Popuri/Zack – Delta theme set

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#01 – Air

It just doesn't sit well with him when he hears people calling Popuri an airhead, and he doesn't think it's entirely because she's Lillia's daughter.

#02 – Apples

Won was furious, but Zack didn't care; he wasn't about to let the sweet, earnest little thing, only trying to do her part for her family, blow her entire month's allowance on one of those damn 'special apples' just because Won was prepared to let her think that they might help her mother's condition.

#03 – Beginning

That book he sent home with her was a pleasant surprise, because the first few pages seemed so boring, but the more she read, the more she liked.

#04 – Bugs

He found out the hard way that she gets really mad when she sees someone step on a bug, but by the time they get to the gate of the Poultry Farm, she's already forgiven him enough to give him a warm hug.

#05 – Coffee

"When did you start drinking coffee?" he asks good-humouredly when she leaps on the steaming hot cup Ann just slid in front of her, with a grateful yelp.

#06 – Dark

"I can't help it," she pouted, before hiding forgivingly in his shoulder despite his gentle laugh. "I don't like the dark."

#07 – Despair

She's starting to believe Rick when he mutters darkly that Dad's never planning on coming home, and she doesn't know if she's angrier because Zack doesn't seem to mind, or because of why he doesn't seem to mind.

#08 – Doors

He knows that Rick is a good guy, and he'd do anything to look after his mother and Popuri, but he still feels easier once he's found the chance to install the lock on their front door.

#09 – Drink

She tries to be offended when he takes one look at her and laughs uproariously, but she knows she must make a pretty silly sight, seated at the kitchen table, daintily sipping a glass of wine for the illusion of sophistication, and making a terrible face with every sip.

#10 – Duty

Zack has been walking her home from Kai's beach cafe every evening this summer, and it's nice, because despite nothing in common they find a lot to talk about, but she wonders, half wistful and half annoyed, if he might ever want to spend some time with her that isn't because he feels this misplaced duty to fill in for Dad.

#11 – Earth

Lately, she's been trying extra-hard to look grown-up and dignified when she sees him, so it just figures that he would happen by Goddess Pond while she's playing house with Stu and May; to save face, she calls out a chirpy hello, and gives him the fantastic mud ball she made for "supper", before skipping away with two delighted children on her heels.

#12 – End

Of course he's got better things to do in the evenings than walk a silly little girl because she has to come visit her boyfriend everyday; nevertheless, he's kind of sorry that summer's ending and Kai's closing up the beach cafe for another year.

#13 – Fall

But she really, really likes planting Blue Magic Grass, trying her luck to see how many beautiful, brilliant red blossoms appear in the sea of blue, and only Won sells the seeds, so it isn't like they never see each other anymore.

#14 – Fire

"I don't do a lot of baking of my own," he confesses sheepishly, happily accepting another piece of her delicious chocolate cake; "The kitchen always starts on fire."

#15 – Flexible

"You have to show me some day!" she squeals when the conversation somehow strays onto his past position on a gymnastics team.

#16 – Flying

When she says wistfully that she'd love to go up in an airplane, he promises to take her someday, and she giggles that that's going to be a really busy day, because he's already promised to take her skiing, shopping in Paris, and out to see an opera.

#17 – Food

She's really glad that he always seems to be hungry, because she's trying really hard to learn to cook as well as Mom, and she needs a critic; he suppresses a pained groan when she brings out dessert after everything he's already eaten, but forces himself to eye the admittedly delicious-looking pie bursting with warm caramelized apples and brown sugar hungrily.

#18 – Foot

When he finds her dancing lightly around the shore, long skirts and softly curling pink hair whirling around her in the breeze, he stays back a little to make sure she doesn't see him there, and watches her; and now he's half an hour behind on his rounds, but it was worth it.

#19 – Grave

He finds her sobbing one day, because Manna asked her if she and Rick had begun to make any plans for her mother's funeral, and ten minutes later Duke stares, bewildered, when he come storming through the door of the Winery and bellows at him to keep his wife's gossipy tongue in check.

#20 – Green

She spends most of the Starry Night Festival a little annoyed, not because Kai's come back in from town to spend it with her, because she likes Kai, and she's thrilled to see him; but because Zack was, too – he acted like he wasn't even jealous!

#21 – Head

But she doesn't know how hard it was for him to do it, will never know about the hours he spent that night trying to remind himself that she's liked Kai for years, and they belong together when he's thinking rationally.

#22 – Hollow

He sent that book home with her, about a priceless jewel hidden in the walls of a stately mansion, and when he came to borrow her for a walk, he found her rapping lightly at all the walls of the farmhouse to see if there could be treasure in there.

#23 – Honor

When she kisses him, swiftly and unexpectedly, it takes him a long time to work around to what should have been his first thought: Rod trusted me to protect his family; I'm letting down the best friend I ever had, the only guy who cared to give me a chance, God help me, I'll go as far as she's willing.

#24 – Hope

He pushed her off, very gently and carefully but very firmly, when she tried to tell him last night, blushing but resolute, that she wanted to make love; she thinks it was hard for him to do, so she just keeps hoping that he won't be able to next time.

#25 – Light

He managed to push doubt and self-loathing firmly out of his head when she gave him that smile of pure invitation that no little girl could possibly know, but when he feels her tiny, curvy, feather-light little body resting against him afterward, sees her sweet, childlike smile in the pale moonlight, it comes rushing right back and he wishes he could die, but even slow and painful would be too good for him.

