Author's Note: All right! We have another chapter! This time, we have the Ice Climbers and Wii Fit Trainer (F)!
While I'm here, I'd like to put out a quick reminder that new chapters for this fic are written when I have inspiration for something new. I'm always happy to hear your suggestions for character interactions but please realize that inspiration is not a reliable thing and that it may be some time before suggested characters make an appearance. Fear not, I am planning to have every single character eventually appear on Library of Moments.
One more note before we start – for those unfamiliar, my Female WFT is named Carrie and my Male WFT is named Murphy. They are also twin siblings.
With all that out of the way, let's begin!
Carrie walked through the halls of Smash Mansion on the way to the kitchen. She was in a very good mood. She had just come from a fantastic yoga session. It was the perfect time for a healthy meal!
She walked into the kitchen to see a very strange sight. Popo was standing on a stool, trying to cut something with a knife in an otherwise empty kitchen. He was surrounded with a few grocery bags of vegetables, accompanied with a large pot, a lid and a ladle. His parka was sprawled out over one of the chairs where he'd also leaned his mallet.
"Whoa! Popo! What are you doing with that knife?"
"Making Eggplant Soup," said Popo as he carefully cut the eggplant on his cutting board into slices.
"Why are you making Eggplant Soup?" asked Carrie.
"Nana's feeling down because we're missing the Aurora Festival," said Popo, not even looking up from the eggplant he was slicing.
"The Aurora Festival?" asked Carrie.
"One week a year, the aurora goes on for an entire week with no stop. We have a big festival to celebrate it," said Popo. "Unfortunately, we had to be here for training during the Aurora Festival and Nana's feeling down about it, since it's her favorite festival. So, I'm making her Eggplant Soup to cheer her up. It's her favorite."
"Oh!" said Carrie. "Do you need any help making that? I can help you, if you like." It was probably a good idea to have somebody supervising him, honestly. Popo wasn't known for his meticulous attention to detail.
Popo paused for a moment. "Ok. Sure. But we need to be quick! I don't want Nana to be out of it for too long."
Carrie nodded. "All right! What do you want to be cut first?"
Popo pointed to some carrots next to him. "Start with these. I've got zucchini in that bag over there."
Carrie smiled. "All right!"
Carrie grabbed a knife and another cutting board and began cutting up the carrots.
The two cut vegetables in silence for some time. Carrie finished slicing the carrots and moved on to the pile of zucchini. She glanced over to Popo, who was cutting up a few onions.
After cutting up a pile of leeks and washing a bundle of spinach, two surveyed the pile of prepared vegetables. Popo pulled an index card out of his pocket and inspected it closely. Carrie walked up behind him and looked at the card over his shoulder.
On the card was scrawled a recipe in Popo's sloppy, nearly illegible scrawl in bright orange permanent marker. Probably the first thing he'd found to write with.
"Did your mother give you this recipe?" asked Carrie.
"Yeah, I just called her," said Popo, his eyes not leaving the card for a moment. "She changed it up a little for me. Since I'm not good at cooking things. Uh…we need vegetable stock."
He jumped off of the stool and briskly walked to the fridge. Popo rummaged through the contents of the lower shelves of the fridge.
"Oh, come on! Who put the vegetable stock on the top shelf!" grumbled Popo. He turned to get the stool, but Carrie stopped him.
"I can get it for you," she said. She quickly grabbed the carton and handed it to Popo.
"Thanks." Popo took the carton and walked back to counter. He climbed back up on the stool and emptied the entire container into the pot.
"All right. Now we add the vegetables and a bunch of water and cook it for….uh…" Popo trailed off, squinting at his card.
Carrie looked at the card and shook her head. It would seem that Popo's lackluster handwriting had come back to bite him. The worst part of it was that she couldn't figure out what Popo had scrawled out either.
"Uh….so we cook it for…uh…I'm not sure what this says either," she said after some deliberation. "Popo, do you remember what your mother said?"
Popo thought for a second. His face scrunched up. "Uh….I….don't really remember…"
Carrie shook her head. "Oh well, we'll just have to try and figure it out then. We can't have Nana feeling down, can we?"
Popo shook his head. "But what if we do it wrong?" asked Popo.
Carrie smiled. "Don't worry! We'll still be able make it! Listen. I'm a specialist in cooking healthy foods and everything you just put in that pot is very healthy. I think I know how long it will take."
"How do you know that?" asked Popo curiously.
"Experience, mostly. While Murphy was trying to make Fitness Bread, I spent my time trying to make healthy recipes that would be easy for anyone to make. I've cooked a lot of vegetables in my time. I think I can make an educated guess for the right time to cook."
"But what if it still turns out wrong?" asked Popo.
Carrie grinned. "I'll go eat some of Murphy's Fitness Bread if it doesn't turn out right."
"Seriously!?" asked Popo with surprise.
"Pinky promise. Trust me. This is going to work!"
"All right," said Popo, with a little less conviction in his voice. That was all right. Carrie was quite sure of herself on this one.
