DreamStoryVerse Story Arc Book 2

Pressing The Grapes

".....what?" Tatertot asked, a blank stare on his face.

His cousin giggled. "You can just call me Hatshepsut. These are my younger sisters: Nefertiti, Cleopatra, and Isis." 

"Akh, I see. You're all identical quadruplets an' you came out first." Tatertot concluded. 

"Wrong! We're not identical. Titi's birzmark is on her back, Cleo's is on her tummy, and Isis' are all over!" Hatshepsut exclaimed.

"Birzmark? You mean zat weird star on your face?" Tatertot asked. 

"Yep! It's za Star of House Morton. All of the members of House of Morton have one, except for Mama, of course." Hatshepsut explained.

In fact, the majority of the family houses under the Imperial House of Koopa had traits that most of the members bore:

Members of House of Von Koopa, commonly have freckles, heterochromia iridium, nice, voluminous hair and the large fang in the front. Members of Pink Diamond's Court/House of Bully commonly wore sunglasses and were gems themselves, Bully himself being a Pink Diamond and his daughter being a Rose Quartz. Members of House of Ignatius commonly had the odd double irises. Members of House of Larry had the Star of House Larry, a blue star birthmark that can be located anywhere on the body. And finally, members of House of Lemmy had the equality symbol, an equal sign looking birthmark that could also be located anywhere. Unfortunately, eye problems also seem to be common as well. 

"By za way, where is your Mom? My mom didn't mention her on za way here…." Tatertot asked. 

"Well, w-we don't really know. She likes to spend most of her time alone. We spend most of our time being raised by nurses, tutors, and ozer castle staff." Isis spoke up.

After Totoma and Morton got married and had children together, they practically stopped speaking. Despite their marriage being purely political, Totoma tried her hardest to make it work but it was obvious that Morton did not and would not love her. His heart only beat for Marsipan. Besides, her only duty as the Great Royal Wife was to give Morton a few heirs and she did; They got 4 little babies for the price of 1! Because her purpose had essentially been served, she was now exploring and trying to go back to doing the things she used to do before this whole marriage business. 

"Oy."  He said simply, he could tell the subject was a little touchy for them.

He kind of knew how they were feeling, his father wasn’t very present in his life either. He was always out doing who-knew-what, not that Wendy minded. Their marriage was purely political. She had no feelings for Tat and in fact, she found him quite annoying. All she needed from him was help producing an heir, which she had already successfully made. He had served his purpose, and Wendy no longer wanted nor needed him around anymore.

"So...what kinda stuff do you guys, ya know, do around here?" 

"Yeah, hold zat zought. You are not good enough to play with Titi and I, you can play with za babies, Cleo and Isis!" Hatshepsut rudely exclaimed before she and Nefertiti walked off. 

"хорошо….what was zat all about?" Tatertot asked, confused. 

Cleo sighed. "Don't take it personally, Titi and Hat are always like zat. She was only being nice to you before because she was waiting to see if you were up to her standards. Apparently, you're not." 

Tatertot huffed, crossing his arms. "Well that's rude. Anyway, what do you guys do to have fun?" 

"We were just about to go press the grapes!" Isis exclaimed. 

"Why?" 

"Because...why not? It's fun and it's a great way to beat za heat. Come on, we'll show you!" Cleo assured him. 

Tatertot was still a bit skeptical but he didn't have anything else to do, his Switch was dead and there was no way of charging it. 

He nodded and gathered his things before following Cleo and Isis out of the garden and into the Palace. They skipped down the vast halls until they reached a vineyard outside of the Palace. 

In the vineyard, there were rows and rows of painted wooden structures covered in grapevines. There were a few young male Gaos among the structures, protecting the grapes and scaring away birds using rocks and slingshots. There were other workers among them harvesting the grapes with the baskets on their heads and backs.

The 3 children stopped at the foot wine press: a very large, ornately decorated tub that all the harvested grapes were taken to. The juices from the grapes were then passed through vats and troughs.

Cleopatra and Isis removed their sandals before hoisting themselves up and into the large tub. They fastened the rope harnesses that dangled from the ceiling around their waists to keep them upright. They then began to enthusiastically stomp and squish the grapes with their bare feet, getting juice all over them and their clothes in the process. 

Tatertot was a little taken aback. Not only did that seem a little gross, but it didn’t seem very sanitary either. However, Cleo and her sister seemed to be having a lot of fun. They were dancing and singing a catchy song in a language Tatertot could not understand. He also imagined that it may actually feel good. There was only one way to find out.

Tatertot removed his sandals before slowly hoisting himself up and into the very large tub. He quickly grabbed one of the rope harnesses as he felt himself about to sink in. He wiggled his little toes, feeling the grape slush beneath him. The consistency was a bit off-putting, but the grapes did feel somewhat nice. 

“Hey, Tatertot, you kinda look like a grape.” Isis quietly pointed out. Tatertot concluded  that she was most likely referring to the fact that his skin was purple, though it wasn’t the same deep shade as the grape sludge. Out of childlike curiosity, he took a handful of the grape sludge and tried it. The texture was still very off-putting but nonetheless, it wasn’t totally terrible.

Out of nowhere, some sludge was hurled at his face. 

“Oof, sorry ab--” Before Cleopatra could apologize for her mistake, Tatertot threw some sludge back at her. She scoffed, while Isis stifled a small giggle. 

“Oh so it’s going to be like zat, now is it?” Cleo smirked before throwing some sludge back at Tatertot and soon enough, the 3 children were having a food fight. Well, more like a grape sludge fight.

                                                       ***********

A loud shriek interrupted the children’s harmless fun. Tatertot turned to look and there was his own mother, shocked at what a mess her son was. The 3 children were covered in juice from head to toe.

“Well.” Wendy began, unable to think of what to say. “It looks like you certainly had fun today.”

Tatertot nodded happily. Wendy had never seen her baby so happy doing something other than playing video games. He had never been very social or eager to play with other children in person. When she saw Tatertot’s genuine smile, she couldn’t stay mad at him.

“Your Imperial Majesty, we can draw a bath for His Imperial Highness before the two of you make your departure if you would like.” A servant suggested.

Wendy nodded quickly. “Yes, thank you. That would be much appreciated.” 

                                                      **********

After Tater had his bath and his clothes were washed, he gathered his belongings and left the palace with his Mother. But not before saying a heartfelt goodbye to Cleopatra and Isis and thanking them for their hospitality, which is much more than he could say for Hatshepsut and Nefertiti. 

“See, Tater, there’s much more to life than those video games of yours. You can have just as much fun without them. In fact, I might even start restricting your play time...” Wendy trailed off.

“Now, now, Mama. I don't think you should go that far. This was just a...one-time thing. Yeah, a one-time thing.” Tatertot assured her.

Wendy discreetly rolled her eyes. “Whatever you need to tell yourself, Tater.”