn’t need to ask Goombella for help… As long as she sticks up for herself when she’s mistreated, things will be fine!

She makes a plan to confront Sis… again… about her drinking. As she’s thinking on how best to do that, she notices the lights start to dim, and everyone’s chitchat slowly come to a halt as Flurrie floats onto the stage, introducing the play in her glorious, elevated voice. She also introduces… Pennington? That’s a bit of a surprise to Vivian, as she’s used to Flurrie working with Doopliss for their plays.

She glances down at her programme at the credits list, and is surprised to see that Doopliss isn’t mentioned, but feels a burst of relief that he likely won’t be there… Vivian tries to see the best in people, but Vivian could never bring herself to forgive Doopliss after all he did to trick Mario and his friends.

After the play, Vivian heads for a meal with her friends, then heads back to the blimp to head home. She notices Stewart say, "And... teleporter... on!!!"

"Teleporter? What are you even talking about?"

"Oh, we don't need to do this cutscene again."

Vivian gasps, "W-wait... cutscene?? You couldn't be breaking the fourth wall, could you? This isn't even a video game, it's a fanfic—"

"And we're off!!! Hold on tight!!!"

As Vivian's headed home after the play, she sends another text to Beldam, letting her know that she's on her way home. She glances at her watch, and sees that it's slightly past midnight, and she winces for a second, realizing that it's well past her curfew, but then she remembers her talk with Scrappy, and calms down, yes, if Beldam tries yelling at her, she can stand up to her. After all, she's doing her best to help with things around the house.

She notices that she's not getting a reply from Beldam as she makes her way through the sewers, and she's unsure what to make of that. Hopefully she's just asleep, and will leave Vivian alone after she gets home...

As Vivian floats back to her house at Twilight Town, her pulse rises as she sees Beldam, with a scowl on her face, on the porch. "There you are, FINALLY! Now, Vivian, I have TRIED to be nice here, but I'm afraid that my kindness has it's limits. We BOTH know that you have a curfew of 9, young 'lady'."

While Vivian's used to Beldam making small transphobic jabs at her, and isn't that hurt from it at this point, she still scowls a bit as she angrily replies, "Sis, it's not fair of you to impose a curfew on me! I'm not a child, and I work hard to help make things easier for us here, so I will be leaving when I please."

Vivian braces herself for Beldam to yell a counterargument, but Beldam looks stunned at Vivian actually not being scared to yell at her, so Vivian continues, "Now if you'll excuse me, it's really late, so I think I should get a bit of sleep before my chores tomorrow."

Vivian then heads to sleep, Beldam being only able to muster a, "Humph, whatever." While Vivian wishes she could have gotten more of an acknowledgment of what she said, she feels good about how she stood up to Beldam, and falls asleep in a good mood.

Chapter Text

After the late night Vivian had, she expected to get woken begrudgingly by her alarm, but she finds herself up a good 90 minutes before she has to start on her chores. Having stood up to Beldam, she feels energized, so she decides to work in some time for weight training... Marilyn recently outgrew some of her lighter weights that she kept to train herself, and let Vivian have them. Ever since Beldam started being more bold, however, Vivian hasn't felt up to lifting, but finally doing that again feels nice, as well as pretty exhausting, admittedly. After she finishes her squats, she thinks to herself that her tendril will probably be sore for the next week!

She finishes up and showers, and as she goes through her e-mail, she's ecstatic to see that she's been accepted to Petalburg U! As she looks over the info, she gets a pang of worry when she finds that the orientation is scheduled for tomorrow at 7 PM... Didn't Beldam have a chore for her then? Hopefully she's willing to negotiate. Vivian can't help but dryly laugh at the thought as she goes to do her chores and get breakfast ready. Remembering the wine bottle she saw out as she was heading to bed last night, she makes sure that Beldam's meal is a bit more salty.

"For all your faults on PUNCTUALLY getting back from your silly shows, I can at least say you listen to food critique, this is better than that bland 'food' you made the other day, Vivian."

"Thank you, Sis! Believe me, I know how you like your eggs, hm hm!"

"Hmm... you seem rather cheerful considering all the chores I made you do."

"I mean, it wasn't easy, but I'm always happy to make things easier for us! I was a little tired, but ya know, that's what I get for getting to bed late!"

"It is, isn't it."

"Yes, sis. Luckily, I did find out that I was accepted to start classes at Petalburg U!"

Marilyn then says, flatly but sincerely, "Congrats, Sis."

"Thank you!"

Vivian then turns back to Beldam, and isn't that surprised to see a scowl on her face as she says, "Hmm, so I imagine this WILL impact what you do around here."

"Honestly... I will be a lot more busy, so it probably will, Sis, but I want to be independent and not have to rely on you! There was something I needed related to that..." Vivian pushes on, ignoring Beldam's groan. "I know you want me to clean the decanters tomorrow at 7 PM, but that's when the orientation is... So could I maybe—"

"No."

Marilyn then places her hand on her younger sister's shoulder, "Could I do it instead... This sounds important to her..."

"We BOTH know that you don't have even an OUNCE of the dexterity you need to clean them."

Vivian then remember to when she checked the fridge, "W-wait Sis! What if I m-maybe... stopped by the store on the way back? I could get some Ice Pops!"

"Hmm, Ice Pops, well..." Beldam floats to the freezer, opening it up abruptly, and Vivian flinching at the cold air, and they see that there are only 3 left. "I suppose we WILL be out of those probably by then... I keep stress eating those dealing with YOU. Fine, you have to use your money though. Be sure to get the big pack of them."

Vivian mentally makes a note to do an extra trouble center request to make ends meet to get those. "I can do that. Thank you, Sis!"

"Yeah, whatever."

Vivian's orientation goes well. She finds out about how classes generally work and what kind of things are available around the university. She hopes to feel up to spending time around these places making friends, as it'd be nice to have a broad social life(and maybe an excuse to spend less time with Beldam, honestly...)

She also gets her schedule; she's not the happiest about having an 8 AM class, although it's in Archeology, and if the Professor is even half as good at making that sound interesting as Goombella was, then Vivian should still have no trouble staying awake! Her classes start in about 3 weeks, and she feels very excited to start. Just as she thinks that it won't be any trouble getting along with Beldam for the remaining weeks, she sees a wine bottle out, along with a very angry scowl from Beldam as she comes down to supper.

She decides to head back upstairs to her room, and get a snack and any leftovers from the fridge in a bit, but her heart rate skyrockets as she sees her doorknob turn, but it's luckily just Marilyn, "Guh!!!!"

"What is it, Sis?"

"Sis, Beldam, angry... You can stay... there... I snuck us some snacks..."

"Oh! Thank you so much, Sis..." Vivian goes along with Marilyn to her room, but Beldam still finds them hiding shortly after. "Now, why do we sisters all just HIDE from each other, SPOILING this wonderful family supper. why don't we come DOWN and just ENJOY a nice supper. I fixed your favorite, Marilyn..."

Beldam manages to convince her sisters to come down, but after supper finishes, Beldam forces Marilyn to go upstairs, and Vivian says, "So I guess I'll head up too, thanks for the meal, Sis!"

"WAIT just one second, my insolent brother." Vivian does what she usually does when Beldam misgenders her, just heads upstairs blithely saying, "I didn't know we got a new person in the family..."

She's then hit with ice shards, and Vivian angrily looks back. "Sis, I was hoping to avoid this but," then uses her fire magic to make it hot enough to where Beldam winces for a second. "Please don't make me do anything else, Sis..." She then makes a fire shield around herself as she continues, "What's wrong, anyway?"

"What's WRONG???? You SEE this decanter??? You clearly messed up cleaning it!!! As punishment, starting right now, you have to clean this box of decanters I just got. You have one hour."

"Wait, Sis, you said it was fine when I was cleaning it!" This situation is starting to seem all too familiar to Vivian, and she's lost her patience.

"You SHOULD have known that it was dirty! Does THAT look good to you at all???" Beldam forcefully holds a decanter up to Vivian, who veils away before it can get next to her face. "What are you even doing—"

Vivian intently says, "Sis, that's enough. I'm not going to accept you blaming me when I'm not at fault, like you used to do. I'm going to stay somewhere else for the night." Before Beldam has a chance to yell, Vivian gets her stuff from her room, and lets Marilyn know that she'll be staying at an inn for the night. "Will you be OK, sis?"

"Of course..." Marilyn flexes as she says, "She knows better than to hurt me... when she's a bit less drunk, I can try to talk to her..."

"Thank you so much, sis... Can you handle breakfast? I can try to sneak something up your window if you want..."

"Should be fine..."

Vivian nods, and gives Marilyn a hug, and before she heads out, decides to let her sister know, "By the way, Beldam likes her food salty when she's hungover!"

Marilyn gives a thumbs up and a nod of thanks, then Vivian heads through the window out of Twilight Town, her smile slowly returning... While she wishes Beldam will be nicer, spending the night away from home may do her some good.

Before she heads to the inn, she decides to get some groceries to make herself a good supper, since she snuck most of hers to Marilyn in a futile attempt to get the supper finished more quickly. Luckily she doesn’t really have to worry about Bandits trying to take her money, thanks to the intimidation badge she’s wearing… She doesn’t wear it that frequently, preferring to have her necklace on, but it’s nice to have. Her and her friends got it during a brutal challenge at the Pit of 100 Trials…

Early in the morning, Marilyn rises... she usually takes the opportunity to get an early morning workout in... this morning, however, she's prepared to work on fixing breakfast, she's a little new to this... She remembers what her youngest sister said... make it salty... Given the confrontation she'll soon have, she wants to fix it the best she can.

Chapter Text

After a particularly intense fight in the Pit of 100 Trials, Vivian glances down at her Jelly Ultra… the last one in their quickly dwindling Strange Sack. she so wants to just take a bite, to energize herself just a bit, but her only other companion left standing is the courageous, strong Goombella. Steeling herself, she offers it to Goombella, “H-here… you should take this, you look tired…”

“Viv… that wasn’t an easy fight for me at all… you look tired too… I know! How about we each, like, grab it by the mouth on each side!”

“I guess… you think that will be enough energy for you?”

“I hope so, at least! Regardless… you look like you could use some of this too!”

The two start from opposite sides, and after they’re finished with their portion, their lips touch… not hesitating for a second, they share a long, passionate kiss before preparing for their next fight. Goombella makes one boast before entering the pipe. ”Looks like this will be the 100th floor!! can you believe it, Viv?? We’ll probably be the few beings who have ever seen the bottom of this!! Wonder what’s down here??”

“Gosh… I know, I’d imagine whatever it is will be pretty rough…  wouldn’t it be interesting if it’s one of those strange mover creatures?”

“Well… would be relieving… and I won’t lie, a bit of a letdown… either way, will be something interesting to analyze from an archaeological context!”

Holding on to each other's shoulders, they head to the 100th floor, and find Bonetail. “RAWRRRRR!! You killed my 2 younger siblings!!”

Goombella asks, “Two? I only remember facing one dragon, Hooktail…”

“Wait, fuck, you do? So you haven’t gotten to Gloomtail— FUCK I shouldn’t have said his name, ANYWAY, not like that’s that important, it’s not like you’ll LIVE to remember this knowledge!!”

Vivian and Goombella start attacking Bonetail, and are whittling her health down. Goombella thinks she sees an opening, but Bonetail has a sneaky trick, and is about to attack Goombella with a strong blow that may finish her off… Right as Goombella braces herself for the attack, she feels Vivian's soft body as she swiftly pulls her down, and an instant later, she's completely submerged safely in the shadows, Bonetail’s teeth barely missing her. “Whoa!!!! Thanks so much there… I thought there was like… an opening… but now!! I can finish that dragon off!”

They end up barely clutching the victory and they find a badge in a chest that drops… From the party’s analysis, they find that it increases intimidation. Scrappy immediately says, “Aah yeah!!! Those competitors at the Glitz Pit will be REGRETTING facing me with THIS!!!!”

“Now now, why do you think it belongs in the hands of you? You’re just a diminutive child, maybe it should be entrusted to the GORGEOUS Madame Flurrie!”

“What??? Maybe YOU can say something after you quit losing your necklace every two seconds!”

“How rude, you ruffian!!!"

Vivian is more than tired of all the yelling and name-calling going on; it brings back way too many memories of how Beldam was… She looks over to Goombella, and sees that she’s just as tired of the argument. When Goombella meets her glance, she immediately whistles and yells to the group, “Quiet!!!!! I mean… couldn’t we just let each other have it when we need it for something? Ya know, our journey’s coming to an end—”

“Yeah yeah, I know what you’re going to say, you need to ‘analyze’ it and you’re just going to run off with it or some crap.”

“Let me finish! I was saying… what were you planning on doing after we defeat the Shadow Queen, Viv?”

“Oh of course you’re going to ask your GIRLFRIEND!!”

Goombella glares at Scrappy as Vivian starts to speak, “So um— Oh, did you have anything else you wanted to say, Scrappy?”

“You BET I–”

“No he didn’t, you can answer Vivian.”

“So I… I was going to go back… with my sisters…” Vivian sighs, “I’m not excited to do this, but I will probably have to beat them up…  I hope they’ll be nicer to me after that…”

Goombella then nudges Vivian as she says, “You aren’t excited? Not at all? That’s hard for me to believe!”

“Well… maybe just a bit excited, hmhm... like I usually like minimizing how much I have to hurt others, but even I must admit that it will be a bit satisfying, like after I let Beldam bully me for so long, proving that I am stronger than her and that I won’t let her mess with me.”

“Heck yeah! In case she's still mean after that… maybe you should keep the badge so she doesn’t bully you…”

“I suppose my troubles ARE all just first world problems at the end of the day… Goombella is on to the right idea here!” Flurrie agrees.

The party ends up coming to a decision to let Vivian have it after the journey ends, and she's a bit surprised, and shyly says, “Wait… you think… I should have it? I’m pretty sure like… Goombella, your headbonks… we definitely wouldn’t have gotten out alive without you…”

“I mean, true, but you also really helped, and I was a bit overly bold at points… I wouldn’t have been anything without having you there to veil me out of some scary situations I got myself into… Besides, I’m sure this badge will help scare your mean sister off from mistreating you!”

“Right… that’s right… Speaking of which… it’s probably time… thank you so much, Bella. If anyone wants to borrow it, please do let me know…”

Chapter Text

After a long summer at the Dry Dry Ruins, Goombella's happy to finally be in the relatively pleasant climate of Petalburg. She heads to the bookstore on a Saturday morning to pick up some books to assist with writing her analysis of the Dry Dry Ruins, to receive her final paycheck. She isn't looking forward to the long day she has finishing the analysis to turn it in tonight… As she enters the bookstore, she notices that it's much more crowded than usual… When she’s in line, one of the students behind her in line, a Koopa, says hi to her and asks if she's Goombella. As they chat, Goombella asks, "So anyway, what's, like, up with the crowd here anyway?!"

"Oh, you didn't know? Classes at Petalburg U start this Monday. You know how most people, myself included, have a tendency to wait till the last minute!!"

Wait, fuck, that's right... it's already that time again, and she needs to get her books for her first semester of grad school!! She was so excited about getting in, but she’s been busy with her internship and hasn’t had time to check what books she needs. She makes a note to come back here tomorrow morning as she says, “Oh, that’s right! So they finally got all up and running, huh?

“Yep! I peeked in at the orientation… looks like a nice roster of freshers this year! Really glad they're allowing all species, whether you're a Shadow Siren or a Luma, to attend there!”

As soon as Goombella hears the word 'Shadow Siren', her heart rate jolts up, and she remembers once again about Vivian, and regrets not being able to keep in touch with her… She hoped to use her free time when she was investigating the Dry Dry Ruins to call, but it turned out she didn’t have reception for, like, any of it! She couldn’t even check her social media– OK, maybe THAT wasn’t so bad for her mental health, but still, she definitely misses Vivian, not to mention how her sisters may be being to her… Goombella tries to get that worry off her mind; Vivian really proved her strength during their journey together, and surely she wouldn’t stand for anything bad happening…

After Vivian's night at the inn, she comes back home the next morning, and Beldam's in the living room. She just says, "Humph, I suppose we should talk about yesterday."

"I think that would be good, Sis... So why I went away... you punished me for not cleaning a decanter properly, when you said it was fine earlier! After you were misgendering me and yelling at me... It just reminded me too much of how you used to treat me. You promised that you would be nicer, but I really don't feel like you're doing well at that. I feel that... like when you're drunk, you tend to be very mean to me, so can you please... maybe try to cut back? I... I could maybe help! Maybe we could have a non-alcoholic game night!"

"Humph, I suppose I do treat you a little more harshly when I'm drunk, fine. I STILL enjoy drinking A LOT more than hanging out with your ditzy butt, and I'm not going to cut back, but I'll try to stay away from you when I do that."

Really the best Vivian could expect, she supposes. Luckily, the last few days before she starts college go well enough with Beldam, even if they're a little distant from each other.

Vivian wakes up excited at 5:15 AM on her first day of college. She usually wouldn't even consider getting up this early, but she wants to have plenty of time to do her makeup and get ready for today. She takes a shower, then starts shaving, as she notices a bit of stubble on her chin... she's considered getting laser hair removal, but that hasn't been a battle she's felt up to fighting with Sis. After she finishes, and does her makeup, she feels very euphoric as she looks at herself in the mirror. She then goes to get her necklace, but can't find it where she usually keeps her jewelry. She then looks all around her room, but can’t find it, even though she thinks she remembers where she last had it. She then checks the time... 6 AM; Beldam will be wanting her to start on breakfast soon... She sighs, and heads downstairs to fix breakfast. After she finishes breakfast, she asks Beldam, "So, hey, Sis... I can't find my necklace..."

"What, that ugly thing? Why are you asking ME? It's not mine."

"I mean... I just thought I may have left it in the kitchen, and I thought you may have seen it."

"Well, I haven't, now I don't have time to deal with you, I need to get to the store to get some stuff." She then heads out, and Vivian continues searching, but gets more worried as she can't find it... Oh no, she’d just feel the worst if she dropped it outside somewhere… She promised Flurrie she’d take good care of it, and if she lost it… guess she isn’t meant to— No. She tries to get out of her negative self-talk… she knows there’s nowhere it could have been, and she knows she didn’t even leave the house with it! She opted to leave it in her room the last time she went out, and take her intimidation badge instead… Wait. She decides to do an investigation before Beldam gets back, and heads into her room... Her heart breaks when she sees that her necklace is right there on Beldam's bed. She's about to take it, but despite needing to get to class soon, she decides to take a picture of it on the bed before taking it, hoping that she can get Beldam to tell the truth of what she did.

When Beldam comes in with some groceries, she grudgingly tells Vivian, “Humph, Since you’re already lounging around here, why don’t you make yourself useful and put these up for me.”

“Not until we talk about something, Sis…” Despite Beldam’s face looking to Vivian like she’s getting ready to yell, she continues, “So, about that necklace I lost… are you sure you didn’t like, maybe accidentally take it or something?” That was a bit more direct than Vivian meant to start it off, but hopefully that question opens Beldam up.

“What??? These groceries are dying JUST so I have to repeat myself??? I. Did. Not. See. Your. Ugly. Necklace!!”

“Sis… I– I know you took it…” Holding back tears, she shows Beldam the picture of the necklace she snapped on her phone.

“You know what, Fine. Maybe I DID! Like ugly klutzy boys like you should even be ALLOWED to have things like that anyway.”

“Sis!!! I should have known better than to think you would change…” She runs up to her room, crying.

About 10 minutes later, she’s still trying to think through everything… she knows it’s well past time to start getting ready to leave for school, but she can only think of how much she’s just let her sister push her around… she’s even stealing her stuff now??? A few minutes later, she comes to a realization. She has to get to the school, if only so she can take steps to get away from this place… she does a double take when she sees her face in the mirror, and quickly wipes off her smudged lipstick… Hopefully she doesn’t run into anyone she likes in her classes today…

After she cleans herself off after crying, she decides that her makeup looks... good enough, definitely not winning any awards, but she's already late, so she just heads on to class. She doesn't feel like dealing with Beldam, so she heads out her window...

As she lowers herself to the ground, she feels pokes in her tendril as crows try to perch on her. She shoos them away as she yells, with more venom in her voice than she expected, "Argh! Quit it!!" Wow, everything that happened today really put a dent in her mood... she sighs as she apologizes, knowing the crows are far away by now, "Sorry for yelling just... today's hard..."

When she makes it to her Archeology class, she looks at her phone, and realizes that she's already 20 minutes late... She considers just not going, as she'll just disturb the class... She perks up, though, upon hearing a voice that she can't place, but sounds very familiar through the door... Even though she's still considering whether or not to go, she feels the voice beckon her to attend, and notices her hand already slowly turning the doorknob... Luckily, no one seems to notice her float in. She slips next to the wall, and finds a seat pretty close to the front that's easy to get in quietly. She notices that the professor hasn't seemed to acknowledge her, still in the flow of teaching. As she gets her notebook out as the professor's talking, it suddenly dawns on her, and  she looks up at the professor, and sees Goombella?? She can't help herself but to let out a small gasp, which makes the Toad to her right turn their head a bit. She whispers an apology as softly as she can as she tries to catch up with Goombella's lecture and take notes.

After she has a few lines down, though, she notices Goombella look in her direction, and stumble on her words for a second, and then, after she finishes the topic she's on, Goombella says to the class, "Now give me, like, three minutes, need to head to the restroom!" Vivian feels her heart pounding as Goombella heads in her direction with a paper, and she has half a mind to hide in the shadows, as she worries that Goombella may be mad at her for being late, and she may even, if she's in a particularly sassy mood, make fun of her smudged makeup. Vivian calms down as Goombella looks at her with kind eyes, much like how Vivian imagines she looked when leaving the Super Shroom for her at the Boggly Woods. She hands Vivian the paper, and says to her in a very gentle, caring voice, "Hey, Vivian, here's what we've covered so far today."

"Th-thank you so much, Professor Goombella!"

"Of course!" Vivian notices her trying to resist a giggle, and as she leaves, Vivian realizes that, despite how long it's been since the two of them have talked, Goombella still really cares about her... She finds herself smiling for the first time in awhile as she reviews the notes Goombella gave her.

A few minutes later, Goombella comes back into class, and as she's teaching, Vivian finds it easy to pay attention, with Goombella's passionate teaching energy bringing back pleasant memories of when she chatted with Vivian about why she found Archeology so intriguing.

As class is ending, despite having her Sorcery class in 30 minutes, she tries to talk to Goombella, but sees a lot of students lined up asking her questions, some less polite about it than others. She overhears a Cleft yell, "This line's taking forever! Hurry it up!" She decides to head out and try to find Goombella later, but she hears her voice as she's about to leave the room, "Everyone, like, chill out! I'm just one Goomba! I'll get to you all soon—Viv, wait up!" She asks the student she's talking to to wait a second as she runs to Vivian, saying in an enthusiastic, but panting voice, "Didn't expect to see you here! We should, like, hang out some time today if you're free soon!"

Vivian then remembers how Beldam said she needed to be back immediately after classes, but decides to not worry about that. "Hey! So I do have like... another class soon, but after that I could..."

"Awesome! Here's my number, you can text me later when you're ready!"

"Cool, thank you!"

"Also... it's really good to see ya again, Viv, and good luck with the rest of your classes!"

"It's really good to see you too, Professor Goombella, see you soon!"

Before Vivian's Sorcery class, she takes the time to remove and reapply her lipstick, then goes ahead and adds the number Goombella gave her to her contacts. She then floats to her next class enthusiastically. She's really excited to hang out with Goombella later, and also excited for her Sorcery class because there's apparently a Shadow Siren, named Brittany, also taking the class, according to the roster. Beldam always insisted that there weren't any other Shadow Sirens besides her and her two sisters, so Vivian's curious about meeting Brittany. She noticed that Brittany explicitly listed her pronouns on her class profile, which helps Vivian feel a bit more confident that she's not going to be transphobic to her like Beldam is. Vivian notices, however, as she's waiting in her Sorcery class, that Brittany doesn't show up, and neither does her professor, even when it gets to be 12 minutes after her class is supposed to start... She overhears a couple of Magikoopas whispering excitedly to each other about how they can just leave if the professor doesn't show up in three minutes... apparently it's called the '15 minute rule'? 

As some students are putting their materials back in their backpack, however, an Ember arrives in the class, carrying teaching materials, and everyone groans, the Ember saying in response, "Yeah, yeah, we ALL want a day off in this world... However, Sorcery in real life hardly EVER gives you a day off... Sorcery, for instance, makes strong drinks... my DAMNED headache would know..." They groan, and Vivian then flinches as they glare at her, "Anyway, name's Embrex, I suppose I'll be teaching stuff this semester. First, we're going to do an assessment of your Sorcery skills. We'll start with you, Vivian. Cast your most volcanic Fiery Jinx on me."

"Oh! W-wait... are you sure?"

"I'll wait when this HEADACHE decides to shut up. Cast it ASAP if you care for your grade."

Vivian then remembers back to when she fought some Embers at the Pirate's Grotto, and accidentally healed them with her Fiery Jinx, and feels a bit of revulsion as she realizes that Embrex is just trying to get free first aid out of her. Regardless, she focuses her thoughts inward, and casts her spell on Embrex. She knows she did it successfully when they shout in relief, "AHHHHHHHH OH my goodness, this DAMNED headache is finally gone, thank— I mean, good work, Vivian."

Despite the strange start to her Sorcery class, Vivian finds it interesting, and she's excited to learn some clever and useful applications of her spells. Brittany, however, doesn't end up making it to class, so Vivian worries a bit about what may have happened. Hopefully she'll be in during her next class!

After her Sorcery class, Vivian is finished with classes for the day, so she gets out her phone, and after a bit of hesitation, sends Goombella a text.

Vivian then waits for a response, and after a couple of minutes pass without a reply, she starts worrying that Goombella may not want to hang out, as she's probably really busy, and she sounded like she had a long day earlier... Oh no, did Vivian wake her from a nap?? How could she... she considers sending an apology for possibly doing that, but before she can, Goombella replies,

Vivian breathes a sigh of relief as she reacts to the message with a ♥️. She spends a bit of time exploring the university, then heads to the Item Shop.

Chapter Text

Gosh, that was, like, NEVER how Goombella expected her morning to go... she felt at ease teaching at the beginning of the session, but couldn't help but get a pang of guilt in her heart as she saw Vivian in her class, with a smile that she could tell was hard for the Shadow Siren to keep. Why didn't she just find the time to check up on Vivian earlier this year?? In any case, at that moment, she did her best to help, and based on how Vivian reacted and perked up after Goombella gave her the extra set of notes that the printer printed out, she feels like she did well as a whole today, at least. She can't help but be a lot more nervous about how Vivian's summer has been, though.

Goombella gets ready for her date—whoa, what's she thinking?? It's just a nice hangout with a good friend who she figures could use some companionship, after how her morning has likely been... One thing she learned about Vivian through her journey is that she still has trouble asking others for things, or really imposing at all... Goombella surmises that Vivian was likely late for class due to something bad happening with her sisters, as much as she doesn't want to believe it... Goombella then takes a breath, and tries to relax... Occam's Razor... Vivian is a Shadow Siren with a rather nocturnal sleep schedule; she probably just overslept! In any case, Goombella was very happy to see her there, and after the initial shock, she felt a passion to do the best job she could at teaching, and she feels she did pretty well, at least judging by how intently Vivian seemed to be listening and taking notes! Goombella brushes her hair, deciding to wear it long, and puts on a cute T-shirt, and heads out.

As the clock outside the Petalburg item shop reads 12:58 PM, Vivian starts getting anxious... could Goombella have possibly changed her mind? She is apparently a professor now, and she may have gotten caught up in research... As she considers texting to see where she's at, she sees a cute Goomba with long blond hair... that looks familiar, wait, no, that's Goombella!! First time Vivian has seen Goombella in that style, and also... in a T-shirt? She's used to seeing Goombella wear more durable gear, but in any case, Vivian thinks the T-Shirt looks amazing on her. When Vivian and Goombella's eyes meet, the Shadow Siren's worries melt away as Goombella smiles brightly and runs over to Vivian, hugging her tightly, "Oh, Viv!! There you are, it's so great to see you!!"

Vivian giggles, saying happily, "Oh! Likewise, Bel—Professor Bella... I'm just... so happy to see you too!"

Vivian then feels a tickle as Goombella's body rubs against her as she giggles, "Viv, I appreciate the flattery, but you can just call me 'Bella' or 'Goombella', don't worry!"

Vivian then decides to say, "So um... I appreciate you spending time with me... I'd imagine you've had a long day."

"Today certainly hasn't been the easiest, but no worries, Viv, ever since we talked, I've been looking forward to this all day!" Goombella's stomach then rumbles, "Well, whaddya say we find somewhere to get some grub so I can shut this stomach up?"

"Oh, right... I haven't eaten since... Breakfast, I think, so I could use something to eat." Vivian worries that Goombella may have caught how her enthusiasm dampened after she remembered breakfast... She is pretty perceptive, after all... She doesn't want to worry Goombella about her troubles, when Goombella already seems to have had a lot to deal with...

Vivian and Goombella decide to head to a cafe on the outskirts of Petalburg. It's a bit far away, although Vivian hardly minds the chance to chat with Goombella as they're walking there. Vivian checks her purse for money... oh, right, she didn't carry any... she left in a hurry that morning, and didn't think to bring any. Oh no... she'll need to return back home, but how will Beldam be— "Hey, are you alright, Vivian?" She hears Goombella's sympathetic voice, which makes Vivian notice that her worries are showing on her face. She sighs, "So I'm sorry, Goombella... but can I please go back to... T-Twilight Town? Realized I didn't bring any coins with me..."

"Vivian, I was planning on paying for our meal, don't worry."

"R-really? You don't mind?"

“Not at all!”

“Thank you so much… If you’re low on cash and need me to pay you back, I should be able to get some money…”

“Don’t worry about it!”

A bit later, Goombella is checking the menu on her phone,  "I know what I'm getting! That bacon, lettuce, and shroom sandwich REALLY hits the spot, and, like, even more with a chilled Hoolumbian! Whaddya think you'll get, Viv??"

"Oh, hmm... m-maybe... a small club sandwich? Sh-shouldn't need anything to drink, I have water in my purse..."

"Whoa, Viv, you KNOW we can splurge a LITTLE more than that!!"

"R-really?? I know things have been— I hear grad school is really expensive..."

"I mean it's not cheap, but I'm still doing alright for myself! My internship paid pretty well this semester, and I just really want us both to have an awesome time now that we're finally seeing each other again!!"

"Aww, thanks, Bella... I'm just so happy to finally see you again, too." Vivian makes a note to not worry about getting back at any specific time, despite Beldam's orders. She looks through the menu for something that looks good, not worrying as much about the price... hmm! "Oh! So the Shroom Steak sandwich looks good... and you know what, I could use some caffeine, so a Hoolumbian sounds really good to me, too."

"Heck yeah!"

"So anyway... was it a long teaching day for you?"

Goombella sighs, "Honestly, planning what I wanted to teach on two hours notice was probably the worst of it, Viv."

"Gee whiz!! For what it's worth, I thought you taught really well! You just have... such a good way of showing your passion for Archeology that gets me excited for it!"

"Thank you, Vivian, that really does mean a lot, especially from you."

After they get to the cafe and place their orders, Goombella thinks on how Vivian sounded worried whenever she mentioned things that happened in the morning, and she's tempted to immediately ask about how Vivian's sisters have been, but decides to tread a little more lightly. "So, how are ya liking college so far?"

"Oh, my classes have seemed pretty nice so far, and I'm excited to learn!" Vivian then averts her gaze as she coyly says, "My Archeology professor is very nice..."

Goombella gives a hearty giggle, "You're so sweet, Vivian... I am afraid it's only temporary... Frankly said he should be around to take over classes for the next session, but he was caught up in research and couldn't teach today, as I learned at 5:30 AM this morning!"

"Oh, wow! I suppose that's why you giggled when I called you 'Professor Goombella', then?"

"That, basically, yeah! I'd imagine hearing you call me that would have me blushing even if I was an actual professor, though!"

Vivian giggles, then shortly after, says, "Th-thank goodness it's only temporary..."

Goombella then smirks, and says in a jokingly exasperated tone, "Wait, 'Thank goodness?' Gosh, you're not easy to please, are ya? Come on, was I really THAT boring? You seemed to be listening to me pretty intently with that cute face of yours!"

"Oh, it's n-not that at all, you're a great, passionate teacher! It's just that... w-well... I wouldn't want like... any favoritism for anything like... say if you need to start grading stuff..."

"Nah, I wouldn't worry about that, Frankly's pretty insistent that he's the only one who does that!"

Goombella then continues, "How did your other class today go?"

"It was... definitely interesting... it was taught by an Ember named Embrex..."

"Oh, Embers, that's right! Those annoying enemies we fought in the Pirate's Grotto that we had to rely on items for!"

"Yep! I definitely remembered that when they made me use a Fiery Jinx on them..."

"Wait, wh—ohhhhh, so, like, basically using you for First Aid, then."

"Yep..." Vivian sighs, and continues, "The idea of being able to use my magic for that purpose is still intriguing, though, and the class was still pretty neat... apparently there's another Shadow Siren in the class, too! However, she didn't show up today..." Vivian expects Goombella to look worried as she mentions another Shadow Siren in her class, but Vivian's surprised to see a look of relief on her face.

"Whoa, that's exciting! I'd imagine it will be nice to have another Shadow Siren to hang with, besides your sisters!"

"Yeah... Sis isn't really that open to Marilyn or I about the history of our species, so I'm looking forward to getting to know her!"

"Hope she shows up soon!"

"Thanks... yeah, she probably just overslept!"

Shortly after, the food arrives, and Vivian takes a bite, "Wow!! This is so good!"

"Really glad ya like it... whoa! this is really good too!!"

The conversation then temporarily takes a break as the two of them eat in comfortable silence. Goombella does notice that Vivian is looking at her phone with a slightly worried face, so Goombella decides that it's time to delve into a more heavy subject. "By the way, Viv... where are you going to be living during college? Ya staying at a dorm?"

"I thought I'd just travel back and forth from Twilight Town, staying with my sisters..." Vivian sighs quietly, which Goombella picks up on.

"They aren't being jerks to you still, are they?" Goombella notices Vivian flinching, then saying, "Oh! W-well... I've been getting along well with Marilyn... She's been helping me a lot... during harder times in our house..."

"I'm glad she is. She honestly struck me as complicit in Beldam's mistreatment of you, so I'm glad she's being nicer... How's Beldam been?"

"Oh... well she's been... t-trying, I think..."

"'Trying'? So, purely speaking from execution, Beldam isn't exactly winning any 'best sister of the year' awards, I'm guessing?"

"I... I guess not, but you know how she is... she has a pretty strict personality."