"Ok," said Carrie. "Can I see your recipe?"
Popo handed her his index card. Carrie scanned the card, trying to piece together the recipe through Popo's horrific handwriting.
"Uh, ok. So, we're here, right?" she asked Popo, pointing to one of the lines of print on the card.
"Uh huh," nodded Popo.
"Ok. So, we're going to put all the vegetables in the pot and cook it for 75 minutes. And we're going to add some salt and pepper for a little extra flavor."
"How much?" asked Popo.
"Uh…a few pinches."
"A few pinches? How much is that?" asked Popo.
"Uh... A pinch. It's something you get a feel for it over time."
"Huh… do you think that I could do that? Eventually?"
"You'd probably need some practice. But with practice, sure! You could definitely pick it up!"
Popo nodded. "Guess I'd better get started learning if I want to be able to cook."
"Of course! Practice makes perfect. You'll learn to cook in time. Anyway, let's get this soup going, shall we?"
The two started putting the vegetables into the pot, before adding a few cups of water. Carrie walked to the cabinet and put in the salt and pepper. She then put the pot on the stove.
"Now we need to cook it on medium heat. And that's all!"
"That's it? That was easy!"
"Yeah, that's it!" said Carrie.
"So now we wait?" asked Popo.
Carrie nodded, "Yes. For 75 minutes."
"75 minutes!? That's forever…" grumbled Popo.
"I know. But let's sit down! We don't want to have to stand the entire time!"
Carrie went to the table and pulled out a chair for herself and for Popo.
Popo slid into the seat as Carrie sat down.
The two sat in silence for some time.
"So…Miss Carrie…I was wondering….." started Popo.
"Yes?" asked Carrie.
"What's it like to care for someone?" asked Popo.
"What do you mean?" asked Carrie.
"Well…I'm Nana's climbing partner, right? So, I should be taking care of her. But am I doing it right?"
"What makes you think you're doing it wrong?" asked Carrie.
"Well, Nana's really feeling down," said Popo. "I mean, we're usually attached at the hip. Literally sometimes. So, it's really weird that she's in her room, moping around, because she's supposed to be out here with me. Climber pairs always stick together. That's the rule. If you split up, things go bad. They always do. And…I didn't want to split up. But we're split up anyway. And I don't know if it's my fault. Should I have done something different? Am I not taking good enough care of her?"
"Well, you said that she was sad because she was missing out on her favorite festival?" asked Carrie.
"I mean…I think so," said Popo. "I don't think I did anything wrong. But what if I actually did but I didn't know that I did?"
"Well, if you think you did something wrong, maybe you did," said Carrie. "Can you think of anything that you did to hurt Nana's feelings?"
Popo thought for some time. "Maybe it was because I accidentally ordered Grape Pineapple soda instead of Grape Cherry soda for her on the way here? It's her favorite drink in the transport spaceship cafeteria."
"I don't think Nana would be angry at you for something that minor," said Carrie.
"Uh…I think I put her comb in the wrong pocket of her suitcase too…" said Popo. "Maybe it was that? I don't know what else it would be."
Carrie smiled at him. "If this is all you can think of, then you probably didn't do anything wrong. It's totally possible that you didn't mess up. Maybe you should trust your instincts and assume that Nana is sad because she's missing the festival."
"But Nana's still sad and holed up in her room!" said Popo. "Then what I'm doing wrong is not doing enough! She shouldn't be sad in the first place! Climbers don't do that! They don't let their partner down like that!"
Carrie shook her head. "You didn't let anyone down. If anything, we let you down by not checking when the Aurora Festival was."
"Are you sure?" asked Popo.
"I'm sure. And you're taking initiative to try and cheer up Nana! If anything, you're doing a good job!
Popo looked down at his mittens. "So, how soon with the soup be ready?"
Carrie checked the timer on her phone. "Um…we have 65 minutes left."
Popo just sighed.
"That is quite a while," agreed Carrie. She thought for a moment. "Let's do some yoga while we wait! That's a fun way to pass the time!"
The look on Popo's face said otherwise.
Carrie was holding a relaxing tree pose when the timer went off. Popo practically jumped out of his chair and rushed toward the stove. He grabbed ladle and poured some of the soup into a bowl. He took a sip.
"All right. This tastes right," he said. He quickly polished off the rest of the sample.
"Everything tastes like it's supposed to! You really are good at this Miss Carrie!"
Carrie smiled. "All right, let's get that bowl of soup for Nana."
Popo nodded eagerly and went for another bowl.
As he scooped more soup into the bowl, Carrie said, "Don't fill it too much. You're going to have to carry that up to her, right?
"Oh, right," said Popo, somewhat embarrassed.
"You didn't think of that, did you?"
"Umm…."
"Don't worry, Popo. Your heart is in the right place. Come on! Let's not keep Nana waiting!"
"Yeah! Let's not make her wait!" said Popo enthusiastically. He grabbed a spoon, picked up the bowl and carefully walked out of the kitchen.
