"I'm sorry we couldn't make this work last week," Peach said sheepishly as she set a cup of tea in front of Daisy, before sitting down across from her.

"Quite literally not your fault. What does that make, now, the third time this year?" Daisy raised her cup to her lips and blew on the tea, suspicious about its temperature.

"Yes." Peach sighed and rubbed her shoulder. "I understand it would defeat the point, but I do wish he announced the kidnappings so I could set my schedule around it."

Daisy scoffed and put the untouched beverage down again. "That would be the day. Of course, you could just... try and actually escape?"

Peach's eyebrows narrowed while she was still taking her sip, announcing the displeased tone before she had even begun her response. "Do you not think I would if I could? If I had any agency in the matter, naturally I would resist."

"Sure, sure. Must just be a skill issue then." Daisy shrugged, resting an elbow on the little round table, looking distractedly out over the gardens they could view from the balcony.

"A... skill issue," Peach repeated flatly.

"Yeah. I mean, no offence, I don't wanna victim blame or anything, but..." She shrugged with a confident smirk on her face. "If it were me, I would just get outta there."

"Just... get out," Peach repeated in the same reserved tone. "You think it is just that easy?"

"Hey, I'm a strong athlete. I bet I could do it." Daisy grinned as she flexed her arms. What little bit of her tanned skin was visible between the gloves and the sleeves of her dress did show some impressive definition.

"You think you could fight off a dozen enemy troopers actively attempting to restrain you?"

Daisy's confidence faltered somewhat. "Okay, maybe not a dozen. Alright, I'm not saying I can't be kidnapped, but like... I wouldn't wait around for a hero, I'd just get out later. No biggie."

"No... biggie."

"Could you stop that? It almost sounds like you're mad at me."

"Mad? Why, of course not." Peach picked her cup up again and took a slow, reserved sip. "If anything, I'm amazed by your sheer confidence. Since you are so certain, surely you wouldn't mind to try?"

Daisy laughed and leaned back, finally picking up her tea since it had begun to cool. "Sure, go ahead. Tell Bowser to come get me anytime. Maybe that'll give you a break for once!"

Peach chuckled softly. "Oh, if only. But no, I was thinking right now."

"Right now?" Daisy cocked an eyebrow.

"Right now," Peach confirmed with a sweet smile.

Something reeked. Metaphorically, of course, everything in Peach's castle smelled like freshly perfumed, especially her private rooms. Something was off in that smile, but Daisy couldn't put her finger on what and so she figured it just wasn't anything important, discarding the thought with a shrug.

"Sure, why not."

"Wonderful." Peach stood up and wandered off the balcony, back into the bedroom. She looked around, a finger on her chin as she seemed to think about something, glancing over her furniture, her large wardrobe, and the curtains, before nodding to herself. "Would you come stand over here?"

Daisy finished the tea and followed her in, watching her friend as she opened the wardrobe and picked up a few sashes and fabric belts. She shook her head at how seriously she was treating this all of a sudden. But playing around a little bit was more to her liking than tea parties anyway.

"Okay, if we're doing this, I'm just gonna get a little more comfortable," she announced while reaching behind her to open the zipper on her dress, before already pulling her arms out of the sleeves.

"Oh, Daisy, you can't just--" Peach interrupted herself once she had turned around and saw the dress fall off of her. She tilted her head slowly.

"What? I like to be prepared." Daisy tugged at her sports top and her shorts, before stepping out of the pile of dress on the floor and kicking it aside with one of her sneakers, finally also taking off the long gloves. "You never know when a surprise soccer game is gonna break out."

"I don't believe that is a thing," Peach said hesitantly, the colourful sashes in her arms nearly forgotten.

"Well, maybe here it isn't. Happens all the time at home."

Peach shook her head and quickly stepped up to and around her. "Now, I'll need you to play along for a bit. As we established, it is difficult not to end up captured in the first place."

"Yeah, yeah, I know." Daisy considered arguing the point, but proving herself stronger than Peach - while easy - would not prove anything. She held her arms behind her for her friend to start.

Peach hesitated a moment, before taking both of Daisy's arms and making her cross her wrists. She looped one of the sashes around them, both vertically and horizontally, making sure to pull it tight after every loop, before tying it off with a small bow.

Picking the next one from over her shoulder, she looped it around one of Daisy's arms before stopping, her fingers lightly squeezing her bicep.

"Enjoying yourself?" Daisy teased, flexing her biceps just a little bit. Peach quickly caught herself and continued, looping the sash around Daisy's body, then around her other upper arm again, tugging at both ends to pull them against her sides.

She looped around one more time, since she still had some length to work with, before making another neat bow on top of the knot. "There, I think that looks nice."

"I'm pretty sure that's not the point," Daisy noted, causing Peach to lightly slap her shoulder.

