Shadgirl2: Hey, sorry for the long delay.
Midna Azusa: She's been busy helping me with a story of my own over on my page. Frankly, she's still busy with it, but she finally found some time to go through the stuff I sent her for this story like, four months ago.
Shadgirl2: Yeah, yeah, the point is, it's here.
Midna: Enjoy!
Disclaimer: We don't own Trolls.
While Poppy worked on preparations for two big celebrations, Branch worked on building an oven. Unfortunately, neither had a very easy time working on these tasks alone, and those who knew them began to grow worried.
Trying to get ready for a wedding and a Hair Ball at the same time had Poppy running around the entire village, going from troll to troll, and that was just trying to pick out the food for both occasions. She ran up to a red troll with yellow hair and asked, "Hey, Chilly! How's it going on gathering up all the ingredients for the pizza you're gonna bake for the bergens at our wedding reception!? You know, since they won't eat anything else."
She'd always wondered why bergens were so picky about their food, but she wasn't quite rude enough to ask them, especially since they could get pretty aggressive if offended or upset. Even asking gently out of concern for their health was out of the question. Besides, she'd learned more recently not to judge someone for their personal preferences, even if she disagreed with them, and would never make the mistake of doing so again.
Chilly turned to Poppy, smiling, and answered, "Well, we've got most of it, but we ran out of mayonnaise for the pizza." This made sense—mayonnaise wasn't a very popular condiment among trolls. "Do you think they'd mind if some of the pizzas had pizza sauce instead?"
"Ooh..." Poppy thought about the possible reaction the bergens would have, cringing a bit as she recalled a past incident—a riot had nearly broken out due to the lack of anchovies on a pizza, and the trolls had to quickly resolve the situation. Poppy had since vowed not to mess up a bergens order ever again. King Gristle and Bridget might not mind. They were the only two to stay calm through that whole affair. Everyone else would probably go berserk. "They probably would, if Bridget's first birthday party's any indicator. Well, why not ask—" Her Hug Time watch interrupted her train of thought as it rang, opening up the small, pink flower. She looked at it, then grinned, opening her arms, and saying, "It's Hug Time!" as she happily reached for Chilly.
Chilly and Poppy hugged, both smiling and enjoying the moment.
After a short time, Poppy pulled back quickly, anxious, and said, "Oh, look at the time! I've gotta go check how Biggie's doing with the, uh...cupcakes! So, uh, go ask the bergen chefs at Captain Starfunkle's about the shortage, and I'll catch ya later!" She hurried off, waving in what appeared to be either excitement or agitation. "See ya!"
"Bye, Princess Poppy!" Chilly called after her, waving.
Poppy poked into Biggie's pod quickly, saying, "Hey, Biggie! Has the oven gone off yet!? The one I shoved all those cookies and brownies in earlier so Creek wouldn't walk in on me baking them!?" She sounded both excited and tired.
It was true. Poppy had come to Biggie's pod earlier that day, asking if she could use his oven to bake treats for the Hair Ball she was planning. Obviously, she couldn't risk Creek seeing what she was doing, so Biggie had agreed. It was the least he could do to help, after all.
"Not yet, but it should soon, Poppy," said Biggie, who had just checked on them a second ago.
"Great! Then keep an eye on those while I go see if Nova Swift has anything nice and fancy I can borrow!" She darted off without another word, just like she'd done when she came to put the cookies in the oven.
"Oh, uh...kay," Biggie said to no one, given that Poppy was already gone. He was starting to worry that she'd taken on too much. Given that she'd been running all over town all day, barely stopping to even talk to anyone, that sort of made sense. Poppy tended to get this way when she was overworked or stressed, after all.
The oven timer dinged then, signaling that the cookies were done.
Mr. Dinkles gave Biggie a dirty look. "Meep," he said, upset that Biggie was letting Poppy do all of this alone, especially since he actually knew what Branch would like to eat, unlike the troll princess.
"Well, it's not as if I'm trying to let her do it alone!" Biggie protested as he went to get the cookies out of the oven. He started decorating the cookies, figuring that he'd get started on some snacks Branch would eat after he finished.