"Yep, she definitely isn't the most pleasant person. The thing is, Vivian... that I also know that she promised to not be mean to you anymore. Has she been keeping up her end of the promise?"

“Well… I think she’s still getting used to having to gender me properly… she still slips up quite a bit, but I hope she’s doing her best…”

“Whether or not she’s doing her best, if it’s hurting you, then that’s still not OK, and she needs to find a way to get better about that.”

“Right… You’re right, Goombella, also… ya know that show that Flurrie had?”

“Oh, right! Really wish I could have made it, but I was busy investigating the Dry Dry Ruins for my internship… Heard you were there… Gosh, If I would have known that, I may have just begged a Pokey in Dry Dry Desert to, like, use their cannon to travel back there for a night…”

“Hmhmhm! Ya know, I’m just happy we’re able to hang out now! Anyway, I went for supper after the show with the others who were there, but she yelled at me about not being home till midnight, even though I did text her to let her know I’d be late…”

“Gosh, that sucks, Vivian… like for fucks sake… one of the things I fucking wanted her to do was NOT try controlling you like she did… She didn’t punish you because of that, did she?”

"Nah, don't worry, Goombella... I've been sure to stick up for myself when she's tried punishing me, and she backed off... most of the time..." Vivian then takes a breath, Goombella listening intently, "I do suppose... she has been drinking more lately, and sometimes when she's really drunk, she intentionally misgenders me, and yells at me more..."

Goombella then gets out of her seat to offer a hug to Vivian, which she accepts. "I'm so sorry, Vivian... You deserve so much better..."

"Thank you so much, Bella... I have had to cast a few warning spells on her, like when she seems to want to hurt me..."

"I'm glad you're doing that... like I can tell all she's done is not easy for you..."

“I wish I could say that’s the worst she’s done, but I’m still pretty nervous about coming back home after this morning… I was up early, and excited to learn… but then we had a really bad fight…That did make me late to your class… I considered not even going, honestly… but I have to get away from her.”

“Vivian, I’m super happy you showed up, and it was really great to see you there. I figured that things must have been hard for you. What did that jerk do?”

“So I was getting ready for school, but couldn’t find my necklace… I asked Sis where it was, but she told me she didn’t see it… but It turned out that she stole it…altho–” 

“What the–” Goombella starts to speak, but notices Vivian still talking, so she waits for her to finish, 

“The worst is… I gave her a chance to tell the truth after finding that out, but she lied, and even misgendered me as she admitted it.”

“What the fuck???? Vivian, I’m so sorry… like she’s such a fucking jerk… I should have kept in better touch with you and spent more time with you… and just, like, made sure she wasn’t being mean to you.”

“I mean, that’s not your fault at all… like I didn’t really reach out either…”

“I’ve also just been like… things have been so busy for me lately… just wasting time with my head in the books…”

“Bella… I don’t think you were wasting your time at all! I really admire your passion for Archeology, and like I’d imagine school was really tough for you, and it was important for you to get your degree, right?”

“That’s true, Viv, but thinking about all I’ve sacrificed, and how far I’ve stretched myself, which has ultimately ended up hurting both myself and others… I can’t help but regret not being able to come over like I’ve wanted to…” Goombella then says in a more upbeat tone, “But hey!!! What do ya say that changes today??”

“Oh! You want to… c-come over?”

“Oh, absolutely! Honestly just being around you again feels really nice, not to mention giving that mean sister of yours a piece of my mind!” 

“I… wh-what would Sis say…”

“I’d imagine she MAY be a bit pissed at me– right… Viv… I know that could also make things hard on you… Like I feel if Beldam tried doing anything to you as a result of that… Well I’d headbonk the shit out of her for one, but I also think you’re strong enough to fight back!”

“That is true… the only thing is… I am worried that if I upset her too much, she may kick me out… or just be so mean that I want to move out… she still is the head of what supports us ,even if I do help…”

“Ya know what… I have a bed at my place… but I’m small enough that I can sleep well on the futon nearby, so if you’d like, and if things don’t work out… Um you could, like, stay with me if you need to?”

Vivian thinks, “Um… w-wouldn’t that inconvenience you…” Goombella shakes her head, “Honestly… it is getting pretty lonely there anyway… not that I want you to leave Twilight Town if you don’t want to, of course, but just want to be sure that you know that I’m here for ya!”

“Oh… oh my goodness… thank you so much, that really does mean just so much to me, Goombella… that I’ll like, have your support if Sis does the worst…"

"Of course!"

Goombella then pays for their meal, and the two of them head out, but Vivian notices that Goombella isn't heading toward Twilight Town. "Oh, wait, where are we even going?”

“Oh, I was just, like, going to my apartment to get my gear back from our adventure! Ya know, give Beldam memories of my pulverizing multibonk!”

“I’d imagine that would certainly do that!”

After Goombella gets her gear from her apartment, her and Vivian head to Twilight Town, silent for a while, Goombella having a serious look on her face. Goombella's intense glare at least has the benefit of making the Hammer Brothers leave them alone, although Vivian can’t help but be slightly intimidated by it, even though she knows it’s not directed at her. After about ten minutes, she finally works up the courage to timidly ask, “Um… s-so Goombella… about um…” 

Goombella’s face quickly softens when she looks up at Vivian, “Sorry, I must have, like, looked a bit scary there. What’s on your mind, Viv? Ya know you can tell me anything!”

“I’m just wondering… um were you… planning on headbonking Beldam…?”

“Unless you really think that will make things worse, and don’t want me to, probably. I can try to resist if you don’t want me to.”

“Well… I m-mean… she was really mean… I really thought she’d make more of an attempt to change… but this morning really makes me think she’s just stuck in her old ways…”

“You can say that again! She stole your necklace, Viv!! Honestly… the only thing keeping me from just abducting you away from your sister is that I know not having contact with others of your species would be rough on you.”

“Yeah… like staying with you… it would be nice… but even though Sis has been mean, she did start improving for a bit after we defeated the Shadow Queen, and I really thought I could get through to her…” Vivian takes a breath, and continues with a melancholic, but confident voice, “Maybe all she needs is a good headbonk.”

Goombella giggles for the first time in awhile, “Then I’m your girl!”

“Thank you… so so much… like… I will say, she could fight back though, so I will do my best to protect you if she does.”

“Thanks, I’d imagine she will! Not the first time I’ve headbonked her for being a jerk!”

When they arrive at Twilight Town, Vivian looks at her phone, and winces as she sees that it's already 4 PM. Beldam will probably be pretty angry, but Goombella cuddles to her side, and Vivian relaxes a bit, knowing that she has Goombella by her side in case Beldam's mean to her.

When they make it inside Vivian's house, She soon hears Beldam's angry voice, "So!!! You're LATE, you KNOW that I've TRIED to be nice about that, but this time, I canNOT excuse— ARGHHHHHHH!!!!!" Before Beldam can continue her tirade, Goombella immediately headbonks her, saying in the angriest voice that Vivian has ever heard out of her, "Consider that a warning. If you're mean to Vivian again, I'll bonk you much harder."

"What??? You THINK you can just do that??" Beldam starts casting an ice storm on Goombella, however Vivian quickly springs into action, veiling in front of Goombella, and protecting the two of them with a fire shield, while intently saying, "Sis, no, you've been very mean to me lately, when you promised that you wouldn't be mean anymore. Goombella here, she cares about me a lot, and neither of us will take one bit of your mistreatment."

Beldam then gets a frustrated look on her face as she asks Goombella, "What are YOU doing here, anyway??"

"Thought I'd come around to see how things are going, and I can see YOU'RE as vicious as I've come to expect. Anyway, you remember what we talked about last time?? I won't stand for you mistreating this amazing Shadow Siren."

"Humph. I work hard around here, and it's just harder with Vivian always shirking her duties." Of course she's too much of a coward to misgender Vivian when talking to Goombella...

"Sis, I understand that you work to provide for us, and I do my best to help make things easier around here! Just this morning I was fixing breakfast for us! I still have my own social life and things to do, though, and I don't like how controlling you've been!"

"I suppose you're referring to the curfew I've set."

"Honestly... I don't really like that, Sis, as I've mentioned, I'm an adult and I have my own things to do, so you shouldn't control me like that!"

"I do suppose that isn't really a battle worth fighting. Fine. Consider the curfew lifted."

"Oh! I'm glad you're doing that, Sis... one more thing, I do help out here and work hard... I don't like how intrusive you're being when I look into ways to live my own life... I just wish you'd be a little more flexible about things....

"So?? This house is not cheap, Vivian. So I need all of us working our hardest. I spend a lot of money keeping your butt fed, Missy."

"I mean, if you have a problem with that, I don't see why you're so resistant to me doing things to support myself, or wait, no, I see why you are, because if I do move away, you won't be able to steal things like that necklace of mine!"

Vivian notices Beldam about to yell, but then Goombella clears her throat, and Beldam just says, "Humph, whatever, maybe I shouldn't steal your things. Sorry I guess."

"You 'Guess'?" Goombella growls.

"Fine, I was wrong, is THAT what you wanted me to fucking say???"

"I appreciate you admitting that, Sis, but I just hope you understand that I'm used to you admitting that and going back to your old ways... if you do that again, well I may have to move somewhere safer..."

Goombella nods her head as she says, "I honestly fucked up, not coming back here sooner, but I'm not going to make that mistake again. If you're mean to her, you'll come to regret that."

"Fine." Beldam then veils to her room.

"So, erm, well... how do you think that went?" Goombella asks.

“Ya know… better than I expected, really… Beldam never really seems to like… if it’s against someone strong, she can back down surprisingly quickly… She is a bit cold now, but maybe she just needs time to think. Thank you for helping me there… I think things should be good between Sis and I now…” 

“Please do remember, if they aren’t, you have a place at my house.”

After the heartfelt conversation, they’re soon frantically playing Contra, and Goombella jumps up on the waterfall too quickly, leaving Vivian tumbling into the abyss. “So I’ll just jump– Aah, gee whiz! Bella, I still needed to jump up there!!”

“Whoa, oops! Kinda just jumped and caused your cute butt to get thrown in a pit, huh?”

Vivian giggles and blushes as she says, “You can say that again!!”

After they're finished playing video games, Goombella asks, "Ooh! Can I, like, see the crows?"

"Hm hm, of course!"

They go next to Vivian's house, and Vivian tightly hugs Goombella to her to veil them both into the shadows. Goombella whispers, "Whoa! That's right, you hugging me is the best part of this!"

'Caw! Caw! Have you EVER seen Vivian angry like that??'

Vivian quickly unveils Goombella, "Um, let's go... somewhere else if that's OK... I'd rather not think about earlier."

"Of course, Vivian." Vivian feels a little sad thinking on her experience getting to school, but her spirits are quickly boosted back up when Goombella gives her a quick, tight hug. They then find a tree with crows farther away, and Vivian veils Goombella again.

'Caw! Caw! Little Tommy finally came back from the US! Apparently it was like hell getting a hotel room there, says there that a room for one night set him back 700 coins!!'

Vivian then unveils Goombella a little bit away, and whispers to Goombella, "Gee whiz! Good thing the Thousand Year Door was located somewhere pretty far away from the United States, where inns are cheap!"

"Got that right!"

After they explore Twilight Town a bit more, Vivian checks her watch... "Whoa, where has the time gone! It's nearly 7! I should probably get started on cooking supper, but thank you so much for coming over and just helping with everything..."

"Oh, of course! Thank you for inviting me... We need to do this again sometime! Viv... if you ever need anything, you have my number."

The two share a hug before Vivian floats back into her home happily.

Chapter Text

As Vivian's fixing supper, she can't help but worry about what Beldam will do now that Goombella's gone, but even if Beldam's mean, she feels that she can stick up for herself, and worst case, she at least has Goombella's home. After she's finished cooking, she goes upstairs, and sees the light on in Beldam's room, so she quietly knocks. "H-hey, Sis... it's about supper time, the Hamburgers and Onions are ready to eat..."

Beldam coldly says, "Humph. I'm not hungry. Leave my plate in the fridge and I'll eat it later."

"Oh... OK, Sis." Vivian is slightly disappointed, as she wanted a chance to see if Beldam would be warmer after the confrontation, but supper should at least be calm. She knocks on Marilyn's door. "Hey, Sis, supper's ready!"

"Minute!!!" Shortly after saying that, Marilyn enthusiastically runs down the stairs, and her and Vivian start eating. About a minute into the meal, Marilyn points to Beldam's seat, and grunts.

"Well... ya know how our big sis can be kind of... well mean at times, especially when she's drunk... well I got into a bit of an argument with her, and I think she's mad..."

"Aww... I'm sorry, Sis..."

"Thank you... I hope she cools off soon..."

After a bit of effort, Vivian manages to get the conversation flowing with Marilyn, and while she’s worried about Beldam not speaking to her, she’s happy for the opportunity to have some alone time with Marilyn.

After supper, she considers if there may be a way to get Beldam to quit being cold, but decides to just not worry about it for now, as she's pretty exhausted after the long day she had. She takes a bit of time to look over her notes, then gets ready for bed, and is soon fast asleep by 9:30 PM.

After leaving Vivian's home, Goombella decides to stick around a bit in Twilight Town, in case Beldam's violent to Vivian. She gets near the crows, curious for more facts about the US economy... yep, silent as a rock when Vivian isn't veiling her... She stops by  the store to pick up a couple of Power Punches, and as she gets her money out of her purse, her hand grazes her phone, which reminds her that she hasn't checked it since her lunch with Vivian, where she put it on silent. She gets it out after leaving the store, and is abruptly brought back to the harsh reality of her obligations when she reads her texts, and finds out that she has several missed texts from Professor Frankly, asking how teaching went.

She briefly forgot about her work for awhile as she was talking and hanging with Vivian. and being with the beautiful Shadow Siren really just made her feel much more relaxed and happy, just not worrying about anything else other than the girl near her. This feeling feels new to Goombella, as ever since she could remember, she wasn’t much of a people person, preferring to stay inside reading and researching…Vivian’s kind, genuine personality… not to mention her beautiful smile, just can make Goombella feel on cloud nine, even when times are hard... As Goombella's thinking and looking through Frankly's texts, she hears another ping, and sees that Frankly tried texting her again. She sighs, back to the real world...

Despite Frankly explicitly asking about late arrivals, She doesn’t mention Vivian being late, as Frankly can be pretty strict and cold with regards to punctuality, so Goombella imagines that he wouldn’t be too compassionate to Vivian’s troubles with her sister. 

As Goombella is heading home, she notices everyone in the Rogueport Sewers cowering away from her... she remembers back, right. She must have came across as pretty intimidating when she was going over to Twilight Town!

When she steps into her apartment, she's a bit taken aback by the state of it... She has to admit, she's been pretty busy, so cleaning up after herself has DEFINITELY been on the back burner. At the moment though, she feels a renewed sense of energy to clean up her apartment.

After about 15 minutes of putting all of the dishes in her sink into the dishwasher and starting it, she feels her stomach grumble... Well, this is bad timing! Would Vivian possibly mind going out AGAIN for supper— right, she said she needed to get ready to fix supper at her house.

She decides to just drink one of her Power Punches for now... Not the first time she's had a protein shake supper! After she finishes it, she continues cleaning. When she checks her drawer, she notices some wine, and winces for a second. She was planning on having that tonight, to just relax after her hard day...

She decides at this moment, though, to pour all of it into the sink, and do her best to cut back on her drinking, especially considering how mean Beldam was to Vivian when she was drunk... She has to admit, she didn't really expect Beldam's abuse to be drinking related, but in any case, she decides that Vivian doesn't need that environment if she does come over.

As Goombella cleans, with some pop music playing, she realizes that, despite already feeling hungry again, she still feels happy, and in the mood to sing and dance to the music... Hanging out with Vivian was really just the best time, and it really would be nice to live with her.. Goombella then reminds herself, 'Right, this is just in case Beldam still mistreats her, let's hope she doesn't...'

After she's finished cleaning, she decides to text Vivian.

Goombella sighs when she reads that... hopefully it's, 'Quiet' as in 'thinking about her mean behavior', and not 'Quiet' as in 'thinking on how to still be mean without repercussions'. She slowly texts back, thinking of what to say.

As Goombella's heading to bed that night, her diary catches her eye... right, it's been awhile since she's wrote in it; she traveled as light as she could when she went to the Dry Dry Ruins, and was too tired to want to write in it toward the end of her senior year of undergrad. She feels like writing in it today, though.

It's certainly been awhile since I've wrote in this thing! Anyway, like, imagine my surprise when I was so RUDELY awakened by my phone going off at 5:30 AM in the morning! I thought it was, like, a scam, but then I looked at the caller ID, and was shocked to see Frankly calling. He wanted me to teach his 8 AM Archeology I class! That seemed silly, and my tired brain thought he may be joking, so I muttered, "Very funny." I hung up and tried to get back to sleep, but my phone rang again immediately after, him saying, "Goombella. I'm being serious. With my research, I haven't had time to put together a lesson plan, and you have an adventure's worth of experience; You know what you're doing. This is with pay." At those last four words, I jolted out of bed, and asked how I could be expected to teach on such short notice, but he just joked about it being a few more pots of coffee... To think I was planning on kicking my caffeine addiction... After somehow making a lesson plan and getting myself up and about, I headed to the Archeology building to print out the lesson plan and notes I prepared.

Class started pretty well… I could tell explaining stuff to Mario all throughout our adventure about a year ago really helped me know how to convey stuff in a clear and interesting way for an introductory class! About 20 minutes in, though, I thought I heard the door open and close very quietly, but was in the teaching flow too much to pay it any mind.

A bit later, though, I looked to the right as I was talking, and could not believe my eyes when I saw Vivian, who has been on my mind more than I care to admit this past year, in the class! I was worried by the look on her face, though... She had a smile that I could tell was hard for her to keep, and her lipstick also looked… a bit smudged? Still easily the cutest being in the room, though. Really, her look reminded me WAY too much of how she felt when she was working with her sisters…

In any case, seeing her made all sorts of things flow through my mind, and I needed to splash some water on my face, so I let everyone know I was heading to the restroom. Good thing the printer messed up and gave me two copies of my notes! I gave a copy to Vivian, gently telling her that this was what we went over so far… She looked grateful, calling me ‘Professor Goombella’, gosh! I hope I did an OK job at hiding my blush…

I figured that she was probably late for a reason… relating to her sisters… God, I fucked up… Why didn’t I keep in touch with her and make sure her sisters weren’t mistreating her??

I took my time in the restroom just coming to terms with everything… this could be my chance to correct this… after I feel that Vivian had enough time to review the notes I gave, I headed back, and luckily Vivian looked quite a bit happier, and she seemed to be engaged with the rest of my lecture.

After I finished answering questions and unwinding a bit, I finally got to hang out with Vivian, and I could tell she really appreciated me paying for her meal. Unfortunately, it was just as I feared, and that ASSHOLE Beldam was being mean to her. I did get my vengeance on her, at least. Beldam did seem to back off a bit after Viv and I confronted her, but I'm still worried that she'll continue being mean, considering her history. I did offer Vivian my place to stay at… I just hope she doesn’t think she’s imposing, because GOD this place is getting lonely…

She then takes a look at one past entry, back when her and Vivian first met.

It all just seemed so simple, getting back a necklace… I knew, like, EXACTLY where it was! On the neck of that cute Shadow Siren… Vivian, I believe her name was? We met as we headed into the Boggly Woods! Gosh, she just looked so beautiful, and she didn’t seem like much of a jerk… Apparently her group is like, trying to kill us? Vivian did seem to be trying to talk her teammates into just asking for our treasure map, though. As if they'll get it that easily!

Anyway! The plan was simple, try to get her away from her sisters, and ask for the necklace back, explaining that we’ve found the owner. Ideally we would do this without force, assuming she cooperates… In the heat of the moment, though, they seemed a bit more threatening as I actually met them again… I was able to get Vivian alone, but something about the situation fired me up, and I initiated a bit of a scuffle between us… after we fought for a bit, though, she was cooperating, and was about to hand me the necklace… THEN there was her jerk sister yelling at her… that face on her when she was yelled at by her sister… clearly a face of panic,  driven by years of abuse, I’d surmise…

In any case, I just wanted to hug her, honestly, but as I tried to say something, she attacked me with a light flame, and I impulsively countered after wincing a bit. At that point, she looked exhausted, and I could tell how much having to fight for her sister was wearing her out.

As she gave halfhearted platitudes on how she’d defeat me, I looked over at how my companions were faring…  well enough, Marilyn and Beldam looked like they didn’t have any more fight left in them, and Beldam’s energy was mainly getting taken up by yelling at Marilyn for getting dizzied by Koops’ shell.

I decided it was time to put an end to the fight. I used my sleepy sheep to put Vivian to sleep, and gently took the necklace off her neck. Thinking on how Vivian must have felt after our battle, I put one of our spare Super Shrooms next to her purse, with a  note for her, that I hoped would help the slightest bit in helping her sever from her sisters.

Seeing that the other two sisters were still deep into an argument, I nodded to my companions, and we headed off, hopeful that Vivian would at least get to sleep a bit before getting woken up by Beldam…

After reminiscing on the first time she met Vivian, she thinks back to when Vivian stopped working for her sisters, and started fighting alongside Goombella and her friends.

Chapter Text

After Goombella and her friends defeat that strange shadow being, they make their trek back to Twilight Town, but some Boos grab them at the Creepy Steeple. Goombella starts noticing something… strange about Mario when they do. Usually, Goombella would expect him to respond with something to the effect of, ‘AWAWAWA Get off me!' Today, however, he angrily swings his hammer, yelling, 'Leave us alone, you fuckers!!!' Goombella shrugs it off, though, just sassily saying, “Gee Mario, that’s the first time I’ve ever heard you swear!” “WHAT??? Oh, I mean… you should hear me during heated moments with Bowser!”

As they're battling two Dayzees on Twilight Trail, Mario has an idea for a team attack. "Hey, Bella! What do you say I just fucking THROW you at the enemy!! That'd make those Dayzees regret fucking with us, huh??"

"Oh, um... I m-mean... I'd rather us just do our usual attacks... I don't know if I'd really be comfortable with you throwing me, Mario..."

"You WOULDN'T??? Humph. Fine."

The battle ends up being trickier than they anticipated, in no small part due to Mario continuing to argue with Goombella... luckily, they soon arrive at Twilight Town.

After they make it back to the mayor's house, he thanks them. "OH great Mario, you saved our humble abode!! We just MUST reward you all for your great efforts!"

"All in a day's work! That fucker never stood a chance."

As everyone's eating, Goombella asks Mario, "So, erm, like... how do I put this... is everything OK?" She mentally facepalms at what she said; she hoped to get into the subject of Mario's unusual attitude a little more delicately.

"What could you be talking about!! We killed that fucker, things couldn't be better!!"

"Like there, for instance, I have NOT ever seen you swear like you are right now, or, like, really say many words at all while we're at it!"

Flurrie then adds, "I must say that I agree, this boisterous personality of yours is rather disconcerting!"

Goombella then swears she hears an angry growl out of Mario, and then he clears his throat, "One sec, need to take a cig break, be back in a bit." Goombella also never knew Mario smoked...

Shortly after, Mario rushes back into the house, yelling, "EVERYONE!!!! Stop the party!!! That asshole apparently just doesn't know when to give up! I think he's headed to the Creepy Steeple! Let's show him that you need to KNOW when the great Mario just outclasses you!! He thinks that just because he recruited a Shadow Siren that he's ANY match for me, honestly??"

While Goombella's admittedly a bit pissed at how Mario isn't giving any credit to her for the victory, her mind is moreso focused on there being a Shadow Siren that was recruited.. "Oh, um sure—"

Scrappy boasts, "YEAHHHHHHH they're going down!!"

Goombella asks, "Wait, one question... which Shadow Siren was recruited?"

“Huh?! Um…” Mario seems… unusually confused… he seemed to think that Vivian was quite cute, so Goombella wouldn’t think that Mario would forget about that encounter… He then has an angry face as he yells, “How do you expect me to know?! Like I keep a full database on our enemies like you do, smartypants!!”

“Watch it. Can you at least tell me the color of the Shadow Siren's hat?”

"What??? Like that's relevant. Didn't pay much attention to that to be honest."

"I mean... it totally, like, is! We need to know what badges to equip!"

"Humph, fine, I think she had a red hat."

"Oh... oh my goodness... so Vivian's actually... helping him? Did she have anyone with her?"

"Other than that FAKER?? No one that I saw."

Huh... so she isn't with her sisters, at least... Goombella decides to just go along with everyone for now… Seems like the quickest way to see how Vivian’s doing after she left the Super Shroom for her, in any case! Maybe defeating that faker will calm Mario down a bit… surely she can find a way to not have to hurt Vivian…

The crew soon arrives at the top of the Creepy Steeple, and sure enough, the shadow figure, along with Vivian, jumps up to battle them. Goombella immediately finds herself checking Vivian's face... Huh, she looks much happier than she did when she battled her at the Boggly Woods... That smile also makes her somehow look even more cute than she did earlier— Whoa! What's she thinking? Goombella tries to focus on thinking of a good boast, but Mario easily beats her to it. “THERE you are, Slick! What?? You have the NERVE to try fighting us??? That Shadow Siren isn’t going to save you from this!”

Scrappy adds, “HAH! that loser couldn’t even fucking beat us on his own so he brought a creepy Shadow Siren! We’ll kick their butts Gonzales!!”

Goombella then angrily barks out, "Hey, don't call her creepy."

Scrappy then makes an angry face at her, but she doesn't care, she doesn't want anyone insulting her... "Th-thank you, Goombella..." Vivian says.

"Oh! Well... I mean you're welcome..." Goombella then clears her throat and tries to refocus her mind. "Anyway! We got this, Mario! You're not going to help that weirdo, are you, Vivian? I'd rather not have to kick your cute butt again~!"

Vivian responds, "Wait... so I'm... a bit confused... th-that's Mario? He's so much more... abrasive than I remember."

The shadow being then shakes his head, "Uh-uh, It's-a-me, Mario! Woohoo!" Goombella then jumps back a bit as a lightning bolt is about to strike the shadow being. Luckily, Vivian ends up veiling him just in time... wait, luckily? Goombella is unsure why she feels relieved that Vivian saved their enemy... unless that's Mario?

Mario then yells, "Don't. Say. Your. Fucking. Name."

Wait... so if Mario's his name that he's not supposed to say... "Wait, so that is actually Mar—"

Goombella's interrupted by the rambunctious person near her, "SHUT UP— erm, sorry, I mean uh-uh."

Vivian, with a frown on her face, sighs, then turns to the shadow being, "I thought as much... so I really helped..."

Goombella tries to think of something to say to keep Vivian from leaving... and going back to her sisters... where she'll likely just be punished again. Even if she tries hurting Goombella, that's fine! "Wait... V-Vivian?"

Vivian continues, "I should have known... how you were being, and how you cared about me... maybe it's worth— no... I really acted in direct opposition to Sis' orders... I suppose she was right all this time... I am so foolish..."

Goombella tries to cheer her up, but Vivian just says to the crew, as she's covering her face with her hat, "All I'll say is, you all honestly think that faker there is Mario... Like, especially you, Goombella, I'd expect you to notice that something's wrong... I guess I can't really say much, I'm such a failure..."

As she sinks into the shadows, crying, Goombella desperately says, "W-wait, Vivian, you aren't a failure at all!!! Don't listen to that asshole sister of yours! Besides, I noticed, it's just—"

The rambunctious person then interrupts Goombella, "Ignore her!! This will be even easier than I thought!! Let's GET that faker!!" All of the other partners then cheer, getting ready for battle, and Goombella decides to just go along.

"Um... I mean, OK..." Goombella realizes that this situation feels very familiar to her... she wanted to tell Vivian she shouldn't just mindlessly obey her sisters, but here she's basically doing the same thing... as she's thinking, the rambunctious person yells, "What are you waiting on, ATTACK!!"

She then replies, "Oh... s-sure... I'll tattle... so this is—"

"No! Don't do THAT!! Fucking multibonk him to bits!!"

Goombella then decides to call him out, "OK. I've had enough; you've been acting like a total jerk ever since we got the fourth crystal star, and I can tell something's up... Hmm..." She then looks to where the shadow being is, and notices a red tip of a hat, and some very quiet whispering. Soon, she feels a burst of relief when Vivian pops out of the shadows, "Vivian!!"

"So I'm... s-sorry Goombella, but if you're going to help that faker there, then I do need to fight you... I was wrong to abandon you after you were so kind to me... and I'm behind you all the way, Mario!"

"Woohoo!"

Goombella smiles, "Whaddya say this Goomba joins you both!" Vivian then smiles, winking at Goombella, who already feels her cheeks heating up. "Oh, of course!! That's the perceptive Goomba I know, hm hm!" Goombella then giggles awkwardly, but she doesn't care, as long as she gets to help Vivian!!!

Scrappy then quips, "Wow, she really has you whipped, huh Bella? Well I know better than to fall for her charm! STAMPEDE!!!"

A herd of Yoshis run toward them, but Vivian quickly grabs onto Mario and Goombella and veils them to safety, Goombella feeling blissful at the feel of Vivian's soft body squeezed to her. All too soon the Stampede leaves, and it's back to the battle.

As the battle goes on, more and more of Mario's allies realize that they've been duped, and eventually, the faker says, "Ugh... Master Mario is tired..." Goombella mentally chides herself for actually believing this pretentious asshole, but quickly gets her head back into the game as she sees that Vivian is about to be ground pounded by Scrappy. Luckily, she veils out of the way just in time, Scrappy landing on solid ground. "OWWWW!!! You REALLY did that, you Shadow Siren??"

Vivian then unveils and says, "I... I mean, I apologize for you being hurt, but come on! You really think that faker there is Mario? Did Mario ever act like the same kind of jerk that the faker there is now?"

“Um… yes! I may be young, but my father kept telling me of his adventures, where Gonzales kept throwing him into pits! I know ya had to win some tough bouts, but come on!”

“Wait, r-really??” Vivian turns to Mario, with a sad look on her face, “D-did you really do th–”

The shadow figure then interrupts Vivian, yelling, “AWAWAWAWA!!!” Really? Did Mario have to be rude like that and interrupt Vivian there?!

“Well, I guess that settles that… I’m sorry, Mario, but I don’t really have a defense for that…”

Mario then sighs, “OK. I’m sorry for that, Scrappy… like I didn’t want to have to… but so many mean Koopas, and a princess to rescue… I assure you she punished me greatly for that.”

“As she’d better!!! Well whatever, that dude seems like a jerk anyway. I guess I do want to follow the path of a kind shadow lady–” Scrappy turns to Vivian with an aggressive look, “OK. I see what you’re trying to do girlie, well call me silly, but it’s working.” Scrappy then goes to the faker and gets ready to stomp him. 

The faker then yells, “You’re REALLY betraying Master Mario– AWAWAWAWA!!!!” He then falls, Mario’s body coming back, him saying, “Woohoo! Don’t go stealing the phrases of Mario, because it’s-a me!”

As the crew is heading to The Thousand Year Door, Vivian goes over to Goombella and says, “So um… about earlier… I’m sorry for that…”

“Huh? Oh! That’s fine, I already said, you’re awesome and I trust you!”

“Thank you, but it’s not… about me working for my sisters–well I am sorry for that too… but I mean for what I said… I hope I didn’t come across as too harsh when we were fighting against Doopliss and I chided you. Like I of all people should have understood that like…someone can just be mean and not worth working with, but you just can’t break free of them…”

Goombella then gently pats Vivian’s shoulder and says, “Viv, don’t worry about that at all… Like I definitely fucked up, trusting him, and what you said… I really needed to hear that, honestly.” Goombella sighs, “Honestly, that whole trick that the faker pulled, reminded me of how Beldam acted… like I wanted to call him out, but he was just yelling at me all the time…”

“Sis was definitely like that too… like her yelling just so quickly eliminated thoughts of abandoning her and going on my own path… I’m really happy to be with you all, and actually doing what I feel is right… although, do you feel that I’m doing the right thing… like by going with you?”

“Huh? I mean, my opinion may be, like, a little biased, but of course I do! Did you expect me to say differently?”

Vivian then giggles, it’s always nice hearing that… she sounds a lot happier than she did earlier. “Not really, I suppose… but it’s just like, when I was with them… I thought maybe I could get my sisters and Grodus to be a bit nicer…”

“With how Beldam was being… I’m not sure if that’s really something that you could do… she doesn’t seem like the kind to change… and even if you could, I don’t think it’s worth all the stress that would put upon you.”

“Oh… that’s a good point… like she was really mean… thank you for being so kind…”

Chapter Text

Vivian doesn't see Beldam come down to breakfast the next morning, but given that she has an 8 AM Calculus class to attend, she doesn't have time to worry much about it, and she heads out after showering and having breakfast with Marilyn.

After her classes that day, she sees that it's about 12:30 PM. She gets a quick lunch on campus, then decides to explore the university more thoroughly.

That evening, Beldam suddenly veils to her position at the dinner table, and after she takes a bite of her food, she tells Vivian, "Hmm. This tastes good."

"Th-thank you, Sis... are things like... OK... like with what Goombella and I talked about with you."

"Humph, I suppose I have gotten a bit more rude with you lately, but honestly! I work— No, never mind, I suppose you're right. Your chores do contribute toward our work, and I do appreciate that. I'm sorry, Vivian. I'll try to do better."

"Thank you, Sis..." Vivian says out loud, but inside she's a bit worried that Beldam only said that she would 'try', but she's surprised to hear Beldam even apologize at all, so she keeps the worry to herself, and hopefully things will be OK.

A couple of days later, she has her Archeology class again, and she wonders if she may see Goombella... Professor Frankly did always have a tendency to get caught up in his research, so Goombella may have to teach again... however Vivian's slightly disappointed when she finds Frankly when she floats in, who says, "Hmm?? Expected a younger, cuter face, Ms. Vivian?"

"Oh, n-not at all! It's nice to see you again, Professor Frankly!"

The next couple of weeks go well for Vivian; she finds that she's really enjoying learning during her classes, even if she finds her Calculus class to require quite a bit of practice outside of class. Her professor assured the class that it was used a lot in making potions and doing spells, at least. Her and Goombella also text back and forth throughout; they're hoping to find time to meet and hang out again, but their classes and studying are making it hard to find time.

That Sunday morning at about 11 AM, however, Vivian gets a call from Goombella, and immediately picks it up. "Bella, hey!"

"Hey, Viv! I found a pretty nice place that has a great lunch menu, and I've been eager to try it out, and was wondering if you'd like to come along?"

"Sounds awesome! I'll be right there!"

Vivian somehow manages to convince Goombella to let her pay this time. At first, Goombella protests, "Wait, hey! I, like, invited you, Viv! I think it's proper for me to pay!"

"Mmm hm hm, not this time, I'm afraid!"

The dinner ends up going great, Vivian having an amazing time hanging out with Goombella as usual, and she's in a jubilant mood that afternoon as she's resting, and thinking about how much her life's turned around these past couple of weeks. She's really been enjoying learning at college, even if she's had to adjust her sleep schedule a bit...