"Oh, hush. Before I shut you up." It didn't sound like a threat at all in Peach's sweet tone and Daisy just rolled her eyes, reminding herself to just play along for now.

Peach repeated the same tie again, this time further up, looping the sash around Daisy's arms just below her shoulders, around her chest, and around a second time. As she tugged at the ends and Daisy felt the sash tightening, it pressed down on her modest breasts, the ashes starting to make a snug little cocoon of soft fabrics, like a very tightly tugged blanket.

"I think that's enough. Now, sit down please." She cheerfully took Daisy by the shoulders and walked her over to the bed, pushing her to sit down on it. Hurrying back to the balcony door, she removed the strips of thick fabric holding the curtains and came back with them, gingerly kneeling down on the fluffy carpet in front of her fellow princess.

"You're getting pretty into this."

"I suppose, a little bit. I'm always on the other end, it is kind of fun to think about it from this angle." Peach looped the fabric around Daisy's thighs and then once more between them to cinch the tie, only managing a knot instead of a bow. She then did the same for her lower legs, though with so much fabric to work with, she wound it around multiple times, covering her calves almost entirely before it was tied off.

"There!" She clapped her hands in delight and stood up, happily looking down at her friend. "Go ahead."

Daisy twisted her wrists as far as she could and tried to lift her arms, while simultaneously moving her legs apart from one another. The restraints were soft and comfortable, but held decently well, at least upon first testing. "No big deal, give me a couple minutes and I'm out," she said confidently.

"Alright, then. Take your time." Peach turned on her heels and hummed to herself as she went to retrieve a book from her side table and sat down in the big armchair to the side of the room.

Daisy tried her arms first. With the sashes looped around like they were, she couldn't move them from her sides, but she had some wiggle room moving them front or back, though it was very little. The material was stretchy, and though Peach had tugged it firmly multiple times before tying it off, some of the give was still there.

For a moment, she considered the point of their little challenge. When Peach was taken, Bowser's goons wouldn't use fabric, they used rope, or chains. Maybe using the little stretch in the material was cheating, then.

She tried to free her wrists first, instead. If she could bend her elbows properly, she'd be able to reach the bows on her back. Turning her wrists and feeling around, she could quickly snatch one end of the small bow with her fingers, then the other end. She pulled, but didn't have enough range to open it up completely.

She worked herself along the ends with her fingers, her tongue between her lips in concentration. Eventually, it was enough to pull open the bow, but another twist with her wrists revealed that the tie didn't actually hinge on it, but the knot below.

Okay, maybe she should give her fingers a rest and try something else. She could actually see the way her legs were tied, after all. She raised them in front of her to inspect the knots. The one on her thighs wasn't really doable right now, but the way Peach had wound the thick fabric around her shins gave her an idea.

She pressed her legs together as tightly as she could, pushing her heels together, and stood up carefully. She hopped in place, taking care to not lose balance on her landing. Sure enough, the fabric slipped a little bit, bunching up more and losing tension. She repeated the hop twice more before sitting back down and shaking her legs with a little bit of wiggling.

The fabric slipped off and she could kick it off of her feet. Daisy looked up triumphantly at Peach, who was looking over the edge of her book, before casting her eyes down again.

"At this rate, maybe you'd like to have some lessons?"

"I suppose we will see about that."

Daisy looked back down at her legs. Though she could move them apart now, her thighs were still firmly tied and she didn't have an angle right now to change that. Back to her hands, then.

She felt around for the ends of the sash and followed them to try and find the knot, but her wrists didn't bend all the way with the thick fabric wrapped around them and so she could only barely feel it at her fingertips.

Sitting up was starting to feel a little uncomfortable, too, so she started to shift, carefully looking for a way to drop onto her side and lift her legs up.

"No shoes on the bed, please."

Daisy scoffed quietly and managed to nudge her heel out of one sneaker, then out of the other, kicking them off next to the fabric. She dropped down and moved her legs up, nudging herself backwards a little to not risk rolling off onto her face.

Peach's covers were annoyingly slippery, so it took a little wiggling and soft grunting, but finally she could lie on her chest for a little more comfort. She sighed into the pillow her face had come to rest on and felt around for the knot again.

Picking it open was slow and annoying and a strain on her fingers. She tensed up whenever she was close, her biceps flexing against the snug fabric. While the restraints weren't uncomfortable, she was starting to feel them more, feeling more restricted rather than just snugly held. She kicked her legs in frustration whenever her nails slipped off the knot, the only wide movement she could really make.

"How are you doing?" Peach asked sweetly as she came over again with her book, bending down and tilting her head to look at Daisy's red face.

"Just fine," Daisy grunted quietly, staring in her friend's direction but mostly focusing on chipping away at the tight little knot. It was looser already, but still held firm.

