Askmsgoombella

*AskMsGoombella* *is another blog run by the artist hollarity. It runs adjunct to the askthegoomba blog and as such the two have a lot of overlapping material. Although the main focus of the blog is the character Goombella other characters and material from the Paper Mario Games do appear frequently. Additionally, the blog takes place 6 years after the events of Paper Mario: the Thousand Year Door, so Goombella and crew have full memory of the events that transpired.*

## Goombella

*Goombella is a canon character from the video game Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door. For more information on her canon game appearances see here.*

The Goombella on askmsgoombella is a 4th year grad student currently undergoing her final year at the University of Goom Heights (UGH for short). She is a well read individual with a passion for archaeology and mythology- particularly the myths that pertain to star lore. Although she can come across as high maintenance, she is more than willing to do what it takes to investigate mysteries and to help others in need.

Talented with the Tattle ability, Bella is a bit of a gossip and has a hard time biting her tongue. She does little to curb her sass and she is very honest with how she feels about people. If she likes you, she likes you. If she hates you, well, expect a scathing retort in essay format on your desk in the near future.

## Appearance

Goombella is an attractive 25 year old woman with green eyes, a tanned rosy complexion, and long blonde hair that is usually tied back in some manner. When she was little her father used to tie her hair up and braid it, and as such Bella only lets people she truly trusts touch her hair. Anyone else who attempts to touch it is usually dealt with a swift head bonk.

Clothing wise, Bella's most frequently recurring outfit is her light green pith helmet with a matching collared tank top and rolled up sleeves. She often pairs the top with khaki shorts, brown boots (ankle high or knee high depending) and a red tie or scarf. Additional accessories include her brown leather gloves and the holster on her right thigh that she keeps her tattle log in. She also occasionally wears light turquoise thigh high socks with her boots.

## Family Life/Upbringing

In this iteration of the character, Goombella is the daughter of a Goomba and a Toadstool. The family is well to do and lives near Peach's Castle (Goombella herself currently lives in an Apartment near campus in Poshley Heights).

Her mother, Goomarissa is an ambitious goodwill ambassador who is one of the only Goombas on staff in the Mushroom Kingdom castle. She has worked to improve goomba/ toadstool relationships for the past 27 years and is a dedicated force to be reckoned with. Bella's father, Dr. Toamas Tremella, is a mycologist, and her parents met when Marissa first started interning at the castle and Toamas came in to make a house call for the princess.

Being half goomba and half toadstool made Goombella's upbringing unique to say the least. As a child she had trouble mastering her aura and as such she was seen as clumsy by fellow Goombas. Her fellow Toads were kind but they weren't sure how to interact with her without visible hands. Because of this, Bella spent many recesses reading on her own. She also developed her tattle ability while watching the other kids from the side lines and trying to speculate more about them.

Some traditionalists disapproved of her parents union and Bella grew up hearing the whispers of strangers behind her back. *Her mother was a traitor to Goombas, her father was a disgrace to Toads, etc etc.* It is because of this frequent gossip that Bella turned into the sass-master that she is today. She quickly learned how to shut people down by bringing up private tattle information about them and spinning it into a snide remark of her own. Her quick retorts made her a force to be reckoned with and helped make her the confident young woman that she is now- however, even Bella has a few insecurities that sarcasm can't mask.

Goombella is very insecure about her armless-ness due in part to a rejection she received in Middle School. Because of this, she is rarely seen without her gloves or sleeves to help her gesticulate and make handed people feel more comfortable around her. Lately she has tried to relax about the gloves and sleeves, but it is unlikely that she will do away with them for good.

## The Thousand Year Door

During her 3rd year as a U Goom undergrad, Goombella took a summer trip to Rogue Port in order to assist the prestigious Professor Frankly during an excavation. However, Bella was quickly sidetracked when she met Mario and joined in his quest to find Peach and collect the Crystal Stars. Immediately smitten with the mustachioed hero, Bella became very protective (and possessive) of Mario and insisted on guiding him everywhere on his journey. Although her feelings for Mario have faded over time, the two still remain great friends and stay in touch via letters and texts.

In addition to Mario, Bella has managed to stay in touch with most of her TTYD partners:

## Koops

> **Koops Tattle log:** *“That’s Koops, from Petalburg. He’s been waiting here, hoping to join you. He’s a bit green, but braver than I thought… I’ll have to rethink my first impression. I mean, he seems totally earnest, know what I mean? We should take him along.”*
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* When they met, Koops was a skittish little koopa with a meek personality. At first Goombella wrote him off as a “cringer” with “confidence issues”, but after seeing him at Hooktail’s castle her opinion of him changed. Bella became particularly keen on encouraging Koops to be more outgoing, and she soon found out about his love of computers. Koops began opening up more and the two early level partners became rather close, exchanging a lot of information about their fields of interest.

* The two are still in touch now, and Bella will often hit up Koops for computer advice (ala the Save Block reset plot). These days, Koops is a stay at home dad who programs at home while Koopie Koo is out working. The two have a newborn named Sheldon.