Meanwhile, Poppy told Nova Swift that she wanted to surprise Creek with a new look for the Hair Ball that would be happening in Troll Village in another four months. Given the extremely early timing, the trend-setter's eyes widened in shock.
"Oh, my! That's so...sizzle! You really wanna start preparing for the Hair Ball so soon, nugget? You must be a very dedicated worker!" Nova said.
"Thank you! I know. But I am in a bit of a rush, so if you could just point me in the right direction, that'd be helpful," Poppy said, accepting the praise while also trying to stay on track. She still had tons of things to do if she was going to have a hope of pulling this off—gathering materials for decorations, finishing the baking and starting the cooking, finding places to hide this stuff from Creek, checking on the bridesmaid dresses, working on her wedding venue, finding a suit for Branch that he'd like, checking on the wedding cake, seeing if DJ had the songs finished for her reception...and that was just the Hair Ball and wedding plans. She also had several things to do for the reception itself, so her day was fully booked. She didn't have time to waste.
"Oh, certainly, nugget! Why not try shopping around at my latest Vanity Store? I'm sure you'll find what you're looking for in there."
"Great! Thanks a ton! I'll do that!" Poppy responded as she ran off—this conversation had cost her a few precious minutes, and she needed to make up for lost time.
Nova waved goodbye, smiling, and called, "You're welcome, nugget! See you at the wedding!"
Poppy ran past Satin and Chenille then, both noticing quite quickly that she seemed to be wearing herself out. Their first sign was pretty obvious, really—Poppy wasn't even dressed right.
"Poppy! Are you okay?" Satin asked, concerned that their friend had been overdoing it the last couple of days.
In full agreement, Chenille pointed out, "You look tired and your dress is backwards." Yes, that was their signal that Poppy was worn out—her dress was on backwards. Chenille put her hands on her hips, looking a bit stern, and asked, "Have you been overworking yourself again?"
"No time, girls!" Poppy answered hastily, not even stopping to chat (or, it seemed, even caring that she was dressed oddly). "I gotta go to the new Nova Swift Vanity Store to pick out something for the next big Hair Ball! See you around!" And she was gone.
The twins stared after her for a moment. Finally, a note of concern in her voice, Chenille said, "She needs more help."
With a worried look, Satin nodded, and the two headed off to make outfits for this Hair Ball Poppy planned to hold for Branch.
That night, Creek arrived at the tower to find that Branch had made quite a mess. Concrete, broken up into gravel-sized pieces, littered the floor around the lit fireplace; a metal plate was in the fireplace, tongs nearby to retrieve it; and Branch himself looked exhausted and a little burnt. Creek stood there for a moment, frozen and silent.
Of course, the first and most concerning thing for him was the burns. He couldn't figure out how that could have happened, given that he and Branch had learned to weld together ages ago. Branch normally didn't have any problems with this sort of thing these days, so Creek wondered what was wrong with this one.
"Hey, Creek," Branch greeted, sounding as tired as he looked.
"Oh, my hair! Branch!" Creek cried, rushing over to check on the soot-covered troll. "You look terrible, mate! What happened!?"
"It's not a big deal. I just need to be more careful, that's all."
Creek stared at him for a moment, and the problem hit him like a ton of bricks. There were actually many factors involved that led to this. First, while it was true the two had learned to work with metal in small amounts, like torch handles or door hinges, they'd never made anything this big before. An oven door and rack, now that Creek thought of it, was a bigger and more daunting task. The tools he had here in the tower, including any safety equipment, probably weren't sufficient for a job this big.
Then there was the fact that Branch had no prior experience building an oven, unlike Creek, who was known in Troll Village for not being sure what career he wanted to pursue (all, of course, due to taking on so many different apprenticeships so he could learn what he needed in order to help Branch make this place more of a home). That made it even more likely Branch could make mistakes that would lead to injury and even damage to the fireplace that would then need repaired.
Suddenly Creek felt stupid. He should have thought of this sooner. After all, he was more qualified for this job than Branch—he'd done it a few times over the years while he was still studying construction and other skills, although he hadn't exactly made any oven parts from scratch. His job had been more of putting the oven together using the parts that were made and provided for him.