She can't help but giggle when she thinks on another thing that happened that afternoon at lunch. She dropped some coins that she was going to leave as a tip, and as she bent over to pick them up, she could have sworn she noticed Goombella... checking her out? Vivian wore some nice jeans that she felt accentuated her hips well, but her face turned a bit flushed when she noticed that. Does Goombella really... feel that way about her? Sure, there was all the platonic flirting the two of them did when hanging out, but Vivian couldn't help but think that was just Goombella trying to be nice, knowing how rudely Beldam talked about her. The lust Vivian saw in Goombella's eyes before she suddenly averted her gaze, though... there's no 'being nice' about that.

In any case, Vivian realizes that she has a pretty big crush on the strong, protective Goomba, and can only hope that Goombella reciprocates her feelings... Vivian once again silently expresses relief that Goombella isn't actually responsible for her grade in her Archeology class— right! Time to review her notes for that, as her first exam is in a few days.

The next evening, however, as Vivian comes down to supper in a yellow dress, she immediately gets on edge when she sees Beldam drinking from a wine bottle, and makes a mental note to finish her supper quickly, and make herself scarce during supper. Before Vivian can even take a bite of the meal, however, Beldam leans into Vivian, her smelling the alcohol on Beldam's breath as she says, 'Tha Travaling Shoval of Dath...'

"Um... what are you trying to say, Sis?"

Beldam then leans into Vivian's ear, "You NEVER geht it, you ditz. I'm sahng, that may... ReVIVIE the Shadow Queen... if we juhst... get enough kills..."

"Sis, that's bad! The Shadow Queen did awful things!"

"Argh, you NEHVER follow our plans... isn't that right... my only other sister..."

"Guh! Guh Guh!!" Marilyn says in an aggressive voice, getting in front of Vivian to protect her.

"You always were... just a nimrod... you forget..." Beldam then veils and faces Vivian from another direction. "I can just do THIS!! Anyway like I was sahing... Like that DRESS, for instance. Trying to PRETEND that you're a shadow sister like us. Take it off IMMEDIATELY!!"

"Sis, no! I'm not just going to take you being like this to me!!" Vivian then immediately floats upstairs, in tears, packing her stuff. As she's double checking that she has everything, she hears her door open, and turns around, expecting Beldam, but she sees Marilyn behind the door, who apologizes for how Beldam was at supper.

"Sis, it's not your fault at all, don't worry... Thank you for trying to protect me there, but I just... I don't think I can continue being in this house like this..." Vivian then points to her bag.

"Guh??"

"I'm sorry, I wish I didn't have to leave... I just hope that things will be OK for you." Marilyn nods her head confidently, letting Vivian know that Beldam knows better than to pick a fight with her. She then opens her hands, and the two of them share a hug, Marilyn letting Vivian know that she will always be her sister.

As Vivian walks away from her home, considering where she should go, she starts reflecting on supper a little more... Beldam at least didn't hit Vivian... that yelling probably didn't exactly help her ear health, though...

As she gets out her phone, she realizes that she can't bring herself to bother Goombella to stay over, and besides, she still has a flicker of hope that she may get Beldam to apologize... She reluctantly goes back into the house, but before she can get two steps in, Beldam says, "Now, are you going to apologize? If you just rip that dress up and quit pretending to be one of us, MAYBE I'll forgive you."

Vivian sighs, "No, Sis! I am every bit as much of a woman as the two of you are!! You're being very rude and awful to me. I tried to forgive you for all you've done to me, but you're still being mean!" Without saying another word, Vivian leaves the house.

Vivian then considers where she's going to go next... she could always stay at an inn... She remembers back to what her and Goombella heard from the crows... Thank goodness she doesn't live in the US... However, as she's heading to the Twilight Town inn, she realizes that she forgot to get her textbook... Oh no, she has a big exam to study for tomorrow, but if she goes back in to get it, Sis will just be the worst to her... if only Goombella—Right! Goombella! She may have a spare! After a bit of hesitation, Vivian dials her number.

As Goombella is lying down, trying to relax after a hard research session, she can't help but wish she could have been teaching again, if only so she could have a better idea of how Vivian feels around her after... yesterday.

As she thinks on the lunch they had yesterday, she realizes that she may have come across as a bit creepy... like just staring at Vivian's butt like that... Vivian probably felt really uncomfortable about that... Or course, if the tables were turned, Goombella would be, like, totally flattered, but Vivian has much more of a shy personality in a lot of ways, even if she did have a seductive temperament at key points during their adventure, and may have worn those jeans explicitly to show off her amazing voluptuous hips... GOSH, Goombella needs to find out Vivian's workout routine... Vivian didn't really explicitly give any vibes that she was uncomfortable, but her face was flushed, and Vivian tends to be conflict avoidant anyway... Maybe Goombella should just try calling her! As she works up the courage to dial Vivian's number, she then hears her phone ring, and feels relief flush upon her when she sees Vivian's smiling portrait on her phone. She happily answers the phone.

"Hey, Viv, what's up!"

"S-So, um... hi Goombella... may I please... like my textbook is at— I don't have access to my Archeology textbook, and there's an exam tomorrow... would you happen to have one?"

Goombella is relieved that Vivian doesn't sound uncomfortable with her, although Vivian specifically saying she doesn't have access to her textbook makes alarms ring in Goombella's head, but she decides not to push Vivian on that, as she sounds scared... Goombella confidently responds, "Hmm... lemme see..." Goombella searches her bookshelf, and quickly finds her Archeology I textbook in the section with all her first year textbooks. "Yep! I've got one! Guess it's a good thing that textbook resellers don't like it when you scribble in the margins, huh? Need a study buddy?"

"Oh! That does sound really nice... thank you... it may be better if we don't do it at my place..."

"Gotcha, how about my place, then?"

"Oh, sure! I don't think we've ever spent time together at your apartment, Bella..."

"Ya know, I'm really happy that's going to change... it will be good to have you over! Have ya eaten yet?"

Goombella notices a pause, then Vivian sighs, "N-not really..."

"Luckily, I stopped by the grocery store today, so I can fix us something for supper!"

"Oh my goodness, thank you so much... See you soon!"

Goombella, her worries completely transforming over that phone call, rushes to get the last bits of cleaning done before she starts on supper, as based on how Vivian was talking, it sounds like Goombella could be having a new roommate soon... Good thing she got a spare key made the morning after she confronted Beldam!

Chapter Text

After Goombella has her apartment cleaned to the best of her ability, she waits outside, and when she sees the familiar red and white striped witch hat in the distance, she makes her way over to Vivian, who is carrying a suitcase, and wearing a very beautiful floral dress that matches the shade of her yellow lipstick. She notices a frown on the Shadow Siren's face, but it turns into a smile when she sees Goombella, and the two share a hug. "Hey, Viv, it's great to see you!"

"Same here... it's always great to see you, Bella..."

Goombella then offers to take her suitcase and makes her way back into the apartment, Vivian holding the door open for her. When the witch makes her way in herself, she immediately notices a pleasant lavender fragrance, and the place looking more tidy than she expected, considering how busy the Goomba must be. "Whoa! Your apartment looks really nice!"

"Thanks! Not the most spacious, but I tried to find some time to clean it up over the past few days... make some room in case, ya know, a friend needed to stay over!" She winks at Vivian. "Hey, you also look really nice! That dress looks GORGEOUS on you!"

Vivian giggles, "Oh, thank you so much, Bella... I'm so glad you like it..."

As Goombella and Vivian are sharing a supper, she notices that Vivian doesn't seem that happy, so she decides to offer her support. "Hey, Viv... is there anything you want to talk about?"

"Honestly... things haven't been the best, like at home... but I... I'm sorry, Bella, but I don't think I'm really feeling up to talking about that right now..."

"Of course, Viv."

"Thank you for understanding... It's just th-that... I'd rather focus on my exam..." Vivian then gives a light smile, and gently pecks Goombella on the cheek. "Not to mention... Hmhm... just being here with you is already helping a lot..."

"I'm glad I can help... like after yesterday— right! I was wanting to ask... w-well... so when you were leaving the tip... and bent over to pick up coins you dropped..." Goombella then notices a coy smile appear on the siren's face when she mentions that, which gives her the confidence to admit, "I should probably just admit it, I was kinda staring at your butt yesterday... Did that make you uncomfortable?"

"Hm hm! So I did notice you doing that... but honestly it made— it gave me a lot of euphoria... to know that you find me attractive... like Bella, you know how Sis always found her reasons to insult me and call me ugly, so it's sometimes hard for me to feel good about my appearance, but having small signs that I'm sexy, like you staring at my butt, really helps me feel good about myself, honestly."

"I'm so glad to hear that, and that I can do that for you... SPEAKING of, like, HOW do you shape your hips like that?? I may need to follow your workout routine!!!"

Vivian blushes, "Oh my goodness, hm hm! Really a lot of that is just... like estrogen has really helped my development... I have been working out a bit more lately... since I got accepted to college, I've felt better about myself, and I have been doing squats a bit more... R-right... it may be hard for me to do that in the future..."

"How? Just time concerns? Is your gym closing down?"

"Well... I guess you could say that latter in a way..."

"Say, have you heard of the recreational center nearby?"

"Oh! So there's like... a gym at the university... I honestly didn't know that, but that is nice to know..."

"Yeah! Honestly looks even nicer than the one at Goom U! I used that all the time back in undergrad. I haven't had the time lately... but I do really want to make time to go again... Oh! How would you like to find a time that works for both of us to work out together?"

"That does sound really nice! Like you're just so strong... I need to know your workout routine as well! I wonder when we could do that..." Vivian then thinks on her schedule, and realizes that one silver lining about her having to leave home is that she'll probably have more time with not having a strict chore schedule... If she does move in with Goombella, she wants to contribute by helping with chores, but she figures Goombella will be less picky and more flexible than Beldam is...

"Maybe at about 4 PM... like I don't suppose you're going to want to do that before an 8 AM class!"

"Well... hm hm... I am a little less nocturnal these days, but doing that before... I'd have to wake up so early, gee whiz! Somewhere around 4 PM sounds good!"

"Ya know, I'm excited to get back into it! When we were on our adventure, I still lifted pretty consistently, and felt really strong, but my last year of college... WELLLL it kinda kicked my ass. Just so many difficult classes... not to mention HER..."

"Oh! What happened?"

"I mean... it's in the past, and at least I'm at a different university now! Surely she hasn't, like, followed me or anything! I don't want to worry you with it, Viv..."

"Bella, if someone was mean to you, I'm always available to listen to you vent about it... I'll be thinking about it either way, so if I could help..."

Goombella sighs, and Vivian adds, "If you w-want to talk about it, I mean. I'm sorry... I shouldn't be prodding..."

"No worries at all, Vivian... I appreciate you caring about me, and I think I do want to, now that it's on my mind. So there was this one girl who rudely asked if she could share the bench press with me, and she just had the way of complaining whenever we were swapping our weights around just because I benched 30 pounds less than her, and she had the way of doing it where I just felt weak..."

"What?? You were being kind and she was like that? I'm sorry..."

"Luckily, there were enough people around who said she was a jerk and I was strong that it didn't hurt that much... Oh! It just occurred to me that we've known each other for SO LONG and you don't even know the most, like, BASIC fact about me, so here ya go: I can bench 125!"

"Gee whiz, that's awesome! I think that even Marilyn only benches 115 currently!"

"Wait, shit, really?? Well THAT certainly makes me feel better!"

"I'm so glad! As far as me... I can still barely bench the bar... More of a lower body girl if you didn't already guess, hm hm!"

"Yep, figured! For what it's worth, if you want to try heavier weights, I'll be around to spot!"

"I honestly can't wait!"

After they finish eating and chatting, Vivian and Goombella hit the books, and as Vivian's going through her notes, Goombella helps Vivian get much deeper insight into archeological concepts that she only really understood superficially. Vivian says, "Bella, I really admire you."

"Oh? I mean, thanks Viv, but where did THAT come from?"

"You're just so... passionate about Archeology, and you have such an amazing way of getting me excited about it..."

As the two continue studying, Goombella notices Vivian's mood improving through the night, till eventually she has a broad smile on her face when talking to Goombella. Goombella feels relieved that she could help, as she imagines that Beldam wasn't that kind to her earlier. As the night goes on, Goombella can tell that Vivian's starting to grasp the material very well, so the two starting chit chatting more so than studying. At about 11:30 PM, when Goombella asks Vivian a question as Vivian's lying on Goombella's bed, cuddled close to Goombella, she notices that Vivian's taking longer to respond... and it turns out that she's dozing off.

"Oh, sorry, what were you asking? I should... r-really leave, probably, it's getting late... I shouldn't wear out my welcome."

Wait, so she wasn't planning on spending the night? Goombella has no clue where Vivian would be planning on sleeping for the night, but whether that place would be some inn, or going home to that jerk, Beldam, Goombella would much prefer her to just fall asleep here, so she offers, "I can assure you that you are NOT doing that at all, Viv. Honestly, if you just want to rest here for the night, I'd be happy to have you!"

Goombella then sees Vivian visibly relax as she says, "Thank you so much, that would be amazing... like I was planning on staying... n-never mind... Good night, Bella!"

Goombella finds herself biting her tongue for at least the 20th time that night... it can wait until after Vivian's exam... Vivian then yawns and falls back asleep, Goombella tucking her in. For a brief moment, she considers hopping into bed with her... that would be really nice... Goombella still isn't sure, however, how comfortable Vivian is sleeping with others, so she decides not to, and reluctantly heads to her futon, still yearning for the feel of Vivian's soft, warm body.

The next morning, the sunlight shining out of the window wakes Goombella up. She's a bit confused when she finds herself on her futon... Oh, right, Vivian was sleeping on her bed. Wait! If it's already this bright out... Oh no... Goombella checks her phone in a panic... Whew, it's still only 7:15 AM, so there's still 45 minutes to get ready and head to Petalburg. She quickly nudges Vivian, "Hey... hey, Viv, time to get up!"

"Whahuhhhh..." Vivian yawns, and looks at her watch, "Oh, oh no!! I meant to get up earlier... guess I turned off my alarm when like— th-things happened yesterday..."

Goombella then replies in a regretful tone, "Yeah, that's my bad, I was going to set an alarm for earlier, but it slipped my mind, fuck... I do have some iced coffee and some leftovers in the fridge, so you can grab yourself that real quick!"

"Thanks! And hey, don't feel too bad! At least I'm well rested for the exam!"

As Vivian's grabbing food, her eye catches her suitcase. "Oops, gee whiz... carrying this to my class will slow me down some... think we should just leave now?"

"I think we have a LITTLE more time than that. You can leave that here if you'd like, and we can talk more when we're home later today! Oh, speaking of which..." Goombella hands Vivian a key, "I have some research to do, so I may be a bit late getting in. You can just feel free to let yourself in when you get home!"

Vivian can't help but notice Goombella's wording, and despite her still being a bit nervous about things, she feels relief wash through her. She can't help but feel that Goombella more or less has internally accepted that she'll need to move in with her.

Vivian does notice that Goombella seems to be rushing her through the meal after offering her key, in a manner uncharacteristic of her, so Vivian asks, "So... I'm guessing Frankly wouldn't be understanding if I arrived a bit late, and give me extra time..."

"Nah, not really... he's cool in some ways, but rather strict on things like that..."

As they head out the door, Goombella says, "Oh, one sec! So the lock here is a bit finicky! Ya just gotta like hold it at this exact angle and MAYBE the lock will go through!" Vivian then sees an X on the door when Goombella uses the key, "Well, heck, surely this time!" She holds it again, and it displays a checkmark. "There! After that, just slide this thingy this way!" Goombella then locks the door. "Ya wanna give it a try real quick?"

"S-sure, thanks!" Vivian successfully uses her key on the door to unlock it. "Now let's lock it back up, hm hm!" She again uses the key to relock it.

Goombella cheers, "Nice! Feel free to call me if you need help with that!"

Vivian says, "Of course, thanks Bella!" although she figures that she'll be too worried about interrupting Goombella's research to take her up on that. She could always explore the university a bit more, in any case!

After they step outside of town, Goombella offers, "Say, Viv, do ya want to do a quick refresher on the way?"

"Oh, that may be a good idea..."

As Goombella quizzes Vivian on the concepts they went over yesterday, her brain is understandably a bit sleepy at first, but after a few questions, she remembers what they went over, and feels more confident as they enter the Archeology building. When they get to Vivian's classroom, Goombella gives her a friendly kiss, "Good luck, you got this!"

As Vivian gets in her seat, her thoughts drift to how things have been going... Goombella's really just so sweet, in how she encourages her, and helps Vivian stand up to Beldam... Beldam really does always just like... insult her... but what if she's right...

After Professor Frankly hands her the exam, she looks over it. The questions are pretty verbose, and it takes her mind a bit to get hold of what they're asking... As she's thinking on how she wants to answer one of the questions, she can't help her mind from going back to the evening before, and her sister's words ring in her mind, about how she's a nincompoop, and can't do anything right... Her thoughts grow more dark as she thinks about how she essentially can't even go back to Beldam after last night... Despite how cruel she was, Vivian still lived with her for so long, and really thought that she could get her to change...  Although if Beldam's really willing to cast her out over this, maybe she really is— "EGADS!!!! Goombella HAS to hear about this!!!" Vivian's jolted out of her thoughts by Frankly's shout, and she involuntarily looks up, along with the rest of the class. "Yeah, yeah, what are you all looking at?! Get back to your exam!"

That abrupt jolt back to the present, along with hearing about Goombella, shifts Vivian's mindset in a positive direction, away from her sister's insults... Even if Beldam won't accept her, she has someone who loves her and is willing to support her in her life now. Not to mention the many friends she made on her adventure a year and change back... Looking down at her paper with a determined look, she thinks back to her study session with Goombella and realizes that she has an idea of how to answer Problem 6, "Provide three examples of seemingly meaningless discoveries that signify a big trove of knowledge about the world."

She immediately recalls Goombella talking about how the dried shroom that was the so-called 'treasure' of the Palace of Shadow was actually very significant, and she soon knows all the examples she wants to use for her answer. and writes them down, being sure to use some of the flowery vocabulary that Frankly taught her.

As the exam goes on, she finds that her studying session with Goombella really paid off, and she feels more confident about her work. She turns it in just in time, feeling pretty good about it.

Shortly after her Sorcery class ends that morning, she's pleasantly surprised to find a text from Goombella. "Hey, Viv, research date got postponed, so I'm free now! Wanna meet at the item shop so we can celebrate your first exam being finished?"

"That sounds awesome!"

When she meets Goombella, she embraces her in a tight hug. "Goombella!!! Oh my goodness, thank you so much for helping me study for that exam..."

"Viv!! So ya think ya did well?"

"I do, actually... all thanks to you... like I knew things conceptually, but studying with you opened my eyes to how intriguing Archeology can be..."

"Glad I could help! I'm, like, so happy to be able to make you understand why I love it so much..." Goombella then goes into an enthusiastic rant on why she wanted to study Archeology, and why she finds it so amazing, and Vivian is very happy to get to hear Goombella talk about something she loves. "Anywayyyy, I'm rambling!"

"Bella, I just love hearing you talk about stuff you're passionate about..."

"That means a lot to me, Viv! Anyway, what do ya think we should do to celebrate your exam being finished?"

"Honestly... this past day has really been a lot for me... I just kind of want to relax and rest..."

"I understand,  Vivian. Ya wanna head back home then, or would you rather find some stuff for us to eat?"

"I am pretty hungry... m-maybe that would be good... I wouldn't want you to need to cook— Oh! Do you still have anything at your place I could try cooking... L-like even Sis says..." Vivian's mind then goes back to the fight she had last night with her sister, and she continues in a much more fragile voice. "that my cooking may be pretty good... Actually, I'm sorry, Bella... I know I just said that, but I don't know if I'm up to that, actually..." Goombella gives Vivian a reassuring, gentle look, and Vivian continues, "Could we m-maybe get takeout if that's OK?"

"Of course, that sounds good to me... Viv... ya know I'm always here for ya if you need someone to talk to."

"I appreciate that more than you would know, Bella... Like how I mentioned things aren't the best at home... I think I'll feel up to talking more about that after lunch, but I just kinda want to get some food in my stomach first."

Goombella goes ahead and calls the takeout resturant near her apartment, and when the two girls get home with their food in tow, Vivian, despite her earlier dreary mood, has a smile on her face. "Ya know... this is really nice. Just... it's really nice spending time with you, Goombella."

"Ya know, same! You're just so beautiful and kind... and I'm really glad that I make you happy, because you deserve that so much."

As they share a delicious meal, and talk about things, the food runs out all too quickly, and Vivian realizes that she just needs to come clean with everything that happened. "Um... s-so is it OK if I talk to you about something... about how things have been at home..."

Goombella places her hand on Vivian's, giving it a gentle squeeze, "Absolutely."

"So, with Beldam... I really did try to forgive her and like... I really did just want to have a loving sisterly relationship... but no matter how hard I try to be kind and get her to see me as one of her sisters and not order me around all the time... I can tell at this point that there is no hope in trying anymore. We had an argument just yesterday... So I came down to supper..." Vivian sighs, and continues, Goombella gently holding Vivian's shoulder, "F-figured it would be a hard night when I saw Sis drinking wine... the night ended with me running out of the house. She at least didn't try attacking me, so afterwards I came back inside and tried to make amends... but she just immediately demanded that I rip up my dress... so I will l-like... I'd really appreciate it if I could like... stay here for now..."

Goombella then embraces Vivian tightly, "Viv... I'm so sorry you've had to deal with all of that... and that she wasn't willing to come around. You deserve so much better than her... I'd be very happy to have you here. I  know it's really hard not having your sister support you for who you are, but I hope that I can be— that I can give you all of the love and care you deserve, you amazing, beautiful lady."

Vivian has tears falling out of her eyes as she's embracing Goombella. "Thank you so much... you've already done just so much to make me happy and feel amazing about myself, ever since we met..."

Goombella lets out a light giggle at fun memories of their journey.

Then, seeing that it's about 2 PM, Goombella and Vivian decide to just relax, Goombella showing Vivian around her apartment. Soon enough, it's about 4 PM, and Goombella decides to ask, "So, erm... about when we talked about going to the gym together... when do ya wanna start going, Viv?"

"Hmm... so right now... I'm feeling surprisingly energized for how exhausting today's been... Honestly, I think it’d be nice for me at least to head down now, to get my mind off of everything."

"I’m kinda a bit fired up myself to go, Viv! It’ll be fun!"

Five minutes later, Goombella and Vivian are giggling on their way down to the gym.

Chapter Text

At first, Vivian feels a bit overstimulated with the loud noise at the gym, particularly from the Chargin' Chucks. There must be at least a dozen of them around the bench presses!

Goombella sighs, "Yep, peak football season; Should have known the bench press would be the hot item here, but hey! There's at least a squat rack available!" She then bumps her hips with Vivian's. "Wanna start off with your favorite?!"

"Oh, um, s-sure... sorry, it's just I'm not used to loud places like this..."

"Oh, gotcha... Hey, is it too much for you right now? We could come back at a more quiet time maybe..."

"Not at all, I'm sure I'll adjust, and I want to do this with you, Bella!"

"Awesome! How much do ya wanna start with?"

Goombella and Vivian start off with some sets squatting just the bar, Goombella taking the lead, and Vivian quickly becomes more comfortable at the gym, and after she's cheered on by Goombella after her set of 125 lbs, the Goomba asks, "Hey, are you, like, comfy with me cheering you on during your set? I can stop if you aren't."

"I... r-really appreciate you doing that... I really never had anyone to cheer me on like that, and it feels really nice when you do it... I see why the gym's typically so loud! Not to mention that that IS a PR for me!"

"Whoa, congrats!!"

"Hm hm, thanks! Honestly, I think I have a bit more in me!"

They eventually make their way up to successfully completing 5 reps at 135, Goombella cheering, 'Go! Go!! You got this, Yeah!!!!" as Vivian slowly completes the rep. The two highfive afterward. "Whew, Gee whiz... I think I'm all worn out for this... you want to do any more?"

"Think I'm good too, great work there!!"

"You too, goodness..."

"Well thanks! Glad to see I at least, like, have SOME muscle memory after months of being inconsistent." They then find that most of the Chargin' Chucks have left, so they decide to bench press after reracking their weights and drinking a bit of water.

As Vivian is benching with Goombella, she soon realizes that she's as loud as the other patrons as she grunts her way through a challenging set, Goombella cheering her on. "Up, Up! You got this! You fucking GOT THIS VIV!!!!! Nice!!!" Goombella cheers as she's spotting Vivian on the Bench Press, who barely manages to get 75 lbs. up for her 5th rep.

"Whew, thanks! Gosh, I never thought I could lift that much... W-wait Bella... that evil look... you couldn't possibly be thinking..."

"Think ya got 80 in ya?"

Vivian sighs, "I could guess you were going to ask that before you did... I suppose I may as well try; after all, I have a strong spotter in the worst case!"

"That ya do!"

After Goombella and Vivian finish up at the gym, they're walking home, giggling. "Gee whiz, Bella, I can't believe I let you talk me into benching 80..."

"Hey, it worked, didn't it?"

"That it did, I suppose! Thank you for just... being there and encouraging me... Honestly, when I lifted back at home, I couldn't help but think about how my sister used to always make me train to be stronger and yell about how weak I was... which I think made it hard to stay consistent... Not to mention that Sis yelled at me if I grunted too loud... and never missed the opportunity to add in a transphobic jab..."

"Gosh, I'm sorry, Viv... that kind of environment just sounds awful... honestly, I don't think I would have been as consistent as I was back in the day if my sorority wasn't around to cheer me on..."

"Oh! You were in a sorority? I've considered looking into that... Usually out of social energy by the end of my classes, though..."

Goombella gives her an understanding nod, "Definitely was that way myself at times..." Goombella then gets closer to her, and lowers her voice so others don't hear.

“So, Viv, the thing with me was, I tried all the stuff that I felt would help me fit in, Frosh camp, chess club, and all of that, but I still don’t really feel like I enjoyed myself at most of them, with the exception of one sorority. Fucking Gamma Zeta, those were my GIRLS. I wanna say they’re still pretty active? I think you’d fit in well there! They were a big part of my support system when I came out as bisexual, and they’re really queer-friendly! I wanna say a couple of trans girls, and a nonbinary friend is in there! I can put in a good word for ya, if that’s the route you feel like taking!”

“It may be nice– at least to try for a bit… is there anywhere I can like… get more info about them, before you say anything?”

“Of course!” Goombella then hands a brochure to Vivian, “This has a lot of info about them, and there’s also a link to a site where you can check out things about them right there!”

Goombella's stomach then grumbles. "Gosh! Guess it's time to replenish our muscles about now... good thing we have some leftover takeout, huh?"

"You said it!" Vivian agrees. While she still hopes for the opportunity to get to cook for Goombella, she's a bit too hungry as well to suggest that. Luckily, she doesn't have to wait long, as the next afternoon as she's heading back home, she receives a text from Goombella.

The witch knows that she did a great job when she hears the door close, along with Goombella's voice, "Viv! Whatever you have cooking smells amazing!"

After Vivian reads over the brochure about Gamma Zeta, she finds that it sounds like a really kind and welcoming sorority, and she’s especially happy about the fundraising event they do toward the end of the year for Trans Lifeline, so she asks Goombella to put in a good word.

Goombella agrees enthusiastically, then adds, “Ah, those were fun times, Viv… a shame that I had to stop being active after my Junior year…”

“Really? That’s… right after we defeated the Shadow Queen, right?”

 “Yep! Ever since then, it was hell trying to finish my Archeology degree… maybe I should have just taken an extra year, but I was pretty stubborn in my path, and grad school wanted me to be done after that, so I had to take my time away from a lot of things… that I really would have loved to keep doing…”

A couple of days later, Goombella finds herself walking Vivian to class... like she has every day since Vivian started living with her. She hopes that she isn't coming across as not giving her space, but it's felt just like... what she should do... especially on a day like today, where Vivian looks nervous. "Something wrong, Viv?"

"It's just... Professor Frankly s-said he'd have our exams back today... I hope I did well..."

"Hey, I have no doubt that you did your best, and I really do think that you did well! You're a very perspective and bright lady, and you had an awesome tutor, right?"

"Oh, r-right..." Vivian's anxious face cracks into a smile as she slyly says, "My tutor was a pretty good one, after all!"

Goombella smirks, "Just 'pretty' good?"

"I mean you are pretty... isn't that how to use that word?"

Goombella lets out a lively giggle, “Oh my goodness, Viv!” She then continues, “Besides! Ya never know with Frankly, you remember during our adventure, he took just SO long to actually put the A+ he said I got on my final essay! Must have missed at least five people to boast to because of that!” 

Vivian then giggles heartily thinking back on the cheeky comments Goombella had regarding that, and bumps her with her hips, “Oh!! Th-that’s right!!! You did have to remind him a few times huh, how could I forget? Maybe I shouldn’t take his word so seriously!” 

At Vivian bumping her with her hips, Goombella is suddenly filled with all sorts of bisexual feelings that she doesn’t know exactly how to express. All that Goombella really feels like she can do… she finds herself embracing Vivian, “Vivian… you’re just so… you deserve all the best things to happen in your life, and I’m so happy that you can be a part of my life.”

"Goombella, you just know how to alleviate my worries, and even when things aren't the easiest, you just make everything so much better... I'm so glad to have you in my life too..."

Vivian floats into her Archeology class in a blissful mood, much less stressed out about her exam score... Yes, no matter how she did, she still has someone amazing in her life, and whatever happens, she will have a good life with her chosen family.

Frankly then shuts the door as he comes in, and the chit chat amongst the students about the exam dissipates. "So class, I'd advise you don't get used to this, but I do have your exams graded on time today. For the most part, the grades were adequate. However, SOME of you could stand to think a LITTLE more critically on the concepts we've discussed!" Vivian is relieved that Frankly doesn't seem to be looking in her direction when he makes that reprimand. Frankly hands her back her exam, and Vivian thinks she sees a smile on his face? She trepidatiously peeks at the number, and can hardly believe her eyes when she sees '95%' on the exam, along with a note. 'Excellent work, Ms. Vivian.' She makes a mental note to give Goombella a big kiss when she sees her next...

Her good fortune continues to her Sorcery class, as Brittany, a Shadow Siren who is slightly taller than her, and wears a green and white striped hat, finally veils next to her seat as she's getting out the tome she'll be working from today. She whispers to her, in an unusually enthusiastic tone for it being only a little after 9, “Oh, heya!!! Yay, another Shadow Siren!!! I never thought, like, I’d see another one, I hear we’re so rare!! The only others I know are– never mind. Anyway, I’m Brittany, nice to meet ya!”

“It’s nice to meet you too!! I’m Vivian, and I’m really happy to just have like… another Shadow Siren to be around… the only ones I knew existed were me and my two older sisters…

“Oh!!! Is that including that JERK–” She then leans in to Vivian and whispers, “Actually, I’d rather discuss this below ground” Vivian then gets curious as Brittany is scribbling down something on a note. She then hands it to Vivian, and she reads it over, ‘Tomorrow, Shadow Petalburg, 6 PM’. 

Vivian whispers to Brittany, ”Alright, I can be there! One thing… um is it OK like… if I tell others…”

“I mean… I’d honestly rather you didn’t… like there are some cool people, but I swear I must have been harassed at least ten times in the last month for being a Shadow Siren... One of the reasons I didn't show up here until today...  Yeah, I think I'd feel safer if we just kept this between us for now…”

“Oh my goodness, I'm sorry... I totally understand.” Vivian's generally been able to avoid anything really dangerous happening herself, but she understands that that's partly because it's pretty well known that she helped stop the Shadow Queen. Vivian only hopes Goombella won’t be too mad at the secret she's keeping from her…

Unfortunately, Vivian’s anxiety about Goombella getting mad rises as class goes on, even as she tries to tell herself she's worrying about nothing... after all, she originally worried that Goombella would get mad when she saw her the first day of Archeology class, and that ended up with them getting so much closer... Her anxiety gets to the point where she isn’t really able to perform that well, and she just phones it in with easy spells for the second half of the class. For one of the sections of class, Embrex asks them to pair with another classmate to share their magic, and Brittany immediately places her hand on Vivian’s, “Wanna be partners for this?”

“S-sure… that sounds good, and does make sense…”

When they’re working together, Brittany notices something’s off, “Heyyyyyy… is everything OK? Is this about what… we were talking about earlier?”

“N-no– I mean, sort of… it’s not your fault… just something I need to talk about with someone…”

“Heyyyy like, if you need to dip out of class early to check on that, I have something that can help with that!”

“R-really?? Would be nice to just… do that…”

“Yeah! You can never really perform at your best with things like that on your mind! Sorry, I should have talked to you about this AFTER class. Anyway, that old, crusty Ember, they don’t understand, but just use this, and things should work!” Brittany then holds out a Boo Sheet for her.

Vivian thinks… she’s never been one to skirt the rules, but given how she’s feeling, it would be nice to just talk to Goombella about this early, and not have this weighing on her mind for the next 40 minutes. If she's busy, then it would still be nice to just get a candy bar to munch on. “I mean... will you be OK?"

"Of course! I think my wind magic can easily make Embrex not worry about me working alone!"

"In that case... I'd appreciate that a lot. Thank you so much, Brittany…”

After Vivian sneaks out of class, Embrex goes to Brittany’s desk, "So, Brittany and V– HOLD ON, where is your partner??” They also mutter, “Was hoping for a bit of healing today…” 

“I think this spell should, quite literally, blow your mind enough to make you not worry about that, Mx. Embrex!” Brittany then casts a quick Gale Force to blow the ember out of the classroom, and a star point pops out of them, and Brittany does her best to jump, doing a celebratory pose. “Hmm, not bad.”

“Thank ya! Since that was so great, whaddya say we don’t worry about what my bestie has goin’ on?”

“Wh-whatever you say…” Embrex goes to the next group of students, muttering to themself, “As long as you don’t try showing off your magic again…”

Vivian heads on home, and luckily finds Goombella sitting in the living room reading a textbook and making notes. "Hey, Viv! Did you get your— hey, is everything alright?"

Of course, Vivian should have known better than to be able to hide the anxiety on her face from the perceptive Goomba. "Well... so there is something a bit heavy I kind of need to talk to you about when you're f-finished studying..."

"Viv, you're much more important to me than this old textbook. Talk to me." She then moves her notebook away from the couch seat next to her, and pats it.

"Thank you so much... So I was just wondering, Bella… like are you cool with me… l-like keeping secrets from you… like if I have something that I’m not allowed to tell anyone?”

“Viv, of course I’m comfy with that, like as much I want you to feel comfortable with sharing things with me when you want the help, we all have our secrets, and I’ll understand if you have things you want to keep secret.”

