Toadette's Story

Chapter 12 - Well-Deserved Massage

After being covered in saliva, soaked in the dirty tunnel water and having to make my way back here barefoot, I breathed a sigh of relief, washing those germs off. For a job with a basic description, they sure were sending me into a mess of situations. What next? Throwing me in a volcano?

Alright, I finished with showering. Now, what to wear? It wasn't like I was going anywhere special for the night. Simple pyjama pants and a plain, white T-shirt worked fine enough.

While rubbing my stomach, I realised just how much of an appetite it had built up. Who could blame it after using all that food energy on squid-face?

After a chilly descent to the kitchen (thank you, tile floors), a nice bowl of Spicy Soup warmed me up. I crossed my legs on the ground, took a spoonful of the red liquid and let it run down my throat. Oh, and once the first gulp came, that was it.

My lips sat on the edge of the bowl, now drinking the soup like it were a beverage. And with those yummy, soft potato chunks melting in my mouth, my teeth didn't budge an inch. Even for such an everyday meal, I couldn't remember the last time I'd tasted Spicy Soup this wonderful.

“Boo!”

It took a moment to lower the bowl from my face. To no one's surprise, it was Her Highness's spawn. Great, what did she want this time?

She groaned. “You were supposed to scream.”

“Your voice is the last thing I'd call intimidating, kid.”

She plopped down, extending her legs to meet mine. Wow. It was still weird how she was so much younger, yet we weren't too different in height. Although, of course, I was taller. It'd be embarrassing if I wasn't. But still, where would she be in four or five years? Provided I'm even working at the castle at that point.

“Is it true you really beat a Blooper?”

I licked the remaining soup off my lips. “Oh, she told you, huh?”

“Miss Daisy tells me everything. She's the best non-aunt in the universe.”

Really now? I grasped my toes, stretching my body out.

“Kid, Miss Daisy almost got herself killed more than once. She's lucky I came to this castle when I—”

What was she doing? Penelope mimicked my stretching action. Or should I say, she attempted to. Poor girl didn't seem to grasp the importance of flexibility. Yet, even in that half-hearted position, she continued to talk.

“Have your feet always been so humongous, Miss Toadette?”

I sprung back to neutral, gasping. “My feet are normal, thank you very much.”

“Nuh-uh.” Readjusting herself, Penelope stuck one of her feet in between mine. “They're giant!”

Ugh, I wish I were her mother just so I could forcibly shut her up. Looking at our feet closer, she wasn't exactly wrong. Yeah, that hurt to confess. My feet were indeed taller than hers. But the difference was less in size and more in form. Penelope's feet were really, hmm, how to say… Chubby. Very, very chubby. Remember how I thought they felt like two enormous marshmallows?

In contrast, my feet were slender. I didn't choose that. That's just how they grew.

“They're no Miss Daisy or Mother in size, but wow!”

She began rubbing the bottoms of her feet against the tops of mine. Tingling, I covered my mouth, giggling. And she wasn't letting up, keeping pace.

“You know, I'd love to tickle you with your girlfriend another time.”

Nope, nope, nope. We weren't going through tortuous tickling again. My legs retreated as I stood up.

“I gotta get to bed, alright?”

“Before you do…”

Damn it. Of course, my evening couldn’t be simple.

Penelope took the empty bowl out of my hands. “I'll be going out with you and Miss Daisy tomorrow.”

I snickered. “Aw, that’s cute. But no, you're not.”

“Mother said I could, and Miss Daisy said I could. So yes, I am.”

Oh, she was serious. So everyone got a say in this but me? Perfect. And all the while, this brat had a big, wide grin taking up most of her face.

Now, if this girl was gonna be a part of this search, I'd have two royals to manage. An adult who could barely care for herself, and a child who definitely couldn't care for herself. The only question was how I was going to keep them both out of harm's way. Easier said than done.

Back in my room, exhaustion caught up with me. My bed was calling my name.

I sighed a breath of relief. “Finally, I'm done today.”

“Not yet.”

Just my luck. A few steps forward, and there she was, Princess Daisy on MY bed. At the very least, she seemed to have taken a shower. No longer was her hair drooping or her clothes a soggy mess. And would you look at that, there was some actual colour back in her skin.

My instincts initially signalled me to freak out, you know, because of the bottoms of her feet on my clean sheets. But, to my surprise, her feet were fairly clean. They were definitely the cleanest I'd seen all day.

She rolled off the bed. “Sit.”

Didn't have to tell me twice. As soon as I reached my bed, my body collapsed on the firm mattress. All that jumping and sprinting that Blooper made me do must have put serious stress on my muscles.

Tilting on my side, I asked, “What do you want this time?”

“I’m just holding my end of the bargain. But if you wanna be ungrateful…”

Oh, I'd completely forgotten we had that bet where she'd give me a massage. You tend to forget that stuff when you're focused on saving someone's life. Twice. At the same time, wow. To get a massage from a princess… You couldn't get more backwards than that if you wanted to.

The princess had this bottle in her hands she shook up and down. Just a tad bigger than the size of a water bottle. An orangish substance curled out the bottle like toothpaste, forming into a mass in the princess's bare hands.

She chuckled. “Sarasaland-exclusive, right here.”

My head went back straight, looking at the ceiling. Princess Daisy rubbed the substance in her hands and quite intensely from the sounds of it. Ten seconds later and she took hold of my left foot, somewhere around the middle section. Then, her thumbs pressed into my sole.

I let out another sigh, feeling all the stress stored in me begin to fizzle out.

Whatever weird lotion she used had was super warm. And the texture, now that threw me for a loop. I expected a silky-smooth sensation, not something chunky. Yet, through all odds, I was in Heaven. My foot felt as if it was bathing in oatmeal.

“How often do you get massages?”

I ran my fingers along my cap. “Never. I always turn them down.”

Honestly, the fact I wanted her to rub my feet in the first place would shock anyone who knew me. So far, Princess Daisy was the only exception to my little no-contact-with-my-feet rule.

She squeezed her fingers between my toes and then rubbed my big toe in circles with her free thumb.

“Heh, you better be real glad you didn't refuse this one.”

Another load of cream coated the princess's hand before splatting against my right foot. I bit my lip as sighs bounced through me internally. As her thumbs pressed into my arch, swirling round and round, my fingers were digging into my sheets. Should I have really been enjoying this? She was touching my feet. My feet! It was gross, but it also didn't feel gross. Ugh, I didn't feel like processing all of this. Best to just go with the flow.

I tilted my head to get a look at Princess Daisy. Her blue eyes sharply focused on my feet, not attempting to even look me in the eyes. If I didn't know better, I'd say she looked furious.

Two minutes followed when she started to tug on all my toes. And when she did, she would apply a satisfying pressure to the area right underneath them. And would you look at that. All the soreness I had felt walking here. Gone.

By the time the massage ended, my feet felt very minty. Hot, yet cool. In the background, the princess clapped her hands together.

“Now, how was that for your first Sarasalandic massage?”

I gave her a thumbs-up, sighing on and off.

“Yeah, I knew you'd love it. Peach likes to call us outdated, but don't change what isn't broken.”

I piped up, “Hang on. You were gonna tell me about you and her, right?”

Princess Daisy put her hand on her chin, keeping her vision on my feet and not my face.

“I dunno. You seem like you're dying to count some sheep.”

“No, I'm…”

If only a yawn didn't prevent me from finishing that sentence. The princess began waving and walking to the door.

Then, in an instant, she sprinted back, jumping on the bed and nearly into me. I bumped my head into the bed frame to scurry from her.

“Aw, what the hell. It's not every day someone WANTS to hear me talk.”