Creek considered his next step carefully, now realizing that Branch shouldn't be doing this alone and could seriously hurt himself. He couldn't get help if he did, given that he couldn't leave the tower. While he was burnt, it didn't look too severe so far, and it looked as though he'd treated the burns himself. Still, Creek knew that things would likely get worse if he didn't step in and do something, including figuring out what equipment they would really need for a job this big.
Feeling like an idiot, he asked, "Want me to help out with that? It's probably best if you don't try something so complex alone."
Branch shrugged and answered, "If you want."
"Probably for the best, mate. Be right back."
Creek rushed back to Troll Village to get his construction equipment and find some aloe for those burns, planning on reading up on the right tools for welding objects such as these from scratch tomorrow. Then an idea dawned on him as he recalled that heavier objects needed something stronger to grab them and thicker gloves would provide greater protection. So he went and grabbed a stronger set of tongs to use and some thicker work gloves. He also decided he'd need to brush up on what he'd learned about construction work if Branch was going to keep having impulses like this. Hopefully, the gray troll would get over these extreme bursts of misery soon, especially since Creek knew Branch couldn't make himself happy if he kept letting things bother him so much.
With working on the oven being his top priority, Creek returned to the tower, and the two of them worked together to work on the project. After a bit of work, Creek, however, noted that they were missing some important objects that he wouldn't be able to bring this night, so he told Branch that he'd bring what they needed the next night and would continue then. One thing Creek realized during that night was that he lacked knowledge on how to build something like this, which made him think he'd be spending the day in the Practical Matters section of the library in Troll Village. Since it was the least frequently visited section of the library, he thought he'd just say he was doing some pleasure reading on his past hobby if anyone (like his spying bergen master) asked why he was there.
Fortunately for Creek, the next day, Chef bought his excuse, so he spent some time that day refreshing his knowledge on construction and welding, helping him realize where his mistakes had been and ensuring that he wouldn't make any more. He was shocked when he realized just how much he'd forgotten. He supposed there was something to that saying—use it or lose it. He hadn't used his ability in a while, so he'd lost a lot of information about how to use it.
The next night, Creek brought all the correct equipment as well as some necessary materials to the tower. He came dressed for construction work, given what they were doing, and arrived at about 1 in the morning. He'd brought the professional equipment needed for the creation of a metal oven this time so they wouldn't have to use Branch's makeshift methods or Creek's unprofessional ideas, as well as personal protective equipment and battery-powered tools for the both of them. Of course, given that one of them was already burnt, he'd also brought a bottle of aloe vera for that.
He also promised himself that he'd teach Branch how to do this sort of thing in the future so they could avoid further injury. Carpentry and construction work weren't the same thing. Given that their time was running out, Creek knew this was likely the last big thing he and Branch would be making together.
"Alright, mate! Let's get this thing finished up!" he said before heading to the fireplace, where he started drilling holes to create spaces to hold the oven rack.
"Right," Branch answered as he went to help.
Soon, Branch had safely made a metal door for his oven and was cooling the hot metal so nobody would get burned again. Creek, meanwhile, had gotten his incisions created and was putting some hooks in to hold the rack that Branch had made the day before—he intended for it to be removable so Branch wouldn't lose the other functionalities of the fireplace. He also installed hinges for the door.
"There, you see, friend? The work goes a lot smoother with an expert construction worker helping out! How about taking a break to treat those burns of yours while I finish up here?" Creek suggested as he put on a welding mask.
Since there wasn't really much else for him to do at the moment, that seemed like a good suggestion to the gray troll. "Yeah, okay," he agreed, grabbing the aloe Creek had brought.
As strange as it may be, the boys weren't the only ones who were pulling an all-nighter on some project. Back in Troll Village, despite the fact that it was almost 3:30 in the morning, two fashionistas were arguing about their design ideas. Neither really considered the fact that this might go faster if they could agree on anything.
"I'm telling you, the white trim is too much, especially with glitter!" Chenille insisted, furious that her sister couldn't seem to grasp this simple fact. Had Satin completely forgotten the wardrobe they had designed for him earlier? "Poppy said Branch doesn't even like glitter!"
