Finally got this fic done...

[mrsluigivargas]

A Quiet Lull in Snif City
“It’s a shame that there’s no moon to join that lovely reflection,” Professor Toad softly said.

Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationship: Mario & Professor Toad
Characters: Mario, Professor Toad
Additional Tags: Yellow Streamer Spoilers, Implied/Referenced Character Death
Words: 732 (Complete)

~~~

Leaving the cacophony of the pool party behind, Professor Toad stepped out into the cool, dry desert air outside of the hotel. As he descended the stairs, he peered through the neon lights on the lookout for- oh there it is! Peeking behind some palm trees was a familiar spot of red; the Professor rounded the corner to find Mario sitting slumped on the bench by the lakeside. The plumber seemed to be too busy staring at the water’s surface to notice his approach.

“It’s a shame that there’s no moon to join that lovely reflection,” Professor Toad softly said, poking his head into Mario’s field of view.

Startled, Mario broke out of his daze, glancing toward Professor Toad. He slowly nodded his head in agreement.

“Would you mind terribly if I joined you?” the Professor asked, already making his way to the unoccupied side of the bench. Mario shifted over to make space as the Professor hopped up next to him.

“Couldn't sleep, could you?” he asked, idly kicking his feet. “I didn't see you in the suite earlier.”

Mario shrugged, then paused, looking at the Professor in alarm. He didn’t wake the Professor up when he stepped out, did he?

“Oh no no no, don't worry!” Professor Toad put a hand on Mario’s shoulder. “You didn't wake me! Over the course of my research, I’ve found that I’ve become a bit more of a lighter sleeper. Gives me quite a bit of trouble with the noise of this city!” He laughed, breaking off into a yawn. Mario frowned, unconvinced.

The two of them spent a few moments quietly watching the flashing lights reflected on the surface of the water, the faint music serving as a backdrop for their tired thoughts. Eventually, Professor Toad cleared his throat. “If I may...” he began, hesitant. “I was...speaking with Olivia earlier...about what had happened on your way to the desert...”

Mario glanced over in surprise.

“I don't know if it’s my place but...I would like to express my condolences,” Professor Toad continued, shifting where he sat. “That sort of thing is tough to deal with. She's...a strong girl for staying so cheerful...”

“But what about you?” The Professor turned to face Mario after a moment of heavy silence. “I hope that you’re doing alright.” Because even after his many adventures, the loss of a companion would surely still affect Mario greatly. But Mario simply shot a tired smile and a thumbs up at the Professor, as if everything was fine. If not for the troubled look in his eyes, the Professor would have probably believed him.

"...I see...well, there's nothing to do but press on, I suppose, at times like these...I’m simply glad that I’m able to help the two of you, though I’m not much of an adventurer myself. I swear that I won’t slow you down regardless,” the Professor proclaimed, missing Mario’s flinch, “So you don't have to stick so close all the time! Although it is a bit of a comfort. Er, it's...best to save all the worrying for Olivia, I’m sure. That girl is quite lively, hoho! Reminds me of me, back in the day...”

As the Professor slipped into a long-winded story about one of the more (in his opinion) exciting digs of his professorial career, he was pleased to see the negative aura surrounding Mario start to dissipate in the face of growing amusement. (Although he hoped that amusement wasn't entirely at his own expense...was he that bad at telling stories now?) “So you see,” Prof finished with a tired laugh, “I happen to be more than just a digger and translator, you know!” He posed with a flourish.

Mario smiled sheepishly, as if to apologize for carting him around everywhere just for those very things.

But the Professor shook his head. "Oh no, none of that! This is the most excitement I've had in years! So many archeological breakthroughs!" he exclaimed, eyes shining. "But for now, we should really get some rest. This city may never sleep, but we'll need to if we want to make good progress!" He hopped off the bench and grinned up at Mario. "Shall we?"

Mario couldn't help but return Professor Toad’s enthusiasm with a tiny smile. Getting on his feet, he let the other man lead him back into the royal hotel.

~~~

Ok so this draft has existed for a few months now and at some point i was like ‘heck it, I need to get this off my plate before classes start up again’ so I stopped fussing about the editing so much! So there’s probably a spot or two near the end that are like “?????” but I’m tired of looking at this fic so. Here it is!

I’m really attached to Mario Not Speaking in fics, because he’s mute in the games, but it turns out that it's hard to write a conversation like that! Especially when the other person is someone whose voice I don't have 100% on lock. This is barely even a conversation, now that I’m thinking about it. It’s just Professor Toad tiredly rambling while Mario watches him all tired and a bit sad. (Should I have put more emphasis on how tired they all were? ...Nah.) The other fic I wrote was easier because the convo was more two-sided, and I could get into both Mario and Kamek’s heads when I wanted to. Here it’s just the Professor, who, again, I don't know very well. I think I did okay, though?

Also titling the fic was really annoying. The summary was easy, because picking out a good out-of-context quote from the fic is pretty simple, but the title? I had no idea. It was in my drafts as “Mario & Professor Toad” because...that’s who’s in the fic, and then I had the idea of titling it “A Short Rest in Snif City”, because it mirrors the title of other fic I wrote, “A Short Rest in Shangri-Spa”. But then I was like “maybe I can make the title a song lyric!” so I went looking and found one:

and though it's just a tiny thing, though really it's not anything, there is still something someone like me can do
(From Happy Synthesizer)

This would work great...except that I wanted to crosspost it to Fanfiction.net (I know, I know...) and they have a title character limit of 50. So this wouldn't work after all! Neat!!! So then I went back to the “Short Rest” idea, but I swapped out the words because these kids weren’t really resting now were they? It took about half-an-hour of synonym googling before I settled on “Quiet Lull”. Which is like. Fine, i guess. Again, I just want this fic out of my WIP folder so at this point I’ll take anything that sort of works.

Anyway I’ve been negative a bunch, which is lame, so here’s two positive things: I really like how this fic ends, and I like the part where Professor Toad gets on the bench. The former is good because I just really like the imagery and it's cute. The latter is good because I read somewhere about how the Toads on Origami King have a collective characterization of “lovable idiots who don't really think about the consequences of their actions very frequently if at all” and having Professor Toad ask if he can sit down as he’s already sitting down is a fun way of briefly demonstrating that.

(Also “This city may never sleep, but we'll need to” is a Very Good Quote my brain gave me)