“Oh my goodness, th-thank you so much… like I was worried… you’d throw me out…”

Goombella then hugs her tightly as she assures her, “Vivian, I promise that  I won’t do something like that, even if we have an argument or something, like your safety is very important to me.”

“Thank you… anyway, I won’t be around tomorrow at 6 PM… I’m sorry… I know you like having supper with me… and that it’s helpful when I’m able to cook for you… I have a bit of spare time between my classes and meeting, maybe I can fix you something in advance…”

“Oh, no worries at all! Do what ya need to do! Really, also, the big thing that pissed me off with Beldam is that she always controlled you, I don’t want to be like that at all. Also, while I appreciate you cooking for me, I never want you to feel obligated… like I know you have a busy life.”

"Thank you... oh thank you so much Goombella..." The two hug for awhile, then Vivian continues in a jubilant voice as she sneaks in a kiss on the Goomba's cheek, "By the way... turns out that you were a really great tutor for my exam!"

"Ooh?? So you did well?"

"95%!"

"Viv, congratulations, oh my goodness!!!!" Goombella hugs Vivian, then adds, "And hey, I may have been a really great tutor, but you were also clearly a really great learner!"

Chapter Text

The next evening at 6 PM, Vivian arrives at the meeting place, noticing Brittany is talking in an unusually quiet voice, “Hey! Glad you could make it. So the reason I wanted to meet with you… just kinda to get more of an idea about our history… So you said you had two sisters? Is one of them named ‘Beldam?’”

“Oh, yes! How… did you know that, Brittany?”

“Gosh, for awhile, she was a total JERK to me!! Luckily, I was finally able to make things work out to leave her, as she never answered questions about other Shadow Sirens that may exist. I want to say that you were created right as I was about to leave? It was someone with a red hat… can’t remember the name…”

“Oh that’s… kinda another can of fuzzies all together… but I never knew we were so closely related!!! It’s so nice to finally know you, Brittany!!”

“Yeah… likewise… we may should be kind of quiet–” Brittany then abruptly pulls her and Vivian out of the shadows for a bit, bumping into Mayor Kroop. “ARGH!! Watch where you’re going, Brightny!”

“Oh, sorry about that!” Brittany then whispers to Vivian, “I’ll veil us back in a sec.”

About a minute later, Brittany pulls Vivian back into the shadows, “Think they should be gone now… Sorry about that, but I could swear one of the other Shadow Sirens that I’ve heard of was nearby… Did you see that ‘QS’ symbol they were wearing?”

“Oh, I didn’t really notice them… that symbol is familiar to me though; Beldam started wearing it recently… I tried to ask her about it, but she angrily refused to tell me what it was about…”

“I’ve seen that around very occasionally… the first time I saw another Shadow Siren with it, though… I believe it’s a symbol that others wear if they’re in support of the Shadow Queen being revived… Wait, you were one of the ones who defeated her, right???”

“Oh, y-yes… like she was… going to doom the world…”

Brittany then impulsively hugs Vivian, “Whoa!!! Took me a bit to realize I’m talking with, like, an actual celebrity who saved our world!! Whoa, now I need to remember to stay quiet! But yeah… watch if you see anyone wearing those…”

“Also, Beldam, when she was drunk, did talk about reviving the Shadow Queen… I hoped it was just something she said in jest… I wonder if she actually thinks that. She did disavow the Shadow Queen after we defeated her, but I’d imagine it wasn’t really sincere, given how she’s been…”

“I’d doubt that, from what I know of her! Anywayyyy, ya down for a makeup sorcery session???”

“You… w-want to do that?”

“Of course!! I was really excited to FINALLY get the chance to share my magical energy with another Shadow Siren! If you’re too tired, I understand, but just putting the idea out there!”

“In that case… sure, that honestly does sound like a good idea… like especially if Beldam has ideas of reviving the Shadow Queen.”

Vivian and Brittany then spend awhile practicing dual spells. "Alright, here's how it will work! I'll start off by casting a Gale Force at you, and as I start the incantation, you start the incantation for your Fiery Jinx! If everything goes correctly, that should make the area around us slightly hotter!"

The first 15 minutes are a bit strained, as when Brittany tries casting a spell on Vivian, she runs away. “Whoa, what’s wrong, Viv?”

“Oh, right… I’m supposed to let your magic in… I’m sorry, the only other times I’ve had a Shadow Siren use magic on me were when Beldam was punishing me…”

“Aah, gotcha… I’m sorry she was such a jerk… Is there anything I can do to help?”

“I think maybe… why don’t we just switch for a bit, and by the time it’s my turn to let your magic in, I’ll be more comfortable doing that.”

After doing that, the session starts going better, and Vivian is able to trust Brittany when it’s time to let her magic in. As the session goes on, they feel their abilities getting enhanced, Vivian eventually checks her phone, “Gee whiz, it’s already 9:15 PM!!”

“What’s the matter, got a date??”

“Oh, not a date, per say, just… I do have someone at home who’s worried about me…”

“Don’t tell me that asshole Beldam has a curfew for you!”

“Oh, nah, like she did, but I found a better place… but I’d imagine the person I live with now is worried about me… and I’d also kind of like… to get to spend the rest of the night with her.”

“Ooh~! Vivian’s got a girlfriend! Vivian’s got a girl–”

“H-hey, she’s just my roommate! I m-mean it’s not that I wouldn’t mind being– anyway, you think that’s enough for today?”

“Yeah, I think we could definitely use a break! Besides, we certainly don’t want your GIRLFRIEND— oh, sorry, ‘roommate’, to worry! See you in class!”

“Bye, have a great night!” As Vivian’s heading back home, Brittany’s quip stirs something in Vivian’s mind… yes… Goombella being her girlfriend would be nice… what if she says no though… probably not worth the tension that would create…

Meanwhile, at about 9 PM, Goombella is trying to distract herself by rereading her favorite novel. It works for awhile, but then there's a part with a witch who uses a fire spell, and Goombella impulsively thinks, 'Oh, kinda like Vivian!', which brings her mind back to where Vivian could be... she checks her phone, in case she accidentally had it on silent... nothing... Why isn't Vivian back yet, anyway? She considers calling her, but then says to herself, 'No, bad Goombella, quit worrying! Vivian will be back when she’s ready!'

Nonetheless, she finds herself stuck reading the same paragraph of her novel, but can't get past it as she's worrying about Vivian. Luckily, she feels a pang of relief as her phone rings, and she sees Vivian's smiling portrait on her phone, "Hey, Viv!"

"Hey, I'm really sorry it took me so long... but I'm on my way home... should only be a few minutes..."

"Oh, no worries at all! Ya need any help getting home?"

"I should be fine, but thanks... You insisted that I carry our intimidation badge for the meetup, remember?"

"Oh, right! See ya soon!"

Goombella’s fortunate that she was at least able to have all her mail held when she was away at the Dry Dry Ruins, as she got the new location of the Petalburg U chapter of Gamma Zeta. She’s headed to the secluded path in Petalburg, and she marches up the steps to the house hidden amongst the leaves, and nervously knocks… “Secret password???”

“Fuck TERFS! Trans rights are human rights!”

“Yep– wait, that voice– you’re Goombella!!!!” Rose, a Goomba who's in her junior year of college, lets her in and enthusiastically hugs her. “Ya finally gonna be partying with us again???”

“Wish I could… really really wish I could, but time still is not something—"

"GOOMBELLA!!! You're back!!!!" One after another, she finds a few more of her sorority sisters still remember her and want her to hang out more.

"Really wish I could stay here awhile, but time is not I have a lot of these days… really came in more so to put in a good word for a friend of mine… Her name’s Vivian, and she’s an amazing, kind Shadow Siren!”

“Ooh, Vivian?? That’s a pretty name… speaking of pretty, your tone when talking about her… are you sure a 'friend' is all that you'd call her?” A few of the sisters giggle.

“N-none of your beeswax!  Anyway... just thought I'd vouch for her!”

“Thanks for bringing her up! I can send her an invitation! I have always wanted to have a Shadow Siren in our group… It's like, ever since the defeat of the Shadow Queen, I know just so many others consider Shadow Sirens evil, so I’d imagine things are… kind of lonely for her. " The other sisters nod.

"Well, I think she's generally happy, at least! I live with her and I know she appreciates my company. I think this will be a good space for her to have, though. I don't think she's bullied or anything, at least... She talks about how she's enjoying college, anyway! If anyone IS bullying her, well then they'd better come talk to this!" Goombella points her hard Archeology cap at Rose, which gets an "Ooh!" in unison from several of her sorority sisters.

Rose replies, “Such protectiveness! Ya know... it sounds like, at the very least, if you aren't partners, you really want to be!” Goombella's cheeks heat up, and Rose relents, "Alright, I'll quit teasing ya! Ya down for a round of Smash?"

All the oohs from her sorority sisters make her relent, "Ya know what, sure! I can do ONE three stock, but then I really gotta get going! Have an assignment due tomorrow, and should really start on supper for Vivian and I."

The match ends up not going so great for Goombella, in no small part due to her not even KNOWING the optimal counterpick for Pyra/Mythra(and not really knowing they were characters to begin with, if she's to be honest). Nonetheless, she has a great time hanging out, then almost selects a new character, but then sees that it's already 5.

“I’ve gotta get supper started, but it was nice seeing you all again!”

“Likewise, you should come around more if ya get the time! You should, like, SEE Birdetta’s new beautiful bow!”

“I do miss you all very much… I can try to come around more if I get time.”

"Bye, Goombella!!!" Her sisters all shout in unison.

As she heads back home, she can't stop thinking about Rose's quip about her and Vivian... Would it make things too awkward if she asked and Vivian didn't want to be her partner...? She sighs as she realizes that it's not really worth risking...

A few nights later, as Vivian's going to sleep, she has a pretty bad nightmare...

Vivian’s in an unusually long training session with Brittany. She checks her phone… it’s 11:73 PM?? She didn’t even know it went that high… “Brittany, I need to be getting home!” “No! We need more training!!! Evil lurks, we have to overcome it!!!” They train more and it’s… 12:45, oh no… After she gets out, she calls Goombella, who sounds frustrated, “Huhhhh who dares to wake me up at– oh it’s just you Viv.”

“Goombella!! I’m so sorry, training session went late, I’ll be back in a few minutes!!”

“What? Why was this necessary to wake me. You know how hard I work.”

“Oh… I’m really sorry…”

“‘Sorry’ doesn’t suddenly, like, bring back the energy I’ll lose from being woken up. If you’re so insistent that you were late. I suppose I can arrange a punishment. I really should have never let you stay with me, honestly. Actually, maybe it’d be easier if you just went back to Twilight Town where you Shadow Sirens belong.”

“Wait!! I thought you said– you wanted to help with… how my sister was to me–"

“Maybe, but with what you’re doing now, she probably had her reasons.”

“You couldn’t be.. Goombella!!!”

Goombella's then woken up by Vivian screaming her name. “Whoa! Are you OK, Viv??”

“Oh Goombella!!!! I’m— oh... Oh my goodness...” Vivian then takes a few deep breaths, and continues, "Sorry for waking you… had a bad dream about... some pretty scary things…”

“No worries at all, Vivian. Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not now... I think I just want to get my mind as far away from that dream as I can..."

"I totally understand. Anything I can do to help you get back to sleep? I can get a Sleepy Sheep out of the closet!”

Vivian then lightly giggles, “Nah, don't think I need that... Just… c-can you please sleep… um next to me tonight…”

Goombella’s eyes immediately open up, “Oh, absolutely, Vivian!!” Goombella says in way too enthusiastic of a voice for having just been woken up… What can she say? A beautiful girl is asking to sleep with her!

Vivian’s frown turns into a small smile as she lets out a light giggle, “Doesn't sound like that's too much of an inconvenience for you! Thanks... It’s just that… that dream still has me feeling… well pretty lonely and unloved…”

“I’m so sorry… Nightmares just suck so much… I love you, Vivian.” Goombella hops onto Vivian’s bed and tightly cuddles to her, savoring the warmth of her soft, shadowy body.

“I love you too, Bella… Also um… should have said this earlier, but you can feel free to sleep with me in this bed whenever you want… n-not sure how comfy that futon is, but having you in my bed tonight… would make me feel really safe and cared for…” Vivian cuddles to Goombella, and Goombella plants a kiss on her cheek.

For some reason, now that she's nestled next to the strong, muscled Goomba, Vivian has the feeling that it's time to ask the question that's been on her mind... or is it... She just thought earlier that it wouldn't be a good idea, but maybe now... Hmm... She realizes that she's audibly hmming when Goombella yawns and asks, "Ya good, Viv?"

"Yep! So um..."  She then decides that since it's Friday night and the two can sleep in the next day, to just ask the question. “Hey… so Bella… I was wondering… we’ve been living together for a bit… and I just really love and appreciate you, and how much you’ve helped me… ever since we met… and I’ve been wanting to ask this… even back when we were gathering the Crystal Stars, honestly. H-How would you feel about being girlfriends?”

“Oh... oh my goodness... Vivian, I would love that… I’ve been wanting to ask for awhile myself, honestly… but just couldn’t, like, get the courage…”

“I couldn’t either… but I guess sleepy Vivian is at least… if not courageous… at least better at ignoring filters, hm hm!”

Goombella then laughs, kissing Vivian, and the two fall asleep happy shortly after.

Chapter Text

That morning, when Goombella wakes up, it takes her a second to adjust to the angle she’s viewing the room from, before she remembers… Right, Vivian asked to sleep with her to help her feel better after a bad dream… She seems to recall being able to do that, at least! Goombella also realizes that after that, she had a really nice dream… if it even was a dream, anyway! She thinks she remembers Vivian asking if they could be girlfriends… It’d certainly be nice if it was real, and she wouldn't need to worry about the possibility of rejection when she asks…

In any case, she notices that Vivian’s out of her bed, and as is typical when the fiery witch is up in the morning, there’s a nice aroma through the room… smells like Pancakes and Fried Eggs! She heads out of the bedroom, and confirms her hopes when Vivian looks away from the skillet at Goombella and kisses her, “Morning, babe! Just fixing a nice breakfast for my amazing girlfriend!”

“As always, it smells amazing! Ya know, I can't tell if that was better to wake up to, or your kiss was! Thanks for confirming that I didn’t just have a happy dream about you asking to be partners, babe!”

After they finish breakfast, Vivian asks Goombella, “So um… about last night… and h-how I woke you up… can we talk more about that?”

“Of course! I do really think we should... If only so I'll know how I can help you avoid awful nightmares like that...”

“It’s just that, I think what caused it... was how I was out late a few days ago… I’d imagine I had you pretty worried… and I don’t want to keep like… doing that…”

“Ya know, Viv… I guess I should be honest… I was a bit worried, just because I wasn't sure where you were, and if someone was trying to pull some kind of trick on you to hurt you. Like... what if your sister found you and made you stay with her– right. You’d just be able to kick her ass! Even telling myself my worries, and thinking through them are helping… I don’t want my worries to keep you from having fun. “

“No, I understand completely, Bella... Next time, I’ll try to text if I’m out after say 8 or something… I m-might forget… the other day, Britt–”

“Whoa, gonna stop ya there Viv, was this the thing you weren’t allowed to tell me about?”

“Right, thank you… This is something I’m supposed to keep secret… but I… I wish I could let you in on it… It'd probably be best if you were from a safety perspective too... I’ll look into seeing if I can get permission to do that…Anyway… what I dreamt … I dreamt you were mad at me, and threatened to kick me out from waking you from calling you after I was out late doing something important… Like I know how hard you work, I would never just want to wake you up like that…”

Goombella then embraces Vivian as she reassures her, “Vivian, you moving in here is the best thing that has ever happened to me, and I wouldn’t kick you out. Honestly, if you were out late, and were able, I would always appreciate you letting me know when you’re about to come home, even if I may be asleep… I understand how hard things have been with that jerk Beldam… do you think that that may have colored your idea of how people may handle disagreements with you?”

“P-probably… really… I should find like, a therapist or something to talk about things with…”

“Ya know, I do think that would help you be happy… just because of how much you’ve had to deal with in your life. For what it’s worth, I promise I would never bite your head off just from something like calling me and waking me up…some unintelligible muttering, at worst!”

“Hmhm~... Thank you, Bella… that is very helpful to hear.”

Next Monday, Vivian, noticing that the mental health center is located right on her way to her Sorcery class, tries to stop by there after her Archeology class, but she can tell there won’t be anywhere near enough time with the long line, so she waits until after her classes finish that day, however the line is still pretty long… she notices a lot of the people leave in a pretty grumbly mood… even in the offices, the mood isn’t what she’d call uplifting. She gets deep in thought about if it would help her to go here after all… Goombella loves her, and maybe she’d be willing to help Vivian through this– No… Vivian then decides she can’t rely on her emotional energy to deal with the centuries of abuse Vivian’s suffered… maybe there’s–  “Hello? He-LLO??? What are you here for?” She looks up and sees a Dull Bones impatiently looking at her.

“Oh! Sorry… Anyway, I’m just here to see if you have any like– therapists I could see.”

“Do I look like a mind-reader? I’ll need you to fill this out so I have a starting point.”

“Sure– Gee whiz, there’s quite a bit to fill out…” After she has a few words written down, she hears the Dull Bones dryly announce, “Next.”  Vivian then moves out of the way of the person behind her in line. “Oh! S-sorry!”

The Dull Bones then turns to Vivian, “Ma’am, you’ll want to take it with you and bring it the next time you come over.”

Vivian grumbles to herself at the idea of having to wait in a long line again, but it’s probably best to talk about this with Goombella anyway, so she agrees and heads out.

When Vivian heads home that day, and talks with Goombella about it, Goombella’s response surprises Vivian a bit. “I’m super proud of you for taking this step, and I’m super down to help with this, but I will say to be careful about the therapist you choose, and don’t hesitate to just walk the fuck out if they’re being an asshole. Especially somewhere like in Petalburg… ya know how, like, old-fashioned they tend to be.”

“That’s right… it’s easy for me to just… immediately assume everyone will be cool, just because no one in the village misgenders me…”

“Yeah, some of the people there can really be the type to like, not make waves, but vote for people who will not hesitate to take rights away from queer people.”

“Have you ever went through college mental health services?”

“Not me, but one of my sorority sisters did, and oy vey, let’s just say it was a disaster… The therapist she talked to, like, LITERALLY told her the reason she had anxiety was because she ‘hasn’t found a good man to be with’, when she already mentioned she wasn’t into guys!”

“Wait, what??? Wow… that’s so awful…”

“Yep. I’m sure there are much better therapists at that place, and I hope that you— we can find one that’s helpful for you! I just think we should use caution…”

“Right… thank you for letting me know about that… I’ll definitely want to be careful… anyway, this is the form they gave me.”

“Hmm… Lemme– heyyyy I’m glad to see that they, like, FINALLY stepped into the current millennium and added a field for your pronouns!”

Goombella and Vivian look over and fill out the form, and Goombella’s knowledge of the process help Vivian a lot through it. As they finish up, they hear Parakarry's familiar voice, 'Mail Call!'

Goombella jumps, "Ooh! I'll be right back!" Vivian ponders to herself, does that Parakoopa deliver letters to literally the entire world? After Goombella gets back, she has a broad smile on her face, "Ooh! It's addressed to you, Viv!"

Vivian opens it up, and finds an invitation to Gamma Zeta. "Wow, wasn't expecting it to arrive so soon... thank you so much, Bella!!"

"I'm excited for you to be a member, congrats, Viv!"

A few days later, Vivian anxiously heads over to the Gamma Zeta chapter.  shyly knocking on the door, and saying in her most passionate voice, 'Fuck TERFS, Trans rights are Human Rights!!" Hopefully Beldam doesn’t hear her in the shadows… The door opens, revealing a Goomba, slightly taller than Goombella, “Oh, hello, I'm Rose!! Are you Vivian???”

“Yes, is this where Gamma Zeta meets?”

“Yep! Gosh, Goombella was RIGHT about how stylish you are!”

They head inside, Rose giving Vivian some info about the sorority, “Soooo basically we just kind of chill and talk about stuff… we like just being a good place for other queers– are you cool with that term?” Vivian enthusiastically nods her head. “Cool! Anyway, we just want to allow other queer people to have a good place to talk about stuff around campus, and to trade info about other queerphobes to avoid, whether it be if they are professors, or whathaveyou!"

"Oh, that sounds awesome! It must be really nice to just have a way of knowing..."

After chatting and getting to know everyone, Vivian then decides to ask another question on her mind, "By the way... has anyone here been through the mental health services at Petalburg U? I was considering getting a therapist myself."

One of the sisters pipes up, "DON'T fucking choose Dr. Tang. He's, like, the epitome of telling you, 'just a phase'!"

Another one of the sisters adds, "Bigggg case of Trans Broken Arm Syndrome when I visited him as well! Finally got an appointment with Dr. Christy, and they're nice! Really long wait for appointments, though. Almost as if the demands of life are taxing on the brain, or something!"

"Yep, gee whiz... Dr. Christy... thanks! I'll find out more about them!"

Rose also informs her, "Oh, right! I need to add you to our private website! Lemme do that real quick! We use it to share reviews and how queer-friendly faculty members at Petalburg U are! Hopefully will be a good resource for finding someone helpful. Not to mention when you're signing up for classes and such!"

"Oh, thanks so much! That would be helpful..."

Vivian has a great time chatting with her sorority sisters, then heads home after getting in a few games of Smash with them.

Chapter Text

Around the middle of October, in the Dean's Office of the Sorcery department, an orange-hatted Shadow Siren, slightly larger than Beldam, veils in. The dean Hammer Brother asks after a gasp,  “Whoa!!! What do you want???”

“Good afternoon. I am Agatha, and you are going to let me enroll in Sorcery I…”

“Now I’m sorry, but the enrollment period for that ended a couple of months ago, ma’am!! Moreover, you’re not the one who tells me how things will be!”

“This portfolio… I think it will prove to be quite excellent…”

“Hmm, this is rather impressive, but no.”

“Now come on… I happen to know… how you got this job?”

The hammer brother yells, “WHAT??!! You couldn’t!!!”

“Now don’t you think this is the best for all of us?? You get a strong student who can help others in the class, which will speak greatly to the overall curriculum, AND I won’t have to spill the beans…”

“Fuck… Um FINE!!! Under one condition… you will have to PROMISE me that you will not make any waves in the class. Keep to yourself, do your work, only help if others ask.”

“Humph, if you say so.”

Agatha then veils into Twilight Town, where Beldam is waiting, “So, you’ve completed your first objective?”

“That is correct.”

“Excellent… You say you saw that red-hatted ditz in the shadows?”

“Correct, she was with some green-hatted Shadow Siren, but I wasn’t able to get any info. How are other sirens so EVASIVE!!!”

“You weren’t?? So you don’t have a concrete plan to follow my orders? You know that’s a punishment.”

“That’s an empty threat and you know it. You know how much dirt I have on you.”

Beldam then grumbles, “Fine!! Just remember, it’s important to get this done, for the destruction of knowledge.”

“Correct. I do at least know that her and some other Shadow Siren are probably training. We need to prepare.”

“Fine I guess SO! Now, Agatha, bring out the magic device we were going to train with!”

“Huh? You–”

“That HUH better not mean what I think—” Beldam is then struck by a shadow blast from Agatha, who counters back with, “You were supposed to keep track of it. The fact you’re pinning this on me, as you love to do, signifies to me that YOU lost it. We’ll train tomorrow, you’d better find it.”

Agatha veils out of the shadows back to her home, leaving Beldam flummoxed, SHE’S the one who’s being blamed for this?? The NERVE of this asshole!

The next day, Beldam finally finds the godforsaken Magic device, under a bush. Honestly! It’s not HER fault that it's so easy to lose stuff here!! Agatha probably distracted her when she was trying to keep track of it!!

Agatha arrives later that day, and the two do some training, Agatha warning Beldam, “You’d BETTER remember how this process is going to work!!”

“You DARE take that tone with me?”

“Correct, because my magic is going to be what gets you control of that sister you want back again.”

“I wouldn’t use the word ‘sister’, but I understand…”

“OK, glad you understand that you need to let my shadow magic in.” As Agatha is finishing her sentence, she instantly casts a strong Shadow spell to Beldam.

“ARGHHHHHHH!! Give me more warning next time, you dunce!”

“Really… you’re really this slow with reacting to letting magic in… are you even strong enough to be worth my time…”

“I think it’s clear that I am. You DO know I’m the only one the Shadow Queen actually LISTENS to!”

Agatha grumbles, remembering her fallout with the Shadow Queen. “FINE! If you want your stuff, then actually follow my lead. I’m casting Ultimate Doom to you in 5 seconds. You need to combine your Absolute Zero, and direct that to that tree there– why are you grumbling??”

“I… may… you LOST the instructions for me to learn how to cast that!!!”

“Really??? We can’t go two seconds without you trying to pin the blame on me?? It was a prerequisite to our plans; you needed to have your ultimate spells ready OOH I’m telling your mom!!!”

“As if the Shadow Queen would listen to YOU, anyway.” 

Their training goes on like this, with little being done.

The next day, as Vivian’s floating to her Sorcery class and is getting in her seat, an orange Shadow Siren abruptly veils into her seat, causing Vivian to sit on her for a split second before realizing she's there. The siren then yells, “Ah! Watch out before you flatten me with that big butt of yours, you klutz!”

“Oh, sorry! I usually sit here, so I was just a bit confused… I don’t think I’ve met you, by the way, I’m Vivian, what’s your name?”

“I’m Agatha, remember that.”

Brittany then floats into class, “Hey, morning!!! Whoaaa it’s like a Shadow Siren party over here!! What’s your name??”

Agatha sighs, “Guessing you did NOT hear my conversation with Thunder Thighs here? If I need to say it again, then I’m Agatha.”

“Whoa, you sound like a jerk! Quit making fun of my friend here! Moreover, that’s HER seat, so find somewhere else to sit!!!”

“If you insist.”

Vivian then slides into her seat, and whispers, “Whew… thanks…"

"Of course, gosh, she's such a jerk! Sorry ya had to deal with her..."

"Don't worry... hmhm... not like I consider what she called me to be an insult, anyway!"

“Glad to hear! I do think I know her, though… I’ll talk more at our meeting tonight, but let’s be careful around her.”

Brittany and Vivian’s relief is short-lived, however, as when Embrex floats into class, Agatha runs to them… andddd accidentally burns herself bumping into them in her excitement, “Embrex!!! Embrex!!! Owwww!!!!! Anyway, Vivian and Brittany there! They’re bullying me!!!” Embrex then groans, nursing their headache, “I could SWEAR I was teaching a college, not a middle school…” 

“I know! They’re really immature though–”

“No, I’m referring to you. Whatever they may have done, I don’t really care, I’m not here to sort out your drama. You may want to quit your squealing. There should be an extra seat for you there, hurry up. You have a lot of work to catch up on.”

That evening, Vivian is relieved that Brittany decided to schedule the meeting slightly earlier, at 5 PM. Hopefully she can get home early and not have to make Goombella worry... She luckily hasn't had any bad dreams since the one last week. She's also felt a lot less worried about losing the nice life she has now, in part due to noticing Goombella being much more close and tactile with her; her usual cheek kisses becoming lip kisses, which occasionally become makeout sessions when the two are in a particularly passionate mood. She finds herself giggling when Brittany arrives at the meeting place, Uh-oh... "Hey, Viv! Whatcha giggling about, have a date with your GIRLFRIEND later??"

"Maybe so, hm hm!"

Brittany and Vivian get into training, and after awhile, Brittany mentions, "So how about that JERK who FINALLY showed up to class today??”

“Oh that’s right, when I saw her, I really hoped… like she’s a Shadow Siren, it’d be cool if we could work together with her.”

“I think she’s on the enemies’ side, unfortunately, I could have sworn I saw a ‘QS’ symbol on her arm.”

“That makes me wonder, maybe if we had someone, like a non Shadow Siren we trusted to keep us safe in case something bad happens, if that could be good.”

“Hmm? I’m all ears, who were you thinking of?”

“Not sure if you’ve seen her around, but her name is Goombella, and she’s one of the people who helped me defeat the Shadow Queen…”

“Hmm… right! I think I’ve seen her research in the school paper!”

“Hmhm, she is really smart like that!”

“That giggling… is she the girlfr– sorry, the Goomba you’re living with??” Brittany says as she makes air quotes.

“Yep, she is! I think she’d be someone good who we could trust… Even back when I was helping Beldam with her plans, Goombella still treated me kindly, and didn't look down on me at all for being a Shadow Siren... Not to mention, she probably knows the most about just… the bad things Beldam has done.”

“Gotcha!! I suppose we should let your girlllllfriend know about where we’ll be!”

“Thank you!! May I call her right now and let her know?”

“Hmm… what if someone overhears you? Really… maybe it’d be best if we ended this session early and you went home and told her… Between us, I didn't get the best sleep last night, anyway, and I think I'm all tired out...”

“Sounds good… Really I just don’t want her to worry about Beldam doing something to me.”

After Vivian and Brittany’s meeting, Vivian checks her watch… Good, only 7:15 PM, Not too late to give some pretty heavy info to Goombella, hopefully… After she gets in, Goombella's cooking something, “Whoa, hey babe, you're just in time for supper!! So how did things go– My bad, guess you have to keep that secret.”

“Not anymore… Brittany did agree that I can tell you what’s happening, like it’s quite a lot… m-maybe the kind of thing I should tell you when you're not busy managing a skillet…”

“Fair enough! I guess we can talk about it after we finish supper!”

After they finish a nice supper, Vivian starts, “So there apparently is another Shadow Siren, named Agatha, who I met in Sorcery class today, and she… well she isn’t that nice. Apparently there are still followers of the Shadow Queen, who hope to see her revived, and Agatha, along with Beldam, are two of them… So to help hone my skills in case I need to battle them, I’ve been having meetings with Brittany to train our magic together."

"Oh, heck... Well I guess I should have KNOWN that Beldam would be scheming all along..."

"Yep... she did say something about that when she was drunk... should have known it wasn't just angry rambling..."

"Hmm... would it help if I came along to your sessions, maybe train a bit so I could be involved in your cool spells?"

"That could be good, honestly... like we wouldn't have gotten out of a lot of our jams without our Flaming Multibonk! I'll talk with Brittany about it at our next meeting! I also think just having you there would help me stay focused and energized..."

Goombella giggles and kisses Vivian,  then adds, "And also, like, I don't think I need to be there for the full thing, like if there's Shadow Siren only things you both want to talk about, then I can dip after training with you both!"

"That... that honestly may be good... like I've also been discussing like… species stuff.”

“That’s awesome… I’m really happy that you have someone who's NOT a jerk who you can talk to about things like that…”

Chapter Text

A few days later, it's time for Vivian to have another meeting with Brittany to train their magic, and Goombella decides to stay at the Item Shop nearby, so she can start training with them right away if Brittany agrees. Sure enough, she does, and so the Goomba joins the party in the shadows a few minutes later, and enthusiastically runs over to Brittany to shake her hand. "Hey, so you're Brittany!! It's, like, awesome to finally meet you! I'm Goombella! I've heard a lot about you!"

"Good things, I hope; at the very least half as good as what I've heard about you! Nice to meet you too! I'm excited to see how our magic can enhance your already pulverizing headbonk!!"

Vivian, already very used to working with Goombella, finds that she's a lot more comfortable than usual training, and the session goes really well for everyone. Toward the end of the session, they learn a new technique, where Brittany and Vivian combine their Wind and Fire magic to propel Goombella to a Flaming Quick Multibonk. At that point, it's 9:00 PM, and Goombella admits, "So hey... I've, like, never been in the shadows for this long... think it's wearing me down in like a strange way..."

"Oh, babe, I'm sorry... like usually I guess you're only there when I veil you... I guess we should have taken it more easily..." Vivian's too concerned for Goombella's weariness to care that she basically revealed that Goombella was her girlfriend to Brittany.

"I mean, no worries! Sure I'll be fine after a good Shroom Roast and some R&R, but I think I've gotta get going!"

"Yeah, I'm getting pretty tired too, I think... Ya wanna just end the session here, Brittany?"

"Sounds good! It was nice meeting you, Goombella, awesome work today!"

"Likewise!"

Vivian then veils Goombella back above ground, and the two head home... however, there's a shade following Vivian to her and Goombella’s home. Luckily, they pass by a mirror as they're near Goombella's home, Goombella noticing, "Whoa, what’s that shade behind us?!”

“Oh! Right, oh no… show yourself!!!!” The shade then runs off, and Vivian tries veiling quickly, but discovers that the ground doesn’t give way here, so she runs after them, saying, “I'll kick their butt real quick, you can go rest—” As Vivian’s trying to tell Goombella to not worry, she finds Goombella running right beside her, not slowing her gait.

Vivian looks over at her, and giggles, “Hmhm! Guess there’s no point in trying to keep you away, huh Bella?”

“Ya bet your cute ass there isn’t!”

Goombella and Vivian run after the shade after they find out they’ve been spotted, Vivian grateful that they’ve been practicing their running enough to the point where Vivian is able to cast a spell as she’s running. Vivian waves her finger in a precise way, then points to the shade, taking care to move it as the shade’s moving, “Reveal!!!” The shade appears, revealing Agatha. “Agatha?? What are you doing here??”

“Umm… fuck Beldam TOLD me that I should have no trouble interrogating you both, OOOHHHHH when I find her–” Agatha pauses when she sees Goombella, “Oh, fuck, it’s YOU.”

“Glad to see word spreads around! You definitely sound like a jerk!”

“Word most certainly does spread around… about how you’re a WEAKLING Goomba who cannot actually WITHSTAND the shadows!!! Take this!!!!” Agatha shoots a shadow beam at Goombella, but Vivian veils in front of her, taking the attack instead. “Viv… are you OK…?” Vivian can hear some light fragility in Goombella’s voice, which just makes her more mad at her opponent.

“What did I say?” Agatha smirks at them.

Vivian passes Goombella a Maple Super, then says to Agatha, venom in her voice, “Damage… resistance… asshole… You’ll regret talking shit about Goombella!! Paralysis Flame!!!!” Vivian, her adrenaline pumping, is able to almost immediately cast the spell, following with a strong uppercut. Immediately after finishing her snack, Goombella then attacks as well with a multibonk, although it turns out that the Shadow Siren is strong to physical attacks, so it deals minimal damage. "Fuck... forgot to analyze..."

"You really think you can defeat me with a pathetic attack like that??"

Vivian then quickly veils them out of the way of another shadow blast from Agatha, then finds she has a Zess Dynamite, and immediately throws it at Agatha as she barks out, "Take that, and fucking leave us alone."

“AAAAAAARGH!!!!! Humph… our duel has just begun.” Agatha then veils away.

Vivian embraces Goombella… “Babe... Are you OK?”

