Chapter 76
The Snack Pack were gathered in a gazebo around a picnic table when Poppy, Smurfette, Clumsy and Stormy found them. And just in time for some snacks too, but Stormy wouldn't touch a thing until she was assured nothing came from anyone's butt, ignoring Copper's offended huff.
"Where did the rest of your party go?" asked Suki, pulling Poppy over to sit next to her.
"Therapist is going to stay at Daffodil's, Brainy is staying at Creek's and, of course, Hefty is staying with Branch," Poppy explained, taking an offered cupcake from Satin, "But we're still looking for someone to host Clumsy and Stormy."
After looking down at the pair, Biggie smiled, "I'm sure Mr. Dinkles wouldn't mind if you stayed with us while you're here."
As Stormy looked at the worm, Mr. Dinkles seemed to 'mew' in agreement, making her wonder how much he understood.
Not thinking about it, Clumsy smiled, "Thanks Biggie, are you sure you have room for both of us?"
"Of course," Biggie nodded, "After that time Guy's pod fell in that glitter storm, I doubled by little photo studio space into a spare bedroom so we wouldn't have to bother Branch if something like that were to happen again. But, to be fair, Branch was, er, a lot less sociable back then, when Poppy strong armed him into hosting Guy."
When Biggie called Branch 'less sociable', Fuzzbert fell over and looked to be rolling around, kicking about his feet, in silent laughter.
Guy Diamond auto-tune chuckled in memory, "Branch had a lot of rules about my being in the bunker."
"Did you actually listen to any of them?" asked Suki.
"Not really," Guy forced a guilty smile, "But I paid him back by letting him stay with me when he couldn't stay in the bunker for a bit."
"Only because you made his bunker un-livable with your glitter," Smidge reminded him.
"Details," Guy picked up a cupcake.
"Another reason why Branch hates glitter, I'm sure," commented Stormy, ignoring Guy's offended huff.
After looking around, Biggie turned to Poppy, his voice soft, "Poppy, how's Creek?"
Sighing, Poppy played with the paper wrapper around her cupcake, "Not the greatest, but at least everything went as well as can be expected with Cinnamon."
No longer laughing, Fuzzbert sat up and stared at his own cupcake in silence.
"Does that mean," began Satin.
"Creek will tell us what happened next?" finished Chenille.
"I don't know," Poppy admitted, "I don't think so. He hasn't actually finished telling Cinnamon the whole story yet because it was so hard to do."
The group fell into silence, taking this in.
It was Smidge who spoke first, "Why don't you tell us Poppy?"
All around the Snack Pack nodded and voiced their agreement.
"I can't," Poppy frowned, "Creek would never forgive me."
"But it's hard for him, right?" asked Suki. "Why don't you ask him if it's okay for you to tell us so he doesn't have to?"
Thinking it over, Poppy nodded, "Yeah, I can do that."
This seemed to appease the group for the most part.
"Should I keep my distance for a while?" asked Biggie, voice hesitant.
"That might be for the best," said Poppy, quickly putting her hand on Biggie's when he looked down, "Creek still cares about you though. He didn't want to upset you by freaking out again when you're his friend and he knows you wouldn't hurt him like that."
"Like what, though?" asked Biggie, "And why is it just me?"
Squeezing Biggie's hand, Poppy thought over what she could say without saying too much, "Do you remember Brocade?"
By the nods that followed, Smurfette could tell that none of the Snack Pack thought anything of the question. They had no idea what kind of Troll Brocade had been while he was alive.
"He was one of Creek's foster brothers at Frizzy's, right?" Suki glanced at Biggie and then quickly looked away, "The part giant one?'
When Poppy nodded, Biggie frowned, "Does my size remind Creek of Brocade?"
"I think so," said Poppy. She hadn't really had the chance to talk to Creek about why he freaked out upon the sight of Biggie but realized that there weren't many Trolls Creek spent time with that towered over Creek like Biggie did. It also made her realize that Creek had never accepted a date with a giant Troll, even though he rarely declined such invitations.
"He's never had a problem with my size before," Biggie fretted, "Are you sure I didn't do something to upset him?
"Of course not, Biggie," Poppy squeezed Biggie's hand again.
"Creek probably didn't have a problem before because he didn't remember," Smurfette took a deep breath, remining herself not to give too much away, "What happened before."
"What that is," Smidge grumbled, trying to wrap her mind around it.
