Fantasy Susan Takes Charge by TMaskedWriter

[Ramesh_Rocky]

Oh, there are other members of La Familia de San Finzione, but Maria was the last of the royal line before the twins were born. Because Helen refuses to remarry unless she can somehow marry Troy, (Most of Helen's rules have an "except for Troy" clause.) they're still Vincenzo's heirs, bear the San Finzione name, and go into the line of succession after Maria. This is good for everyone, because from what Helen told me, if she hadn't happened to have the power to control minds to keep them in check after he died, the country would have been torn apart by La Familia's petty political schemes and power plays.

They're the kind of people that you hear so many bad things about that you can't possibly believe them all, then you meet them and find out they hadn't even scratched the surface. Someone cruel, who didn't know that Helen was seriously trying to make amends for the things she's done in her past, might say she fits right in. To Maria, though, they're still her family. Maria is a dear friend as well. She's as much of a warm, genuine, friendly person as she appears on TV. That makes her a great friend, but all La Familia see is a target or potential pawn. She's not entirely; I mean, she's had The Count and Helen's guidance her whole life. She even filled in as Contessa-in-Reggenza last year after Helen was attacked, and then a couple times during her pregnancy. (They put a Transfer of Power ceremony together for The People the first time it happened. Now, it's more like when wrestlers tag in and out of the ring.) But Maria's someone who needs to be protected from her own family, and Helen knows all about that. The Parker family wasn't a particularly nice one, either.

That's why, when Suzy-Q came back from her last visit to Helen's mind having promised that I'd look after Maria until she did whatever she needed to get through this, I was stuck. I don't have control over Suzy-Q, however, she's a part of me. She'd make the same choices that I would in any given situation, so if she makes a promise, that means I'm bound to keep it. I figured I owed her that for Suzy-Q not warning Helen that Troy and Julie were in Paris looking for her. I mean yeah, she doesn't want to be found, but I want her to come home safe, too.

Maria's no child, though, despite her media nickname of "Little Maria." She was one of those TV Princesses growing up, when they gave her the name. Now that she's 23, taller than some men I know, and always scores second only to Helen herself in "Most Bangable Royal Babes" online polls, (And that's mostly because nude pictures and videos of Helen are out there to be found online, because she's put them out there to deflect the media away from things before.) the name is used mainly by La Familia, internet creeps who had countdown clocks on their websites for the moment she turned eighteen, or people using it ironically. It's been a bit hectic at the castle, having Maria secretly in charge while Rita plays Helen for the cameras. With the news that Troy talked Helen into coming back, things have relaxed, and I got to have an evening out last night with Colleen Sullivan, a friend we met through Helen on my first trip here.

Evenings out in San Finzione are too damn fun. By design. The country acquired a tech sector and a film industry within the past year, due to some events that we played a role in; however, their primary post-World War II industry has been tourism, because San Finzione's unique geographical position gives them year-round beach weather. A close second is the wine industry because year-round beach weather also means year-round wine season. If you ever go to a market in San Finzione and they tell you they're out of gbangs, they REALLY don't like you, because they have plenty and it's a very friendly country by force of economic need, so you must be a real dick.

This means that if you go to the right places, which Colleen knows now that she's a local, the drinks range from free to "we'll pay you pretty ladies to stay and drink and dance longer." We decided not to take the emerald-green iPads that would have identified us as "Special Friends of La Contessa" and gotten us the red-carpet treatment everywhere. The evening out became a blur that ended up a Colleen's Place-colored blur, that became a roughly naked Colleen-shaped blur that became darkness, and then a pounding in my head. Once the darkness was replaced by too much light, I realized that the pounding wasn't in my head, but on Colleen's front door.

Carefully trying to keep any more light than absolutely needed from entering my eyes, I looked over at the naked top half of Colleen snoring next to me. Her bottom half was enclosed in some kind of mermaid's tail costume that I don't recall her getting into at any point. I registered that I wasn't wearing anything as the pounding on the door made plain that it had no plan to stop on its own any time soon.

I whacked Colleen with a stuffed leprechaun I found amongst the pillows. That got me a muttered "feck off," and I worked the math of my being able to wake her up to answer her door, her being able to either get out of the mermaid tail or get to the door in it and realized that the problem was now mine. I found my panties and nothing else. Holding the leprechaun to cover my breasts, I found my way to my feet and started navigating out of her bedroom and to the front door.