Goombella sighs, and says with an unusually sad voice, “Oh, I’m fine… are you? That shadow blast looked pretty scary…”

“Luckily my shadow body was able to take it pretty well… Honestly… I was too mad at her to really feel pain… of course she’s just going to fucking run away… I just… GOD she’s such an asshole… and how she DARED to fucking say stuff like that to someone as strong and brave as you…" Vivian then cries for a bit as she continues, "I... I’m sorry, Bella… I know this isn’t a lot like me, I try to keep an even temper but like… she’s just so mean!”

“No apologies necessary, Viv, she definitely is a jerk..”

“Yep… Oh! I should probably tell Brittany about this… Fuck, I don’t have her number… I’ll try to see if I can find her tomorrow…” Vivian realizes she’s having trouble keeping from swearing… how could she not, though? That jerk insulted her amazing girlfriend! Vivian tries to calm herself… She knows one way, using her innate seduction abilities, to cheer up her despondent girlfriend, but it’s harder to activate her power when she feels like this.

As the two are eating a late supper, Vivian notices that Goombella is still being really quiet, and not eating much of her food... It's the first time in awhile that Vivian's finished her plate before Goombella... When the siren looks over, Goombella says, "Oh, sorry, you still hungry? You can have the rest of mine... not feeling too hungry for some reason."

Vivian immediately worries; after Goombella's intense training, she needs to get some food in her to keep her energy up. She decides not to push her, though, "No, don't worry about it, that was plenty... Hey, so Bella... I've been wondering for awhile... if I tried using my siren powers on you... say in bed or something... would you trust me to l-like... not coerce you to do anything you may regret?"

"Viv, I absolutely would trust you, you're so sweet and kind, and I know you wouldn't do anything like that."

"Thank you... so I was thinking... I'd rather you consent to this before I start alluring you..."

"I mean, you do that just by existing!"

"Hmhmhm! So if you're comfortable with it, I may want us to go a bit... farther than cuddling and kissing like we usually do..."

"Ooh, so I'm finally going to, like, experience this whole 'sex' thing that people talk about— oh, right, I haven't actually done this any... is that alright?"

"Oh, absolutely, babe! Was just making sure that you want to..."

"Viv, I've felt like I should have done that for awhile, and me pushing back against doing it has been the breaking point of a few relationships, but I just haven't had anyone who I had, like, a close enough emotional connection to do it with... Until now! Let's do it, Vivian!"

"Oh yay!!! One thing, hm hm... I'm going to have to set an ultimatum that you clean your plate first! You'll need your energy for this!"

"Fine, gosh! At the very least, I think I'm starting to feel a bit hungry now!"

"As you should; you've done so much today, babe! Let me know if you want seconds!"

Luckily, Vivian notices Goombella's appetite returning as she finishes the rest of her food quickly, and takes Vivian up on her offer.

After they are comfortably in bed, Vivian surprises Goombella when she embraces her, tightly nestling her body in, and kissing her on her lips. It's hardly the first time they've kissed like that, but something about this kiss feels more passionate... Goombella then feels a magical aura emanating from the siren's soft, yellow lips. Right, the aura feels very similar to what Vivian used a lot during their journey together to render their enemies useless... There's something different about this, though... Every second that her lips are against the siren's, she feels more and more strong and confident in herself.

The siren then speaks in a sultry voice, "Mhmhmhmhm... babe... if it wasn't for you... I'd still be in that mean old house in Twilight Town, obeying my sister's every whim, but you... you showed me that I'm deserving of so much more, and made sure that I got it, no matter how dangerous it may have been to you... Like that night you just destroyed Beldam when she was mean to me for so long... I'll always appreciate that so much, Bella..." Right! Beldam was just left totally flummoxed after she did THAT!! If she can do that... then Agatha's clearly fucking WRONG!

The siren continues, "Now I can tell you really love these lips of mine, but I think there are other parts of me that you also enjoy..."

Luckily, after the great night Vivian had with Goombella, the two are in a much better mood as they wake up... even if they're still really sleepy. Vivian yawns, "Morning, babe! did you sleep well?"

"Yep, all thanks to you!"

"Likewise!"

Vivian feels relief on seeing a smile on the tired Goomba's face, although the two have to quickly get moving to get ready for the day; the two decided to set the alarm for 7:20 instead of 7, to give them more sleep... Which they very clearly needed, even then, to Vivian, it feels like pulling teeth, getting her butt out of bed and into class. Luckily, Goombella has food in her pantry for the occasion, so Vivian grabs herself a couple of protein bars and an iced coffee, which she finishes before heading inside her class, muttering to Goombella, "Need to throw this away before Frankly gets mad at me for bringing it in!"

"Heh, yep! Now ya know, if I was still teaching the class I'd be more chill with it, but me being your professor would ALSO make what we did last night have all sorts of, like, weird implications, so I think it's for the best that I'm not!"

Vivian then thinks back to what Frankly said the first day he taught,  'Now, I understand my young apprentice who was teaching your first session may have been lax with food and drink policies, but I assure you I will not be as generous. There is to be nothing other than water in this class.'

That morning, as hard as Vivian attempts to focus on her Archeology class, she can’t help but be apprehensive about what she has to tell Brittany… After Frankly’s seemingly endless lecture finishes, Vivian makes a mental note to review the slides, and maybe ask Goombella for any clarifications, as her lack of focus made her not really grasp some of the more nuanced concepts.

She tries to remain outside the Sorcery class, and when Brittany arrives, she heads to her. “Morning, Vivian!!!”

Vivian whispers to her, “Hey, Brittany… so stuff… well I’ll just say that stuff happened… basically Agatha followed me home, and we started fighting… luckily Goombella and I managed to beat her up… GOD she’s such an asshole…”

“Whoa! If you're calling someone that… then she must have been really mean… thank you for telling me.” Brittany thinks for a bit, and writes on a note a new meeting spot, Vivian internalizing it and incinerating the scrap afterwards. They agree to meet at 2 PM that afternoon.

Agatha heads into class, Vivian somehow resisting the urge to 'accidentally' cast a Fiery Jinx on her… She's unusually quiet… until Embrex comes in. She then yells, “Embrex!!! Vivian bullied me last night!!!” Vivian can’t help but mutter, ‘And I’d do it again.’ Embrex hears her, and whispers, “Let me know if you need help. GOD she’s annoying.” They then tell Agatha, “‘Last night??’ I don’t see WHY you’d expect me to care. It’s beyond my duties to even give a shit during the day, and last night I must have been at least a few drinks in, why the FUCK do you think I care.”

The rest of class goes pretty well, Embrex not letting Agatha be near Vivian, and blocking her path so Agatha gets burned when she tries bullying Vivian. Vivian ends up finishing class in a good spirits, thanks to Embrex's sass.

Vivian isn't sure if Goombella will be too busy with research to make it to her and Brittany's meeting, but she sees Goombella typing almost immediately after she sends a text asking to meet her outside the Sorcery building if she's free, and she enthusiastically agrees to meet there again with them. "Seems I gotta add some flare to my attacks if I want to show that jerk Agatha not to mess with me!" That brings Vivian's mind back to the insult Agatha gave her partner, and she has new resolve to train as hard as she can to destroy her.

Goombella then says, "On a brighter note, ya wanna stop by the café nearby, FINALLY get, like, something substantial to eat?! I'm starving!"

"Oh, absolutely!" Vivian's adrenaline over thinking about what Agatha said made her forget her hunger for awhile, but that definitely is a good idea. "Only if I'm paying, though!"

"Aww, fine, if you insist!"

Chapter Text

A few days later, Agatha veils into Twilight Town, to an incensed Beldam, "Excuse me, I cannot believe I'm hearing this correctly, you say you FAILED to defeat that useless ditz and that insolent Goomba???? You KNOW that you're in for a world class punishment for that."

"You KNOW that if you try anything, you'll live to regret that, Beldam. Besides, you fucking lied to me. You said that interrogating her would be easy, and not to mention, you said she's delicate and useless, but she just angrily yelled at me and threw bombs in my face when I dared to be just a bit sassy to that Goomba. It's YOUR fault for giving me incorrect expectations."

"You're really DARING to blame me, you insolent worm— ARGH!" Beldam yells as Agatha hits her with a Shadow Beam, out of warning.

"Correct, I am. Yell at me one more time and I'll do that harder. Not to MENTION—"

The two continue bickering for a good hour, before finally agreeing to disagree and starting on their magic training.

As Goombella waits outside her advisor’s office for her meeting regarding classes next semester, she reflects on how her first semester of grad school is going so far… Her grades definitely aren't the best; if she had to guess, maybe a 3.2 so far this semester? The weird thing is… she hasn’t found herself checking to see if her test scores have been uploaded several times a day like she used to, and she’s finding it kind of hard to care about her grades not being top-notch like usual… Starting a relationship with Vivian has definitely ate at her time, but she’s felt so so much happier than she ever has… Not to mention that she can tell she’s getting stronger and sexier, with working out with Vivian. She audibly gasped when she looked at herself in the mirror and saw how broad her shoulders were getting. She probably never would have managed to bench 135 a few days ago without Vivian being there to cheer her on, and Goombella feeling invigorated to impress the siren, not to mention her progress.... They are really just so good for each other… 

Additionally, looking at possible jobs, she feels like she can already get a job with her current degree, and it may make sense, given her and Vivian’s funds. She pretty much just applied to start at grad school right after her senior year, because she thought it was just ‘what she was supposed to do’, and as was her Type A nature, she worked her ass off to be sure she could get her undergrad done in four years… neglecting quite a bit that she cared about… Which honestly all came to be obvious when she saw that poor Shadow Siren in her class, abuse clear on her face.

Dr. Strong, her advisor, pokes her head out, “Sorry, last student took longer than I expected… Goombella?”

“Oh! I’m ready! Sorry, had something on my mind.”

“Hmm, I expected you to be bonking my door down if I took any longer…”

As she walks into Dr. Strong’s office, the advisor starts immediately by saying, “Before we start, I thought you might want to get some stress out of the way by knowing your grade on your last Prehistoric Archeology exam. It’s a–”

“Sorry, Dr. Strong, but you thought wrong. Things have been… busy, lately, and I’m doing my best with things. Guessing it wasn’t an A, though?” Dr. Strong nods her head. 

“That’s what I figured, anyway, So what classes are you thinking I should take next semester?”

“Hmm… something’s odd… back in undergrad you were biting at me to take classes, and you didn’t really care for my input.”

“That’s true… as I said, been busy.”

“Hmm… beware the grad school slacker syndrome.”

“I mean… I’m doing my best with my time, Dr. Strong!”

“Very well, if I have to do all the work here, here’s a list of what you should take next semester, assuming you pass all your classes.” 

At this, Goombella has to talk back, “Now I’m sorry, Dr. Strong, but who do you take me for? Maybe I’m not going to be a straight A student this semester, but I’m going to be sure to pass my classes!!” 

“Good, that’s the fight I’m looking for. Anyway, here you go.” Goombella looks at her courseload, and decides to ask, “Huh… four classes this semester? Now how much would you say this would cost?”

“Hmm… I can look at that, probably 1110 coins, if you keep your scholarship.”

“Golly! Just going to go ask Lumpy to strike oil, I guess!”

“That would only be 999 coins. Where would you get the other 111?”

“It was an expression! Anyway, I think it may be time to take a break with school, honestly… life’s been pretty expensive lately. I should be able to find a job somewhere to pay to attend in a few years, I think.”

“Yes, and it would pay MORE if you finished your graduate degree. Think long term, Goombella.” Goombella does just as Dr. Strong says, but that only leads to her daydreaming about her and Vivian’s future wedding.

“Goombella, are you paying attention?”

“Oh, what, Viv– I mean Dr. Strong? Sorry, was thinking about the future.”

After Goombella’s meeting with her official advisor doesn’t go as she planned, she decides to take a trip to Rogueport, to talk to her unofficial advisor, Professor Frankly.

“SOOOO… Goomaria–I mean Goombella, what do you want to see THIS old brain for?”

“So, Professor Frankly, I was just thinking about… like my education, for the longest time, I thought academia was the road I wanted to go down… but since meeting someone, I’m not sure if grad school is really the right option…”

“When you say ‘SOMEONE’, I presume you mean a certain bright Shadow Siren in my Archeology I class? The very same one who I kept hearing you giggling with when I was giving you important information on your expedition??”

“Heh… guess I can’t get much past you…”

“Well… say what I will about ACADEMICS being key to your life, I can’t deny that I notice more life in you since you’ve started being around her… Follow your heart, young Goombella.”

“Thank you so much, Professor Frankly.”

While Goombella is happy with the advice and such she got from Frankly, there’s still one person whose opinion means more than anyone else’s would… and who would be quite affected by whatever she chooses. After taking a short trip to the Library to go over her finances one more time, she goes home to find Vivian cooking a meal for them both. “Gosh, Viv, that smells amazing… You didn’t have to make that for us… didn’t you have quite a bit to do today?”

Vivian yawns, but smiles, “Wasn’t the easiest day… lot of classes… and a pretty involved Sorcery experiment, but hey! I felt good about how I did, and felt up to cooking after getting a workout in. How did your meeting with your advisor go?”

“It… went, I’ll say that much! We should probably talk about things… related to my education after we finish our meal… unless you want to now, but after my long day, I’d honestly prefer a meal.”

“Well then! A meal is what my Goombabe is going to get, hm hm!”

After they finish eating, Goombella starts off, “So… first, about how this semester’s been going for me… I will admit I’ve been having a harder time keeping up with everything it requires…”

“I’m sorry, babe… Is there anything I can do to help?”

“Gosh, you already do so much for me… The thing is… like what past Goombella would have done is to just throw herself to the books, pretty much ignoring everything else, but the thing is… I’m starting to think that just resulted in me being, like, super burnt out… I definitely started feeling that during my last semester senior year… not to mention..."

Goombella then gets out the chart she made of Finances, and points to it. "This is how many coins we should have of Disposable Income after rent... Not counting my Tuition next semester."

"Hmm... 112 coins? How much are your classes, Bella?"

"Roughly, like, 10 times that!" Goombella then leans in, "So, Viv, I’m considering putting my grad school career on hold after this semester.”

"Oh, Bella, I'm so sorry... I know how much your studies mean to you..."

"I mean... like subject-wise, yeah!!  The stuff I'm learning is really interesting this semester! I already thought of a cool new research project! Although, between us…” Goombella leans closer to Vivian, slyly saying, “By far, what has captured my interest the most, walked into my class on the first day of this semester!"

Vivian then giggles, then an idea comes to her, "Oh! Speaking of that... maybe... wh-what if I took a few semesters off... I do like my studies, but I don't mind taking a break if it will help us..."

Goombella then looks Vivian in the eye, "Viv, please don't do that just for me...  I don’t want you to do that unless it’s something you really feel is best for you. The thing is, Viv, is that after ya get past undergrad, higher academia degrees aren’t quite as important…"

"Oh, th-that's true... from the bit of job hunting I’ve done, so many of the places want an undergrad degree…"

"Yep! I want you to continue studying, Viv! For me, though... the busy work of it has honestly been more taxing on me than I expected... I really do think a break would be nice. Not to mention! I've already found a few potential jobs when searching a few days ago!" 

"That's awesome, Bella!"

"Yeah, was considering working in an interview next week between classes... Yep, I think that may be the next step for me, Viv."

Vivian floats up to Goombella, and hugs her tightly, “Babe, I completely support that… you work so hard on everything… and any job you apply to would be lucky to have you. I’m really proud of you for realizing what’s best for you.”

“Thank you so much, Vivian…” Some tears leave Goombella’s eye, and she continues, “Honestly… I don’t think I would have understood what the best thing is without you, but just being with you these past few months has been the happiest time of my life.”

The next day, Goombella finds herself in her class, although for some reason, the work feels a bit easier than usual… she thinks on it… maybe this being her last semester lit a fire in her. In any case, she feels like, if she does apply for a job, it’d probably look better if she could keep her grades up, so she listens with resolve, and puts in quite a bit of research that afternoon, asking Vivian if they can meet at the gym when it’s time for their training, which she supportively agrees to. After her class finishes, she goes up to Dr. Strong, undeterred by the stink eye she gives her, ready to face the music of her last Prehistoric Archeology exam. “So, Dr. Strong… I know what I said yesterday, but is it OK if I see my grade on your last exam?” 

“81%. I must say I expected better.”

“Wait, really??? I thought I got a C at best!”

“I mean it’s a B minus, you’re really satisfied with that?”

“With how distracted I was, honestly, yes. I’m not sure if I’ll continue after this semester, but I’ll do my best to keep decent grades for now, see ya.”

Whew… If even that disaster of a test is a B minus, maybe keeping at least a 3.5 this semester isn’t totally sunk yet, as long as Goombella keeps on top of her studies to the best of her ability…

When Goombella admits to Vivian that while she still is considering quitting, she may need more time to focus on her own grad school studies, just to hold her grades together for the time being, Vivian’s completely supportive. “Babe… what you’re learning… do I need to try to learn that myself, to help you with it?”

“Nah… you have your own stuff to focus on… just… with looking for jobs, as well as keeping my grades adequate,  I may be a bit more busy for this next month or so…”

“You just do so much for both of us, babe… if it will help, I can take on more of like, the cleaning and cooking duties!”

“Honestly, Viv, if you have the time, that would be, like, super helpful, but I understand that you have a lot to do in your classes so just… don’t feel bad if we need to just get takeout one night or something! In the end, your education is a lot more important than mine, so do still let me know if you need help.”

“Of course! Do you think… we’ll still have time to fit in working out?”

“I still want us to. I’m thinking the main things will just be… like say, instead of us meeting at  home and chilling before that after we’re both finished with stuff, like say, us meeting at the gym after classes. Just small things like that to save time!”

“OK, whew… I do really enjoy doing that with you, and I didn’t want to give that up either… like I’d imagine it would be hard to get back on that after taking a break…”

“Yep! Not to mention I think it’s helping us both a lot mentally… not to mention physically!! Have you, like, LOOKED at your ass in the mirror lately, babe??” Goombella then pokes Vivian in her hip.

Vivian’s cheeks turn bright red, “Hmhmhm!!! Have been noticing a lot of improvement there… ALMOST as much as I’ve seen in your shoulders!”

“Aww, Viv, thanks! It’s been nice feeling good enough about my appearance to actually, like, post selfies to social media.”

“Hey, likewise!!” Vivian then thinks of an idea, “So hey… you said Prehistoric Archeology was one of your classes?

“Yep!!! It’s kinda kicking my butt… although not by as much as I thought, at the very least! I just need to make more time to study…”

“We’re apparently going to get a cursory view of that next week… so when you’re studying… m-maybe I can sit and study along with you? If it would help, anyway…”

“Ya know, having you to just. like, bounce ideas off of and body double with… I do think that’d help a lot! I think us studying together is a great idea, babe!”

“Oh, thank you!!! One thing I want you to promise, though, Bella… if you’re finding that I’m distracting you moreso than helping… then don’t be scared to tell me it isn’t working out…”

Goombella thinks… “OK, I promise I will, Vivian. I do hope it helps us, though…”

“Thanks… I do too, and I think it will! I just want whatever will help you the most, babe… Also, if this doesn’t work out, I can also study with my sorority; there’s another person in my class there!”

“Oh, that’s cool!”

A few nights later, at about 7:30 PM, Vivian heads to her room, letting Goombella know, “Think I'll start studying... need to get a better handle on Prehistoric Archeology… ”

“Well, what do you know? I was about to study that too! You want to, like, do it together?!”

“Sounds great, babe!

As they study, after chatting a bit about what specifically the two are studying, Vivian sees Goombella deep in thought, and decides to let her focus as she turns her attention to her textbook that Goombella let her borrow. She’s finding that it’s helpful having Goombella near her, and admiring her in focus, occasionally muttering, ‘Ooh!”

Goombella then turns to her, “Oh, sorry, I’m not, like, distracting you, am I babe?”

“Not at all! I’m really enjoying… h-having you with me.”

“Likewise, I think it’s helping me too!" After a few more minutes of the two studying, and Vivian still looking pretty confused, Goombella then decides to help her understand something she has trouble with.

Vivian then yawns, and sees that it's 9:30 PM. "Gee whiz, never thought I'd be wanting to turn in this early, but I think I'm all studied out, Bella... Thanks so much for all your help!"

"Of course! Ya know, Viv, I think studying with you, like, made me think on some of the basics a bit more deeply, and I think I understand how one of the concepts works better now! I think I'm going to review that for a bit, then head on to bed!"

"Oh, awesome! Sounds great, babe!"

Chapter Text

A couple of weeks after Goombella's meeting with her advisor, she's looking for a good job for next semester, and she finds one position as an Archeology... receptionist?? Goombella can't help but impulsively mutter, 'Blah.' at that, but it does only require a bachelor's, so she submits her resume and her usual form cover letter. The job doesn't sound particularly exciting; she'll only be helping with filing paperwork to get approval to excavate certain sites, but she's mainly just looking for anything to help support her and Vivian.

When she gets a call back, she makes the mistake of mentioning that she’s in her first semester of grad school, and temporarily dropping out to focus on employment, which has the recruiter say, “Goombella, people who aren’t going to stick firmly to things need not apply. How are we supposed to know that you won’t just quit our job in half a year considering your attitude with grad school?”

“Oh, so I’ve been noticing my funds aren’t the best… and with me–”

“We're looking for go-getters, Goombella, and we have no room for money pits.”

Goombella resists the hundreds of cheeky comments that are on the tip of her tongue, and takes a breath and says, "I assure you I won't be that at all! I graduated Summa Cum Laude from the prestigious Goom U, and I'm sure my skills will be a real asset to your company! I'm just realizing that with my current circumstances, it makes most sense for me to bring my skills to your company, and resume grad school later.”

“And what skills of yours are you going to bring? We have one candidate who has five years experience, and we aren’t exactly looking for freshers.”

Goombella’s snarky tongue gets the better of her, “Well I’m sorry, but if that’s the case, why did you say this is, like, an entry level position? Maybe I’m new, but I literally have an adventure's worth of experience, and am excited to learn! This past year taught me so much… like with starting a new relationship and–” Goombella hears a loud click shortly after she mentions her relationship; guess she dodged a bullet there! She realizes it may not be best to mention that the gap in her resume is due to grad school… maybe say more learning… which is NOT a lie!

When she goes into the living room to vent a bit to Vivian, the witch sees her frustrated face, and sympathetically asks, "Aww, no dice?"

"Nope! Turns out the 'entry-level' position I applied to wasn't looking for recent graduates! Not to mention, that recruiter was a jerk!"

"I'm sorry, babe... but you know what... I really think you're too good for that job... With all you've done, Bella... I honestly think you're more than skilled enough to be out on the front lines excavating!"

"Thanks, yeah, you're right! That job wasn't really that, like, exciting anyway. It's just... " Goombella sighs, and continues, with her hand on Vivian's shoulder, " I just wish more employers would see me like you do, Viv."

"Oh! Speaking of that... What if I ask around in my Archeology class? There are a few older students there,... maybe one of them would know someone!"

"Honestly, anything to get more eyeballs on me in the business world would be awesome, so I would appreciate you doing that if you don't mind! I'll try to ask some of my professors too!" Goombella makes a note to avoid asking Dr. Strong, however.

Luckily, after supper, her esteem is boosted when she looks at her score on her Ancient Archeology exam earlier that week, which she felt good about after a long productive night studying alongside Vivian beforehand.

"Babe, I think studying with you is really paying off! I got a 95!"

"Wow, congrats, babe! I really think it's helping me too!"

Sadly, a few more of her job searches go a similar way as her last screening... She doesn't know what she'd do without having Vivian by her side to comfort her and jokingly threaten to punch the person on the other side of the phone.

Luckily, though, a couple of weeks later, she finds a job that sounds a lot better, and she puts much more effort into her cover letter, noting what happened in her adventure that was relevant to the position, and it pays off; she gets a screening that goes well. When she gets informed that she made it to the final interview, she informs Vivian.

"Oh my goodness, congratulations, babe!!! If there's ANYTHING at all I can do to help you, please let me know..."

“Aww, Viv, you don’t have to… aren’t finals coming up soon?”

“I mean… you’ve already done so much for me… and let's be real… a few tests, they really aren’t anything compared to if ya get this job.”

“You know, that’s fair, this is very important for both of us… Gosh, I’m getting nervous…”

Vivian then plants a kiss on Goombella’s lips, which has it’s usual effect of calming her down. “Bella, even if things don’t go well… we can always just do a few more Trouble Center requests… Besides, we kindaaaaa saved the world, hm hm! I think our landlord HAS to cut us a bit of slack considering that!!”

Goombella laughs, if only their landlord was like that… nonetheless, laughing helps calm Goombella, and they get a lot out of their job prep session. Vivian especially helps Goombella remember her many strengths, and how to talk them up. When they get to the ‘biggest weaknesses’ question, Goombella snarks, ‘Gosh, Viv, you’re so sweet, I wonder if you’re even willing to help me with this question??’

“Now Bella, I’m willing to help however I need to so that you can know what to say for this job, as hard as it is for me to think of the answer! Hmm…” Vivian’s face takes on a much more serious air, and after a prolonged silence softly says, “I hope you know how long it took for me to come up with this, but I would say… and this is more something for your past self anyway… Like you did have a tendency to work yourself to the detriment of your own happiness... Like how you always mentioned how you worked too hard to the neglect of yourself…”

“You know… companies LOVE that kind of stuff…”

“And like… I suppose you always did like seem to want to do everything by yourself and not bother others…”

“Yep, my Type A personality really DID shine through, huh… Wonder how the interviewer would see it if I mentioned that’s something I’m actively trying to improve…”

After they discuss the other questions, they run through a mock interview.

Vivian starts off by asking, "So, hm hm... say I'm potentially hiring you to survey a location to start a new potion shop! Why should I hire you?"

"Because I'm cute and you just should— Oh, right, you're, like, playing the role of an actual interviewer! Well! I think you should hire me, because my quick mental summarizing I did during my month-long adventure to help see what was up quickly with the situation would transfer very well to this!"

"Hmm, that is a good point! We currently don't have any candidates that have your level of expertise in that field! However..." Vivian then thinks for a long time, and finally thinks of a good curveball. "Say, however, that I refer you to a friend of mine, and they need you to give a detailed report, say like 50 pages where you survey a bigger land! Would that be something you have experience in?"

"Most certainly! This research project I worked on last year shows that I can handle big as well as small survey reports!"

"Whoa... whoa..." Vivian then giggles, and drops her stern, quizzical demeanor, "Well, OK, ya totally got me there, Bella! Say instead... of that... I'm instead someone wanting to—" The night goes on like this, the mock interview helping Goombella get an idea of what she'll say in her head.

After they finish, Goombella yawns, but feels a sense of obligation regardless, “Nowwwww that I feel, like, ready, what finals do ya have coming up, I can help you study!!”

Vivian giggles, and points to her watch, saying it’s almost midnight. “Sorry, babe, not gonna let ya work more on my behalf, I think it’s about bedtime!”

“Wow, when did it get so late! You’re right, Viv.”

The next morning, Vivian asks, “Hey babe, you say your interview’s at 11?”

“That’s right, don’t worry, I got this! I know you have a class!”

“I just mean… would it be helpful to you if I walked you to your interview?”

“I mean… I’d feel bad asking you to do that…”

“I know you would! That’s why I’m just asking the question, and not offering to do that! I’ll decide for myself what to do after you give me your answer!”

Goombella giggles, “Gosh, Viv… I love you. Ya know what… you’d definitely help relieve my tension, and just make me feel more confident in myself and my abilities…”

“Gotcha! Glad to hear that I help remind you how badass you are! Soooo ya wanna meet outside in a couple of hours?”

“Sounds great, Viv!”

Goombella arrives to her interview confident, thanks to Vivian being there to shower her with compliments. She’s careful to veil away when they get close to the place, in case the interviewer looks down on stuff like that.

Goombella’s able to answer all the questions well, and when the interviewers say that she should hear back regarding their decision in about a week… Oof, that’s a bit of time, but she still leaves happy… She notices that it’s already 1 PM when she leaves, which is about 30 minutes later than how long it was scheduled for... They must have liked her a bit, if they were willing to spend that long on her!

She calls Vivian after she’s finished, ecstatic, and after the two share a nice meal that Vivian cooked, Goombella asks, “Sooooo now that THAT stress is over, would you like me to help you study for your finals??”

“You can, afterrrr you send your thank you email!”

“Gee, Viv, ya think those help?”

“Maybe ‘think’ is going a bit too far, but ya may as well shift that mystifying hiring manager’s odds in your favor however ya can!”

After Goombella sends the email, she goes down the stairs, and finds the witch she loves, who has a few sheets of scratch paper on her desk, and whose red hatted head is nestled deep in her Archeology textbook. She pats her on the shoulder, “How’s the studying coming along?”

“Erm… it’s going OK… a few concepts that are a little tricky to grasp…”

“Anything I can help with?”

“Hmm… carbon dating here… it’s a bit tricky for me to grasp how that works...”

"Oh! I can help, Viv! So you see here..." She then takes one of Vivian's scratch papers, and works through a problem she has trouble with, and Vivian feels she has a much better understanding of how it works.

Vivian’s advice about sending a thank you email seems to have paid off… The next day, Goombella gets a phone call from the place she interviewed… as she’s in class. When she feels her phone buzz, she considers whether she should walk outside and answer… with her mind, anyway, her body is already running out of class quickly enough for her classmates to take note, and Goombella hears Dr. Strong say pointedly, “As I was saying, to my students who actually Pay Attention.” 

Undeterred, she answers the call. “Goombella, we really loved your confidence and passion in Archeology, and we would be excited to offer you a position as an archeology researcher at our company!”

As Goombella hears about the details, she learns that for the first few months of her position, she will operate moreso as an analyst for artifacts uncovered by others who explore, and later on, she will be going to various sites herself to excavate. 

It’s all Goombella can do to not call Vivian immediately after she hears this in joy, but she remembers that Brittany and her are currently in a meeting, and she doesn’t want to be a distraction, so she SOMEHOW is able to hold the good news until Vivian finally comes home. She asks, “Sooooo how was your meeting?”

“It was fine… just another productive day practicing our spells! Anyway! I can tell by that broad smile that you’re bristling to tell me something, what is it?”

Goombella giggles, “Aww, thought I did a good job at hiding it! You could tell, huh??”

“Ya know it, babe!”

“I got the job!!”

“Babe!!!! Congratulations, oh my goodness!!! That is just… I’m so happy for you. Does this mean you'll be taking a break from grad school?”

“I will if I take this job, which I'm thinking is the best for us, but I haven’t accepted anything in writing yet… I thought we should talk about everything before I accept…"

"You sound excited for it, so I'm totally supportive of you taking it— well, I mean, I'll support you no matter what you choose, babe, but I can tell you sorta wanna take this!"

"I do! It's just that... where I’ll be working is quite a bit farther away… Like you remember the house of that old sleepyhead, General White? It’s about a mile east of that.

“Gee whiz! So you'll be needing to go through Fahr Outpost… I don't suppose there's any other way to get there..."

"Not that I know of, sadly... Ya know, if that cannon we went through all that trouble to use could just, like, bring us back, then there'd be a simple route through Grodus' old lab! But alas..."

"Ya know… I can’t help but feel like… what time do you start?”

“That’s another thing… We’re supposed to be in the office at 8 AM…”

“So if you do decide to do this… I could maybe come along with you… just to kind of like… help keep you heated with my fire magic…”

“Babe…that’s so sweet of you… but I don’t think I can accept that, really… wouldn’t being in that weather too much be dangerous to you?”

“Hmm… I mean that’s a good point… like doing that day in and day out… it honestly really could… OK… you’re wearing that intimidation badge we have, though. I’m not having my babe frozen by those rude Frost Pirahnas.”

“Gosh, If ya say so, Mom!”

“Hmhmhm, always looking out for my amazing, smart, goombabe!” Vivian then cuddles to Goombella.

“Ya know… I could always try to negotiate for some days at home, just to not have to go to that cold place so much…”

“That would probably be a really good idea… Ya know, considering how quickly they called you back, I’d imagine they realized how amazing you’d be at the job, Bella…”

Dr. Strong calls her later that afternoon. Goombella has trouble finding her phone, so it goes to her voicemail… Goombella thinks to herself that missing the call was a lucky break… Unfortunately, the professor calls again a minute later, so Goombella decides to face the music, and answers the phone. 

“Hello?”  

Dr. Strong, not much for pleasantries, directly starts by saying, “Really, Goombella? I thought after your 95% on your last exam, you’d have finally started caring about your academics again. But no, you’re really just randomly ditching my class?”

“Oh… that’s right… sorry about that. Something important came up.”

“Nothing bad,  I hope.” 

“I certainly… wouldn’t say that… it’s just, well I may be having to take a break from grad school… I got a job.”

Goombella expects her advisor to at least sound a LITTLE excited for her, however the tone she has is quite morose, “Now wait. Wait just one minute… I’d highly consider this before you make that decision.”

“I mean… I know it’s a big decision, but I talked it over with my girlfriend, and financially, it makes a lot of sense…” Goombella could swear she heard her advisor scoff when she mentioned ‘girlfriend’? Dr. Strong is admittedly pretty hard to read, and doesn’t let on much about her political opinions. but she kinda hoped that she wouldn’t be bigoted or anything…

“Hmm… just think before you make a decision you’ll regret. It isn’t always as easy as ‘taking a break and coming back’, what if the requirements for classes change?”

“I’m sorry, but I’ve more or less made my decision, and while that’s certainly possible, what if something comes up at home and we have to rely on the income from my new job? Either way something could go wrong, and this really seems the best for my future.”

She calls the company she interviewed with the next day, mentioning her problem with the location, and is able to negotiate 2 days working from home a week, as well as a 50 coin/month raise, in no small part thanks to Vivian showering her with compliments and making her feel confident that negotiations would go well.

Chapter Text

As December begins, Vivian starts getting anxious about how her girlfriend having to deal with the harsh weather of Fahr Outpost... if only there was something she could do— Oh, Right! Her sister made potions, so that's clearly something she could learn too! Maybe there’s something Vivian can also learn in her sorcery classes to make a spicy potion to help her partner combat the frigid land!

Vivian checks for Embrex's office hours, hoping to ask them info for ways to use her magic to create potions… Sis apparently knows how to do it, and before she started school, Vivian tried to learn, but Beldam always said she didn’t have time to teach her, with all the questions she asked…

Vivian sighs as she looks at the course page, and sees that Embrex's office hours are Friday at 8 PM. She didn't even know office hours went that late, gee whiz... She realizes that there's probably roughly a 2% chance of them being there, given their apathetic nature and that being peak bar hours, but she considers trying anyway... maybe they'll be helping students prepare their final project or something. Vivian lets Goombella know that she'll be out late on Friday night, but she can probably fix something before she has to head out. 

“I mean, no worries at all!”

