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Fixed versus Broken	By : anacsadder Category: +S through Z > Super Mario Brothers Views: 4009 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own anything in the Mario franchise and I'm not making any money from this.

Chapter List
- 9
- 10
Mario considered the black and white disks in front of him. He rubbed his chin and glanced at the slender woman across from him. Her expression was as passive and unreadable as usual. Now that he thought about it, her mind didn't seem on the game at all. She simply stared blankly at the board as she waited her turn. Mario pushed a white circle from one black square to another and sat back in his chair. “All right.”
She bit her lip. Her fingers plucked a black checker off the board and dropped it behind the checker Mario had just moved. She put it next to the board and crossed her arms on the table.
The short, pudgy human double jumped to her side of the playing field. “King me.”
Waluigi sighed and placed the checker she'd just taken on top of his. She clasped her hands under her chin and contemplated the board for a lot longer this time. All of a sudden, without looking up, she said, “Does Luigi think I hate him?”
Ever candid, Mario said, “He used to. He hasn't mentioned anything about it recently.”
“I was just thinking. About losing? Um...” she stammered. “Wario didn't like it when I was better than him, at anything. I was only ever there to help him win. Then he'd take me home and harp on how much of a loser I am. The double standard drove me crazy. You know?” Her eyes darted up to check Mario's reaction.
Mario nodded. “I could see that.”
“So competing with Luigi wasn't anything personal, really. It was a way for me to boost my self-esteem without stepping on Wario's toes...”
“I'm sure he's not holding it against you. He's very forgiving,” Mario smiled reassuringly.
Her expression brightened a little. “You think?”
“Absolutely,” Mario said.
“Good,” she nodded thoughtfully. Then she reached across the board and another black disk went leaping over a freshly exposed white disk. “King me,” she grinned.
Mario laughed as he crowned the checker, “Should've seen that coming. Hm...” He scratched his temple. Then he moved a piece. As he waited for her to make her move, his eyes wandered the back yard. They'd set the game up on a plastic patio table that Waluigi had rescued from the weeds in a back corner of the lawn. Mario hadn't remembered owning a patio table. He hadn't remembered the small patch of dirt fenced in with half-rotted logs in the middle of the yard either, though. With the weeds ripped out and the bushes trimmed, the yard actually looked bigger. “I never told you what a good job you did picking up the place, did I?”
She looked around, surprised. “It's not done yet...”
“It's still nice,” the man in red shrugged. “Actually, Peach's birthday is coming up and I was thinking of throwing her a surprise party. She loves garden parties.”
“Here?” Waluigi went a little pale. “But... but it's not ready, and I'm sure the castle has plenty of... of nice gardens...”
Mario shook his head. “I've tried surprising her with things at the castle before. She always figures it out. Toads aren't very good at keeping secrets.”
Her hands cupped her elbows and she bit her lip.
“Hey, don't worry.” Mario leaned across the table and patted her shoulder. “Throw some new flowers in the old garden, get a couple more chairs, some decorations. If all three of us work together, how hard could it be?”
“How many people are coming?” She asked nervously.
“Oh, it'll be small. You, me, Luigi, Peach, Daisy, Toadette... I wonder if Rosalina is busy...” Mario frowned, lost in thought. Peach would love to see Rosalina.
Waluigi clenched a fist her lap. “What if they recognize me?” She asked quietly.
“Don't worry. None of them talk to Wario.” Mario drummed his fingers on the table. “Of course none of this would matter if you'd let me go over there and kick some sense into him.”
A ray of sunlight danced in her hair as she shook her head. “I've tried. Believe me, it'll just make him mad.”
Mario shrugged with his eyebrows. “If you say so. Anyway, I won't make you talk to anyone. Just help Luigi with the food and the yard. You'll be fine.”
She fidgeted with the hem of her skirt. “If that's what you want.”
Mario beamed. “You're a big help, Lulu. I really appreciate it.”
She forced a smile and the two returned to their game.
000
The morning sun stretched the shadows on the lawn. A lithe doppelganger and a not-quite-thin human knelt on different sides of the half-planted dirt pit in the center of the yard. Empty plastic pots littered the grass in the immediate vicinity. A vibrant row of potted seedlings waited nearby. Luigi felt the thick aura of silence around his doppelganger, like the surface tension on a drop of water. He ignored it for a while, or at least tried, but he finally had to ask. “You're not so happy with the whole party idea, are you?”
Waluigi stabbed at the dirt with her shovel. “I told him I didn't want anyone to see me like this. He doesn't care.”
Luigi sighed. “I get why you're frustrated. I do. Having three princesses over to this little house with its little yard is stressful for me, too. Rosalina lives in space for crying out loud...” He checked himself and got back to his point. “Mario is a social person. You can't demand that he never invite anyone over.”