Guy toyed with his hug time bracelet as he thought it over, "Creek was actually terrified of Biggie earlier and it has something to do with Brocade." He frowned, "Branch always said Brocade was and jerk but Creek seemed to like Brocade before he died. What could Brocade have possibly done to make Creek terrified of Biggie due to his similar size to Brocade?"
"It's bad," Clumsy bit his lower lip to try to keep himself from crying again, "It's really bad."
"Wait," Smidge jumped to her feet, balling her fists, "These Smurfs know and Creek doesn't want to tell us? His actual friends?"
"We didn't demand to know anything," Stormy glared back at the little Troll, "And I don't like your tone."
Smurfette quickly got in between them before Smidge could jump across the table to attack Stormy, "Look, Creek didn't want any of us to know, not even Poppy. Some of us just happened to be there when Creek's memory became unsuppressed and then Clumsy and Stormy were there when Creek told Cinnamon. It's nothing against any of you, I'm sure."
"What do you mean by unsuppressed?" asked Suki.
"Creek was using his meditation to suppress," Poppy hesitated, "Some really bad memories of Brocade, which is why he didn't have a problem with Biggie's size before."
"This is just ridiculous," Smidge stomped her foot, "Creek should just talk to us. We only want to help him."
"I know and I'm sure Creek does too," said Poppy, "But its hard for Creek to talk about. I promise I will ask him if I can tell you all so he doesn't have to but until then I feel like I've said too much already."
The group fell into silence and Smidge returned to her seat.
"Creek was different after Brocade died," Guy finally spoke up, looking down, "I just always thought he was sad; I knew he liked the guy."
Clumsy curled up a little, taking his knees and holding them to his chest. The more he learned about this Brocade, the happier he was that Brocade was dead and he wasn't used to thinking that way. He never even wished harm on Gargamel and his pets despite the years of them hunting him and his fellow Smurfs for their inner magic.
Keeping her gaze in the opposite direction, Stormy scooted a little closer to Clumsy and lightly leaned against him. She didn't know how to comfort people. She really didn't know what to do or say in this unspeakable situation but she hoped her presence would bring some comfort to the Smurf she had grown to like a little above average.
Unwrapping one arm from around his knees, Clumsy set his hand on top of Stormy's and leaned against her in return.
The rest of snack time with the Snack Pack went in silence, broken up a little by the Hug Time bracelets going off, hugs and good byes when the group broke apart to go their separate ways. As Clumsy and Stormy followed Biggie to his pod, Poppy took Smurfette's hand as they headed out to see her Dad.
"I'm sure Creek will appreciate you keeping his secret," Smurfette tried to bring some comfort to her girlfriend, kissing her cheek.
"I know but I hate keeping secrets," Poppy sighed and kicked a little pebble off to the side, "Especially from my friends and not even for something good like a surprise party."
"Hopefully Creek will be ready to talk more about it on his own soon," Smurfette hoped that being accepted by Cinnamon and, by extension, Daffodil would help Creek feel less afraid to share what happened with his friends.
Remembering Creek break down as he told Cinnamon, the summed up, not even the whole story, version, Poppy wondered how many times Creek would have to go through that. How many times would Creek be forced to relive that worse moments of his life? And then have to explain what it all meant due to Trolls being unfamiliar with such horrors.
It really didn't seem fair.
Though Poppy was learning a lot of horrible things lately and how unfair they were.
When they got to Peppy's pod, the old king had been making tea all too happy to leave the kettle to hug and kiss his daughter.
"I really wish you would stop disappearing like this Poppy," Peppy hugged Poppy again, "I don't know what I'd do if you didn't come back."
"I'll always come back Dad," Poppy assured him and kisses his cheek. "There's something I need to ask you about though."
Nodding, Peppy returned to the kettle and got out a few more cups, "Is it about why you ran off to Smurf Village?"
Extending her hair, Poppy grabbed the kettle from the stove, turning the flames off before pouring the tea for everyone, "It's actually about something I learned today." She stared at her cup, not sure where to start, "Do you know a Troll named Cinnamon?"
To Poppy's surprise, Peppy actually laughed, "It would be hard not to."
Seeing Poppy's confused expression, Smurfette said, "I don't understand why that's funny."
"Well, it would be hard not to know my own nephew," commented Peppy.
Poppy nearly choked on her tea, "Nephew? How can you have a nephew and I don't know about it?!"
"Of course, you know, it's right in the family tree," Peppy suggested to a bookshelf with a few books and photographs, then frowned, "Have I never talked about my sister before?"