“Thanks… I just need to head to my Sorcery professors’ office hours… was going to hopefully find a way of making potions for you… to hopefully deal with the cold more easily…”

“Wait, Sorcery can, like, do that??? “

“Yep! I used to help Sis with the menial tasks of it… I tried to ask her what the potions did and how I could make them myself, but she didn’t really reveal much… she seemed to view them just as a way to make a profit… I’m really excited to learn about that, though!”

“That sounds amazing, Viv! That would just help us in like… so many ways… One thing though… did Embrex say they’d be there??? If their office hours are THAT late, I'd imagine they'll be at least 2 bottles in by that point! Maybe ya could ask them when would be good to meet after class!”

“That… may be my best bet…”

“Worst case, ya can always infatuate info out of them, like you did with those mean Embers who attacked us on that ship way back!”

Vivian asks Embrex next day about possible meeting times, “I suppose I can find the time now, if you don’t have anywhere to be, bars don’t open till– one second." Vivian watches, and notices that Agatha was right behind them the whole time, and Embrex chases her out of the class and closes the door. “You NEVER care about it when Vivian bullies me—AAAAAAA!!!!!!”

“Anyway, now that that jerk is gone, what did you want?”

“So potions… I notice we’re getting close to the end of the material… but we haven’t been taught that… My sister knows how to make those, so is there any way I could figure out how to make those as well?”

“Hmm… THAT whole thing… It’s touched on some in Sorcery II…”

“Ooh! I’m taking that next semester!”

“I suppose I can forward your info to the professor… if you want her to email you some notes to get a head start…”

“That… would be amazing, actually… thank you, Mx. Embrex.”

“Yes… Don’t go telling the other students I’m putting in this much effort…” They float away, Vivian hearing them mutter, “Christ, Embrex, you really just work your butt off when it’s a cute Shadow Siren, huh…”

She floats home that evening– Whoa! She smells something really nice as she floats in. “Hey babe! This smells amazing!”

“Ehe, thanks Viv! Thought I’d try my hand at making something fancy to celebrate next week being our last week of classes! Ya excited for winter break??”

"Hmhm, very very much! Starting college has been a lot of fun, but just having more time and not having to worry about studies will be nice... How does it feel for you, this being your last semester?"

Goombella sighs and thinks, and eventually says, "Bittersweet in some ways, like at least my grad school schedule is a bit more flexible than it will be when I start working! Gotta say, having a steady income will be pretty awesome! Not to mention... at least, ideally, they won't overload me with homework and studying like I have now!"

That evening, Vivian finds the notes on her school account, she looks through them… but some of the material is a bit tricky to understand… this is really what Sis did… maybe if she worked this hard, she wouldn’t mind–No. At this point she’s basically an enemy, with her apparently in cahoots with Agatha…

She finds a small space where she can set up an area to work on her potions, but it’s pretty cramped… She finds that most of the potions require her to cast spells into the decanter, which she still feels is too risky to do at an apartment…

She eventually finds a healing potion that just requires mystical dust, cream, water, and green peppers. After some practice, she finally manages to make a potion that restores 1 HP and cures Poison. She hoped for a bit more, but this is at least a start, she supposes. Could be useful when she needs a bit of health, but still needs to stay in Danger state.

She then yawns, and checks the time... Wow, when did it get to be 11:30 PM? She realizes that she's very tired from all the studying and experimenting, so she goes and rests for the day.

A few days later, in Vivian’s final class in Sorcery I, after she finishes her final assessment, she notices Embrex almost immediately get revitalized at the strong fire spell she casts. She knows she did well when they say, "Whoa!!! THAT was what I need—" then clear their throat, "I mean, excellent work." After everyone finishes, the class is learning a new incantation, and the door opens as they're practicing, revealing a Hammer Brother. “Can Agatha come with me so we can… talk?”

“Oh, sorry, In the middle of an incantation, stopping it could be–”

“Oh, quit lying, you aren’t doing anything and you know it.” Embrex counters.

The hammer brother gets out one of their hammers, and holds it, asking, “Now? Please?”

In spite of their politeness, Vivian can tell that the Hammer Brother will not at all treat Agatha politely if she refuses the request, and she finds herself wondering what’s happening… Right! Wasn't he the dean of the Sorcery department? Vivian makes a note to go there after class, both because she’s curious about that, and wants the opportunity to tell him about the encounter she had with Agatha, as well as to see if she can get more insight into resources on potion learning.

Meanwhile, in the Dean’s office, the hammer brother yells, “So, you PROMISED me that you wouldn’t make waves if I let you into the class, YET, I have NEVER gotten so many complaints of someone being disruptive as I have since you enrolled! What’s more, your grades…”

“That’s not my fault!! I do my best, but Vivian and Brittany keep bullying me! The emotional stress is just… too much…” Agatha starts crying, but the Hammer Brother is unfazed.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m sure, like Vivian even has it in her kind heart to bully a Puni. I’ve decided, I do not even care if you let it on that I lied about not committing crimes for Lord Bow– AAAAAAAH!!!!!” The hammer brother falls, and the sound of veiling echoes through the room.

The Ember hears a yell, and says to their class, “Oh… guess I’ll end class early, I’m bored anyway. I’ll try to have your assessments graded quickly xor accurately.”

Vivian heads to the Dean’s office after getting out early. She has to get instructions on how to get there, and when she finally makes it, she finds the dean on the floor… she calls out to him, but he doesn’t respond… She panics, thinking what to do… she touches the Hammer Brother, and immediately feels an aura of Shadow magic… she instinctively winces at remembering the Shadow Blast that Agatha did when she followed Vivian home… she must have done something, FUCK.

Right! The Sorcery lab! They should have decanters… she made a potion that restores 3 HP just yesterday… it’s a long shot, but maybe she can make a potion to help the Hammer Brother… She texts Goombella to let her know that she will be a bit late, as there’s an emergency she has to take care of… Goombella replies immediately, asking if she can help… Vivian decides to let her, considering that she could have a dangerous encounter. She lets her know she’ll be working in the Sorcery lab.

Before starting, she gathers some flowers and herbs outside. She feels fortunate that Petalburg has a relatively warm climate, even in December.  She finds that the last person to use the Sorcery lab luckily forgot to lock the door, which is wide open. She puts a spare lab coat on, and takes a decanter and quickly sanitizes it, having a rare feeling of gratitude for the chores she had to do for Beldam.  She leaves some coins to help with the instructor to buy a new one, and gets to work. While she feels pretty stressed and rushed, she also feels in her element working in a big space, alchemizing a potion… maybe she could talk Goombella into getting a bigger place so she could have her own alchemy lab… After she’s completed the recipe to her satisfaction, she puts a small sample into a test tube, then takes a swig… Wow! This is definitely the best potion she’s made yet! Must heal 5 HP, at least!

After she exits the lab, she finds Goombella right outside it, who gasps when Vivian gets out of the lab. “Whoa, hey babe! Sorry if you tried texting… was focused on the potion… forgot to check my phone…”

“Figured you were doing some cool sorcery like that, don’t worry! I gathered a few materials, but looks like you already have something cool cooked up!”

“Oh right, thank you for that… but I did already make this potion, hopefully it will heal the Dean… He was attacked by Agatha I think…”

As they head to the dean’s office, Goombella tells Vivian, “By the way… why I gasped when you exited that lab… that lab coat… it looks fucking AMAZING on you, Vivian. Like goodness!!! WOAHHHHH!!!!” Goombella tries to calm herself down, and says in a quieter voice, “Guess I should keep it down; got a bit excited there! Think I must have a thing for cuties in lab coats…”

Vivian chuckles as she bumps Goombella with her hip, “Babe, you say you have a thing for a style any time I wear that type of outfit!”

“Yes I do! What can I say, you just make anything you wear look sexy! Have you considered modeling???”

“Mhmhm… others have told me I’d be good at that… now that I don’t have Sis around to lower my self-esteem, could be a fun gig sometime…”

“By the way, how did ya like the lab?”

“It– it was really nice, Goombella… like just getting a big space to work on potions…”

“Heh, kinda beat a corner in our house, didn’t it!”

“K-kinda…”

“Viv… when we have a bit more saved up with my job… would you like us to move into a bigger apartment, so there will be more space for you to work with that?”

“That… I would really appreciate that… Thank you so much, just like…  Babe, I’m just so excited to learn more about potions and making them!!! I could do so many great things in the world! Notably, making a certain Goomba not freeze her cute butt off at Fahr Outpost!

“I mean like… if any part of my body was going to be frozen, I’d prefer my butt to my finger– whoa!” Goombella stops her chat as her and Vivian make it to the Dean’s office and see the Dean still unconscious. “Whoa… you were right Viv…”

“It was shadow magic… that asshole Agatha did that. Hopefully this helps…”

She feeds the Dean some of the potion… Slowly his eyes open, “Huh… where… am I… That’s right, you’re… Vivian… I think… Embrex has said good things about you… I made a big mistake…”

“Thank goodness you’re OK! Just… for now, worry about getting better–”

“I won’t be better… till I yell to myself about how much Agatha fucking LIED to me!!”

“I did what now????” Agatha veils out of the ground, along with someone very familiar to Vivian… 

Vivian impulsively says, “Sis??? What are you doing here???”

“Yes… this is the perfect chance… You WILL be coming back with me, you impudent Shadow Siren.”

“Wait… you want me to??”

“Of COURSE!!! Since YOU left me, I only have my ACTUAL sister to try yelling at and punishing now, and you see where THAT’S gotten me!” Beldam points to an ashed part of her body…

Vivian pauses for a bit… at least Marilyn’s sticking up for herself… she continues, “Well, that’s too bad! I’m very happy with where I’m living now, and I won’t even consider visiting until you give me a sincere apology, sis!”

“Humph… apology… what is this ditz even talking about…” Vivian is admittedly a bit disappointed at Beldam’s response… as mean and unchanging as she’s been, she thought Beldam would be at least a LITTLE regretful with time. 

Beldam continues, “speaking of ditzs… YOU, Agatha… you PROMISED me you would pass sorcery I so that you could get access to the lab in Sorcery II to obey my wishes! what did you fuck up now???” 

“I– AAAAAAA!!!” Agatha yells as she is hit on the head by the Dean’s hammer.

“Aaaah… that potion… I’m not sure how I can thank you, Vivian… besides giving you an automatic A in Sorcery I, but in any case, let’s take these clowns down!”

To start off the battle, Goombella makes sure to start off by analyzing Agatha, her mistake she made during her last duel with the foe still fresh in her mind.

Agatha

She's a shadow-elemental Shadow Siren(try saying that 5 times fast!). Anyway, she seems to just be abrasive and rude, but in kind of... a different way to how Beldam is? HP is 75, Defense is 3, and as far as attacks, she can do strong Shadow blasts, which have an attack of 6, and when she teams up with Beldam, can do a Freezing Shadow which has an attack of 10! I suppose if we see them combining their magic, that's our cue to hide in the shadows, huh? Agatha is strong to physical attacks, but weak to Wind attacks.

As Goombella is finishing her summary, she notices her two rivals getting blown briskly into the wall, and already sees her partner casting her Fiery Jinx, focusing on the wall.

"As shown there! Glad I arrived just in time! Great thinking on your feet— well, tendril there, Viv!" Goombella then turns to the chipper voice, and sees Brittany. "Whoa, that was awesome!"

After the sneak attack, however, Beldam and Agatha counter quickly with a Freezing Shadow, which Vivian veils Goombella out of the way from just in time. When they unveil, Beldam immediately chides Agatha, "They were ONLY able to get away because YOU were too slow casting!!!"

"What??? I was fine, YOU were the one who was too—" As the two are arguing, Vivian uses the chance to catch her breath, then grins at Goombella, who gives a confident confirmation wink. The fire sorceress then casts her fire magic to Goombella, who launches into a Flaming Bonk on both Beldam and Agatha, dealing a fair bit of damage to them both. At seeing a proud smile on her partner's face, Vivian gives her a congratulatory thumbs up and broad smile.

After that attack, however, Beldam and Agatha realize they need to quit arguing and use their strong attacks separately, and the battle is pretty challenging, but the heroic trio find that their training in the shadows has helped them develop quite a battling camaraderie, which helps them win eventually.

“GRRRRRR you REALLY couldn’t take these weaklings down, Agatha??? Get back here for your world class punishment!!!” Beldam runs after Agatha, out of the university. Vivian muttering, “Gee whiz, Sis always needs someone to punish…”

The Hammer Brother then speaks, “Speaking of punish… Beldam’s not the only one who’s going to be punishing that jerk… Effective immediately, she is EXPELLED from the Sorcery program! Andddd I’m probably fired but hopefully I can find something somewhere…” He then mutters quietly, “Maybe Bowser’s still hiring…”

“Wait, Hammer Brother? You’re fired? Why???” Vivian asks.

“So… the only reason Agatha was even able to get into your class… So, you probably know that for a long time, I was a loyal servant of Lord Bowser…”

“Wait, ‘Lord’ Bowser… are you still?”

“Well… that’s up in the air… I wanted to get away from aiding in the Princess being captured, so I took the job here, but let’s just say I told a little fib when the application asked if I had ever worked for Bowser… Apparently Agatha knew about that… Oh, unusual to see YOU here Embrex… oh, you have the grades? Nicely done, expected to not see you in here until the deadline in a couple of weeks.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m badass I know, now I’m leaving, the bars should be opening soon.”

“Hmm… well then! Looks like the reward I was GOING to give you, there’s no point to really…” The Hammer Brother tries to show the final grades to Vivian, but she stops him, resisting the urge to peek at how Brittany did in the class, “Um… won’t that… reveal everyone else’s grade too?”

“FUCK I’m even forgetting about FERPA… I should really just resign before they fire me… ‘You can’t fire me, I quit!’" The Hammer Brother chuckles to himself. “Anyway, I MUST reward you…”

“Aww, gee whiz, I was just trying to do the right thing…” Goombella nudges her, and whispers, “Hey, ya have the leverage, babe, why dont’cha shoot for the stars? You were just telling me about how much you enjoyed working in the lab, and how passionate you are with making things to help the world there! I see an opportunity to negotiate here!”

Vivian gasps, but then nods back, smiling, “Um… may I please have… the key to the Sorcery Lab… it’d be really nice to continue working on my alchemy skills through winter break, and also just making potions and such… I promise I'll clean up after myself!”

“I'm sure ya will, Vivian. Although, if it were anyone else… I’d say no… and that’s still quite a bit to give you… although you DID save my life with it, and I know you’d use your alchemy for good… OK, but I’m making a fingerprint so only YOU can use this key. Don’t want to worry about your jerk sister stealing it.”

“Right, that is a really good call…”

As Vivian and Goombella are heading home after their long day, Goombella snarks, “Now that ya have that… it’s going to be all I can do to get you away from those decanters to kiss ya, I’d imagine!”

“Hmhm… now babe… as much as I loved doing that… you’ll always mean so much more to me… of course, I’d imagine that I’ll be spending quite a bit of time there… I still need to learn how to make more advanced things besides healing potions, but I KNOW I can make a good heat potion that will protect you against the frigid weather of Fahr Outpost…”

The Saturday before Vivian's last couple of exams, she's attending a ‘cram session’ with her sorority for finals, the conversation gets to how Vivian’s doing.

“By the way, Vivian, it’s great to see you around! Haven’t seen you much lately!”

“Yeah… sorry about that, just been kinda busy lately with classes and studying. Not to mention, Goombella has been a bit more busy lately, so I’ve been trying to help out more with chores and cooking and such…”

“Aww, I understand, that’s really kind of you!”

“Thanks… hopefully I can be around more now… Goombella’s probably finished job searching, since she got the job she applied for."

“Say, like, WHAT???!?!! Oh my goodness!!! Let’s take a break from studying everyone!! Officially, we need to arrange a surprise party for our old sorority sister!!!” 

The instant Vivian hears of a surprise party, her memory goes back to when she was at the fortress, and Beldam tried throwing a surprise birthday party for Grodus… it ended with Grodus angrily slamming the cake to pieces, the icing landing on Vivian’s face… that was pretty tasty, at least. Grodus then said, “You’re trying to throw me a PARTY when you’re just SLACKING OFF with your assignments?? There’s work to be done. No time for parties.” Grodus then cleared his throat. “Now you all clean this mess up and place it in a bowl on the table. Fuck the 5 second rule.”

“R-right away, your majesty!”

The year after, Beldam ordered her sisters to start preparations for another party, that was set to be right before they were assigned to destroy Mario with the superbombomb. Vivian tried to mention what happened last year, but all Beldam said was, “THIS year will be different! The only reason he was mad LAST YEAR  was just because YOU put too many candles on the cake, you nincompoop!! THINK of how much of an insult that must have been to the honorable Sir Grodus!”

As Vivian expected, Grodus was Not Pleased. “Excuse Me???? You really just WASTE MY TIME with meaningless parties when you STILL haven’t taken Mario down??”

“Now,now, your majesty, just because this disrespectful brat put too many candles on your cake again, you don’t have to yell at me!”

Vivian, already starting to wonder to herself if she should just abandon Sir Grodus and her sisters, blithely says, ‘Sis, I told you this party was a bad idea!’

“OK, Beldam, you’re pissing me off even MORE now. You’re making me defend the girl who LITERALLY took a nap in the middle of her assignment to eliminate that annoying Goomba pest, like HONESTLY!!! HOW— ” Grodus cleared his throat, and continued,  “In any case, she’s correct. I couldn't care less about any ‘party’ or anything. I have this bomb. Vivian, keep track of it so Beldam doesn’t lose it.”

“Y-yes, your majesty!” Vivian couldn’t help but get some satisfaction over Beldam’s fuming look, even knowing she’d be punished later…

“--OK, Vivian?” Vivian then gets back to the present, and sees Rose looking at her with a worried look.

“Oh, y-yes, I’m fine, sorry… just was thinking about something… anyway… I… d-don’t know if that’d be a good idea, I’m sorry… at least the surprise part…”

Rose answers, “Huh… you know, I didn’t consider it that way… like I thought just suddenly the surprise… would be a sudden nice feeling…”

“I mean… just the thing is… if she isn’t feeling up to being social or has something to do… it’d just make her feel bad, I think… maybe we can let her know instead?”

“Now that you mention that… yeah, a lot of us have days like that… it could be bad, like if she just wants to stay in… OK! Why don’t you let her know about the party then! Ooh I’m so excited!!!”

The next evening, Vivian decides to bring up the party to Goombella, “So… h-hey babe… ya know Gamma Zeta?”

“Yeah! How’s that going??”

“It’s going great… so they actually… I let them know you got that job, and they want to throw a party for you!”

“Wait, for ME??? It’s good to know they’re thinking about me… I don’t know, I always worry if I’m not around they’ll just forget about me… but a PARTY?? That sounds awesome! When is it?”

“Probably… next Saturday, we were thinking.”

“Heck yeah, I’m there! Gosh, it will be nice to see everyone again… And maybe get a rematch in Smash!”

Chapter Text

Vivian ends up having a busy week; besides sharing a few meals with Goombella, and going with her to her sorority's party, the week is largely filled with hours in the Sorcery lab, with her spending almost her entire day there after finals are finished, either in the lab testing potions, or in the library reading the detailed notes her future Sorcery II professor sent her. She feels relieved that she had Goombella to help make sure that she made time for relaxing, as well as studying for her Calculus final; she ended up doing... well, acceptably enough on that to scrape a B in the class, at least.

As she experiments on various potions, she realizes that making something to prevent chill from entering the body is more tricky than she expected! After finally grasping the crux of the notes, she realizes that charred bones are likely necessary for cold protection? Strange, but she decides to make her way to Hooktail Fortress to get one from a Dull Bones.

Goombella insists on coming along as well to protect her. "Hey, ya never know! Maybe another dragon in the Hooktail family tree will be out for revenge!"

"Fair enough, babe! We have definitely run into our fair share of her relatives! Not to mention... it will be nice getting to spend time with you..." Vivian sighs, "Sorry I've been pretty busy lately..."

"Hey, don't worry about it! You're working hard to help me, and I appreciate it so much!" Goombella then says in a lower voice, "I will admit, though... being able to be around you is also part of the reason I'm coming along too! So this charred bone should help with making this cool potion you're working on?"

"I certainly hope... Like I feel I'm finally starting to understand more about how things work with making them, but every time I think I have a solution, it doesn't work like I hope..."

"Kinda how experimenting is, huh?"

"Yep! Guess you'd know, Bella!"

Goombella also adds, "By the way, while I'm not looking forward to going to that cold place.. we had to go there several times looking for General White, and I'd imagine my body's adapted pretty well, so don't feel too bad if this doesn't work out!"

"Right... that's certainly right... we DID have to do that a lot... and you could handle it... but could I handle you having to do it?"

"Ya know, fair!"

As they go inside Hooktail's fortress, Goombella asks, "So anyway, getting this bone you need, guess we're just going to do this the usual way and beat up a Dull Bones for it?"

"I... I'd rather not have to hurt them... like even if they're not living, something about it feels wrong... maybe we could just ask politely for it?"

Goombella then gives her a doubtful look, and Vivian relents, "Hey, I said maybe! I suppose we may have to battle them for it..."

A pile of bones then fuses to form a Dull Bones who stomps toward them, aggressively yelling, "Battle WHO?! Are you two ladies trying to pick a fight?!"

Vivian answers, "N-not at all... We just need a bone for something important... May we please have one of yours?"

"Over my dead— well, undead, body!!! You'll have to fight for it!!"

Vivian sighs, "Yep, I figured, Bella... at least I can complete the second step right here..." She then casts her Fiery Jinx on the Dull Bones, and takes some of the spare charred bones that got caught in the aftermath.

Finally, a few hours before the party's scheduled, with the right ingredients, and mixing her Fiery Jinx in a very particular way into the potion, she's able to make something that will help!

Goombella wakes up at about 8 AM on Sunday morning... ugh... she shouldn't have decided to stay an extra hour at the party; her and Vivian didn't end up getting home until 1 AM after the party, but unfortunately Goombella's body isn't really capable of waking up super late... she expects Vivian to be snoozing away near her, but she's out of the house entirely. Goombella finds that she left a note on the dining table.

Hey, babe, that was fun last night, huh? I was actually needing to stop by the grocery store to get some... important stuff, and wanted to go before it gets really loud, so I headed out early, see you soon, love you! xoxo

Goombella smirks to herself, as slippery as Vivian can be, she can't say that she isn't at least forthcoming with where she is! Soon enough, Vivian returns, carrying... four bags of groceries? She really has gotten a lot stronger since she moved in! Goombella offers, "Hey, babe, need some help with those?"

"Why, I'd never ask you to help carry in the ingredients for the celebratory food I'm fixing for you tonight! Of course, if you want to, it's not like I can stop you, hm hm!"

"Well, it just so happens that I do want to!! That's so sweet of you, Vivian!"

The next morning, after Vivian is finally finished mothering Goombella, asking her to triple-check that she has her potion, Goombella tries to pay her before leaving. “So, um, babe, you worked your cute butt off making this!!! Would... 150 coins be a good price for this potion?”

Vivian says in her best stern voice, ”Nice try, babe! You’re my partner, you know I’m not going to accept you paying me for this!”

“Aww… really?

“You’re already bringing in money for us!”

“Gosh, if you insist! You know what, though... I'm treating us to a very nice meal after my first paycheck comes in!"

"Now that sounds great! I'm really looking forward to it, babe..."

"Same... like it will be so nice to not worry so much about money, and be able to splurge on nice experiences! I'll see ya later–”

Vivian then interrupts her, “Wait! There’s also a spare pair of gloves there! In case a Cleft doesn't see your intimidation badge and tries to steal a pair! I really think you should grab them!”

“Fine, mom!” Goombella giggles, and gives Vivian a kiss before heading out.

She then heads into the frigid lands of Fahr Outpost for the first day of her job… Thank goodness she can work from home two days a week… Luckily her intimidation badge keeps the Frost Piranhas from biting her, and she even takes a risk and growls at a Huff carrying a Spicy Soup, and it pays off, the Huff running away, giving it to her, the food helping her feel more warm. As she’s a couple of kilometers into her trek, however, all her clothing can’t protect her from the chill entering her body… She takes a swig of Vivian’s potion, however, and it provides enough heat for her to make it to the office relatively comfortably. She texts Vivian.

While she hopes for more time to text with Vivian during her lunch break, her orientation ends up keeping her pretty busy, with her mind quickly getting taken up by learning about the tools that are used to excavate at her job, as well as the meticulous formatting specifications of the company for the reports she's going to write on the artifacts presented to her. She figures that she'll at least have time to text back and forth with Vivian through lunch, but those hopes are extinguished when she finds out she's having a catered luncheon with her coworkers. At least the food is nice! She also feels like she's getting along well with her coworkers... Luckily, one of her coworkers is also a bi woman, and she quickly makes friends with her.

Luckily, as she’s leaving for the day, the temperature has risen... all the way to -13C! OK, that's still, like, kinda chilly, but with all the layers Vivian made sure she wore, and some of her potion remaining, it's warm enough for Goombella to explore around the office, for possibly an easier route there. She sends Vivian a text.

Goombella gets excited when she finds a warp pipe only about 200 meters from the office! Could there possibly be yet ANOTHER connection from the sewers? As she’s about to enter the pipe, a scary Monstar materializes to block her path, growling. “YOU CANNOT PASS.” 

“Really? Why not?”

“BECAUSE… THIS IS MY PIPE… ROARRRRR”

Goombella, not moving, gives the Monstar a few seconds to look over her, to see if they notice her intimidation badge, but they don’t seem scared of that… She decides to leave… maybe on a warm day, and after Vivian has some more offensive potions, she can team up with her to fight the Monstar. Probably worth discussing with her before fighting a scary ethereal creature!

Goombella's trek home, while long, is luckily pretty safe. She finally gets in around 6, Vivian immediately tacklehugging her when she gets in, “BABE!!!! I’m so glad… you made it OK…”

“Gosh, babe! You’re acting like I went out to war! I was just going to my first day of work!”

“I mean, maybe, but cold climates may as well be war to a fiery Shadow Siren like me! How was work?"

Goombella sighs, "Long! I'm, like, NOT used to having to be social for 8 hours at a time!"

"I mean , you're around me longer than that!"

Goombella chuckles, "Viv, that's different!! You understand, like, all the weird quirks with me and everything, and I feel like I can just... be myself around you. With my coworkers and bosses, it's like... I feel like I have to make a good impression!"

"Oh... I definitely understand that... I'm glad you... f-feel comfortable around me, Bella..."

"Of course! In any case, work was fine in general, even if I would have liked more alone time! Would have texted— or even FaceTimed— you at lunch, if you wanted, but I had to just be social and everything! It felt if I got my phone out for a few seconds they'd worry that I wasn't a good 'culture fit'! At the very least, I think my coworkers like me!"

"Somehow, it doesn't surprise me that others would like you, Bella!"

"Ehe, thanks Viv! My tasks and such sound interesting, and it sounds like I'll be excavating some sites myself in a few months!"

"Oh, Bella, that's awesome; I'm so happy for you! You're just so smart and talented, and I'm really glad you're going to get to use your amazing skills well... Hope the weather wasn't too rough!”

“I got through it… thanks to your potion! I gotta be honest, I felt you may be overmothering me when I left, but I was glad ya did when I got far into my trek this morning… Good news is, it was warmer when I was heading home… There IS this cool warp pipe I found near the office…”

“Oh? Is that a good way to get to the office?”

“Who knows… A Monstar blocked it when I tried going inside, and they were unfazed by my intimidation badge… I thought I’d discuss it with you… maybe when it’s warmer… would you mind coming along so we can fight them?”

“We could battle on the next day you work, if ya want!”

“Gosh, Viv… it won’t really be any warmer than it was today. Besides, they looked really scary… I was thinking it may be better to wait till we have more, like, offensive potions…”

“Oh, right! I suppose I could make some… the store was all out of spicy peppers when I went last… I could try another store, I think that’s one of the ingredients… there’s also a spell that it requires me to cast that requires a very peculiar finger movement I couldn’t quite grasp… but I’ll do my best to make some so we can check that out soon!”

“Nice! You know though... you’re already doing so so much for me, so don’t worry your beautiful head too much over it!" Goombella then leans in closer to Vivian, and candidly says, "Honestly, Vivian... with all the studying and experimenting you did last week, I think you owe it to yourself to just take some time to relax... I know, pot calling the kettle black and all, but still! Speaking of relaxing, next week is Christmas Break where I work, so I only have to work until Wednesday… how would you like to go on vacation the rest of the week??” 

“Oh, that would be… really nice, Bella! Where were you thinking?”

“Somewhere warmer than Fahr Outpost, that’s for sure!”

“Well I must say that's a relief to this fiery Shadow Siren, for sure!”

“So I found this invitation in our mailbox… I know  you aren’t really one for big crowded places, so we don’t have to do it if you don’t want, but Princess Peach sent us an invitation, saying she’d be happy to have us at her Christmas party in the Mushroom Kingdom… I hear there are different kinds of materials around that area that are waiting to be alchemized?”

“Hmhm, you had me at ‘different kinds of materials’!  But really… university has definitely helped me be less shy about things like that… That would be a lot of fun! It’s been awhile since we’ve seen the crew…”

Chapter Text

When the girls go to the party, the very FIRST thing that happens, about 30 seconds after they arrive, is that Vivian's lips are surprised by a kiss. She then looks over and finds that Ms. Mowz snuck up and kissed her... She isn't sure exactly what to make of that. "Oh, h-hey Ms. Mowz!"

"Well, hello, you Shadow Siren sweetie! You know I just HAD to kiss those beautiful lips of yours... and speaking of which... this castle has a lot of empty space, in case you want us to do anything... more intimate than kissing... "

"Oh, um so..." Vivian is then thankfully saved by Goombella, who puts her arms around the small of her back as she says, frustration lining her voice, "Well, I see you're as chipper as ever, Ms. Flirt a lot! My Girlfriend Vivian and I just thought we'd come check this party out!"

"Why just certainly, Bella sweetie! Say... two is always nice, but three can be even—"

Vivian then reciprocates Goombella's saving her earlier, "Um... It's been nice talking with you, but I wonder if we should assist with the hors d’oeuvres, babe?"

"Oh, sweetie, I don't think I need to worry—" Ms. Mowz is then interrupted by Goombella, "She was talking to me, and that sounds like a good idea, Viv!"

Vivian also whispers to the Squeek before leaving, 'P-please don't just flirt with me like that, also... Things like that... have more weight to them now that I'm in a relationship...'

They then head outside of the castle to a secluded area in Toad Town, and Goombella immediately reassures Vivian when she sees the worry on her face,

"Babe, I promise that I wasn't frustrated with you at all... I think that random kissing and flirting is just like... that Squeek's way of being friendly..."

Vivian sighs, "Yep... I think so too... but still, like those kind of things... just randomly doing that... it's not exactly respectful of boundaries."

"Nope, not at all! That sort of thing has always annoyed me about her, honestly."

"Yeah... like she used to do that quite a bit to me, but I pretty much was happy with any affection during those times..."

"Vivian... considering that... and also considering that I wasn't around like I should be... I want to be comfortable with her flirting with you."

"Bella, that's in the past now, and at the present moment you just do so much to make me feel loved and beautiful, so if you aren't comfortable with her doing that, then that's completely fine."

"Honestly... I don't know if I can really get comfortable with her flirting like that with you, thinking about it..."

"I understand... I can let her know— well I already did... hopefully she understands."

"Not sure how quickly that Squeek will listen to the word 'No', but in any case, I appreciate you trying!"

When they get back inside, the Squeek runs to them, "Now Bella-sweetie, I hope you've convinced this meek sweetie here that there's nothing wrong with friendly flirting, right?"

Goombella and Vivian sigh, and the Shadow Siren quietly says, "So um... it's just... I really do appreciate you being around back when I was with my sisters after defeating the Shadow Queen..." They then hear a door, "Of course! Sweethearts such as yourself always deserve that! Let's go see who just arrived, why don't we!" The Squeek thief then steals another kiss on the siren's cheek before running off, and Goombella sighs and whispers to her, "Actually, you know what, don't worry yourself about her on my behalf, let's just focus on having a good time!"

They then see from a distance that Koops and Koopie Koo have arrived, the latter fuming as the Squeek is trying to kiss Koops. They hear Koops say, "Whoa, whoa babe... chill out a bit... she's just an adventuring companion..."

"So your 'companions' regularly KISS you????!!! And here I thought you loved me!!"

"She just... kisses everyone... right Vivian— huh... could have sworn I saw her, anyway..." Little does he know, Vivian and Goombella are already submerged deep into the shadows; when they unveil, Goombella whispers, "Ya know, babe, actually, that whole 'helping Peach with the hors d’oeuvres' idea you had is sounding pretty good right now!"

"Yeah... hopefully things will cool down and we can catch up with them in a bit..."

Princess Peach's stressed face morphs into a smile at seeing Goombella and Vivian, "Well, hello!!! It's certainly great to see that you both could make it!! I hear life has been... exciting for you ladies!!"

"Hey, Peach! This has easily been... the most eventful year for me, I can say that! In mostly amazing ways, luckily!" Goombella then punctuates that by bumping into Vivian's side.

"Yeah... just everything this year... it's been really nice... How have things been at the castle?"

"Oh ya know, same old, same old! Mario just beat Bowser up again last week, and I don't usually do Christmas parties, but I was feeling in a festive mood after that!" Peach then points her head to all the dishes she's working on, "And I see why I don't usually do them!"

"Gee whiz, you're working on all of that on your own?!"

"Yep... apparently Mario needed the toads to assist him, so apparently I'M supposed to handle all of the cooking for this..."

Vivian then offers, "We could help, if you like! Definitely seems like a bit too much to handle just on your own!" Goombella nods her head in agreement.

"My goodness, that's so polite of you, but you don't need to worry yourself over it, I think some of the other guests have arrived!"

Goombella then snarks, "Believe us, we know! We just ran into one of them just now! And she's... well we'd both prefer spending time helping you, right babe?"

"Yep, basically... like she's kind and supportive, but I think just hanging here, helping put this stuff together would be the best time!"

"Oh??? Seems to me like she isn't so kind if you both are willing to do chores instead of mingling! Is it... Ms. Mowz, by any chance?"

After Peach sees the look on Goombella's face, she continues, "I'll ask the bouncer to do something about her..."

Vivian then says, "Oh, gee whiz, you don't have to hurt her, just she's... well she's very direct..."

"Don't worry, nothing like that... Probably just need to ask her to tone it down with flirting with every sentient being in sight, I'm guessing?"

Goombella chuckles, "More or less, yep!"

"Figured... between us... I was a bit apprehensive about inviting her... but Mario says she has a good heart... Where is that bouncer anyway... I want to be sure everyone's comfortable here... Ah, there you are!" Peach greets a large toad. "So can you talk to that Squeek about possibly not flirting with ALL of our guests?? I'd rather still have Mario by the end of this!"