"Well, I did say we could use satin since it has a shinier appearance, but you didn't like that idea, either!" Satin retorted.
"Of course not! Anything too shiny or sparkly, and Branch probably won't wear it!"
"He didn't say he didn't like shiny, just not glitter!"
"We're not wasting fabric on something he'll hate!"
As that argument continued, Creek finished drilling new slots to remove the pole for the cooking pot, then checked the time and sweat. "That late already, is it?" He looked at Branch and said, "Well, I think you're more than capable of finishing this up, aren't you, mate?"
He'd already drilled new holes to move the original pole up out of the way some, so all that was left was installing the original pole in its new place and attaching the door. The oven rack, of course, could be placed in the oven when needed and removed otherwise.
"Yeah, I can handle it from here," Branch answered. "Thanks for the help."
"Don't mention it." Creek pulled out a cookbook from his hair and tossed it to Branch, adding, "Why not spend the rest of the day going over a few recipes in there and tell me what you need to make a few tomorrow? Then we'll see if this was even worth it or not." He headed for the window, dirty but unharmed, hoping that Branch would find that he loved baking enough that it would make him happy faster. This would be a huge waste of time if it didn't help him a ton, after all.
"Fine," Branch said, setting the book down on the table.
"Well, see you tomorrow, I suppose. And try to be a tad bit more careful next time. You know how dangerous it is to mess around with molten metals, after all."
Creek could hardly believe that he had to remind Branch, the cautious and paranoid troll, about that fact, yet here he was. The lack of professional gear had to be to blame, so Creek promised himself that he'd be more careful about what he gave Branch to work with in the future.
"Yeah, yeah. Don't worry. I'll be more careful in the future."
"Good. See you tomorrow, then! Have a good night!" Without further ado, Creek hopped onto his flyer bug, leaving most of his equipment and tools behind so Branch could use them to finish the job.
Branch went to the window and shut it, locking it to ensure nothing came in. "One thing's for sure, Creek has a point about checking for recipes. I need to find something Poppy would like."
He took the book and headed to the desk to look through, searching for recipes that might appeal to Poppy's tastes.
Biggie's alarm clock went off at 5 am, signaling that something he was cooking was ready to get out of the oven. He yawned, getting out of bed and heading to the oven, grateful that there were some things he could just pop in there and take a quick nap.
"Heavens, I only slept about two hours last night, getting up so often to check on Branch's food." He yawned and opened the oven, removing the dish inside, and looked at it. "Well, at least the quiche is done."
It smelled great, which helped wake Biggie from his groggy state.
Mr. Dinkles, having actually slept through the night, was already wide awake...and hungry. "Meep!"
Biggie sniffed, taking in the smell of this dish, then smiled. "Oh, well, at least this will all be worth it if it helps Branch find his happiness at last." He then looked at Mr. Dinkles and said, "I'll get started on breakfast for us in just a moment, Mr. Dinkles," and went to put the quiche away for later.
Mr. Dinkles frowned. "Meep," he said, not liking that Biggie had stayed up all night to cook.
"Oh, Mr. Dinkles, it's fine! Besides, you said you wanted me to help Poppy, and you're right, I do need to help her. After all, she and Branch are both my friends."
"Meep," said the worm, feeling properly chastised. After all, friends really should look out for each other. He decided he needed to be more supportive in the future.
Meanwhile, Satin and Chenille had finally decided on a design for the suit after, by some strange bout of twinepathy, having the exact same dream.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Satin asked her sister, certain she already knew the answer from the look on Chenille's face.
Chenille gave her a sly smile and answered, "For once, I think I am."
The two quickly sprang from their bed and got to work on their new idea, finding themselves fully in sync for a change. Then they remembered that Poppy was out looking for something, so the two quickly hurried off to find her so that they wouldn't soon find that they had been up arguing until 4 am for nothing.
In the tower, Branch found some sweets that he felt Poppy might like, given that he somehow still remembered what her favorite flavors were when they were kids. Then again, it was hard to forget them when she was always going on and on about them, he supposed. There was only one problem he could see.