## Madame Flurrie

* **Madame Flurrie** (No tattle available)
* At first Goombella thought Flurrie was a bit too extravagant and she was not a fan of the wind sprite’s forward manner around Mario (although Bella kissed Mario at their first meeting too…. So that’s just the kettle calling the pot black :p ). However, the two warmed up to each other and Bella eagerly learned about Flurrie’s tales and exploits about her life on stage.
* Although the two don’t actively correspond much, Bella does try to see Flurrie’s troupe every time they’re in town (Doopliss pranks not withstanding). Flurrie does write and send trinkets from her travels to her partners on occasion, and she likes to send costume pieces to Bella, Gonzales and Vivian just for the sake of playing dress up. Although Bella might not necessarily wear dramatic things, she will admit that Flurrie has a good eye for style (Bella’s **masquerade dress** was a gift from Flurrie).

## Gonzales Jr. (Yoshi Jr.)

* **Gonzales Jr.** (No tattle available post hatching)
* Gonzales Jr.’s spunky attitude quickly endeared them to Goombella, and the two have been close since he hatched. Due to the nature of how he hatched, Gonzales Jr. treats his partners like his family and he makes every effort to stay in touch with them. Goombella felt particularly protective of the little Yoshi and she took it upon herself to ensure Gonzales got a decent education and she often checked in on his Glitz Pit training just so that she could sneak in a lesson or two to him about something other than fighting.
* In my head canon, 6 years have passed since the TTYD events, and Yoshis  age at an accelerated rate (as evident in the precocial state they hatch).  As a newborn, Gonzales Jr. appeared and acted like a feisty 10 year old. Six years later, they are a young adult and are eager to try some other opportunities outside of the Glitz Pit. With Bella’s encouragement, Gonzales is trying a semester at Goom University, and he is currently her room mate (that was my proto-Gonzales design in this comic here).

* Zal (as they prefer to be called) is a big Social Media addict and loves getting attention online through any means necessary. This stems from his early upbringing in the Glitz Pit where appealing to the audience was a critical part of life. Because of this they love doing extreme stunt videos and stupid vines.

## Vivian

> **Vivian the Shadow Siren** (Tattle Log): *“One of the Shadow Sirens and Beldam’s youngest sister. She’s so cute, she’s able to infatuate anyone.”*
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* Vivian and Goombella’s relationship started out as a rocky one since Vivian was originally an opponent. The incident in **creepy steeple** also made Bella skeptical and almost skittish around Vivian the first few days they were teamed up together. However, Vivian’s genuine and sweet nature melted Bella’s doubt and the two became great friends after that.
* The two still get together for coffee dates and other outings, and they genuinely enjoy each others company. Although Bella is normally the one to ask people questions about their lives, Vivi is one of the few to ask Bells about hers. Bella is curious about Viv’s past, but she does not pry due to Vivian’s discomfort with the subject.

## Admiral Bobbery

> **Admiral Bobbery Tattle Log:** *“That’s Admiral Bobbery. All the dock workers call him a legendary helmsman. I don’t know if that’s true, but he definitely seems like the most capable sailor here! I know he’s been through a lot, but I’m glad we brought him around, aren’t you?”*
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* Goombella has nothing but respect for Bobbery. As team mates they didn’t talk much about personal matters, but Bella loved listening to Bobbery’s stories of the sea.  The Admiral had a hard time talking to anyone about his voyages after his wife passed away, but thanks to reaching closure with the help of Mario and team, the old sailor was eager to revisit his past and share his adventures with anyone who would listen.  On the flip side of this, Bobbery was one of the few who enjoyed hearing Bella’s tattles and the adventures she went on to collect her information. As green as she was, Bella’s spunk and eagerness for future expeditions warmed the old sailor’s clockwork heart.
* With Bobbery out at sea, the two have only seen each other a couple of times since the TTYD incident. However, Bobbery does regularly send Goombella letters about his voyages out with Cortez. Even when she is too busy to write a letter back, Goombella does make a point of sending a bottle of chuckola cola to Bobbery each time he writes her.
* Head-canon wise, Bobbery and Goombella have more things in common than you might expect. Both are hands-free characters, and Bobbery might be part toadstool just like Bella is. Although he never talks about his parentage, he does have some traits indicating this, the most obvious being his big poofy hat which he keeps on at all times. That said, Bells has never asked about it.

## Ms. Mowz

> **Ms. Mowz Tattle Log:** *“That’s Ms. Mowz, the thief. Hmph. She jets off to exotic places to find rare badges. She’s only like, the biggest flirt I’ve ever met in my entire life! It’s weird that she’s the anonymous requester of the super-secret badge…”*
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* Goombella and Ms. Mowz have a rival like relationship. When they first met, Bella immediately snubbed Ms. Mowz as a “floozy” due to her flirty nature with Mario. The two continued to butt heads both for affection from Mario and as item collectors of differing interests. As an archaeologist in training, Bella was mortified to find out Mowz was ransacking ruins in her pursuit of treasure, messing up the preserved conditions of the sites. However, as much as the two argue they do stand up for each other and respect each others talents.

* Since the events of the Thousand Year Door, Mowz and Bella have crossed paths on a number of unexpected occasions. Bella has gone on several subsequent excavations for school, and she has found signs of Mowz’s activity on a few of them. She even ran into the squeek in person on one dig in a Pirahna plant temple, and the two begrudgingly teamed up to get through a puzzle together. Bella has encountered signs of Mowz so often that whenever she doesn’t see a trace of the thief, the goombette leaves little notes and clues for her with friendly reminders to “PLEASE be careful with this thing… future scientists might want to examine this later".
* Her first name is Matilda.

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