Vivian then giggles, yep, of course she'd worry about that as well. She then says, "Honestly, though, for someone shy like me... helping you sounds every bit as nice as mingling, honestly!"

Goombella then adds, "And I'm happiest wherever she is! Certainly looks like it's a lot to prepare, and we really wouldn't mind helping!"

Princess Peach then reluctantly accepts their help, "I guess there's no hope really getting this done in time without a bit of help, anyway... apparently Mario had a plumbing emergency to take care of..." Peach sighs, "Thank you both so much! If you ladies could just carry these rolls and  Shroom Chips out for our guests, I'd appreciate it!"

"Of course!"

As Goombella and Vivian are getting the food set on the table, they find that they can't hide from Koops for long. "Oh, hey, there you both are! Knew I saw you around earlier! Can you please let my girlfriend know that Ms. Mowz kisses everyone?!"

Goombella decides to take the lead, sparing her more conflict-avoidant girlfriend, and luckily manages to pacify Koopie Koo, at least to the point where she isn't completely fuming at Koops.

During the dinner, the conversation eventually makes its way to how Goombella and Vivian are doing, and how Goombella found the Monstar, “Like… they looked really strong and scary–”

As Goombella's describing the large ethereal creature, Mario interrupts, “Uh Uh!”, and Goombella then thinks to herself, that plumber's never been one to follow conventional niceties…

“Did you say, ‘Monstar’? He’s just a weakling… Star Attack? Just weak! Just a bunch of scared stars! I’ll come along!”

They eventually manage to work out a time to head to the pipe a week or so later, where Mario's schedule lines up with the girls', and where it's also relatively warm out, as to not endanger Vivian. Despite the weather not being ideal for the fiery Shadow Siren, she still finds herself staying close to Goombella, and keeping her warm with her fire magic. "Babe... you know you can feel free to stop if the magic gets to be too much!"

"Thanks, but I'm good! Being around you is kinda helping make it more bearable!"

"I mean if ya say so, I'll never say no to you being near me like this!" Goombella then giggles, "Ya know, traveling in this frigid land... has never been so fun! With you two here... it kinda feels like old times, huh?"

"Mm hmm!"

"Yeah, babe, it's honestly nice..."

Mario then asks, "So what cool adventures have you girls been up to lately?"

Vivian thinks, "Hmm... Oh! This is something I... really should have told you, thinking about it... With me starting school, I was kind of thinking things may be... a little less adventurous for me, however..." She then explains what's went on in the past couple of months with Beldam and Agatha, and is sure to go into great detail about Goombella's strong attacks against them in the battle. When she mentions that they want the Shadow Queen to be revived, Mario yelps, 'AWAWAWAWAWAWA!'

"Ah, it's been too long since I've heard that! Anyway, I hope that defeating them recently helped with just... slowing their plans... given how mad Sis was, I'd imagine it wasn't ideal at least! I heard how you beat up Bowser recently!"

"Mm hmm! Right after he helped us defeat Count Bleck too..." Mario then talks about his recent adventures in the Paper world.

When they make it to the pipe, the Monstar materializes, as usual. “What did I say??? You may not enter!! Oh, hey Mario, what’s up?!”

“These girls are cool friends of mine, you will let them use the pipe, or…“ Mario then growls and makes his hands into fists.

“Fine fine, you all can use this pipe whenever you want! Gosh, when did you both get such good connections anyway!!!” The Monstar transforms back into scared stars, who make their way back to Starborn Valley.

Goombella says, “Wow, that was cool, Mario! Didn’t know you could just do that!”

“Mmm-hm! If he messes with you again, he shouldn’t be any trouble to beat up!”

“Noted, gosh!”

Mario ends up accompanying the girls through the sewers, as the monsters there are pretty strong. They encounter several stronger variants of earlier monsters. Vivian is also shocked to find a Shadow Siren who looks just like her, except with a hazel-colored hat and red hair. She moves closer and tries to say hi, but the siren wordlessly punches her immediately, hard enough for her to loudly shout in pain, “Ow!!!”

As Vivian drinks a healing potion, Goombella, at seeing her girlfriend hurt, growls and launches into a multibonk on the strange Shadow Siren. As she continuously bonks the Shadow Siren, she makes sure to analyze… hmm, a surprisingly metalic head… almost feeling the exact opposite of how Vivian’s head feels… Is she even a Shadow Siren??? 1… no, probably 2, defense. The attack still deals a fair bit of damage, though.

Goombella notes, “Huh… her head felt… not really the same as when I bonked you way back, Vivian… she felt much more… metallic. HP is 20, Attack is 6, and Defense is 2. She’s strong against physical attacks… Maybe she’s just an android or something? In any case, no talking with her, I’m guessing, let’s get her!”

“Does look that way… Hm hm… let’s see if she’s fire proof!” Vivian’s Blazing Ember attack does a critical 15 damage to the android Shadow Siren, knocking her out, several star points popping out of her.

“Whoa, that was awesome, babe!” The two girls high five, and notice a chest, containing a key.

“Huh! Strange… a key, but I can’t find a lock!” Vivian and Goombella look more closely at the walls, and find a secret passage that leads to a door that the key opens… they eventually come across a warp… leading to Shooting Star Summit.

“Wait… so we went all this way… and it just leads here?”

Mario then shouts, "Oh!", and takes them to the whale at Toad Town port, who says as the crew is riding on his back, “Gosh, so Keelhaul Key? That should be… it’s probably easiest if you take a right after I take you to Lavalava Island. From there, it’s just a hop, skip, and a jump to Rogueport Sewers!” 

After they get back, Goombella has to admit she’s a bit disappointed from how long of a trip it would be. “Gosh Viv! I think maybe… if I get up at, like, 2:00 AM I can make it in time for work! Not to mention that I'll need to give that whale a pretty big tip if I'm to do this as well...”

“I’m sorry babe… but hey, I think there’s still a few sections of those Sewers we didn’t explore. You want to come back next week? Um… without Mario, I think… I appreciated him being there but I know he’s busy… I think Monstar will think twice before messing with us, hm hm!”

“Yep, he surely will, Viv! I really think we can handle the monsters there!”

“Especially now that I have a way to explore so many new places to get materials to make potions!”

“Oh… oh, that’s right, Viv!! Gosh, I know that you’re so happy to just like, get to explore new places and things… Hey, I have an idea!!! Sometime soon… would you like to have a picnic at Shooting Star Summit??

“Babe, that sounds amazing.”

Chapter Text

While Goombella and Vivian hoped to have more time to explore the pipe, Goombella's next week turns out to be busy. She hoped to be in more of a partying mood for New Year's Eve, but it turned out she had another long day at work then, and didn't get out till 5:45 PM... As she's heading home, having somewhat tuned out the cold weather, she reflects on her past couple of weeks... she hasn't had a day yet where she's gotten out right at 5... even on WFH days, she usually has people pinging her at 5:15 asking about an artifact, or in the worst case, something that could easily be found with just a cursory glance at an Introductory textbook. She really has half a mind to just set her status to 'Out of Office' the second it hits 5... In any case, she feels there's no way she'll make it to midnight, until Vivian has a suggestion, "What if you just... took a nap and woke up right before?"

"Gosh, Viv, I always thought that was cheating!"

"I can't claim to know all the rules to these challenges, but all I know is that you already look like you'd fall asleep if I didn't have my hand on your shoulder!"

"Fair! You know what... My sleepy brain isn't too inclined to argue with that suggestion!"

When Vivian sees that Goombella falls asleep almost immediately after her head hits the pillow, she's worried the alarm might not be enough, until she hears the Goomba's yawn when she wakes up at 11:55 PM.

"Nice nap, babe?"

"You know it, but not half as nice as what I'm doing in a couple of minutes..." They turn it on the Petalburg New Year's celebration, and when midnight strikes, the two girls share a long, passionate kiss, saying in unison. "Happy New Year, babe!"

Soon, Vivian's classes are starting up again, and they are challenging, but they go well enough. She feels relieved that she has a headstart in Sorcery II, which lets her spend a bit less time studying for that. Eventually, Spring Break rolls around, and Goombella decides to take that Monday off as well so that they'll have more time to spend together, and they decide to finally explore the pipe shortcut more thoroughly, and they first check out a conspicuous wall that they saw, and it turns out they can just get into it by tapping it, and through it, they find a door leading... outside to a trail? Goombella then muses as she's reading the sign, "Hmm, may be a nice place to hike—Whoa! Actually, never mind! Look at this, Viv!"

Vivian then reads the sign, 'DANGER: Trail of 10 Trials! Strong monsters ahead!! Currently, Zero of the Ten people who have attempted this have survived. Don't be the 11th victim, turn back now!'

She then muses, "Hmhm... well... this remind ya of anything?"

"Not at all, Viv, what are you, like, talking about?! It doesn't remind me of any pit that we conquered together! I don't suppose you want to try to conquer this as well, do you?"

"I mean... we conquered 100 trials, and if this is only 10... this must be 10 times as easy... surely that's how it works!"

Goombella and Vivian then immediately share a laugh, the former saying, “Babe, I’m headstrong and everything, but all things considered, our life is pretty damn good at the moment, and I’d rather NOT lose it!!”

“Yep, my thoughts exactly!!! Helps we don’t have my evil mother that we have to defeat!!!!”

“Although… I AM a bit curious… not curious enough, though! Maybe if there’s, like, some way to get a whole bunch of life shrooms and potions, maybe???”

“Ooh, so about… after I have a few more years of experience in Sorcery? Oh! What if I made some kind of time travel potion where if we’re about to die we can just use it!”

“That… you know, that could be a good idea! That makes me think… there’s a Shroom that’s rumored to exist called a ‘Return Shroom’, which could help us do just that! I’ll talk with Frankly about it soon… need to catch up with him too! That’s one thing that’s sucked about not being in grad school…”

“Aww, I understand, Bella… like college is stressful and everything, but it gives a lot of great connections…”

“Yeah… You know, Vivian, I’ve had a few thoughts of resuming grad school…maybe even with my job? Probably not this next school year, but the one after that, perhaps? I’ve missed a lot about it!”

“Oh, awesome!! You’re just so knowledgeable and sharp, I know you’d do awesome! And you know what… If you think it’d be best for you to take a break from your job, then how would it be if I started a potion business? I think I’ve gotten a lot better at making them!”

“You have!! Hmm… you know what? Maybe I can resume grad school after we get enough money to move into a bigger place, and you’re farther along in your studies! I’d imagine that it’d be nice to have a big room here to work in!”

“I suppose that would be better than just having to make an appointment in the Sorcery Lab...”

The girls then explore the sewers a bit more, and find a few more badges and items, but no easier path to Goombella's office. At about noon, the Goomba decides, "Ya know what, I'd rather, like, spend my day off hanging with you somewhere OTHER than these old sewers! It sucks we couldn't find another passage, but I'm starting to not mind the trek home as much! Hey, I hear the lunch menu at the Rogueport tavern is nice, wanna head there?"

"That sounds great! These sewers definitely aren't the most pleasant for me either, honestly..."

As the months go on, Goombella and Vivian find that they are starting to want more space to do stuff with; with Vivian's sophomore year starting up, she wants more space to get a room to work on her alchemy, and Goombella also wants a bit of space to potentially be able to set up a weight room so she doesn’t have to use the one at her workplace, and can line her workout schedule up with Vivian's again, instead of just going with her on the weekends. Not to mention how she got reprimanded once for banging the weights when deadlifting at her workplace gym… At least that's more lenient than it would be if she banged weights at her apartment... As Vivian starts her second year of college, Goombella finally brings up the topic, "So, hey, babe, I think our savings are finally looking good enough to look into making a down payment on a house, and this lease is set to renew in a few months... what would ya say to going house hunting this weekend?"

"Oh!! That sounds awesome... I'm glad we can finally do that..."

 They make an appointment on Saturday with a realtor boo named ‘Shea’, who seems to be similar in personality to Peeka and Lahla, and has a similar energy. “So, first, do you both work?"

Vivian answers, "Goombella mainly brings in the income, as I'm still in school..."

"Hmm... 'mainly'... so is that your way of saying you have a side gig, sweetie?"

"W-well... I've sold a few potions to bulk up our savings a bit... but nothing major..."

"Gotcha, excellent..." She then jots some stuff down, and looks through a few papers, Goombella whispers, "What's she even doing..."

"No clue..."

Shea then continues, "Hmm… one thing that will be relevant legally… and that interests my heart, are you two ladies married?”

There’s then simultaneously a 'N-no…' from a blushing Vivian, and a 'Not yet– I m-mean no, we aren’t.' from Goombella. When she says that, she notices Vivian lightly massaging her shoulder… Well, THIS is something that she needs to think about! “Ah, so just cohabitating… I see, that’s a bit unfortunate... you'd have a better deal with the mortgage if you were moving in as wives... like two people bringing in money, everyone will just be BEGGING to lend to you!”

"Gee whiz... it isn't that much... m-maybe about 100 coins a month..." Vivian blushes.

"It's not nothing, babe, and I appreciate the work you do to help us! Anyway, so... how long will this process take?” Goombella asks.

“The current owners are looking to move out in a few months, probably!”

“Wait, heck, that long?? Say… could we make a meeting… say in 2 weeks from now?”

“We could do 2 Saturdays from now, if that works for you both!”

They both nod their heads, and Goombella thinks to herself... Well! This is something she has to work up to! She looks over her contacts list… who would know the most about proposing… She needs to find a good way to do this that isn't just saying something to the effect of, ‘Hey Viv, let’s get married to help our mortgage rate!’  This should be more romantic…  As they’re heading home, they chat about… well, whatever gets their mind off that visit, they find that discussing the next long video game they’ll play together gets their mind off of it eventually.

After they finish their supper, Vivian still feels a bit on edge after that afternoon, so she finds that she has to ask, "Um... hey, Bella... can we talk more about... the future of our relationship?" When Goombella looks at her, Vivian continues, "I p-promise it's nothing bad at all... Just... we really should after this afternoon..."

"Viv, you're absolutely right; avoiding the conversation won't do either of us any good. Thank you for bringing that up."

Vivian starts off by saying, "First off... I really love and appreciate you... I feel I can never say that enough, just with all you're willing to do for me... And I feel very happy with the idea of us living the rest of our lives together, Bella."

"Vivian, I am also just so happy to have you in my life, and that idea seems amazing to me as well... I wouldn't go into purchasing a house with someone I didn't feel good about spending the rest of my life around!"

"Phew, glad we're on the same page, that will certainly relax this Shadow Siren a bit! Now that we've talked about that... Um I'd like to be... the one who asks the question... if that's OK..."

"Babe, that sounds just amazing to me!" Goombella answers in an excited, relieved voice.

Vivian then immediately smiles broadly... she's a bit nervous about how she can do a good enough job proposing to her amazing partner, but she has a good plan. The couple then spends the rest of the night chilling and playing party games. Vivian can tell the conversation perked Goombella up some; her smile doesn't even disappear when she gets a star stolen in Mario Party by the rude CPU!

Chapter Text

That next Friday morning, Goombella notices something strange... most Friday mornings, she's used to quietly getting up and letting Vivian get some much needed sleep after the 6 PM Medicinal Sorcery lab she has on Thursday night. Today, however, she's shocked when she wakes up at 5:45, like usual, and notices Vivian out of bed, as well as the smell of Shroom Omelettes, her favorite! She heads to the kitchen, where the siren kisses her, "Morning, babe! Body couldn't really sleep that great, so thought I'd use the opportunity to um... fix breakfast for you... sorry that I haven't felt up to that as much lately..."

"Viv, you have nothing to apologize for at all. You already do so much for me, and you have a tricky schedule this go around! Don't think I've ever taken classes that go till 9 myself... Not to mention... Calculus II?? Viv, That class killed my 4.0 that semester."

"Gee whiz! It's definitely seeming challenging so far..."

"It certainly is! For me, it didn't help that my professor had, like, the DRIEST delivery of the material... I would NOT have snatched a B in the class if not for spending 12 hours the night before studying for my final..."

"Babe, that's super impressive! At least on my end, my professor seems pretty nice and interesting, so hopefully I can do alright... Have had to do a lot of practice problems though..."

"Yep, it's a brutal class, and I know you're working hard at it! You deserve the rest! This does smell amazing, though, so I super appreciate it!"

Also, after she gets ready for work, Vivian offers, "I can walk you to the pipe! Need to be heading by the store anyway to fix a dish I've been wanting to for awhile..." She then smiles at Goombella coyly.

"Oh, sounds great, thanks!"

Little does Goombella know, Vivian already had her watch set to vibrate at 5:15 AM that morning, so she could treat Goombella to a nice breakfast before her stressful job. She heads to the store to get her ingredients, and a lot of baking accessories. Luckily, her Calculus II professor, having a very similar temperament to Flurrie, was understanding and excited when she said she'd be unable to attend her 3 PM class to prepare something very important for Goombella, and emailed her detailed notes on the lecture, which Vivian later noticed were personalized to her teaching style.

Anyway! She at first thought fixing it may be a breeze, as the original recipe was just a Snow Bunny, which she made in about 2 minutes after kissing Goombella goodbye on her trip to work, and a Spicy Soup. She texted Zess T. the day before, though, and found that she made some revisions to the recipe, and now it calls for a various blend of spices and other ingredients; the final recipe comes to 15 items! Good thing she still has her Strange Sack, gee whiz!

Hopefully it will at least be a bit more revitalizing than the Couple's Cake Goom Goom futilely tried to give Goombella... She still remembers him remarking that he 'didn't go for Vivian's goth aesthetic' way back. The witch instinctively mutters, 'bleh' to herself thinking back on that, but anyway! Time to focus on a certain Goomba who very much DOES go for Vivian's style!

She starts on the cake at about 2; if this day is like others, Goombella won't get out till about 5:30, and she wants it to be relatively fresh... She gets into the flow of cooking quickly, having some slow, romantic music in the background, and finds herself happily singing along as she's cooking. She doesn't put on her favorite songs yet, though... That's for later! Finally, at about 5:20, she has it complete, and it smells amazing!! The only thing now... how will she hide the cake from Goombella... she then looks and finds a scented candle, yes! This will work perfectly! Not to mention, the Shroom Steaks and Roasted Asparagus she's fixing for supper should mask the smell of the cake pretty well!

It turns out to be a good thing that Goombella got a big breakfast that morning, because she fairly clearly needed it; she realized she would when she got in at 7:50 AM and the first thing she saw was her manager handing her a map, 'Oh, there you are, finally!!! So Goombella, we need a Lidar Sensor analysis on this region, stat!!' When he was out of earshot, Goombella couldn't help but mutter to herself, 'Like, good morning to you too...'

The day didn't let up any, either, but regardless, at 12 noon, when she would have been exhausted, she got some time alone during lunch, and she texted some with Vivian, who she noticed was being... a lot more emotive and open with her feelings... After lunch, it continues being a busy day, but eventually people stop asking her to do things long enough for her to finally take a stand. "Now, it's getting late, so I'll be heading out, have a great weekend!" She then leaves before anyone can ask her to do 'just one quick thing'.

Goombella heads home, reflecting on the conversation... So Vivian's cooking supper today, how interesting! Given that Vivian's Calculus II class ends only a bit before Goombella finishes work, the witch usually just gets a pizza for supper as she's heading home from school, which is always a nice way to start the weekend, but something tells Goombella that it's nothing compared to what Vivian has planned...

After she gets in from the cold trek home, she immediately smells something amazing… and Vivian soon comes out of the kitchen and hugs her tightly, Goombella’s sense of smell shifting to notice the pleasant fragrance of the girl near her. 

“Babe, I’m so glad you’re home!! So I know you had a hard day today, and you always just work so hard to support us both, so I thought it’d be good to treat you…” 

“Oh my goodness, Viv, it smells amazing! You didn’t have to do all of this… like you do so much for me all the time and I just... appreciate it so much…”

“As you always do for me, you just always look out for me and protect me and I… I love you so much, Bella... and I—” The siren is then interrupted by a 'ding!' from the kitchen. 

“Oh! The Shroom Steaks must be ready!”

When they go into the dining room, Goombella notices that Vivian also lit some candles, “Gosh, you’re certainly romantic, aren’t ya, Viv?”

“Ya know it, Bella!”

As Goombella is having a nice time with Vivian, she wonders if now is the time to ask— Right, Vivian was going to do that... She looks over at the siren, who smiles blissfully at her… Wait a minute… Goombella’s had some hard days in the past, but Vivian's usually cheered her up in a less… extravagant way… insomuch as spending time with Vivian can be anything less than that. Vivian also comments, “By the way, babe… I’d recommend making room for dessert, too!”

“Oh, of course!! Gosh, Viv… you’re just the best.”

“As you are!”

After a nice candlelight dinner, Vivian keeps the candles lit and places her hand on Goombella’s, asking, “So babe… I have something for you… Could you wait here for a minute?”

While Vivian understood that her big decision to attend college would have some impact on her socially, she could have never foreseen it leading to this amazing life she has now… She thought college would be one of the steps toward independence, and that she’d possibly find someone nice to share her life with after she started working, but the timetable of events just sped up so much the moment she tearfully walked into her first class, and found the kind, passionate Goomba teaching…

One stray comment that Beldam made a few years ago, when she was watching a cake baking show, and Vivian asked what that cake was for, still sits in her mind, she’s realizing… ‘That’s for a ‘wedding’, Vivian, which I suppose is a foreign concept to you; as if someone as ugly as you would ever have an opportunity for a wedding.’ Should she even– No. That’s in the past, and as her girlfriend has proved more times than she can count, Beldam was completely wrong about her. She confidently goes to get the Couple's Cake that she's been working on for the last 4 hours.

She then floats to Goombella, and tries to remember what she was going to say… “Goombella..." Of course her planned speech isn't coming to mind! Guess she just has to speak from her passionate heart! "Ever since I met you, you just went out of your way so much to help me through my mean sister's abuse, and I just love you so much, and how strong and passionate you are…  and how you always make me feel like a true shadow beauty… I n-never thought I’d find someone as amazing as you to be around…” She then shows the Couple's Cake to Goombella, who gasps, but has a bright look on her face. The witch takes a breath, sinking her body down a bit such that she's eye level to Goombella, then asks, “Goombella, will you marry me?”

“Oh… oh my goodness Vivian… You have also just been the best thing to ever come into my life, and helped me in so so many ways… Vivian, I could think of no one better to share my life with, and I would love to marry you.”

The two then share a long passionate kiss, then start on the cake. Goombella immediately says after taking a bite, "Whoa!! This is amazing!! You must have spent awhile on this! Wait..." Goombella then giggles, "You ditched your Cal II class for this, didn't ya?!"

"I mean... hmhm... kinda! Hey, it's not every day I propose to someone as amazing as you!"

"Fair! I suppose that I'm worth ditching at least one class for!"

Chapter Text

A week later, Goombella and Vivian start working on their guest list for a wedding that they’re planning for the weekend before Vivian's Fall Break, Goombella deciding, “OK, so how about we do it like this, when we think of a potential candidate, on the count of 3, we say if we’d like them to be there, and we can talk it out if there’s a disagreement.” Vivian agrees, and they start. The guest list goes well for the beginning, they both agree they should invite just about all their companions and Frankly. They then get to Ms. Mowz… and silence, Goombella finally sighing and saying ‘No.’

“I understand… like it’s hard for me honestly… like I appreciate her spending time with me so much after we defeated the Shadow Queen, and she’s great at making me feel beautiful…”

“I mean, Viv, I’m honestly glad you had her to be around during that year, but ‘spending time with you’ isn’t something that I exactly think is a big ask! In fact, I’d wager that you were moreso doing her a favor! Did you SEE how she was at Princess Peach’s party?”

“Yeah…” Vivian then sighs, “I think she tried to nab a kiss from everyone there! I suppose if she was to be at our wedding… I feel like she may try to make it more about her… I guess the only thing is… our other companions will probably notice that she isn’t there… Hope it doesn’t cause a rift or anything…”

“Yep, I’m a bit concerned about that myself, but honestly? If anyone gets mad at us for setting a boundary, then they are in the wrong. Not to mention, I think a few of them will be relieved! Did you SEE how angry Koopie was when Ms. Mowz tried to kiss Koops? I’d rather avoid another situation like that, honestly.”

“Yeah, same… You’re right, Bella. There’s nothing wrong with us not inviting her.”

They continue working through the guest list… Vivian isn’t sure whether to bring up one relative in particular, and as they’re finishing up, Goombella can tell Vivian’s distracted, “Hey, babe, is there anyone else who you’re thinking we should invite?"

“So… can we talk about… like I don’t have to invite Beldam, do I?”

“After what she did to you?? Fuck no you don’t! Honestly, I really don’t want to see that jerk there, but you've lived with her for a long time, so I think your opinion means more than mine, honestly.”

“It’s just… I definitely don’t want her there either…as nice as it would be to show her that she was wrong about me ‘not being enough’ for a wedding… hmhmhm… I’d imagine she’d just be mean… she clearly is never going to change… but Marilyn… she was pretty complicit in my abuse before I started helping you, but after we defeated the Shadow Queen, she did help a lot with sticking up for me against Beldam when she abused me… I do kind of want to invite her, but they live together… so word would likely get out to Beldam as well…”

“Gosh, yeah… that’s really tough, huh… Personally, I don’t think it’s really worth the risk… like even though Marilyn was nice to you, if she’s still living with Beldam, you don’t know how she may have internalized what Beldam’s been saying…”

“Oh… that is a good point. Yeah, I just wish… like if she would have moved away or something… then we could just send an invitation there… Also... speaking of Shadow Sirens to invite... could we please invite Brittany too?” Vivian softly asks.

She feels her worry wash away when Goombella happily nods her head, "Viv, I'd love her to be there!"

"Oh, thank you so much Bella... it's just, it's been really nice getting to know her and stuff, and having another nice Shadow Siren to be friends with..."

"Yeah! She seems really cool!"

Goombella then adds, "Byyyy the way, Viv! What do ya say we stop by an officiator's office this weekend, just to get legal stuff out of the way and simplify all of that!"

"That would be nice... just so it's more official..."

That next Wednesday, Goombella receives some news at work that makes her sigh; she figured it would happen sometime… Her next excavation is in Twilight Town, tomorrow at 11 AM… ever since Vivian moved in with her, she thought she may be able to avoid seeing that jerk, Beldam. When Goombella’s commenting that she’s going there that night, Vivian’s response surprises her… “Um… m-may I… come with you… I just want to see… if anything’s changed… like with my sister’s feelings…”

“Viv, of course you can… I honestly didn’t think you’d want to, but I understand. Has it been hard not really getting… closure?”

“That’s… a lot of it, yeah… like at this point, I know I don’t want to live with her anymore… but I wish things could be a bit amicable between us… Who knows if she’ll even let me in her house. Honestly… if she does, it would also be a good way to see if she’s planning anything.”

“Ooh, good point, honestly.”

“Anddd after that, if ya need me to help ya defeat any Amazy Dayzees, I’m down, hmhm!”

They then fall asleep a few hours later, almost immediately after their heads hit the pillow.

The next morning, Vivian heads to Twilight Town with Goombella, and things go… surprisingly well?  Vivian knocks on the door, and Beldam answers it, smiling when she sees Vivian.

“Vivian!!! Oh my goodness, I’m so glad you decided to visit us, I’ve just felt so lonely without you here… I’m so sorry for all I’ve done… I know that there is a lot I have to do to make amends for how awful I was to you for all these years, but I will do my very best. There’s some food over there that you’re welcome to. You’re a wonderful, lovely strong sister of mine.” Beldam’s voice then takes a more inquisitive tone. “Since you’re so strong, would you find it in your kind heart to help me with something?”

“Oh, of cour–Wait a minute… Sis, are you just trying to get me to do something bad?”

“Now just wait one minute, my dear sister, you haven’t even heard what it is! You see this shovel… would you be so kind as to give Goombella a friendly boop with it?”

“I mean… why are you asking me to do this?”

Beldam cackles, “I mean, if I told you, it wouldn’t be a surprise, now would it, my inquisitive lovely!”

“I’m… s-sorry sis… you kept talking about… the Traveling Shovel of Death… I’m not going to do that…”

“Excuse me, you’re disobeying– I mean, what are you talking about, sweetie?” 

“Wh-when you… were drunk awhile back, you kept talking about it…”

“Oh you insolent–I mean excellent child, we don’t have to worry about such old things, now Do We???”

As Beldam says those last two words, she puts her eyes in a very… sirenesque pattern… Vivian doesn’t know what it is, but it feels very hard to disobey her… Nonetheless, Vivian tries to focus on her love for her fiancée as she slowly says,

“Um… N-no, Sis, I’m not going to help you....” 

“Humph, I see you aren’t going to obey your orders so easily. Well how about this, If it shall sweeten the pot, I will NOT go and completely ruin your wedding with that insolent Goomba that's in 24 days, 2 hours, and 48 minutes.”

“W-wait… how do you…”

“Ahh those crows… oh SO loose lipped…”

“ I should have known… OK… as long as I just have to boop her…that’s not a big deal.” Vivian goes outside, where Goombella is watching her with a caring look. “Hey, Vivian! Beldam wasn’t too much of a jerk to you, was she?”

“Not really… she was nice… she just wanted me to–” She then taps Goombella’s nose with the shovel… Nothing happens immediately to Vivian’s eyes. “OK… whew… glad that was–”

“Viv, what are you doing???? That shovel!!! Aaaaaa my heart… I’m feeling…” Before Vivian knows what’s happening, Goombella falls unconscious.

“Wait… Goombella???” Vivian then hears Beldam’s cackle, and turns to her, angrily yelling, “Sis!!! What did you do????”

“Add one more to the count of souls gotten by the Traveling Shovel of Death… thought you loved her a LITTLE more than that…”

As Vivian’s frantically searching for Goombella’s pulse, she barks out, “Sis!!!! I don’t have time to deal with you. Maybe… this potion!!!” Vivian puts one of her healing potions down Goombella’s throat, but it doesn’t seem to have an effect. “Goombella!!!!! Say something– AAAAAA!!!!” The last thing Vivian sees is Beldam grinning  right after she hits Vivian with the shovel, Vivian’s consciousness fading…

Vivian then jolts out of bed, “Ahhhh!!!! Oh, Goombella, you're OK!!!! I'm so sorr— Wait... Oh... Goombella… I dreamt like… ugh it was awful…”

“I’m sorry, Viv… Would it help to talk about it?”

“I will later… just kind of want to think on it… it’s just… I’m sorry, I know I said I wanted to go to see my sister… but I think I still need time to think on it… see if it’s the best for me to do…”

“Vivian, you don’t have to apologize… like I know that things are really hard with your sister… so how you choose to interact with them is your business.”

“Thank you… actually, when were you going to leave?”

“In a couple of hours, after showering and eating, probably, why?”

“OK… I should be able to tell you more about what happened before you leave… for now, I kind of just need to cry it out for a little bit…”

“Of course, do you need some space? I can go shower and make some breakfast, and you can stay in here, or whatever works best for you!”

“I’d appreciate that a lot… Thank you Bella, you’re the best, and I love you so much…”

Vivian, her tears flowing, thinks on her dream… She’s really worked on shoveling her thoughts down, and focusing on her love and her education has managed to occupy her mind to where she doesn’t think of her past life much, but deep down, she can’t help but worry about Beldam still trying to do stuff to make her hurt Goombella.  She has found herself worrying that, even if Beldam is nicer to her, than she’ll try to use that as leverage to get Vivian to do mean things… She ends up deciding that it would be best to just go to Twilight Town, just to see what’s up with Beldam.

Vivian heads to the kitchen, wiping at her face. “Um… so Goombella… I think I do want to go with you… I’m sorry, I know I keep changing my mind…”

“No worries, Viv! Are you feeling better?”

“A little better… after thinking through things… so what my dream was about… I dreamt that Sis was nice to me, but threatened that she knew about our wedding and was planning on ruining it… and used that to coerce me  to kill you with the traveling shovel of death…”

“Well THAT certainly escalated!”

“I’d… I’d say so, definitely… it’s a bit absurd now that I’m looking at it… but also kind of helps me understand some inner fears…”

“For what it’s worth, I’ve been keeping up with Frankly’s research on it, and it’s starting to look more and more like a contrived way to create conflict in entertainment!”

“Well let’s hope that no one can do anything bad with it… Gee whiz, at least I disproved the old saying, ‘If you die in a dream you die in real life’!

When Vivian arrives at Twilight Town, she kisses Goombella goodbye, and knocks on the door to her old home… after about half a minute with no one answering, she’s about to leave, when she sees the doorknob turn, and the door open, revealing Beldam. “So. You’re LATE, Vivian. Finally arrived for your punishment??”

“No, sis. I said I’d visit when you gave me a sincere apology for all that you did, so I’m actually quite early. The question is, am I infinitely early, or only a few minutes early?”

“Humph. Well–” 

“Guh!!!! Sis!!” Beldam is suddenly shoved out of the way by Marilyn, who embraces her younger sister in a tight, comforting hug.

“Hey, Sis… it’s really great to see you… hope things have been OK around here…”

“Well enough. You know how Beldam can be, but I keep myself safe.” Marilyn clenches her hand into a fist, and Beldam shudders.

“So, Beldam… like I just wanted to come over to like… honestly, at this point, I’m perfectly happy with my living situation, but I just wanted to see how things were and if you–”

“Enough with the hesitance, you wanted to see if I would apologize When I did nothing wrong, didn’t you.”

“I mean, you stole my necklace from me, Sis!”

“As if people like YOU should have those anyway.”

“I see… so that’s the angle you’re coming at this from… like I was really hoping you’d... just see me as one of your sisters, Beldam!" Vivian then turns away, flatly adding "Although, in any case, I still have others who love me to be around, and I really don’t think there’s much I can do, if you’re set in your ways…”

Vivian wordlessly heads out, but Marilyn follows, explaining, “Sis… I did try… getting through… but you’re right. She also… makes fun of me…”

“Sis, I’m sorry…”

“No problem… Words bounce off… I won’t be living there much longer either.”

“Oh, r-really Sis?”

Marilyn leads Vivian east, only saying, “Let’s move… nosy crows…”

Marilyn eventually leads Vivian into Twilight Trail… “Good… no crows are around… new job.” She hands Vivian a note, detailing that she got a job as a bouncer at the Rogueport bar.

“Sis, that’s amazing, congrats!!!”

“Thanks… new home…” She hands Vivian a note with her address, which she’ll be moving into next week. 

“Yay! I’m so happy for you, Sis!” The two share a hug, then Marilyn asks, “How’re things… with you?”

The two shadow sisters spend a bit of time chatting and catching up, and Marilyn's happy to hear that Goombella and Vivian have gotten really close, saying to Vivian, "Sis, that's wonderful."

Before Vivian heads out, Marilyn asks her to wait a second, and she hands her a suitcase of the things that she left at the house, so she doesn’t have to go back and face Beldam to get them. After Vivian and Marilyn hug goodbye, Vivian explores around Twilight Town a bit.