He stared at one of the recipes he'd found, thinking, then sighed, putting a hand to his head. "How am I going to justify this one? Poppy and I don't have the same tastes!" He thought about it some more. "...I guess I could pick something that I'd actually like on top of what I make for her. Maybe it'd be less suspicious if I was asking for ingredients for a variety of things. Or, I guess, I could always ask Poppy to bring the ingredients for those things, but that might ruin the surprise..." He put a hand to his chin as he tried to think of a workable solution. "...I wonder if I could get Biggie to come out here..." Then, growing frustrated, he cried, "Ugh, this is ridiculous!"
Why did everything he tried to do have to be so complicated?
While all of that activity was going on, a certain overworked pink troll overslept. When she woke up and saw the time, she panicked. "Oh, my hair! This is so not cool! How could I possibly sleep in until noon!?"
Of all the hair-brained things for her to have done, this had to be the worst. She never did this, especially not with such a long to-do list. It just seemed like it was growing longer and longer as the big day drew nearer, so sleeping in at a time like this was totally unacceptable.
Frantic and knowing she'd have to move fast if she was going to have a hope of getting anything done today, she hurriedly got dressed, forgetting to shower or eat due to her hasty panic. For all she knew, her clothes were on backwards again. She then started running about the village, desperately trying to get caught up.
To start, she poked her head into DJ's pod, asking, "DJ! Got that wedding mix figured out!?"
DJ looked, startled. She was working on getting the couple's chosen songs for the reception in a good order, but she wasn't quite finished yet. Given that they'd only finished picking the songs yesterday, this shouldn't have been a surprise. After all, besides choosing the best order in which to play the songs, she was also working out how to enhance them for the big day. That typically took longer than a day. She started, "Well, I—"
"Great! Keep up the good work!" Poppy cut her off before taking off without really getting an answer.
DJ blinked, lost. "Uh...okay?" She shrugged it off and went back to work, figuring it was just pre-wedding jitters. That happened to trolls all the time, so it wasn't anything to worry about.
Poppy poked into Biggie's pod and asked, "Biggie! How's it going on the wedding pastries!?"
"Ah, Poppy—"
Poppy gave him a quick thumbs up and an energetic smile as she anxiously cut him off, "Glad to hear it! Keep it up!"
And again, she was gone. Biggie had been about to tell her that it was still a bit early for him to be working on those right this moment and he was more worried about the food for the Hair Ball right now, but she hadn't even given him a chance to start. It was clear she was too stressed and needed all the help she could get.
"...Well, at least the gravy's ready for her Hair Ball," Biggie said to himself as he went to get that and preserve it until the right day.
Mr. Dinkles looked out the door, sweating. Maybe Biggie really should be staying up at night, after all. Now the little worm was starting to worry about the troll princess, given that she only got like this when she was really stressed out. Staying up to help ease that seemed like a small sacrifice, in that light. "Meep..."
Poppy slid over to sit with Cooper, who she was supposed to be meeting up with two hours ago, saying, "Okay, Cooper! Lay those sick jams on me!" She waved a fist in front of her face, looking about as crazed as she had when she'd checked in with Biggie. After all, time was not on her side, and the stress was definitely taking its toll on her. She still had a lot of catching up to do.
She had agreed to listen to his new song yesterday, but she was running so late that she'd missed the time they'd agreed on. Better late than never, though, was what she always said.
Cooper looked perplexed for a second, having not expected Poppy to come sliding in out of nowhere, but then smiled and said, "Uh, okay!" before starting his song for her.
Poppy started clapping after only two or three notes and said, "Great! I totally love it!" She started getting up as she continued, "Well, catch ya later, Coop! Have fun!" and then disappeared as quickly as she had appeared.
Cooper took a second to process that. "...Dang, I didn't even get halfway through!"
He wondered if Poppy was okay, given that she usually didn't rush through things like that unless she was pressed for time. Maybe he should have waited until a better day to ask her to listen to his new song, he thought.
Creek saw Poppy coming his way and waved happily at her. "Ah! Sun—"
"Hi, Creek, bye, Creek! Gotta go check on flower arrangements!" Poppy cut him off as she ran past without even stopping.
