With Friends Like These...

"Grovy." Yugo said as he addressed the older Iop Warrior, who was busy engaging Rubilex in a staring contest. Consternation crossed his face, but in the end Sadlygrove took his attention away from the demonic blade and endured its churlish laughter so as to face his young Eliatrope friend. "Could you do me a favor, and tell Amalia to stop leaving her dirty dishes just lying around the campsite?"

"Eh?" Sadlygrove looked around and saw that neither Amalia nor Evangelyne were around. For that matter, Ruel Stroud wasn't either, but he already knew that; the old skinflint was in his haversac again, making sure each and every last Kamas was in its proper place. Even the God Enutrof would have marveled at such miserliness. He then looked back to Yugo, and saw the plates he held in his hand at his side. "Why don't you just tell her yourself?"

"I did, but she wouldn't listen to me." Sadlygrove then saw an expression of frustration that didn't usually find its way to Yugo's face. "Oh sure, when I want to make a game of something or go look around whatever village we've come across thanks to Gruffon's directions, she's all ears. But if I ask her to do her share, she runs off with Evangelyne and makes up excuses."

Sadlygrove raised an eyebrow. "Well, she is a princess you know; they're not usually expected to take care of that sort of thing."

"Yes, but she ran away from the palace and agreed to help me reach Oma Island so I could find my real family, and that's way bigger than anything else I could ask her to do; I just don't get why she's so irresponsible and immature about the little things." Yugo then noticed a rather odd look on Sadlygrove's face, not unlike the one whenever he made one of his hopeless advances on Evangylene. "Grovy?"

"Yugo, Yugo, Yugo." Sadlygrove placed a hand on Yugo's shoulder. "I guess I must have rubbed off on you without realizing it. Fear not though, I shall teach you everything I know about sweeping princesses off their feet and Amalia will be yours in no time. Well, after Evangelyne is mine that is." Sadlygrove smiled eagerly down at Yugo.

Yugo frowned with a frump of seriousness as he casually lifted Sadlygrove's hand from his shoulder. "I think I'll go find Evangylene and ask for her help." He then created a pair of portals and hopped out of sight, leaving Sadlygrove completely unfazed.

"Ah, kids, what are you gonna do?" He then turned back to Rubilex. "Okay, no interruptions."

"Honestly Evangylyne, one of the nice things about getting away from the palace was getting away from all the people who keep telling me to do this and that and the other thing, and then Yugo goes and tries to bring it all back." The Sadida princess and her Cra bodyguard had found a nice pond in which they could rest their feet after the extended walk away from the campsite that Amalia had insisted upon.

"Amalia, you don't mind when I ask you to pick up after yourself." Evangelyne said as she idly examined her bow, making whatever adjustments were necessary to keep its power in working order.

"That is because you are my bodyguard, the older sister I never had. Yugo, reliable and brave and honest though he may be, is in no position to tell me what to do about anything. Besides, don't I already do a lot around here to help us get to Oma Island so he can meet his real family?" Amalia watched her doll growl and pout next to her, opposite from Evangelyne's side.

"Yes, you've been a big help..." And then Evangelyne was cut off.

"Exactly. So he should stop being so overbearing, and start acting his age for a change; it's not right for someone like him to try and act so responsibly all the time." Amalia said with a final harrumph.

"Yeah, it'd be much easier for you to think of him as just a kid if he were to act the part more often." Evangelyne laughed when Amalia quickly stood up, her doll copying her wide-eyed expression. "Don't worry, I don't mind; now, if he were to start slobbering over you the way Grovy does over me, then we'd have a problem."

"I...you...ughh!" Amalia stormed off back to the campsite, just missing Yugo as he found Evangelyne.

"Ah, there you are Evangelyne." Yugo said as he stood ankle deep in the pond and caught his breath. Then, he walked out of the pond and kicked his feet into the air to dry them off. "I need your help with Amalia."

"Really?" Evangelyne could not help the amused expression on her face. "You should have gotten here sooner, Amalia just took off back for the campsite."

In equal measure, Yugo could do nothing to stop the frown on his face. "No, I came to you because I can't to talk to her about this directly, she doesn't listen to me when it comes to chores and stuff like that."

"Is that all?" Truth be told, Evangelyne had been teasing when she'd suggested Amalia had feelings for the Eliatrope boy, but now..."What about Grovy? I'm sure that lop-head would have been eager to help you out."

"I did go to him first, and he went on and on about how he'd teach me how to sweep her off her feat; I don't think he's noticed that he hasn't had much luck with you."

"And he won't if he keeps that attitude up." Evangelyne muttered to herself; honestly, even when he did live up to his boasting, he still found a way to ruin the effect. "But in all seriousness Yugo, with Amalia you've just got to deal with her directly; asking other people to talk to her for you just won't work. Have you thought about rephrasing the way you ask her to help around the camp?"

"What do you mean?" Yugo sat down, honestly curious. "I already say 'please' just like my dad Alibert taught me."

"Right, but you need to think about the way you say it; I don't know if you've noticed it, but sometimes you can be a bit bossy. And yes, I know what it feels like to be the only one with their head on straight sometimes, but with Amalia you've got to be more...playful. It shouldn't be that hard, you're like that all the time with her already."

"You think so?" Yugo stood up. "I suppose there's only one way to find out." He then opened a pair of portals, and hopped on out of sight.

"I suppose I should start making my way back to camp too." Evangelyne said with a sigh. "Cra, how much more drama can this group take?"

"Grovy, what happened to you?" Yugo addressed the lop warrior as he hung upside down from a giant thorny vine with several bruises on his face.

"I don't know; Amalia came back and started going on about how crazy Evangelyne was for even suggesting that she had feelings for you, so I told her she could prove it by giving you a kiss, and then she attacked me from out of nowhere."

Yugo then resolved to forget this whole night had ever happened, aside from Evangelyne's advice of course.