Carrie followed behind him closely. Hopefully there would be no spills.
It was a long climb up the stairs to the kid's wing of Smash Mansion. Though both the second and third floors of the mansion were dedicated to dormitories for the Smashers, the kid smashers had been unanimous in a request to be put on the fourth floor. It was cooler to be on the top floor, they had said. Carrie was sure that Popo was now regretting his decision to put the kid dorms so far away from the kitchen as he carefully carried the steaming bowl of soup up the third flight of stairs.
Nevertheless, he continued to climb upwards. As they rounded one of the landings, they passed Mario and Luigi walking down the stairs.
The Mario Bros waved politely and let Popo go past them, though they gave Carrie questioning looks. She flashed them a thumbs up from behind Popo's back. She was watching the situation. There would be no repeats of the exploding toaster oven incident from last year on her watch.
As they made it to the top of the stairs, they came out in a hallway on the fourth floor. Carrie looked out the window. They were near the near the far end of the Mansion. Here, the hallway split into two ways. To the right sat a long hallway down to the other side of Smash Mansion. Along that hallway sat many of the quietest parts of the Mansion, including the Library, the Grand Balcony, and the Command Center. However, their destination was straight ahead, where the kids' dorms sat. Carrie opened the door to the door as Popo walked into the central lounge area. It housed a mini kitchen area with a fridge and microwave, but no stove or oven, as well as a large table with several chairs. One corner had a large TV with a number of gaming consoles arranged around it. On one end of the room was a door leading to the boy's dorms with another door on the opposite wall leading to the girl's side.
The door to the girl's side burst open, revealing a young Inkling.
"Uh? Oh! Popo!" she said. "You got that soup that you were gonna use to cheer up Nana?"
"Yeah! Thanks for watching her, Irene!"
"No problem. I'm off to the shooting range now. Cya!"
Irene dashed out of the room, splattershot in hand.
Carrie held the door of the girl's dorms open as Popo carefully walked in.
They found themselves in another hallway, with four doors on each wall. Carrie had been told that when the Mansion had originally been built after the Ganondorf Incident, the Smashers had made it much larger then they needed at the time, to accommodate future Smashers. It was a good thing that they did, as the only resident of the girl's side of the kid's dorms at the time had been Nana. Thankfully, it had filled out somewhat over time.
Popo walked up to the closest door. It had a name card with Nana's name on it. Below the namecard was a cardboard cutout of a mallet. Popo knocked on the door.
"Nana! Open up! It's me!"
After a few moments, Nana could be heard grumbling faintly. "What for?"
"I got you Eggplant Soup!" said Popo.
"Popo…just don't…" said Nana tiredly.
"No!" I actually have Eggplant Soup!" said Popo.
"He does have Eggplant Soup for you," called Carrie. "It's getting cold!"
"Uh…give me a second…." said Nana, with a little more energy. There was some shuffling around inside the room for a few moments before the door creaked open.
Her hair was unkept and her parka looked matted and disheveled.
Popo held the bowl of soup out.
"You actually made me Eggplant Soup?" asked Nana, catching a whiff of the soup's fragrance.
"Yeah! Of course I did!" said Popo. "What kind of climber would I be if I didn't do anything while my partner was feeling down?"
Nana took the bowl and took a sip of the broth. "Hmm….not bad."
She gave Popo a suspicious look. "You had help, didn't you?"
"Hey! I'm not that bad! How do you know that I had help?"
"Because Carrie is standing right next to you. And she's into eating healthy stuff, so she obviously helped you."
"Well, uh…she might have helped a little…" said Popo.
Nana chuckled a little. "Thanks Popo. This means a lot to me."
Carrie smiled as Nana put the bowl of soup down and gave Popo a hug. "Well, if you don't mind, I need to get going. I hope that helps you feel better, Nana."
"It does! Thanks for helping Popo, Miss Carrie," said Nana.
"Hey! I'm not helpless!" protested Popo. "She assisted me!"
"No problem Nana!" said Carrie. She turned as Popo and Nana began to banter and began to make her way back to the stairs.
She smiled. The siblings reminded her of simpler days from long ago in her own life. Which reminded her of something.
She pulled out her cell phone and dialed a number.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Murphy. It's me. I was wondering if you wanted to get lunch with me today?"
"Yeah! Sure! Where do you want to go?"
"You know? I was feeling eggplants today. Want to go to Maurice's sub shop?"
"For eggplant subs? Sounds good to me!" said Murphy. "Say, you wouldn't happen to have made a large pot of soup with eggplants in it?"
"I did. Why do you ask?"
"I'm in the kitchen right now, and Kirby's looking mighty hungry."
"Stay put. I'm on my way."
Hope you all enjoyed! Before you go, here's my shameless plug for my SSB fanfiction server.
Are you interested in Super Smash Bros Fanfiction and Fanart? Then the Super Smash Prose Discord server is for you! If this interests you, the Discord ID is gDK48ua.