This behavior startled Creek slightly as, eyes wide, he watched her leave. "Oh, my! She certainly seems to have a lot on her mind!" H put a hand to his chin, tapping it a bit as he thought. "Hmm... I wonder if this is what being a bridezilla is all about?" He shrugged it off and headed to his yoga class. He figured Poppy would calm down some after the wedding.
With how quickly Poppy was moving around the village, the twins never managed to find her that day, but she did manage to get her to-do list finished. She passed out from exhaustion at 1 am, vowing to never sleep in like that again. After all, she'd "finished" her list, but it was sloppily done, and now she'd have to go around and apologize to everyone tomorrow. Planning two big parties at once all by herself while trying to keep one a secret was exhausting and time-consuming.
In the tower that night, about the same time that Poppy finally made it to bed, Creek found that Poppy wasn't the only one acting strangely.
Creek stared at his friend as if he'd just confessed to being a talking sunflower disguised as a troll. He couldn't believe what he'd just heard. Gaping, he asked, "You want to try some strawberry upside-down cake? What about all those chocolate pastries and desserts? I thought you said you favored chocolate because it was somewhat healthier?" he asked as he stared at Branch, completely lost.
In the back of his mind, he recalled the day when he and Poppy had met the twins. That was the first time Poppy and Branch had both shocked him in a single day. Now that he thought about it, why did the two of them tend to do that on the same days?
"What? Strawberries are healthy! Besides, I just wanna see if my tastes have changed any over the years. Maybe I'll like it more now than I used to," Branch answered. He'd given a lot of thought to how to pull this one off, and this idea seemed like the best one he had. Now he just had to hope Creek believed him.
Creek looked over the list of ingredients, noticing a variety of flavors included in Branch's shopping list for him, although it mostly seemed he'd be wanting chocolate and strawberry. He grinned, amused, and shook his head. He thought it was kind of cute, all of the odd things Branch wanted to try in his pursuit of happiness. Normally, he didn't like anything too unhealthy and trolly. "Alright, mate. If you say so." He stuffed the list in his hair and left to harvest some of it and get some baking pans for these experiments Branch wanted to try. He also intended to take note of anything Branch actually enjoyed, intending to add them to his list of possible apology treats for future reference.
Branch watched him go in silence for a moment before finally letting out a breath he hadn't even realized he'd been holding and muttering, "I can't believe he fell for that..."
Knowing Creek would be back tonight with at least some of the supplies he'd asked for, Branch went to work on a puzzle while he waited.
After failing to find Poppy the previous day, the twins finally encountered her in Nova Swift's clothing shop, looking at tuxedos. It seemed their timing couldn't have been better. Poppy, however, looked awful. Her hair was frizzy, there were dark circles under her eyes, and her dress was rumpled, as if she'd slept in it the night before. She was also as jittery as if she'd had way too much coffee that morning.
In truth, she didn't have time for coffee. She'd squeezed in a quick shower that morning, having hated being sweaty and smelly the day before, but she hadn't had time to comb her hair, especially since she had to redo most of what she'd done the day before. By this point, she'd already helped DJ with the wedding mix, talked to Biggie about yesterday's interaction, and actually listened to Cooper's song (which she loved once she finally heard it). Now, since she'd hardly had any time the day before to do this, she was back to looking for an outfit for Branch to wear for the Hair Ball.
"Uh, maybe this one?" she said to herself, taking one off the rack and looking at it uncertainly. "No! It'd look terrible on him!" She put it back, frustrated, and another one caught her eye. "Ooh! But this—"
Satin and Chenille winced, concerned at their friend's obvious state of disarray, then headed over and put their hands on Poppy's shoulders.
"Poppy, we have a surprise for you," Satin said.
"No time, girls!" Poppy said, pulling away and moving to look at more tuxedos while looking completely stressed out and somewhat crazed. "I've got—"
"Poppy, you don't need a tux," Chenille said gently. "We have one for you that will work perfectly."
Poppy whirled on them, looking excited, hopeful, and crazed all at the same time. "You do!?"
That was unexpected. After all, they'd told her they didn't have time for that, even though they'd managed to design an entire wardrobe for Branch (including a matching dress for Poppy herself) in less than a day. That left her wondering how designing one extra suit could be so bad. She figured they could have one ready by tomorrow if they worked hard enough on it. Still, she respected her friends' decisions and was rather surprised to hear that they had changed their minds.