"Just that she died before I was born," said Poppy, fiddling with her teacup, "I thought she didn't have kids because you never talked about them or anything. If Cinnamon is my cousin, why hasn't he ever been invited over for family holidays or even to dinner?"
"I've tried over the years but besides formalities, Cinnamon stopped talking to me when he was still a Trolling," Peppy took a long drink of his tea, "I don't know why."
Poppy thought over what Cinnamon said and wondered if her father even remembered Cinnamon asking for help as a child. She wondered over to the bookshelf, bringing back the one containing the family tree.
In the main hall of Peppy's home were portraits of the ruling King or Queen but not their spouses or any children or other family members. In the book were pictures of everyone.
Great, Great Grandpa Loppy with his husband Pumpernickel.
Their only child, Great Grandpa Pappy with his wife Magnolia.
Their oldest child of two, Grandmother Pippi and her wife Paprika. Paprika is where Peppy inherited his orange skin and yellow nose, while he got his pink hair and eyes from Pippi. Their daughter, Peppy's sister and Poppy's long departed Aunt, was named Gingersnap. Gingersnap inherited both Paprika's orange skin and chocolate brown hair but had Pippi's green eyes and pink nose.
Next to Gingersnap was a picture of her husband, Hawkweed, a reddish orange Troll with yellow hair that lightened up into white. Both his nose and his eyes were purple. Their only child was Cinnamon.
Smurfette smiled a little at the pictures, "Your family certainly likes 'P' names."
Smiling, Peppy nodded, "Ginger was almost named Peppermint but my mother Paprika thought it would be nice to have a little more variety."
"Ginger?" asked Smurfette.
"Most Trolls never called her Gingersnap outside of our mothers," said Peppy.
Turning the book, Poppy pointed to a picture, "Grandma Pippi had a younger brother but it doesn't list any spouse or kids?"
Smile fading, Peppy sighed, "Uncle Evergreen was eaten as a young man, he didn't have the chance to ever fall in love, let alone get married and have children."
"I'm sorry to hear that," said Smurfette, "Did you get to know him?"
"I was too young to remember him and Ginger wasn't born yet," said Peppy.
"I guess not even the royal family was safe from those monsters," said Smurfette, gazing down at the picture of Poppy's mother, Lily, a beautiful pink Troll with lighter pink hair that almost seemed to sparkle, even as a picture. She reached over and held Poppy's hand as her princess just stared at the pictures.
"Does Cinnamon know we're related?" asked Poppy, still looking at the book.
"Yes," Peppy nodded, "He used to call me 'Uncle Peppy' before we left the old Troll Tree and he was still in my mother Paprika's care."
"All this time we were Cinnamon's family and I never knew," Poppy touched the picture of the book, of a child still in his parent's arms, "He must have felt so alone."
"I don't see how," Peppy scratched his hair in confusion, "He grew up with his Aunt and all his cousins on his father's side."
"Why didn't he stay with us?" asked Poppy, not correcting her father, "Isn't he technically a prince?"
"I suppose technically," Peppy paused and sipped his tea, "But with resettling and everything that came with it I barely had time to keep an eye on you and you were in my hair when you weren't trying to sneak off to play. My advisors thought he'd be alone most of the time due to my schedule so his aunt's place would be better for him." He paused, thinking he heard Poppy mutter, 'stupid advisors', but he wasn't sure. "If Dandelion hadn't been able to take him in, I would have made it work though."
"I wish you had anyway," said Poppy, looking at her mother's picture again before closing the book.
"Poppy, did something happen to Cinnamon that has you so concerned?" asked Peppy.
"Not concerned, per say, just," Poppy hugged the book, "Wistful?"
Peppy finished his tea, "I'm afraid there's not much I can do to change the past."
"But the present can be, that's why it's a gift," Poppy smiled and kissed her Dad's cheek, "Thanks for the tea Dad."
"Anytime sweetheart," Poppy smiled at them both, "Can I convince you both to stay for dinner?"
"Can we do dinner tomorrow? I wanna get started on a project," said Poppy.
"What project is that?" asked Smurfette.
"Project Hug Cinnamon until he loves and accepts me as his family," grinned Poppy, all but grabbing Smurfette from her seat to lift her up into her arms and rush to the door, rather excited at the prospect of her family being bigger than she ever knew it was. And hoping that Cinnamon hadn't closed the door linking them long ago.