As the two shadow sisters chat, Goombella explores Twilight Trail and the Creepy Steeple… She finds some rather old spiderwebs that warrant farther investigation, and she also finds a strange looking leaf, must be at least 5000 years old! She puts it in her briefcase to take back to her workplace, and heads out. As she heads back to Twilight Town, she finds Vivian near the item shop, who says, "Oh, hey Bella! How was your excavation?"

“It was interesting! Found a very interesting type of leaf… it leads me to believe there may have been other beings living at that place millennia ago! Anyway, can we listen to the crows for a bit?!"

"Oh, sure, that sounds fun!”

As Vivian veils Goombella around for a bit listening to the crows, they luckily find that there hasn’t been any private info about them that has gotten spread, and Goombella even hears a rumor about the leaf she found, although it seems dubious to her… cooking it with a Dried Bouquet can really make a Jelly Ultra?? When they hear that, Vivian asks, "Ooh, so could that be a future supper idea?!"

"Maybe if we find another one! Ya know, it's, like, WAY too tempting to ask you to try to make that with this leaf, but I just know my manager would have my head, and I kindaaaa need that for headbonking!"

As they're eating supper, Goombella also asks, “So… if you're comfortable talking about it, how did things go with your sisters?”

“Aww, don't worry, it didn't go too badly! Was relatively mellow compared to what I dreamt,  honestly! Never thought I’d say that about Beldam being transphobic to me, hm hm! She was mean, talking about how she wasn’t in the wrong about anything she did… but ya know, I do feel… better still, knowing that I was right in my decision to leave her!”

“Viv… I’m glad that helped…”

“Thank you… I also can’t help but feel like… that inspired Marilyn as well. She mentioned that she tried to get Beldam to be more understanding and kind, but it didn’t work, so she’s moving out as well.”

“Wait, really??”

“Yeah… I kind of want to invite her to our wedding now, but I understand if you don’t…”

“Viv… if you want… Why don’t we give her a chance? At the very least, she doesn’t seem like the type to be loose-lipped… Even still, there is every possibility that this leads to Beldam finding out, even incidentally, but worst case, we can just have the bouncer throw her out.”

“Thank you, Bella… Like even though I had a very hard life with my sisters, they were still who I spent nearly my entire life around, so I really don’t want to just completely cut them both off from my life, especially since Marilyn is being nicer…”

Chapter Text

Turns out there’s a lot to wedding planning! Even after navigating the tricky topic of who to invite, there’s WHERE to invite them to worry about too!! She looks for a good venue… turns out Petalburg won’t work! All the chapels around won’t perform a wedding for them, for SEVERAL reasons, their queerness, and Vivian being a Shadow Siren, to name a few. As Goombella's trying to find a place, she can't help but yell, “Fucking bigoted assholes!!” She then sees Vivian looking at her, with a somewhat scared look, “Oh, sorry babe… I shouldn’t be yelling… Just… why can’t people just focus on the fact we love each other?!”

“Babe, it sucks so much… I just wish they could not be like that too…”

“Yeah, honestly… you’ve had it SO much worse than I had… I shouldn’t be venting to you…”

“I mean, no worries, it affects both of us, after all! On a brighter note, though, I do have… another way a bit more… nontraditional, let’s say!”

“You have me listening at ‘nontraditional’, Viv!”

“So… hmhm… remember how we first met?”

“Viv, I’ll never forget!”

“Me neither… what if we did sort of a wedding… scavenger hunt play thingie?”

“Ooh?? You know I like myself a good exploration!”

“Yep! So what I was thinking… so how Flurrie lost her necklace way back then, we could do something similar… except I lose my hat instead… doesn't that sound like such a travesty...” Vivian shifts her bangs off her face and looks at Goombella with her most adorable, sad, pleading eyes, and she knows that she would be unable to resist even IF this didn’t sound fun to her.

“I mean, that hat is very you, Viv, and it looks AMAZING on you, but the full view of your beautiful hair is quite gorgeous as well, I must say! In any case, that sounds just, like, SO much better than going through booking a venue and doing this the old-fashioned way!”

“I’m glad you like that idea! We could even get the Punies involved!”

"Ooh, nice! I'd imagine they aren't having the most fun... with that old harsh elder bossing them around..."

“Yep, what I was thinking… guess I don’t really know the situation as much… like it’s been awhile since I’ve been around the Boggly Woods… what if… they still see me as an enemy…”

“I’d hope that word has spread of all your awesome feats of bravery enough for them to trust you!”

“I suppose it’s pretty well known at this point… You know what, though, it may be a good idea for us to have a picnic there first and maybe see if we can find any around, so you can introduce them to me!”

“That’d be great! Ideally the first Puni we run into isn’t that distrustful Puniper… Even after all we did to save the tree, I still notice him leering at me when I make my way there…”

After they finalize their plans and send info to everyone they want to invite, Goombella and Vivian decide to meet for a picnic at the Boggly Woods on Friday after Goombella's finished with work, hoping to come across some Punies. That evening, Vivian gets a text.

While Vivian’s a bit disappointed, as she’s kind of hungry, she did want the opportunity to search for materials for her alchemy, as it’s not often that she makes her way out to the Boggly Woods. When she enters the Warp Pipe to the Boggly Woods, she finds herself drawn to a spot slightly west of the Warp Pipe… yes, this grass… it’s where she found the necklace she’s wearing right now… that lead to all of the events with Goombella and such… she’s brought back to where her Sis yelled at her and threatened to take it if she didn’t shape up… complete with how kind of a sister she was being by even LETTING a fake sister like her have it… Gosh, it’s a bit painful, but she’s glad she has closure on that now, and knows that Beldam is not worth returning to. With a sense of melancholy, she makes her way east to explore, and someone familiar notices her.

“Oh my, it’s certainly a pleasant surprise to see YOU here, you amazing beauty! Oh my galoshes, that necklace… I just KNEW it’d look the most beautiful on you!”

“Oh! H-hello Flurrie! It’s really great to see you!”

“Likewise! Say… I WOULD ask how things have been with you, but judging by the mail I got today, I’m guessing they’re going pretty well, you gorgeous bride-to-be?”

“Hmhmhm! Oh my goodness… I’m just— after everything… I’m so happy that things turned out the way they did… So, there was um… something I’ve been meaning to ask you…Would you... m-mind helping with like putting the scavenger hunt together... like kinda the one who helps the story... for a fair price, of cour—"

"I could not even THINK of charging you for such a MONUMENTOUS occasion!!! This is MORE than worthy of being something I do for the love of my craft and friends!!"

“R-really??? Thank you just… so much… I’m so excited to have you helping… what brings you out here?”

“I wish… I could explore these beautiful woods just for the sake of it, but alas… it appears I have a penchant for getting distracted by the beauty of these woods, and dropping precious gatherings of mine… I’m looking for a necklace I’ve dropped.”

Vivian barely resists giggling at the strange circumstance, all too similar to the first time their paths crossed. “Well… I don’t really have much to do for now… I’m just here for a picnic with Bella… she’s going to be caught up in work for a bit, so I could help you find it, if you w-want…”

“Oh my, if you could, that’d just be the best!”

“Of course! So Flurrie… the first time you lost this necklace that you gave to me… hmhm… I ended up just wearing it for myself… so I probably did delay it getting back some… it’s the least I could do to help you now.”

“I see you realized how that necklace complements your beauty so well before anyone else ever did! Thank you… just for showing it care… back then, necklaces… material goods, meant so much more to me.”

They look around, but it ends up being quite tricky to find. Eventually, Goombella comes along, and Vivian looks at her watch, sure enough, it's 5:43 PM. Thank goodness Goombella isn't letting her bosses take TOO much advantage of her... “Hey, babe– oh! Hi Flurrie, nice seeing you around!”

“My goodness, it’s SUCH a pleasure to see you again, Goombella! They’re not working you too hard over at that mean company, are they???”

“Don’t you worry, I make sure I get out with my brain not totally fried! What are y’all up to!”

“My goodness, it’s such a travesty… my precious new necklace… it got lost here!!”

Vivian glances at Goombella with a knowing look, and adds, “Figured it was the least I could do to help her find it!”

“Ooh, I see! I can help too!” Even with Goombella joining the hunt, the ladies can not find the necklace, and as Vivian thinks more on the situation, she has an idea. “Um… m-maybe you could… if you don’t like not having any necklace at all… you could… borrow mine till we found it!”

“My goodness, as much of a travesty as not having my necklace is, I’d never part that necklace away from a Shadow Siren who it’s just PERFECT on!!! Anyway, it’s getting late! I need to get my supper started! See you two beauties later!”

After Flurrie departs, Goombella thinks aloud, “Gosh… she definitely doesn’t seem like, as fixated on jewelry as she was back then. Did you know that back when I snatched that necklace off you, she would NOT even get out until we gave her that necklace!!”

“Gee whiz… yeah, I know like… sometimes with necklaces and things… for me they definitely help feel… like more euphoric about my gender… She may have just been thinking in a similar way to that… You are right, she’s definitely not as fixated… like we talked for awhile before she even brought up that she lost her necklace!”

“Yeah… wonder if being on that journey with us kinda just… made her believe in her own beauty.” Vivian’s phone then buzzes, and she finds a text from Madame Flurrie, 

“Oh, you just would NOT believe it!!! That necklace was on my windowsill ALL ALONG!!! Talk to ya later, gotta party with the necklace!!!!”

“Hmhm… guess she does still like having it!”

As Vivian is getting her and Goombella's food out, she notices an expectant look on the Goomba's face. "I know, right! I'm ready for some food too!"

"My look isn't just due to that, Viv!! So, did ya ask her?!"

"Right! So Bella... Madame Flurrie was more than enthusiastic to help with our scavenger hunt!"

"Viv, I'm so happy to hear that, goodness... it will just be so exciting!!"

"Oh my goodness, it certainly will!"

After Vivian and Goombella take some time to eat, they chitchat for a bit, and Goombella eventually asks as she yawns, "Hey, Viv... ya mind stretching just a bit so I can rest on your side? You're by far the softest thing around!"

Vivian happily giggles as she stretches her body up, and the girls sit in comfortable silence, resting on each other. As the sun is setting and Vivian's gazing at the beautiful starry sky. she takes the time to just reflect on her life, and how her life has gotten just so much better since the first time she was here... She giggles to herself thinking on how this time, Goombella's head is on her affectionately, rather than aggressively! About 15 minutes later, Vivian looks over at Goombella, and sees her asleep... Despite them being here for something important, Vivian smiles brightly at being able to help the hard-working Goomba recover. Guess she's stuck here for a bit! Goombella eventually wakes up, saying, "Hurmphhh where am— whoa, whoa, just resting my eyes!! Totally didn't fall asleep on you, Viv!!"

"Hmhmhm, hope my body was comfortable enough! So how are you feeling after that nap— sorry, 'eye-resting'?"

"Like that 9-hour day totally did NOT just happen. Feeling totally energized!""

"So glad to hear that! So... why were here again?"

"Right! We were going to try to get the trust of Punies..." Goombella then lightly giggles, "Honestly, babe, I was so worn out, and you're just SO comfortable to rest on that that was about the LAST thing on my mind."

"Aww, Bella... I'm glad I could help you recover after all the hard work... You want to maybe come back sometime this weeken—" Vivian then stops talking as she hears footsteps, and notices a Puni march out of the grass. 

“Aah!! don’t– Oh! It’s just you, Goombella…” The Puni then turns to Vivian, and timidly asks “Wh-who are you?”

Goombella then turns to the Puni and assures him, "Aww, don't worry, Punio, she isn't going to hurt you!"

Vivian, noticing that Punio seems a bit afraid of her, says in a soft, gentle voice, as she slowly sinks her body down such that she's eye level to him, “Hi! I’m Vivian… It’s very nice to meet you, Punio!”

“Y-you too, Vivian... Sorry, we just have a lot of bullies... You look kind though... anyway, don’t tell the Elder I’m out so late… just gazing at the stars…”

“They can definitely be very nice to watch…”

Goombella asks, “So how’s that old Elder doing, anyway?”

“Eh she’s… alright… a bit older, a bit more cranky… she yelled at Petuni just yesterday for knocking over her sack of Mushrooms… like she’s only 5, honestly!”

Vivian feels a sense of sympathy for her, “Oh my goodness, that… that’s awful… like couldn’t the Elder be a bit more… compassionate about things like that…”

“I know! You get me, shadow girlie!”

“Yeah… like I understand just like… when I was young… my sister always yelled at me… for awhile I think that lead me to have a bit more of an angry temperament…”

“Yeah… stuff like that isn’t cool… I tried to stick up for Petuni, but that just resulted in another one of the Elder’s never ending lectures… some” Punio gets closer to Vivian and whispers to her, “shit about ‘Need to yell at our young to prepare them for later in life.’ like honestly!  

They talk for a bit longer, then Goombella asks, "So hey! How would you Punies like to have, I don't know, a bit of fun!"

"Fun sounds cool to me... As always, I imagine convincing the Elder won't be easy... What were you thinking?"

"So Vivian and I... well, we're getting married, and—"

"WHAT???? Why didn't you say anything, congratulations! OK, I DOUBLY trust you now, Viv. Is there anything we can do to make your celebration more fun?"

"So the way we first met... was getting that necklace back from Flurrie... I think you were there?"

"Right! Oh... I caught a glimpse of a red hat as I was hiding... guess that was you, Vivian. That scary blue-hatted lady had me running too much to pay attention, though..."

Vivian sighs, "Yep, Sis isn't exactly someone you want to be around... luckily I've long since moved away from her, and she won't be there—" Vivian then realizes the possibility of Beldam interfering, and continues in a worried voice, "R-right... I didn't invite her, and we'll do everything we can to make sure that she doesn't show up.  Oh! I can create a Shadow Lock that prevents others from entering through the shadows... we understand if you're still worried about her interfering and don't want to do this......"

"Don't worry! Worst case, I doubt the Elder will stand for her doing anything. Say what you will about her endless lectures, but she will NOT stand for anyone harming us!" Punio says with pride.

Goombella then says, "Yep, I'm always sure to stay on her good side! Anyway, so we thought we were going to do kind of a similar scavenger hunt thing, except this time for Vivian's hat! All you Punies could help and just give subtle hints as to where it is..."

"That sounds like a lot of fun to me... I'd be more than down... and I could definitively convince Petuni..." Punio then turns to Vivian and explains, "She's my little sister, and she's become more daring than even I these days... Ya know, how would it be if she was the one who stole your hat!"

"I... haven't met her, actually!"

"Right... I'll take you both to meet everyone!"

Goombella then checks her watch, which says that it's 10:30 PM, "Gosh, where has the time gone?? Are the Punies still even up at this point?"

"Oh right, uh-oh... probably not... that Elder is rather strict on 'Early to bed, Early to rise'... I should be getting back... What if you both come tomorrow?"

"That sounds great!" Vivian responds.

"Awesome, I'll see you later, not looking forward to dealing with that Elder… Was nice meeting you, Vivian!”

“Yeah! So um… do you need any help getting home? I think there are a few Clefts out…”

“Right, good call, Viv! We can escort ya back there!”

“Right… rather not have to do any tree hopping to avoid those jerk Clefts… Sure, thanks!”

Goombella and Vivian easily escort Punio back home, their Bump Attack badge making quick work of any wild Clefts in their way. Vivian then veils Punio to the secluded shop in the Great Tree. suggesting, “If that Elder notices that you were gone, just say you were assisting Jabble with the night shift at the shop!”

They then head back home, Goombella musing, “So… Viv… one thing I’ve noticed…”

“Oh, what is it, babe?”

“You hardly ever sink your body down so that I’m eye level to you!”

“Hehe! Well it’s like… really… with your strength… I learned pretty quickly that I don’t really intimidate you, do I?”

“OK fine, fine!!!”

“Like the only time I would have worried about that, is the first time I met you… where Beldam would have gotten mad if I didn’t do my best to appear as intimidating… For small punis… like they have a history of us aiding in the X-Nauts aiding in scavenging their tree… so I want to be careful to not intimidate them…”

“Makes sense… just… how do I say this… if you ever think it would be sexier if you keep part of your body in the shadows… well, I don’t know, do it!!!”

“I would… but that would mean… Don’t think I haven’t caught how much you like the feel of these voluptuous hips of mine when we’re in bed! I could not DARE take these away from you! “ Vivian smirks as she lightly bumps Goombella with her hips. 

The next morning, the girls come by The Great Tree to meet the Punies, Vivian slightly nervous about meeting the Elder in particular. Goombella reassures her, "Aww, don't worry too much, babe! Was going to give her this, and I'm sure that this, along with my good word of you, will get you her trust!" Goombella shows Vivian a Life Shroom she plans to give the Elder.

"Oh, whew, thanks, babe... I certainly hope it does... if that Elder's even half as scary as I've heard, then I know I want to be on her good side!"

When they get into the tree, the Elder and all the Punies and friendly Jabbies are there to greet them. The Elder starts by saying, "Oh, It's you, Goombel— wait, who are YOU????!!!!" The Elder yells as she expands to tower over Vivian, Punio and Goombella shouting at the same time as they get in front of the Shadow Siren, "Elder, calm down!!!" The Elder then turns her attention away from Vivian to focus on Punio, "You DARE raise your voice at me, Punio??? I'll have you know that in THIS tree—"

Goombella whispers to her fiancée, "Fuck, sorry about that, she didn't even give me TWO seconds to get my Life Shroom out..."

"No worries, babe... Kinda expected it, if I'm to be honest... Not to mention that a millennium's worth of experience in dealing with things like that helps it kinda bounce off, honestly!"

As the Elder's a few sentences into her lecture, there's a small squeaky shout, "Elder, just listen for a minute!!"

"Excuse me, Petuni?! I thought you'd know better—"

Petuni then marches next to Vivian and confidently says to the Elder, "No!!! I saw what was happening! Now I haven't met this girl, but I can tell that Goombella, who risked her life to save our tree, cares a lot about her, and as far as I'm concerned, any friend of Goombella's is a friend of mine! I think you owe her a sincere apology!!"

Punio also whispers to Vivian, "See, what did I tell you?!"

"I know, goodness!"

Everyone manages to calm the Elder down, and they discuss their plan more thoroughly, Vivian introducing herself and talking some with Petuni about the idea of her temporarily stealing her hat, and the small Puni is excited by the idea. "Ooh!!! I like pretty things, and your hat is definitely... well that!"

Convincing the Elder is still by no means an easy ordeal, but after Goombella sweetens the pot with a Life Shroom, she eventually relents, "Well, I suppose it's time to weigh the odds, I WILL need this Life Shroom at some point." She then looks at Vivian with a lightly suspicious look, "And I suppose you DO seem pretty nice, and the Punies like you... Very well, we can do this silly scavenger hunt wedding."

"Oh, thank you!! I assure you it will be the best time!"

Chapter Text

Out of everywhere Mario and Koops could have imagined meeting for the scavenger hunt, the last thing they expected was to go to Flurrie's house. As they're heading there on the morning of the hunt, Koops ponders, "Hmm, ya don't suspect we went in some kind of time machine and are going to have to get that necklace off of Vivian again..."

"I have had my adventures with time machines... it's always possible!" Mario responds.

Their worries are assuaged, luckily, when they find that Koops' Shell Slam pulverizes the wild Clefts there as easily as ever. They notice Punio come along with them too... and when they get to Flurrie's house, the actress goes, "Oh!! That must be you! There's just the most WORRISOME problem!!!"

"You didn't lose your necklace again, right?" Koops asks.

"If ONLY it was just a trifling matter such as that... alas... it's quite the predicament for my friend here."

They suddenly hear Vivian's voice, "Mario, Koops, it's just awful... My hat got stolen!!!"

"AWAWAWAWA!!!"

"Gosh, that does really suck... where was it stolen?"

"The Great Tree... I was just playing with the Punies and they challenged me to a game with a wager... but turned out it was rigged... now you know a crafty sorceress such as myself would never back down from a wager, hmhm... Anyway, I wagered my hat and they... just jumped on me and pushed it off me..."

"Oh heck, well that sucks... you kinda need that for the wedding, huh?"

"Exactly!! Flurrie's trying to convince me that the beauty of my pink hair would still be more than enough to go out to find it myself..."

"I... can't say I've seen you without your hat, but I'm sure I'd agree!" Koops responds.

"Oh yeah!"

They then hear Flurrie's voice from inside, "Well then, seems we're in agreement, my amazing Shadow Siren sweetie!"

"You all are just too sweet... but I'm just... it feels wrong going outside without it... if only there was... someone... who could completely convince me... a certain... girl Goomba... one that has seen my full head of pink hair and can speak on how beautiful it is..."

Well, it's pretty obvious that they'll need to find Goombella to get her to convince Vivian... where could she be. "Hmm, So Punio—Huh, where did he go, he was just here! Anyway... we can find the Goomba you're looking for... do you have any idea where she could be..."

"N-never thought I'd say this... but no, I don't... she got up really early... I do know there was some mysterious leaf to the east of here she wanted to analyze... Hmm, maybe she's at— well, you two are smart, I'm sure you can figure it out, hm hm!"

"Right... of course we can! We'll find her!"

"Oh yeah!"

Meanwhile, Punio heads to the Great Tree, armed with the Shooting Stars that Vivian gave him to fight back against the mean Clefts. He makes it there and tells Petuni, "Well, sis, you've been found out."

"Nooo!!!! How—"

"Whoa, relax... I just mean that Mario and Koops know that Vivian's hat was stolen!"

"But they don't know I did it?"

"Nope!"

"OK, whew, don't scare me like that, Bro!"

Mario and Koops look through all the trees that could grow leaves, but find no Goombella... they do find that there's a strange seed shop, apparently? They decide to head by there... and find that it's locked. Koops says, "Hmm, strange, the hours say that it should be open, but it's not... I guess let's just look around, huh?"

The two then find a text from an anonymous phone which says, 'ur on the right track!! ^_^'

They decide to look around the outside of the store more thoroughly, and find a crack. Koops thinks quietly, "Hmm... if only we had Bobbery here..."

"You lads need some help?" As if he was summoned, Bobbery appears right on cue.

"Oh, hey Bobbery! So Vivian and Goombella invited you to this too?"

"That they did, but lets just say they were... vague on the details! Just to keep my day open, and some kind of code that I just received saying to come here..." Bobbery then blows up the crack, and the three men explore the shop, and eventually find Goombella... inside a box of seeds. "Oh, there you all are! Now I just know ONE of these seeds has to lead to making this leaf! You guys mind helping search?"

"Goombella, that can wait!!! It's your big day!!"

"Right, it certainly is!! I need a very special leaf to present to my amazing Viv to prove I'm worthy of her!"

"I... I don't think that she'll mind you not having one..."

"You really think so?? Legend says that this leaf is the ONE thing that can possibly match up to the beautiful shade of yellow that is her gorgeous lips! I... I want to believe that she'll understand if I don't have one... but I'd like it more... if I could hear it from her!"

Koops sighs, "Golly, don't tell us this is one of those backtracking things!"

"Well, kinda! Don't worry, I did find something... that may help... here!" Goombella, after a bit of rummaging, throws a switch out of the box she's in, that creates a warp pipe back to Flurrie's home.

"Well, this is pretty convenient... but Goombella, there's... a bit of a problem, you see, so Vivian... she lost her hat..."

"What??? Oh, that is just awful... hopefully it gets found soon... until then, though, the world's finally going to get a taste of her amazing head of beautiful pink hair!!"

"You see, that's what we're telling her... but she wants to hear it from you..."

"In that case, I SUPPOSE I should go there and tell her!" Goombella mutters to herself as she goes through the pipe, "Hope she still cares about an opinion from a leafless Goombella..."

Meanwhile, inside Flurrie's house, Vivian's starting to worry, "Oh no... do you think... I made the clues too unclear... I don't want them to spend all day just figuring this out... not to mention I just want to see Goombella... maybe we should just... call the whole thing off..."

"Now Vivian, sweetie, I think we can give these clever boys a bit more time! It's only been about 25 minutes, and we have all day! We can always create another fake phone number to text them another clue from!"

"Hmm, m-maybe you're right... but it's just I feel—" The loud sound of a warp pipe being created interrupts Vivian, "Oh! I thought I'd never hear that sound, shouldn't be long now, hm hm!"

"What did I tell ya!"

A couple of minutes later, Vivian hears the sound of people exiting the warp pipe, and her heart starts pounding upon hearing the voice of the girl she loves, "Soooo I hear my beautiful wife is in here?"

Vivian can't help but smile broadly at hearing Goombella call her that, "Oh, mhmhmhm!! Yes... I g-guess you heard of the horrible thing that happened, wife?"

"Yep! Your hat was stolen! That really does suck, like I feel it just... it complements your skin and everything, like, SO well! But you know what... you're also very beautiful without it, and your full head of pink hair is just the MOST gorgeous sight!! Now what do you say we find whoever stole your hat and give 'em a good talking to!"

"Hmhm, if you say so, babe, I suppose... I can come out... h-hope I look OK..."

Vivian slowly opens the door to greet her guests, who cannot take their eyes off of the witch, who is in a beautiful body-hugging red and purple dress.

Vivian asks in a slow, nervous voice, "This... looks OK on me, right? This dress... does it make my butt look big?"

As Mario, Koops, and Bobbery are stammering, Goombella goes to Vivian's side and says, as she lightly pats Vivian's butt, "It very much does, and I wouldn't have it any other way!"

Vivian smiles as she leans her hips on Goombella, "Hmhmhm! Glad to hear... Flurrie th-thought it did too... but I just wanted to make sure... I know how much you like these curves of mine, babe... Wh-what's wrong guys? I look OK, right?"

Koops assures her, "Sorry, it's just... you look MUCH MORE than OK! You look amazing, Vivian, that's a really nice dress, and your hair is just beautiful!!"

"Mm-hmm!"

"Much agreed with these chaps, you look like a true beauty, lass!"

"Oh, thank you so much everyone! Also, thanks for going to get Goombella to assure me... anyway! What do you say I fix us a brunch before we head to the Great Tree! Least I can do after you did that!"

Flurrie's stomach grumbles, "I know I agree with this sweetie's magnificent idea!"

Everyone agrees, and they have a nice, delicious brunch of Fried Eggs, Sausage, and Shroom Hashbrowns. As they're talking during the meal, Vivian asks, "So... I may be booping the fourth wall a bit... but how are you all liking the scavenger hunt so far?"

Koops answers, "Honestly, it's been a lot of fun so far! Brings back memories of our adventuring days... Life in Petalburg is nice, but I don't really feel like... it's helping me grow to be strong for Koopie..."

"Glad you're liking it! Anything we could do... differently? We want this to be fun for everyone!" Goombella nods her head in agreement.

"Suppose... it's been really nice exploring these woods, but so far things haven't been that challenging..."

"Ooh, ya all want a bit more of a challenge, hm hm?"

The boys all nod their head in agreement.

"Gotcha... you see, I was worried my clues may have been too unclear... but if it's too easy... lemme just fire this off..." Vivian types on her phone for a bit, then says, "There we go! Should be a bit more of a challenge now!"

During the meal, Goombella also mentions, "By the way, babe... I tried, but I couldn't find that leaf... I hope that's OK... I can go back and look after brunch if you want..."

"You know you aren't doing that, babe! I want you to be with me today, I missed ya!"

"R-really...? Even in my leafless form..."

Vivian chuckles, "My goodness babe, while leaves are nice, I love you just as much whether or not you have a leaf for me!"

Koops sighs, "We TRIED to tell her!"

"Hey! It's just... it may ACTUALLY match the beautiful shade of yellow on these!" Goombella kisses Vivian's lips as she finishes the sentence.

After brunch, they head to the Great Tree to search for Vivian's witch hat. They find that the Puni switches are sealing the paths instead of opening them. It's a bit tricky, as the switches only require a few Punies, and they run across a path where they need to get the Punies off of two switches, but Flurrie can't use her magic in two places... After a bit of time searching, they hear a voice from... underneath the floor. "Guess it's time for me to step in??" Brittany then unveils from the shadows, and Vivian hugs her, "Hey!!! It's great to see ya again!"

"Likewise, especially when I can see you with your GIRRRRLFRIENDDD—sorry, WIIIIIFEEE!"

"Oh golly, hello!! I don't believe I've met you! I'm the glorious Madame Flurrie, and I'm helping this beauty find her hat!"

"Heya Madame Flurrie, Viv and I here have beaten up a lot of mean people together and are in most of the same Sorcery classes! Name's Brittany, nice to meet ya! Now that you mention it... yeah, Viv, you with no hat... is still every bit as beautiful as ever!! Although it's definitely not a look I'm used to..."

"Hmhmhmhm, very few beings are... or were, rather... glad you still like the look, though!"

"Yep! So how are we going about getting this back, guess I'll need to use my wind magic?"

After Brittany and Flurrie use their wind powers to get everyone through the challenging puzzles, and the crew feels like they're getting close, they run across Puniper. "Hey!!! I was asked to guard this room! You're not getting through without a fight!!"

The party is astonished, and is speechless for a bit, before Vivian pleads, "What...? I m-mean... I don't want to fight any of you... I just... want to get the hat back... like it'd be unfair anyway... I'm so much bigger than you..."

"You think you're intimidating me, girlie?!"

"I hope not... but anyway—"

"Hey, if size is the problem here, what do ya say I help ya out here, Viv?!" Scrappy then runs onto the scene.

"Oh, Scrappy, th-thank you for offering... Let's try not to hurt anyone, thoug—"

"Oh YES... I've seen your thrilling battles... now THIS is a match that seems exciting!!! You're on, 'Great Gonzales Jr.'! Unless... you're too much of a coward?!"

"WHAT did you call me???" Before anyone can say anything else, Scrappy and Puniper are duking it out. Vivian whispers to Goombella, "What should we do?? I was hoping we could avoid fights..."

"I technically hoped that too, Viv, but with those two hotheads? Didn't think we were that likely to avoid it, honestly. Let's just watch and step in if it gets too violent... We do have those Life Shrooms, after all!"

"Fair enough... Besides... hmhm... Puniper should have known that he was making a mistake calling Scrappy a coward!"

As they watch, they're a bit surprised to see that the battle is much more... even than they expected; while Scrappy is getting strong attacks in, Puniper is also doing well at hiding in the bushes and dashing into Scrappy. They eventually notice Scrappy start to look tired, but after he lands his next Ground Pound on Puniper, the Puni squeaks out, "I give! Fine! You can head to the next room!!"

"Ahhhh yeah what did I tell ya!!!" Vivian also overhears a conversation, with Scrappy whispering to Puniper, "Seriously, great match, man, you ought to head by the Glitz Pit sometime! I'll put in a good word to Jolene!"

"Will do... if I can ever sneak away from that Elder..."

As the crew heads onward, Vivian tells Scrappy, "By the way... thanks for not overdoing it against Puniper..."

"Of course, Viv!! Ya know, Jolene wouldn't keep me around if I didn't know when my opponent's had enough!"

They then make it to a room, bigger than the others, and in the center of it, lies Vivian's red and white striped witch hat! "Oh!!!! There it is, thank y—" When she goes to pick it up, there's a squeaky yell from Petuni, who's under it, "Hey!!! Who's trying to steal my hat??!! I was having a good nap here!"

"Oh um... I was just... getting this back—"

"Oh, it's YOU, Vivian! That was a fun game back there, huh?! I sure LOVE my prize that we got from it! This hat is just... so nice to nap under..."

"W-well... you see... it's kind of a part of me... I understand you won it... but I have some coins... if I could perhaps please get it back..."

"Hmm, I DO suppose it fits your style... but you also look pretty great without it... and I DO really love napping in this thing... how about this?? While I do like this hat, I'm also a bit bored, so why don't you all play with me! Vivian, ask me anything and be astounded by my knowledge of the world! Maybe if I have enough fun I'll consider giving this hat back!"

"Sounds fair to me! So... hmhm..." Vivian ponders what she could ask, and eventually thinks of a pretty good one... "Luigi... decorates... what tree trunk... for the heck of it?"

She giggles to herself at probably having stymied the small Puni, "Huh??!! I don't understand that! Sounds to me like you REALLY don't care for getting this hat back! Why don't you try that again!"

Hmm... she tries to think of another question, but her mind goes only to one place... "Vivian... loves... who the most?"

"What???!!! That's EASY!!! I can clearly TELL by how you both are looking at each other, You love GOOMBELLA the most!!!"

"Guess I can't really stump ya there, huh?"

"Not particularly! Goombella! Think you can do a bit better of a job?"

"Gosh, I can try... Hmm.... Oh! I know of a good one! Goombella... also loves... who the most?"

"What?? That's every bit as easy as the last question!! You love Vivian the most too! Why don't you two lovebirds, I don't know, kiss or something!"

"Well, you know we'll never say no to that!!" Goombella then takes the opportunity to surprise the siren as she pushes her pink bangs off her face, and kisses her hard on her forehead, whispering to her, 'Best do this while I can, babe!' The two then hug for awhile, then Goombella kisses the witch again on her lips.

"G-Goombella... Oh my goodness, this has just been the greatest day... And I look forward to so many greater days with you, you strong, amazing Goomba... I thought for so long that I was destined to just spend my life obeying my mean sister's every whim, but you helped me realize that I deserve so much better... Do you take me to be your wife, Goombella?"

"I do! You sweet, beautiful Shadow Siren... for the longest time myself, I thought my life would just be spent toiling away for hours in that old laboratory, but meeting you... it finally opened my heart to what I truly deserve... Do you take me to be your wife, Vivian?"

"I do!"

After a bit of kissing and hugging, the two part, and Petuni then says, "Well, I guess you two have entertained me enough that you can have this back! There's always the bushes to take a nap in, I guess..."

The next evening, after the high of that amazing day, Vivian's head is nestled down in her books, multiple scratch sheets of practice problems on her desk. Goombella comes in and asks, "Back to the land of Integration, huh?"

"For the next week, at least! Gee whiz, this Cal II midterm will certainly be a doozy! Ya know what though, babe, this sticker of us I have on my purse... I think that can get me through it! Not to mention what's happening right after!"

"Right!!! My goodness, Viv, I'm just SO excited for our honeymoon... Anything I can do to help make the brutal studying period before a bit easier? My knowledge of Calculus is a bit rusty, but I can try to help you study if you'd like!"

"I... I'd love that, Bella... if you wouldn't mind..."

Ten minutes later, Vivian giggles at having watched Goombella work out a tricky Integration by Parts problem she wasn't quite able to grasp, while explaining it to Vivian, "Gee whiz, Bella, I thought you said you were rusty at Calculus!"

"Hey, I thought I was too! I may have... been trying to review it just a bit on company time for ya! If they're working me like they have, least I can do!"

"Hmhmhm! Thank you so much... you always just do all you can to help me, and I'm so excited for our life together!"

"Viv, I am too, just so much..." The two take a study break to share a long kiss, to many great years ahead.