Both looked a little uncomfortable, hoping that what they were about to say wouldn't set her off more. "Well...we're working on it," Satin amended.
"Right, so you can stop shopping for one. It's under control," Chenille assured her.
Poppy stared at them like they were the ones who were crazy. She decided it was time to ask them about that. After all, she didn't want them burning themselves out by biting off more than they could chew if they really felt like this would be too much. "Uh, but what about not having time to do both this and prepare for a wedding!? I thought—"
"Well, you don't have time to do both, but you're certainly going to die trying," Chenille cut her off firmly.
"You seem to have a lot on your plate, so we wanted to help," Satin added.
Poppy smiled at them both, touched. She couldn't ask for better friends. "Aw... Thanks, you guys! You're the—" Her Hug Watch went off, cutting her off. She looked at it, sweating, and said, "Uh, it's Hug Time, but I don't really have time for that, so—" She grabbed both twins and hugged them quickly, said, "Thanks for the help," she pulled back and shot them two finger guns as she winked, "you guys are the coolest," still looking wild-eyed but now a bit happier, she started off, waving, "catch you both later bye!" and she was gone.
That conversation had cost her a whole two minutes that she didn't have time to spare right now. Granted, the twins had given her some time by taking responsibility for getting Branch's tux ready. Still, since she had to correct everything she'd done the previous day and complete today's to-do list, she couldn't waste any time. The tuxedo issue should have been resolved yesterday, after all.
Satin and Chenille stood there for a moment, letting their brains catch up with what had just happened, then they looked at each other.
"Did that actually help?" Satin wondered, looking at her sister in concern.
With a lame look on her face, Chenille closed her eyes and shrugged. "Eh. It's hard to tell."
Biggie, meanwhile, had finished preparing any food for the Hair Ball that he'd be able to preserve until the day of. Knowing that he was the only one who would be doing the cooking, he knew it was better to have as much of it as he could ready to go and just thaw it than to try making it all fresh the day before. Some of it, such as the turkey and other hot dishes, he would be making the day before and reheating, but everything else was ready to go and would stay in his freezer until the time was right.
Poppy had also left a dozen brownies in his oven and some strawberry jello salad in his fridge earlier that morning (and, while doing so, hastily apologized for asking him to make food for her wedding so soon), so she came running in to check on them. "Hi, Biggie! Are those things I left here read—" She cut herself off, blinking, as she noticed he was sticking a chocolate cream pie in his freezer. She knew that couldn't be for her wedding because it wasn't on the menu she and Creek had planned and it was still too soon to be making food for the wedding. Since Biggie typically preferred fruit pies himself, it also couldn't be for his own personal use. "Uh...what are you doing?"
"Oh, just finishing up with the food for the Hair Ball for Two," Biggie answered casually.
Poppy blinked again, looking lost once more. That was the second time she'd found one of her friends working on a party they claimed to have no time for (although Biggie had even less of an excuse to say no than the twins since, as he'd admitted, it was too early to prepare food for her wedding anyway). "Uh...didn't you guys say you didn't have time for—"
"Meep," Mr. Dinkles cut her off, that simple sound saying it was Poppy's fault that Biggie hadn't been sleeping much lately and pointing out that he'd been helping decorate for the wedding a lot these days, too, and he wanted some appreciation for it.
Now Poppy was even more lost than before. She could have sworn she hadn't asked Biggie for help with this, given that he'd told her he didn't have time. Had she been sleepwalking and kept working on the Hair Ball then? Was that when she'd asked him? She didn't think she was prone to sleepwalking.
"Mr. Dinkles, that's not fair!" Biggie said before turning back to Poppy and adding, "Really, it's quite alright. I just wanted to help you. After all, you don't have time for all of this, either."
Once again, Poppy was touched (and also greatly relieved she hadn't developed a need to work in her sleep). She put a hand to her chest, smiling in appreciation. Her friends were doing so much to help her, even though they had initially said they didn't have time for both events. She was glad to have friends she could count on when she needed them the most. "Aw... Thanks, Biggie! I—"
Poppy!" Smidge said, popping out of Biggie's closet with an excited, crazed look about her. She knew she'd find Poppy here eventually. After all, where else would she go to bake for her secret Hair Ball? This made waiting an hour in that closet worth her time.
