Flipped (Super Paper Mario SWAP AU)

Pretty Faces (6)

Countess Tippi paced back and forth in the large inner sanctum of her palace. The walls, which were once all black, had been painted white, as did the floors and ceilings. With all the space, it was hard not to feel small. She didn't mind, though. Sometimes, it was nice to feel small. It kept her grounded and reminded her of what she was. Human.

The room was filled with elevated chairs, all situated in a circle with her's being the tallest. The countess waved her hands and allowed herself to be transported to the top. Sometimes it still felt strange, using magic. When she was born, she didn't have powers like she did now, but devoting her life to the prophecies of the Light Prognosticus had changed her, made her stronger.

Soon after, Nastasia, one of her loyal followers and closest friends, showed up, taking her place on Countess Tippi's left side. There were assigned seats for each of her four most loyal followers. Nastasia sat on her left, Mimi sat next to Nastasia, O'Chunks sat next to Mimi, and Dimentio–Countess Tippi's personal assistant–sat on the countess's right. There was always one empty chair, situated directly across from the countess. She always claimed that it was left open to represent the people who they've yet to influence.

Nastasia had been a few minutes early, as always. She was always the most punctual out of all Countess Tippi's loyal followers. The countess wasn't complaining, though. It was nice that at least one of her followers paid attention to schedules.

O'Chunks arrived soon after and took his place. Mimi followed behind him. Since practically everyone was there, Countess Tippi decided to start the meeting early. It wasn't unusual for Dimentio to be a little late, as he was always extra busy compared to the other minions.

"As you all know, the void has been created," Countess Tippi explained, clearing her throat to silence the side chatter that had started between O'Chunks and Mimi. "We're on schedule to have this whole ordeal done and over within just a few days' time."

"Yeah, status report, by the way," Nastasia muttered. Her hands were folded in her lap and her gaze was on the floor. "Um... Dimentio's running late, but he told me to give you some updates. From the way it looks, Pierre is sending Peach out to collect the fractured remains of the Chaos Heart."

Countess Tippi furrowed her brows slightly, then let out a slightly annoyed breath.

"Of course, he got his greedy little hands on her," the countess hissed. "I should have brought her here. That's my mistake—"

"No, don't worry, countess!" Mimi interrupted. "We'll get this taken care of! Easy peasy!"

"Ye, lass," O'Chunks added. "She's just a girl."

"So am I," the countess breathed. "Don't you dare discredit or underestimate her. With him whispering in her ear, she's bound to cause issues."

"Maybe we should, you know..." Mimi trailed off, grinning and drawing a finger across her neck. "Take the cloaked idiot out before he keeps being a problem."

"And start a war with Flopside? No, thank you," Nastasia hissed. "That would cause more problems than we could handle. Besides, as much as we hate to admit it, all those people love and rely on him. They need an ancient to look up to, their entire world views would crumble otherwise. And it would look bad on our part to just kill him now."

"Worse than threatening him with a void of light?" Mimi argued.

"We're threatening him, yes, but still giving him the option to do the right thing," Countess Tippi stated calmly. "I gave him a choice. I asked him to hand it over, he said no. Whatever happens is on him. Now, can we move the conversation back to Peach?"

"Yes, let's talk about Peach," Dimentio said, suddenly appearing in his seat, bearing the same smile he always wore. "She's out to get the first Chaos Heart fragment. I think we should send someone. Just to... test her strength. See how much of a threat she really is."