“I'm not demanding anything. I'm just... sick of being forced to do things because nothing is mine.” She threw down the shovel and hid behind a curtain of hair. “It's his house. I have to do what he wants. It's always that way.”
Luigi laid his shovel on the ground and sat next to her. “It'll be okay. There's nothing to be scared of. Daisy's a little boisterous, but Peach and Rosalina are so nice.”
“I know it sounds like I'm whining about nothing, but it's hard to explain.” She peaked at him through her chestnut locks. “I have nothing. I thought it couldn't get any worse. And now I don't even have my own identity anymore... I feel so powerless. It sucks.”
Luigi contemplated her. “What if you stop thinking about it as something that Wario did to you and try to own it? Like this dress... You don't have to wear a dress. Unless you want to...”
Waluigi stared at her lap. Her hands pulled at the dingy fabric, smearing it with dirt. “It was always hard to find pants that fit right. In Mushroom Kingdom, anyway.” She bit her lip. “Is that weird?”
“Weird or not doesn't matter. What do you want?” Luigi pushed.
“I... I think I like skirts, but I don't like this weird, short baby doll shit that Wario made me wear...” She scowled as she squeezed the fabric in a muddy fist.
“What would you like?” Luigi asked.
Waluigi frowned. “I told you. I don't want any presents.”
Luigi frowned. “It's an 'if' scenario, Lulu.” He almost asked why everything had to be some kind of trap with her, but he already knew the answer.
“And if I tell you, what are you going to do with the information?” She asked. “You're not that slick, eyeballs. I don't want things I can't pay back. That's it.”
Luigi huffed and stared at the house. He couldn't make her take anything she didn't want, but this was getting ridiculous. How could he dispel the paranoia that Wario had instilled in her? How could he convince her that she deserved more? Then he had an idea. “I'm going to take a break. You can finish here, right?”
Waluigi picked up her shovel and nodded.
Luigi went inside, maneuvering through doors so as not to lay his muddy hands on anything. After a quick clean-up at his bathroom sink and a fresh change of clothes, he sat at his computer, plucked a pen from the cup on his desk, and started searching. As time passed, the pad next to him filled with neatly aligned columns of numbers and equations. At the end of maybe an hour he circled one of the numbers with a decisive stroke of his pen.
He returned to the yard and pulled up a plastic patio chair. “Lulu? Come here a minute?”
She wiped her hands on her frilly skirt as she approached, but she didn't say anything. Luigi gestured for her to sit, so she did. Her eyes followed the pad of paper as Luigi pushed it toward her.
His finger indicated each set of numbers as he spoke. “This is the minimum that a maid in the Mushroom Kingdom can expect to make. This is the cost of renting a home in this area. This is what Mario and I pay in utilities every month. I know we own this house, but I mean, hypothetically... a month of rent plus utilities divided by three.” He pointed. “Over here is how long you've been with us, and how much you would've made in coins. Minus a third of rent and utilities...”
Her eyes were already on the circled number. They'd barely moved as Luigi made his presentation. Now they met his. Amused. “What, no graphs? Maybe a chart or two?”
“I'm not paying you slave wages because you have some hangup about accepting help. You have this,” he tapped the circled number with is pen, “coming to you. You're getting it one way or the other. If you don't tell me what you want, I'll have to guess.”
She shook her head slowly, grinning behind her hands. “ Well look at you, putting your foot down. I can't believe you put so much effort into this.”
The man pouted at her. “I'm serious...”
“I know...” She chewed her lip. “Something long, not too complicated. Blue, not purple... Purple might be a give away... Cheap, though. I need to start saving coins again... Oh, and my arms! I've got scars, so...”
Luigi smiled. “We're going to make this work for you. You'll see.” He started to leave.
“Wait...” She reached for his cuff, but balked at the last second before contact. “Keep the coins safe for me? Wario's taken my stuff before, I don't trust myself carrying it around...”
“You still think he's going to get you somehow?” Luigi asked. It had been nearly a month. Sure, he wasn't as familiar with Wario, but he was sure the troll would've made a move by now. He had seen Wario around town and the fat man largely ignored him. Nothing unusual.
“I just want to be safe,” Waluigi shrugged sheepishly.
“If it will make you feel safe,” Luigi smiled, “how could I say no?”
She blushed and looked away. “Don't get all mushy on me, eyeballs...”
The doppelganger returned to the garden. The human returned to the house. Wario broke her. Luigi would heal her. The process would be slow, but he'd made some progress already and he was determined to follow through.
- 9
- 10
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Fixed versus Broken