Peach wandered over to her wardrobe again, but Daisy didn't pay much attention. She raised her head to turn it again, getting uncomfortable lying on the pillow the same way the whole time. She wasn't even sure how long she'd been trying in this position.

"Do you feel like surrendering?" Peach asked from the other side of the room.

"As if! I almost have my hands free, then the rest is easy!" She peeled one more time and finally managed to push a fingertip in-between the fabric and pulling the knot open most of the way. She tugged at her wrists and noticed the second layer pulling open a little on its own.

Under more soft grunting, she wiggled her arms to move her wrists and shake off the partially undone sash, finally feeling it slip off. "Yes!" she cheered and stretched her arms, at least partially.

"Oh, good job," Peach said from next to her, before her wrists were seized again, her arms bent, more than before, twisted until her hands almost touched her shoulder blades.

"Ow, ouch, hey!" Daisy tried to twist herself free, which would have been easy without her arms being still pinned. Peach quickly opened one of the bows on her back and looped the ends over Daisy's wrists to quickly tie them again. "Hey, hey, that's not fair!"

"You know, when I am a prisoner, I am never left alone for long. There is always someone watching me to make sure I don't get away." While she explained patiently, she wound another slim strip around Daisy's wrists and pulled it tight, then looped it around between them to cinch it tightly. "And of course somebody would notice if you're making progress."

"Okay, I see your point, but ow!"

"Do you still think it would be easy?" Peach asked sternly. The tone gave Daisy pause and she shifted to look back at her. "A... skill issue, was it?"

"You're not... actually mad, right?" Daisy asked carefully. Peach was bending over her again and she couldn't see her expression right now.

"Oh, of course not." Peach folded Daisy's fingers down into a fist and wrapped a thin, silky shawl around it, then did the same on her other hands, twisting and tugging to make a little pocket around both hands, preventing her from opening them. Then came another strip, tied over her wrists a third time. "I just think you should realise it is not that easy."

Daisy chuckled nervously and tried to twist her wrists or extend her fingers, turn her arms, anything, but the new tie held firm, additionally leaving her arms in an uncomfortably bent position as well. "You know I was mostly just teasing, right?"

"Of course I do. We have been friends for so long, I know exactly how you meant it." Peach slipped something sturdy around Daisy's ankle, then the other, then around both. It creaked as she pulled it tight. With a short but forceful tug, Daisy's toes lightly brushed against the wood on the end of the bed, where Peach tied the material off, forcing her to keep her legs outstretched.

"Okay, I get it, you win, I wouldn't escape either. You've made your point," Daisy said quickly, starting to feel all her progress reset and replayed by a much more difficult challenge.

"Oh? I thought you could... just get out?" Peach's tone was still stern and even, like a teacher lecturing her student over improper behaviour. "I thought it was... no biggie?"

"Okay, okay, I take it back! I was wrong, okay?"

Peach crouched down next to the bed, getting on eye level with her friend. The stern tone was gone again, replaced by a subtle pout. "So you are giving up after all?"

Daisy tested the restraints again. There was still some give to everything Peach had used, except for whatever she had wrapped around her ankles - probably leather. She flexed and twisted her arms, feeling the multiple strips of fabric hold firm against her wrists.

She definitely was not going to wiggle out on her own. Not without help, or a tool, or some new idea. Daisy's heart was pounding firmly, her muscles ached a little bit, but her chest tingled. She smirked as she looked at Peach again. "No way."

"Good. Then say 'ah'." Peach held up two of her handkerchiefs, folded up together to make thick wadding.

"Uh, no."

"I was not asking," she sweetly sing-songed, her fingers dancing along Daisy's side, where her top had ridden up from all her wiggling. Even at the slight touch, Daisy immediately clamped her jaws shut and took a sharp breath through her nose.

"Come on, be a good girl," Peach sang in amusement, starting to dig her fingers into the tan skin with quick movements. Daisy fought with the impulse, her face getting red and her eyes tearing up between quick breaths.

She thrashed in her bonds, the leather harshly tugging back when she tried to kick her legs, and finally she couldn't hold it anymore, bursting out laughing. Peach let her get some of it out, before seeing her chance and stuffing the handkerchiefs into her mouth, pushing a little to get all of it in. Quickly, she got another thin shawl and wrapped it around Daisy's head twice, carefully pulling it tighter before tying it off.

Daisy recovered from the attack slowly, with first short, then ever longer and slower breaths through her nose, while Peach pulled her hair from the gag.

"There you go. I will be right here, so just let me know when you are ready to give up." Peach gently pet Daisy's head, accepting the meek murmur as a confirmation.

Daisy listened for Peach's steps. She was going back around, to the other side of the bed. Her heels were set neatly on the floor and the weight shifted as the other princess laid down next to her. There was a rustling of pages as she opened her book again.

She took another steadying breath and flexed one more time, feeling every piece of restraints press into her gently.

She was not one to run from a challenge.