Chapter 2

Oatmeal Raisin

“If it’s any consolation, we knew you weren’t doing it on purpose,” said Gluttony. She looked around her den, where the other queens has gathered. She had insisted on meeting up here at her own castle, since it was the closest and since Envy had clearly just made an enemy of everyone. This seemed like the best place that Gluttony would be able to mediate that.

Most of the queens preferred a throne room in a fortress, but Gluttony had never felt more at home than she did in her den at her palace. Who needed a throne when you had a 2-story sectional and a giant tv? Even these days she was still finding new positions to cuddle up in the thing. String lights hung down from the ceiling, and the walls across from the doors were covered in shelves full of beanie babies and plushies. Every queen had their regalia, but all gluttony had ever needed was a comfy pair of pajama pants and a tank top when she was at home.

Lust sat on a chaise that extended out from one end of the sectional. Gluttony’s servants were building a pillow fort around her. She had already sent some servants to get milk and cookies for everyone.

“But why didn’t any of you say anything?” Lust muttered. Gluttony glanced over at Hope. She wasn’t sitting at the couch, but was instead cross legged on a pillow across a kotatsu. She was glaring down into her tea cup.

“It can be difficult to get what we need when the other queens are involved,” Gluttony said carefully, “I don’t really have much of an army. I can’t stand up to Hate like you do. She would tear this place to pieces if I ever gave her a direct reason. We could all see that you were a lot stronger than the rest of us. You’ve stood up to Hate and Sloth, sometimes at the same time. That’s not really something that the rest of us could have done on our own.”

“Where’s Envy?” asked Hope suddenly.

“She’ll join us when she’s ready,” said Gluttony, “it was a bit of a difficult summit for everyone, she probably just needs a minute.”

“It was a difficult summit because of her,” said Hope. She reached up to the rose in her hair and tore a handful of petals from it. She threw them over her shoulder before Gluttony could protest, and each one sprouted into a skeleton, held together with rose vines, and armed with a rapier on it’s hip. Gluttony felt a slight panic flutter in her stomach at the sight of Hope’s Flower Girls.

The skeletons knelt to Hope’s back.

“You summoned us, my queen?” asked the skeleton at the head of the group, who had a big rose blooming out of her left eye socket.

“Find Envy,” Hope ordered, “bring her here.”

“Hey!” Gluttony said, she really wished it didn’t sound so much like a plea, “no violence! Please!”

The skeletons marched out of the room, giving no indication that they had heard her. Gluttony glanced at Lust, who was now peeking out of a complete pillow fort. Lust met her eyes and seemed to understand,. Thought she still looked pretty miserable.

“Calm down, Hope,” Lust said, “it’s not Envy’s fault.”

“She’s the one who decided to drag you in front of the entire summit,” protested Hope, “she could have come to you at any point in private if she had such a problem with it. She could have picked any of her own fights! She’s such a coward, and now she’s making it everyone else’s problem.”

“She’s not a coward, she just isn’t good with confrontation,” asserted Gluttony. Hope barely knew Envy, she had no right to make such a judgement.

“Am I confrontational…?” Lust asked sadly.

“You’re just a very intimidating presence,” Gluttony said, pivoting to Lust, “it’s why we’ve all relied on you for so long.”

The door burst open, and the Hopes Flower Girls dragged Envy in. The poor girl was in tears, her skin was covered in scratches form the thorns that covered the Flower Girls’ vines. Hope stood up.

“About time you joined us,” she growled.

“Hope, I said no fighting!” Gluttony said

“She was at the piers,” reported the rose-eyed captain of the Flower Girls.

“Waiting for a ship?” Hope’s eyes narrowed, “you kick the beehive and then just flee off into the night, huh? Weren’t you the one who was-”

“HEY!” Gluttony couldn’t take it anymore. Her voice thundered through the room, and the lights flickered from warm gold to red. The string lights on the ceiling suddenly snapped down and seized Hope, yanking her into the air. At the same time, the plushies and beanie babies launched off the shelves, growing spidery legs and insect-like stingers. They surrounded the Flower Girls, who immediately drew their swords.

“I said no violence!” Gluttony yelled. Hope stared down at her, a number of emotions flickering across the queen’s face. Rage, indignation, surprise, and shock.

It was a bluff, of course, Gluttony knew her Nightmares couldn’t beat Hope’s Flower Girls. She may have had the numbers, but the Flower Girls had fought Haters alongside Lust’s Angels for years, and Gluttony’s warriors simply couldn’t match that level of experience. If they got into it now, it would be a long battle, and a bloody battle, but a certain one.

“Hope,” said Lust, standing up, and knocking down the pillow fort she had been incased in, “seriously. Give it a rest.”

Hope started to protest, but she met Lust’s eyes and her words died in her throat.

“Stand down,” she muttered, and the Flower Girls reluctantly sheathed their weapons, eyeing the plush-incased insects that surrounded them. Gluttony waved her hand, and the string lights gently set Hope down.

“Thank you, your dismissed,” Hope mumbled. The Flower Girls saluted, and vanished in a cloud of rose petals. The plushies crawled back to the shelves, stingers and spider legs retracting into the soft dolls.

Envy sat on her knees looking around at everyone.

“E-excuse me,” said a voice that made everyone jump, and Gluttony realized that behind Envy was a pair of servants with trays of cookies and a pitcher of milk.

“Oh, thank you so much, dears,” said Gluttony, “right here, on the kotatsu, please. Would anyone like some snacks?”

Lust scooted closer to the table. Envy and Hope exchanged glances.

“I’ve got chocolate chip, oreos, gingerbread, all kinds,” Gluttony sang, picking up an oreo. Hope eyed the platter hungrily.

“…and oatmeal raisin?” chuckled Lust, “wow, a lot of oatmeal raisin.”

“All types,” Gluttony said, but from the corner of her eye she saw Envy break into a broad smile.