#26 – Lost

"Whoa, what did I miss?" Rick asks bewilderedly when he comes home to find his mother clinging, desperately relieved, to her daughter who didn't come home last night, and Zack explaining heavily that he did something terrible, but if Popuri doesn't hate him for it, if Rick and Lillia think they can trust him, he'll do the right thing and marry her.

#27 – Metal

"I am not marrying you if you're only asking because you think you should," Popuri, eighteen and willful and madly in love, snarls before hurling the little silver ring he offered for a promise of a better one as soon as possible, right back at him.

#28 – New

"You're missing the point, Zack," Lillia tells him with a gentle giggle as he stares, baffled, after the lovely pink-haired girl, sent swiftly outside for a walk to cool down by his new offer, including a brand-new, stunning gold ring of diamond and ruby.

#29 – Old

Lillia, and Rick, and Karen, and Ann, and even that nice Elli girl at the clinic have all tried to tell Zack why Popuri's so angry with him right now, but it's Saibara who gets through to him eventually, because Saibara's been a man long enough to know what Zack needs to hear.

#30 – Peace

And so, armed with a better knowledge of what he's been doing wrong, Zack makes one more visit to Popuri and finally thinks to tell her that he loves more than he ever thought possible when she was that scrawny, bratty little kid, hanging around and pestering "Uncle Zack"; and even though the wedding won't be for a few seasons, he sleeps sounder than he has for weeks.

#31 – Poison

He likes to think of himself as protecting her, at least until she finally finishes growing up, but it's not always that way; like the time she found him cooking up something he found in the woods, and scolded him because he almost poisoned himself.

#32 – Pretty

"Yeah, she's pretty when you dress her up like a girl," he retorts when she teases him, utterly without malice or jealousy, for blushing at the sight of Ann in a frilly yellow summer frock; "But it's nothing to the sight of you in a pair of my ratty old sweats, with your head in a towel."

#33 – Rain

She never used to really like walking in the rain – not like Karen and Elli and Mary, anyway – but now she has a reason; the sight of Zack in a tight, soaking wet white tee-shirt is something that must be seen to be appreciated.

#34 – Regret

When Kai comes back this summer in time for Popuri and Zack's wedding, he offers his congratulations heartily and delightedly, utterly without hesitation or regret, and Rick starts thinking that maybe this guy isn't bad after all.

#35 – Roses

He knows that it depresses her to see cut flowers wilting, so when her birthday rolls around, he shows up with three beautiful, leafy rose bushes to plant in the front yard of their new house, right across from the Poultry Farm.

#36 – Secret

She has something special in mind for their first anniversary, but it's a surprise, so she's extra-careful not to let him know where she's going when she sneaks away for a brief photo session with her old friend Kai and his new boyfriend; and even though it's a little embarrassing, posing sexily in front of her brother, she knows that Zack will love this.

#37 – Snakes

He knows it shouldn't surprise him, when she picks up that snake without fear and uses it to tease a madly blushing Rick that it's strange that he's freaking out over this one when he seems to like Kai's snake so well; but he's pretty sure that she'll never stop surprising him.

#38 – Snow

He finds out during an impromptu snowball fight that there's nothing in the world cuter than Popuri looking startled, snow dripping off her face, so he pelts another one at her just to see it again.

#39 – Solid

She knows that his rounds take longer in winter; nevertheless, when he finally gets home, in the midst of a severe storm, she clings to him for a long time, delighting in how real and solid he feels in her arms after an evening of worrying.

#40 – Spring

When Spring finally returns to Mineral Town, she gushes about how beautiful her favourite season is this year, and he reminds her with a grin that Winter was her favourite season just a few days ago, and that Summer and Autumn are both her favourite while she's in them.

#41 – Stable

He's a little annoyed at how often she and Karen are going to visit that new guy, Jack, until he finds out that while Karen spends the whole time flirting with the guy, Popuri spends it in the stable, oohing and ahhing over the pretty little chestnut-coloured colt.

#42 – Strange

"Weird," she replies candidly when he asks what she thought on their way back from Philomena; he laughs uproariously and agrees, because seriously, who writes an opera about a guy named Steve?

#43 – Summer

She's been looking giddily forward to Summer, because she just bought a brand-new bathing suit to wear this year; he's been looking giddily forward to Summer, because she just bought a brand-new bathing suit to wear this year.

#44 – Taboo

And she takes full advantage of his reaction the first time she wears it to the beach, and drags him under the pier for a little bit of wholesome marital fun.

#45 – Ugly

"I'm so glad you're not ugly like my brother," Popuri says airily, and now Kai is angry with her, but it doesn't matter, because Zack is beaming, and even Rick is just laughing.

#46 – War

He has to hand it to her, he thinks wearily after an argument, that for such a sweet girl, she sure elevates every tiny disagreement to an all-out war.

#47 – Water

And yet, all it takes to make her totally forget why she was angry is walking in on him in the bath; and when she peels off her dress and comes to join him, he totally forgets, too.

#48 – Welcome

She might not be the smartest girl in the world, but he's no braniac either, so it's just fine; and anyway, she's a fantastic cook, a good housekeeper, and there's nothing in the world more welcoming than her smile after a long day of work.

#49 – Winter

It's Winter again, and, he teases, her other very favourite season ever.

#50 – Wood

She's been trying for weeks to find the perfect time to tell him, whisper the little secret that a trip to the Clinic confirmed, but when he drops that heavy log on his toe instead of into the fireplace, she thinks with a sigh that her timing really sucks.

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