Biggie cried out in shock, and Poppy cringed away, eyes wide, crying, "Aah!"
Smidge closed the closet door behind her and walked over to Poppy, still smiling slightly as she got down to business. "Guy's got those decorations all set! I had him deliver 'em to your place disguised as—"
Poppy was, once again, left at a complete loss. Growing a bit worn out at all these Hair Ball surprises she definitely hadn't consciously asked anyone for, Poppy walked over to Smidge, throwing her arms up in the air. This day couldn't get more confusing and stressful if it tried, as far as she was concerned. "Hold up! What decorations!?" She held up her hands in front of her, shaking her head a bit, as she started, "I never—"
"You know! For that big Hair Ball you're gonna be hostin' for two! He did say he'd have 'em done in time, didn't he?" Smidge crossed her arms, looking a bit concerned at what she considered Poppy's poor memory. Smidge knew the princess could be bad, but not usually this bad, so Smidge realized she really needed to get Poppy to bed. This stress wasn't good for her.
For her part, Poppy gaped. She'd heard Guy say he could do it, but he'd never said he would do it. "What!? But I thought—"
Smidge started pushing Poppy toward the door, knowing she needed a break and a good, long nap. "Anyway, you look really tired, boss. Better go get some shut-eye so you're ready for your afternoon story time with the kids in two hours! I'll cover for ya until then."
"Oh, thanks, Smidge!" Poppy said, hugely relieved. Her confusion was completely forgotten with this latest act of kindness from her friends. A nap sounded like a great idea just then. "That's—"
Smidge started shoving her out then, looking serious, and cut her off, "Yeah, yeah! You can thank me later! After you've had a good, long rest! You've been workin' way too hard lately and need to take it easy for a while!"
"Uh, r-right! I'll do that!" Poppy stammered, awkward and slightly embarrassed. If Smidge was this concerned, she must be bad. Maybe she had been giving out orders in her sleep, after all. She decided to ask about that when things settled down a bit. Although they were already out of his pod by this point, she called back to Biggie, "Thanks, Biggie! You're the best!" She figured she should show some gratitude since Biggie, at least, wasn't doing this on unconsciously-given instructions from the princess.
"Less talking, more walking!" Smidge responded, her voice growing quieter as she kept moving Poppy along. "Ya ain't got all—" And that was all that Biggie could hear.
He stood there for a moment, still slightly stunned that Smidge had been hiding in his closet while waiting for Poppy. He always wondered how she did those kinds of things. Finally, he said, "Well, at least that's taken care of." He yawned, stretching, then said, "Now, since the cooking is all done for now, I should probably take a quick nap, too."
The oven beeped then, signaling that whatever was in there was done.
It took Biggie a moment to remember what was in the oven, until he remembered that something had been shoved in quickly that morning during a 2-second Poppy visit. "Oh! Right! Brownies. I forgot, I'm not quite done yet." He went to get those out of the oven.
In the tower, Branch was making use of the many baskets of ingredients Creek had brought, along with the cupcake pan, brownie pan, pie pan, cake pans, and everything else. After baking many things and using up a lot of the ingredients, he wasn't sure if he was much of a cake decorator (Creek had brought a frosting gun with many different tips, food coloring, and sprinkles in various shapes including hearts and flowers).
"Sheesh! Who knew baking was so messy?" Branch asked himself, looking at the mess all over the green apron Creek had brought last night. He was glad Creek had brought it, at least. He wiped his forehead, saying, "Well, hopefully this stuff will actually be edible when I'm done. It's not like I'm doing this for my health or something."
An egg timer (again, brought by Creek the night before) dinged at him, signaling that what he was baking now should be done. He looked at the timer, then went to get it out of the oven. It looked and smelled good, for his first time trying this, and he followed the directions exactly.
"...Hopefully it tastes good," he said. "I mean, I followed the instructions, so it should taste fine."
He went to set it down somewhere to cool.