The two walk through a brightly-lit hall full of windows on their way toward the kitchen. On the right side are expensive vases lined up against the newly painted, light purple wall. Melody's attention is caught by the smell of the paint but glancing back at August who only seems to be looking out the windows, she decides not to comment on the fairly recent changes in decor. Taking a left, they find themselves in front of a large set of doors. They've officially made it to the kitchen, so they open them and step through.
In the room are two signs of life: One being an adult male washing dishes and the other being that man's twin sister blowing bubbles sitting in the corner of the room.
"Good afternoon, Pike. Good afternoon, Trout." said Melody nodding in both of their directions. Pike rinses his hands off, turns off the faucet, and dries them with a nearby hand towel. Trout gets up and puts down her bubble blower on an empty counter while holding her other hand up waving slightly as her greeting.
"Is there something you two need? Was the tea not to your liking or are you on a field trip around the premises? You only come here around a holiday and August doesn't show up at all." asks Pike.
"Nothing of the sort. I've brought him with me because I'm in need of a favor from the two of you. Is that okay?"
"How can we h-help you?" Pike stutters after looking at August a little closer up. Despite having seen August a half hour earlier to deliver him tea, Pike completely wiped August's outfit change from his memory. Due to the nature of August's behavior, the whole idea of him wearing something cutesy doesn't exactly fit everyone's perception of him in the slightest.
Trying to avert their attention, August tries to position himself behind Melody and avoids eye contact. However doing so only brought upon the opposite effect. Trout, for one, starts to move left and right forcing August to reposition himself constantly to get out of her line of sight.
"There isn't a reason to act so embarrassed. This isn't the first time I've seen you in a dress, August. Y'all kind of look like sisters when you stand behind her like that. There's a strong resemblance I must say."
"That's not what this is. You're a fool if you think me to be so sensitive." explained August to Pike.
"He won't admit it, but he's embarrassed because I'm holding his hand." says Melody jokingly.
"I just said I'm not embarrassed! Let go of me already!"
Ignoring August, Melody asks while holding out her other hand, "You don't mind, taking care of this for me, do you?"
"Just hand it to me."
Melody puts her tray into his hands and then with her other hand she pulls August out in front of her grabbing both of his shoulders and lifting him slightly off the floor, like some sort of toy.
"I ask that you two give this child training in the kitchen. Make him mop the floors, clean the windows, set the table. Anything is fine other than cooking itself. If anyone asks, tell them that he said he's been starting to wear panties on outdoor excursions and even to school."
"When did I--"
Pike, thrown for a loop, stumbles barely catching one of the cups as it slips off the tray. A light awakens in Trout's eyes and joy meets her with a devilish grin. "This cute boy's got his work cut out for him." she says
"I have no qualms with this idea either. If it's discipline you're after, No better place than a kitchen to start with. Trout can get a little hard to handle when she's so blatantly screaming, 'I have ulterior motives!' but, the end results justifies the means. The twins act with a fervor befitting that of an auditioner who just got the lead role in a play. They both seemed incredibly pumped up for some reason. A sharp contrast to Trout blowing bubbles in the corner a moment earlier.
"I don't think this is safe, Melody. I'm not cut out for housework. It's against my genetics, I say."
Melody watches August's reactions closely henceforth with a look that couldn't be described any other way than cartoonishly evil.
"You think that statement holds any weight to me of all people? Guess I'll be having to check you on your general education moving forward."
Melody pushes a frightened August into Trout and a moment later the door slams with a thud leaving no time for a parting farewell.
On the way to meeting up with August's parents, she stops by the library for a brief moment. Pointy is seen seated at a desk with a stack of books on etiquette and dancing. She has her face pressed against the table and is obviously asleep. After adding a book to the shelf, Melody approaches and lifts her head off the table beginning to shake her awake.
"If you're going to take a nap, at least go to your bed. You can't work and by extension, can't feed yourself if you catch a cold."
"I'm still half asleep aren't I? You're not a handsome prince with a thing for maids are you?"
"Yeah you're still sleeping. August is in the kitchen with the twins so you can go ahead and deliver those books to his room and go to sleep, if that's what you wish."
Finally aware of who she's speaking to, Pointy gets her act together. "Sorry to inconvenience you, Ma'am."
"You could probably sell that face of yours for profit. You're quite the looker when you're asleep."
"I'm flattered but is that not a weird thing to say?"
"No. You're prince doesn't seem to find a problem with it at the very least."
"..."
Pointy chuckles and with a wink, Melody is out the door once more.
On her way to find her aunt and uncle, she begins to reminisce on how her dad's sister would always dote on her. She thought to herself, "When I was younger, she used to always dress me up in all sorts of attire. She's probably the only other person I feel like smiling for. Sadly, there eventually came a day where I noticed that there was a problem. Aunt, Charmante had developed a complex for cute things. I didn't know at the time but my Uncle told me what may have caused it.
"I believe that my grandmother and her don't have the best relationship as of now but, back then they were really close. Aunt, Charmante was especially clumsy and often found herself getting and losing boyfriend's rather quickly. She wasn't very demanding, but no one was able to feel comfortable around her because she was always cheerful and didn't know what a state of calm was for her. Her emotions were quite rampant and rampaging in her teens so after a few years of trying to slow herself down and avoiding relationships in general, she decided to give it another shot and found herself with Uncle, Espresso. At the time, there were plenty of rumors of how mentally unstable Charmante was because of her reputation and probably due to jealousy as well of her good looks. For many other factors, like maintaining his own image, Uncle made a dire mistake in breaking up with her because of it.
"Charmante, distraught and confused, started to wonder what was wrong with her. Unfortunately when she came home to talk to her mother about it, her response was, 'I blame myself. If only you were a little cuter.' Grandma was probably exhausted or annoyed with her at the time but ever since then, Charmante became obsessed with wearing cute things as a means to compensate. The next time her and my uncle met, she happened to be wearing all sorts of jewelry and accessories so when he apologized and tried to amend their broken relationship, she took it as a sign that in order to get what you want in this world, you'd have to be cute.
"When I was ten and still inexperienced with talking to adults, I asked her to stop dressing August up in dresses. At the time, I was probably just being overprotective because I didn't want him to get bullied, but I ignored my gut feeling. My entire body was against talking to her about it. I was unmistakably nervous even though we were so close but I pushed past my fears and spoke my mind. The way she responded still makes me wonder if it was me she was talking to, or somebody else. With no hint of doubt, she muttered, "Understanding or sympathy cannot be achieved without cuteness. August will understand when he's older but for now, he must train his eyes and learn how to dress through experience. My baby is special. He is worth it."